Speculation: Where will MacArthur fit on his return?

[aragorn]

MacArthur - Lazar - Bailey

That's interesting.

Can they still send Lazar to Bingo w/o waivers?

Beat me to it but I'm guessing they may wait to see how Mac does after the first few hits.

According to Capfriendly, no.

But not counting O'Connor on "emergency loan" we only have a 22 man roster right now, and that is WITH 3 goalies.

edit: that is 22 counting Mac....so yeah, not much reason to waive Lazar.

Except that he is young & it's better for his development to keep him playing a lot & in every situation & in Bingo to get him scoring as much as possible.

Hammy must be wondering why they are not asking Mac to go to Bingo for a conditioning stint.

I like Lazar too.

Comparing him to Kelly, Neil , Pyatt....

He should be better than either of those players hands down but it is close.

Kelly - could be argued that he is better defensively and has more trust and brings that vet presence that he was signed for ? (rightly/wrongly)

Neil - still brings a harder hitting, keep the opposition honest element that Lazar does not. Plus Neil has been playing ok overall in his limited role.

Pyatt - Has shown a little more offense. Is responsible and has Boucher's trust as well.

Keeping Lazar over any one of those guys is possible no doubt, but its not a slam dunk.

They may rotate them in and out. 3 play one sits ...next up ... keep them all in the game and give Kelly and Neil some games off.

Those guys have a ton of experience over Lazar & each excels in maybe one thing better than Lazar, but I would send him down to get him to play more minutes in every situation in a scoring role & to continue to build his confidence especially in offensive situations. Lazar seems to have the drive, the speed & defensive ability but seems to lack some offensive skills or smarts. He has decent size to hit & go to the net & cause a nuisance & look to poke in rebounds. If he can improve on his offensive abilities I could see him as a 3rd line centre on this team.

 

[Answer]

Lazar playing on the 4th line for the majority of the season, along with injury problem, of course he will not produce. With that said, offensive talent can't be coached. He doesn't have any offensive skills (see Dzingle). Only thing he can be taught is to play like a power-forward and use his body to protect the puck around the net and get those greasy, garbage goals. That will make him a solid 20-20 3rd liner. There just isn't anything more to his game, except of course being physical and playing a good defensive game.