Quote:
|
Originally Posted by BobbyClarkeFan16
Ok, Joe Thornton started in the league as an 18 year old. By the time he was a 20 year old, he was already getting 18+ minutes a night ice time. Boston also ended up dealing Jason Allison once Thornton was ready.
Carter is a 20 year old in the league. There should be no reason at all why he can't be assigned more ice time. The problem is that in Philadelphia, unless you're a veteran or unless you're willing to play a defensive role at the expense of your offensive game (see Richards, Mike) you're going to get minimal ice time. Hitch hates young players and it's something that has carried over from his days in Dallas. You'd figure that after watching guys like Pitkanen and Richards play, Hitch would do more to get Umberger and Carter involved, which he hasn't.
Now, as for Handzus, if we were to deal him, I'd want a defenseman coming back the other way. We have the youth and talent here to bump someone up to the 2nd line to play a scoring role. If St.Louis were to offer something like Christian Backman or Eric Brewer for Handzus (wouldn't it be something if they sent us Brewer and Woywitka), then I'd do it. You end up rebuilding your defense and get a great defenseman who is just hitting his prime in the deal.
The other thing I would like to see is Carter centering Forsberg and Gagne. Forsberg would probably take less of a pounding along the wing and we start the grooming of Carter for the top role. It also gives us a chance to see how Carter can do on the top line. Key word here is chance, which is something Hitch hasn't done so far.
|
Either way, rookies in the league need some adjustment whether it be 40 games, a full season etc. Not that he couldnt handle the additional ice time, I just never expect someone to come in and dominate.
I agree with Carter on the top line. I wanted to see him on the top line as well. He had like one game and Hitch pulled him off. I was crying for them to try him at Center with Forsberg on the wing as well. I think that line would be awesome. Forsberg's passing with Carter's wrist shot. I had posted this numerous times back at the beginning of the season. The point I had made when I posted this was that you see Forsberg get a lot of his assists hanging on the right boards where he can survey the entire offensive zone. If he played RW, he would already be there. Carter is better at faceoffs as well.
I would go with
Gagne Carter Forsberg
Knuble Richards Sim
Kapanen Handzus Rado
Still not a big fan of Sim being on the 2nd line, but that line looked pretty good. I would move Handzus up and put Umberger as third liner. Who knows!!!