Sure. I wanted to give Kähkönen a better chance, but that's not really relevant to my point here. My point is that CMac and Bednar clearly don't see eye to eye at all when it comes to that position. We saw it with Annunen, we saw it with Kähkönen. CMac believed in these guys being at least some sort of an answer, while Bednar didn't want to give a sniff to either guy really.
So if the disconnect is evident in the goaltending department, what's it like with the other players? I think Pärssinen is another example. Bednar clearly doesn't want to give him a better chance, even though he has played decent and the performance of other centers (notably Mittelstadt and even Kelly) would warrant him getting a longer look at #2C. Instead, Bednar goes and throws Rantanen to #2C.
I'm personally willing to give the team more of the benefit of the doubt.
With Annunen, Colorado needed to run with him for a while, but he couldn't hack it. We saw right away Wedgewood could and it really helped turn the season around. Nashville is giving Annunen work similar to what he had last year (~1gm/week) and he's doing really well. I wish him nothing but the best, except when playing the Avs.
With Parssinen, my take may go against the grain. Nashville was scratching him and the underlying metrics were ugly, and I just wasn't a fan of the move relative to the cost (3rd rounder). I think he's had a couple of good moments here, but overall has been just another 4th line body. In both of the last two games, he was partially or directly responsible for the goals the 4th line gave up. I don't want to blow those two goals out of proportion; they were the only 5v5 goals against he's been on the ice for in his time with the Avs. I'm just saying that when I've noticed Parssinen lately, it's been more bad than good.
That said, I get it, he's playing with Innala and Ivan, which is not exactly the most ideal situation to flourish in. But at the same time, I don't think the Avs are a lineup tweak away from Parssinen exploding. I think there's still a decent chance he can be a difference maker with more time (and opportunity) in the future, but I personally don't think he's there yet.
If what I said there was a bunch of gobbledygook, I'll sum up my opinion by saying I'm betting on the house. They've gotten things right so many times when it comes to personnel. I can think of many, many players who've left and stayed the same or saw their play dip. But I can't think of single player who's left town and took a clear step forward, to the point it was obvious Colorado was misutilizing them.
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