I don't know, I don't see many posts on here saying "kessel has cancer stop being mean to him." Obvious deficiencies how? I honestly don't think fans know what they want outside of wanting a winning team.
"I don't know..." the new age's get out of jail free card for discarding germane points that undermine lazy assertions...To clarify, I was (and remain to an extent) an apologist for Burke/Kessel. When the trade went down and questions concerning Kessel's character were bandied about, many on this board cited his battle with cancer as indicative of his true character. This to say, there are people (myself included) who have never taken a prejudicial stance against Kessel and that the current tone of criticism has been arrived honestly through informed observation.
To your question: "Obvious deficiencies how?" Read your own quote below slowly and without looking away at any update, FB or Twitter alerts.
The issue with Kessel is that he's not a "hard worker" or "a two way player" so show me a hard working 35-goal calibre winger and tell me what they do. Now tell me what great two-way wingers exist in the NHL and what their role is. Give me a list of players who drastically changed their playstyle midway through their career and succeeded?
So...Bingo. And then there's the obvious player-coach fractious relationships. The poor media decisions. Salutegate. And on and on...
Ovechkin, Stamkos, Johnson, Palat, Kucherov, Kane, Datsyuk...All kinds of wingers and C/W that play a solid game.I don't know what sport you're watching that confuses the NHL and advises your apparent incredulity, but there are plenty of wingers that score, and play an intelligent two-way game.
As for players that drastically changed their game midway through their career and succeeded, the obvious answer is Steve Yzerman who transformed himself into a team success oriented player that yielded Cups and likely his post-player career.
There's nothing wrong with having a speedy sniper capable of getting pucks in the net and I think most of this whining and complaning about Phil is purely because of the team's place in the standings after 6 seasons of Phil.
Not sure how you equate citing a player's obvious capacity to provide more than he does as a criticism of the goals provided. Moreover, I don't recall criticising his speed or his sniping ability or his ability to get pucks on the net, and I haven't read one detractor or supporter comment likewise, so I don't have a clue why you've included something universally celebrated as something criticized.
And yes, people are fed up with Kessel's apparent performance (away from the puck) as well as others in the group repeatedly named as being the core of the culture problem with our club...Your point is?
That doesn't change the organization's inability to get a top 6 center to play with him, that doesn't change Nonis 2 seasons of terror where he set this team back a decade, nor does it the fact one player can't suddenly make a team a conteder and it doesn't change that inept media obsessed with a team constructed 22 years and 2 lockouts old.
The organization that provided the group that the CURRENT group is addressing is no longer in office. And so it makes little sense to rehash that dead horse yet again. But since the concern is for the organization as an entity over and above the micromangement required to yield professional standards from it's highest paid players, I think it's distorted thinking that on one hand says blame the problem on the regime before for the problems requiring solution, but don't criticize the assets brought in by the prior regime.
The saving grace is, THIS management group appears to bring a culture that won't be negotiated with. Phil Kessel will either change and contribute and remain, or Phil Kessel will change and contribute and be traded. And so long as the club continues to take one step towards a return to legacy and dignity, I truly do not care who is wearing the sweater, just as long as those that are demonstrate gratitude for the privilege to do so and do their utmost to repay the fans for the good faith given year after year and game after game.
You don't know of any players that changed mid-career? Stevie and Y and I can't help you then. You don't see obvious deficiencies in a player that coasts to change, circles away from corners, his own-end and 99& of any sort of forecheck? I can't help you there either, friend. You don't know of any wingers that score and play a two-game after these playoffs!? Again, mea culpa.
What I want is integrity top to bottom and I want demonstrated intelligence from the management group as reflected in their asset management and in the quality of people brought in to return Toronto to a cornerstone franchise synonymous with dignity and industry. I'm not optimistic because of a feeling, I'm bold because the management group is providing every indication that they're not building a club to take part, they're fashioning a franchise that is unapologetically self-aware that it's supposed to take over.
So with all due respect, this is not the management group that created the problem, it's the one that eliminated every true cause for alarm...And when the message was shared with the on-ice group this past January that they had in their hands an opportunity to inform the new management as to who they were in the second half of the season, Phil Kessel imploded.
He was smiling the day after Carlyle was fired. He was part of that ten game, high octane Leafs offence that was motoring, that around the eighth win of that streak, Carlyle called the oncoming 18-wheeler.
When a coach looks nervous during a winning streak, calls the oncoming slump and is then fired shortly thereafter, you can bet the blame was not yoked on him. You could also infer that when there's rumours of a communication breakdown (again and with the same player), that those rumours are likely true when the media-awkward, non-verbal star in question is inexplicably front and centre, helplessly grinning as he answers questions concerning the fire of said coach.
You have missed some of these incidents so...probably tough to know for certain.
