Quote:
Originally Posted by J epworth kendal
No he's saying he should have gone to the USHL this past season. It's what he had originally planned but over the summer last year he decided to go straight from Stanstead to Providence College, which is a very big jump.
Taking the leap to the NCAA gave him better competition and probably will in the end speed up his development a bit (we can hope) but since he made such a big jump, he basically went from a league with no systems play to a very high level league with plays developing much faster than he was used to. This forced Providence to put him on the wing this year to get used to the jump, instead of having him at centre. If he had gone the USHL route, he would have been playing centre this past year, which you could argue would have been better for his development.
A positive note is that he will be the number 1 centre for Providence College next season, so we can really get a gauge this fall where he is at in his development and if we really have a good prospect on our hands or not. If he comes out strong and shows he can play top line minutes as a centre right out of the gate, you can expect that he will get a long look for the World Juniors.
|
Good point. I think one of the reasons he went to Providence was his strong showing at the Flames development camp. If that never happens and he ends up playing in the USHL (as planned), he probably puts up some pretty good stats (in a lesser league) and attracts more attention from scouts.