BUT, BUT, BUT, HE WAS PICKED 7TH OVERALL!!!! HE SHOULD BE PUTTING UP A POINT PER GAME FROM THE FOURTH LINE!
Basically, idiocy.
Once again, point completely missed.
What he is giving us as a 4th line player is fine. My argument is that he shouldn't be a fourth line player 5 years into his professional career. He's not getting tremendous ice time, fine. But he did get a lot of ice time in Rockford these past two years and with the ice time he currently gets, he's largely ineffective, except on the forecheck. Skille's more talented than Bickell and Dowell combined and he's arguably more talented than Brouwer too, but he's not effective where it counts the most...on the scoresheet. Why have those guys passed him by over the years? Why are they getting more opportunities where he has not?
People can be pleased all they want with the fact he's a good fourth line grinder and a cheap one at that. I get that. What sickens me is that is all he is and probably all he ever will be. I'm mad because he should be better than this by now. Not sure if its poor organizational development, poor scouting or what, but Jack Skille now is essentially the same guy who skated for Wisconsin in 2005. A speed burner with a lot of hustle, but limited creativity, and hands of stone.
If you want to be happy with that, more power to you, but I am not. I'm sorry, but I'm not.
I'm not arguing that Skille's the reason we are 8-9-1, or that he's not giving us solid production in his role. But I think his upside is severely limited and I would rather see the Hawks give his ice time (and that of Pisani, Dowell and even Bickell) to higher potential upside players. I don't know how people can defend the current mix of players when the team's lost 4 of the last 5 games. I agree, for one game Q should run out there a glorified Rockford team just to see how the "entitled" players react, but because he won't do that, I'd like to see change of some sort.
People bitched when the Hawks sent Leddy down over Culli or Boynton. Why is my suggestion that they should bring up Morin, or Beach or even Pirri, any different from those who thought Leddy should still be here?
People can say we are on the same goals per game pace we were on last year and that scoring isn't the issue, but I beg to differ. Last year's team didn't have Hossa at all up until this point and we can see how the team has struggled without him, or when he's been less than 100%. Also, Sharp didn't have double digit goals on Nov 11th, 2009 either. When the big guns go cold, the other guys have to pick up the slack. Since Oct 27th when Hossa got hurt, this team is averaging 2.57 goals per game, which is down significantly from last year's 3.35.