Tuesday’s feedback

Published 11:57 am Tuesday, January 8, 2008

I’m sick as a dog today, so I figured I’d let someone else do the heavy work. Jay Morrison had this to say:

How about a comment for folks on what do you do with fans’ favorite players that don’t perform. For two years I have been advocating that the team get rid of (Zack) Dailey. I don’t think anyone else in the WHL can miss open nets as good as Dailey. There are other players that easily can take his place and give the team about a foot more in height and arm reach. Dailey is apparently a hit in the locker room and with fans, so it seems that the team won’t consider trading him. Loyalty is one thing, winning is another. It works two ways, Dailey has NOT progressed the way he should and is holding up other players’ scoring chances and team wins. Tips need to trade him while they can, he will never be selected as an overager…….

Just for grins, do you have any idea what the Tips W/L record is without Dailey?

Thanks for your time.

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A quick response.

I think it’s fair to say that Dailey hasn’t progressed offensively the way the team had hoped. I remember watching him practice with the team as a 15-year-old and thinking he was going to become quite the playmaker. But while he may not be much of an offensive asset, he still does some valuable things:

– He has great speed and uses it to play bigger than his actual size.

– He plays hard.

– He’s a good penalty killer.

– He’s the only Everett center who seems capable of winning faceoffs consistently.

Do those things make him a star? Obviously not. And if he remains at this level I agree it’ll be a challenge for him to make the team as an overager in two years. But every team needs players who do those things in order to be successful. Teams full of nothing but flashy skill guys are rarely are successful as expected (see the U.S. teams at World Juniors for an example).