I've griped about Stankoven a bit this season. It was based on a bit of worry about what his top end really but was mostly disappointment about where he is today. When he was called up last season, he was awesome for a couple of weeks. He was scoring at will and puckjacking dudes and winning puck battles. Then it trailed off. To where he gave them next to nothing in the playoffs.
The same happened this season where he started off with a couple of productive weeks and dropped off to be just a guy since then. He wasn't showing any signs of being helpful in the playoffs yet.
This is the problem with rookies. Their development is hard to project, and it's also hard to count on them. My guess is he was going to be the forward eating scratches when Seguin came back because DeBoer kept moving him around the lineup and never found a spot where he found consistency.
Maybe he will find the gear allowing him to be consistently good. I hope he does. He's a fun guy to watch. But the team now and for the near future just got a whole lot better.
