Firstoff today, a big blow to the Vancouver Giants as the Boston Bruins have apparently informed the Giants that they will be keeping Milan Lucic for the entire year. They had previously indicated to the Giants that they would keep Lucic past the 9/10 game mark which caused his contract to kick in for the entire 07-08 season, but now it looks like he's in the NHL to stay. They have also told Lucic to find a place to live in Boston and move out of the hotel he has been living in. Big blow to the Giants to lose a player like Lucic, who would have been hands-down the best power forward in the WHL this year.
Congrats are in order to Lethbridge head coach Michael Dyck, whose wife had a baby boy yesterday morning. Presumably this one was born in the hospital and not in the back of a car in the arena parking lot.
Something that won't surprise Regina fans: Kelowna made Justin Bernhardt a healthy scratch for Friday night's game because they were unhappy with his work ethic in practice last week. In related news: leopards still can't change their spots.
Rumour has it that BCHL star (and 3rd round NHL pick) Casey Pierro-Zabotel may be walking away from his Michigan Tech scholarship and joining the Vancouver Giants, who own his WHL rights. His WHL rights have actually been owned by about five or six WHL teams but none have been able to convince him to come this route yet. I have heard a few times though that he is having trouble academically qualifying for university - the only reason he is still in the BCHL this year and not NCAA is because he couldn't academically qualify - and it may be the case that he is ready to throw in the towel on trying to improve his marks and instead play in the WHL for a year and a half.
3 comments:
I am a little surprised that Lucic is going to stick with Boston. Did the NHL scouts miss on this guy? A number of higher 2006 draft choices have failed to stick. Wonder if the Canucks would like to reconsider their 2006 choices in favor of this hometown boy?
RG
Everett, WA
I think it's too early to say anyone made a mistake on the 49 players picked ahead of Lucic. There's a lot of factors why he is in the NHL at 19 and most of them are not. For starters, it's important to remember that 19 year olds in the NHL are the exception and not the rule. Most players, including first rounders, don't turn pro until they are 20.
But other factors would be the relative strength of a team's roster - do they have 22 other players who are clearly better and more deserving of the NHL roster spot than the 19 year olds? Obviously younger players have a better chance to stick on a weaker team. Another factor is that the style Lucic plays allows him to have an effect on the game in a 10 minute per game 4th line role. A pure skill player probably would have much less of an effect in that role than the bang-and-crash Lucic does. The skill guy might have to wait until he's 21 or 22 and can play a bigger role.
Personally, I think a draft can't really be judged for about 6-8 years. While some players may be ready for the NHL sooner than others, the idea of the draft is to have the best players when they're 25-35, not necessarily the best when they're 18 or 19.
Good points. Interesting to discuss the dynamics relative to young players making an NHL squad. Wonder if Mueller plays in Phoenix on Friday?
RG
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