Excuse for what? Pilut is in the AHL to work on his defensive game (aside from acclimating). That’s been something Taylor has talked about. Having a 22 year old dman work on their defensive game in the AHL before getting permanently pulled up to the NHL team is not a big deal. Its about as common a decision as there is by organizations and certainly doesn’t warrant the vitriol it seems to have caused with some.
By the numbers, Pilut was the most NHL-ready player not on the roster over the summer including Dahlin and Mittelstadt, and his AHL performance remains superlative. I get the appeals to development in the broad sense, but it doesn't really apply to the specifics here. He's closer to #3 on this team than 7.
Also, the oven timer seems to be set a bit longer than than usual for a player with his production. Shea Theodore was up a week ago last year, for reference.
You also need to stop with the HS varsity hockey outlook (your best 18 skaters) for this. That’s such a simplistic black/white view that you should know doesn’t fit with how NHL teams do things. Development, contracts, roles etc factor into team building.
I’m excited about Pilut and can’t wait until he gets here. I just don’t see the big deal with him in the AHL at the moment. Especially looking at the macro for this team and organization.
I was saying that the only common thread between the complains about last season's depth and Pilut's development is that they're both situations where the organization was prioritizing other stuff over dressing its best players. And given the track record of this braintrust, it's hard to give them credit for seeing the things beyond the numbers that would justify this decision.