Quoting: Isles777
You’re comparing a washed up 7th D to one of the best D prospects in the NHL? Lou lamoriello and Barry trotz are masters at their craft, and they are for sure not putting an ELC slide over the development of a top prospect. The best hockey executives put development first, making moves strictly on an ELC slide is reckless. If you do your research on development of players in their D+2, D+3 seasons, playing in games is crucial for their development. Basically, it would be better served if Dobson was being run into the ground by his junior team than sitting out 73 of 82 games.
Lou lamoriello did not keep Dobson around (for development purposes) only to have him play in 9 games. If he really cared about the ELC slide that much, he would have sent him back to juniors already, which he already says he has no plans to do so (on Sirius radio a few weeks ago). The only reason dobson isn’t playing is because of this insane streak they’re on and no ones playing bad enough to be taken out. This isn’t going to last forever, and Dobson will get more games
There is a 0% chance of it happening, it’s never happened to any top prospect in the last 10 years, and the islanders will not be the first. Isles are getting lucky with their D corps staying healthy/avoiding long term injuries for the most part. Unfortunately that doesn’t last forever and I’m sure one of boychuk/mayfield will suffer an injury that keeps them out 4-6 weeks
This is funny coming from you, someone who has been criticizing both Lou and Trotz for the roster management ALL SEASON LONG! The thing is this, IF Dobson was AHL eligible they would have sent him to the AHL because our D is stacked right now... the problem is they can't. The next best thing is to have him on the NHL roster learning from NHL players and All-Star coaches on a day to day basis, rather than creating bad habits playing in a league he dominated two years in a row.
It's pretty clear by their use of him they don't want him playing everyday, if you're not going to play him 60-80 games, there is no point in burning an ELC year if you don't need to. In fact, if it wasn't for Leddy being out a couple of games earlier, Dobson is probably only at 3-4 games played instead of 6. And if you don't think an All-Star coach and HOF GM aren't figuring out ways to work the CAP for the next 3 years until some of the big contracts are off the books, knowing they have to pay Barzal, Toews and Pulock next season... then you're an imbecile.
The Sbisa comparison was simply to state that it's something the Isles have done in recent years, have a 7th D play 9 games a season.. not a comparison between Sbisa/Dobson. And I never said they were putting an ELC slide OVER Dobson development. They may feel his development won't be impacted by being a 7th D who practices and trains with the NHL club and plays a handful of NHL games, as much as it would be by him playing a full season in Juniors again and developing bad habits.
Again, I am NOT saying this is what I want them to do or think they should do... simply stating that with the way they are using Dobson, barring injuries/trades I'd be VERY surprised to see him play more than the 9 game maximum to extend is ELC another year.