Turcotte is a forward drafted #5 overall in 2019. Meaning he is in his D+3 season now (2019-2020, 2020-2021, 2021-2022). He hasn't played a ton of games in those seasons, but with his pedigree, assuming his developmental trajectory is at least close to what you would expect out of a forward taken there...he should be playing as *the* guy on the AHL team if he is not in the NHL right now.
If he is now in a "secondary" group in AHL, then what do you do next year? Finally let him be *the* guy in his D+4 season still in AHL? Or move him to a secondary group in the NHL? If the former, his development is stalling in AHL far beyond what would be ideal, if the latter, you've never even given him a chance to maximize his potential by being *the* guy anywhere, rather you are breeding him to be a secondary/support player through his key developmental years. Even if Turcotte winds up being a support player in NHL, you need to at least give him a chance as a primary/key player somewhere, to figure out what you have in him and maximize his full potential. And I would argue the purpose of AHL is precisely that. Ontario Reign should be Alex Turcotte's team right now, not a vehicle for Tkachev/Tynan/Frk's "too good for AHL, not good enough for NHL" performances.
Not to mention that Turcotte is a big character/leadership player, who would probably even flourish with an increased leadership role and pressure. To use Lombardi's famous "paint tiger stripes on a cat" quote in reverse here: are they trying to create a cat out of a tiger here?
It is entirely superflous having Athanasiou, Tkachev, Frk and then even a career AHL vet like Tynan. If they were worried the kids weren't ready and there was a hole on the NHL roster, they could simply solve that by playing a guy like Carl Grundstrom who is in that next age-group further up the line-up. The NHL team isn't winning anything anyways and at least you would see what that 21-24 Grundstrom age-group is capable of, they would also work their butts off and provide more of an identity than tweener skill players like Athanasiou or Tkachev.
It's kind of an odd arrangement, since it's clear to anyone sane that this team barring a massive luck streak is not getting out of the first round (maybe not even making the playoffs). So the question that invites itself is: why not play a few more of the unproven 21-24 age-group like Grundstrom, Lizotte, Durzi, Clague (when he was still here), Vilardi, Andersson, Kupari etc. above their "capabillities", since you are going to have to make decisions on them soon anyways. With a team that is not going anywhere, that is the age-group that should be getting a better look. Vilardi's career is dangerously close to getting off-rails, I would have rather seen him tried immediately at top line wing in the NHL this season than getting dicked around on 3rd-4th lines centering players of lower talent levels and then being sent to AHL. Try to bring his skill out by putting him on Kopitar's wing with an energy/skating player like Iaffalo or Arvidsson, or have Danault center him and do the heavy lifting for him. Maybe you find out Vilardi isn't a top 6 C, but he's a top line RW. That's still better than having a rudderless where-does-he-fit talent that is turning 23 this summer.
But now you're in this odd situation, where some who could warrant a look in a bigger NHL role are being pushed into limited usage, and the next group of players who should be key players in AHL are losing themselves in a mix with an abundance of career AHLers and NHL cuts like Frk, Tynan, Tkachev, Wagner, Burke. At 21, you want to see Turcotte being *the* guy there and seeing how he responds, not watching a top line of Tkachev-Tynan-Frk suit up in front of him. At 22 and with a positive NHL look under his belt, you want JAD to continue the positive development narrative, not play behind those guys in AHL. At 22, you want to give a high-end talent like Vilardi a look at wing with other top NHL talent. You want to give Lias Andersson one final extended look before saying good-bye, otherwise why get him in the first place? He doesn't work out, you move on quickly, he's 23 not 19. Grundstrom shows some scoring sense somtimes, he's not a top 6 forward, but it's not going to hurt you if kids aren't ready and you have to play him there for a few games instead of Athanasiou or Tkachev. I get that you need depth and vets to supplement the entire thing, but their mix and handling of players up front is really odd, a little better on D, but then they don't have bluechip defensive prospects there outside of Clarke who was just drafted. Last year they had a very thin AHL squad in terms of vet support, this year completely the opposite, a massive overreaction.
To me, it seems like somebody is not doing their job very well planning the developmental curves and environment for their prospects, it doesn't look like the way the whole thing is handled is maximizing the potential of them, whether it's young players at NHL level or those in AHL. The layering of age-groups and the opportunities each age-group should be getting (relative to the individual's upside of course) doesn't seem that well-handled to me.
And I can only suspect that this deficiency is a byproduct of trying to placate the NHL veterans with a competitive team, but as we can see it's having a cascading effect throughout the organization and they just can't manage to do all three things effectively at once: find out what they have with the young players at the NHL level, maximize developmental curves of their prospects, and ice a competitive team that would make NHL veteran players happy. For the long-term health of franchise, the obvious and only clearly correct answer is to abandon the last item, they shouldn't put much consideration on making NHL vets happy at all, since the team is not in a position to win now or in near future. This will also have only a positive effect on establishing the team's identity, character and energy and moving past the stale "glory" of an era that is long gone.
