Evans truther
Rejoint: juill. 2019
Messages: 2,506
Mentions "j'aime": 1,434
I'll focus on the KK selection there because I'm fed up of those hindsight 20/20 posts everywhere but the truth is this;
Center depth in 2017-18:
Roster: Danault, Galchenyuk, Plekanec, Mitchell.
Depth: Drouin still made inconclusive appearances in year 2 at center, Froese played 48 games and DeLaRose played 55 games.
Pipeline worth mentionning: Suzuki came out of a 100 point season in the OHL, Poehling came out of -almost- a PPG season in the NCAA, Ikonen made a slim impact in Liiga, Evans finished his NCAA career with a 46 point season.
Now looking at this you knew by that time that Chucky wasn't a center, had hopes Danault was on his way to a top 6 role, Plekanec was aging and none of the others had top 9 center potential in that line up/depth. The pipeline was looking pretty good with three centers with NHL hopes but none were on their way in the big league soon, Evans needed to work his skating among other things and the two others needed more time to mature. Be true to yourself nobody taught that Suzuki would come in and had that immediate impact in the league, by that time it was believed a year in the OHL plus one year with Bouchard would be the most likely route.
What was said of KK at the time of the draft (And prior);
Craig Button - "He plays the game in a similar fashion to Anze Kopitar and to Blackhawks captain Jonathan Toews."
Adam Kimelman - "Kotkaniemi played regular minutes in Liiga and won't turn 18 until July 6. He's used in the middle and on the wing, and kills penalties, which speaks to his high hockey IQ."
Steve Kournianos - "Like his countryman Kupari, Kotkaniemi spent his draft year playing in Finland's top circuit. Only difference is Kotkaniemi significantly out-produced him. He's a mature playmaker with world-class vision, but his first-step quickness at this stage of his development is average."
Who could you blame for picking a guy compared to those guys with heavy words like "World class vision" describing him coming out Liiga as a 18 yo with over half a ppg? Management should've known better and let him develop his awful skating stride and balance in his D+1 year either in Liiga or with Bouchard in Laval even if he was showing great stuff early. I don't agree with some saying that the NHL isn't a development league, there are some aspects that can be worked on in the NHL like awareness, decision making and faceoffs but working on your overall skating technique is too much to ask for a coach at the NHL level.
The only thing we need to do now is not give up like Boston gave up on Seguin, KK is still the 10th youngest player in the league in his D+3 year so let's just keep working with him.