Tomas Jurco (Re-signed to two year deal, post #301)

[Bench]

I keep forgetting how young he is, but I worry at times that we hurt his development by throwing him on a checking line. Hopefully he can still tap into his significant potential.

Remember the quotes from Babcock specifically talking about how fancy dangles are only good for practice?

I mean, there's an element of truth there, but talk about putting handcuffs on one of the best stickhandlers on the team from the get-go.

 

[Frk It]

Jurcos problem like smiths is confidence to a great degree, and not talent. I hope Blashill can bring out the best in both of them.

He's done it once, so I think he can do it again.

 

[Rzombo4 prez]

He needs a longer leash to develop. He spent a lot of time playing not to **** up last year. I still think he has much more upside to give us.

 

[Probie]

He needs a longer leash to develop. He spent a lot of time playing not to **** up last year. I still think he has much more upside to give us.

I know, smith and jurco were to scared to do play like they could, no confidence, scared to be put in babs doghouse.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

Remember the quotes from Babcock specifically talking about how fancy dangles are only good for practice?

I mean, there's an element of truth there, but talk about putting handcuffs on one of the best stickhandlers on the team from the get-go.

I can be very critical with part of this logic. But quite frankly at a certain point Jurco had trouble accepting the most routine of passes. The puck was a hand grenade for him for almost the entire season with him admitting at one point he must have left his hands back in Slovakia.

Hard to be stick-handling when you cannot do the basics to gain control of the puck often enough.

I think he will be better with Blashill, but Jurco needs to put in a significant amount of work this off-season and it better have started a couple weeks ago.

 

[InjuredChoker]

i still maintain my position that he will be at least abdelkader level player.

 

[Grech95]

I don't get how people can knock a player that is playing 4th line role and not many mins. His talent is very obvious. He may have the highest ceiling of our prospects. I certainly think it is higher than Pulkkinen. If he plays in offensive situations he will put up points. Jiri Hudler threw up 70-80 pts this year. Because he plays the role where that is possible. Jurco will start to produce when he is put in the role to do so.

 

[Frk It]

i bit let l maintain my position that he will be at least abdelkader level player.

I would agree with this. I used to like Voracek as a comp, but that was before he blew up, that one no longer works now realistically.

Could see him becoming an Abdelkader/Kulemin type guy, but still have hope he becomes more. He definitely struggled quite a bit last year, but even still I saw flashes of a lot of things I like. I think he's a really good passer, saw a lot of little cheeky saucer passes. Also think he protects the puck well, and has a nice shot, but was visibly rock bottom in confidence shooting wise.

I think he has a nice season with Blas hill next year. A 3rd line with both Jurco and Pulkks on the wing could so some damage, I hope that's what we see.

 

[Flowah]

I can be very critical with part of this logic. But quite frankly at a certain point Jurco had trouble accepting the most routine of passes. The puck was a hand grenade for him for almost the entire season with him admitting at one point he must have left his hands back in Slovakia.

Hard to be stick-handling when you cannot do the basics to gain control of the puck often enough.

I think he will be better with Blashill, but Jurco needs to put in a significant amount of work this off-season and it better have started a couple weeks ago.

Yes.

There were times he couldn't even catch simple passes. Which was odd because the previous year he looked much better with the puck. Not sure what happened exactly.

 

[The Zetterberg Era]

I have to say I am also a little concerned about the back issues already cropping up here on a young guy. Jurco is in pretty fantastic shape so it isn't like I don't think he came prepared physically.

We will see hopefully Blash has him bouncing back, but to me Jurco himself is really what will get this done. He simply wasn't good enough even while being a young guy that gets lots of leeway. I expect a lot better out of him than what we saw last year, slump or not there were some things he was doing that just cannot happen at the NHL level.

I will say he did a great job last year defensively, that evolution in his game is really coming along nicely. So while I can be hard on him as I was disappointed in last year, I really liked that portion of his game a lot, but he has to find the balance and open back up offensively and do a much better job of puck management.

 

[RedWingzz]

I'm optimistic on Jurco, I still believe he will be a solid 2nd line Winger at the NHL level. He obviously needs some confidence, but the skill has always been there. I have a feeling he will have a bit of a breakout year under Blashill, I realistically see him getting within the 12-17 goal range and the 18-25 assist range. He will put up 30+ points next year.

 

[Retire91]

Still very optimistic also, he is going to have a huge opportunity this year to show us what he has.

 

[KasperTheGrittyGhost]

I'd love to see what Jurco could do in the top 6. Running with Tatar/Datsyuk/Jurco, Zetterber/Sheahan/Nyquist would be very intriguing.

 

[Petes2424]

I'm optimistic on Jurco, I still believe he will be a solid 2nd line Winger at the NHL level. He obviously needs some confidence, but the skill has always been there. I have a feeling he will have a bit of a breakout year under Blashill, I realistically see him getting within the 12-17 goal range and the 18-25 assist range. He will put up 30+ points next year.

He's also worth a nice penny on the market. He's still really young and he's the equivalent of a 5 tool player in MLB. People really need to throw out the immediate expectations these boards tag players with. The NHL draft is like no other. We're talking about kids 17-18. They all develop differently. Especially good sized players with scoring at the NHL level. He'll be just fine..

 

[tfong]

Abby wasn't even a PPG player in GR and he is a 40 point guy now. Jurco was breaking out as a PPG player, I'm firmly in the camp he can be a very good complimentary winger better than Abby.

 

[odin1981]

He will be a consistent middle 6 winger in around 2 years. He is the youngest prospect to play on the wings full time since Fischer. Yes he had a somewhat sub standard year but you have to understand around 40+ games of the year he was teathered to the 4th line. 4th line time + production don't equate.

His first 80 NHL games got him 30 points mainly from the 3rd and 4th line time. He is not a player you want to eject from the system. I have no doubt he will round into form by 24.

 

[19 for president]

He will be a consistent middle 6 winger in around 2 years. He is the youngest prospect to play on the wings full time since Fischer. Yes he had a somewhat sub standard year but you have to understand around 40+ games of the year he was teathered to the 4th line. 4th line time + production don't equate.

His first 80 NHL games got him 30 points mainly from the 3rd and 4th line time. He is not a player you want to eject from the system. I have no doubt he will round into form by 24.

Agreed. He looked like a player that was scared to death to try anything offensively last year, because he could and probably would have been benched or sent back down. I'd argue that he displayed a very good physical game and a pretty solid defensive game last year, and looked horribly snake bitten. Guy has some pretty sick hands and has to be allowed to use them. He is going to mess up, but can you imagine if Scotty had told Dats to just shoot it at the net and drive the net. (Also why Scotty was a superior coach to Babs, he did less square peg in round hole with players) He may have the 2nd or 3rd best hands on the team.

 

[detredWINgs]

Agreed. He looked like a player that was scared to death to try anything offensively last year, because he could and probably would have been benched or sent back down. I'd argue that he displayed a very good physical game and a pretty solid defensive game last year, and looked horribly snake bitten. Guy has some pretty sick hands and has to be allowed to use them. He is going to mess up, but can you imagine if Scotty had told Dats to just shoot it at the net and drive the net. (Also why Scotty was a superior coach to Babs, he did less square peg in round hole with players) He may have the 2nd or 3rd best hands on the team.

I was actually going to make this comparison. Datsyuk as a rookie under Babs probably would've robbed us of Datsyuk's early dangles. People forget how much Datsyuk used to lose the puck when he was first starting out.

This is one of my pet peeves with Babs: He sees a big body and wants it to be used in a traditional way. Jurco was being deployed like he was heir to Abdelkader instead of being used as a skilled option.

Id really like to know what Jurco's exit interview was like last year. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was something along the lines of "you made the team this year because of injuries. If you want to make the team next year, you need to work on using your body and your two-way game." Maybe that's why Jurco left his hands at the airport - he was told he wouldn't be needing them.

Anyways, not a whole lot of point in speculating when he's going to be playing under a new coach that he allegedly has a great relationship with. I'll start to worry if he hasn't progressed through next year.

 

[Mijatovic]

It wasnt just his production I was disappointed with. It was the fact he couldnt make or receive a pass.

 

[Actual Thought*]

He just needs to mature. I think Kopecky is a better comparison than Datsyuk though. Youtube videos are different than the NHL. Babcock or not this guy isn't going to be Pavel Datsyuk ever. He needs to continue to develop his physical/defensive game if he wants a career in the NHL.

 

[Actual Thought*]

I was actually going to make this comparison. Datsyuk as a rookie under Babs probably would've robbed us of Datsyuk's early dangles. People forget how much Datsyuk used to lose the puck when he was first starting out.

This is one of my pet peeves with Babs: He sees a big body and wants it to be used in a traditional way. Jurco was being deployed like he was heir to Abdelkader instead of being used as a skilled option.

Id really like to know what Jurco's exit interview was like last year. I wouldn't be at all surprised if it was something along the lines of "you made the team this year because of injuries. If you want to make the team next year, you need to work on using your body and your two-way game." Maybe that's why Jurco left his hands at the airport - he was told he wouldn't be needing them.

Anyways, not a whole lot of point in speculating when he's going to be playing under a new coach that he allegedly has a great relationship with. I'll start to worry if he hasn't progressed through next year.

Bowman completely tore down and rebuilt Yzerman. He was an offence first dynamo who had never won anything and Bowman turned him into a quality two way player who won 3 cups. Their is nothing wrong with asking a player to build a foundation of defence to round out his game.

 

[BinCookin]

He will be a consistent middle 6 winger in around 2 years. He is the youngest prospect to play on the wings full time since Fischer. Yes he had a somewhat sub standard year but you have to understand around 40+ games of the year he was teathered to the 4th line. 4th line time + production don't equate.

His first 80 NHL games got him 30 points mainly from the 3rd and 4th line time. He is not a player you want to eject from the system. I have no doubt he will round into form by 24.

The same 4th line that had Glendenning scored 12 goals?

Its not ONLY the 4th line duties that Jurco had that affected his play. He had a bad year. Say what you will about the slow methodical approach to player development, but if you want Jurco in the top 6... it will be in the AHL. Because I would not pay to see him in Detroit's top 6 right now.

 

[Frk It]

The same 4th line that had Glendenning scored 12 goals?

Its not ONLY the 4th line duties that Jurco had that affected his play. He had a bad year. Say what you will about the slow methodical approach to player development, but if you want Jurco in the top 6... it will be in the AHL. Because I would not pay to see him in Detroit's top 6 right now.

He struggled last year. Without doubt.

But the year before he saw some time in the top 6 with Datsyuk and Alfredsson and did not look out of place. He also scored 8 goals in 36 games that year.

He could certainly play his way into the top 6 in Detroit next year, though 3rd likely is probably best fit. Let's not just assume he is going to struggle forever.

 

[Actual Thought*]

He struggled last year. Without doubt.

But the year before he saw some time in the top 6 with Datsyuk and Alfredsson and did not look out of place. He also scored 8 goals in 36 games that year.

He could certainly play his way into the top 6 in Detroit next year, though 3rd likely is probably best fit. Let's not just assume he is going to struggle forever.

I don't think Jurco has topped out but he definitely could have used another year in the minors. It's possible that putting him in the NHL to quickly has hampered his development and crushed his confidence. It will be interesting to see what he does this year and what role Blashill has him playing.

 

[Frk It]

I don't think Jurco has topped out but he definitely could have used another year in the minors. It's possible that putting him in the NHL to quickly has hampered his development and crushed his confidence. It will be interesting to see what he does this year and what role Blashill has him playing.

In hindsight, yeah he probably could have benefitted from that.

Understand why Babcock wanted him though, and I don't think this setback has permanently damaged him in any way. It was probably good for him to be reminded if you're not getting better every day, you're getting passed. That may be a valuable lesson for him to have learned this early on.