I know it is under three different regimes, but I'm more on the cautious end of where he starts after seeing the Sabres repeatedly rush players. Under Regier, they rushed both Grigorenko and Girgensons, then Ristolainen and Zadorov. Of the four, one has hit his draft potential. Then Murray tried to rush Reinhart along, even when it was clear he wasn't ready in his D+1 season. Kowtowing to Nylander's handlers to put him in the AHL looks like another rush move by Murray that didn't pay dividends. There is even a case that Ullmark, coming off his double hip surgery, shouldn't have gotten the reps he did in '15-16. And then Botterill left Thompson and Mittelstadt twist this year when it was pretty clear they needed more time on the farm after stumbling out of camp.
They keep not hitting potential on kids who are put in early. If Cozens makes it out of camp, awesome, but I'm trepidatious about it given the history of the team. They so need this kid to hit his peak and missing the physical training time is going to possibly put him behind schedule due to his thumb. The last thing they need is to have him in games where he is overwhelmed in physical confrontations and gets into bad habits.
They keep not hitting potential on kids who are put in early. If Cozens makes it out of camp, awesome, but I'm trepidatious about it given the history of the team. They so need this kid to hit his peak and missing the physical training time is going to possibly put him behind schedule due to his thumb. The last thing they need is to have him in games where he is overwhelmed in physical confrontations and gets into bad habits.