Tip gets heat for his treatment of young offensive stars and while some of it is deserved, at the end of the day if the players do that, they will get their ice time. It's not that Tip doesn't like offensive players, he just doesn't like players who won't play at least adequate defense. They don't have to be a net positive but they sure as hell won't be allowed to be a net negative.
Exactly. Any naysayers of Tippett should just look at OEL. In his 2nd year of playing professional NHL hockey he was a first line defenseman and play3dthe most minutes. If you can play both aspects of the game which is absolutely critical in today's age, you will play and you will play a lot. That's why they made Rundblad play another season the the AHL.
Boedker had to earn his stripes playing more of a defensive-oriented game than he was used to and it paid off for him.
Domi just has to follow Mikkel's path and he'll be successful.
I have a strong feeling he'll be on the team to start the year.
I think Domi
can make the roster this year, but I'm going to agree with Sindiggy and assume that they are going to play it safe and send him back to juniors for one more year. They've been burned before. That said, I love what they are doing. They are giving Max all the confidence in the world by showing faith in him. He deserves it too, excellent hockey player who is absolutely psyched about playing for the Coyotes. At the same time, they are letting players know who have been in the big show before like Yip, Brown, Miele, and Brule that they are not guaranteed. They know in the back of their mind that an 18 year old kid could come in and take their spot away. Personally, I think this is going to be Maloney's and Tippett's hardest training camp yet. Brule and Yip are excellent 4th liners, Miele and Brown have the potential to be solid NHL players for the rest of their careers, and Domi is arguably the most talented offensive prospect the Coyotes have had in YEARS....and they are all fighting for one spot, trying not to burn any bridges. In my opinion, I believe it's going to go down like this...I think Domi is going to have an excellent training camp, as well as Yip, Brule, Miele, Lessio, and Brown. I think they are going to give Domi his 9 games allotted in the season, and sign Brule or keep Yip...sending down players like Brown and Lessio for one more year, but promising Miele some playing time this year, and letting him know he's almost there but there is just too many players on the roster at that moment. *Remember, Miele chose US when he was a free agent because Maloney convinced him he would get playing time, and he deserves it, so it's time for staff to step up and show him.*
But I digress, I think after Domi has his 9 games of NHL playing time, they tell him they want him to go back for one more year, and then come back and tear it up in 2014-2015, giving the winner of the fight between Yip and Brule the open position on the 4th line.
Then it gets interesting. Does Maloney make a trade for a top 6 winger including roster players that will open up spots for said players such as Miele and Yip/Brule/Brown? Who knows, but this is undoubtedly one of the most difficult training camps we've seen...for the players AND they staff. Too much talent is a good problem to have, we'll see what they do with it.
