Cut the sarcasm. Your argument is a horrible logical fallacy and you know it. Being 20 years old isn't the only qualifier for whether a player is sent to the AHL or not. You can start with the list of 20 year old Dmen that get sent down right after scoring 7 points in their first 8 games.
I only used sarcasm because the people I was replying to were laughing at my opinion as if it's not even worth discussing. It's odd that you can recognize that I was being sarcastic, but then treat my sarcastic joke as if it was a complete argument. Obviously I don't believe being 20 is all that matters. Try reading some other things I've written in this post if you have any interest in actually understanding my argument.
Simply put, we shouldn’t have the record we do and we are very fortunate to have gotten the scoring support and goaltending we have so far this season. If you believe that the others are not committing the same errors on a nightly basis then I don’t know what to say because right now, the fact is, every defenceman on this team is making two to three head shaking plays per game. That will not change with Barberio, Timmins, or anyone else on the current roster replacing him. We need this group as a whole to shape up and hold each other accountable. Until there is someone who who steps up that can transition as well as him and defend better than him I can’t see why they’d send him down.
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree, but I have doubts that you actually watched every game.
What does waivers have to do with anything? Just because you are able to go to the minors without consequences doesn't mean that the first time you hit a rough patch you need to be sent there. When he's bad he isn't even the worst dman, he is still easily better than Graves. And when he plays well like he did the first 5 games he is one of the top 3, no question. There is absolutely no reason to demote him. Hell a week ago the only dman that was playing better than him was Girard. He had 2 or 3 rough games. Oh no a 20 year old is inconsistent... He's not allowed to do that...
What do waivers have to do with it? Hmmm... well being waivers-free means that if a player needs to work on their game against less strong opponents, then he can be sent to the AHL to do so. If he's waivers-eligible, it means you can't do that without risking losing him. I thought that would be obvious, but apparently not.
So you mention Graves. If he has indeed been bad (he's at least been great on the PK though), there are limited options. You can waive him, but he might get claimed, so that's probably not worth it. You can let him play through it. Or you can sit him. If you sit him, he doesn't get a chance to play, which is generally what young players need to get better. So the solution for Graves is to let him keep playing in a small role. The solution for Makar is to send him down if he doesn't improve soon. See the difference?
As for his being inconsistent, I think he's had poor defensive plays in every game, and at times has looked very much like a player who doesn't belong in the NHL. Yes, 20 year olds will look like that, but if they're not named Makar and they haven't been putting up 2nd assists, no one would bat an eye to such a player being sent down.
I don't care about what kind of points he is getting. Last I checked in order to get a point you have to do something that leads to getting a goal. You don't get a point by sitting on the bench. Points are points you did something to help the team get a goal.
Are you serious? If, let's say Cole makes a routine, easy pass to Girard, then Girard skates into the offensive zone, makes an amazing move, then passes it to MacKinnon who makes another amazing move followed by a wicked shot to score. In that scenario, Cole, gets an assist, yet didn't do anything to earn that point that every single other NHL player could have done.
This season is going to be a learning experience and it's up to the coaching staff to make sure they monitor his minutes. If he's struggling a 15 minutes night is more than fine. Feed him easy minutes to get his confidence going. If he's playing well, 20-22 minutes with lots of PP time. It's not rocket science. He isn't going to gain anything by going to the minors to get run at by AHL goons. Not to mention the fact him off the roster makes our team worse. You don't send players to the minors that are capable of being your best dman on any given night. So what if he had some nights that are struggles.
Responding to the bolded: Okay, you know nothing about developing players. I get it now. Should Rantanen have been in the NHL from the start? Should Kaut be on the team right now? How about Byram? Or is Makar a special case where he's so amazing that he has nothing to gain from playing in the AHL? Or, do you just think the AHL is a complete garbage league full of goons where nobody develops?
