So....not the result that many WHL fans wanted to see on Sunday, but probably the one that most of us expected to see. Windsor was just too strong, too good for anyone else at this tournament.
It will be interesting to see how Windsor does next year after they lose Hall, Henrique, Nemisz, Cundari, Mitchell, Timmins, Wellwood, Young, etc. Maybe Cam Fowler too, depending on who drafts him. They have some top-notch talent coming in but that's still a lot of losses there.
Same goes for Calgary and Brandon too - both those teams are going to be rebuilding next year when you go down the list of players who are definitely (or at least very likely) gone from those teams:
Calgary: Broda (O/A), Cowan (O/A), Nyren (O/A), Kozun (pro with L.A.), Schultz (pro with St. Louis), Shattock (pro with St. Louis), Stone (pro with Phoenix), Jones (pro with L.A.), Foucault (maybe pro with Minnesota), Fisenko (probably pro in Russia), Burgart (not going to be an O/A).
Brandon: Calvert (O/A), Fehr (O/A), Lewadniuk (O/A), Raedeke (pro with Detroit), Robak (pro with Florida), Hamonic (pro with NY Islanders), Urbom (pro with New Jersey), Rajala (maybe pro with Edmonton), DeSerres (maybe pro with Philadelphia), Schenn (maybe pro with L.A.), and then on top of that there's five other undrafted 20 year olds for next year (Wiebe, Schneider, Hale, Bestland, Hayes) and they can only keep three of those as O/A's.
That's 10, maybe 11 players gone from the Hitmen, and 9 to maybe as many as 12 players gone from Brandon. And both teams gave up some younger players in deals this year, players who would help them next year. Headed for a drop in the standings next year, both those teams.
2010-11 starts now - or at least the speculating does.....
6 comments:
I disagree about Rigby not being an O/A for the Hitmen in 10/11, I think his leadership and personality in the locker-room would be a huge asset for what will be a very young team next year.
i think the team to look out for next year is Tri-City...they lose 3 20's and thats it pretty much! their best players are going to be back with the addition of a d-man or two they will do the same thing calgary did; lose one year and use the biterness to win the next year i think
Actually, Tri-City is going to lose at least 9 players. They had 9 19 year olds on their roster this year and only 3 of those can come back as overagers, so that's six losses right there. Add in the 3 graduating overagers and that's nine players lost.
That being said, I think some of those 9 19 year olds will be "soft" losses - guys who were marginal players anyway, or guys who the team has better replacements for. I do think the Americans should be one of the better teams in the league next year.
As for Burgart; Calgary is incurring serious losses next year and they are going to need their overagers to lead a young group in the dressing room and on the ice. Burgart cannot lead on the ice because he is a 3rd/4th line talent.
I'm not doubting his positive attitude and that his teammates like him. I'm just saying that the 1990 group was a deep one in the WHL and there are going to be better options out there for Calgary's 3rd overager.
As it is, I expect them to have Fiddler and Stebner in two of the spots for sure. Kyle Aschim probably moves on due to his concussion problems. Apart from Burgart, that leaves only Fisenko as a remaining in-house option and while I think the Hitmen would love Fisenko back as a two-spotter who can create offence, he will probably have pro options in Russia that pay a lot better than the WHL stipend.
They're going to need scoring help and I think they can acquire that from another team for a mid-round pick and can get a lot more scoring out of that player than they will from Burgart.
yes your right, tri city does lose more then you think in numbers i guess...what i maybe should have included is that they were all minor contributors EXCEPT reddick, schmidt, and prokop (injured for playoffs however) so if hey bring those 3 back as O/A they should put together a strong team
I have been watching this league long enough to know that Calgary definitely isn't going to lose all those NHL drafted/signed overage players next season. One of the big things that keeps this team competitive year after year, is that they consistently get their key overage players back from their NHL teams.
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