You do like pivoting onto other things when you get called out to obscure your mistaken point.
Your perspective is very narrow-minded and lacking context with respect to only using 2022-23 season for Z. We were in a playoff spot when Verbeek inherited the team in 2021-22, when Z was a rookie who posted 61 points (23g, 38a).
Learning to play defense as an offensive-minded talent will take years to develop. This was explicitly explained by Getzlaf in a podcast when presented with a hypothetical of creating a team to choose a young McDavid or prime Crosby. Getz chose Crosby because Getz said it takes years to develop a 200-ft game. Z was learning how to play defense and was benched often if he made an egregious mistake under Eakins. But Eakins was indiscriminate to benching players who made mistakes or were not up to par to playing such as helping to waive Rico during COVID season. Under Cronin, Z gets picked on more than other players b/c he's Z. What did help change Z's mind about being a 200-ft player was also being benched at World Championships.
I find contradictions in your diatribe.
- You don't like using stats to prove our young FORWARDS are not developing, but you give any substance as to how they actually are developing.
- You cite that Mac improved his PPG rate, but he dropped to 0.49 ppg from 0.66 ppg last season.
- You cite Terry projecting to a new career high in points, but Terry isn't part of the youth program.
- You use Necas as an example, but not denote he played 82 games in 2022-23, 77 games in 2023-24, and 44 games out of 44 games this season. It's possible Necas might have had an injury that may hindered his play. Yet, you don't go deep diving to give us qualitative analysis. Oh... and you're using damned stats when it fits your argument.
- You use the excuse of missing two Ducks who scored 60+ points in previous seasons in the blowout, but not realize those two Ducks scored 60+ points under Eakins - not Cronin.
- You use the excuse of missing two Ducks who scored 60+ points in previous seasons in the blowout, but don't give a reason why we won against Carolina after the two blowouts without the two Ducks who scored 60+ points
- You cite that we have a shit roster, but don't realize that GM Verbeek conjured up this shit roster.
- You cite that we have a shit roster and we're a young team, but believe GM Verbeek doesn't make mistakes in helping to shelter the youths.
You use stats / figures as a gospel. If advanced stats were perfect, teams wouldn’t need a gm. Just hire AI to trade / sign / create development programs for ideal pcs to build a roster you want to construct. Do not take injuries, a death in the family, a teammate f***ing your wife, take all the human element out and then your fancy stats will be infallible.
I’m a human being, contradiction is kinda in our DNA.
Ok, I can’t give substance to how the players are developing because it’s not showing up in the stat sheet. McT and Leo are getting net front tip goals. That seems to be an improvement from last year when those were not the norm. That to me is a positive step in development. Leo from 35% FO to 39 %, improvement albeit however slight, is improvement and positive development. McT also went from 42 % Eakins / to 52 % and 50% under Cronin. He also took a step back this year, which has never happened to a prospect before. No one has ever taken a step backwards to mother development run to success. Speaking of Mason…
McT - last season 20 games @ PPG pace / 20 ish games lost due to injury / 40 ish games @ .5 ppg. This year he has no 20 game stretch of being PPG player, yet.
Terry is the best player on our team, who is under contract for the longest amount of time. He’s important for the future even if he’s not part of the youth. Necas is 26 (turns it Wednesday)and for the first time producing at levels he hasn’t in the past. Terry just turned 27. People produce in their primes, Necas and Terry just entered theirs.
Speaking of Necas, I don’t follow the hurricanes enough to know anything about Martin other than he wasn’t getting top 6 minutes and may have wanted out of Carolina because of it…. I don’t denote he played 82 games and 77, so he missed 5 games last year and that may have took his total from 70+ pts to 53 ? Pot meet kettle. What playing who scored a bunch of points under Eakins at a .86 or what PPG pace, could be injured and not scoring under Cronin. Think real hard about it, could this be a classic contradiction I’ve heard so much about ? By George, I’ve think we’ve done it. Hahaha, now that I’ve got you trapped in my contradiction…. Trap, I can use it to tear you down as a person because I don’t like the points you make. Muahahaha, my master plan now complete, I find ruling lonely. Maybe there is some solace in defeat ?
Yes I use stats as an tool in arguments, I don’t think stats are infallible, but terry has been one of our top 3 point getters the last 3 years, and one of our top 3 players the last 3 years.
Yes I’m using an excuse that we went 1-2 against teams and were out scored 14-3 in those 3 games missing our 2 best players. Bad teams get dog walked in the NHL, good teams get dog walked sometimes. It’s happening less this year than last year. Signs of life.
We have a shit roster, yes, can Verbeek make mistakes in sheltering the youth and still be doing a good job developing our younger talent ? Yes. You are some sort of black or white robot. No onions for you sir!
Ducks = youngest roster in the league does not equal …. Verbeek conjured up shit roster.
Killorn 2 time nhl champ / dumo 2 time nhl champ, both tail end of their careers, but have been brought in to shelter the youth, Killorn’s play on the ice leaves a lot to be desired, but hopefully and I have NO PROOF this is happening, Killorn is teaching Leo how to be a professional athlete on and off the ice. It is what he was signed for leadership and mentorship, I sure hope he is doing it. Strome / Vats / Trouba have all played in an eastern conference finals. Fabbri = NHL champ, gudas lost in the Stanley cup finals. Gibson …. Lost in west conference finals.
This in your opinion is not sheltering the youth, brining in people who have made long playoff pushes, understands what it is to be a professional athlete and play under pressure. Sure we overpaid, but at no expense to our future? So we are mad we brought in championship quality players, to shelter the youth, but they aren’t good enough to carry the youth, we overpaid them to come and mentor our young players, but now are mad because they aren’t turning 34 year old Killorn into 26 year old Crosby ? He never was that guy, he’s the player we signed, and he’s doing adequate, and if he’s helping Leo mature and grow into a man in this league, then I’d say he’s worth every penny.
At one point the avalanche had a bottom 5 roster, the devils had a bottom 5 roster, not because MGMT sucked, but because they were rebuilding teams with young talented players who didn’t know how to win in the NHL.
