Hartford, which I have been very critical of, hasn't been completely worthless in developing guys as the season has progressed. They're a bad team, but there has been some good individual improvement.
Lindgren is a good example. I thought he was pretty steady to start the year but he definitely got better as the year went on. IMO he's an NHL-caliber player right now that's down there due to numbers and nothing else.
Fogarty is having a career year. His scoring has kind of come out of nowhere. He has obviously absorbed something over the past couple seasons and was able to put it to use this year.
Gettinger has been pretty good this year. Better than I thought. Not a disappointment, at least. He had some struggled after the dreaded "upper body injury" but otherwise is having a nice season in all facets.
Gropp's overall game has improved. He's not going to be that scorer we hoped he'd be but he's now doing enough other things that you hold out a little hope that he could see some games in a bottom six role eventually. Where we failed with Tambellini, we might at least turn Gropp into a guy who sees an NHL ice surface.
Day could be another one. You have to credit Maine's staff with helping him, too, but he's a much more competent player now than he was in October. Time will tell on him, but I'm good with his progress.
So, all in all, I think it's not a great environment, but a few guys have succeeded to varying degrees. This ignores Hajek. Of course, guys like Bigras, Fontaine, Lettieri, Meskanen, and O'Gara have stagnated or regressed. Bit of a mixed bag...more negative than positive, probably, but not a total waste.
