Just gotta say I loved the breakdown of your reasoning with Will’s contract length and the pay the Sharks will potentially give him. I always love your breakdowns though.
I just wanna say, as it seems to be a common thing now, so many people including a lot of sharks fans seem to underestimate Will’s ability and his potential.
He definitely has areas he needs to work on, as I’m sure he is aware of, but seems to be his biggest crime is being on the same team and the same line as Mack. I say this as he seems to be the one they always compare him to.
I’m looking forward to seeing what next season is like the team, but also I’d love Will to quieten the critics
Yeah I feel like I've become one of the generals in Will's Avenging Army, but I'm not doing it because I think he's cute or I like the whimsy of Willmack or I was a fan of his college hockey.
I genuinely think Will is talented & believe he's a critical part of the Sharks' rebuild. I do think he suffers from constant comparisons to Mack. In fact, I *know* he does. I periodically listen to podcasts for other teams, and they talk about some of their developing players FAR more favorably than most Sharks' podcasters talk about Will. And these are guys who have nowhere near the stats or the talent Will has.
The funny thing is, these are the same guys who are projecting Will to remain on the top line with Mack this upcoming season. Like, it's not even questioned, it's assumed. They'll argue about where to put Toff or Graf or Sherwood, they'll have heated discussions about whether Misa is ready to be 2C or if he still belongs at 3C, but Will staying with Mack is literally not even addressed.
So it's frustrating. You're admitting Will has 1st line talent, you're talking about how good his chemistry is with Mack, you're acknowledging he was the 2nd highest scorer on the team. But when talk of his salary comes up, suddenly it's "well $8m is more than fair, we can't overpay Will Smith".
Yes, as you said, he has areas he needs to work on. No, he hasn't hit his ceiling yet. But he's a key piece of this team's future, and anyone who doesn't acknowledge that hasn't been paying attention.
Edited to add: I did a long in-depth analysis of Will's development here if anyone is interested
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