Adam Michaels
Registered User
It's just dumb. No matter if we'd send back 20 players, it's not in their hands anymore. Cleveland wins their game on hand, and it's done. It is too late. Laval crowd was great all year. And you acknowledge them by not helping them....rookie mistake.
When they didn't do this against Cleveland it was always going to open the door for criticism. I was one that felt the positives outweighed the negatives and we could easily have found a way to mitigate the too many games in a short space of time.
It's simple why RHP & Ylonen weren't sent down before. NHL teams need to dress a minimum of 20 skaters with 2 of them being goalies. The Habs had to call Primeau and Schueneman up to reach that 20.
It would also not be as simple as sending them down when Montreal wasn't playing. Because NHL teams need to have a minimum of 18 players on the NHL roster at all times, including non-game days. And if they sent Ylonen & RHP down, the Habs wouldn't even have the minimum of 18. There are rules that need to be respected in the NHL.
Management isn't to blame for choosing not to send RHP and Ylonen down. What's to blame is the comically embarrassing injury situation on the Habs. When one player returns, two more get hurt next game. When two return, three get hurt. So management was forced to keep them up.
Why send them down today? I imagine because one or two guys came off IR and are now able to count on the minimum of 18 required.