Stepan vs Couture

[J0e Th0rnton]

I'd prefer Couture. Stepan is what he is, a reliable 55 point asset.

Couture has higher upside.

upside?

If he had upside, you have already seen the best he has to offer.

If his skating was not so bad, he would be a phenom because of his Hockey IQ. As it stands, his IQ allows him to be safer with his bad skating, but Couture is 28 years old. he is not growing much more than you have seen

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I'd prefer Couture. Stepan is what he is, a reliable 55 point asset.

Couture has higher upside.

upside?

If he had upside, you have already seen the best he has to offer.

If his skating was not so bad, he would be a phenom because of his Hockey IQ. As it stands, his IQ allows him to be safer with his bad skating, but Couture is 28 years old. he is not growing much more than you have seen

[StuntMan12]

upside?

If he had upside, you have already seen the best he has to offer.

If his skating was not so bad, he would be a phenom because of his Hockey IQ. As it stands, his IQ allows him to be safer with his bad skating, but Couture is 28 years old. he is not growing much more than you have seen

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upside?

If he had upside, you have already seen the best he has to offer.

If his skating was not so bad, he would be a phenom because of his Hockey IQ. As it stands, his IQ allows him to be safer with his bad skating, but Couture is 28 years old. he is not growing much more than you have seen

He's basically been playing 2nd fiddle to Joe Thornton for many years now. If he was given a bigger role or moved to a team with different linemates I imagine we could see a spike in production from him.

[FinnishFlash]

upside?

If he had upside, you have already seen the best he has to offer.

If his skating was not so bad, he would be a phenom because of his Hockey IQ. As it stands, his IQ allows him to be safer with his bad skating, but Couture is 28 years old. he is not growing much more than you have seen

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Upside meaning we have seen Couture put up 67 points in 82 games in 14/15 and we've seen him put up 66 points in 76 games in 15/16 (Regular season + playoffs). We have also seen him put up 65 in 80 way back in 11/12 but that is too old to be relevant right now.

The only time we have seen Stepan put up similar per game numbers was in the shortened year.

The knock on Couture is health, and it is a legitimate knock. But that does not make his upside lower. If both guys play 82 GP this year, and that is a big if, I would expect Couture to outpoint Stepan by about 10 points. There are situations where the safe play is the better play, but I don't think this is one of them.

[Peteyzero]

Couture appears to be the better keeper, however with the pick coming back and Stepan getting to run as front line centre with some young wingers, it may just even out the point difference you get, plus you get the pick. If you are solid in your depth ahead of this, I say roll the dice.

[J0e Th0rnton]

He's basically been playing 2nd fiddle to Joe Thornton for many years now. If he was given a bigger role or moved to a team with different linemates I imagine we could see a spike in production from him.

I am telling you as a Sharks fan who watches a lot of Sharks games, I disagree.

We have seen quite a few periods of line shakeup with Couture getting Pavelski as his linemate and Burnsy on the backend and it just never translates into anything special. He also always plays on the same PP with those guys. He is what he is. A high end 2nd line center or a poor man's 1st line center.

If he could skate, he would be a superstar. It is certainly his weakest attribute and the one thing that holds him back.

Both coaches rolled those lines fairly evenly since Cooter arrived.

If you want an argument against Stepan, look no further than how awful the Arizona schedule is next year. They have the monopoly on Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday games and very few off nights.

I would rank them fairly evenly to be honest, but expecting Cooter to take the next step at age 28 is just a dream.

[georgbailey]

Stepan. Ideal circumstances. Everyone forgets that Domi is a huge talent and he will get all the ice time in the world.

[Fighting_Emu]

I prefer Couture to Stepan but with Stepan moving to the desert, things could change for him (could be for the better but could also be for the worse).

I'd stick with what I know in Couture personally.

Yea this is true too- might end up in a more shutdown role to shelter the kids. Im flip flopping a bit- but yea considering the downside- Im gonna flakily switch over to Couture (or Cooter which I just read on this thread- never pass on a chance to get some good Cooter :P )

[kovalchuk17]

In a trade, I would prefer Couture. If I get another asset, it'd depend what the other asset is. I picked Stepan 45 picks after Couture went off the board if that helps.