BUX7PHX
Registered User
- Jul 7, 2011
- 5,581
- 1,350
Maybe it is difficult when there is little to develop.
Talking about the years from 2006 until Chayka truly took over in 2015:
2006: Mueller - we started to develop him in 07-08 and 08-09. Then he said, "I don't want to play defense or learn to get better at it," and fell into the doghouse. At some point, you have to be able to play away from the puck and better defensively, or you can't keep up. His first year with any team has always been his best year, and then he declines. Summers, Ahnelov, Latal, Bendfeld, Frank, Benn Ferriero were our other picks. Ferreiro played in a total of 98 NHL games over four seasons. You can't develop what doesn't have the ability and talent to develop further.
2007: Turris - this is probably one of the only players with a legitimate complaint against. He was sent to San Antonio to learn how to play against men and gain strength and physicality. He balked at that and assumed that we were holding him back in doing so. He hasn't even been an All-Star at this point, and is probably exactly what he is: a 0.6 PPG center. Ross, MacLean, Gistedt, Ruzicka, Goncharov, and Darling. Darling was an alcoholic. MacLean had the heart condition. Again - which one of these players did we technically "fail" to develop?
I could go on, but same story: incredibly poor drafting leads to getting players who don't have a great development path b/c their ceilings are so low.
Bottom line is that 80% of our failures to develop players were b/c they didn't have the talent to become everyday NHLers.
Michael Stone? We developed him and I don't think anyone could complain about that.
Schlemko? Did anyone think that he would see significant time in the NHL?
Boedker? We at least started it, but then he pretty much hit his ceiling.
Martinook? We developed him decently, but again, he was an overager by two seasons, if I recall, so he was already a little more mature than others.
It is tough when you draft poorly and can't stay the course, OR the course is altered by individuals who don't give it their all - looking specifically at Turris and Strome there.
When you look at development, again, most development has already occurred. The next course of development is gaining muscle and maintaining skating ability, which are primarily done in the offseason. On ice, it is a matter of making the mental decisions quicker and understanding small aspects of the game, mainly on the mental side of things. Shielding the puck better against the boards, as an example, is something that most players are already aware of how to do, but small adjustments may need to be made to deal with the speed of the game once the puck is split out from the scrum. If the players need to spend that much time on developing that aspect of the game, they aren't going to make it in the NHL or AHL anyhow.
