Real solutions at RHD are virtually non existent on the trade market. You either take a flier on a prospect or you trade for a pending UFA. The vast majority of top pairing RHD are either drafted or signed as a UFA. Teams just don't trade them away unless I guess if you dangle a young #1 center.
At the risk of repeating myself,I think some people are getting carried away with Stanley. I want to see more of him playing more minutes, with a weaker partner, against better opposition, before I start projecting him to a higher level. You are free to do so if you like, of course. But I will think you are being premature.
I don't think I am being either optimistic or pessimistic. I'm not saying he will rise to 2nd pair level or that he won't. I'm only saying that I need more before projecting him beyond where he is now.
I'm loving Stanley's development after years worth of shit thrown on the poor kid around. The amount of backpedaling is something extraordinary, even for here.There is some optimism around Stanley - each to our own I guess - I think most of us project based on our feel for the player (any player).
I don't necessarily think anyone is getting carried away - they are simply optimistic.
But it is fair to say there is not enough of a sample to call it yet - but I like what I see so far and it pushes some of us to look at him a little differently than we might have a year ago - reason to be optimistic? IDK but I'm running with it
I just don't see any chance the Jets don't protect him in the expansion draft. DeMelo is a nice add, but is a #4 in his late 20's. Stanley is 22 y/o with a higher ceiling, and with his size and strength he could absolutely be a main part of our backend for a decade.
"I wasn't wrong when I said Stanley sucks and likely never accomplishes anything but......"
No kidding! I tried to defend the kid for years, I always felt the work he put in off the ice would give him a good chance. I said I see him as a Chiarot type at the time. He took a step back the one year with the Moose with the injuries so I’m glad he persevered through that too! He’s got potential for offense, when that and his mean streak rounds out he will be a force. He’s playing it safe now and looks darn good doing it.
The list of excuses for Morrissey fall flat once you use any logic and fact checking...
Ice time?
Pionk played more mins than Morrissey last season, and DeMelo played similar mins, with better results.
This season Pionk has played slightly less mins, with far superior results.
Forbort has played far more mins than a player of his capability optimally would on most teams, yet has severely less bad results.
That said, when Morrissey was at his best season he was on avg seeing 2nd pairing ice time and was the 4th option by the coach to step on the ice most time (behind Trouba, Byfuglien, and even Myers).
Usage?
Pionk played almost as tough matchups as Morrissey last season with better results.
Pionk and Forbort have faced tougher matchups with lesser QoT for forwards, with better results.
Morrissey last year played tougher mins than Morrissey this year, and was still better.
Rotating Linemate?
When DeMelo first stepped in to WPG he didn't have just new pair, who strated as Beaulieu, he had new forwards to play with, and his results were better... oh PS the Beaulieu-DeMelo was deployed as the Jets top pair at the time (and at the same time Morrissey was with Pionk as the second pair).
And not about fact checking but priors based models suggest Morrissey has never been very dominant anyways:
Astute observations, as it turns out. My observations now are that he is still a good skater for his size and has very good hockey sense, as a rookie in the NHL
