you like it? Aston-Reese is a fringe NHL player that has never produced much offense at the NHL level. In Berggren's only NHL season ever last year, he put up more goals than Aston-Reese ever has in this league, and more points as well...
Like sometimes I feel like people forget you win hockey games by scoring more goals than the other team. We have not been scoring much at all over the last 20 games or so, and now we are absolutely desperate for wins, but rather than calling up a player that can score goals, we call up a scrub who works hard.
Get back to me tonight after we lose 4-1, and have trouble generating anything offensively, and tell me if you still like it.
Also, what has Aston-Reese "taken"...He's not even at 0.5 ppg in the AHL, yet he gets the call because he's 29 years old.
1) My focus is not on this season anymore. The main course is done, in effect, and the dessert is waiting for them if they can get to it. No one expects this team to get far in the playoffs whether they cruised in with an 8 point cushion or back their way in on the last night. I value the experience they would get tremendously - my opinion on that has not changed since Opening Night when I was part of the camp that predicted exactly this outcome: clawing their way up until the last game or so. It feels different because of the high highs and the low lows, but that's where this team was designed to be this season.
2) I don't pretend to know why SY does what he does. I do know that scoring is key, but there are other keys too, and if I'm right - and obviously I may not be - standing relatively pat both at the deadline and at this crucial point can be interpreted as exactly what I said. Larks, Kane, ADB, and the rest CAN SCORE PLENTY. It's up to Coach and the lads to figure out how to make it happen and do it.
SY is not the
buddy of any of these guys. He's their
boss. Do you think SY is so dumb that he saw what happened to the team when the captain went down and thought "this is fine"? Addressing it by adding talent and skill is one aspect of the solution, but trying to get the extant roster to step up and show they can do it is another aspect. If nothing else, it informs you on who you can get rid of and in that sense it's an invaluable filter.
3) This would not please Imhotep and I'll hate it for this game if that's what happens, of course. But you're thinking Hockey and I'm opining about Leadership and Management. We're not talking about the same things.
4) The only thing I know about Aston-Reese is the name. He's not important in these last 4 games - the rest of the team IS. If I'm right. I could be wrong - it's happened before.