[Caged Great]

You also have to factor in ice time and the amount it will hurt/help the prospect moving forward.

Monahan, who has been labelled as an exception and not the norm, played mostly 2nd line minutes give or take throughout last year, and that was beneficial because there was enough ice time for him to develop, but not too much responsibility, so he could develop on the job.

What happens with players that aren't Monahan. If you're going to have a prospect only getting 7-8 minutes a night on the 4th line, wouldn't it be better for them to play in Glens Falls getting 15-20 minutes instead for developmental purpose, especially when they're still very early in their developmental cycle. Ice time is key for every player to develop, that's why they'll often send goalies to the ECHL to start even though it's an inferior league (Ortio last year).

We are not going to be anywhere near a playoff team this season. It sucks, but when Hudler is your best offensive talent, and he was 3rd or 4th or so 2 years ago when we still missed the playoffs, yeah.... it's not going to be good. So why rush players and possibly risk ruining them just because prospects. It's not like it's going to make a significant difference (playoffs vs no playoffs), so why not do what's in the prospects best interest developmentally and see what they have. I'm sure if Gaudreau got sent to the AHL and after 30 games had 50 points, he'd get recalled no matter who is in the NHL lineup. It's not just him either, I'm sure there'll be several candidates for late Nov/early Dec callups.

Being patient in a situation like this never hurt anyone. Rushing guys though has done wonders up north though.