As humans, we are creatures of expectation.
When you're a first round pick in the NHL draft, you're expectations are a little more out of whack from the rest of the world.
Sonny Milano knows this feeling in spades, as he has been passed on the organizational depth chart by more than a few players as he toiled in Cleveland this past season.
Oliver Bjorkstrand, Lukas Sedlak and Josh Anderson all made it to the big show in Columbus. All of those players incidentally don't play left wing like Milano.
So as he enters into his third professional season as a player, is it time to cut the line on Milano and declare him a bust?
The Case For
A lot of the best players in the game, if they have played in the AHL at all, they have been there for a period of time, dominated and then joined the NHL club. Rarely if ever do players that have low points per game in the AHL, go on to be successes in the NHL. In the modern league, you have to be able to put up points while also showing semblance of skating.
Milano has one of those traits down but depending on who you talk to, some aren't as keen on his skating and defensive play.
Most of the players that have taken that next step in today's game have done so during their age 20-22 seasons. Late bloomers aren't around in the league like they used to be. Taking a look at this article from the Leafs Nation, we see that the younger you are putting up point per game numbers in the AHL, the more likely it is you make the NHL as an impact player.
Milano just had his 20 year old season and didn't put up out of this world numbers but he still led the Monsters in scoring. By not hitting being a point per game player, his likelihood of being a difference making player in the NHL is getting slimmer.
You'll see in that Leafs Nation article that more and more players as they get older score at that pace but less of them turn out to be great players in the NHL.
The window of opportunity for Milano is closing and his value may never be as high as it is right now.
The Case Against
While the article I mentioned above is an interesting tool to use, it can also be flipped to the other side of the coin. Milano is still very, very young. One of the later birthday's in his draft class, his developmental path is pretty standard. In a league where Auston Matthews and Connor McDavid make the league almost immediately, those players are the outliers to the normal rule.
Making matters worse for expectations, two of the players the Blue Jackets called up to the team this past season were two of the biggest outliers in recent memory. Both Sedlak and Anderson didn't "wow" in the AHL during the regular season, they both did well in the playoffs but they were never difference makers. There jump to the NHL rarely if ever happens and it normally isn't a success. Sedlak much more so than Anderson given his career track record.
Referring back to the article, you also only see players at the age that scored above a point per game. Just below the threshold between of one point per game are still a good subset of players in the modern era. Carl Hagelin, Kyle Palmieri and Zach Kassian are the names that stand out from that list. All put up similar points per game to Milano at 22 years old or younger. Milano still has two seasons to move past that and put up better numbers.They're not top end names but players that put up points that have carved out their niche in the league.
Not many players on the current iteration of the Blue Jackets have outpaced Milano's production at the same age. Bjorkstrand has a lower regular season points per game than him. Same with Brandon Dubinsky, William Karlsson and Matt Calvert.
Scoring isn't everything but it is the main objective of the game. If you have the skill to play, the rest follows.
The Verdict: We'll See
Most reports surrounding the Blue Jackets have the team giving up a prospect of some sort to the Vegas Golden Knights in exchange for them taking David Clarkson off of their hands. It remains to be seen if that deal will come to fruition but many believe that Milano may be that player.
Considering how close Milano is to the end of his developmental path, it would be silly to give up on him now. He only has a seven game NHL sample size to draw from over two seasons and with inconsistent minutes to boot.
If rumors of Scott Hartnell leaving the team are true either via buyout or trade and the Golden Knights end up selecting Calvert, the left side of the Blue Jackets line up is going to need scoring in the worst way. Promoting from within, Milano could see the NHL more than the AHL next season.
