Oh, I hear you. I made my comment only after hearing how JD absolutely *gushed* over the kid – precisely because just such an impression would never be based off the same highlight reels I can view, but his own hours of viewing and conversations with the rest of his staff.
Gushing about someone's potential is not the same thing as rolling out the red carpet for a starting spot. It means being excited about what a player could be.
I like Robertson, but have not seen enough to believe that he is ready to make an immediate impact.
With expansion it's preferable that it's someone with 1 year left so we don't have to worry about losing 1 of Lindgren/ADA.
I get it, but we all have a tendency to project pie in the sky potential for prospects that have not yet played in the NHL (not saying you are doing it), and in some cases the AHL. The chances of all of these players making it to the show is almost non-existent. Robertson needs to develop more as does Miller before I believe that they are ready to make an impact in the near future.
No, I am simply asking you who is knocking down the door? Who is close to being NHL ready? Miller? Based on what ability you read about or about his actual play last yer? Roberson? Based on what he did in juniors? Is that what makes you think that he is close to the NHL? Jones? Again, based on what?
Miller, based on the experience he had playing in camp last month. Everyone relevant to the decision said he looked ready.
True, but the type of player being bandied about, such as Ekholm would not be one of those players. On the other hand someone like Nick Holden, who would be a good target does fit that bill.
When someone says that there are 4 LDs on the way and some are going to be quite good, there is an inherent presumption that people are knocking on the door.Who is expecting all of them to work out? And who said this upcoming year?
We have a ton of highly regarded LD prospects. While the chances of "all of them working out," are indeed slim, it's equally slim that none of them work out. It's so slim that you should probably make according plans that Lindgren, who is already on the team and looking solid, plus at least 2 more of Miller, Hajek, Jones, Robertson, and Reunanen become Top-4 caliber players.
I mean, I'm not interested in debating your worst case scenarios here.
What if the earth crashes into the sun tomorrow? It could happen, but it won't.
I'm planning for what history shows us we can count on, and that's odds, which say we are going to get a couple solid LD out of this group relatively soon (note: I did not say "this season," or "knocking at the door," ever).
Since this is an eventuality worth planning for, I'm gonna go ahead and chalk it down and then not start shopping for that much LD help. It's on the way, I don't need to import a guy for this season. If I have to role with Brendan Smith again, oh well.
The caveat to this is if you can find an elite, top-level LD, because that's where the odds start to get sketchy. It's hardly something you can project with accuracy that any of these guys become all-star caliber shut down LDs. That is what we "HOPE" Miller is, but we don't know.
Not much in the way of hoping that you get 2 or so top-4 caliber LDs out of our group within the next 2-3 seasons though. That's just gonna happen.
So why are we going shopping for a 26 year old non-all star LD like Nurse or Hampus Lindholm? These are good players but not great ones. Wait and see what you have in the system before you tie yourself up in another Trouba-like extension for a non-elite defender again.
I mean, jeez, speaking of narratives.... look in the mirror.
