I'm guessing when Ericsson or Kronwall inevitably go on LTIR, Russo or Sproul will become the 7th D in Detroit, which would open a spot for Hronek.
But I think they should be rotating him in before that happens. Really frustrating how we constantly bury players until injuries happen. I get that depth is good, but we go way overboard with it, especially for a re-building team.
I also think Saarijarvi is probably too good for the ECHL, but at least he will be playing.
You seem always worry about the best possible scenario, in theory, when everybody is healthy.
It's not realism. Just look last 20 years behind on any team...
There's so many players in this total picture, that you need those 8-9 guys. AHL-traffic is a 2-way street, guys go both up in NHL and down in ECHL. It doubles the movement vs. NHL. There's ~16 guys in the NHL+AHL group and you just can't deal without injuries with that size of group.
They will get their games, one way or another. I find it pretty interesting to see Saarijärvi go to ECHL. I expect him to destroy that league. Can play 30min per game if needed. That would not happen at GR.
At some point he will be called back and maybe Hronek goes down to experiment the same stint with bigger ice-time. I see them competing against other puck-moving righties Russo and Sproul. Otherways the defence is pretty much locked up.
Lashoff - Russo <--Hronek/Saarijärvi?
Renouf - Sproul <--Hronek/Saarijärvi?
Hicketts - McIlrath (handnesses and roles compliment so well, with each other, but not so good with anybody else. lock them together)
At last season we had:
Russo, 58+19 = 77 games (AHL+NHL) + 19 playoff games = 96 games
Hicketts, 73 games (AHL) + 19 playoff games = 92 games
Paetsch, 73 games (AHL) + 19 playoff games = 92 games
Renouf, 67+1 = 68 games (AHL+NHL) + 19 AHL playoff games = 87 games
Lashoff, 62+5 = 67 games (AHL+NHL) + 17 playoff games = 84 games
Jensen, 27+49 = 76 games (AHL+NHL)
McIlrath, 43+6 = 49 games (AHL+NHL) +19 playoff games = 65 games
Allen, 56 games (AHL)
Then there was extra 25 games given for McCarron, Caito, Hronek and Cholowski.
For example, Hronek played 59 (OHL) + 15 (U20) + 12 (AHL) games at last season = 86 game total
They will get their games.