But you can see that Sheary is the very definition of a stop-gap middle-six forward. He’s mid … just an older, more experienced version of Eyssimont. We’ve got a lot of mid on this team. Maybe we’ll end up a mid team in the middle of the standings.
I’ve been a staunch JBB supporter (borderline fanboy), I will admit. IMO his moves to get us 2 Cups and sustain the run we went on were unassailably good, smart, maybe even brilliant. So JBB had earned my trust. But this offseason’s choice to refit the bottom six with a bunch of pluggers deserves scrutiny. Signing Sheary and no one else who has ever sniffed 40 points (which I think Colton did for 3 years) just puts more pressure on guys like Nick Paul and Tanner Jeannot to emerge as legit top-6 scoring threats. Seems like a bad plan, especially if you think Jeannot’s skill level is questionable. So why not sign anyone else with some scoring touch? A guy like Evan Rodrgues, who is plenty tough, was on pace for 50 points last year with Colorado and could fake it in the top-6 with the Avs and Penguins before them. There were plenty of affordable options on the market that JBB seemingly ignored.
So maybe I misjudged him. Maybe he just had a golden touch with the team Yzerman built and handed him? I dunno and there’s time for this take to be wrong too. But this is the first time I’ve really second guessed our GM.