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Preseason #4-Canada's team vs small market bottom feeders

DonKay said:
If 18 year olds can keep pace in the NhL and utilize their skills and ability and and are used on a regular shift there will be huge benefits to developing in the NHL, playing with good players, NHL practices, NHL coaching.

But if an 18 year old is just keeping up and not able to display his true skills and abilities there is no point.

JK has shown thus far that he not only is able to keep up but has displayed some of the vision, hands and skills that he was touted for....having said that the nine games may be the next test for him
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Just because he's currently one of the best 4 centers in our roster is not a good enough reason to keep him in the lineup. We need to play the long game with him and do what will make him best in 3-4 years. If it's the NHL, so be it, but I doubt it. The kid is still super young and not at all develop physically. He hold his own but he's not dominating either. Way more harm could be done keeping him in the big club than sending him back IMO. He's going to be good, don't **** it up on a wasted season anyway.

That being said, I'm ok with 9 games.
 
the kid is not going to play on the top 2 lines. I'd rather see him get heavy minutes in a lesser league.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
other than the fear based argument about not rushing him, there is no reason the Mole shouldn't start the season with us
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Not rushing him is a good argument. The best 3 players that we've developed lately have been Subban, Max and Gallagher.

Subban, 2 junior seasons after draft + one full AHL season.
Max, 1 more college years, then 2 years of yo-yo with the AHL where we almost ruined him, then he pleaded to be left in the minors to develop , which he did quickly and finally made the team at 21.
Gallagher, 2 junior seasons after draft + half a season in the AHL.

Not one of them made the team full time until they were 20.
 
I don't understand how some of you keep falling for the same trick every year.

There are always some 18-19 year olds that look pretty good in camp while putting up maximal effort while veteran players coast for most of the game and almost every one of those young players see their play drop off a month and a half later.

I can't think of a single beneficial reason to have Kotkaniemi in the NHL over Finland or the AHL. None.

Unless they are either supremely talented or hockey geniuses with exceptional fitness levels, 18 year olds should never, under any circumstances, play in the NHL.
 
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DonKay said:
If 18 year olds can keep pace in the NhL and utilize their skills and ability and and are used on a regular shift there will be huge benefits to developing in the NHL, playing with good players, NHL practices, NHL coaching.

But if an 18 year old is just keeping up and not able to display his true skills and abilities there is no point.

JK has shown thus far that he not only is able to keep up but has displayed some of the vision, hands and skills that he was touted for....having said that the nine games may be the next test for him
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**** no there won't be. If that was the case, half the league would play their first round picks on the third line (or third d pair) and never put them in any compromising situations. Sort of how we diddled with Galchenyuk for years when he wasn't ready to be a full time NHLer. He should have gone back to Junior, go through the playoffs and start the following year in the NHL.

The NHL is not - and never will be - a developmental league for young players.
 
TheCountofMonteCristo said:
none of them were 3rd overall. Galchenyuk was 3rd overall and was fine making the league in his first year.
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Galchenyuk is an argument in favor of not rushing them. He would have been better served spending more time in juniors honing his skills at center instead of being sheltered on the wing in the NHL.
 
GGpX said:
**** no there won't be. If that was the case, half the league would play their first round picks on the third line (or third d pair) and never put them in any compromising situations. Sort of how we diddled with Galchenyuk for years when he wasn't ready to be a full time NHLer. He should have gone back to Junior, go through the playoffs and start the following year in the NHL.

The NHL is not - and never will be - a developmental league for young players.
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This, so much this, from pretty much the mouth of every NHL coach. If the kids needs development, then he needs to do it in a development league, which the NHL is not.
 
Kotkoniemi just turned 18, give him some time for christsakes. I know everyone is desperate to have some excitement on the team but you are missing the bigger picture.

No problem with 9 games, but after that it's back to Finland or the AHL no matter how good he looks.
 
Krustchev said:
No harm in giving him a 9 game look.
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Actually, there is if the plan is to send him back to Europe. If he's going to Laval after, I would find it redundant but otherwise I'd be fine with it.

You have a player who's used to playing on larger ice surfaces and a completely different style of play. You keep him here for a month & a half, maybe two with training camp and the odd scratch here & there before he gets to the 9 game limit. In those 6-8 weeks, he's started getting a little bit more familiar with North American arenas & play, now you send him back to Europe.

The European season is already underway, teams have already started creating lineups and are striving towards perfecting their stye of play. Now you insert a player, who didn't go through training camp in Europe, has been tailoring his play for North America, and has since created habits. Habits that will probably be detrimental on larger ice surfaces. There's a reason why Euro hockey is so soft, the hitting is almost non-existent because there's not much board play. The angles taken for attacking & defending are different too. So now he's going to have those North American habits beaten out of him so that he can go back to playing a more conductive European style.

For the development of an 18 year old player for whom we have a lot of this team's future riding on, I don't think this is the best way to manage his career.
 
Laval would be somewhat better than Finland, I suppose. But he should not play in Montreal beyond the 9 game look.
 
Playing him in the NHL this season is also not optimal. The Habs will not win a cup this year, this much is pretty apparent. There is no need to rush this kid. Laval might be the best place for him but I'm ok with him playing in the Finnish Elite League.
 
On another note, how many posts did he hit last night? 4?

The kid has a heck of a shot for an 18 year-old.
 
Habsy said:
Playing him in the NHL this season is also not optimal. The Habs will not win a cup this year, this much is pretty apparent. There is no need to rush this kid. Laval might be the best place for him but I'm ok with him playing in the Finnish Elite League.
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Habs are not winning anything for QUITE a while. Also, his body is still developing, and he needs to gain some weight/muscle before he plays in the nhl. I know we're desperate but come on.
 
xposbrad said:
Habs are not winning anything for QUITE a while. Also, his body is still developing, and he needs to gain some weight/muscle before he plays in the nhl. I know we're desperate but come on.
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Yeah, the kid's a rail. While very talented and good on his skates (I don't know where this skating knock on him came from) he was getting bounced off the puck a lot. He needs to fill out.
 
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