Yes, Dallas fans said this, I never did. So it doesn't really affect my opinion. I liked Nuke in his draft year and was pretty shocked when he didn't pan out. His resurgence isn't really surprising to me. I've watched enough of Poolparty to know that the hype begins and ends with his draft position. I don't see him ever being a top 6 player and he's just not a guy that I want in my bottom 6. I know there hasn't been much consistency with coaches in Edmonton but I've never come away from watching him being impressed, or seeing any of this 'high IQ'.
And that goes for Bura too, I was a fan of his before he was in an Avs uni. It's always been obvious that Bura had skills and had a great playoff run with WSH. (admittedly never saw too much of NAK before he came to the Avs but Flyers fans were pretty pissed they waived him). But we are passed the point of low-risk, high-reward reclamation types IMO. That's good for where we were a few years ago as a team on the rise looking to stock the cupboard. But now that we are in win-now mode, I'm not about wasting assets on any more 'maybes', and more into targeting sure things. Like a Manson or a Lehkonen. Guys you know what you're going to get, and paying to get what you want. And like I said if we are looking for a low cost reclamation guy, someone like Svechnikov is a much better target and will cost much less. He's physical and can play with talent. He's much more the Nuke-lite type
people are wanting out of Poolparty, and will succeed more in a system like ours IMO.
If Pulju gets traded here or elsewhere and thrives, I'll happily eat crow. But if you can't produce next to McDavid or Draisaitl and can't be relied upon defensively in the bottom 6, I don't really see it happening anywhere else.
