Who said you should take my posts seriously? 90% of the posters love the deal. Enjoy.
I say it's a bad deal and by the end of the season 70% of the board will realise and admit it is a bad deal, 30% will use strawman arguments to justify their bad evaluation.
I was very torn when he signed last year, as I imagine some others here were as well. With the history between clubs, my impression of his character (although it was a while ago he did his faux pas) and the fact that I have a tendency to lean towards defensive structured teams and 200ft players, when it comes to cup winning. With that said, I had to admit after 10 or so games, that he was pretty good,
especially with all the serious question marks that came with his type of surgery. How he performed in his 50 games last season surprised me.
I am ok with weird takes, who is not and staying on HFboards? But, you still have not in a logical sense explained why you have come to the conclusion that he would be worse this coming season than last, well except that we had a lower win% with him in the line up. That argument is extremely flawed in my opinion and should be flawed in everybodys opinion, including your. As we all know there are myriads of factors that affect every game and to view it as you do, or at least seem to do, is to in a fabulously, erratic way simplyfy the question.
I personally believe that he most likely will improve this season. There are quite a few reasons to why I believe that and here are a some of them:
- First and foremost, I think he is in a lot better shape, both physically and mentally.
To go through what he did with the surgery took a heavy toll on his body and shape. Most of us know what the expectations after such a surgey were and it has been discussed in tedium on these boards how amazing and odds defying his recovery has been. I am not talking about that. I am talking about what such an injury/operation/rehab does to you physically, and the fact that he played a few years in quite intense pain and with restricted movement before the operation. He has now played 50 games, he will have a summer of training and conditioning. He will most likely be in the best shape he has been the last five years when this coming season starts.
Mentally, what such an injury and uncertain operation does to a proffesional athlete, I can only imagine. I am fairly sure that even in mid march, he was still bracing himself everytime he got hit, at least in the back of his mind, and he was probably even more hesitant to take the hit and make the play than usually. I think those thoughts will either have disappeared or at least be further back in his mind now. Also imagine how the uncertainty with the operation and therefore career, must have affected his personal life. How the moves from CHI to NYR, then TOR for rehab and skating and finally to Detroit must have affected the familys daily life. That will be further removed now.
- He will know the system, his team-mates, the organisation now.
He will be able to prepare his off-season regiment to fit and adjust to known factors.
- I know not all may agree with this, but I think we have a much more cohesive team this year. Not only that I feel the team is really knitting together in a way we have not seen in a long time, but also that we have a better structured team on all levels next season, it starts to make sense. I also believe that the players feel the same thing, at least that is my impression from the interviews I have seen. This will most likely also show in his point production.
- I think he is genuinly hungrier this year. Last season was a season of "will it work?". This season he knows it works, so now he is not in career-survival mode. He will be looking to reassert himself. I also have the impression that not only him, but most of last years returning squad will have a chip on his/their shoulders with how the season ended.
- I think he wants to play for Detroit and I think he would have signed for longer if not for the over 35 year thing and that these type of contracts help both him and also the club regarding the cap.
So, in my book, a lot more suggests he will be a better player than last year.
This became far too long, sorry. But it is vacation and very warm, my plan to counter the heat with a healthy intake of cold beverages has clearly backfired.