Is he a one trick pony whose one trick would play up better on a good team, or is he just bad. I find it so hard to judge role players on shitty teams not being put in a position to succeed in their role.
As a Sharks fan that has followed his entire NHL career, liked him a lot as a young player, and rooted for him as fan and coach sentiment turned against him in recent years; here is my honest appraisal:
He has a very good but not great shot that he requires time/space to fully utilize. He can be decently creative in the offensive zone if he isn’t being pressured. He doesn’t have the skating, hands, deception, or physicality to go around or through defenses. While he’s not a good option to transport the puck up ice and he struggles to generate offensive opportunities on his own, he can finish plays with his shot or pass when receiving the puck in high-danger areas.
His best season, by a wide margin, he mostly skated with a resurgent Thornton (51 points in 73 games) on the third-line and was the feature of a 2nd PP unit in a system that consistently fed him pucks with time/space as he coasted toward the net from the top of the circle; allowing him to score 20 of his 59 points that season on the man-advantage.
In the past he’s spent considerable time in the coach’s dog-house probably on account of poor decisions with the puck under pressure and an extended track record of ineffective play in the defensive zone.
A team
could find utility in Labanc
if they can air-drop him onto a third line as a complimentary F3 and put him on a 2nd power-play unit that affords him significant touches. At evens he’ll need to be flanked with two defensively capable linemates who do the bulk of puck transporting and forechecking. Unfortunately for Labanc that’s a pretty narrow window of effectiveness that most teams probably can’t offer; and if they can, they are probably better served developing a young prospect in that low stakes role.
All that being said, I hope he gets a shot with maybe a playoff bubble team, as IMO he showed some willingness to do more defensively and on the forecheck in the few opportunities he was given to play over the last season and change; but was a bit sidelined by the coaching staff and just the overall Sharks situation. With a fresh start, if he can maintain passable off-puck play at both ends, he could probably contribute something as a bottom 6 scoring threat.