You know, I'll be the first to point out that Sven did not play up to standard in Abby last year and disappointed me a bit. And I believe he was beat squarely to the punch for a spot on the roster in this camp. However, I never agreed with the decision to send him down last fall, because his play at the NHL level at the time honestly wasn't bad at all. He put up a point every second game and added creativity and excitement most nights. I saw the lack of physicality from him, but never the 'liability issue' that management seemed to have a beef with. He definitely could have improved, but he was no worse defensively than 80% of rookies.
Post-demotion Baertschi hasn't been great, in fact pretty meh. But pre-demotion Baertschi was actually doing things out there, while I think serving a purpose similar to Gaudreau, and I wish he was treated as such while kept on the big team. It's sad that offensively he hasn't gotten back there since. Hey, I'll take 40 points from my 3rd line LWer on a contending team, any day.
In regards to the question though, you don't call up a kid just for the sake of possible chemistry with one of your players. No management operates that way...except for maybe Edmonton.
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