Over the past couple of games star prospect Charlie Serpe and been taken off of the powerplay and has his minutes reduced to around ten minutes per game. When interviewed after today’s game he said some things that made it seem like he was unhappy with his ice time. Serpe said “if they (New Orleans) only wanted me to play ten minutes a game, I should have stayed and played for the Scarecrows for a few more seasons”. It is really unclear of why the line changes were made but the Specters were in a rough so a shakeup with the “best option” according to general manager Joe K. In Serpe’s defense is has been having a really good season for the limited amount of ice time he is getting. In 21 games, he has 4 points, is a plus six and has blocked 16 shots. These stats might not seem great but for only getting around 15 minutes a game he has similar stats to some of the better offensive defense man in the league and on his own team. There is no right answer to this question of whether Serpe should get more of less time, but the stats don’t lie and he shouldn’t be punished for playing well because his teammates aren’t holding up their end of the bargain. Serpe also said that the defensive core in general needs to “play better”; we don’t know if he was throwing shade of top pair defenseman Richard Physt who is a minus 6 on the season with 24 penalty minutes. It is clear that the top pair has a negative plus minus and Serpe has a positive one. We will look forward to seeing my line changes this season.
What happens the rest of the season will be interesting because Serpe wants to play more minutes and he recently signed a three-year contract extension with a no movement clause so let’s hope he and team find a happy medium.
Serpe x 13
