Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I think a strong portion of the of the Penguins' success the last two years has been that their AHL coach was promoted to the NHL mid-season - a coach who intimately knew the capabilities of AHL players like Murray, Sheary, Dumoulin, Rust, etc from the minor leagues and was willing to give them opportunities we could not have fathomed under the previous coach - opportunities ahead of established veterans like Fleury, Kunitz, Lovejoy, etc. Sounds crazy in retrospect, but look at how much of their farm team was promoted in December/January 2016...
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It's worth keeping in mind the age of those players when those call-ups to the NHL were made in 2016: Murray 22, Sheary 23, Dumoulin 24, Rust 24.
The problem with the Flames is their prospects in that age range (22-24) have either busted (Arnold, Sieloff), been traded away (Baertschi, Granlund), or made it into the NHL early (Gaudreau, Monahan).
Poirier, Klimchuk, and Wotherspoon are just entering the age when you would expect them to be challenging for a spot on the NHL roster. Poirier's career has been derailed by off-ice issues, Klimchuk is made of glass, and Wotherspoon hasn't shown much in the call-ups he's had. Maybe he or Kulak can make the jump this season.