Junior Prospects

[NoPantsTuesday]

I need some advice for my Thunderbirds game. I know in the NHL its recommended that you keep your prospects in their junior leagues for as long as possible so they can develop as much as possible, but what if your in the juniors?

For example I have a prospect that is ungodly fast, and isn't bad on the mental part of the game. He has no technical skill whatsoever. But thats fine, considering he is only 16. Now I signed him as soon as I could but now I don't know if it was such a good idea.

My problem comes in I could send him down to my Washington minor team and he can get more games under his belt, or I could keep him on my squad and even though he gets no games I can personally watch his training. So for a player at his age is it better for him to get on-ice experience or a focused training and sit on the bench?

I searched through the guides, but all I could find is advice for the professional level.

[vilifyingforce]

While never having played much junior, I would guess development is development as far as the game is concerned. SO I'd send him down and let him get some gametime under his belt.

[archibalduk]

You can't beat on-ice experience at his age. Yes, he will need lots of training but what is more important is getting experience in the minors. Whilst he plays in the minors he'll get training too - even if it's not to your standard. Leaving him languishing in the NHL with no game experience is going to seriously harm his development.

[Taloncarde]

I would let him get games in more importantly, I know when I'm running a minor team though I like to let players who have specialized skills play, like a 4th line center who has amazing deflection skills starting on the PP, etc.

So, if you can find a way to use his speed to your advantage, by all means get him in the lineup, otherwise give him a year to develop.

[NoPantsTuesday]

So it won't hurt his development at all as long as he gets consistent minutes?

[Shadd666]

Unless you rush him on your top line, give him a key status, and make him play 25 minutes per game, no, it won't hurt his devellopement. At least no as much as keeping him on the bench. So if you can give him a decent icetime of around 8-12 minutes, it's probably better for him to play at the higher level, as he'll more learn, and quicker. But if you can give him only a very limited icetime (4-7 minutes), don't loose your time on him and send him down to juniors.

You don't have that much time to devellop your guys (4 years at max), so you need to devellop them as fast as possible. You have way more time in the NHL, and therefore can afford to keep your prospects in lower leagues for a longer period. But in major juniors, you just can't do it. Every season represents about 25% of the player's junior carreer, so you don't want to loose it! At pro level, the guys spend around 15-20 years between AHL and NHL, so each season represents about 5 to 7% of their playing carreer... Therefore you can afford to give them one or two more years to devellop. Plus, NHL is a level of excellence, so you really need your guys to be ready. Else, they would ruin your gameplans and it would hurt their morale, which potentially hurt their devellopement. There is more room for mistakes in major juniors.

Concerning your prospect, his speed should be an asset for your team. Many CHL players have a pretty average speed (8-12) or are clearly slow (7 and under), so having a fast guy can really cause troubles to your opponents. The defenses are less tight than in NHL, so your guy wouldn't need as much stickhandling skill to keep the puck under control. If you like to match lines at home, i'd suggest you place him on the 4th line, lining up against your opponents 4th line. His speed will probably generate a lot of offense. Give him some PP time too, especially on the road (where the 4th line doesn't play that much if you use normal icetime distribution). He should then play about 10 minutes per game, and you'll see how it turns!

[NoPantsTuesday]

Thanks for the advice guys. I Put him on my 4th line and gave him a spot on the PP, now all of a sudden he is becoming a PP specialist. He's getting 10-15 minutes a game and he's tearing it up. 9 points in 10 games, and has gotten 3 game winners. Thank god I didn't lose him to a year in the minors.

[Taloncarde]

No problem I love lower level managing, I occasionaly take on CHL teams for several seasons, etc. I haven't done it in 07 as much because the enhanced tactics took me a while to get used to, so i've been working on my tactics with NHL players, but it's tons of fun.

Basically, when I look at my players, I always try to consider how I think I can use them. There are always the obvious players you want playing full time minutes, but usually at best you can field 2 lines of those. Then I look to see if I can find a specialty role for them, ie an average to bad player who excells at passing, etc. Then I find a way to put them in to the game to take advantage of their specialty

Finally, if I let a player sit on the "jr" team, I try to do so for only 1 year of their eligibility, at most 2. If I can't find even a specialized role for them with the big club, i'll try to move them or get them off the team.

[stickbraker]

can someone please tell me, what means "consistency" in junior players profile?

[deknegt]

how consistent a player is e.g. how often he puts on a string of good matches instead of having dips.
higher consistency means if combined with talent they are more likely to succeed.

[vilifyingforce]

It's asking how closely they resemble Yashin or Kovalev. Streakiness. No consistency means they're streaky and will light on fire one night and the next take a weak slash on the wrist and let the opponent score the go ahead goal in the playoffs.

[archibalduk]

Consistency is how regularly/often a player will play to their ability. The lower their consistency, the more often they will play badly.