When the Montreal Canadiens sent down Michael McCarron, Hunter Shinkaruk, Brett Lernout and Rinat Valiev, you could think that the team was ignoring Marc Bergevin’s stated goals of getting younger.
But that couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Youth on its own is not something that gets you an NHL job. McCarron said on Thursday that he took his spot for granted last year. Lernout is not better than Noah Juulsen, or Victor Mete, or Mike Reilly, or Xavier Ouellet. Contrary to many fans beliefs, he’s not even better than Jordie Benn or David Schlemko.