Oh I agree 100%. It's just... to me, we've been down that path for 3 years now, and it hasn't gotten us any closer to an understanding?
When I watch the games, I feel like Evangelista is a tad more "energetic" in some ways. He's not really physical and has no defense either? But he does seem a bit more "bouncier" as he tries to generate offense? But end of the day, the numbers aren't that much better, especially considering utilization metrics/linemates/etc. Parssinen's attributes are even more qualitative. He is just bigger and better at shielding pucks, basically.
End of the day, I can only assume the team sees things off-ice that we don't. I have been pushing for the last few seasons to see Tomasino utilized in higher roles. I actually really liked the energy he seemed to have in the pre-season Euro-tour when they demoted him, where other people seemed to take the management narrative of him coming to camp somehow "unprepared". That didn't fit what I saw. But as this case has dragged out, I have simply come to the conclusion that there is SOMETHING going on here that I can't see. Because I can't accept the situation based on what I do see. I've been down that path of questioning management often enough over the past 3 years, that I figure there has to be something else going on?
Or, if there isn't something else going on, ok... management is making a mistake. I saw that happen with Tolvanen. Sometimes management makes mistakes and is simply wrong. But it doesn't change things... we still have to move on and look at the next options. I'm at the point now of hoping Tomasino goes somewhere else and makes our management look dumb, a la Tolvanen. Not out of any particular love for Tomasino. I don't know him or care about him specifically. Rather just so if we have blind spots in our prospect evaluation/development approach, those are exposed and we can do a better job of fixing those problems in the future.