That’s kind of his issue right now, no? He hasn’t shown a 200’ game yet, because he’s having trouble with the pace of preseason games. At least nowhere near well enough, to be able to earn a Top 9 spot and continue to mature offensively, while playing in the NHL. There’s a big difference between the pace in these games, with regular season games as well.
Likely why they’ve seemingly already made the decision, he’s gonna need time in the AHL. Might be significant time too. We’ll know rather soon on that.
If he could keep up with the pace and had the strength, he’d be kept in the NHL, put on the 3rd line, and his natural offensive ability would come out, as he matured this year.. All while already contributing… It’s where the Pens need young guys to solidify that type of role. Then hoping they become Top 6 players.
That was how it was sold to fans. That they traded a prospect like Yager for a player who was much closer to contributing now.. during Sid’s Swan Song.
That came from Dubas, down to the media, and down to the fans. I think a lot of Pittsburgh fans somehow turned that speculation into him walking right into their Top 6, but fans do that when they’re excited about a kid.
That was never going to happen. So unless he has some sort of core injury or mental block effecting his play, someone was peddling bad information in Pittsburgh. That or Dubas overruled his scouts. I’d tend to go with the latter, as everything I could get my hands on suggested he needed time too. Maybe less time than Yager, but he was not plug and play ready.
He’s obviously not ready yet. His feet have always been an issue, and whether that’s effecting his pace issues or he can’t process the pace, only time will tell on that. I didn’t expect him be weak on pucks, and get pushed around like an 18-19 year old kid though. That’s a concern.
He’s now practicing with the second grouping of players too. Which usually means he’s not even in the equation for a roster spot. It’s probably why they haven’t put him on the ice with Sid or in the Top 6 either. If he’s having trouble with pace playing with Cody Glass, why embarrass him, out there with Sid?
Bottom line is, it’s fair to say everyone expected much more than we’re seeing.
That’s a very, very fair comment.
The entire reason many gave for the trade, was they felt McGroarty was NHL ready and Yager was 1-3 years away, as he still needs to physically mature. That he would help them now, compared to waiting for Yager.
That’s exactly how most people sold it….
It’s what I kept being told, so I bought into it too. Not that he could come right in, but I bought into that being the reason behind the trade, giving up a kid like Yager. Which seemed very counter productive on the surface. Especially after the year Yager had.
Now even more so, after watching both kids play in some games against NHL talent.
That’s the big miss here, and it’s already been a miss. Make no mistake, because that was the overwhelming reason given. That he was ready and Yager wasn’t.
Now, that all said, he’s a very talented kid who now knows what he needs to do, to play a regular shift in the NHL.
He needs to go down to the AHL and commit himself to getting stronger and playing that 200’ game. It’ll be his fastest route to playing a regular NHL shift.
The one thing they better be very careful of though? Don’t force him. You can ruin a talented kid because he’s not what you thought he was, as a General Manager. Dubas has a tendency to see these kids as pieces to a puzzle and not human beings. So they need to be careful.
