Hopefully Hutton comes back soon so at least Boucher or Megna will get back to Utica. Unless another injury hits or a trade at the deadline?
Please don't take this the wrong way. This post is not directed at you, but it's the starting point of what I need to say. Sorry.
It doesn't matter who the Canucks send down, take up, trade away, fail to replace or acquire for the Comets. They are not supposed to win anyways. Their sole purpose is to produce NHL players and they are woefully a failure in that respect. It doesn't matter that any good rookie has been inserted into the Canucks lineup, whereas in a successful program there wouldn't have been room for them and they would all have started out in the AHL, developed, and then moved up as older bodies were moved out.
The rookies like Cassels should be first line centers skating with the best wings on the team, but they can't be vets because that would mean rookies don't get the best roles and lose ice time to the vets. The wingers like Carcone deserve top notch centers, but they can't be vets because that would deprive the rookie centers of their prime developmental opportunities.
The D prospects should be on the PP and killing penalties and facing the opponents top lines. It doesn't matter what all of these rookies do to the defensive landscape for the goalie prospect who is also supposed to get the majority of the starts because after all the league is for development. So being thrown to the wolves is okay. How else can he get developed?
So playing all these kids in all those top roles would be fine because all of the other AHL teams do it this way as well and therefore they would not be facing older far superior talent. The young D wouldn't be going up against veteran AHL/NHL forwards because the other team doesn't employ this type of player either. The young forwards wouldn't face top AHL/NHL vet D-men and hard hitting shut down AHL/NHL vet forwards. It's a league of kids and old plugs. DREAM WORLD or what?
The league says you get 6 vets, but according to our posting experts they shouldn't be able to eclipse a rookie in any way. Guys like Grenier aren't prospects. They are already busts and he should be on a line with Hamilton and Bancks because skating on the first line deprives budding stars like Carcone the position he needs to fill. Interesting because when I said he really shouldn't be considered a prospect, I was strongly informed that yes he was.
Green has not developed any players. When I disprove that, I'm still wrong because those guys developed in spite of him. He hasn't made any 4th, 5th, 6th, or non drafted guys into NHL guys. What a ***** coach.
When guys leave this organization they play better and when good guys come in they play worse. Jensen is better in Hartford because he has been given the chance to shine whereas Green hogtied him. Friesen sucks the bed in Chicago after having played a much larger role here, but that's because he sucks anyways. The explanations just keep flip-flopping to make themselves correct.
There are apparently no such things as busts coming in from Jrs. Cole Cassels was a 3rd round pick and was a "star". All 3rd round Jr stars hit big in the pros. The guy simply flat out is not good vs the talent level he now faces. He gets a regular shift every game centering 2 guys the experts here claim have to be good, Carcone (unsigned star in Jrs) and Rendulic (scored 38 points last season, but only 8 the year before). They all should be putting up the same kind of numbers and progressing to the NHL. The NHL must have 100 teams since every AHL team gets these same type of guys and just like here they they should be on their way to the show as well. The reality is almost none of these guys make it to the next level. If they can carve out a career in the AHL it's a big deal.
The real good ones rarely stay in the AHL long and there are a handful of those annually. The rest have a couple seasons and then are pushed to the side as the newer arrivals get more attention.
In year one it was Corrado, Jensen, Grenier. All 3 got time with the Canucks and did not shine brightly enough to be brought into the fold, which didn't have a whole lot of room anyways. Jensen and Grenier are AHL All-Stars. Corrado has been press boxed for 3 consecutive seasons in Vancouver and Toronto. Apparently just good enough to keep on an NHL roster for emergency useage, but not good enough to make the game day roster.
Year 2 it was Kenins, Gaunce, and Shinkaruk. Kenins got NHL lots of NHL time in the first season. Like many rookies he looked good for a short stretch and then he fell into the non productive class. He suffered an injury, went home and missed the Comets' Playoff run. the following season the Canucks gave him another try and washed their hands of him. His Utica season wasn't anything to write home about and he is now back in the Swiss league and not performing there either. Guess that one's on Green.
Shink was progressing at nearly a PPG in his soph. year, leading the team in goals and points. AHL All-Star. Traded. Green is so bad.
Gaunce is a Canuck. Is WD deploying him correctly? Is he busting? Ss a good fit as a bottom line player? Is he destined to be sent back to the AHL and forgotten? Maybe Cassels can take his spot. He's ready but poor coach Green just doesn't recognize his skill set.
Year 3 the rookies are Cassels, LaBate, Subban, and Sautner.
Cassels is so beat up from his final Jr. year he skates like he's in midgets. He can't control the puck. Can't make a pass. Can't even flip the puck out of his zone when under pressure. Gets knocked around by every player who gets to him. Spends most of his time in the neutral zone following his line in and chasing the opponents back. Write the year off to injury, rehab, acclimation to bigger, faster, stronger opposition. This year he skates better, but not to the level of his competition. The argument is he isn't getting time in a bigger role. #1 he can't keep up with the top skaters on his team so that won't work. He gets to play against guys on the 3rd lines and he can't succeed against them either. He's a center. We should some maneuverability, some stick skills, some puck movement, play making, you know stuff centers do. Nope. Rendulic, Carcone, and LaBate when he was healthy carry the puck, they dig the corners, they do the fore checking, they do all the heavy work. His best contribution is on the back check because he's the highest player in the zone and thus the first guy able to get back. This is all on that coach again. Can't be the player, right?
I'll give you Sautner in one line. He appears to have been a signing that could have been used on another player.
Subban is improving immensely. Problem is he entered his pro season with horrendous defensive knowledge. He is getting there, but people have no patience. His offense is top notch. He is now an AHL All-Star. I think Green is doing great things with the 21 yr-old.co. Oh, but he is not as good as Hutton or Stecher so there won't be room for him anyways, some posters. He should have been developed well enough to be there already. They are both older and played developed in the NCAA (Hutton 23/3yrs.) and (Stetcher 22/3yrs). The college players get way more coaching and work on their physical development in much more concerted and controlled environment than Jrs. Give Subban the extra time to catch up for cripe's sake.
LaBate has been in Vancouver this season already,came to Utica and was looking good, got hurt, and is still out week to week. The hope from all i read is he can become a 3rd liner, but at least a solid 4th. That seem to be the verdict on the majority of current pick ups and developing pros. How many guys at this level can one NHL team have?
Year 4. Forget it. There was only one guy here with NHL talent and he's already there.
McEneny is progressing very well, but with Vancouver's current crop, he will be an AHL player for a while yet. Whether he is a late bloomer and will get better and better remains to be seen.
Maybe with a year or two of experience Carcone gets stronger and learns the nuances of the game better, but right now his promise is highly questionable. Telling us he did so well in preseason and now sucks must be because Green is not developing him is ridiculous. he skated in pre-season against guys of his similar ilk and pros who go through the motions to get their legs and timing down. How many kids look good in preseason and are never heard from again as soon as the next young crop comes through? Valk was the best example before Carcone. Everyone loves to hitch their wagons to the upstart, undersized, undrafted rookie making a sudden splash. Most drown at the higher competition level. Valk has had 3 seasons to find success in the AHL. He's skating on what serves as Utica's top line. Given the talent of past seasons he would be centering Archi and someone like LaBate on the 3rd line and maybe putting up even better numbers. Curtis will not be an NHL player. If Carcone can reach the same level in three seasons he becomes a feel good story just like Curtis.
The Comets are not a talented team. Do you think Archibald is now NHL ready? Again? The Canucks released him. The Comets signed him. Last season the Comets rescued him off an ECHL roster. Now he's the second leading scorer on the team, but who else is there? It's AHL All-Star bust Grenier, ECHL grad feel good story Valk, and plug become star feelgood story Archibald.
The entire rest of this team has every opportunity to reach for the ring and make a huge splash. The floor is open to anyone ready to take center stage. Jake Virtanen is a #6 overall pick and has skated on every line except Cassels'. I suppose he could try that as well. No one has clipped his wings. he is free to show any offensive talent he possesses. This situation is ideal for him to take the reins and tear things up. Is he doing it? not even close. he doesn't need better line mates. He needs to make any line mates look real gud by displaying the skills he supposedly has that made him that desirable in the draft.
He's done having excuses. It's getting time for him to put up or shut up. I agree he needs this season and maybe all of next to be ready, but Shinkaruk with one arm, a much smaller weak body, and no knowledge of how to play at this level scored 16 goals in his rookie season. Jake should be expected to at least match that. He's played 33 games and has 33 more to go until the season ends. A guy with his credentials should be highly capable of 16 goals in 66 AHL games and most in Vancouver would pronounce that as proof he is a bust.
This is my final post on this subject. Like him or not, Green has worked miracles with the talent he received in 3 of his 4 seasons. As a coach that makes him very good. Whether you want to give him any credit for the development of players going forward form when they arrive is up to you. i know where i stand on the topic. I know what he does with his players. How many one on ones he has with them. They like playing for him. He gets what they have and sometimes much more. If you can't accept that what he gets may just be all they have to offer, I can't agree with you. I haven't seen any great talent go down the drain due to his lack of work and coaching with any players.
They get ice and more ice and more ice. He gives them all the rope they need to hang themselves or show him they don't need the rope. He turns the mistakes around one by one and you can see them disappear and the better player emerge. Some just don't seem to have the ability to fix it (Sautner) and some just appear too bull headed to make an adjustment (Jensen at first and Pedan now) and some lack the actual hockey IQ to put it to work in game conditions (very possibly Virtanen). Then there are those that no coaching can help because the skills are just not there for this level of play just like some good players here just don't have the talent to play at the NHL level. All the ice time in the world with the best line arrangements won't matter. The greatest coach in the world does not change that either, if any of us even know who that is. No coach is loved by all. They all have their fans and haters.
I'm a believer in what Travis Green does and that makes me a target for those who are not. Therefore this is it for me on Travis Green and the philosophy of player development. You won't alter my opinion and I won't alter yours. Enough head banging on brick walls. My head is getting sore. I conclude with, "You can't make a silk purse from a sow's ear." "You can't make chicken salad out of chicken ****." "You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink." "You can't make mountains out of mole hills."
There is NO chance of that happening. None.
