| Author |
 Topic  |
|
hrc666
(Loves To Post!)
1363 Posts |
 Posted - 05/17/2009 : 12:54:55 PM
|
Players I'd definitely like to have back (12):
Kilpatrick, Van Guilder, Eghoetz, MacDonald, MacKenzie, St. Denis, Rank, Lacasse, Sproat, Miller, Woll and Nie. I think this would be a pretty solid base of players upon which to build. I don't think that we'll have more than 5 or 6 of these guys available to us.
Players on the bubble(5): O'Hanley, Couglin, Quesnele, Salekin, and Johnson. Possibilities based on who else would be signed. Competent, yet very replacable.
Players who aren't my cup of tea(4): Faulkner, Santorelli, Dietrich, Petit. Just don't add enough to the equation. Better players can and should be found.
Not Classified (2): McElroy and Syro. I think McElroy is going to hang up the skates and Syro already did that last year. I'd like both back, but don't see it happening-especially with McElroy.
Weber (or whomever) will have no say regarding St. Denis and Lacasse (Hamilton) and MacKenzie and Santorelli (Milwaukee). Kilpatrick, Van Guilder, MacDonald and Rank have the possibilities of getting AHL deals, so they possibly wouldn't be in the Cincinnati coach's discretion either.
Protection lists are very hard to predict. Players have exit interviews with the coaching staff and the intentions and desires of both parties usually get aired in those meetings. The coaches will probably also have some insight as to whom might get an AHL deal or whom is likely to go overseas. The only players not eligible for protection are AHL signees (Lacasse, St. Denis, MacKenzie, and Santorelli). But, 3 of these 4 could be eligible as the only one I know for certain signed by an NHL/AHL club for next season is Lacasse. Veterans are not eligible to be protected. We have 3 on the roster: Eghoetz, Faulkner and MacDonald. MacDonald has played in exactly 260 regular season professional games, thus categorizing him as a veteran.
I'm expecting 6-8 of the playoff roster players to return. At most. While our team was good, it really was missing many of the ingredients necessary to win it all. Our team speed was lacking. I want to say that we lacked natural goal scorers, but Kilpatrick and Van Guilder are pretty sharp around the net; they both were college rookies who lost their touch during the playoffs. Next season (if they're even here) they wouldn't "hit the wall". Still, a Beauregard-type pure goal scorer would be nice. Perhaps TB might be part of the equation next season. This year's crew had some decent scorers in Eghoetz, Kilpatrick, Van Guilder, Sproat, Rank and Syro, but none were top producers in the league and the rest of the forwards ranged from mediocre to pitiful in scoring ability. We'll need more depth and high-end scoring talent to compete for Top Honors next season.
Our team defense, while good, will need improvement to make a realistic run for it all. Last season we were stacked with AHL/ECHL "tweeners"-Martin, Schmidt, MacDonald, Gleed, Swanson, McElroy and a great ECHL veteran in Chad Starling. This season's defensive corp didn't compare to that group. While each individual of the current group is servicable, the sum of the parts is lacking. We'll definitely need to step it up on the defense.
|
"The only way David Desharnais will see an NHL game is if he buys a ticket".
--donnie hockey
"David Desharnais will be invisible during 5 on 5 hockey. IN THE AHL"
--donnie hockey
|
Edited by - hrc666 on 05/17/2009 1:14:56 PM |
 |
|
|
PressureDrop
(Rookie)
USA
14 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2009 : 5:22:27 PM
|
The players I hope to see return on D are Macdonald,O'Hanley, and St. Denis.On offense Eghoetz,VanGuilder,Kilpatrick,MacKenzie,
Sproat, and Rank.We will probably see Lacasse as one of the goalies.The rest of the team will be prospects from our affiliates and new signees.If we still need players after that than I would go with Coghlan and Johnson. Well I hope everyone enjoys their summer and the boys get some much needed rest and recuperation as many players were playing with injuries. |
|
|
|
elvis77
(Loves To Post!)
1435 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2009 : 7:08:04 PM
|
there is a protected list and then there are qualifying offers which come later. teams can protect as many players from their rosters as they want. here's the release from last year:
http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news&id=15435
here is the info from last year on qualifying offers:
http://www.echl.com/cgi-bin/mpublic.cgi?action=show_news&id=15608
that being said i would protect them all.....
chuck does have a history of not giving qualifying offers to veterans so don't look to see eghoetz, faulkner, or macdonald on that list. that doesn't mean they won't be back, just that it might take longer to get them signed.
top to bottom the team needs work. think of it this way, we had a championship team last year, how many guys from this years team would have made last years team. this years team was more physical but lacked the speed and creativity of last years.
as far as the qualifying offers go, you get to qualify 8. i remember chuck saying something about the rules for veterans being different so as i mentioned early don't look for our vets to be given qualifying offers.
my 8 would be: van guilder, kilpatrick, petit, rank, coglan, o'hanely, salekin, and sproat.
as hrc stated, the coaches have ideas for who may get ahl offers and what the intentions of players are via end of season interviews. a guy like sproat might say he's wants to return to being a chemical engineer, or they may know that a guy like kyle rank may be getting an ahl offer, we just don't know.
i look for a lot of new faces next year, just like this year, but i expect my reaction to seeing them in training camp to be the same as it was in 07-08, which was "damn these guys are fast." i expect chuck to sign as many quality free agents as possible and then sort out the the ahl send downs at training camp. i don't think he's going into it expecting to get certain prospects sent to us from the affiliates this year. the one position that bothers me with our dual affiliates is goal tending. we got burnt by milwaukee with gajewski so it also would surprise me to see chuck bring nie back or at least bring a capable goalie into training camp.
one of these days i'll drop off my 2 cents on this season player by player so i can argue with some of you all summer. in the meantime i'll leave you with this....
chuck will be back. there is currently only 1 ahl job in limbo and that is hamilton. when mtl fired their coach and called up lever from hamilton it lead to the hiring of ron wilson on an interim basis. wilson is an established ahl coach and while hamilton did under achieve in the playoffs, i think it was more because of the turmoil the coaching change caused. the bulldogs were forced into a situation where either the head coach had to coach a system that he may not be familiar with or the players had to learn a new system in the last month of the season. i don't think it would be prudent for hamilton to dismiss ron wilson at this point. yes, a lot can change over the summer, but even if other ahl positions open up chuck's stock dropped in the grand scheme of things with the sweep by south carolina. yes, chuck turned this team into a contender, but this season it was more due to his front office personnel moves than it was coaching. chuck is a great coach and he will get his shot, but i don't think it's going to happen quite yet....
|
"PBR can do that to you....1,2,3,12 beers and you're f**ked"
-oscar
"and i don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" - joan jett
"beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - benjamin franklin
"is that a pulled pork sandwich i smell?"
"some things are just better without pants...."
www.cycwords.wordpress.com |
|
|
|
XcloneiacX
(Been Here Awhile)
USA
869 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2009 : 10:37:19 PM
|
| If things don't work out with Ron in Hamilton, do you think we may be seeing him here? Just a though. |
CYCLONES HOCKEY! |
|
|
|
elvis77
(Loves To Post!)
1435 Posts |
Posted - 05/17/2009 : 11:20:30 PM
|
quote:
Originally posted by XcloneiacX
If things don't work out with Ron in Hamilton, do you think we may be seeing him here? Just a though.
i doubt it. ron has an established ahl career. i highly doubt he would be interested in a job at the echl level. |
"PBR can do that to you....1,2,3,12 beers and you're f**ked"
-oscar
"and i don't give a damn 'bout my bad reputation" - joan jett
"beer is proof that god loves us and wants us to be happy." - benjamin franklin
"is that a pulled pork sandwich i smell?"
"some things are just better without pants...."
www.cycwords.wordpress.com |
|
|
|
Topic |
|
|
|
Topic Locked
