Quote:
Originally Posted by GranteedEV
I want kids in the lineup as much as anyone, but part of the problem is that Brad Treliving has assembled a full roster of veterans. Sutter is in a precarious situation where if he starts benching vets willynilly for unknown quantities, he loses the room.
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Disagree strongly.
1) If the bolded is accurate, he's already lost the room.
2) It's not "willynilly" it's demotions for lazy play (see Kadri in 3rd) or bad play.
3) Traditionally Sutter's been known for no BS honesty, and he can still do that. If vets are playing badly all you need to tell them is precisely what to do to get back in the line up / more ice time (work harder).
Bad teams entitle vets to ice time. The team's mantra when Sutter game in was a meritocracy. That is gone, it needs to come back for this team to succeed.
There is no justification anymore for not trying young players lighting the AHL on fire. None. We are 50% of the regular season in with the same underperforming results. So we either need to decide that the team is NOT underperforming or they are, in which case the youth should get increased chances.
The AHL is not as bad / far from the NHL as everyone makes it out to be. That's why St.Louis' AHL team was able to beat the Flames last night.