I'm not sure Graves has the higher ceiling, or where that belief comes from. It seems to me that the org. Is higher on skjei. Why do you think graves could be better?
If you visit the Hartford thread, you know that I watch almost all the games. I'm about equally as likely to miss a Rangers game as a Pack game. My opinion is based on what I saw and judged, and whether you trust it or not is obviously up to you.
Skjei is a safe guy. He skates well and has a terrific vision. He's also smart for a rookie, but that's in part because he's a year older than Graves and college players usually come in with a more mature game than Junior boys.
Graves, on the other hand, makes more mistakes, he looked outright lost some games. But there were games where you'd be left speechless by how dominant he was. He can skate, he is big (though needs to hit more), he shoots like Al MacInnis, he can pass, he is just a huge factor in all 3 zones plus he can PP and PK.
Skjei has a second pair ceiling and a third pair floor. Graves has a first pair ceiling, but if he doesn't become more consistent, will wind up a AAAA player. That said, the guy was a 20-year-old rookie, inconsistency is the norm. That's like looking at a 10-year-old and saying he's only 5-feet, so if he doesn't grow he'll be short: that's technically true, but he's taller than most kids his age and no reason to believe he will stop growing at such a young age.
In the case of Graves, according to Chris Drury, when he came to the Development Camp a month ago "he was mature, he looked like he came back on even more of a mission, was bigger and stronger and his skating continues to improve."
I don't know what the organization is thinking, nobody really does. On the one hand, they chose Graves over Skjei (and all others) to represent the team in the AHL All Star Game. On the other, they called up Skjei. That kind of comfirms my belief: Graves has more tools that could be used playing against AHL's top guys, but Skjei is safer and when you want a rookie to step in for a few games midseason and make no mistakes (because the coaches don't have the time to waste giving special attention to someone up for only a cup of coffee), that's what makes sense.
EDIT: In the AHL All Star Game, Graves shot was so hard that in
the history of the NHL hardest shot competition, only superstars Zdeno Chara, Shea Webber and Al Iafrate ever shot it harder.Even MacInnis never shot as hard as Graves. This is from a 6-foot-5 230 pound monster as big as Dylan McIlrath. Think about that one for a minute.