I’ll meet you halfway.
There was a little more tough love back in the day with players being benched briefly to light a fire under them. More importantly and with respect to the current team, a move like this is more out of desperation and a lack of options rather than the prospects being productive in the minors and pushing the franchise to promote them .
But that's hardly unusual these days. Look at goaltending, where top teams are desperate for one, while we have two. In all the top sports, injuries are becoming a serious problem, as depth is lacking. Pitchers blowing their arms out at record pace, QB's and RB's going down in numbers, and a lack of quality starting QB's to begin with. God sakes, the Giants and Jets OL's.
The more athletic the players become, the more they end up missing time. Great young players are already in the NHL in big numbers, the amount of great prospects in junior or college, or even the AHL, is limited throughout the league.
