I've never been all that impressed with Tropp and I think Frattin is getting a lot of abuse for his time in another organization. Kind of hard to judge the kid based on a couple of games. For the most part, I thought he was ok against the Islanders. Certainly a lot better than what that fan base has to say about him. You can't want to bench him because of how Richards ends up playing him.
For a while Tropp was getting some of the "energy line" effect. 2/3'rds of that line is pretty good; especially for a 4th line. He's ok, but I haven't seen anything from him where I feel compelled to keep him.
I was just telling someone that I would like to see Frattin and Tropp duke it out next season for a roster spot. The loser ends up on waivers.
What I'm more concerned about is Richards figuring out a way not to play Skille. Richards is good at confusing lineup decisions.
I will agree that Frattin was better yesterday than he was against Chicago but he's still not a NHL player in my opinion. I've watched him with Toronto and a little with LA after he was acquired by the CBJ. If he was an alternate on the 4th line to give someone a spell I could deal with that but playing with Joey and Jenner is just mind boggling.
I was also impressed with Skille in his earlier stints. While I don't think he's a top 6 player, I do think he fits in with our team game and his speed is outstanding.
As for next year, I haven't thought that far ahead to worry about a Tropp/Frattin duel. I don't think Frattin is qualified and moves on. I would, however, like to see Skille re-signed for depth and a shot at the bottom 6 next year. There would need to be some player movement for that to happen I think. I suspect Chaput has a better shot of being in the NHL with the CBJ than any of the other three mentioned.