I'm not sure i understand how you quantify success?
Abbotsford's record is 121 wins 74 losses since inception. Hershey 134w Milwaukee 130 Providence 124 Charlotte 123 are the only teams with more during their timeline
Hoglander is a great development success no? Juulsen DeGuiseppe Silovs Raty Bains have all came through Abby to help or are knocking on the door. Pettersson Lekkerimaki for once offer some potential for good NHLers that should be realized if they do a good job and the players can get there. Podkolzin flamed out because he can't process and react fast enough not because Jeremy Colliton and the Abby team and staff didnt provide him with what he needed.
Do you really feel Rempal Dries Petan Bailey Rathbone Bowey is that much better than Blais Karlsson Smith DeGuiseppe Wolanin Brisebois Woo Friedman as a insulate leadership group?
That having a face puncher like McIlrath vs Arseneaux Kannok-Leipert Loewen Cicek makes that much a difference? Podkolzin needs to keep his head up and Rathbone same thing. No goon is gonna protect them from that. If Rooney was Calgary's top prospect would you be clamouring for a goon to take out JT Miller because he got crushed by a clean hit?
You cannot manufacture top prospects without top draft choices. The black hole of prospects from 2020 to 2022 has been well documented and using simple math the odds of quality players for even the AHL level would be supplied by mid to late 2nd round picks up to the 3rd round. Anything beyond that has to be recruited or unexpected. Without many of these pics how are you going to manufacture NHL players? Luck obviously and free agents. Is Johnson responsible for finding those players? Is it even part of his job?
You criticize his lack of development success but what has RJ been given to work with?
How is this veteran group that has over the course of 4 yrs that has been "TOP5 IN WINS" not providing Abbotsford with a successful franchise?
Abbotsford has been a model AHL franchise so far. We finally have a direct conduit to Vancouver. Trainers Coaches Sedins the in house entertainment and product is fantastic??
Abbotsford and Utica have achieved some regular season success with Johnson but this has amounted to little in the post season. Results are:
Lost in round 1
Missed playoffs
Couple of years no playoffs due to Covid
Lost in qualifying Round
Lost in round 1
Lost Round 2
In most cases team started ok but faded during the year (often due to injuries and dreadful replacements) and by the end of the year were cannon fodder.
I believe in assessing success, you have to consider the post season as the best criteria. The regular season in the AHL is jumble, as teams move players in and out of the lineup as they test younger players, bring other players up and down from the main club, trade players, etc. True test comes at the end where you can assess whether the team has built a good base during the year and has set themselves up for the playoffs. Getting to the playoffs is relatively easy but doing something there is a tough grind and the cream rises to the top. You need to build toward that point and Johnson teams have shown nothing of that.
As far as development goes, I see it as taking a young (most often drafted) player and taking him through the stages of development and turning him into a bona vide NHL player. As has been often repeated, it is"growing your own tomatoes". I see little of this under Johnson and dispute the examples you site.
1) Hoglander - played near all his development years in Sweden or in Vancouver. When he got to Abby was quickly the best player showing that most of his development had taken place already. Maybe he gained some confidence but saying he was developed in Abbotsford is a big stretch.
2) Juulsen - he was a 25 AHL-NHL tweener brought to supply some depth to the Canucks and help Abby get off to a decent start. That's hardly an example of an in-house development story. Also is Juulsen a true NHL player? Frankly, to me, he looks pretty much the same player we got a few years ago.
3) Diguiseppe - another player who bounced around the for years b/t the NHL and AhL. Was 28 when he got here and heading toward the latter part of his career.. How is he an Abbotsford development story?? Really he looks little different than the player who had good stretches with the Hurricanes, Nashville and New York. Within the Tocchet system, he has done ok but he is, in fact not in the NHL right now. Calling him an example of Abbotsford development is nonsense.
4) Silovs -is he NHL caliber? I think that is to be determined. Saying he is a development success story is "counting your chickens before they've hatched" and this something you constantly do. In reality, he had a shaky year, last year, with the farm team.
5) Raty - given present play, I think there is now more doubt about whether Raty makes it. Saying that he is a proven example of Johnson developing prospects is simply wrong. Raty has not proven he is ready for the NHL and his quick demotion to the farm is an clear indication that he isn't
6) Bains - ditto Raty. He is not presently a bona vide NHL player and there has to be real doubt that he ever will be.
As to your comments about Pettersson and Lekkermaki "knocking on the door", it is again pure speculation. If they are this, it has nothing to do with the topic or Johnson developing players. Neither have been long enough in Abbotsford to suggest that Johnson has done anything toward their development. Bringing them into this argument is just throwing names around and proves nothing about Johnson's ability to develop players.
Besides that, I think you can have legitmate fears that Johnson might put these players into less than optimal situation. Pettersson, being only good -sized defenseman on the team might be thrown into the role of something of an enforcer on the back end. (much like Woo was last year -ending up with him getting wrecked by players like Gallant). Also Lekkermaki should have a player designated to protect him. All the other teams do this with their younger, high end prospects but somehow Johson doesn't. One thing a GM at the AHL has to provide is a safe environment for their younger players and Johnson manifestly hasn't.
You also imply that Johnson has supplied protection by bringing up names such as Arseneau, Kannock-Liepert and Loewen. In fact, the situation with Arseneau proves the opposite. Johnson had a chance to bring him back but dumped him b/c he wanted more game time. Arseneux was sorely needed last year but Johnson somwhow didn't see that. Kannock -Liepert can protect himself but is too small to be a decent enforcer and bringing in a player like Loewen was an example of Johnson at his worst. His play in Henderson had firmly established that he was an awful player and a joke of an enforcer. His quick demotion to the ECHL this year is admission of that. Just a terrible signing.
It might be that it would be good to get fighting out of hockey, but right now you need some form of retaliation when your team is being run. Every GM (I guess outside of Johnson) recognizes that and they keep players around for that purpose. This seems a reality that Johnson wants to ignore or is too dumb to understand.
Maybe the worst point you make is that it's up to players like Podkolzin to "keep their heads up". In many cases, the Podkolzin case included, Abbotsford players were targetted and run. I saw younger players like McWard, Sasson, Woo, Lekkermaki, Hirose, Mcdonaugh and others hit from behind, high sticked in the face, crosschecked into the boards or knocked into benches without, in most cases, a shred of push back. Many of them had little chance of development because they were out with injury or intimated. You seem to be suggesting it was their fault b/c they didn't keep their head up. Indeed, are you saying that it is Lekkermaki's chore to handle the abuse he might take from some goon. If you are you are saying that, you don't understand how hockey is played, especially at the minor pro level. You absolutely need players to protect people like Lekkermaki and the younger prospects.
I would agree that lack of draft choices and bad drafting has contributed to the lack of players coming through the system. That's not Johnson fault. Hard to turn "pigs ears into silk purse". But saying we don't have good prospects because of this, seems to contradict your argument that Abbotsford has developed good prospects. This is a good excuse for them not doing this, but not an indication they have.
Far as the difference b/t the first year vet roster in Abbotsford and the present vet roster, you are not fully presenting the rosters. Your lists are not accurate. Whether that's purposeful distortion or not, I'II leave up to you.
20-21 roster
You say vets were - Dries, Rempel, Bailey, Wolanin, Bowey. But you are leaving out Wolanin, DiGuiseppe, Juulsen, Dowling (might have been best vet), Sauter, Arseneau, Martin, Brisebois. Add that to players you did mention and that is pretty good AHL vet roster to build around.
Todays Roster: Wolanin, Brisebois, Friedland, Woo, DiGuiseppe, Kambeitz, Blais Twaryniski, Wouters, Kambeitz
I'd say the only upper level AHL players on this roster are Wolanin, Diguiseppe, Friedland and maybe Blais.
Team pretty clearly has not has not improved its vet roster from the orginal Abbotsford roster.
Ulimatey, I don't see how you can say Abbotsford is a "model franchise"who are doing just
fantasic. In areas like player development, playoff success, team improvement over the years, finding potential players in ECHL, Europe or elsewhere, good off season signings, Johnson has not been successful. Having some team offical saying its been a 'model franchise is not the same as actually achieving that. I would also say that most of your arguments are contrived or simply wrong.
