I agree that I'm worried about the pressure on Svech (see my prior posts about the consequences of trading SKinner and magically finding his 30 goals elsewhere plus the 30 more goals we need to be a real playoff contender). '
The thing is though, this kid really IS the savior. He almost has to be. The unfortunate reality of our situation is that this kid is going to need to step right in and put up at least 50 points....right away (if not more). There is every indication at the moment that Svechnikov is one of those rare talents that will be fully capable of doing that. His tape shows him doing things on the ice that not a single other player in the Canes organization, including Aho, are capable of doing. His ability to power or accelerate around Dmen and to shift lanes suddenly before you can even blink to open up scoring opportunities are things that only elite level talents do. Now he has done all of that against kids his own age so far, so its not 100% clear if he can simply do that at the NHL level, but the expectation is that he will.
Eric Staal was sheltered during his 18 year old season and kind of stunningly emerged as a superstar as a 20 year old (his offense was way beyond what was expected that Cup season, remember he was the 'safe 2 way forward pick' when we drafted him). The Canes are so starved for elite level offensive talent that they cannot really afford to shelter Svechnikov much this coming season. Our big new savior for our struggling goal scoring for this coming season? That is Svechnikov. That will become even more apparent when Skinner is traded without any real other goal scoring solution replacing him.
Dundon has very clearly indicated he feels that the players are what we should be selling. Its going to be a heavy dose of Aho and Svechnikov, as our most dynamic young players. I fully share your concerns Kahuna. Svech is going to have a lot of pressure to produce from day 1 as the Canes are not likely to have much of a backup plan for improved goal scoring, especially once Skinner is traded. He is going to be elevated to 'face of the franchise' with Aho right away, even without having played a game.
Seriously though, who would you rather use to try to sell tickets? The kid who is Marian Hossa or Gordie Howe or Alex Ovechkin depending on whose over the top scouting report you read or the 6'6" Dman with the big slap shot who likes to go to museums? We were damn lucky to be able to draft this kid and the marketing team is going to be cashing in on that luck all offseason. Hopefully the kid can stay focused and live up to the hype because the weight of this franchise is going to be on his 18 year old shoulders, risky as that may be.
I'm not sure what Hamilton's sense of humor is like, but I think something involving his alleged love of museums will only be effective as a tweet picture after the Canes make the playoffs and the Flames don't (similar to Kessel filling the Cup with hot dogs). Patrick O'Sullivan stated that there was no issues at all with Hamilton in the room, only the GM seemed to have a problem with Hamilton. If the worst thing about Hamilton is that he doesn't scowl or pout enough after losses that is a pretty ridiculous reason to look to move a player.
