The 9 Games
Had a random musing this morning reading about Tkachuk and watching the highlights.
Does anyone else get the feeling that the 9 games opens the door for players straight out of junior and gives them a better chance to make the team than the players that are in the 20-25 range? Having the 9 games thing seems to me like it allows those younger players time to adjust to the team, find their game, get more forgiveness, etc.. than those guys who get call ups for a few games, or guys that are in and out every other game like Hamilton. Not many other prospects/call ups get 9 straight games to sort themselves out and try to look like NHL players.
Not speaking to Tkachuk specifically, just the system it seems to create surrounding these top-end picks and moreso, maybe it should tell us something about how other call-ups should be treated.
Why not give guys like Shinkaruk and the like or someone 9 games to figure it out? How often does it happen that someone gets called up and plays 6-10 straight games? Are they noticeably worse than the players they replace? Most nights, that answer is no in my eyes. The times that Hamilton has been in the game he looks no better or worse than Chiasson, or Bouma, etc.. So why not leave him in and see if something interesting happens? Why not call up a talented youngster to play with the top group (not just get slotted into a 4th line spot) and see what happens? It's not like it's a bunch of scrubs down there. There are 4-5 players down there with pretty great pedigree.
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