Quote:
Originally Posted by New Era
Completely disagree with this. Very seldom do players get rushed to the NHL. Far too often players get pigeon holed based on perceptions rather than opportunity. dobbles pretty much nailed the head-to-head opportunity issue, especially the contract aspect. I think too many players end up getting caught in the numbers game and end up being over-cooked, which is never a good thing (Seriously, such a bad philosophy. Like, does anyone really enjoy over-cooked food, unless you have a predilection to drowning your steak with ketchup?).
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So, how rampant a problem is this? You present the "overcooked" prospect scenario as a league-wide problem, and this would then suggest that there are dozens of bonafide NHL prospects who have been ruined or stunted by their organization's refusal to allow them to develop. please tell me who all these prospects are.
I will say that there is a grain of truth to what you are arguing, but it is something that will literally always be a problem, and it is this: players not only need to be incredibly good to carve out a NHL career, they must also be very lucky. I don't doubt that there will always be players in the AHL who could play in the NHL, but there will never be enough open roster spots to satisfy every individual need. Every team will undoubtedly fail to develop
all their prospects to their full potential, but that is because there is simply not the space and time to do so. And here is where I do not believe this is a significant problem: the best players will always play, and the difference of the impact made by those players who are less fortunate and those who are mores is fairly negligible. What we are talking about here is the missed opportunity to develop more bottom line, bottom pairing players.