Chuck - Much of your post actually makes my point. Yes, the NHL is a salary cap league - if Toronto could have kept everyone they would have. Toronto would have loved to have had JVR back at two million per, but that simply wasn't an option. You can analyze his departure all you want, but the biggest factor in him leaving for Philadelphia is because he played his way into being worth a 7 million dollar contract elsewhere...
So Toronto had a decision to make. And as you also point the money saved on JVRs departure led to not only the Tavares signing, but also the ability to extend their hotshot 22 year old. Again, is this supposed to be an indictment of JVR - the fact that TOR preferred to save that money to help sign both a superstar and a youngster with a massive ceiling instead? You could count the number of players they'd prefer over locking up those two, on one hand (maybe even one finger)...
If you want to continue to argue that JVR didn't reach your expectations at UNH and has yet to do so in the pros that's up to you. If you'd stop short of the drive by - third-liner, hasn't lived up to his contract after 15 games and a major injury, is a bust - comments you probably wouldn't get much push back. But you seem to go out of your way to avoid aknowledging what he has accomplished and how good he has actually is...
The reality is JVR scored at a 25+ goal pace every season in Toronto, including 29 and 36 the last two years. He's scored at a 20+ goal pace in every season except his rookie year. He's a very good and highly regarded NHL player - hence the 7 million dollar deal...
Final NHL point - I've stated before it's not really fair to compare draft picks across draft years. The only way to claim he was unworthy of his draft status would be relative to his own class. Without double checking, I'm pretty certain we found out last time that the only players in his draft to out-produce him were Kane (who went ahead of him) and Jamie Benn (who went deep in the draft). Add in a defenseman like PK Subban and maybe he should have been the fourth/fifth pick with ten-years of hindsight? Big deal. It was and is a good draft choice - if the Flyers wish they'd gotten more value they shouldn't have traded him...
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As for his college career. At UNH he scored 75 points in two years and would have scored 200+ if he stayed for four years. Unfortunately, that's just not how it works any more.
Where as contemporaries Collins and Haydar jumped onto lines with elite SRs (Krog and Haydar, respectively) - JVR played with FR and SO linemates. He was the focal point and had to carry his own offensive load. And he did so quite admirably as a true FR and SO.
How many first round NHL picks have we seen come to college at 18, who dont even approach JVRs numbers? At just the Boston schools in the last two years alone, for example? Putting up 75 points against players 2-4 years older than you is quite a feat - despite playing on some VERY youthful UNH teams. There's a reason why a player like Jackson Pierson creates so much excitement when he scores at a 24-point season pace through his first 12 games as a true FR (A 24-point pace would still only put one at 2/3 the production of a freshman JVR, FYI)...
Krog and Haydar aside, imagine JVR simply playing with SR Bobby Butler/Phil DeSimone instead of the frosh versions of those two. Or if he had skated with Radja/Fornataro instead of classmates...
So Toronto had a decision to make. And as you also point the money saved on JVRs departure led to not only the Tavares signing, but also the ability to extend their hotshot 22 year old. Again, is this supposed to be an indictment of JVR - the fact that TOR preferred to save that money to help sign both a superstar and a youngster with a massive ceiling instead? You could count the number of players they'd prefer over locking up those two, on one hand (maybe even one finger)...
If you want to continue to argue that JVR didn't reach your expectations at UNH and has yet to do so in the pros that's up to you. If you'd stop short of the drive by - third-liner, hasn't lived up to his contract after 15 games and a major injury, is a bust - comments you probably wouldn't get much push back. But you seem to go out of your way to avoid aknowledging what he has accomplished and how good he has actually is...
The reality is JVR scored at a 25+ goal pace every season in Toronto, including 29 and 36 the last two years. He's scored at a 20+ goal pace in every season except his rookie year. He's a very good and highly regarded NHL player - hence the 7 million dollar deal...
Final NHL point - I've stated before it's not really fair to compare draft picks across draft years. The only way to claim he was unworthy of his draft status would be relative to his own class. Without double checking, I'm pretty certain we found out last time that the only players in his draft to out-produce him were Kane (who went ahead of him) and Jamie Benn (who went deep in the draft). Add in a defenseman like PK Subban and maybe he should have been the fourth/fifth pick with ten-years of hindsight? Big deal. It was and is a good draft choice - if the Flyers wish they'd gotten more value they shouldn't have traded him...
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As for his college career. At UNH he scored 75 points in two years and would have scored 200+ if he stayed for four years. Unfortunately, that's just not how it works any more.
Where as contemporaries Collins and Haydar jumped onto lines with elite SRs (Krog and Haydar, respectively) - JVR played with FR and SO linemates. He was the focal point and had to carry his own offensive load. And he did so quite admirably as a true FR and SO.
How many first round NHL picks have we seen come to college at 18, who dont even approach JVRs numbers? At just the Boston schools in the last two years alone, for example? Putting up 75 points against players 2-4 years older than you is quite a feat - despite playing on some VERY youthful UNH teams. There's a reason why a player like Jackson Pierson creates so much excitement when he scores at a 24-point season pace through his first 12 games as a true FR (A 24-point pace would still only put one at 2/3 the production of a freshman JVR, FYI)...
Krog and Haydar aside, imagine JVR simply playing with SR Bobby Butler/Phil DeSimone instead of the frosh versions of those two. Or if he had skated with Radja/Fornataro instead of classmates...
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