I just don't think Caufield has another gear in him. Goal scorers tend to peak earlier in their careers. Just my personal opinion.
He’s coming off a five game goal streak, scored 8 in 12 and is currently on a 7 game point streak… that’s not another gear?
The only thing that has to change in his game is that his shooting percentage goes back to normal. That’s it. If he did last year’s number he’d be threatening for 50 goals this year.
His analytics are up. His assists are up. His defensive play is better. If his shooting percentage normalizes he’ll have a career year next season. He still has an outside shot at 40 goals this year.
As for Ghule, comparing him this season vs last one. His production is worse this year and his play in general has not improved really. He is a bit overrated tbh, every team has a lot of players similar to Ghule. He is a second pair guy.
A second pair guy now? Sure. In the future, I see him as a number one caliber.
And yes, he’s taking on harder minutes. They put him against MCDavid… it’s going to hurt his numbers but make him better in the long run.
As for Slaf, I agree with you the draft was weak. However as unlucky as it is, it doesn't change the fact other rebuilding teams got players like Bedard, Fantilli, Carlsson while we were stuck with Slaf. That puts those teams in a MASSIVE advantage over us.
You can’t blame mgmt for this. The draft is what it is. We can only take the best players available. And we can help to mitigate this by stockpiling picks which is exactly what we’re doing.
Mistakes WILL happen. We won’t always get the best player. Michkov may already be one. But overall we’re acquiring tons of talent.
Saying the 2022 draft is the best since 2007 doesn't mean much as our drafting has been garbage. I would argue 2021 is trending much better than 2022 with Mailloux and Roy.
Mailloux, Roy, Hutson, Slaf, Messar, Beck, RB, Engstrom…. These guys aren’t even in the lineup yet. We’ve got a high pick this year, two firsts next year…
We’re doing exactly what we’ve asked the team to do for years. Hire a good development coach, draft high, stockpile picks.
I was probably the most negative poster in this site for years. I screamed when we hired Therrien, traded away picks and prospects for guys like Gomez. THAT was something to be angry about.
From a high level standpoint the club’s doing everything we asked them to do. Now we have to deal with the rebuilding years. It’s rough but it’s so much better than wasting decades trying to get to 8th place.