Just bring the kid over. We have a great development system and we have a lot of quality prospects that are coming through the Marlies very soon. Marlies can win 0 games and have 0 fans show up and MLSE wouldn't flinch as long as their kids can develop appropriately.
I know there's a list of players being tossed out to point out previous failures etc, but as
@3 Minute Minor so kindly pointed out, the majority of the busts that were highly touted (ish) were because they were brought into the NHL prematurely by atrocious teams desperate to bring fans to the games and save some $. The biggest impact for Amirov would be getting acclimatized and working with the Leafs development staff. Even if it takes a year or 2 or 3 for him to adjust and pick up the game, he will be afforded that opportunity. The Leafs are in no need of Amirov's talents right away and we can afford to let him take the time and earn his way to getting playing time. Similar to what's happening with Timothy Liljegren and Lilly so far has turned into an absolute monster in the AHL. People just don't want to acknowledge him because he was once highly touted and he hasn't established himself as a full-time NHL guy yet but he has done nothing but accept and excel in every challenge given to him and similar to what happened with Rasmus Andersson in Calgary, Lilly is going to make the jump probably next year and I'll be damn surprised if he doesn't hit the ground running.
Amirov from what I have seen of him is pretty NHL ready right now. He can quite easily jump in and play on that 3rd line and provide good defensive minutes and chip in 20-30 points. But we want his offense to develop. A guy like him who has a ton of offensive creativity has managed to lose almost all of it and has absolute shit confidence as was on display at the WJC. Salavat has beaten defensive habits into his game and makes him a very risk-averse player. He doesn't take advantage of his offensive skills because it requires a certain level of risk and could potentially lead to being out of position, which would lead to losing playing time or a benching on a veteran-heavy team that's objective is to win. On the Marlies, we can help him slowly build up his confidence and his offensive side and let the kid understand that he can make mistakes out there as long as he makes smart plays more often than not. When he's playing for the Leafs, he's going to have to be a skilled guy with a 2-way game because that's what the Leafs' identity is. Right now with Salavat, he's a defensive forward with limited offensive opportunities and there are absolutely ZERO guarantees that Salavat would put him in a position to be a bigger scorer (even if he struggles for a while).
For all the shit that these KHL busts are taking for coming and playing in the AHL or OHL trying to make the NHL. You know that these kids (When not in the NHL) were given ample opportunities to be their team's main guy in the CHL/AHL and unfortunately they just didn't pan out or were late bloomers who blossomed later in their careers while playing pro in Europe. If these same guys played in the KHL, they would have probably been worse off because not only would they have struggled to produce, but now they are facing benching/ limited ice time to improve their abilities because their KHL clubs are trying to win.
Developmental leagues are there for a reason. KHL and NHL are pro leagues where teams value fans/ attendance/ money and winning above helping a guy carve out a good productive career. You either sink or swim. The AHL is an intermediate league where guys can develop without having to worry about always producing or risk getting replaced. It's a less pressured situation that would allow guys to thrive. If the VHL was well invested and produced high-quality prospects, there would be no doubt that NHL teams would happily keep some of their players there, and thus over time, more quality Russian kids would stick around in Russia to develop. But unfortunately, KHL scouts out the best Russian prospects and stashes them on the big club, and instead of letting them play in high-quality competitive leagues like the (VHL - which for the record isn't that great), they are forced to keep them up with the KHL clubs until they stagnate or fail at which point the players get moved or buried in the VHL which is a dead league when it comes to prime time prospects.
I know the KHL has started to invest more into the VHL but really the biggest bottleneck for that league is their developmental system. The Russian developmental route is absolute garbage and there's a reason why the overall quality of the league is nowhere near where the NHL is and quite frankly is IMO worse than the AHL.
...
