The silly thing is people for some reason want to trash Cates for not being Frost.
Apples and oranges, both are key players going forward, top teams need both offensive centers and elite defensive players.
I think people want to trash Tippett b/c CF traded for him. The guy has limitations, but he's scored 26 goals his first season as a full-time starter, and has the 2nd best xGFrel among all Flyer forwards (JVR is 1st, but in a much more sheltered role). He plays hard, makes things happen with his size and speed, back checks consistently, and showed improvement all season. What's not to like?
Yes, Frost might have scored slightly more with TK instead of Tippett, but he'd have also been on the ice for more goals against. So what's the point? Only scoring matters? Defense doesn't help to win games?
Now this is a topic I don't mind discussing with you.
No one is specifically trashing Cates, let me rephrase. I'm not trashing Cates. I think he's a perfectly fine middle 6 player. I prefer him at LW, but he's done well at center, defensively. He's been a good, and has positive value. One of the few guys in the league whose defensive metrics actually outweigh his offensive metrics to the point of a positive player. That's very hard to do and he should be applauded for that. I have significant worry that much of his offensive metrics are tied his linemates, but he still performed well.
When it comes to Frost vs Cates, (which again, I don't know why we have to do it this way but we do...) the issue is that Frost came in with the offensive pedigree, basically at both the AHL and juniors. One thing about development is whatever plus skill a player exhibits at lower levels, you want to see that at the next level. Once you stop seeing, that that's a cause for concern. So when it comes to Frost, you want to see his positive playmaking, and offensive acumen. He was never going to be able to show his ability playing with the NDs and the Zack MacEwen's types.
Cates never had that high-level offensive game Frost had, but when it came time to make the lineups, Cates was gifted better offensive linemates (we can agree to disagree there, you're wrong, but we can agree to disagree). TK and Farabee are better linemates than Tippett and JvR - they just are.
When it comes to Tippett, I've grown to like him as a complementary middle-6 forward. He is one of the fastest players with puck on his stick, particularly at his size. He doesn't look like he's moving that fast, and then just blows right by defenders. I do like his compete and his effort. My current 'issue' with Tippett is that he's not the most aware player. Once the puck gets in the zone and they setup, his athletic skill set kind of gets lost. He can't use that acceleration or speed. Maybe he needs a bit more time, and maybe he can develop more of that skill - not holding my breath on that, but maybe. There reasons to believe a regression may happen with him next season, but there are also reason to suggest he'll continue his production. It's nice to have him a 1.5M for one more year to confirm. I'll say this tho, if he doesn't show more development in the in zone portion of the game, I'm not looking forward to giving him a long term contract. His impact is directly tied to his plus athleticism, once that goes you're looking at diminished returns. We can talk contract next season.
Finally, no one knows what the net impact would have been if Frost was given Cates' linemates, and you can't pretend you do.
