FL4WL3SS said:
The fact that you still think that Claude does not develop young players tells me a lot about you. It's been proven many times on this board that this isn't the case, yet you continue to belabor the point.
It has absolutely NOT been "proven". It has been vehemently asserted, yes, but that's very different from"proven".
It is impossible from a fan's viewpoint to know where the problem lies, exactly, but it is pretty obvious that player development is and has been a problem for the Bruins.
That is not the same as saying "no young players develop under Julien" which is pretty obviously false. But that's not the same thing.
Is Ryan Spooner a player development success or a failure? The obvious answer is that he's a success. When they needed him, he came up and was a key part of a late playoff push that was nearly successful.
But I would call Spooner a player development failure. They almost dumped him - with a second round pick - for a lousy player (Chris Stewart). They maybe could have used him last season (speed would have looked good against the Habs) and absolutely needed him before Feb 20 this year. But he was an afterthought until an injury to Krejci left them no other choice - he was the only other center with offensive talent in the system.
Obviously he made the most of this recent opportunity where he had not done so in the past. But it stretches credibility to argue that, presto, he flipped the switch from "not ready" to "ready" at the exact time when Krejci happened to get hurt.
Julien's fault? Not necessarily but that would be my guess.