If even one of them can become an impactful NHLer, it will be worth it.
@SeaOfBlue - how do you imagine the Marlies lines/pairings shaking out at this point?
Not him, and don't have exact lines, but I'd imagine the rosters are roughly as such:
MARLIES
F(17)
Two of Robertson/Holmberg/McMann, Abruzzese, Blandisi, Clifford, Ellis, Gambrell, Hirvonen, Kressler, Mastrosimone, O'Brien, Ovchinnikov, Shaw, Slavin, Steeves, Tverberg, Voit
*any first year player on an ELC or AHL deal could platoon between Marlies and Growlers
D (8)
Farrance, Kokkonen, Lagesson, Lajoie, Miller, Niemela, Rifai, Villeneuve
G (4)
Hildeby, Peksa, Petruzzelli, Jones
*Hildedy/Peksa go up and down
GROWLERS
F (9)
Berezowski, Caufield, Cruikshank, Shea, Singleton, Skirving, Solow, Suthers, Weiss
D (4)
Dillingham, Hellickson, Pietroniro, Tychonick
G (2)
Cavallin, McKay
I'd say F and G could be pretty well set given that there are usually 9-10 forwards playing for Newfoundland on any given night (26 forwards between rosters) and there will be six goalies below the NHL level. They'll still need 3 or 4 D though to fill out the depth chart better - probably 9 in the AHL and 7 in the ECHL at all times.