Rejoint: janv. 2018
Messages: 16,883
Mentions "j'aime": 11,894
Prove it deal for a guy who is, in my opinion, ready to cement himself as an everyday 4C. I think he both benefited from and was hurt by Scoty Sabourin being a full time NHL player last season. I think once he started playing with Sabourin, he really found that extra gear in his physical game, especially on the forecheck. The flip side was that when Sabbie was in the lineup, DJ did not trust his 4th line for more than 7-8 min a night.
For Chlapik to be successful this year, when he gets into the lineup, he needs to push his way onto the Penalty kill. He's been a great AHL PK guy for a while, and he was a pretty incredible defensive forward at the NHL level last year. If he can combine those things and become an important PK centre this year, it makes it much harder to pull him out of the lineup.
I don't think there are many Sens players I'm pulling for harder this year. He's very close to where Nick Paul was last year, where he's so close to being a player, he just needs that chance.