The value of spending time with an NHL team for a prospect

Oftentimes we hear people say it is better for a prospect to spend time with an AHL squad playing big minutes for a team in all different situations ( 5 on 5, power play, etc) rather than watching an NHL club from the pressbox for any significant length of time.

Case in point for the Winnipeg Jets is Chase De Leo who was called up on November 14th when Mathieu Perreault was placed on the IR.

At the time De Leo was just starting to find his game in his sophomore season with the Moose having potted two goals in his final AHL contest against the San Diego Gulls two days before his recall.  He has now been with Winnipeg for ten days and during that time the Moose were scheduled to play five games (they only played four because of the health scare Saturday night to Roadrunners captain Craig Cunningham which saw the game postponed).

The Jets are just starting to get healthy with both Kyle Connor and Bryan Little scheduled to return relatively soon so it is likely that De Leo gets returned to Manitoba having not played any NHL games with Winnipeg during this stretch.  Although based on the way this road trip has gone coach Maurice could inject him into the lineup on Friday against Nashville to change things up with his floundering Jets squad who have lost four straight.

Presuming he doesn’t get into the lineup then one could ask what, if anything, did De Leo gain from this experience?

Jets coach Paul Maurice referenced Joel Armia’s stint with the Jets last season as a prime example of what can be gained when a player spends time with the big club.  “Joel Armia came up last year for three weeks and didn’t get in a game but he practiced with us every day and I think that was a really good time for him to try to get the speed of practice.  When he went down, then he came back up and he became a player for us toward the end of the year.  I think it’s good.  Even though they don’t get into games, to get out with the team, practice with the team, it’s good for those guys to be around.”

Once he was recalled for good in mid December last year Armia played 43 games for the Jets potting four goals and six assists to close out the 2015-16 season.  Prior to going down with his serious lower body injury this year he was seen as an important piece of this Jets puzzle.

Of course the Jets bench boss did acknowledge that his team hasn’t spent a lot of time practicing much this season “we haven’t had a lot of those” (just once since De Leo has been recalled).

Building bonds (Patrik Laine in his ‘Ask A Jet’ said De Leo is one of the guys he spends time with) and getting a comfort with the guys on the parent club might have as much value as practice for some players.

Might something like Armia’s situation be in the cards for De Leo?  We won’t know until he gets that chance to put on and keep on that Jets uniform.  Whether that is this season or next remains to be seen.