There weren't pros in the olympics in 1980, but there were very few Europeans, and ZERO Russians playing in the NHL, so those teams could send essentially their best players. Canada and the US had to send amateurs.
The problem with your "Young Gun" idea is that NHL teams would have agree to send their best young players away for 2-3 weeks while they were still playing games that count in the standings. Lets pretend the Olympics were in 2 months, would Boston be okay sending Pastrnak and Carlo away for a couple weeks while chasing Montreal and Ottawa for a playoff spot. Two teams that, depending on the age cut-off, might not send anyone?
Good point on those european and Russians players really being pros while masquadering as amateurs. That made the miracle on ice that much more unbelievable in my mind.
The target group for participation as I understand it would not include NHL regular players like Pasta and Carlo types (I'll call him a regular at this point even though he's a rookie) which is what the owners want to move away from. The current WJH provides a few notable exceptions of NHL rookies being involved as we have seen over the years. Often seen as a better option than having a kid sit in a press box or play very limited amount of games or very few minutes of ice time if they do play.
The concept of young guns was just for comparison purposes particularly with the excitement factor. The concept would largely mirror the WJ selection process. The players who would be candidates are primarily overages in Junior ranks, college/university players, lower tier pro development leagues like the AHL as well as undrafted or unsigned players of interest who meet the age requirement. Think of players like DeBrusk, Heinen, Borke, and older drafted and undrafted players in lower tier leagues in Europe as the target group. Also important to remember that it would be an event held every 4 years and not annually like the current WJ's. Of course you could make a case for perhaps having it every two years. Perhaps that's a discussion for another day.
Recall Pasta really wowing people as a player in his WJ debut that opened a lot of eyes. Of course it moved the Bruins to include him in their immediate plans as a junior age player. That may not have happened without the WJ stage getting their attention in a best on best tournament. Creating another world stage will produce those types of stories for players who are just a little more mature and in theory have had the time to improve their overall game. Their development may show things that were not as evident or were areas of concern in draft years or shortly there after. More pleasant surprises like Pasta will emerge.
Hope the discussion on the idea will continue. Thanks for jumping in.
clever
