What nonsense. We should be doing everything to give our players and prospects the best we can to help them better themselves.
Most of the best players in the league like McDavid and Crosby have been absolutely coddled their entire lives and careers and given everything. That's the case with pretty much every player in the league too, that's why so many new players are former player's sons now.
Brampton is artificial adversity because our owner is too cheap to have a proper farm system. We need a proper ECHL affiliate to send players to. This is a big reason Belleville is such a disaster. Our prospects deserve better.
This is nonsense, where is the proof they are not getting all the help they need to develop properly? IMO most people here just look at the record of the team & decide that it's a terrible environment because the team is having a losing season & the prospects are not being developed properly because of it. There is something to be said from learning from adversity & comparing McDavid & Crosby is well silly given they have been the two of the best players in the world. The best players have always gotten preferential treatment even on the ice by the refs.
For some reason, people think only first place teams are where prospects develop the best when it could be that a first place team may have paid the big bucks to have better AHL/NHL veterans playing for their teams & are the ones responsible for the team winning. Ottawa just doesn't have the deep pockets to do this & this owner continues to cry poor. The AHL & ECHL are development leagues where players learn all of the nuances of playing hockey the right way so that by the time they are called up to the NHL they are prepared & ready.
Bingo didn't seem to hurt the development of Stone, Hoffman, Pageau, Smith, Spezza, Vermette & countless more. Maybe just maybe, some of these prospects just aren't good enough? Most on here thought Petersson was a legit NHL player, it didn't turn out that way & the same for numerous other players fans had high hopes for. Look at the fuss people made about Prince, was it because of the AHL that he's not a superstar? These players get treated very well from what I have seen at all levels in this organization & this organization has been praised by numerous players for how well they have been treated here. This is not in defence of the owner, I can't stand the guy but where is the proof they are treated badly? What exactly would a better affiliate look like? What needs to be better? Sometimes stuff happens in every organization & things have to be done usually in a temporarily situation until it is fixed in all walks of life & business.
At the moment they have too many goalies, it was a mistake & sadly Hogberg being the rookie gets sent down, shit happens. The situation will likely be straighten out for next yr & he will likely be in Belleville full time. Lots of other guys have been sent to the ECHL including Gagne last yr & this yr is playing better. It didn't seem to hurt his development either. It's most likely they will have three goalies in Belleville next yr & one of them could eventually be sent to the ECHL again, likely the rookie. That's just the way it goes in the minor leagues, it's not that big a deal & should be expected. Players have to prove they belong & have to prove they deserve more ice time or move up in the lineup. C'est la vie IMO. Not everything is management's fault or there to be blamed, sometimes it's just the system that everyone works under & at the moment until it's eventually changed.
