And yet Huby still won the Calder last season, and Bjugstad still scored 16 goals this season and was our leading scorer. Could they have benefited from more time in lower levels? Sure. But you can look around the league at any team and say the same thing about some of their players. NHL teams want to win, that's the bottom line. The critical question is not would they have benefitted from more patience, but whether they were harmed by not being patient enough. And the answer is no, they were not damaged.
I think its still too early to say that definitively. Huby, its entirely possible that he was damaged because of impatience, even if he won the Calder last yr. Heck guys like Raycroft won the Calder too so I dont use that as a measuring stick. Bjugstad may not have been "damaged" but maybe his ceiling could be higher if given additional development time. Just because a prospect wasn't "damaged", doesnt mean they weren't still rushed.
Shore was brought up because we really had no other options to call up. They would have been worse than Shore, and again, NHL teams want to win. Even if we weren't a great team the last couple years, NHL GMs still have a competitive nature. I don't think Shore was damaged either, and he looked great for stretch.
Yes we had other options and maybe they werent as talented as Shore but you never know till you give a guy a shot to see how he does. Rallo probably would've been a fine callup last yr in place of Shore, or go acquire a guy to fill-in. Sure we wanted to win last yr but it was obvious by the time we called up Shore that we were not that competitive team from the prior yr. Again, not about "damaged" as much as he was still rushed.
I think Markstrom would have been fine if we had shored up our defense last summer and been allowed to bring in some better offensive players which would have kept the pressure out of our zone more. But Tallon was handcuffed with the sale of the team and wasn't allowed to spend much. In 12-13 Markstrom had several great performances and looked great for a rookie goalie behind such a horrible team. His SV% was above .900 which is terrific considering the team he was playing behind.
But the continual barrage he faced, continuing into this season, I think wore him down. If the team had been stronger, I think he would have fared personally better.
I dont disagree that he would've benefited from a better team in front of him. But then why subject him to that when he shouldn't be? Call up DGM instead and let him suffer & struggle so that Markstrom wasnt damaged like he had been. There's really no contending that fact either, we damaged Markstrom with how we rushed him to the NHL, plain & simple.
It's been a great experience for Trocheck, Pirri, Howden, Shore, and Racine all late this season. How can you say it's been a negative? They've looked great, shown management what they have to offer so they can better make decisions heading into free agency, and gained some valuable experience. They weren't kept up for a whole season. If Santos was the GM none of them would have gotten a sniff. Tallon has the right barometer for this. There's no way that was a negative for these kids.
Sure its been a great experience but not all of those kids are just out of juniors either. Trocheck spent most of the season in the AHL...and he needed it too as he struggled later after a strong start. Pirri has spent several yrs in the AHL so he's not been rushed. Howden spent last yr in the AHL which was good but in his brief callup last season, you could tell he looked out of place (better this yr obviously). Racine got in 1 NHL game so I cant see how you can include him and he's obviously going to be in the AHL for at least 2 more yrs I'm sure. The org should be able to judge based on their play in the AHL whether they are closer to the NHL or not. If they cant get that from their play there, then we have much bigger problems then some kids getting rushed. I dont think we know for absolute certain that if Santos was GM that none would have gotten a sniff actually. But they definitely wouldnt have been called up until we were obviously out of the playoffs and then I'm sure they could still be evaluated in a short callup situation.
