Jokinen is not Sutter's biggest gaffe
Posted 12:13 PM ET | Comments 0
Much has been made of Daryll Sutter's strange decision to bring Olli Jokinen back into the fold. Pundits and fans across the hockey world blasted the move, some speculating that he had gone crazy. Bringing back Jokinen may have its pitfalls, but it is not the worst move Sutter has ever made.
That distinction belongs to the decision to let Kristian Huselius walk in favour of keeping Daymond Langkow. Langkow is a warrior, and has under-appreciated offensive skills, however Langkow does not have the innate ability to dance with the puck that Huselius had.
It is easy to understand why Sutter made his decision, Langkow is a "good Alberta boy" tough to play against, rarely takes a night off. Those things can obviously not be said about Huselius. The lanky Swede was often over-powered by opponents and occasionally took nights off.
However he had Datsyukian like puck control abilities, he was able to dance the puck into the offensive zone, and was a huge boon to the powerplay. If you gave him too much space he would make you pay with an incredibly accurate shot, if you tried closing him off he would always find a way to deke out and feed an open and waiting Iginla.
Huselius has out-scored Langkow every year since 06/07, and comes in at just 250k more expensive than the Flames now third-line center.
Langkow is a player any team would love to have -perhaps not necessarily at a $4.5 million cap hit, but I digress- but Huselius, with his skill and ability is the type of player the Flames need.
At least Sutter will probably bring him back when his contracts up.
That distinction belongs to the decision to let Kristian Huselius walk in favour of keeping Daymond Langkow. Langkow is a warrior, and has under-appreciated offensive skills, however Langkow does not have the innate ability to dance with the puck that Huselius had.
It is easy to understand why Sutter made his decision, Langkow is a "good Alberta boy" tough to play against, rarely takes a night off. Those things can obviously not be said about Huselius. The lanky Swede was often over-powered by opponents and occasionally took nights off.
However he had Datsyukian like puck control abilities, he was able to dance the puck into the offensive zone, and was a huge boon to the powerplay. If you gave him too much space he would make you pay with an incredibly accurate shot, if you tried closing him off he would always find a way to deke out and feed an open and waiting Iginla.
Huselius has out-scored Langkow every year since 06/07, and comes in at just 250k more expensive than the Flames now third-line center.
Langkow is a player any team would love to have -perhaps not necessarily at a $4.5 million cap hit, but I digress- but Huselius, with his skill and ability is the type of player the Flames need.
At least Sutter will probably bring him back when his contracts up.