NHL NEWS: A.H.L stands for what? (Aww Hell, Let's keep him up) Nolan Patrick, Jake Virtatanen and how prospect development is at an all time low.

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NHL prospect development is at an all-time low.


Yes, I said it, and I mean it.

Never before has the NHL been so youth-obsessed, never before have the expectations of top 10 drafted players been so high,

In these days of guys walking straight out of Junior and into the elite ranks of NHL scoring, GM's seem to have forgotten that there is a whole lot of middle ground between a prodigy savior (Connor McDavid) and, (prematurely labeled), BUSTS (Micheal Dal Colle)

In the eyes of the fans, and it would seem league proffesionals, you fall into either one of the two categories. Look no further than the A.H.L to observe a curious makeup of minor league journeymen and NHL disappointments, where are the "Developing" picks we hear so much about?


NOT in the A.H.L, that's for sure, what is supposed to be a development league is now a place to park emergency call up 4th line "Warm bodies" and a "Naughty room" punishment zone for players who failed in the attempt to jump straight from Junior to the NHL. Few fan bases and fewer GM's are content with the development of any specific prospect though they will pay great lip service to the CONCEPT of player development when it comes time to season THEIR prospects all we hear about is how player A was the "Wrong pick" or the dreaded "Bust"

But the real problem is how this attitude has shaped the actual process of development it's self. For instance, if player A is drafted to be a top 6 scorer, but doesn't make themselves a standout star in their first training camp. Generally, they are kept up anyway.

Why? Because every GM in the NHL dreams of one thing above all else: Top 6 scoring on a entry level contract (Henceforth referred to as an ELC) these are the deals that allow a team to have exponentially more talent than what they are currently paying for, and it seems the new hallmark of teams destined to win the cup.

So in hopes of their "Warming up" to the role of top six scorers the young draftee may find himself playing 4th line defensive minutes in the NHL, which is the worst thing one could do for an offensive prospect.


Why?

Because science teaches that humans are habitual creatures that transform depending on what they do over and over, the old 10,000 hours theory.


So playing an offensive prospect especially a young one in a role OTHER than what he was drafted to do, not only dulls that players offensive instincts, it habitually conditions them out of being a player who can put up points.

Look at The Vancouver Canucks and Jake Virtanen. All the experts predicted that Jake, who used his physical gifts to bully his way through teenagers to score goals in Junior, often just skating in a straight line to the goal, would have trouble translating that to the NHL, The Vancouver Canucks not only took Jake 6th overall in what would be one of Jim Benning's many terrible moves for the team, but they kept him up in Vancouver the entire season, though he did not earn the spot, either in training camp or durring the season he shouldn't have been playing. 


The next year, after some "Entitlement" issues came to light (The Canucks had NO IDEA how responsible they were for encouraging this entitlement) Jake was banished to the minors where odd-ball coach (Now coaching the major league Canucks) Travis Green tried to turn Jake into a defensive specialist, needless to say, he didn't score in the AHL,

Like......not at all, and he hadn't scored in the NHL the year prior to that. So now we have a teenager to whom 2 years is an eternity that hasn't been a confident goal scorer in TWO WHOLE YEARS,

Jake to his credit came to training camp to play this year, and in a move probably motivated by the optics of competence on their part The Canucks kept him up.


Now Coach Green, he of the uncomfortably loud and questionably motivated giggling fits, has been playing Virtanen as a 4TH LINER, this is in spite of the fact that Jake Virtanen has shown HE CAN score in the NHL, he is being punished by the team for not being Conor McDavid.


Really, it's that bad.

Also questionable is Ron Hextall and the Philidelphia Flyers decision to keep #2 overall draft pick Nolan Patric in the NHL this year.

Nolan Patrick's paltry point totals already have impatient fans whispering "bust" What they fail to remember is that Patrick is coming off a myriad of injuries that would have happened his play had he stayed in junior, let alone the best league in the world.


Asking a draft pick to play his way back from injury in the NHL is insane. Patrick should be in Junior this year, getting his game and scoring touch locked in. Then next year he should be in the AHL where either prospect or AHL career playmakers will be waiting for him to learn to score in that League as well.

THEN the year after next, Patrick should be stepping onto NHL ice, ready to DOMINATE.


THAT is how you "develop" a prospect and get the "Non-McDavid's" ready to make an NHL impact, but it's NOT being done that way, not with Virtanen, Patrick the list goes on and on.

I suppose the problem is obvious, NHL officials have always had a problem with certain things, one of the things they hate more than anything else is the reason these prospects are being so badly mismanaged....

It all makes too much sense,



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