Quote:
Originally Posted by MPF24
I honestly believe the Christensen hate is tremendously out of proportion here. The guy is talented. He's a frustrating, uninspiring, inconsistent, and often invisible player, but he has a limited role and a very small salary. He's bounced from team to team for all of those reasons; inconsistent, uninspiring and oft unnoticeable, but for the modest salary he commands (relative to the cap) it can still be said of him that he's managed to stay in the NHL for the past 6 years and that he has produced in the limited roles he's had. He'll never be a VALUABLE piece to a team. He'll never be a guy you wish you had back or that a team wants to give up an asset to acquire. He'll also never be a guy who gets paid more than ~1M a year. And at that price, he's honestly a pretty decent value.
Erik Christensen 340 career games, 151 points:
05-06: 13 points in 33 games
06-07: 33 points in 61 games
07-08: 24 points in 59 games
08-09: 28 points in 64 games
09-10: 26 points in 58 games
10-11: 27 points in 63 games
These are really not terrible numbers for the salary and role that he has. He is what he is. Expecting more out of him is never going to get you anywhere, but recognizing that he is a spare part player who on top of having the potential to give you 30-35 points over an 82 game season, can be very useful in the shootout, he's really not that bad. I actually feel for the guy. He has talent but he never put it all together. Still, he provides enough to warrant his meager price tag. Like most, I certainly won't complain when/if the day comes that it's his turn to hit the waiver wire, but I don't understand how a spare parts forward who comes close to 30 points every year in less than 70 games and makes less than 1M can possibly be the new whipping boy for our fan base.
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Christensen isn't the whipping boy. It's that his role on the team is larger than it should be that is the problem. You're right, as an extra part/injury fill-in, he is fine. But on this team, he ends up playing relatively often, and that's the problem. When constructing a roster, you want to be able to match up roles/niches with other teams and have the preferable match up in most cases. When he's in the lineup, most nights, the opposite team has a better player filling the role on their team.