I said this dude was useless when he was still with the hawks and everyone laughed at me. I was willing to give him a chance this year but he has been absolutely brutal. Wish he was still on the IR.
I think he is probably done as a NHL player. He probably has the physical abilities to be a decent 4/5 guy but he lacks hockey sense. He gets caught pinching all the time, gets all of his point shots blocked, and isnt physical enough.
Like they said on 1260 today, if you aren't good enough to make this defense your career is over. Hello KHL is probably his best bet.
There's no doubt he'll make more money that way. He'll be an NHLer as long as he wants though... he's just going to be making Corey Potter money, not Ryan Whitney money
Just wanted to get a feel about how Oiler fans feel about him at this point?
Barker was a major bust here in Chicago outside of fluke year when he lived off PP glory (Havlat/Kane really were the guys who made that PP click)
Hawks dumped him for Leddy and well his stay in Minny was a complete disaster
Does he have a future in Edmonton?
Good for Phanuefian pinches without the big hit resulting in a GA. Three per game. Just like Khabibulin was our MVP getting us two 1st overall picks. Every time we beat teams mgmt starts barker for a guaranteed loss.
Its getting really tough to give him the benefit of the doubt. I understand that confidence is a huge part of playing at this level and his confidence is clearly very low. He has also had precious little time to work the kinks out.
He has some tools (good first pass, good shot, gritty at times) but his decision making has been very, very poor. Is it a confidence issue...possibly, but he is running out of race track.
Play him for the last 20 games.
So he costs the team some games....big deal. If his issues are confidence related and he works his way out of it then there is the possibility of using him as a depth dman next season.
Its getting really tough to give him the benefit of the doubt. I understand that confidence is a huge part of playing at this level and his confidence is clearly very low. He has also had precious little time to work the kinks out.
He has some tools (good first pass, good shot, gritty at times) but his decision making has been very, very poor. Is it a confidence issue...possibly, but he is running out of race track.
Play him for the last 20 games.
So he costs the team some games....big deal. If his issues are confidence related and he works his way out of it then there is the possibility of using him as a depth dman next season.
I would almost feel bad for Chicago for dropping down to 3rd that year when Washington won the lottery...They could have had Malkin instead of Barker. But then again, they won the 2007 draft and a Stanley Cup, so I'm sure they'll be fine.
I would almost feel bad for Chicago for dropping down to 3rd that year when Washington won the lottery...They could have had Malkin instead of Barker. But then again, they won the 2007 draft and a Stanley Cup, so I'm sure they'll be fine.
stealing Toews at #3 in 2006 more than made up for it
