Well I don't form a opinion before there is enough information to form one.
When Stanley was drafted the Jets said right at the beginning he was a 4-5 year project yet many fans with ZERO information where going crazy that the Jets drafted the worst player in history. I decided to wait and see if the Jets were right about Stanley and while he will be a NHLer I not sure he is worth a 1 pick but I'll wait and see if his ceiling is higher then a 5-6 D. I am still waiting for more information.
Free Niku was as much Murices hate as it was supporting Niku. When Niku won the top D award in the AHL I too was excided that the Jets found a diamond in the ruff but when Maurice seem reluctant to play him I yielded to that fact that Maurice has much more information then I do and is more knowledgeable then I am about players abilities and the players personality. But not the Free Nikku crowd, Maurice is the worst coach in history for playing useless NHL vets D instead of this great young prospect who is the next Paul Coffee (yes someone thought he was the next Paul Coffee). Turns out Maurice and the Jets management knew what they were doing when they made the decisions that they did about Stanley and Niku.
BTW as far as I am concern the jury is still out on both these you players and I will yield to Maurice's expertise and knowledge over my opinion or anyone else on this board.
Well, if we all waited until we had the total picture of every player before forming an opinion, then this would be a pretty quiet place!
And on one hand you're saying "the jury is still out" and on the other you're proclaiming that "Jets management knew what they were doing" with Stanley and Niku. Not sure we can make that determination if the jury is still out.
Did they know what they were doing handling Laine and Roslovic?
Maurice sent Connor down to the Moose because he wasn't ready when a bunch of people here thought he had a great camp and preseason - then Perreault gets injured and miraculously Connor was ready...I guess he needed one more week of AHL seasoning. If he'd been blocked for another year or forced to work his way up from the bottom 6 I wonder what team would he be scoring goals for today?
And what metric doesn't show Ehlers to be the best winger on the Jets - yet Maurice plays him less, sticks him on PP2 and feeds the press horseshit about "sweet spots" for TOI minutes and that Ehlers wants to be on the second unit getting a quarter of the powerplay ice time.
Geez, it just seem like a couple of months ago Maurice was saying young players wouldn't be sitting on the taxi squad...well I guess Vesa, Gus, Harkins and Stanley are getting up there - into their early 20s. I mean, we can't have those guys taking time away from the Nate Thompsons of the world. Thompson was shitty in his prime...but now he's 35!
But I guess Jets management know what they're doing. After all, 2 playoff series wins in 10 years - you can't argue with results...