Should have gone to penn state!

The Cutter situation is an easy thing to understand creating concern but, the family, maturity and team situations are all different. That being said, can you share the differences in the 2 as you have already mentioned the Flyers differences. Reality, if it happens twice it puts a significant question mark on the current front office moving forward.

For a rebuilding club stuck in the dredges, if I were the GM, I sign any pick in the top 7 of the draft immediately to an ELC, guarantee them a spot in the NHL, and let them develop in the bigs. You don’t get many chances to draft in the top 7, so sign the kids, the team stinks anyway, and let them develop under professional tutelage. Why take the chance of losing potential future all-stars when the team is seriously lacking in blue chip talent? Its not like their top 7 picks of the past few years will be stealing a rightful place from some other top talent on the team. Who cares, let the kids make the team and play right away. You control their physical development, their skills development, and provide top shelf coaching out of the gate for them. To me, its a no brainer, sign the kids right away, if you felt they were worthy of a pick in the top 7 of a draft. Makes no sense to send him to college and “hope” he does not get the idea to force another bad trade by DB.

How many people develop in the bigs? There are players who are ready, and then there’s everyone else. Cutter may have been ready, but he still didn’t dominate in college. He was a decent rookie this past year, but probably wouldn’t have done that well the previous year.

It’s sad Martone isn’t going to Penn State, but he could be a difference maker for the Spartans, and college is a much better “next step” unless he went to Europe like Matthews did. He needs how to use his body against men, not boys. Hopefully he has a great attitude and makes the most of it!

After reading your piece, Charlie, I am confident that Martone and the Flyers made the right call here. I am also not worried about him pulling a “Cutter” on them, as their communication is good and which is key.