If I'm the GM and know the season is lost and trying to build for the future, wouldn't I want to see what I have in the kids? Everyone is so concerned with he's not a fourth line guy or he's not getting slotted into the right situation.
Does that really matter right now? I'd rather put our best forwards on the ice with the kids that I want to get a feel for than playing guys that have no future with the team after next season, hopefully sooner to be honest. I guess that's the point of going after Cozens. Great. What about Kemell, Svechkov, Schaeffer? I want to know if they can do this at the NHL level.
Here's the thing, we're doing it with the defensemen right now. Lauzon is next out the door.
Bring up Svechkov and Kemell, pair them with ZLH since they've played together before and see what they do. If you're feeling saucy, put Schaeffer with ROR and Nyquist for the time being or even Novak and Vange. Sometimes instead of overcooking maybe you see if they sink or swim or if they tread water. If they sink, they go back to the AHL and you pretty much know there's not much there. If they tread water, they go back to the AHL to work on their game but know what's expected of them at the NHL level. If they swim, you have another piece of the puzzle gaining experience.
Oh, and for the love of all things holy, get Parssinen back in the lineup. When a player makes Erik Karlsson look good on defense, they have no business being in the NHL, I'm looking at you Cole Smith. And one other thing, coffee talking right now, why does Willy feel the need to say Cole Smith as opposed to just calling him Smith? Is there another Smith I'm not aware of currently on the team? And one other other thing, ZLH missed the net with a shot last night and Willy calls him out by saying he missed badly. He pissed me off because he's critical of the young players and the vets do the same thing and they're unlucky or things just aren't go their way. Either call it down the middle and treat everyone the same or get out of the announcers booth.