Roster Building XXII: Too Many Forwards, Hopefully One Cup

[Lempo]

Ooh, nepotism!

 

[spockBokk]

No Brother Nadeau either

isn’t he still an NCAA player? He wouldn’t be able to come to an NHL camp during the school year.

 

[WreckingCrew]

isn’t he still an NCAA player? He wouldn’t be able to come to an NHL camp during the school year.

Did he come last year? Or was that the prospect tourney? I swear he did a PTO with us but it's just as likely I'm losing my mind

 

[spockBokk]

Did he come last year? Or was that the prospect tourney? I swear he did a PTO with us but it's just as likely I'm losing my mind

He came last year and this year to the prospect summer camps. Also went to Montreal’s summer camp this year

 

[Svechhammer]

Skyler on a 2 way deal with Chicago? Sure why not.

 

[Nikishin Go Boom]

With Jost, Suzuki, and Robidas, adding Skyler seems unnecessary. Unless we really believe Columbus is going to poach Jost/Robinson (if waived). He is an AHL 4C, not really worth taking away prospect ice time for. Maybe he accepts the fate of being an AHL backup, idk.

 

[Joe McGrath]

With Jost, Suzuki, and Robidas, adding Skyler seems unnecessary. Unless we really believe Columbus is going to poach Jost/Robinson (if waived). He is an AHL 4C, not really worth taking away prospect ice time for. Maybe he accepts the fate of being an AHL backup, idk.

He’s 25 years old and was a marginal 4th line AHLer last year. I think he’s probably aware the only reason he has any contract is his last name.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

Eh. Unless there is a substantially better 4th line option who would get significant ice time, I don't mind throwing RBA a bone. Keep him happy.

 

[bleedgreen]

Chicago needs guys to play in Chicago, and there’s no reason Skylar can’t continue to develop to be a solid player at the very least at that level. If it isn’t for more money than it should be there’s nothing wrong with bringing him in to play there. He’s still very early in his pro career so defining what he is at the AHL level seems a bit off. Doesn’t matter how old he is, everyone has to get used to the new higher level they’re playing at. My only complaint with him is that they named him Skylar.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don’t think it’s some huge problem, but it does seem contrary to the whole “everyone earns their ice time” ethic.

It’s one thing for the organization to throw a bone to key players whose brothers might ride their coattails a bit. It’s another thing when it’s the coach giving his kid a free pass to a pro tryout which was rightfully earned by some guy who’s sitting at home with the phone not ringing.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

I don’t think it’s some huge problem, but it does seem contrary to the whole “everyone earns their ice time” ethic.

It’s one thing for the organization to throw a bone to key players whose brothers might ride their coattails a bit. It’s another thing when it’s the coach giving his kid a free pass to a pro tryout which was rightfully earned by some guy who’s sitting at home with the phone not ringing.

Agree to a point. But it's kinda the way the world works for better or worse. Managers promote ass kissers/golf buddies over more competent employees all the time for one example.

And not to be a dick but evidently 31 other teams didn't make a phone call to the guy sitting at home...

No one said life was gonna be fair.

 

[Svechhammer]

This is also a rather hilarious 'f*** you, we're in charge now' from the Canes to the Wolves if we force him onto the team.

 

[bleedgreen]

I guess I don’t understand why we think he’s not good enough to be a player there. He looked like a pretty good grinder in the tournament from what I saw. He had a solid career in college and teams have been interested in him. Even if his name wasn’t BA he’d be a solid prospect for the AHL at this point. We’re all assuming he didn’t play his way in, when he may actually have done just that. He played a significant role on his NCAA team, especially towards the end.

Typically I’m the one criticizing these kinds of moves, but I’m completely ok with it. It’s not like he’s threatening the spot of one of the top prospects at this point. He’s going to have to play his way up unless it’s a Staal brother moment in the last game of a shitty season.

 

[WreckingCrew]

I guess I don’t understand why we think he’s not good enough to be a player there. He looked like a pretty good grinder in the tournament from what I saw. He had a solid career in college and teams have been interested in him. Even if his name wasn’t BA he’d be a solid prospect for the AHL at this point. We’re all assuming he didn’t play his way in, when he may actually have done just that. He played a significant role on his NCAA team, especially towards the end.

Typically I’m the one criticizing these kinds of moves, but I’m completely ok with it. It’s not like he’s threatening the spot of one of the top prospects at this point. He’s going to have to play his way up unless it’s a Staal brother moment in the last game of a shitty season.

Agreed, and it's not like we won't have callups and Chicago won't have injuries...no different for them having Skylar than us having Jost, ride the bench or go down a level until you're needed for injury filler or to give someone a break. If we're worried that an AHL grinder 4th liner is getting more ice-time than one of our prospects, that guy is probably pretty far down the prospect pool lineup to be a moot point

 

[Anton Dubinchuk]

I guess I don’t understand why we think he’s not good enough to be a player there. He looked like a pretty good grinder in the tournament from what I saw. He had a solid career in college and teams have been interested in him. Even if his name wasn’t BA he’d be a solid prospect for the AHL at this point. We’re all assuming he didn’t play his way in, when he may actually have done just that. He played a significant role on his NCAA team, especially towards the end.

Typically I’m the one criticizing these kinds of moves, but I’m completely ok with it. It’s not like he’s threatening the spot of one of the top prospects at this point. He’s going to have to play his way up unless it’s a Staal brother moment in the last game of a shitty season.

He's certainly good enough to be a player there.

I'm not sure he has the pull to jointly negotiate a release from his contract with Charlotte in order to go directly to the team that his dad happens to be the coach of the big club for without the last name. A bit of a coincidence if you ask me. There are a lot of Skyler Brind'Amours floating around this league and only one got released from his AHL team in order to get an invite to be a 25-year-old at our prospects camp.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Agree to a point. But it's kinda the way the world works for better or worse. Managers promote ass kissers/golf buddies over more competent employees all the time for one example.

Sure, but if the manager does that, the he can’t also be the guy to give a big speech about how nobody is owed anything and they need to prove their worth every day.

And not to be a dick but evidently 31 other teams didn't make a phone call to the guy sitting at home...

No one said life was gonna be fair.

It’s just plain obvious that someone else would have been on the roster if not for the coach’s son.

We’ll never know who that guy is, but he is a real person who was actually impacted by the choice.

 

[bleedgreen]

Sure, but if the manager does that, the he can’t also be the guy to give a big speech about how nobody is owed anything and they need to prove their worth every day.




It’s just plain obvious that someone else would have been on the roster if not for the coach’s son.

We’ll never know who that guy is, but he is a real person who was actually impacted by the choice.

The aspect of truly “earning it” has always been a bit overblown imo with Rod and the team, which is also part of why I don’t see anything wrong here.

I also disagree that Skylar isn’t just as good or better than your “other guy” at this point. I think we’ll maybe know more by the end of this season. I still think it’s possible he’s a pretty good AHL player and completely deserves a spot on the team.

 

[tarheelhockey]

The aspect of truly “earning it” has always been a bit overblown imo with Rod and the team, which is also part of why I don’t see anything wrong here.

I also disagree that Skylar isn’t just as good or better than your “other guy” at this point. I think we’ll maybe know more by the end of this season. I still think it’s possible he’s a pretty good AHL player and completely deserves a spot on the team.

Like I said, it’s not a huge deal. It’s a non story in the big picture. And maybe he does improve and justify the chance he was gifted.

But let’s be serious here, there was no competitive process behind him being given this PTO. At 25, Skyler’s past his relevant developmental window, and on a mediocre AHL team he had the lowest scoring rate of any forward and the lowest +/- of any player. There’s no reason at all for him to get a PTO along with two guys who have 1200 NHL games between them, other than who his dad is.

 

[bleedgreen]

Like I said, it’s not a huge deal. It’s a non story in the big picture. And maybe he does improve and justify the chance he was gifted.

But let’s be serious here, there was no competitive process behind him being given this PTO. At 25, Skyler’s past his relevant developmental window, and on a mediocre AHL team he had the lowest scoring rate of any forward and the lowest +/- of any player. There’s no reason at all for him to get a PTO along with two guys who have 1200 NHL games between them, other than who his dad is.

Well the term “relevant development window” is what grabbed me here. Not all guys are acquired or signed to be real NHL prospects. Every year teams fill out their AHL rosters with guys they know don’t have any development window. Sometimes someone surprises of course but that’s not the expectation. We were interested in signing him out of college and even that wouldn’t be pure nepotism as he was someone the league was interested in overall as a late blooming NCAA guy. One year of mediocrity often doesn’t discourage teams from giving a potential depth guy a shot. He hasn’t played himself completely out of relevance from one year, most players wouldn’t imo. He’s now in the pool of depth guys who get a shot somewhere yearly until he’s been given multiple chances and utterly fails or carves out a minor league career with hope someone calls him up someday.

I think someone would’ve signed him if we didn’t at this point. I’m sure it helps that his name is what it is but there’s lots of guys who get chances off names and who they know. Doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving players. If he’s as bad as he apparently was last year you’ll be right, but we don’t know that. Also he was a veteran leader in college and being an older guy with winning experience is probably viewed as good locker room value to a very young AHL team. That might have more value to us then to an AHL team that isn’t quite so young.

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

I don't see why some are making an issue, even a minor one, over a guy who likely will be a 4th liner in the AHL. If he took the spot of a "more deserving" 4th liner in the AHL, who cares?

 

[tarheelhockey]

Well the term “relevant development window” is what grabbed me here. Not all guys are acquired or signed to be real NHL prospects. Every year teams fill out their AHL rosters with guys they know don’t have any development window. Sometimes someone surprises of course but that’s not the expectation. We were interested in signing him out of college and even that wouldn’t be pure nepotism as he was someone the league was interested in overall as a late blooming NCAA guy. One year of mediocrity often doesn’t discourage teams from giving a potential depth guy a shot. He hasn’t played himself completely out of relevance from one year, most players wouldn’t imo. He’s now in the pool of depth guys who get a shot somewhere yearly until he’s been given multiple chances and utterly fails or carves out a minor league career with hope someone calls him up someday.

I think someone would’ve signed him if we didn’t at this point. I’m sure it helps that his name is what it is but there’s lots of guys who get chances off names and who they know. Doesn’t mean they aren’t deserving players. If he’s as bad as he apparently was last year you’ll be right, but we don’t know that. Also he was a veteran leader in college and being an older guy with winning experience is probably viewed as good locker room value to a very young AHL team. That might have more value to us then to an AHL team that isn’t quite so young.

Sure, but he’s already a known commodity at the AHL level. If his abilities weren’t already clear to Chicago, it’s what AHL camps are for. Why does he need a look in the NHL next to Sam Gagner and Rocco Grimaldi?

It’s one thing when the player is a younger prospect with upside, or one who’s new to the org and they need to figure out where he fits. Neither of those are true here. It serves no purpose for him to be in camp with guys who have those qualities, other than making Rod happy.

And I want Rod to be happy. It’s not some crime to take care of his family a little, any more than Slavin today or Staal in the past. But this does contradict at least one major talking point that Rod has worked to establish as a core principle in the organization, so there’s an element of hypocrisy for him to be the guy involved.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don't see why some are making an issue, even a minor one, over a guy who likely will be a 4th liner in the AHL. If he took the spot of a "more deserving" 4th liner in the AHL, who cares?

Ideally, we wouldn’t be giving PTOs to any AHL 4th liners, other than draftees/prospects with hypothetical upside, which he is not.

 

[hblueridgegal]

Isn't there often some perceived or inherent psychological pressure on others to treat nepo babies a certain way due to who their relations are?

 

[Boom Boom Apathy]

Ideally, we wouldn’t be giving PTOs to any AHL 4th liners, other than draftees/prospects with hypothetical upside, which he is not.

Every year, teams always give PTOs to guys that have no chance of making their team and aren’t going to play in the AHL for them at all.

PTO or not, any player is going to have to earn their ice time during the season. If Rod is playing his son in the NHL next year over more deserving players (other than a gimmick like when 3 Staals played), or Chicago is giving him more TOI over more deserving players, then I’ll agree.

Right now? It’s meaningless and much ado about nothing.

 

[LostInaLostWorld]

Sure, but if the manager does that, the he can’t also be the guy to give a big speech about how nobody is owed anything and they need to prove their worth every day.



It’s just plain obvious that someone else would have been on the roster if not for the coach’s son.

We’ll never know who that guy is, but he is a real person who was actually impacted by the choice.

Have you not worked in semi/large corps or orgs? They do the rah rah stuff all the time; especially at the managerial level. Doesn't mean crap. Even my dad had this ish happen to him in the 70s.

Sorry for that guy and a hundred more like him. Do you think 1 player who jumps ahead affects all those other guys as well?

Or what about the guy whose folks are rich and sent him to the best camps, etc.? vs the guy whose parents can barely afford a travel team but who is a better prospect but doesn't get the benefit of higher level scouting. He's screwed too. So many ways life isn't fair.

Does is suck? Yeah, kinda. But again that's life.