It never surprises me to see so much premature ejaculation, of the verbal variety that is, going off half-cocked. Hold on a bit longer before making such declarations. You don't win anything with such shortcomings.
Obviously Habs fans can be pleased + happy that he's playing big minutes, he's making his presence felt on the ice, and he's looking completely
different than he did earlier this season or almost all of last season. This is a player who had several shortcomings to his overall game and he's rapidly closed the gap in certain domains. We can't be displeased.
Optimistic fans will extrapolate and assume that the other facets will come good too. I'm not one such fan, and it doesn't seem like you are either. I've seen enough hockey to know prospect "projects" (just like real life projects) don't always deliver to 100% completion. A lot has to go right before he's an impact player in the NHL and it's just as likely he comes short. But projecting future failure is negativity for the sake of negativity at this point, so no point dwelling on it... also the denizens here
hate it. As I've come to learn.
Catching up to NHL speeds and the dimensions of the NHL game (space and time) is one thing... thriving within that framework by making the right decisions with the right plays, that is another. One impacts the other, sure, but we all see insufficient ability in the latter at this time. The latter is what many of us wanted him to work on in the AHL (or Europe) and we took for granted that the former (adapting to NA ice/speeds) would happen on its own. It didn't happen, we move on. Let's hope he actually shows growth in his decision making and playmaking.
Hopefully with the time-space he's gaining as the game increasingly slows down for him he can make better decisions which will lead to better puck outcomes and refined instincts. It's impossible to predict what it'll look like or what will happen from now until then. Statistically he is an anomaly (in a bad way) but what's a unicorn, then?