Um, I hate to break it you, but I never implied that was the case.
Also, how on earth do you interpret Tatar playing in the top 6 as "carrying his own line?" On what planet would he NOT be playing with one of Datsyuk or Zetterberg (and probably also one of Flip and Franzen) if he were in a top 6 role?
I was referring more to those who have been constantly begging for use to toss out Hudler, Cleary, Maltby, etc. and bring in all of the prospects who "are better now!" like the constant "Bring up Riley Sheahan for the 4th line!" stuff. Or the Joakim Andersson stuff from last year, where people wanted to just waive Emmerton and put Andersson in.
And yeah. Hudler was playing on the 3rd/4th line on a stacked team. He was consistently playing with Filppula at the very least - another skilled player.
Hudler was playing with Draper and Maltby, sometimes Kopecky or Drake. In 2008-09 he played with Filppula and Samuelsson. He also scored 57 points that year, a number I doubt any of our prospects could come close to with any combination of our current forwards.
How on earth is that comparable to playing on the 3rd line with an over-the-hill Dan Cleary and a Never-Was in Justin Abdelkader?
Again... Draper/Maltby/Kopecky/Drake.
We don't have the talent on the 3rd and 4th lines that we did 3-4 years ago where a young offensive player could play with similarly talented players in a bottom six role.
2008-09 was an anomaly in that the Wings had skilled wingers in Franzen, Hudler, Samuelsson, and Cleary on cheap deals and they had acquired an elite talent in Hossa for the season, allowing them to turn the third line into a legit scoring line with Hudler/Filppula/Samuelsson (Franzen/Filppula/Samuelsson had been the second line much of the previous season).
But as I have said many times, the fact that the third line can't be a scoring line is a matter of not utilizing our personnel correctly. Not a matter of not having them.
If we divide players into either "scorers/top-six" or "checkers/bottom-six" from the current roster, we get this:
S: Zetterberg, Datsyuk, Franzen, Filppula, Brunner, Bertuzzi, Tatar
C: Helm, Abdelkader, Tootoo, Miller, Eaves, Mursak, Emmerton, Cleary
As you can see, too many checkers. Cleary was *supposed* to recover to his top-six/scoring form. He didn't. Add Nyquist, and we have 8 "scorers". Maybe we can field a lineup like this one:
Franzen/Zetterberg/Brunner
Nyquist/Datsyuk/Bertuzzi
Tatar/Filppula/Eaves
Abdelkader/Helm/Tootoo
Emmerton
Miller/Mursak/Cleary
Nyquist, Tatar, and Eaves can all be shuffled around as you see fit.
That's not just three scoring lines, that's three solid scoring lines.
Also, there can be multiple "large contingents"
sarcasm
of people who can - *gasp* - think different things. This language was in response to a post saying people ONLY want to see Tatar/Nyquist in the lineup, no matter where they land. And this forum is replete with evidence that many people think differently.
My post didn't say this overtly, but it was mostly that people don't have some grand preference for prospect development; it's all about player preference. People who wanted Hudler banished to the 3rd or 4th line in 2009 are in many cases the same people who now want Nyquist and Tatar in the top six.
how do people still get in arguments with eva?
Because anytime Hudler is discussed a) I am personally bashed by somebody, and b) I might happen to actually involve myself in the discussion.
If people are going to talk about Hudler, go do it on the Flames board. He's not on this team. Eva is more obsessed with him than most people over their first ex girlfriend that dumps them.
Case in point.
