A REAL Question!!!

This is a first here on Ask LaMalfa, someone has actually asked me a question, actually TWO questions so here goes:

Q: do you think that the draft age should be raised to 20 like it was? at 18 if someone comes out of juniors and isnt good enough for the nhl, they have to send them back to their junior teams where they can re-enter the draft and sign with another team. this is what happened to joe thornton. he was too good for juniors but not good enough for the nhl. this required him to stay in nhl and struggle. obviously he has had a great career but i could see something like that ruin a player and lose his confidence. what do you think?

A: Interesting question, but as far as I know, guys who are struggling in the NHL are usually sent to an AHL farm club until their ready. They dont have to be sent back to juniors. Also, under NHL rules the player remains property of the team that drafted him for a certain length of time. The reason he stayed up was the Bruins were bad, and wanted him to develop. While the rules of the NHL draft are far from perfect, if a guy is ready at 18, let him develop. Under your rule change, Sidney Crosby would be starting his rookie season this fall and while I agree he is over hyped, that wouldnt have been good for the NHL.

I'm saving the second question for my next Q-A time, since I may not get another one for a while!