Well, he's a 3rd liner right now who prevents scoring and even in this "lost" season scored 0.3ppg, and at age 22 scored 0.5ppg, pretty much all at 5v5... I suggest they use him on the PK to be honest.
Bottom line is I'm not really disagreeing, I'm certainly not saying he is untouchable, I'm just saying giving him away out of frustration is bad asset management and very well may come back to haunt us...
True, but if Quinn or Gallant had bothered to try to instill some confidence in Laf, he could possibly be a year or two more advanced in his development than he is now... Its a tight path to walk when you are trying to win AND to develop young players.
This isnt a "lost" season as if this is some kind of outlier.
We have watched him for 5 years now and he is essentially the same player he was halfway through his rookie season with no noticeable trajectory of skill or production.
People keep trying to prop his ppg and such at even strength, just watch the games. He is a net negative to any offensive/offensive zone production and it sucks. I hate dumping on him, but it is the truth. No finish, no elite skill. out of this referenced ppg I wonder how many are primary points? The kakko evolution is what we saw on a different scale with lias andersson, those that would defend him and then toss up hyperbole whenever there was a glimmer of light.
I literally cant think of anything he did to stand out in the playoffs except one power shift after he was benched where he had a dominant possession shift (of course all along the wall) and then tossed the puck into the slot blindly to the other team. His post season was tripping over his own feet attemping a toe drag, running into an official and getting laid out, and constant flubbing of pucks on rushes or even when trying to just dump the puck into the O zone.
Other players were terrible as well, but they had moments. Kakko was like this almost all season, again...
That Finnish aura of confidence is starting to evolve to arrogance and looking like someone that doesn't see the need or space for himself to improve, or maybe this is just what we have. Either way it is close to done here, because how can the org even justify giving him a raise on the next contract besides feeling obligated to based on his age? His play certainly does not justify it and he is going to want some money and a specific role which no one can give him since he failed with it this season