Should the NHL experiment with expanding rosters?

In the world of baseball, September means expanded rosters. Should the NHL try something similar in a pre-playoff push to bring up a few prospects?

We’re in the dog days of summer now. The bad news is that the days will be getting colder and shorter. However, the good news is that hockey and the new NHL season is right around the corner.

With the beginning of one sport comes the end of another – baseball. While NHL teams begin their training camps, America’s pastime will have their season run down towards the eventual World Series. Also around this time is when Major League Baseball rosters expand. More players are allowed to be called up to a team instead of being limited to the past amount of 25 players.

More from Puck Prose

This gives teams a chance to either call in reinforcements if they’re making the postseason or give their prospects a chance at some big league experience if they’re team isn’t making a run toward October.

What if the NHL tried something similar? Imagine what that would mean for a team like the Ottawa Senators last season. With their season completely lost and zero chance at a playoff spot, they could have called up the very prospects that are pushing to be the future of the team.

While it’s an intriguing concept, it’s one that the logistics of professional hockey would most likely prevent.

For one, baseball rosters expand in September because that’s when most minor leagues end their season, leading to the one-month disparity. Meanwhile, in hockey, the AHL and ECHL usually conclude their seasons around the same time as the NHL, maybe a week or two earlier, if that. Plus there are the obvious coaching questions.

While calling up young players to give them a change would work well for an organization like the Senators, who have nothing to lose playing their young prospects, what about a well-built team like the Tampa Bay Lightning? Do you think they’d bench their superstars just in the name of giving a minor leaguer a few big-league minutes? Most likely not.

And then there’s the concept of the bench, and playing off the bench. In baseball, you can have multiple players on the bench, who aren’t scheduled to play but can alternate out if needed. No such concept readily exists in hockey unless players are watching from the press box, but renders them out the entire game.

The closest example to “coming off the bench” in hockey would be in the form of a backup goaltender, or a seventh defenseman. Once again, that’s far from a perfect comparison. There are also salary cap concerns. The MLB doesn’t have a salary cap. However, the NHL does. How would this work in a capped league?

If the NHL and NHLPA could come to an agreement with junior players, that would be interesting. Top prospects that return to junior, yet have their season end, could gain valuable experience with a short cup of coffee in the major leagues. As for college players, this would never happen. NCAA rules specifically prohibit a player from college edibility after entering the professional leagues.

While it would be interesting, especially for us prospect watchers, it’s a concept that the NHL will most likely never experiment with. Luckily, the league has a plethora of prospect showcases and training camps to show off what the future of the game can hold. Hockey seems destined not to have “March Callups”.