Lemieux is in that awkward territory where you see all the elements of the player he could become, and yet you wonder if he can put them all together.
That's why those physical/pesky types with skill are valued the way they are. They are hard to come by and they sometimes require a lot of patience.
On the flip side, I would caution that a player like Lemieux is easy to over-value as well. It's easy to fall in love with the energy and the attitude, or look at a poker hand that almost has higher value if you can get draw a couple of cards from the deck.
I like Lemieux, but I feel like he once again finds himself in a situation where the sum is somehow less than the parts. This goes back to juniors where, for as good as he was, he didn't quite put everything together the way he probably should've. I'd say that is also a pretty accurate description of his time in the AHL as well. He was good, sometimes very good, but there was just something missing. Fast forward to the NHL where 130 games into his career there's just something that doesn't quite connect there thus far.
There's just always this lingering feeling that there's more there. At some point, maybe there just isn't.
If indeed Lemieux is the cost to move up, and the Rangers take that approach, he would be with his fourth organization in six years since being drafted.
