pettersson deserves, at very least, competition to play on his line; he needs a fast scorer and hoglander shouldn't be the only option
I mean, yes...and honestly, Hoglander really shouldn't even be a serious, regular option with Pettersson. That doesn't work very well at all.
Obviously there are cap constraints at play, and they went out and got a legitimate winger for him in DeBrusk (hopefully it clicks), which was pretty much all they could afford to do there. But...i'm not so convinced that a late summer $975k rummage through the bargain bin on a broken toy sort of player in Sprong is really the "competition" Pettersson deserves for the other spot on his line either.
I'd much more so, be hoping that someone like Heinen clicks there, or maybe Podkolzin has got himself back on the rails or...
something. Though that's where i don't mind this Sprong thing. At worst, it's a benchmark that these guys should be able to compete with and clear in camp for that spot, if they're going to be worthwhile there.
These sort of "under the radar" bargain bin signings are always HFs favourites. Even when they're not under the radar at all. They're just assets that most teams don't really want any part of.
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Every once in awhile it works out brilliantly - and "brilliantly" is like, "you get 40pts and they don't end up completely stapled to the bench by midseason". But a lot of the fliers amount to nothing. HF tends to get really ultra-optimistic about these types though.
Heck, you've basically got half this board penciling our $975k flake into one of the Top-2 Lines right from the jump. And given our roster structure, i do kind of get why. It's just...people are treating him like a $3.75M player or something, rather than sub-$1M fringe guy.
Still pretty crazy -- unless there was a good employment opportunity in it for the parents (or some other reason they wanted to cross the ocean), it's relying on incredibly low odds to decide on such a massive upheaval.
I think there's gotta be a component of that to the kids psyche. Where not every parent with Walter Gretzky Syndrome necessarily encourages all the focus on team play, and a well-rounded, responsible two-way game, taking care of your own end first, etc.
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That seemed to be a bit of the buzz around him in PEI back in the day. Not only a bit of a flake defensively, but with a bit of an entitled attitude that saw him "slip" a bunch in the draft.
I think you can possibly see a little bit into the genesis of where his defensive shortcomings maybe have spawned from.