Why I don't care about 15 year olds

Jon is going to counter point this later today but since I'm here stuck at work and he gets to watch hockey I get to fire the first shot on this debate.

I don't care what the 15 year old's look like in camp. Why?

Raise your hand if you thought Brenden Dillion was going to play in the NHL when he was a 15 year old?

I'll wait.

Now... Raise your hand if you thought Erik Fleming looked great as a 15 year old? Connor Sanvido? Steve Chaffin? How about Cody Hanson?

I admit that I'm taking extremely unfair shots at these 4 guys right now and I feel bad about that but my point is that we've seen plenty of 15 year old players who looked good and didn't pan out and we've seen 15 year old players that came out of nowhere to become good players and some that looked good immediately and also become good players.

15 year old players don't really concern me because the amount of physical and mental development that can happen between 15 and 17 (much less 15 and 19) is enormous. Players who are small now might grow and players who were big for their age group as a 15 year old might have already reached their peak size.

We. Just. Don't. Know.

And that's why I'm much more interested to see how the 16 year old players look because not only are they one year closer to their actual development but they (obviously) also have the actual ability to potentially contribute to the team this year.

Getting excited about a 15 year old player is fun... but I just don't think it means very much at this point.