Quoting: Caerii
Not sure what you're getting at here. Regardless of how long Addison had been sitting in the press box, playing a rookie defenseman at the wing is never a good idea.
But the point is that Fiala doesn't get the first, second, or even third consideration when it comes to linemates. So the fact that when Zuccarello comes back, Pitlick is going to be back with Fiala, simply means Pitlick is a spare part with no other place to go.
Per Russo's post game article... this is what I'm getting at.
Quote:
Having no extra forwards, Evason and the staff decided to reward defenseman Calen Addison even after assistant GM Chris O’Hearn walked into the office and was willing to recall a forward from Iowa.
Addison, 21, has been on the roster but hadn’t played since Spurgeon was hurt in Florida 10 days earlier. He didn’t know he was playing, let alone playing wing, until he got to the arena two hours before the game. He got to play on a line with Kevin Fiala and Victor Rask.
Evason said the staff decided not to play Addison as the seventh defenseman because the Wild’s other six defensemen have been playing so well, they didn’t want to rotate Addison in and disrupt that chemistry.
Asked why the Wild simply didn’t recall a forward like Kyle Rau or youngsters Matt Boldy or Adam Beckman, Evason said, “(Addison’s) here, right? He’s here, he’s competed, he’s battled, he’s been practicing every day. He got rewarded for doing all the right things being off the ice.”
And as far as Pitlick goes, my point is that he isn't viewed as some spare part. He would
have been put on Kaprizov's wing if they felt he couldn't handle it.