Quote:
Originally Posted by belsarius
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.
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A lot of great players struggle their draft+year in the juniors. It's not like he's guaranteed to dominate at unprecedented levels. Maybe if he broke OHL records last year I could see your point, but he could still improve upon his performance.