Monday musings

Few things this morning, after the opening weekend of the season....

Anyone surprised with the state of the league after the opening weekend? I'm not sure that two games (one for some teams) is enough to be worth making any kind of comments on at all, but I'm very surprised to see Edmonton beaten as badly as they were by Red Deer. In two games, the Oil Kings were outscored 12-2. I think we all knew Red Deer was going to be improved this year but I thought Edmonton changed coaches for the purpose of giving their team a new direction as well. 12 goals against in two games is not a good start on a  "new direction".

Also, Ryan Howse has five goals in two games, meaning he's on pace for 180 goals this year. There are probably close to 180 skaters in the league who will not score 5 goals in total this season.

Two weeks ago, 17 year old Marc MacKenzie was the toast of the Raiders after bloodying an intruder he caught in his billets' house. Today, MacKenzie is estranged from the Raiders and at home hoping the team will trade him. There are some not-so-flattering things said about Raiders coach/GM Bruno Campese in the article, but there are two sides to every story so let's wait to hear Campese's version of events before we draw any conclusions here.

I suspect there are a number of teams that would be interested in acquiring MacKenzie's services though, so if the Raiders decide to trade him, they will probably have some offers.

NHL roster cutdowns continue and most WHL teams now have all their players back. By my calculations, the only players - who are possible or likely to return in the first place - who are still away are:

• Brayden Schenn, Brandon (at L.A. Kings camp)
• Brayden McNabb, Kootenay (at Buffalo Sabres camp)
• Quinton Howden, Moose Jaw (at Florida Panthers camp)
• Oliver Gabriel, Portland (at Columbus Blue Jackets camp)
• Ryan Johansen, Portland (at Columbus Blue Jackets camp)
• Nino Niederreiter, Portland (at NY Islanders camp)
• Luke Walker, Portland (at Colorado Avalanche camp)
• Adam Morrison, Saskatoon (at Philadelphia Flyers camp)
• Jared Cowen, Spokane (at Ottawa Senators camp)
• Cody Eakin, Swift Current (at Washington Capitals camp)

Of these players, I would think that McNabb, Howden, Gabriel, and Morrison should be back fairly soon. I think Johansen, Cowen, and Eakin get longer looks - maybe into the first few games of the NHL season - but should be back eventually. Schenn I think may be 50/50 to stick with the Kings this year, same with Niederreiter with the Islanders. Luke Walker, he is eligible to go to the minors and has been assigned to the Avalanche's AHL camp already so he is probably at best 50/50 to return to the WHL as well.

Just my guesses at the status of the missing players anyway....

And lastly, there is a new free monthly WHL-focused publication out there, from the website DubNation. Lots of good articles about the league, so if you haven't checked it out yet, you should do so. It's free, after all.