Frenzy1 said:
multimoodia said:
He deserved it. The player Schmaltz was deserved a lot of scorn, thankfully he stopped playing that way.
What? He played on the top pairing with Forbert as a Freshman. He was a dominant player in the USHL the year he was drafted. I get that people ripped the pick, but he wasn't considered a reach at that time. He didn't just suddenly put it all together last season - as a Freshman he had to earn his time and focus on his defensive game - which he has. Unlike Vannelli, who went the CHL route, he has had to learn the dside of things first.
And yes, I went with Schmaltz here.
So, this was from a previous thread and I need to explain why Schmaltz is the best answer here for pick #6 (unless you have enough sense to vote Beach, but obviously that's not going to happen yet)
Schmaltz, when he was drafted was scared of physical play. He was not disinclined to play that way, he was not "finesse" he was flatly afraid of getting hit. I watched several of his games and someone I know quite well was at the Gambler games a lot.
While Schmaltz that season had showed he was fantastic offensively he was very raw and according to the Gambler watcher, Schmaltz had been coasting for some time because of his natural talent.
He was horrendous in his own zone (Phanuef level giveaways multiple times a game) in part because he was trying to avoid being hit.
He cheated forward so often you could have sworn he was a forward, his interest in defense was...inconsistent to put it nicely.
His maneuverability was bad and the only way he could skate was forward. Backpeddling was an adventure and side-to-side was anything but good.
There were games where he dominated, and there were games where he was actually a negative for the team.
However, since joining ND he has completely changed his game for the better. I can now see him skating in all three zones and in all directions with authority. He's not overly physical, but he is willing now to take a hit to deliver a pass or to clear the zone.
His IQ in the defensive zone has blossomed, it's not perfect (but what younger player's ever is?) but it is more than passable and it can be built from.
When the draft was made Schmaltz's best case scenario, if he didn't seriously adapt his game, was a slower Dennis Wideman.
Today? You can see that he could be a perfectly adequate replacement for Shattenkirk in a few years if Shatty decides to price himself out of the Blues plans. He's an exciting, responsible player that actually may have a good future in the NHL.
So, hats off to Schmaltz. His improvements rewarded the Blues' scouting staff trust in him and ultimately showed why the Blues' scouting staff does what they do for a living and why I don't.
I'm still not forgiving them for taking Scott Jackson over Stastny though.