I've been saying it all along. It was not because of his 2 goals. He needs to learn at a higher level. OHL will not help him as much as playing in the AHL. OHL could actually hurt his development. True we all know the Hunters are great at helping develope and have done fantastic work with other players but when your as good as Halttunen you can get away with things in the OHL that you will not get away with in the AHL. Do I want him back....YES.....is it better fir his development as a pro....NO.
Respectfully, I disagree that he is ready for Pro. Yes, part of his game is ready. But, I think he has a lot he could still improve on, to be ready for the pro game. His skating, his defensive play & his 5 on 5 play. Those being the key points, all things of which Dale is known for improving.
Now with that said, I have not seen him play since the Memorial Cup. He could have worked his tail off this summer and improved those areas of his game. So, my assessment is based on what I saw last season. But, In my opinion, Halttunen is getting a lot of praise for being too good for the O, when I think he has a lot to work on and an extra year showing he can dominate all ends of the game in the O, could be a really good thing for his development.
But, we are all entitled to our opinion and at the end of the day, none of us make the big bucks to make those tough decisions. But my gut, says there is still a chance he comes back, at minimum, I think he will be playing the WJC for Finland.