No Reason not to play the kids now

i like the idea of getting the kids some ice, but I'd be surprised if they brought Raty over from Finland and burned a year of his ELC on a handful of games at the end of a lost year. I'd rather bring him over for training camp in September and let him try and win a roster spot right out of the gate.

The only other thing I could see complicating this is that Bridgeport is near enough to playoff contention that you might want to get some of those younger guys that playoff experience? Doesn't help that the AHL season lines up with the end of the NHL season and you'd basically be pulling BPT's best players during that stretch run.

as long as räty plays less than 10 games, he'll still have three years on his ELC. we only have like eight left so that's not a problem. he's already in the states, he was at the mets game a few days ago, so i'd imagine he at the very least will play a few games in bridgeport

didn't know he was already stateside! get him IN THERE then!

also thanks for the heads-up on that ELC - i think i got so used to seeing that 9 game tryout in October that I forgot it could technically happen at any time during the season, as long as it's less than 9.

yeah, it's weird this time of year because contracts don't slide if you're over 20, so a lot of the college guys who are debuting now are burning the first year just by signing, while the 9 game tryouts are usually at the very beginning and mostly CHL guys, but since räty's 19 he can play up to 9 games and still have it slide

Yeah, I love Raty but I would absolutely not start him over here in the NHL. Send him to Bridgeport to let him adjust to the smaller ice surface. NHL is way too fast to try and get a 19 year old kid to adjust right off the bat. Seems like a good way to get his head knocked off.