Turris 12 points in 38 games, Stamkos 14 points in 39 games...
Are they being rushed to the NHL? I think that Phoenix and Tampa are making a mistake like Pittsburgh and M-A Fleury...
Fleury was rushed to the NHL when he wasn't ready, destroyed his confidence and I don't think he's become the goalie he could have been...
Melrose thought Stamkos shouldn't be on the team and while now I think he should be (sending him down would just wreck his confidence)... in hindsight, I think it would have been better for him to have one more year in juniors or get him some time in the AHL rather then have him leap to the NHL...
Turris took that extra year, but with the talent on phoenix still relatively young, i would have developed turris slower, giving him one more year in the minors and bring him up with most of your team having a couple nhl seasons under the belt and allowing the vets to concentrate on bringing turris through...
I've said all along Turris will not be a star player in the NHL. He may end up as a 3rd 4th liner at best. His footspeed is not great, his positioning is abysmal, and I am always skeptical for guys that were drafted from tier II or lower junior. For every one or two guys that do develop there are 50 that are busts (Hello CHris Chucko).
Turris was drafted way to high, and because he played with a stacked line in WJC and Superseries looked way better than he is.
I said at the time of the draft i would have taken Kessel first that year, everyone laughed and laughed, guess I'm looking a tad bit smarter now.
I won't get into the debate on what sort of players Turris Stamkos or anyone else will become but I do think they have been rushed into the NHL, but this is certainly nothing new! As you said MA Fleury was rushed, as was Brule IMO, Fleury has some what recovered and is at least a number one goalie now, maybe not the super star everyone had hoped for but Columbus destroyed Brule, he could of been a very good 2nd liner in the Mike Peca mold (with a bit more skill though) but he was pushed into a position he wasn't ready for way to early!
I'm sure there are tons of players that fall into this category, too many ****ty teams are desperate to sell tickets and bringing in these big name kids before they are ready will give them a short term boost in that department, and the team doesn't care what it does to the player in the long run! I'm glad the Canucks sent Hodgson back to junior instead of pushing him into the NHL, I think other teams need to take a page from the Red Wings, let your kids develop work them into the NHL slowly, there is no reason to put young 18 or 19 year old kids in a position to fail, most just simply aren't physically cape able of playing in the NHL.
The one player I was worried about and still is to some degree is Gagner, Im sure the Oilers fans around here will disagree but I thought Gagner was and isnt physically ready for the NHL he gets pushed off the puck way to easily. I liked what they did last year letting him slowly develop even if it was at the NHL level, they accepted what production they got from him but didnt EXPECT anything, while this year they are putting the pressure of leading the offence on him, especially with Hemsky out! I would also like to see the Canucks get another winger, as Im concerned they are doing the same thing with Raymond (not that Im comparing Raymond to Gagner!) I would much prefer to see him in the AHL right now but the Canucks seem set on letting him play.
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Season 5 BRHL 1 Champion Season 1 BRHL Euro Champion Season 1 BRHL Juniors Champion
Fluery was ready for the NHL...the team and defense in front of him wasn't.
Here was the defense in front of him: Dick Tarnstrom - had a good year, but border-line NHLer. Def should not be your #1 guy Richard Jackman - God Awful Drake Berehowsky - god awful Martin Strbak - border-line KHLer Brooks Orpik - Rookie season, would have been best defenseman on the ice if he was ever out of the penalty box Marc Bergevin - was only on the team to make Mario feel young Josef Melichar - nuf said Patrick Boileau - who? Dan Focht - 9 year pro career and 82 NHL games, 52 of them Fleury's rookie season Rob Scuderi - Rookie season, was god awful then Steve McKenna - spend the next 2 seasons playing bad hockey...in Italy
I think even Martin Brodure would have had confidence issuses behind that crew.
I can't blame the Penguins for keeping him up. The other goalies in the system were: JS Aubin, Sebastian Caron and Andy Chiodo. Not exactly getting any Allstar votes there
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"Theres also talk of creating more room at the end of the rink by making the nets more shallow, which would be accomplished by encouraging them to spend all their time listening to pop music and reading Twilight books."
He might of been ready, but he should of stayed in the minors if that was the case, they did more damage then good playing him in that situation, most teams are more interested in getting big name prospects into there line up then worrying about developing them properly.
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Season 5 BRHL 1 Champion Season 1 BRHL Euro Champion Season 1 BRHL Juniors Champion
Dustin Brown was rushed into the NHL and I thought he may be a bust for a while but he seemed to just have it click all of a sudden (fortunately just after I acquired him from Kirk), but I think it's tough to say.
I honestly thought Stamkos was going to thrive this year the way we saw Kane thrive last year. I also though J.Staal was going to bust in his rookie year and he was great (now not so much but thats a different story).
I think as long as the coaches aren't just keeping them up there to give them 10 mins a game and actually using them at their skill level its okay but it really just depends on the individual.
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"With Sid on your team, anything is possible" - Mario lemieux
