Gelinas as a forward

[wellonegm05*]

That fact that your comparing hockey and baseball helps my case more than your own.

Yes, Sal is not fulfilling his role at this time, but stuffing Gelinas into those minutes isn't a net positive on the team either. Still say Gelinas stays on D, and has a little patience.

Gelinas does not, nor should he be playing Sals ice time minute for minute. However if Girardi or McDonagh can play 30+ minutes a night, I'm sure our guys can take on a few extra minutes a night. Giving Larsson more than 13 minutes a night will help too.

The baseball analogy simply refers to the fact that for a period of time people excused piss poor actual performanc because it filled some made up roll that they eventually realized wasnt necessary at all. When Oakland or Arizona showed that just bringing in the closer or setup guy early was more effective than bringing in some shlep just because he threw funky, that was the end of the fad. Just like most NHL teams have realized you don't need a WWF dummy on your 4th line anymore.

 

[wellonegm05*]

There are two things to keep in mind:

(1) The locker room effect - do not underestimate the importance of personalities, and the effect that benching certain players who are well liked can have on a room.

(2) The skillset effect - Salvador is in the lineup primarily to play on the PK. Taking his minutes away means giving them to someone else, and there isn't anyone else there to take them who would do a better job with them in that capacity.

I agree Salvador is a negative on the team right now, but that isn't the same thing as saying Salvador shouldn't be in the lineup. (I was one who believed that Salvador should've received the compliance buyout, not Volchenkov.)

Our PK is one of the worst in the league. I refuse to believe that putting someone else out there in his spot is really going to make it any worse. Larsson and Merrill both saw some PK time against Winnipeg and looked good. We're acting like Sal has this skillset that he and only he can provide when the bottom line is that if he sucks and can do it, chances are someone with more talent could also do it. Gelinas can be taught to play physical. Merrill and Larsson can be taught PK positioning or shot blocking. Keep in mind these are all attributes that we give Sal credit for, however he does none of these things well. So even in a worst case scenario, does it really hurt us that much to have someone else come in and do them poorly?

As far as the locker room goes, frankly I think if Pete sitting Sal causes him to lose the locker room, then he has already lost it and should be fired. Letting the inmates run the asylum is crazy. Letting our older players dictate what decisions you make is ok to an extent, but not when it is these same vets that are severely under performing. Maybe if he had the guts to sit a Sal or an Elias these guys wouldnt be half arsing it out there all the time.