I think that is just being overly critical to try to create a narrative?
I thought he was a first round talent in his draft year. My only concern with him is he might not provide as much offense as I previously thought. I think he absolutely can still carve out a middle pair role and be a guy who logs a pretty decent amount of minutes.
Having a ++ size/skating combo is pretty big in today's game. And sometimes those guys just take a bit longer to figure it out. Like we saw Broberg turn it up in the playoffs last year, finally.
We have seen with Wallilnder he takes a bit to get acclimated when he joins a new league. Usually his 2nd year in that league is much better than the 1st, as
@The Zetterberg Era pointed out. He was always someone with tools who was billed as being raw and needing time. I think he is on a perfectly fine trajectory and projects to a bigger minute role if he hits than a majority of the other defenseman in our pipeline. For those reasons I think it is kind of silly to put a even more raw even more boom/bust guy like Plante ahead of him.
I agree that, if he reaches whatever ceiling we want to put on him, that it's going to take longer. I mean, it's already taking longer. Which is not a problem. I'm happy to give him the runway, I'm not writing him off completely, and I hope he proves me wrong. But a lot has been written about him on this forum since he was drafted, and when I watched him a couple times in person late last season, the Wallinder I saw on the ice did not match the one often described here. The holes in his game were more pronounced than I expected, and while, yes, they can be fixed and improved upon, there is a lot more to work on than usually discussed. And some things, like compete and offensive ability, are not things guys usually take a big leap forward with. You either have it or you don't.
He really, really is going to need to learn how to defend if he's going to be anything more than bottom-pair. A non-physical, leaky defender with minimal offense is just not top-4 material, regardless of his size, skating, and transition game. So while some posters are curious to see how his offense develops this season, for me it's his defense that is far more important in terms of his NHL prospects.
I don't put much stock in the "he takes a year to acclimate to a new league." First, that's most players. Second, even when true, it doesn't matter much in terms of NHL projections, because it doesn't really apply to the final jump to the highest league. Beyond average improvement from year 1 to year 2, very rarely does it hold true when guys make the transition to the NHL. I hope you're right though, that Wallinder takes a big jump this season.
As for Plante vs Wallinder... the Wallinder pick was a home run swing that is really no closer to being a home run today than the day he was drafted. His deficiencies are pronounced. Plante, as a recent pick, could rise or plummet on prospect lists pretty quick. He's more of a clean slate. For that reason, it may be flimsy to have him ahead of Wallinder, but it's not silly. Both are very much in the same tier of prospects.
