Langkow Suffers Odd Injury

@ honesthockey
The chance of all of our prospects panning out and exceeding expectations next year is simply just that as well. I’m simply playing devil’s advocate here as I would like nothing more than to see every kid absolutely tear the league apart next year.

As for the Perry, Getzlaf, Ryan argument – Perry 19 gms plus 3 playoff gms in the A, Getzlaf – 17 gms + 10 playoff games and the prime expample Ryan 70 gms + 35 playoff gms. Look we can go back and forth on this all day and there is no way to know if they would have been the same had they jumped right into the N – but many hockey ppl believe in slower development – look at alot of the stars who had the lockout year to play in the AHL or in Pro somewhere. I think that Toronto is an extremely unique market and we do not have a great history of developing our draft picks. I personally would like to see them take things a little bit slower with guys like Kadri, Didomineco Caputi etc. and just make sure that they are ready to perform night in and night out in the hardest hockey market in the world. But the reality is we are so thin up front right now that we don’t have that option – we have stripped the Marlies bare to ice an NHL roster for the rest of the year. I would just like to see us getting some top level support for next year – some insulation so that the kids can develop properly regardless of wether that is in the NHL or in the A and I believe one of the best ways to do this and to also be highly succesful 2 or 3 years down the road is to get some assets for Kabs and not tie up even more $ on the back end. Its all opinion just like your arguments.

@ honesthockey:
100% agree and the Bozak argument is a good one – although his season was a bit of a mess before being called up (Swine Flu, injuries, disappointment at being cut etc.) – the thing about some of the college guys is that they are older, more mature and physically developed. I just worry (and maybe this is a result of soooo many disappointments in the past) that Kadri at 19 shouldn’t have the expectation to produce at an elite level right off the bat (not saying that you believe this either). Its just that finally we have a kid who is destroying the OHL, played well in pre-season, and looks to be all of the things that we have desperately wanted / needed in the past few years. But the fact is – he is not a can’t miss ala Kane, Stamkos, Doughty and the media in TO and alot of the fans are already calling him the next Gilmour, calling for him to be our #1 center right away. I just don’t want to see us ruin this kid right away – he’s so young and the most important thing next year should be learning his future role and learning the NHL game – elite production should really be viewed as a bonus not as a necessity.