Dont compare a blues fourth line to the Kings third line. That just makes it unfair. Do you think DL would seriously consider Sending down kids down because of the hard hitting in the NHL?
Do you not remember what CAUSED us to win the Blues in the first place? Skill. Your argument justifying why the kids should he sent down are misguided.
A fourth line of Carcillo Stoll Nolan is more than enough to put a fight up against the blues. I understand they aren't the biggest of players, but worrying over the size of the kids is really not a good argument to be made. They get used to the pace of the NHL and then everything falls into place.
Same reason you don't see Williams always injured. He's pretty small, and so is Richards. This is the NHL not the UFC
How is it unfair? I'm not comparing them per se; I'm saying when we play x team in the playoffs and they have home ice advantage, you have the potential of getting those kids stuck out there with some real size. Or how about this--how do you feel about the kids line vs. Burns-Thornton-anyone?
I would say that saying we beat the Blues because of skill is oversimplified.
Fully agree that your listed fourth line is solid and that yes the kids need time to improve, get used to the league, and that my argument could be moot by the time playoffs roll around. I'm just saying exercise caution, because as I mentioned before, we're praising the kids for their offense and ignoring the things that Stoll et. al. get executed for on a nightly basis.
As far as the Williams point...
Don't sell em short just yet. It's hard to say how players respond in the playoffs. It's not always about size. It sure helps wear down teams, but there are smaller players in this league that do just fine: Richards, Kane, St. Louis. I think it's more about your desire and drive- they certainly aren't lacking in talent.
bmr here brings up a good point about smaller players succeeding, and I agree--it's less about size directly and more about drive. You don't need to be prototypically huge to win puck battles, and along with Williams, bmr lists Richards, Kane, and St. Louis. When was the last time you saw St. Louis lose a puck battle? Williams and Richards are very good along the boards and do throw their weight around appropriately. What I'm saying is that while Toffoli is approaching their level in the trenches, Vey and Pearson are absolutely not. They lost more than their fair share of defensive and board battles and were getting ragdolled all night vs. the Islanders. What happens when they play the Sharks, Blues, Yotes, et. al. is a fair question.
Again, you're both absolutely right that a near-full season of development in the NHL may solve these problems, but you have to admit they're a questionmark. For all the talk about Nugent-Hopkins' elusiveness, he sure has spent a lot of time on the IR; the point is that most of these kids are just that and we don't know how they'll respond to the NHL grind.
I'm not trying to be a negative nancy at all, and I'm not trying to sell anyone short, I just want to exercise a degree of caution and realism with the callups.
(though to be fair I'm probably jumping the gun on Pearson. I'll chalk that up to first game nerves and wanting to do things right.)
