Jay:
Interesting to see what happens with the Nuge.Part of me wants to have him in the NHL–for selfish reasons just to watch him play.However, leaving him junior probably makes far more sense for delaying the start of his ELC and to let him get stronger.Eberle’s only listed at 6’0 / 185 lbs, but he looks pretty solid–especially since he’s so good at fighting for pucks in the corners..I guess Pat Kane also is only slightly heavier than RNH and was probably smaller in his first season.

I am leaning towards sending him down, but not without seeing what he can do in the first 9 games. To me, it seems playing style and hockey sense is as important as pure muscle strength. Eberle, for his ‘lack’ of size, is supremely intelligent in his body positioning and stickwork against bigger and stronger opponents. That makes up for inches and pounds like nobody’s business. From what I’ve read, Nugent-Hopkins’ smarts allow him to pickpocket opponents and steal pucks because of excellent anticipation and hockey sense. Those are valuable intangibles when facing the less clever brutes of the NHL. Taylor Hall was also brilliant at covering passing lanes and stealing breakout-passes on the forecheck last year. That’s what I want to see from the Nuge.

Saving a year of his professional contract is to me the most important reason to send him down, but developmentally there’s little to suggest that players of his calibre can not cope with an NHL season at age 18. It might not be a cracking season point wise, but the learning curve would be much steeper than if he went back to juniors just to skate circles around 16 year old defensemen.