I knew that would be the responses immediately but it doesn’t really change much. Laf has been great lately but still gets 15 minutes a game and minimal PP time. Same for any of the kids. The fact that it was Byfield’s first game is almost irrelevant. Our kids have earned more minutes down the stretch but can’t get them. Chytil’s ELC is over in 6 games. He had a slide year as well where he played 9 games. 4 seasons pro and he can’t get on the second PP above Colin Blackwell.
Look, I do actually understand that depth and the team’s situation have some bearing and that it’s not all about minutes. And it’s not about me wanting to see shiny new toys out there. It is a legitimate question that we won’t see the outcome of for a few years regarding how you develop top offensive players. What we’ve done with Chytil, Kakko, Laf and now Krav is a departure from what virtually every other NHL team does.
Keeping in mind he was the unanimous #1 pick in what was considered a strong draft here’s some numbers. This is just rookie forwards for this year. Then I have Kakko (last years #2), Chytil (#21 four years ago) and Kravtsov (#9 3 years ago) numbers so we can see where they fit in among true rookies even though Kakko and Chytil are not:
View attachment 427609View attachment 427610View attachment 427612Kakko’s 14:21 per game, Chytil’s 13:09 per game and Kravtsov’s 11:24 per game for perspective. On the PP Kakko gets 1:20, Chytil averages 35s per game in his 4th year and Krav averages 2s. Laf didn’t make the cutoff for PP time but he’s 24th among rookie forwards at 1:16.