The Capitals have assigned Frederic Cassivi, Daren Machesney, Jason Morgan and Kyle Wilson to Hershey (AHL) and Michal Neuvirth to Plymouth (OHL).This leaves 19 forwards and 10 defensemen in camp (along with goaltenders Olie Kolzig and Brent Johnson) and answers the question "Does the organization think that Michal Neuvirth is ready for the AHL?" in the negative.
5 comments:
He would be better off back in the Czech Rep., backing up an Extraliga goaltender and playing 10-15 games...
I'm not sure any goalie's development is bettered by playing 10-15 games in a season. I think there are plenty of challenges left for him in the OHL.
1) We agree with JP on this one. Neuvirth may be ready for more than the OHL can offer him, but apparently isn't quite ready for the 'pros'.
2) Also, and some may be able to answer this better than we can, If Neuvirth played in Hershey the entire year would that count as one year of his 3 year rookie contract? If so, that also may have been a contributing factor in the decision
3) As for playing back in the Czech leagues; Only if he were a starter. Playing 10-15 games would seem hardly enough to help his development
4) Hopefully the kid will take this 'demotion' well and have the maturity to use it to improve his game, and be ready to compete for a spot next fall.
Agree with the goalie is better off playing more than 10-15 games in a season comment and if there was nothing left to prove in juniors, they had options.
It will be interesting to see what Plymouth does with the goalie tandem, keep them both in front of a younger team or trade one of them for skater(s) now or later in the season. Does anyone know the specifics of the CHL trade rules? I believe there are some windows during which players are allowed to be traded.
Plymouth didn't draft anyone in the last import draft to keep that 2nd slot open for Neuvirth. Perhaps they keep both of them and see how the team does and/or make a trade later in the season if they can improve the team for the future and there is a team that has room for another import player.
Faux - Regarding your question/comment #2, about the impact of playing NA pro hockey as a teenager on an entry-level contract...
There is a clause in the CBA that says a player's entry-level contract extends an extra year (slides) if they play fewer than 10 NHL games in a season playing under the contract and they are 18 or 19yo (IIRC, but not if they turn 20 by Dec 31 in that season).
I'm paraphrasing without the rule in front of me so the details might be a little off, but that is the basic gist of the rule; I am not sure whether a team and player can change that part of the entry level contract at signing to exclude the slide year.
The simple thing to do is to use Chris Bourque or Viktor Dovgan as examples. Assuming (and I do assume this) Dovgan returns to NA and plays out the rest of his contract. They each will play 4 years on their entry level deals because of this rule; each played in the AHL and or AHL/ECHL without 10 NHL games as 19yos with entry-level NHL contracts.
sorry this is so wordy, I hope it is clear...I'll look up the CBA citation later for anyone that might be interested...
Anyway, unless there is an option to change that contract term and the team and player did change it, the answer is no, it would not count as one of the 3 years.
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