How is a player suppoed to "earn" his icetime if he never gets real icetime with some of the better players? Playing on the 3rd or 4th line will hardly give a rookie a chance since guys on those lines are not usually the most skilled players. I am not saying to take an 18 year old rookie and put him instantly on the 1st line either.coco_canuck wrote:I think that hypothetical assumption fits your narrative more than anything.Reefer2 wrote: Sure it does but AV has to give him a chance to play bigger minutes. If both Booth and Kesler was playing right now I highly doubt Kassian will be getting to play with the Twins.
AV gets a bad wrap for not playing youngsters, but it's about them being able to handle those minutes. Considering that Kassian is primed due to having played so much AHL hockey, chances are he'd still get a look in the top 6 because Booth would likely be struggling just as much as the other forwards who haven't had much game action.
Like I said, Kassian has been playing well, and that's why he moved up to the top line during the Oilers game and got more ice-time last night. Novel concept, this making young players earn their ice-time thing.
So your assumption is that is Booth/Kesler was playing right now Kassian would be given a chance to play in the top 6?