Detroit Hockey Now’s Bob Duff suggests that Shawn Horcoff’s Red Wings team may finally give its younger players a chance to play regularly instead of keeping prospects stashed in Grand Rapids until they’re over-ready to skate in the NHL.
Duff cites comments made during Horcoff’s initial press conference as the Red Wings’ interim GM, as featured in a subscriber-only article on DHN:
Horcoff’s philosophy toward young players is very straightforward. He wants to give them a chance.
Not a guarantee, mind you. They still have to earn their opportunity. That’s the way it should be. Still, the opportunity will knock, and that’s all any player can ask.
“I think that’s something that in today’s game,” Horcoff said. “You’re starting to see more younger players make an impact, right? Whereas in the past, maybe it took those guys a little bit longer, and I don’t know why. Maybe the game was a little bit different, or a philosophy change around the league happened, but it is something that we have to look at.”
Continued (paywall); as Duff notes, Horcoff didn’t promise that he’s going to prepare a place for the Red Wings’ prospects to make the NHL roster per se, but he does want to infuse the roster with several bright prospects when he feels that they’re ready to contribute to the Wings’ cause:
“The question isn’t, are we going to give them a shot?” Horcoff said. “It’s, do we think they’re ready? We’ve got some guys that are certainly ready to take that step. You look at Carter Mazur this year, William Wallinder, [Michael] Brandsegg-Nygaard. Then we’ve got a second group. There’s lots of guys that are coming right behind them. Carter Bear is there. Anton Johansson. There’s many, many more.
“Of course we want our young players to play and impact our team as soon as possible, but they have to be ready, right? The NHL is not a development league. They have to be able to come in and contribute.”
