I would have liked Mittelstadt to start with the Amerks, but Craig Rivet made an interesting point on The Instigators today. He mentioned in his first year Kucherov had 18pts in 52games with the Lightning. Later on Duff mentioned that Joe Thornton had 7pts in 55 games with Boston during his 1st season. Did Tampa and Boston ruin their careers?
Both Casey and Dahlin are learning while under fire. Are they making rookie mistakes? Yes, but I think they will be better off because of it. Both guys have the mental mindset to learn from this experience.
Kucherov; After playing in the KHL, Juniors, and games in the AHL, he came up and played 13 mins a game on the wing. Not to mention he was in a better atmosphere development-wise because of the quality of coaching he had in the minors and the NHL. This is not even taking into account that he was playing as a winger vs Mittelstadt playing the center position.
Joe Thornton; He was a 1st overall draft pick. His hype and talent was already pretty high, and he had a quality coach in place with Pat Burns, who used him as a 4th liner.
They didn't ruin their careers because they had quality vets, and quality coaches in place, to allow the players to develop at a good pace.
My point was that I'd rather hand over the first year of development for Casey to a coach (since we don't have many options) that I trust more with Taylor. We don't have the quality vets, especially at the forward position, to help isolate or groom him on the main roster. In a year where the GM was punting away, why not place your highly-talented center to the AHL to at least start the year in the minors (like Kucherov did). Let him gain the experience what his role would be for this organization in a league where he may be ready to play, instead of wasting away on a roster that has preparation issues (that's an important aspect to developing a young kid, right). It's not going to hurt him playing some time in the minors, and one could say would motivate Casey to make the big club instead of being handed a spot.