Really good post. But none of this would have been required if bergy had ****ing found a young no 2 c the last four years.
And pleks was a lot younger with kovy and cammy.
After plek's last year fall off and given his age now I fear that he is going to be a negative for rad. A player that has come halfway round the world and needs to adjust.
That's why people have been so hard with this management towards their usage of Galchenyuk.
Everyone understands taking your time with a young player. That's why nobody ever really argued that we needed to play Galchenyuk as our top 2 center right from his rookie year.
Most have argued he should have been getting a top 2 center role no sooner than his 3rd year, and by then, he would be comfortable at center from his previous years in lower lines, instead of just putting him there randomly and sporadically with very little planning behind.
The vast majority here assumed, once we drafted Galch, that we would focus building our team up front around him.
We had a new management coming in, there was zero pressure to perform right away, in fact, most expected a few years of rebuild process.
So people thought, year one, Galchenyuk would center at the most the 3rd line. Considering we had Plek-DD-Eller, and Galch had performed well on the wing before, it was only normal to keep Galch on the wing for his rookie year. Anyways it was half a season due to the lockout, he was coming off a major injury, and we had three centers already. DD was set to become an UFA during the summer, so it all made sense. Use Galch at the wing, see what Eller could do in a more offensive role to possibly take over DD's minutes when we let him go next summer.
The following season, we would have Plek again as #1, Eller gets a shot at #2 and Galchenyuk would start his development at center on the 3rd line in sheltered minutes. From there, you would know that in the off season, you let DD go and focus on bringing top 6 wingers. Good or bad, you keep Galch at center.
Where we finish isn't overly important as we are in a rebuilding mode..right?
In year three, our free agent signings/trades depends on how things went the previous season. Galch and Eller fight it off at camp to see who gets the 2nd center spot, or we adapt as the season progress, give more opportunities to the hotter center. We do, however, give all three centers their fair share of rotation on the PP.
By year four, hopefully Galch is ready to take over top line center spot.
Now, maybe by then, he would have already developed quite well and taken over the top spot. Depends on his performance.
I think that's what most of the posters imagined would happen once we drafted Galch. Now, it's also possible that along the way, Galch just struggles too much and we need to change the plan. That's a possibility that also needs to be mentioned.
But we didn't even try and see. Instead we re-signed DD to a ridiculous deal, penciling him as a top 2 center for pretty much another 4 years, which meant keeping Galch on the wing longer and not developing much of Eller's offensive game. Not only that, but finally, when we decided that we would use him as a center, just how much did this organize plan??? Hmm...well, they decided to give him a 3rd line center who has always been uncomfortable on the wing and who's offensive potential was barely explored, and the player with the worst reputation in the NHL who just got bought out....
Wow. Way to put all the odds in his corner. I mean really. Are you trying to make him fail so you can then say ''see..we tried and he's not good enough??''...How are you not bringing in good reliable wingers for him to play with when you finally decide to make him a center..?..
So ya, it's not just Bergy messing up bringing in another top 2 center. He didn't even have to. He drafted a big center with the potential of being a top one but barely even explored that option. Absolute insanity.
