the covid climate is scaring the crap out of everyone in situations where they might be more amenable to sitting on the shelf for a while and waiting for teams to have a clearer picture of their roster. if you'll notice, there are a lot of traditional two way signing candidates that just aren't getting calls right now and that squeeze has that subset of players scrambling to find somewhere to play. it feels like the ahl is going to be more heavy towards developmental prospects as opposed to guys sort of stuck between levels. plus, if we're honest, having our affiliate in chicago as opposed to charlotte is going to be more enticing for some guys who prefer to live in more metro areas. if you have to spend a reputation recovery year in the minors, you could do worse than chicago and you could do worse than being elevated into this defensive structure.
in addition to whatever value he's going to offer us at the nhl level in terms of injury assurances, he's going to be the stick for our ahl prospects. if you can't pipp him down here, don't ask why you're not getting called up. that's an important psychological element to create a competitive balance when you have prospects that are logically due for a look and might not get it. measure yourself against this player who is about as good of a defenseman as you should see down here to evaluate your game as opposed to fellow prospects that you might have edged out.