Quoting: F50marco
Simple. Because he isnt that good.
His only redeeming quality is transition. Literally nothing else.
Not physical.
Terrible shot.
No vision.
No hands.
Great mobility and great at getting the puck from his zone to the neutral zone. Once there though, has the creativity and scoring drive of Raitis Ivanans.
"Isn't that good" leaves a lot up to the imagination when talking about a guy on waivers.
Mete is not a player who is directly involved in offense, but you cannot argue with the teams positive goal differential with him on the ice. He has never had a negative goal differential in any of his 4 seasons with MTL (and that is impressive because none of them have been playoff caliber teams). He actually has the best goal differential of any defenseman playing for MTL over those 4 years, +30. His transition skills are elite and that means good things for his teammates. His weaknesses and shortcomings are well known, but they can be overcome with right partner.
Mete and Weber were literally a top pair for MTL the year they missed the playoffs with 96 pts... the best season by MTL in the last 4 years. Seen this posted in the comments of the athletic today, Mete with Weber:
- 136 games, more than 1100 minutes
- Goals For: 50, Goals Against: 40
- High Danger Chances For: 256, Against 195
- More Dzone starts than Ozone
There is a narrative that Mete cannot defend, its just the eye test because it looks bad when he gets outmuscled. A player that couldn't defend would not have those numbers.
Mete needs a new opportunity. If he was in the AHL he could have been developed to run a powerplay and then he wouldn't just be considered an undersized D who has no offense.
The oilers are the best fit in the NHL for him IMO, his $735k cap hit fits perfectly. He played in London with Evan Bouchard and he would fit perfectly with Larsson.