When he played those 41 games with the Blues was he on the wing the whole time and get some chance at center? If he was on the wing who was his center and if he was center who was on his line?
When I saw him he was wing.
He played exclusively on the wing.
His linemates were in constant flux. He had a few shifts on the second line with Stastny and whoever was on the other side (often Steen), but he's not ready for the sort of role that those guys typically fill. More often he was in the bottom six with some combination of Berglund, Sobotka, Jaskin, etc. It seemed like every game was different.
Sometimes Berglund was centering the third line, then it was Brodziak as they moved Berglund to #2 RW out of necessity. Sobotka spent some time there when he wasn't at #2 or #3 LW. Barbashev as well. Brodziak was our #2 center after the deadline with Stastny traded, so that kind of tells you how things were going.
He had more skill than most of the bottom six linemates he had so in a sense he wasn't really being utilized fully there, but he didn't have the experience or complete game to play in the top 6 yet. Not really the best for his offensive development, but his play away from the puck picked up as the season went along so it wasn't a complete waste. He kept a good attitude about the whole thing.
He could probably break camp with Buffalo if they want him to, but a full year in the AHL wouldn't be the worst thing if you have a good coach there and Buffalo doesn't need him immediately. More than anything, he just needs to mature a bit physically and grow into his NHL role.
