CBJWerenski8
Formerly CBJWennberg10 (RIP Kivi)
- Jun 13, 2009
- 42,463
- 24,409
Or maybe he see's their high end potential and knows they are still young players who still have an opportunity to reach said potential. It's not like they are 30 years old and are heading to the khl to finish out their careers.
However this will be a big year for both as they are both expected to take on more responsibility.
Sure, but that wasn't what Jarmo said.
How many times, in reference to Texier and Bemstrom, did he say they were "ready to not only make the team, but make a big impact on the team" or something around those lines? And yeah, I get that he's just trying to build their confidence and hype up the kids (what's he going to say, they're going to make the team and toll on the 4th line for a few years?) but you still have to take his comments seriously. To this point, Jarmo has set those two up with pretty decent expectations only for them not to meet them.
I'm far from calling them busts or finished products. They're not, they're like 23 years old or something, but Jarmo has certainly set the bar higher than what they've produced to this point. Hopefully this is the year they clear it.
In regards to this now Johnson vs Sillinger (because of course it has to be VS) debate. I do think Johnson has way higher upside and the Sillinger is NHL ready stuff is kind of ridiculous to me. I think Johnson possesses more "game breaking" offensive upside while Sillinger possesses more NHL qualities that will likely develop into an NHLer. I believe both need time, they both have weaknesses in their skating among other things, but Johnson is the better prospect while Sillinger is the "safer" one. They're both immensely valuable and should be big time players for us in the nearish future.