Claypool
Registered User
- Jan 12, 2009
- 13,670
- 4,352
Jurco still has a big ceiling. It does go without saying that Glendening is more important at this point in time though. In terms of team value Glendening has a ton. Jurco though has more value in NHL circles as an asset and with good reason. He has a lot of tools, he is young and continuing to improve.
But it isn't wrong as of today to say
Glendening>Jurco
It is actually quite correct. Glendening knows his role and excels in it, Jurco has given a lot of effort but has yet to define his role. A part of that is he can do more given his skill set, but he is still learning. I think it will come, we need to be patient with him and I expect that the Wings will be.
For the right return I move Jurco... But there is no reason to call him useless, in fact I think he comes out the other end of this struggle the better player, much like he did in the AHL or Junior where he didn't start necessarily to the expectations of the skill set you saw on ice. He puts in the work and has tons of effort, I think it will pay off eventually just probably not this year for the big club.
Let's see how our boy Luke does on the top line with Datsyuk and Tatar for a couple more games before anointing him. I remember pretty vividly everyone thought Glendening was useless a season ago. The fact is Jurco is playing in the NHL full-time way before any other Detroit prospect has in a long, long time. He put up 30 career points in 80 or so games, which is pretty respectable for any young player at his age.
Pulkkinen hasn't produced at Jurco's level, yet everyone seems to claim he's a more useful player after 12 games. But it's whatever, because the team isn't playing well people need to find a scape goat, and they think moving a player that's not even a defensive liability is the answer instead of letting him grow.