God it was such poor asset management sending him back... I know our analytics department would be favorable of the move considering Ty may not be ready to play in the NHL, and he’ll be more polished throughout his entry level deal, however, they should have given him the 8/9 games and.then send him back.
Our LD situation is miserable... we could certainly have used Ty on an injury basis or rest basis in rotation until he got to the limit. Should’ve kept him til Christmas time and let him attend the WJC. Then debate whether to send him back to Spokane. Also would buy time to trade for a LD.
Salvador is certainly correct that Smith doesn’t belong in juniors. Even if he was a healthy scratch on a nightly basis, he still would stand to gain much more from practicing with/against pros on a daily basis.
Overall, it was dumb. Our forward depth is deep and can be substituted easily over defense. Rooney or Hayden would not have been claimed if we gave Ty a spot. If a forward injury occurs, there are many options behind Rooney and Hayden. If an injury on D occurs, all we have is Carrick. We’d be screwed if we have two guys go down on defence.
An out of nowhere 80 point season would be nice.Hoelscher 1 + 2 in the first period.
He wasn't ready...
It wouldn't have hurt for him to stay with the team and maybe get some games, and send him back before the 9 games. The 9 games don't have to be played consecutively, could have been spread out over a few months. While, you can say it would hamper his development, I disagree. Just practicing with an NHL team on a regular basis against the likes of Hall and other players would be more beneficial than going back and playing against 17 year olds for the whole year. I just think it would be better having him at our disposal right now for a shakeup of the pairings than calling up Tennyson, Jacobs, or some other AHL fodder, regardless if he was ready or not. Instead we didn't waiver Rooney when we have McLeod/Bastian/Anderson/Studenic/Gignac/Maltsev/etc at our disposal if need be. Rooney probably would've went unclaimed too.
I wouldn't keep him around all year, unless he proved otherwise. Just gives the option of having depth at position of need, as it could buy time for Shero to acquire LHD.
On what planet does spreading 9 games over the course of a few months help a CHILDS development? That's just silly, come on.
Practicing with pros on a regular basis I'd say is better than going back to juniors and dominating for a full year and potentially learning bad habits from his ability to sheerly dominate against kids. Though I don't know how much I'd trust this coaching staff to help him learn the nuances of the game if he were to stay with the club.
I just think learning how to defend against bigger, faster and stronger players through practices and a few games here and there is better than playing in juniors for a full year. Could send him back at the holidays to participate in WJC and back to Spokane if our team doesn't have use for him.
If the main focus is on players getting lots of practice time, the NHL is definitely not the place for them. Better to send them to Europe.I think you're overestimating the level of intensity at most NHL practices as well as the frequency of them.
Was at the Kitchener vs Ottawa game today. Vukojevic played a ton of minutes especially on the Pk. Hoelscher was really good early and created chances late in the game during Ottawa’s push. Vukojevic did not try his move from camp on his penalty shot attempt, he was close but the goalie just got his arm down on a sprawl to grab it
The bad is Clarke was largely invisible. Only thing of note was his attempt at a lacrosse style goal from behind the net.