For the Rebels, cutting Gross loose drops them to four overagers on their rosters - forwards Jordie Deagle, Cody Esposito, and Nathan Green, and defenceman Cullen Morin. Green and Morin are locks for spots so it's either Deagle or Esposito for the third one. It's not looking very good for Esposito to be in the final three.
For the Hitmen, picking up Gross gives them three overagers who are sure to be in camp this year: forwards Gross and Jason MacDonald, and defenceman Ryan Kerr. There's also 50-goal forward Joel Broda, who has still not signed a contract with the Washington Capitals and will be back in the WHL next year if he doesn't. The acquisition of Gross probably makes it less and less likely that we're going to see Bostjan Golicic as a two-spot overage import, even though Golicic is far better than either Gross or MacDonald and the Hitmen are likely to have an open import spot since it doesn't seem likely that they'll land Erik Haula. If Broda or Golicic is back, then Gross is going to be in competition with MacDonald for the third spot.
Without Broda or Golicic, I'll say right now that Calgary will have the worst group of overagers in the WHL in 09-10: Gross, MacDonald, Kerr. There's going to be a lot of teams that none of those guys could crack the overage group on.
4 comments:
Sad but true - we will be looking back on a year when we had three (and I'd argue 5)of the best 20 year olds available and looking forward to mostly dismal prospects. I suspect Kisio will start training camp with as many as 5 20 year olds this year and let them duke it out for a spot on the roster.
Hitmen212
(I can't remember my Google login!)
He could be a goal scorer if they can find a way to motivate him. Very lazy player with almost zero defensive ability.
Golicic is undrafted, and for the most part undrafted overage players are playing in the WHL for another year of schooling. Going to University in Canada generally isn't a big draw for Slovenians, so he REALLY will have to have enjoyed playing for the team to be back.
That is true, another year of schooling is probably the main reason for many overagers to play another year.
The other reason some of them play is to get noticed by pro scouts and earn a contract when their WHL days are done. That would be the reason I can see Golicic coming back. He was much improved as a 19 year old over what he was as an 18 year old and if he can show similar improvement to his all-around game as a 20 year old, I think he might have a shot at earning some decent paycheques in the AHL.
On the other hand, he may already have some pro options in Europe. Guess we'll have to see.
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