We could all wax philosophical about this question - which, by the way, I thought was a good one for discussion. But IMO it comes down to something I think Scott Hamilton said one time "the ice is slippery!" No matter how good a skater is, no matter what they've done in the past, they can have an off night, they can have a growth spurt that throws their timing off, they can land on a cut in the ice, they can have a tummy ache or they're mad at their coach or 1000 other things that could affect their skating. What one does one year doesn't necessarily mean they can pull it off the next year. It might take a couple of years to get back in form. I honestly don't see how a skate at a competition this year means definitively that the skater will medal at the Olympics next year. It goes back to all the discussion about Evan Lysacek and how he would have been a force to be reckoned with at Nats this year - why would someone say that just because he won the Olympics 3 years ago? Skating is in the moment. And the moment is NOW. Skaters can have big-time potential based on what they've done in the past but the ice is slippery, people fall, bodies change. I think all we can do as fans is hope they continue to grow and improve and, like LRK says about Joubert, sit in the stands or at home with our hands at our mouths and our fingers crossed.
I think that Evan very well could be a force to be reckoned at US Nationals. However, I don't think he'd be a force to be reckoned at the international level. Evan was never the best quad jumper...I think mens has moved on. And frankly I don't think begging Johnny/Evan to come back is what USFSA needs. What they need is to get someone like Farris some experience/and maybe pray Dornbush also gets more consistent.