Injecting youth into the lineup

[FBI]

Lots of conversations about this. What are the negatives to injecting some skilled youth players into the lineup?

Positives I can think of are higher energy / tempo, excitement, mentorship for the young players, keeping competition in the lineup and getting rid of a stale environment. Potential to see future stars. Keeps the farm team players pumped to get a call up. Helps for future signings.

If players like Pelletier and Phillips actually get a proper shot and don’t perform then we can just send them back down, big whoop. The potential is way more of a benefit than not. If they make mistakes, big whoop, our veterans are making plenty of mistakes already, they’ll just fit in.

Getting very frustrated about this. Bring up the youth.

[Harry Lime]

Another benefit that I've been thinking about is the longterm health of the lineup. I mean even a month into injecting some youth.

We know what to expect from a vet. There's not a lot of mystery, although there is some happiness from seeing a vet play at the top of his ability, like Lewis this year.

Having a rookie play at a nhl level early in his career, there is a lot of benefit to knowing that the ceiling has not been met.

This is where I get frustrated with zohornya, rusicka and Phillips not getting an opportunity ity higher in the lineup when the chances to do so arrive. We saw early what a scoring position did for rusicka. I agree with his demotion to allow him to learn and grow into a role, but I don't know if I agree with keeping him down on the fourth line for an extended period. I've really liked zohornya on the bottom six. Phillips made no mistakes in a checking role.

Not a lot of negatives for a lot of potential.

[GreenLantern2814]

Stem cells. Lots of stem cells.

[Kasi]

The simple fact is money. There is a reason that in salary cap leagues that controllable players are the most important thing you can have because it lets you play players that have impact above their cap hit. It’s the most important in the NFL (for QBs most of all) but it’s hugely important in both the NBA and NHL as well. Having players waste their cheap years playing for the minors when they can help the team is not good. Having the player if good enough play in the NHL both helps their development as well as lets GMs get more vets to fill out their roster since they have good cheap young players who have not hit RFA yet.