Quoting: Eli
That's what people say when a 5th or 6th round average kid like Travis Boyd somehow breaks through, keeps improving, and becomes a fringe NHLer. Boyd Gordon was a top-twenty overall bust who improved his faceoff skills enough to hang on in the NHL for a decade, but never put in the work to translate the offensive skills that got him drafted into a thirty point season. Boyd Gordon had the talent to get picked ahead of Duncan Keith, Tomas Fleishman, Alex Steen, and Jarret Stoll. He never got half as many points as those guys because he barely had a pro-level work ethic. But he was good at faceoffs.
Boyd may not have lived up to his junior ranking, many offensive mind....*career stats search*...
Let me start over. Boyd maxed at 81 pts for Red Deer. That's not a offensive powerhouse in the Canadian junior leagues. Boyd not only was an face off wiz, but was a great penalty kill guy. He also took most of his starts in the defensive zone, so don't start giving me that corsi crap. He even was in the top 50 for Selke 6 TIMES. How many players of his profile can say that??? All I just said adds up to a hard working STUD! You don't make it as a grinder in the NHL without work ethic.
Kuzy is supposed to be a Center. And an ELITE one at that. He has the point production, but hard working elite centers learn to add to their game. He is null and void on our PK, he is a liability at the dot and his production and value has dropped since the cup. That's not hard work.
To circle back to the Landeskog trade...Gabe is even with and arguably a more consistent point getter. Gabe CAN win Faceoffs. Gabe has some flexibility to move to the wing. Gabe is an upgrade in just about every category. So yes, I'm willing to trade a once 70 pt scorer for another once 70 pt scorer with more upside. And yes I'm willing to add some picks....
😁 This is fun.