We have depth brewing in the minors right now , its a slow process of a rebuild . Many of these guys Hunwick , Polak , Smith are essentially plugs for the year until the next round of prospects are ready to make the jump , and our other prospects are acclimated to playing and acting like professionals . Babs loves those guys not because they ' re the best players , but they play hard and put in the effort and set an example in that respect for our young guys . So he puts them in the lineup to teach the young guys what it takes to be an NHL player hard work . Once they start phasing in our marlies depth , Matthews , Nylander , Rielly , Gards , and Marner will be ready to take even more of a burden of carrying the team and helping that new round of rookies .