EDMONTON — Of all the areas in which a concerned fan and a National Hockey League head coach have never seen eye-to-eye, the “qualified player call” is ground zero for the discontent.
Coaches call up first line players and play them on the fourth line. It's a recipe as old as time, one of hockey's greatest mysteries, with the question, “What was the Department of Player Safety thinking?!?”
It's a rite of passage for a young, experienced player: no matter how many points you score to earn a call-up to an American League team, when you come here, we'll give you minutes on the third line with third-line teammates. Then we'll likely send you back when somehow you can't produce the same thing you did in Bakersfield.
“He needs to learn how to do it at this level,” we lament as you get into a taxi at the airport.
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“It's hard to sit on the bench, and then you (are asked) to go out and do something. Sometimes it's two shifts in a period, sometimes four or five (shifts). It's not an easy thing,” admitted Edmonton Oilers head coach Chris Knoblauch, whose general manager developed two AHL dynamos – Ike Howard and Quinn Hutson — will be included in the lineup for Saturday's matinee game against the Philadelphia Flyers.
“Given the composition of our team, you have to try to make the most of this time. It's much easier said than done.”
Will Knoblauch fall into the same trap with Howard and Hutson that he and so many other coaches before him have fallen into? Well, there's reason to believe he won't.
The top 6 found themselves perfectly in Edmonton.
Connor McDavid centers Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Zach Hyman, the best front line players in the game, while Jack Rosolvik pairs nicely with Leon Draisaitl and Vasili Podkolzin on the 2 line.
The Bottom 6 have been a disappointment, so Bowman may make a statement this week, openly endorsing Andrew Mangiapane while promoting two guys who have been tearing through the AHL as of late. (Howard is the reigning AHL Player of the Month with an 8-8-16 record in 11 December games.)
With 40 games to qualify for a roster spot, Mangiapane has failed miserably and will likely be watching the Flyers play from the press box on Saturday. Likewise, Trent Frederic couldn't hold his position for 40 games, and when Kasperi Kapanen returns, he'll likely be next.
The team will feature two kids with special skills who will take the place of young Matt Savoie on the third line on Saturday, whose average age will be 22 on Saturday. The Oilers haven't had a roster like this since the days of Hall and Abs, but perhaps an infusion of youth is just what this aging roster needs.
“We all know each other and have played together before,” said Hutson, whose younger brother Lane is a blue line player for the Montreal Canadiens. “We'll have fun.”
The real question is how much fun will Knoblauch allow?
Neither Howard nor Hutson have time on the power play. This is common in Edmonton, where the second unit is seen a little more often than Bigfoot.
And the fact that neither forward is isolated from a veteran top-six center leads us to believe that — if the Flyers' game gets close to the midgame — the third line of three rookies won't have much ice time.
Three small newbies, we might add.
It's one thing to play alongside Hutson, Savoie and Howard in Thursday's practice. But we can only know for sure if each of them gets more than eight minutes of playing time in an NHL game on Saturday afternoon.
“Hutson and Howard are playing so well in Bakersfield that they won't feel any pressure,” Knoblauch said. “And it doesn't mean that Savoy will put any pressure on them to make different plays. They will play on their instincts, which I think will be useful.
“The downside is that they are smaller. I think we need to decide if the pros outweigh the cons.”
In our opinion, Howard has the best chance to become McDavid's or Draisaitl's offensive starter in the future. But it is Hutson who is considered the most dangerous shooter in Bakersfield.
What these two need is for the power play to score a couple of goals early and for the McDavid and/or Draisaitl line to score one as well. Because the Oilers' leadership will keep Knoblauch going. The moment the game is in doubt, he will cut his bench.
And we all know who suffers when this happens.
