Ahhh, thanks for pointing that out. Even knowing that, I would still prefer QB to play the vast majority of the year in the A, although knowing the contract slide thing opens me up to letting him come to the show 1/2 or 2/3 of the way into the season if he’s sustained a monster pace.
Have the rules changed? Unless the rules have changed, the contract does slide for players Byfield's age, providing he doesn't play 10 NHL games. The following season, it would not.
For sure. Just to be clear, I think the worst thing for his development at this point is to go back to Juniors. Forgetting the whole contract sliding issue, I would still prefer him to play in the A (as in AHL) to gain confidence, strength, professional discipline to endure a long season and continue to prove it. I have no doubts he will achieve all of this, but I think it will be good for him experientially.
Hopefully not for a while, since that implies us getting a 1st overall pick :p
You never know, San Jose could trade us their unprotected 1st for Doughty when he's on his last leg.
If byfield got put on kopitars wing from day one and had 0 defensive responsibility and was on the #1 power play unit im sure the byfield tune would be different. The kings operate differently for better or worse. Time will tell.
With how close to busting he is should probably make it a 4th instead of a 2nd
The "should" here is the problem. That's an artificial set of expectations based on what other players have done in different circumstances. Byfield is very much a project and if you want him to be the player he could be, the "shoulds" need to be omitted entirely from the discussion.
