So, am I in the minority of sports fans who doesn't get attached to our own players or prospects? I do have favorites, but I don't how there are people on Reddit/Twitter who complain about us not bringing back 3rd/4th line players or bottom-pairing forwards?
To me, it is always about whatever sets up the team for success. I do think sometimes I am little too objective about these things, but at the end of the day isn't it more important for the team to be successful?
It depends, cause some guys you just can't help but love or how they play really resonates with you.
I love a good underdog and guys who work hard and put their body on the line and are feisty and I love them even more if they're skilled guys.
Michael Grabner was one of my favorite players of all time when he was on the Coyotes. That year where they put him and...f*** I'm too sick to remember this. Richards? Together on the PK in like 2019 was just absolute dynamite and it was such a treat watching all the SHG and chances they scored together.
I was absolutely gutted when Tampa traded MSL and when ARI traded Yandle. I thought the Yandle deal was fine but I loved him so much that even though objectively it was a fine deal I was soooo mad about it.
For the Knights there's been a lot of players like that because Hunter has never met a scrappy underdog he didn't love and try to mold into an NHL player but Danny Erlich was one of my favorite players that played for them.
London Knights - OHL - hockey team page with roster, stats, transactions at eliteprospects.com
www.eliteprospects.com
Watching this Knights team was such a treat to watch. Kadri was a spitfire but he wasn't dirty back then, and he had oodles of skill and confidence and loved trying to go through 4 people. Didn't always work out for him but he was tons of fun to watch.
All of them were incredibly hard working, the camaraderie was off the charts, they worked as a unit and they never, ever gave up. They left it all out there every single game. Kitchener at the time was one of our biggest rivals too. The Rangers, btw, had Landeskog and Jeff Skinner in that series. It was extremely high scoring. There was even a game where the score was 8-7...in OT.
Danny Erlich was like 5'7 on a good day but man that kid could skate like the wind and had a great combination of hands, playmaking and shot but the best part of it was that he didn't let his size bother him at all and gave as good as he got.
I am however incredibly spoiled by the Hunters with the Knights, they always manage to ice a good fun team to watch at minimum and have had some freaking massive juggernauts over the years.
For me yeah I have my favorite players and I'm sad when they get traded but it's rarely something that bothers me that much (except Utah, because f*** Utah) cause I trust in the Knights and Hunter to know what the f*** they're doing and know that they'll bounce back. And it's such a short amount of time you can play with the team anyways that I feel pretty lucky even getting to watch 1-2 seasons from someone in the OHL.
Now in the NHL...well I don't trust the Kraken as far as I can throw them, so if my favorite player (cough Dvorak cough) got traded I would be pretty upset because unless it's a slam dunk deal I'm always going to feel like I would rather have them on the team. Unless they win the cup! But I somehow don't think I'm going to see the NHL team I cheer for accomplish that in my lifetime.
