This is the way it should be, but I don't buy it at all. We have seen the Holland/Blashill duo keep players in the minors for far too long before, and we will see it again. I truly believe there is a strong chance that Holland signs both Jensen and Kronwall to extensions, because he signs extensions like they are autographs.
OH MY GOD... Hronek is in the pros right now. With Kronwall and Jensen on the roster. When he went down, it was because everyone was healthy and he had a string of meh games.
People always ***** and ***** and ***** about guys being kept down too long... but there is about one example where a guy was wrongly kept down due to cap reasons and that was Gustav Nyquist.
Jurco was actually brought up too early. Larkin was brought up immediately because he was ready. Pulkkinen, Frk, Ferraro, Ehn, Nestrasil all were kind of nothing decisions because they're bottom of the lineup guys.
All of the prospect failings of the Wings drafted prospects is because they simply weren't any good at hockey, not because they "overripened too long".
Kindl was trash.
Smith was meh.
The aforementioned 5 who were nothing decisions were 4A type players. Probably too good for AHL, not good enough for NHL.
Mursak couldn't stay healthy.
Ouellet was trash
Sproul was trash
Puempel is trash
And now, Larkin was in Detroit immediately. Rasmussen had one year (where he was injured at the start) and then he was up. Mantha was slated to make the roster his rookie year but broke his leg and needed time. Cholo was drafted as a four or five year project and he's up in two and a half. Hronek also. Hell, Sulak was up this year even though he was clearly not ready.
I really don't think outside of Nyquist you really have a case for complaining about overripening at this point. Lastly, if a young prospect is good enough to be a difference maker in his first year, he's going to push his way onto the roster. It is Babcock's old "grab your cheese" argument. If a young prospect wants to be in the NHL he should be able to beat out the worst player at his positiion. Want NHL time as a center? Play better than Luke Glendening. Want it on D? Skate harder and position yourself better than Jonathan Ericsson or whoever. Instead of saying that you want the prospect because even if he sucks, he's learning to play in the bright lights, ask yourself why he isn't better or making a compelling argument that he should play over guys who we know are terrible.
And even if he signs Kronwall and Jensen, Hronek will still be in the NHL. He is right now with them on the roster. If he goes down this year it is because they can freely move him around and instead of having him sit in the press box eating Little Caesars Pizza, he can be playing in Grand Rapids. And the Wings are likely to continue to have injury churn during the year, so Hronek will play a ton without any changes to the roster.
