I’m in my 30s now, folks. Have been for a couple of years. The thing I miss most about my early 20s was the freedom to make mistakes and learn and grow from them later. But I wasn’t in the NHL - the highest level of competition I faced was when frat boys crashed our beer pong tournaments.
Young players in the NHL face an entirely different pressure to limit mistakes, and on a contending team like the Colorado Avalanche, they operate on a very short leash. Ivan Ivan and Sam Malinski have been testing that leash lately, and with Malinski scratched for multiple games and Ivan now demoted to the AHL it seems like Coach Bednar is done giving them the freedom of youth.