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Originally Posted by Regorium
There's also an argument that Gillies isn't going to learn to be an NHL starter either by playing AHL games.
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An argument I don't see much logic in. You learn to be a professional starter by starting pro games. Not by backing up. In sports development typically involves dominating lower levels and then moving up. Gillies has not yet dominated minor pro. We're not trying to develop Gillies into a backup. He needs to learn how to win a starter's role on a pro team and learn how to cope with the ups and downs that it entails.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regorium
Jankowski isn't going to learn to be an NHL player by playing more AHL games. In fact, I would argue that the 8 minutes that he would get on the 4th line, as well as practicing with NHL players day in day out would be the best for his development. We've also seen that our fourth line sometimes have to play against McDavid and Draisaitl - playing at that speed and level is something you'll never see in the AHL regardless of how many minutes you get to play.
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Disagree. I think playing offensive players on the 4th line is a good way to really test their offensive confidence and potentially ruin it. Confidence is huge in sports. When you don't put up points on the 4th line in the NHL you can start to doubt your abilities. You may no longer make sweet plays because in the past they haven't resulted in scoring.
Practice and playing 8-10 minutes a night is not going to develop Jankowski and keep his confidence high compared to playing 15-20 mins in the AHL in all situations and scoring at will.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regorium
Ditto with Gillies, facing NHL-level shots in practice every single day, then getting 25-30 NHL games is far better for development than being an AHL starter.
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There's guys with NHL shots in the minors. Some of them have speed or size issues or are just not quite experienced enough to make the jump yet. It's the 2nd best league in the world. And the best place to learn how to be an NHLer if you're not ready yet.
I'd say starting in the minors is clearly better than backing up in the NHL. How do you learn to shrug off bad starts when you get benched for a couple weeks after one bad start in the NHL? Again its a confidence thing. Gillies can have one bad game in the NHL and the coach may go with Smith for the next two weeks. It's not good psychologically for Gillies, he may beat himself up over his starts with no way to show he's improving. He won't have a chance to rebound and shrug it off because Smith will get the bulk of the workload. Better to have him play night after night in the minors and learn how to adapt to and shrug off bad games, how to have the consistency a starter needs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Regorium
I think the main difference in our philosophies is that I don't believe quantity of playing time matters - I think that 8 minutes in the NHL is a higher quality opportunity than 20 minutes in the AHL, and does not lead to stagnation.
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That is one difference. But IMO the biggest difference is that you aren't taking into account confidence and the psychological aspects of dominating a lower league vs struggling in the NHL. The positive benefits of having confidence from truly dominating lower leagues and then moving from the AHL to the position you're being developed into. There are very negative confidence problems when you're put in bit positions (backup goalie, 4th line player) and you don't succeed. If Gillies struggles as an NHL backup then GG loses confidence in playing him and Gillies loses confidence in himself and has to sit for weeks thinking about his mistakes. If Jankowski struggles on the 4th line of the NHL team then he loses his offensive confidence and stops making as many skilled plays. Arguably Brouwer's biggest problem right now is his lack of confidence. Confidence is such a huge and underrated part of hockey because we can't measure it.
IMO the ideal is Gillies becoming an elite AHL starter. And then taking over from Smith and becoming an NHL starter. I don't think backing up in the NHL is something necessary or required. I think dominating the AHL is a required step for his development. I don't think he's ready because he hasn't dominated the AHL and proven himself as a pro starter. And IMO if he's not ready then he's not going to develop as quickly or at all as a NHL backup.
IMO the ideal for Jankowski is dominating the AHL (which he's done) but then being handed a top 3 line role (which we currently don't have room to give him.) You don't want him to play a 4th line, dump it in, cycle and grind with plugs style of game. You want him to play a skill game with offensive creativity. He'll succeed more easily in the position he's suited for. He's a skilled centre so he needs to be playing on a scoring line.
Does that explain it?