Quote:
Originally Posted by CliffFletcher
Burke and Treliving disagree. They have both said repeatedly that they've never seen a player's development hurt by spending too long in junior or the minors.
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Irrelevant, it's unknowable, which was my point that you edited out. The only thing that we do know is that to learn the NHL game, you need to play in the NHL. You may not hurt a players development (really, you would only know if you did if you compared two identical players and put one in the NHL and one in the CHL, which is literally impossible).
Whether because of speed, skill, strength, or maturity, some guys aren't ready to learn the NHL game. It's possible Burke and Treliving have seen something in practice or otherwise that suggests Tkachuk isn't ready, but I assume all of us fans have watched the same games and he's fit right in.
Tkachuk will be a better NHL player next year if he stays, period, but I don't think we can know if staying up will make him a better player in his prime. It's how quickly he gets there.