God Flower
Somebody hold me
Generally, I think it hurts development and can set some prospects back.. Its hard to make the NHL and become a regular.. once you have I think its easier to keep that sense of timing, reading, reacting, knowing where to be, what to do... Those playing competitive games will have an advantage and an opportunity to continue the growth of their games. These guys aren't in complete layoffs re the 30 y/os.. they are skating and staying in shape for the most part, so they won't have as much rust to shake off as guys that took a break from hockey from an extended period coming back.. I did that too but I think its a different scenario for the guys making a living at it. I just have the impression that there is a development window where players advance quicker and that window closes with age. There are also kids coming up behind you that are playing and developing in many cases.. where if you are the 20-23 y/o trying to crack the roster and not playing games that challenge you to be better.. it stagnates your development.. just my opinion.. no empirical data.
Oh I completely agree that those who are playing competitive games right now definitely have an advantage over those who are idle, but if I were to hazard a guess, I would assume that most players currently loaned out overseas would be in their early 20's and the majority of veterans probably stayed in North America (or wherever they're from) and are practicing in small groups. But that pretty much answers my own question: NHL teams loan out younger players because it's more important for them to keep developing their skills vs older players staying back and maintaining their skills through scrimmage and practice.
That said, it would be interesting to see if a team that loaned out a lot of their younger roster players gets off to a faster start when the season begins in comparison to a veteran team like Washington, Dallas, or Boston. With a likely shortened season, it will be a sprint next year and a quick start can make all the difference. I bet that's why Joe Thornton went to play in Switzerland in the middle of a pandemic before his swan song in Toronto.