Fair enough but I am not sure than many fans can (or do) separate the player from the acquisition as easily as you do. Also, there is a good chunk of the fanbase that appear to see him as far more than a 2nd/3rd line tweener and I have been struggling to figure out why. I suspect that struggle will continue.
Sven is an interesting comparable as I think he is better than 77 will ever be but still not a legitimate top 6 on a good team. I can't recall him ever getting the love that 77 gets, although I don't read everything posted here so maybe I am off on that, and suspect that part of that is the fact that 47 cost a second rounder.
In any event, I suspect the debate on 77 will last as long as he is on the team.
I agree they don't. We all have inherent biases towards everything and it takes effort to try to ignore them and I just think I'm okay at it because what I do for a living requires it to some extent. I also think that's how analytics should be applied, and Dubas actually gave a lecture about this years ago where he said that analytics should be applied to remove these biases. You don't look at analytics alone, you use the eye test along with analytics and when they don't match up you look into it further to resolve it.
It's just in this instance I don't think the positive opinions towards Goldobin are particularly biased. I think there is enough data to show he's playing well and IMO the eye test backs this up. The problem is he's a tweener, albeit one closer to the 2nd line than not, who is continuing to improve and working hard to improve defensively. He had a drought where I thought he played well and was just getting robbed, hitting posts etc. Then he had a period where to me it looked like he was trying to hard to get out of the drought and trying to force passes through leading to turnovers.
Baertschi has some mixed reactions, but I think people overwhelmingly like him. I see him as a player who has nights where he looks like the best player on the ice and then others where he's clearly cold, but doesn't really cost you either. Personally I think Baertschi is a player who might be a playoff performer as when he's focused he's pretty good and he's actually a rock on his skates.
It's too Baertschi he has yet another concussion, which I think may be his fifth, and I think almost certainly another one will end his career. Personally I think there is a decent chance he hangs them up from this one if he doesn't recover soon. He didn't exactly get crushed with that hit and given how his recovery has gone you have to wonder how easily he'll get another one and how bad it will be if he gets a bad headshot.
Goldobin absolutely may never develop into a player that is a legit 2nd liner on a contending team, but I don't think his development has stopped so I don't see a reason to be down on him. If he plays at this level for the rest of his career I may agree with you, and he very well may have peaked right now, but he's a 23 year old who in my eyes has show consistent improvement. Also there are lots of good teams that have a #6 forward that is kind of a "high end" 40+ point tweener. IMO a 40-50 point winger that doesn't cost you defensively is fine even on a contending team if the contract is right so you can have depth elsewhere.
Honestly I don't care so much about size and grit in the bottom 6, if he can play well defensively and fill in on the PP or move up in case of injury I'm happy. Malhotra was a clear upgrade but Wellwood was definitely a good 3C and extremely underrated because of his size. He won faceoffs, he won puck battles, and he was able to chip in. He wasn't even able to move up the lineup like Goldobin potentially could. Similarly Raymond was a guy who could play on the 3rd line as he was fine defensively, could play the PK, and when he gets hot he can fill in for someone on the 2nd line.
If Goldobin continues to score at a 40pt pace on the 2nd line but keeps improving defensively I wouldn't mind him as a 30pt guy playing 3LW. That is assuming he does keep getting better defensively, though.
