Quote:
Originally Posted by MarkGio
Right now he plays a support role. If he went back he would be THE GUY on his team and put their entire season on his back, especially with the departures of Dvorak and Marner.
Hockey is hockey. If you assume he has nothing left to learn than you assume he's never going to be any better? You think he's going to be a 70pt player this year and stay that way? Every player follows a progression of learning. This is especially true for an 18 year old
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Hockey isn't hockey and having nothing left to learn at a lower tier doesn't mean they don't have anything left to learn. Playing against boys will let him dominate (hopefully), have a good time and gain confidence. But skill wise it does next to nothing compared to the next level. This is of course assuming he has the skills to compete on a basic level in the NHL, which I think everyone agrees he can.
The progression of any skill-set is enhanced by reasonable difficulty. You wouldn't expect a 6 year old to ride moto-cross but keeping their training wheels on when they obviously have the skills, doesn't help them progress as much as taking a couple falls without them. Maybe the next 6 games will tell a different story, but based on pre-season and his first 3 games the time for training wheels is over and if he wants to progress he needs to compete against a better class of players, something he won't get in junior.
If anything they could send him to the World Juniors to compete against the best of his age group, but day to day in Jr is like playing checkers when you are preparing for chess.