Wave yerself Goodbye
I used to have a very strong opinion of Dmitry Afanasenkov’s potential. I figured he just had to shoot more and learn how to finish and he would become as potent a weapon as Martin St. Louis.
Well, he may just be finished period. He and off season pickup Andreas Karlsson have been waived by the Lightning. If no team picks them up, they will be re-assigned to Springfield of the AHL.
Watching the game last night (and several games as of late) I though Affy might be more of a problem than part of the solution and it would appear that the powers-that-be have come to the same conclusion. Good luck Dmitry.
Further from the story:
Though Feaster indicated the move was made as a backup plan after defensemen Filip Kuba and Paul Ranger suffered minor injuries Thursday night, the GM also said he was close to making a trade last week before the holiday roster freeze went into effect.
The roster freeze has been lifted, more than a million dollars cleared under the cap… Just what is Jay planning here?
December 30th, 2006 at 3:53 pm
I’ve always said he was been misused by Torts. After the performance he had during the cup year, I never understood how He could be relegated so quickly to the fourth line after the off year. Torts was shuffling like Mad game after game and never gave this scorer the support of top linemates. His confidence and ice time have never recovered. For all the talk of being so good at developing talent Torts really f’ed up on this guy. Similarly, I was equally puzzled and on record here by how they let Perrin go. Look at this guys performance in the cup playoffs and more importantly his monumental effort this season and it’s beyond baffling how they couldn’t see this diamond that was no where near the rough. Perrin alone is enough to shake my confidence that Feaster has any clue what he’s doing under the cap.
December 30th, 2006 at 4:11 pm
I can’t say much in Affy’s defense. When he has had opportunities on the top lines, he hasn’t taken shots. When he’s played on lower lines he’s been prevented from being an offensive player except on rare occasions.
Perrin — Eric Perrin isn’t quite an enigma but one thing that’s totally debatable (and “hindsight” can be used here) is how the Lightning were coming into the 2005-06 season after the year layoff. Feaster thought it imperative to keep the nucleus of the franchise together at all costs — not just Vinny, Brad and Marty — and guys like Perrin were retained, but were encouraged to play in Europe.
In Jay’s defense, this guy had only played I believe ONE game at the NHL level going into the 2004 playoffs. But at the same time — he was obviously misjudged, as was Marty, as being too small to contribute to an NHL roster.
Feaster didn’t want to gamble under the cap with no room to move as-was. Not trying to give him the benefit of the doubt because the Lightning are still suffering (or have been) with no room to move under the cap.
A GM needs to be more versatile though. I really am at a loss what Feaster is looking for when he shops (for free agents, and in trade partners). Though he wants stability and nothing that ruins the chemistry in the locker room, you gotta make moves that improve your team too. If the team can’t adjust to a new chemistry, there is a problem right there.