I don't think it was hit or miss at all.
Larsen played two thirds of the season's games (and missed time with injury). People make too much of him being scratched a few times. He played a lot this season. Not as much as Dillon, but that's because Dillon's play was much much better, with Larsen's subpar play being the only reason why he didn't get more ice time.
When you look at other youngsters, you see kids getting lots of chances. In addition to the guys you listed, Eakin was made the second line center. Both Bachman and Nistorp were given a lot of chances to stink up the joint. Jordie Benn saw a lot of time. Oleksiak was given an extended preview of the NHL. Garbutt is only a second year player, and he was given a chance to play a lot on the fourth line. Chiasson was handed a top line spot to finish the season. MacDermid would have also been given a chance to play out the season, but he also got hurt.
I just saw tons of youth get a lot more solid ice time than I've ever seen the franchise consider doing. We'll probably never see this many first and second year players on the roster at one time again.
We probably won't see that again unless Nill decides to completely blow up the defense this season because he sees the same flaws in Robidas, Daley, Benn, and Rome that we've been *****ing about. Also injuries played a part as did the shortened season where Dallas decided to find internal answers rather than go with a retread on the FA market on short notice.
We're not Detroit in the sense that Dallas had better options in the NHL so prospects stayed down. The Stars had bad options, worse options, and prospects so kids played in part because they earned it (Dillon, Eakin, Roussel, Chiasson,) others were injured or traded (Oleksiak, Fraser, Benn) and because Dallas wanted to see what they had in (Smith, MacDermid).
The sell off opened spots but before that Whitney, Roy, Jamie, Rome, all missed time and run with the kids kinda became a theme.
I don't expect Nill to want to do that this year but there are open spots, not a lot of great FA options and still several guys on the cusp who need to play in the NHL to learn if they do have an NHL future, either here or elsewhere.
Gaunce and Connauton won't clear waivers to go back to the AHL so they'll have to stay up and keeping them in the press box seems really counter-productive. Fraser, Chiasson, R. Smith all need to prove they belong in the NHL. Guys like Stransky, Ritchie, Glennie, Sceviour, Nemeth, Jokipakka, Oleksiak, Morrow are all going to try to earn a job. While all may benefit from some more AHL time Sceviour at this point is either sink or swim. Jokipakka has been playing against men for several years now and may not need a ton of time to learn the NHL game.
I know everyone wants some amazing quick turnaround that has the Stars establishing themselves as actual playoff team rather than a pretender but there are still serious questions about this roster and a dozen or so younger players. Trying to balance all that won't be easy nor without serious growing pains. I just hope Nill realizes that the wait three pro years before a guy can sniff the Red Wings approach just won't work here, not as the roster is currently filled.
