Revisiting this six months later, it is clear that I was overestimating Bergevin, something argued by Talk to Goalposts at the time:
We're now 3.5 years into the Bergevin era. The number of young players integrated is:
Brenden Gallagher - fully integrated
Alex Galchenyuk - minutes still being held back
Nathan Beaulieu - grudgingly
Devante Smith-Pelly - 4th liner on the bubble
Cases can be made for Daniel Carr and Mike Condon. In the case of Carr, it's very plausible that Bergevin will go dumpster-diving for a 33 year-old 3rd liner and then send Carr down to the minors. Condon might not be back next year, as Bergevin is implicitly insulting him in the media.
This is a failing of this administration. They don't like youth.
I'm not sure you can put Smith-Pelly because he was a regular player before we traded him. Though Sekac should be counted as he became a regular for us.
Pateryn is in a similar position to Condon, they made the team but it wouldn't be a surprise if next year neither were with the big club.
I don't think it's a case of not liking youth, it's just they can't settle on a guy. We end up seeing a regular rotation where players get 5-10 games and then get sent down to give someone else a shot. This happens regardless of how good/bad they play.
If for example we had simply kept Andrighetto up instead of needing to try Thomas, and Carr, and De La Rose ... he would probably have nearly a full season under his belt. Instead he's got less than 30 games. We saw it with Beaulieu as well.
I get that Bergevin wants to give them all a taste, but it's a terrible way to develop players. It is really tough on your confidence when you play well but get sent down anyways, so in the end you play like your on eggshells because at any moment you'll be back riding the bus in the AHL, especially if you make a defensive mistake.