I've updated the post with the roster breakdown chart. As you might expect, the "contenders" this year got older today and the "sellers" got younger. One common rule of thumb you can use to identify the contenders (or teams who SHOULD be contenders anyway) is the number of 19 year olds on their roster. The reasoning there is that the more graduating players you have, the more important it is to accomplish something this season because next year means more rookies.
After today's deals, Brandon and Calgary both have eleven 19 year olds, the most in the league. Saskatoon and Tri-City have nine each. Medicine Hat has eight. And whaddya know, those are five of the top six teams in the overall standings right now. Ladies and gentlemen, your prime contenders. Not that anything changed there today though.
All of those teams are looking at major losses next year and lots of younger players replacing those 19 & 20 year olds. The teams that aren't? Well, Kamloops and Seattle only have one 19 year old each now. They are already buyers for next year's overage trios since they won't have enough candidates of their own. Lethbridge only has three. Edmonton has four. And whaddya know, three of those teams are in the bottom four in the league standings and will probably miss the playoffs.
I also added another column to the roster breakdown, another stat which is of some importance to contenders - # of games of playoff experience on each roster. No surprise that teams that have had lengthy playoff runs in recent years - Spokane, Calgary, Tri-City, and Kelowna, in that order - lead the league in that category. Teams which have not had much playoff experience lately - Prince Albert, Portland, and Prince George - bring up the bottom. And we know the Cougars, at least, won't be adding to their total this year.
One other note - I have not updated the draft pick charts (the ones I posted on Friday) yet to include today's deals, but one thing for sure stands out. With Brandon having traded both their first and second round picks in 2010, they will not make a selection in this upcoming draft until the third round - and probably not until late in the third round at that. Barring trades to acquire picks at the draft of course. Which means the Wheat Kings - a team which has usually built through the draft in the past and who have a pretty good track record at doing that - will not get one of the top 55 to 60 or so '95 born prospects.
In turn, that means they are going to need to make their later picks count for more than everyone else does, or else four or five years down the road the chickens will really be coming home to roost for the Wheaties, when everyone else has several impact '95s as their 18 & 19 year olds, and Brandon does not. Of course, if they win the Memorial Cup then nobody in Wheatie-land will care about that.
More tomorrow.
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