Did you watch the last two games? Kuhlmann in his short stint alone showed way more than Stempniak.
Stempniak proved it himself, that their were better choices as he clearly proved he didn't belong. I actually call it bad asset management, before I would good management.
Fighting for your playoff lives against who? The Belliville Senators and no matter who they called up he was going to fill a depth role not a significant one that would cause them too lose their playoffs lives. So why not see what one of the kids can do? Instead of an ageing vet who hasn't played an NHL game all season and who's skating has never been his strength.
Stempniak who Sweeney had just signed on a pro-rated 650,00 dollar contract and had a measly 3 goals in 37 games a year ago and has only been skating during practices with the bruins and a few AHL games under his belt this year over Kuhlmann/Smith/Frederic/Fitzgerald Senyshyn/ or Hughes who all have been working their tails off all year to have a shot with the parent club. Is bad asset management!
You need to read my post again, I never said they were “fighting for their playoff lives”. LMFAO at people who say give the kids a chance, well they have all year long. Certainly not a bad decision to bring Stempniak in and see what he had to offer at this level. Also don’t read into the fact he has been sent back down, he was an emergency recall therefore if DeBrusk is back tomorrow Stempniak had to go back to the Providence Bruins.
To me in two games, pretty small sample size, he showed as much as Smith, Fredrick or Kuhlmann, the others you mentioned have never had a sniff at the NHL level. They likely wanted to see, and show him, where he is at with his speed, timing and such. He is a vet that the team obviously believes, if needed, may be able to help.
Not concerned in the least about the choices management has made. If this team wasn’t number 2 overall in a league of 31, I may be, but certainly not at the moment. When they get DeBrusk, Johansson and Pasta back you won’t have to worry about Stemphnaik, they will be solid all the way through the lineup.