Where have I refused to see circumstances?
I said I wouldn't have signed any of the UFAs that could help in the top 6 because they are overpaid.
I said Gordon fills an area of need and will help the PK and 4th line on defensive zone draws.
I said Weise is a slight upgrade over White (I just don't like the term and $$).
I said even though I wouldn't have picked Allison at 52 there at least was the hope he's a late bloomer.
Just because I think some people are overestimating the impact of replacing Ryan White and Sam Gagner with Boyd Gordon and Dale Weise doesn't mean I refuse to see circumstances. I understand Giroux won't have to PK as much and will get a few less defensive zone starts. I just don't think it's going to make a gigantic difference.
I don't understand your need to see everything in black and white. There are plenty of people around the league who think Couturier is ideally a third line center. Now, I agree with you that he is fine as a second line center, but to not even consider the possibility that he's best as a third line center -- I'd call that refusing to see. Also, the Flyers' absolute need for Couturier to be a second line center, and how much it kills them when he's out of the lineup -- don't you think that is at least some evidence of a lack of depth?
Anyway, I know you'll completely and fully dismiss everything I say as irrelevant.
We all know that center depth is atrocious behind Giroux and Couturier and that's why Rubtsov is here. But G and Couts are great 1-2 punch, down the middle. You will see it in the next season why it was ridiculous to call Couts 3rd line C at this point. You could have seen it in this season before he got injured... He's slightly developing into different player in regards to his offensive upside.
I believe that those 'plenty of people' who think that he's 3rd line C haven't paid any attention to Couturier this season... and as I said majority of hockey folks believe he's now ideal 2nd line C.
Why did I say that you don't want to see circumstances? Look at how you always point out that our offense was terrible against WSH. Although we still took them to 6 games, and the last game was 1-0 campaing. Yes our offense was really bad, but maybe you should look and see what was the real reason for it?
If you look a little bit closely, we were missing Couturier and basically were 1-line team due to that (yes, we have awful center depth behind G and Couts, so if one is missing it's gonna have major impact). Giroux was playing through injury, Voracek came from leg injury and admitted that he was far from 100% and also missed WHC because of that. What do you expect when 2 of your top forwards are playing through injuries, and your 2nd line C is injured? What do you expect when you play with these circumstances against the best team in the NHL?
Nearly every team in the NHL is going to see major change in their game, when their 2 best forwards are playing through injuries and their 2nd line C is out indefinitely.
4th line came to play against WSH, correct, but it was probably the only games they really came to play... + a few games in reg. season.
Now I am nitpicking a little bit, you think that Weise is only slight upgrade over White. Well, that's okay, but what's your thought behind it? Why do you think it's only slight upgrade? I mean, there's nothing wrong if you think this way, I am just curious.
Dale Weise just had 2 seasons in terms of offensive impact that White can only dream of. 26 & 29 point seasons (one of these seasons with only 56 games). White's best season is 16 points... White is your typical, fine 4th line player, Weise is your ideal 3rd line player. I fail to see how he's only slight upgrade over White.
And before you point out that Weise played with top 6 players in Montreal... think about this. Why do you think that he played with them? Why did he play with them for so long? Do you think that there was no reason why he played with them? Sure there was. He was given a chance and he succeded in that situation, he was able to keep up with them and be productive player, that's something White can only dream of, therefore I think he's major upgrade over White, I will say it once more... major upgrade
over White.
In terms of your usual 3rd line players, I would say he's a fine player to add into your line-up and when looking at our last year's bottom 6, I'd say that he's pretty significant addition. And I didn't even mention couple of Weise' huge play-off series. What was the last time when White was one of the deciding factors in play-off series? Well, never.