I asked
@Bombshell11 for five names who met the following criteria:
Condition 1: Played in the
CHL in the D+1 year (like Mesar)
Condition 2:
PPG or below in their D+1 year (like Mesar)
Condition 3:
PPG or above in the NHL career at any time (like they
guarantee will happen for Mesar)
@Bombshell11 listed Martin Erat, David Krejci, Alexander Radulov, Tyler Bertuzzi, and as a bonus Joe Pavelski (who didn't play in the CHL and doesn't meet the condition).
I've inserted them in the table below.
If the player had PPG or below in their D+1 season that was a criteria success, if they had above PPG in their D+1 season in the CHL that was a criteria fail.
If in their NHL career they were PPG that was a criteria success, if they were below PPG in their career that was a criteria fail. But we know players take time to peak, so I added two columns: Number of PPG seasons, and Number of Nearly-PPG seasons.
Not one of the four players meets the conditions of the challenge. There was not a fifth player listed. Joe Pavelski was added as a bonus but since he wasn't in the CHL in his D+1 season he doesn't meet the conditions, he also doesn't meet the other conditions (but he did have a single season with a PPG of 0.99!).
View attachment 668243
Evaluation:
@Bombshell11 failed to produce a list of even five players who meet these the three conditions he guarantees will happen for Mesar. Martin Erat was never close to a PPG player in the NHL, and the other names fail at the first test: they were above PPG in their D+1 season (they also fail in the subsequent tests).
Radulov had a phenomenal reputation in Jrs and not surprisingly he comes the closest, so that should be considered slightly beyond the high-water mark of Mesar's potential production ability. Pavelski is a tremendous player but even putting aside the different league in which he was playing, he was above PPG in his D+1 season which makes him a superior prospect to Mesar and an unlikely career trajectory.
Final thoughts: Good NHL players tend to produce no matter the circumstance. The best NHL players (PPG+) tend to have tremendous reputations in the lower leagues. Mesar is unlikely to become a tremendous (PPG+) player in the NHL given that he is having trouble producing in the OHL, so guaranteeing a 90pt season from him is just setting him up to fail. Mesar is developing and will hopefully become an impact player and valuable contributor to our NHL team at some point in the near future -- we simply don't need to be told we're wrong for not expecting him to become a PPG+ player in the NHL.
@Bombshell11 do you concede?