Not every first round selection makes it to the NHL and some do not even start playing until years after they are drafted. Good management knows rushing prospects too early will only hurt the player and not give them a chance to develop to full potential or even succeed at the NHL level.
Take for example Ryan Geztlaf, drafted 1st round, 19th overall in 2003 NHL entry draft. After being drafted, his next two seasons in the WHL showed steady improvement that eventually helped Ryan into a successful AHL playoffs. He started the next year in the AHL playing only 17 games before being called up by Anaheim and playing 57 games in the NHL. The same could be said for Bozak who despite having a good pre-season was sent to the AHL Marlies and played extremely well in 32 games. This eventually lead to a late season call to the NHL and 37 successful games later. To ask Kadri to excel in his first year right out of the OHL is not only unrealistic, but could hurt his development. A proven path would be to let Kadri audition with the Marlies and then call him up to the NHL towards the end of the season. For anyone to call Kadri a failure or bust for not having a successful pre-season is wrong and grossly misinformed. Remember how Stamkos received the same treatment of being heavily criticized in the first half of his first season with Tampa Bay. Critics will always be critics.
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