Not sure if I said that already but Sanford is like a taller winger version of Tierney. He doesn't engage a lot and has an average skillset. You have to play him with good players to "get him going" (like they did in St. Louis with RoR and Perron)
He's a NHLer though so let's see what he can do. Hopefully he can find some chemistry and have a decent statistical year so we'll be able to get a 3rd back for him at the deadline, which would recover the 3rd that was used at the 2016 draft to trade up from 12th to 11th to select Logan Brown.
This is hindsight bias and searching for justifications.
His injuries are tied to his conditioning, his effort, his attitude etc. Everyone faces the risk of injury. While some are "unlucky", many players over come their luck and succeed anyway.
It's not like there's this other universe where all these flame outs are Gretzky because they didn't tweak their backs.
He had his chances. He's had years to get healthy. This isn't a guy who had a series of freak injuries like Achilles cuts and Torres blind side hits.
His play, fitness, style etc are not suited to this profession.
Winners find a way to succeed.
Sorry for the delay, I try to answer to every post I was quoted for. Sometimes I forget when things get busy
You can call it "hindsight bias" and "searching for justifications" and it's fine. Personally, I call it REALITY. From my personal experience and everything I have observed so far in life, "opportunity" is a real thing.
One thing I won't do is pretend that I know exactly why he keeps getting injured. I just don't have even close to enough information to put a judgement on his "conditioning, his effort, his attitude". Maybe he didn't work hard enough to be more resistant but again, I don't have this information and I simply don't talk about things I know nothing about.
Like I have tried to explain, covid and injuries are not something you fully control (not even close to 100%) and in this case, it affected Brown's opportunity. I know first hand that Covid changed things for a lot of people. I was in a process of buying a new business but then I completely changed my plans.
Another thing I won't do is talk in absolute, like if it was 100% over for Logan Brown, simply because I don't have a crystal ball. He's 23 y/o and might get other opportunities in a better situation/fit for him.
I haven't seen anyone saying "he'd be Gretzky IF", not even close. My hope from the start was that he could be a poor man's Spezza. However, it doesn't seem like his skating has improved like Spezza managed to do back then
All that being said, of course if he never makes it he will be the main responsible (assist to his dad?). I am just saying that so far, things out of his control really didn't help (repeating, 14 games in 20 months?). It's "hindsight bias" to you, reality to me. We all see things differently. Some think the covid vaccine was made to decimate populations or mind control people, then some other people like me think it's "just another vaccine" to improve life expectancy
Would you claim him back on waivers with C.White out 4-6 months?
No, I think the Sens wanted to give him a "fair chance" in training camp but it's most likely him and his dad who didn't want to stay in Ottawa. Maybe his father pushed for him to being traded to St-Louis, which was another shitty advice (if it was the case) because the Blues forward group is way too deep and established.
Like I said before, his best bet would be to go to a team with zero expectations (like Buffalo/Arizona) to try and establish himself as a NHL player. Keep in mind he has played ONLY 14 pro games in the last 20 months... Not only he has to establish himself but he also to "rebuild himself". Hard to see him succeed on a team like the Blues. It would require injuries/chemistry
I think one of the 8 teams who finished below the Sens last season will claim him, a team with no pressure to win, who can spend whole team trying to make a NHL player out of him