When is the best time to call up your top prospect?
Is it when they’ve mastered the level of their peers? After they’ve climbed the ranks, succeeding at lesser pro leagues and/or the AHL? When they’re battle-tested, getting top minutes on special teams, and have seen it all?
Or is it when a need arises? After all, a player’s prime in the NHL arrives fairly early. Perhaps the best course of action is letting them work their way up the lineup. Maybe what a player loses in raw minutes, they’ll gain from top-tier coaching and being forced to adjust to the speed of the game from the get-go.