No, the fans here suck.
We knew when Hextall took over it would be a 5 year process, he had to dump a lot of overpaid veterans on long-term deals and totally rebuild the talent pipeline.
People want him to rush a group of solid but second tier prospects.
Hextall doesn't want to do what the fans want because he's sticking to his plan which he started to implement four years ago.
So now I have to read a lot of stupidity about "favoring veterans" (really? where are VdV, PEB, Umberger, Vinnie, L Schenn, Streit, MDZ, Grossman, . . . )
When it's obvious if you've watched Hextall is that he's very consistent:
1) he doesn't like to force prospects into the lineup until he thinks they're ready, and most of our prospects aren't elite talents
2) he'll play prospects who are ready, that is, who'll will step into the lineup and start and play a substantial role
3) junior is the toughest call, because once a player dominates at that level, you have to balance overwhelming them in the NHL v bad habits in juniors
Lindblom did not look NHL ready in exhibition games or his first month in Allentown, Vorobyev looks to be a bit behind Lindblom. It's not whether he got a point in an exhibition game, you could see that he was a half step slow, processing the game. A number of SHL players have done AHL stints when they came over.
MV came out of college undrafted, he didn't stand out in camp either. He wasn't the top college FA.
NAK had a so-so season last year, Morin still had issues they wanted him to work on. Martel had two solid but not special seasons that didn't show the exceptional offensive skills he has to have to compensate for his extreme lack of size.
So Hextall is erring on the conservative side. So you have to watch one of Lehtera/Weise/Read when Patrick returns. Boo hoo.
Some of these AHL players are stepping up, but beware of SSS effects. Hextall probably wants to see if he's looking at a good month or the arrow is permanently pointing up. My expectation is we'll see a steady flow of these players starting in December or January, depending on their progress and where to fit them.
For example, once Lindblom comes up, who does Martel replace and in what role? Same with NAK and MV.
If Morin comes up, how do you juggle all the LH defensemen?