Another hit to the Rockets blueline yesterday....as if losing Luke Schenn to the NHL (maybe permanently, maybe not) already wasn't enough, the Rockets yesterday found out that potential overage defenceman Tysen Dowzak has signed a pro contract with the New York Rangers and is starting the season with their AHL club in Hartford.
Suddenly a Rockets blueline that looked like it could have been one of the best the WHL has seen in a while - Schenn, Myers, Dowzak, Barrie, Bowman- looks a little more ordinary. Still good, mind you, but you can't take veteran guys like Schenn and Dowzak off a team and not have them feel it. That's 400 games of WHL experience missing from Kelowna's lineup there.
Kelowna does have two open overage spots if Dowzak doesn't return, but there's not a lot of help available on the blueline amongst overagers - to an outside observer anyway. Brandon has the only 20 year old d-man definitely available, as they will likely be parting with either Matt McCue or Chad Erb by next Thursday. Calgary might have Keith Seabrook available, depending on whether they want to keep him or forward Ian Duval. Not a sure thing there though. Lethbridge might have Mitch Versteeg available IF they get Mitch Fadden back from the AHL. Swift Current might have Spencer McAvoy or Jesse Dudas available, but it won't be until Dudas is healthy again, which might be another month or more yet. It's a tough year to be trying to add overage d-men.
Oh, and one other defence note - Tyler Kieffer still has not reported to the Tigers, which means so far the Tigers have given up Shayne Brown to Everett for nothing. There has to be something going on here since the Tigers were under the impression at the time of the trade that Kieffer would be reporting after a quick trip home to Minnesota to get his stuff.
Might have some stats later....we'll see how the day goes.
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