herb wrote:Regarding Booth – Probably the last thing I’m interested in is debating the merits [again] of David Booth as a hockey player, but there is absolutely no way in hell the coaching staff believes playing Alberts or Sestito four minutes tonight gives the team a better chance at winning.
Torts is the kind of guy who believes in “sending a message”. Booth was reportedly bag skated hard this morning at practice. Obviously the coaches aren’t ecstatic with the way he has played.
I would probably agree with most of what most people say about the merit of Booth as a player at this point, but to me seeing him get the scratch is encouraging in that it hopefully means we will either see an improvement from this player or after a season of frustration from the coaching staff the organization will likely step up and buy him out of his remaining season under contract.
A top nine winger who treads water at even strength but can't really be depended on to provide any kind of consistent offense is exactly the type of role we can fill with an ELC next year, be it Jensen, Gaunce, Shinkaruk or Horvat - and putting $3m and change towards another position in the lineup would be a huge boon to this team.
I like that Booth isn't a big liability out there and I believe he can contribute (and I was satisfied with what he did, when healthy, his first season here) but the guy we've seen this season is eminently replaceable.