"Rushing" is one of the biggest myths (excuses) of hockey development. It's a retrospective general indictment used with no provable supporting merit.
I think it's erroneous to think that "development" in minor leagues is a blanket action that moves rookies closer to their default "potential stat" in the back ground as a rule. Too often poster's take a player's failure to live up to their personal performance expectations as "proof" that it was a failure in development, that it was an outside error, rather their own error in judgement.
Given the lack of professional evaluation talent here, it really is astounding that people arrive at this conclusion rather than at the one that makes far more sense; the player in question merely isn't as good as you're expectations, or they need more pro time to continue to develop. It must be noted that "rushing" is only ever attributed to a player in retrospect, with the benefit of hindsight, coupled with the absolute impossibility of ever knowing if the player would have actually turned out better with more time in the AHL or Juniors.
AHL development seems to be a lot more about learning to be a pro, how to play against professionals (a generally higher level of skill mixed with a much more punishing level of physicality). It also can be used to teach players how to transition from one-man-show in junior to a "team player" or guy that better understands offensive and defensive systems. Guys who need fundamentals training such as playing defense may also benefit. Management has already alluded time and time again that scoring is rarely the point of development in the AHL, instead it's the other areas of the game that hold guys back from making the jump.
Lazar likely would have gone to Bingo if he was eligible, but since he was not, management felt that he was better served with pro development one way or another over another year in Junior. Personally I doubt very much that he would be a better NHLer right now with another year in Junior. In my opinion he is progressing nicely in a bottom six role, to be an effective NHL player for us. Not every player needs to project to top 6, and getting a solid NHL player is a huge payoff for a first round pick, contrary to popular belief.
The last thing to consider is that we are a rebuilding team, which means that by nature we're going to have a lot of young players on the roster. It is important that our young guys develop together during these years, with a few vets here and their to help guide the ship. When you're a solid team guys stew in the minors because there are no spots on the team for them, but on a rebuilding squad there are lots of spots, and I for one would much rather have our NHL management team developing our best young assets than our B squad down in Bingo. I would also rather not have a team full of middling mercenaries for a few years while all prospects magically "develop" in the AHL.
