This kind of post is typical after a good performance by the player. The issue with Jake is that he's not consistent. Nobody, including the coach, knows what Jake will put forth game to game. He can have a good game. He can follow that up with a stinker. He can also be invisible. Jake is so erratic that no one can bank on what he will do. That's why development time in the AHL was put forth as a solution.
I highly suspect they will not send him down no matter how poorly he plays. The optics would be unimaginable -- regardless of what would be best for the player long-term.
Yeah, reliability goes a long way. It's just the way it is. No different in any other industry. In construction, half the crew shows up 3 days a week and you don't even know which days they miss (usually monday is a pretty good guess).
I'm not sure the AHL is necessarily the solution, personally. I think it could make the problem worse, if last year is any evidence. The other thing is that Virtanen has become Green's project. No sense sending him down to be coached by someone else. It's just the circumstance, really, and if Jake's minutes get limited because he is an unreliable player, what do you really do? There are probably more productive ways to send a message than sending someone to the minors. It's easy for us to say, but for Jake that's a pretty big deal. How about Jake walks home after a bad game instead of riding in the fancy limo?
It's just one of those things. He's here because of potential. You wont activate it in the AHL, so whatever. Doesn't hurt me to have him in the lineup, and I don't really care about Aquaf***'s paycheck. I also don't think Jake moping in the AHL gets us any closer to a cup down the road, either. It'll either iron itself out or it just wont. Guy's young, who the hell knows. Maybe he forgets his things in places more often than we realize, and it actually affects him, day to day?