Throwing this out there, but maybe Locke wasn't invited because he's not a player you want around your prospects. I know for a fact that Chouinard is screwed on straight and is a good leader. So maybe the approach Bergevin has with the farm club is that he wants good vets with the youngsters, not just ones that will carry the load offensively, but ones that will set good examples for the kids.
Now I don't know about Locke, but some posters on here might know. How was Locke considered as a teammate in Junior or with the Dogs? Is he always intense in practices? The answer might lay there too. IIRC, Hensick was the captain for Texas in the AHL last year. And previous to that, Martin St-Pierre was the captain of the Hawks' farm team. Finley also strikes me as a pretty good veteran to have around the kids. Maybe that's the trend the team wants to take with the Dogs, they don't want the best scoring vets, they want the best vets, period.
On another aspect, I've heard the media(RDS/TVAsports) talk about Lefebvre since the camp started. Seems it's the make it or break it year for him, at least from what the media know. He will certainly have more firepower on hand to ice a better team, and better results are expected. Personally, I don't look at the standings to evaluate the job of a farm team coach, but I know a lot of you guys do, and I thought some of y'all might be happy know that Lefebvre is on the hot seat this year.