What to do with Kyle Wellwood

This much is certain: between Sundin and Wellwood I'd like to not deal with Toronto for the rest of the century.

After being much maligned for coming to training camp out of shape, the latest this week is that Wellwood has finally gotten himself into "acceptable NHL standards". Acceptable, not great, amazing or award winning. Just acceptable. More or less, he made the cut off. Congrats to him and all the other C students on the planet.

I don't mean to piss on his successful Atkins diet, but I have to ask how much more leeway management's pet project is going to get, especially when it comes down to the final roster slots.

And NOW he realizes he can't be an NHL player and subsist on five dollar footlongs from Subway?! (Damn you Jarrod!):

"They are making sure I get the meals that I need so I can just come to the rink and play hockey," Wellwood said. "There's a lot of vegetables. Apparently, I can't eat a lot of things that normal guys get to eat.

"I have eliminated everything but lean meat and vegetables. If you want to lose weight pretty quickly, just eat vegetables and lean meat. They are doing a good job of making it tasty here."

Off the menu are some of Wellwood's former favourites like pasta and sub sandwiches.
So Wellwood is seemingly no different then the fat girl who doesn't understand why her ass can't fit in a single zip code after a summer of gobbling bacon double cheeseburgers but skipping on the bun to cut back on carbs? For fucks sake this isn't a beer league, do the math:

Talent + Premier Conditioning + Intelligent Food Intake / Narcotics Addition = THIS

And, yeah, about the top six? If Wellwood makes the cut who does it come at the expense of?

If Wellwood is to earn a spot in the top six, it might have to come at the expense of speedy winger Mason Raymond, who has been playing with Pavol Demitra and Taylor Pyatt.

IMO, how about a thousand times "no fucking way". He's going to bump the fastest guy on the team, a guy Demitra has already liken to Gaborik, a guy who made the jump from college to the NHL last year after earning it has to suffer because Gillis picked up Wellwood for nothing? Or does Hansen have to go back to the AHL after his ridiculous game last night to make room for him? Bottom line: can someone explain to me why Wellwood starting off in the AHL is a bad thing?

I'm not questioning Wellwood's skillset because clearly he has some substantial offensive upside which is wonderful for a team with a shocking lack of that thing. But too much coddling is an incredible disservice to the club's supposed youth movement if Wellwood's gain comes at Raymond's expense. If he wants the top six, let him earn it with his play.

But this is just one thoroughly angry man's opinion. What do you think?

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