Quote:
Originally Posted by Five-hole
I agree in general, but you have to keep in mind that progression is not linear and that a player may be ready to make the jump at time A, but isn't given the opportunity, and then sustains an injury, or goes into a slump, or gets frustrated, and then never gets back to the point when they're ready to make the jump.
The inevitable comeback is that if a player can't prove they're ready for the NHL over a long time period, they never will be truly ready for the NHL, I think may be true some of the time, maybe even most of the time, but it's not true all the time.
If your organizational philosophy is that a player has to consistently prove they belong on the NHL roster NOW by the way they play in the AHL, I submit to you that you WILL miss out on some NHL players.
The question, and I don't think anybody has the answer, is whether you get more NHL players as a result of this philosophy than you lose as a result of this philosophy.
Maybe Dustin Boyd could have been an NHLer if he were given the opportunity when he was peaking. We will never know, because he wasn't. And I don't mean to get into an argument as to whether Dustin Boyd, even at his peak, was ready for the NHL, because I honestly don't remember.
I think a too-rigid philosophy that treats all players the same, including that they have to continue to prove their worth in the AHL for long periods of time before being given a chance at the NHL level, ignores that hockey players are human and therefore not all the same. I think you have said as much in this thread.
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Boyd had every opportunity in the world. He even out-negotiated Sutter IIRC to get a one-way (or was it a high AHL salary?). Either way, you may want to check for yourself how many games Boyd got on the Flames.
http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/p....php?pid=71963
06-07 == 13 games with the Flames - that's a good 'cup of coffee', and one might say he might have been rushed since that was his first pro season and he was not physically ready for pros.
07-08 == 48 games with the Flames. That's a really long look. He actually spent MORE time in the NHL than the AHL (though I can't quite recall, it seems he had an injury that year)
08-09 == 71 games with the Flames. That's basically "Made the team". He only played 5 games in the AHL.
09-10 == 60 Games with the Flames before getting traded to Nashville, who have always been a DESPERATE team for offensive-minded forwards. He didn't cut it in Nashville for 18 games, and was subsequently traded to Montreal.
2010-11 == 10 games with Montreal. Montreal obviously felt he was NOT an NHL player, and was subsequently demoted to their AHL farm team. This was his LAST season in the NHL. He has been playing for Astana in the KHL ever since.
What team gave him the absolute best chance? Calgary IIRC was also the best team out of the three at the time as well. I would go so far as to say that Boyd got more chances than he deserved in Calgary.
Calgary gave Boyd 192 games out of his 220 total. I would say that is WAY more than just a 'chance'. Boyd only spent 89 games in the AHL. Boyd can actually be a good example of why you
SHOULDN'T make room for prospects on the team until they are really ready. Perhaps if Boyd spent some more time in the AHL for development, he may not have fizzled out and ended up playing in Kazakhstan.