Are you serious? Last season Troy Stecher was sent to Utica and only called up when there was an injury. Many reports out of training camp indicated that he was good enough to make the team. But he wasn't on it because of guys like Larsen. Now, he is in our top 4 consistently. Imagine if there weren't injuries last year so early? Stech might have been buried in Utica a lot longer.
This year, just look at how Goldobin has progressed once given the opportunity. Again, he started the year in Utica and only got called up because of injury. There weren't any spots in the lineup because of vets. Hell even Burmistrov (remember him) was given more opportunity than Goldy. Burmistrov was the 13th forward and the guy who first filled in for injury. And now that we see Goldobin given an opportunity, he looks way more useful than a Eriksson or a Gagner.