This board makes me sick to my stomach at times. This kid has put up 120 points in two years under a coach who is the most defensive minded coaches in the league. He has never missed a game in his 3 years as a pro, he is one of the best penalty killers we have had in the last three years, he has averaged about 19 minutes of ice per game the last two years, and he is 22 years old.
He has never been a great skater ala The Great one, Brad Richards so for you guys to keep hounding on that it's Pejorative Slured. This kid has put up numbers every where he has been and he will break out of this goal slump and by the end of the year this thread will not exist.
To compare him to Eberle is a joke. It is a total different situation that Eberle is in. The Oilers are a team that was not going to win anything the last 3 years and if you look at Eberle's plus minus report you would understand that this kid does not have to play any defense at all to stay in the line-up. If Stepan makes a mistake on the wrong side of the puck he will be playing with Rupp and Asham, period. When you are playing for something like the Rangers have the past two seasons it is a lot more impotant that you take care of all three zones on the rink, and if you watch Eberle play you would understand what I am talking about. Stepan with about 3 weeks left in the season last year led the entire league in the plus minus category.
I think it's time to lay of the 22 year old and address the real problems on this team such as our star goalie to this point has been awful, our 22 million dollar line has been awful and our 1-2 d-men have been awful. Why don't you guys make a "Hank thread". That is a bigger problem than the 22 year old who by the way is 4th on the team in scoring.
