blundluntman
Registered User
- Jul 30, 2016
- 3,170
- 3,452
You are correct but it's also conversely true that this early into the season, one big game can cause a player to pace for more points than they may even out with. It can go either way but I'm looking at his body of work outside this one game and it points in a different direction. Perhaps it's the turning of a new leaf. I'll admit it's possible, but imo it's not probable.You realize that at the end of any season that if you take away a player's 2 or 3 best games on the scoresheet that you are talking about a player with 5-10 less points, and it changes the tenor of the discussion. No offense, but you can't do that. I don't think that's in any way in bounds to argue. The other thing you are wrong about is that if you take away his best game (like you are doing), and we just look at 6 points in 12 games, that's literally top 6 production going by last season's standards. Last season he was also top 6 (39 points in 81 games). Not by a lot, but if we are talking about the literal definition, he was in the top 192 in the league for forwards in points. This season that's only gotten better.
The false controversy is that you bring up Hughes and MacKinnon, two of the best scorers in the league as a way to prove he's not top 6. That's so far beyond a discussion of top 6.
I guess to some people 39 points may be top 6 numbers, but not mine. This seems more like a matter of semantics/standards so there's no need to go back and forth over it.
Like I said before, Hughes and Mackinnon were examples of a pattern of development (I primarily referred to them because they too were somewhat late bloomers who took time to put things together), not a standard for him to reach. Lafreniere doesn't need to be as skilled/productive as them to become a top 6 or 1st line player, but there does need to be some set of skills/qualities that show he has the potential to break out and reach that stratosphere. You can point out potential qualities in any player early in their career before they break out as a top 6 or top-line player. That was my point.