I certainly am more encouraged than I was before he came to SJ. He did well enough at the NHL level and seemed to be at least good enough to be on a top line at the AHL level. For his age that’s a good thing. Reminds me of Labanc’s come up where people had concerns about his defensive game and his size/physicality but his offensive output made up for it. Bordeleau is significantly better defensively than Labanc was when he started and a bit younger. Labanc was better offensively. So there’s some hope.
As a Bordeleau defender I'll admit that there is no guarantee he will be successful. Based on what we have seen and what he does well, he has potential to be successful. I think it's best if we return to this conversation after few seasons and see what is the situation. Also I don't see Labanc as an example of projection for Bordeleau, since they are very different type of players and from different starting points.
If there's a difference between Bordeleau and Labanc entering their draft+3 seasons it's that Labanc was further ahead in his development. That doesn't mean Bordeleau can't catch up but if we're talking about him needing to take a step forward just to match Labanc you can already write off the fantasy of Bordeleau being a future 2C in the NHL.
I love this. Someone says “reminds me of Labanc” and your imagination runs wild.
From what I've read, Bordeleau is better defensively than Labanc was at that age.
Don’t rewrite history. Posters were penciling him in as the 2C of the future as recently as a few months ago. I’m glad expectations are finally starting to be tempered a bit.
lol at you telling anyone not to rewrite history. You make someone's opinion out to be the entire fanbase's opinion all the time. You deserve to be laughed at for numerous reasons pertaining to what you say on these boards.
If you want to pretend there wasn’t a widespread consensus on this forum that Bordeleau will be a top six NHL center, with some posters even claiming he was a comparable prospect to Matty freakin Beniers, that’s your prerogative.
There wasn't. You made that up. You just do what you always do. You take one or two opinions and call that consensus to shit on Sharks fans. That's all there is to it. You're very transparent.
What are you even talking about? The most that most people said was that he'd be a solid 3C and that there's potential for him to be a top-six center in the future.
Never said that tbh. I said there's hope he could develop into a player. I said how he's breaking in reminds me of how Labanc did where posters like you (not saying you, but ones like you) were saying how he would never be able to replicate his offense at the NHL level. Turns out he was able to. Came up fine. Never could adjust to an all around game which caused him to stagnate, decline, and he's at where he is now. I'm saying Bordeleau has more defensive acumen at least, and isn't prone to the same level of just absolutely shitty turnovers that Labanc is, so there's some hope that he could turn out to be the offensively gifted, all-around good enough player that Labanc never could.
I understand that’s not what you said, my post was somewhat tongue in cheek. Ultimately I am just grateful some people are starting to come around to more reasonable comparables for Bordeleau like Tierney and Labanc instead of Clayton Keller and Brock Boeser.
Give me a break. There is an obvious established definition for a 2C which is one of the ~30th-60th best centers in the league.
