(Originally published at Inside Hockey)

Winning is good business for an NHL team, but when it comes to their minor league affiliates, does winning matter, or is the important thing how you play the game?  Both matter, according to Brad Treliving, NHL Coyotes Assistant GM and AHL Portland Pirates GM. Success is an important part of the development process for a player.

This week, Treliving described the role that his AHL team plays:

We look at the American Hockey League really primarily as a development league. So we try to put as many of our younger players down there as we possibly can, and expose them to … playing a lot, you know, getting into critical situations … You see in the American League in some cases … there are some veteran players and we try to have a couple of those guys for leadership and whatnot. But primarily it’s our young players playing in key roles and key situations and learning how to play against men and learning how to play the pro game. (more…)