I think they were thinking that we'd leave him in the AHL for the 2nd year to get further seasoning and he was playing well over 23 min TOI...and QB'ing the PP.
He was overlooked prospect, he was the 7th overall selection in the OHL draft, but he was drafted by Sudbury who were awful. He had really good stats on a very bad Sudbury team, so I don't think they, or anyone, knew how good he was. He just put up 32pts in 40games for the Roadrunners. He is basically Yandle with better defense and worse offense. My guess is that he can become a 40pt if not 50pt Dman in the show, which when added to OEL & Chychrun, we should be extremely formidable on the left side for a long long time.
He's the best D draft pick we've had since OEL. He's going to make POJ expendable. All conjecture on my part, but I'm really high on his game and I'd rather wait and find out if he's the real deal rather than trading him for another 3rd/4th line center which we have a ton of.