Yesterday, we discussed the idea of Marner moving back to junior hockey with the seriousness that idea was crying out for. Today we will look at Marner’s NHL usage to see what the coach thinks of him and how he’s handling the NHL.
A lot of teenaged players who could contribute well enough to hold down a regular or semi-regular roster spot in the NHL often end up back in junior hockey. Entry level slides are the reason.
If a player who is signed to an entry-level contract and is 18 or 19 years of age (as of September 15 of the signing year), does not play in a minimum of 10 NHL games (including both regular season and playoffs; AHL games do not count), their contract is considered to ‘slide’, or extend, by one year.