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Post by Cristobal Huet on Jun 12, 2006 8:19:33 GMT -5
Goaltending
Sniderman(19)...he was solid last year, though he should be tested a lot more with a weaker team, he is good enough for a mid pack team. Riopel(17)...one of the top young goalies in Quebec, will split time barring a huge surprise. **goaltending appears pretty sold and set
Defense
Bourdon(19)...I think the odds of him returning are 80-90%, given his struggles with the broken leg, his development was set back a bit Welton(20)...he could be moved at some point for kids/picks, he will run the PP with MacDonald A.MacDonald(20)...pretty solid 20 year old, he will help run the PP and provide offense Bartulis(19)...should also provide leadership and offense Emanuele(19)...his spot is not guaranteed, will need to show up in shape and play well or a younger player could take his spot Ouskun(18)...looked pretty solid in limited time, needs to keep things simple Pianosi(17)...he is apparently reporting, very good vision and passing ability, future QB Boyle(17)...good skater with offensive upside, he'll get more of an opportunity than anywhere else with the turnover next year. D.MacDonald(20) and Belanger(20)...they should be at camp and possibly moved or move up the depth chart if Welton or A.Mac is moved.
A few FA's could come and push guys like Boyle Ouskun Emanuele for a spot.
Forwards Gaudet(20)...a lock to bring leaderaship, could put up around 60-65pts given more offensive responsibility and PP time. Samson(19)...here until at least midseason, should be a PPGM player and strong 2 way guy Marquardt(19)...should provide physical presence and 20-25 goals, could really step up with added ice time Eagles(18)...showed flashes of offense in a limited role, should be a regular on 2nd line, good wheels and pretty good offensive skills, 50 pts would not be a stretch Morehouse(19)...what he lacks in skills, he makes up in grit and enthusiasm, should be the 3rd line center Labelle(17)...skilled winger, pretty much a lock Cameron(17)...playmaking center, pretty much a lock Lessard(17)...strong 2 way game, brings grit and some offense Smith(18)...showed good work ethic and intensity last year, should get a spot on the 3rd line Lepage(18)...played in MAAA at 17, should get a long look, good finisher Brenton(17)...has a good chance to make it this year, making the step up from Jr.A, hard working speedy winger Lamoureux(17)...big and strong young player, brings size and toughness, will get a long look, eligible for another year MAAA as a late birthday.
Spencer(20) will probably be in camp
Guys like Rousseau(17) Higgins(17) will get a long look...as well as a few FA's. Forward is the biggest weakness on the roster, both short term and long term. Obviously getting 1 of the US guys to report would be huge.
My best guess starting lineup right now...
Goal 1-Sniderman 2-Riopel
Defense 1-Bourdon-A.MacDonald 2-Welton-Bartulis 3-Pianosi-Emanuele
Ouskun-Boyle
Forwards 1-Samson-Gaudet-LaBelle 2-Marquardt-Eagles-Euro 3-Lessard-Morehouse-Smith 4-Brenton-Cameron-FA
Lepage-FA
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Post by jimmy on Jun 12, 2006 8:39:04 GMT -5
Good analysis Billy...
I think if Pianosi is in fact reporting he will be a lock to play on defense. It appears we will be keeping both AMac and Welton, to go along with Bourdon and Bartulis makes for one of if not the best top 4 in the league. I could see Emanuele at 19 being crunched out of the lineup (could start the season while Bourdon, Bartulis, AMac are at pro camps), he won' crack the top 4 if all of the aforementioned return, and Pianosi would seem a lock to play. That leaves the 6-7-8 spots, which I think we would be wise to use on d-men who are going to be back in 07/08 - since our whole top-4 won't be.
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Post by jimmy on Jun 12, 2006 8:42:35 GMT -5
Will a kid like Higgins even come to camp? As I understand it, he is quite the baseball player and may have a future in that sport ... which would likely lead down the NCAA path. Would the same eligibility rules apply re: major junior camps for other NCAA sports, or just for hockey? I am thinking they might cover all sports, thinking of the Jeremy Bloom example where he lost his football eligibility for having received benefits related to his freestyle skiiing career....
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Post by SteveUL on Jun 12, 2006 8:51:26 GMT -5
Will a kid like Higgins even come to camp? As I understand it, he is quite the baseball player and may have a future in that sport ... which would likely lead down the NCAA path. Would the same eligibility rules apply re: major junior camps for other NCAA sports, or just for hockey? I am thinking they might cover all sports, thinking of the Jeremy Bloom example where he lost his football eligibility for having received benefits related to his freestyle skiiing career.... If Higgins does in fact have the skills to play pro ball ... or even NCAA ball ... there comes a point where he has to make a decision on what sport he wants to play as there will be an overlap in seasons ... and playing hockey could jeopardize (injuries) his baseball career. I think that point where he needs to make that decision just came. He is not a pro prospect in hockey ... probably not even an NCAA prospect in hockey ... but he certainly is in baseball. I think his choice will be very clear ... and I doubt he reports to camp in August.
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Post by Fyrdog76 on Jun 12, 2006 8:51:47 GMT -5
Hard to predict the line-up right now since our 20 year old situation is yet to be decided, and the fact that we are supposed to have a number of free agents coming in and Nolan said that a few of them have a good shot of making the team. On a selfish note, the return of Bourdon will have a big impact on the future of the Cats, because if he returns the Cats could get good return in a trade at xmas time, assuming the club will be in a selling mode at xmas.
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Post by Porkchop on Jun 12, 2006 9:28:21 GMT -5
Coffee shop talk from Bathurst.......take it for what it's worth.
I heard this morning that Bartulis will be the Titan's 2nd Euro this season.......coming over for our 1st round Euro pick and a 3rd or 4th next year.
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Post by MacKevin on Jun 12, 2006 9:31:34 GMT -5
Hard to predict the line-up right now since our 20 year old situation is yet to be decided, and the fact that we are supposed to have a number of free agents coming in and Nolan said that a few of them have a good shot of making the team. On a selfish note, the return of Bourdon will have a big impact on the future of the Cats, because if he returns the Cats could get good return in a trade at xmas time, assuming the club will be in a selling mode at xmas. I think billy does have a good gestimate of the lineup as the 20 year olds will probably stay together with us until Christmas when their value is increased. This could change based on a good trade deal early and the availability of quality FAs.
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Post by SteveUL on Jun 12, 2006 9:44:20 GMT -5
Coffee shop talk from Bathurst.......take it for what it's worth. I heard this morning that Bartulis will be the Titan's 2nd Euro this season.......coming over for our 1st round Euro pick and a 3rd or 4th next year. Your first Euro pick would be roughly 40th - 45th overall ... that would seem to be pretty cheap for Bartulis even if its the 3rd pick included. If we deal Bartulis its to make room for a new high end Euro ... and a late 1st round guy is usually a 2nd or 3rd choice for a team ... meaning their first two options were already picked. We already have one late 1st round Euro pick ... our own ... so we need to move up alot in the Euro draft if we are grabbing two guys. I can see Bartulis being traded but I would expect it would bring in a much higher Euro pick ... 15th to 20th ... and a late 2nd/early third in the 07 midget draft. If we are trading him to our arch rival (or any of Lew, Bat, PEI, SJ ... teams we play 8 times) it should also be a great deal for us ... otherwise trade him to a Quebec team. If you get Bartulis ... the Archambault deal becomes an even bigger waste.
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Post by SteveUL on Jun 12, 2006 9:51:17 GMT -5
Coffee shop talk from Bathurst.......take it for what it's worth. I heard this morning that Bartulis will be the Titan's 2nd Euro this season.......coming over for our 1st round Euro pick and a 3rd or 4th next year. And another thing ... I don't think there is an actual trading period around the Euro draft ... usually you just see Euro picks changing hands at the draft for draft picks ... can't recall ever seeing players involved. So if your rumour is true ... you guys would have to draft a player for us as we could not release Bartulis and draft two new guys ... we'd have to sever our rights to Bartulis before we could trade him to you in August.
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Post by Cristobal Huet on Jun 12, 2006 9:56:33 GMT -5
Coffee shop talk from Bathurst.......take it for what it's worth. I heard this morning that Bartulis will be the Titan's 2nd Euro this season.......coming over for our 1st round Euro pick and a 3rd or 4th next year. And another thing ... I don't think there is an actual trading period around the Euro draft ... usually you just see Euro picks changing hands at the draft for draft picks ... can't recall ever seeing players involved. So if your rumour is true ... you guys would have to draft a player for us as we could not release Bartulis and draft two new guys ... we'd have to sever our rights to Bartulis before we could trade him to you in August. There are trades allowed around the Euro draft, last yaer St.John acquired the Cats Euro pick for a 6th. A few years back the Cats made a package to the Sags for their early pick and got Kalinin or Afanasenkov early.
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Post by gongshow on Jun 12, 2006 10:05:13 GMT -5
I think that with the lack of offensive talent on our team,we should start rebuilding asap. In other words i would push for a major youth movement as it stands our only d-man under 18 would be Piasoni...providing he actually makes the team. I would get rid of Emmanuelle who shouldn't even of been on the team this year since he's already 18 and is nothing more than a #7 d-man...this spot could've been used on a kid like Ouksun who in my mind will crack this years roster for sure and would've givin him valuable exprience. Since our team has been very competitive the last 3 years i think we should really focus on rebuilding and rebuilding only. The biggest mistake was 2 years ago when we could've dealt guys like Crawford for a fortune instead of keeping them and losing in the 2nd round to Rouyn anyways....we knew we were hosting this year so why not trade guys that would certainly not be back for the big run?
In return it forced Teddy Nolan to build almost from scratch and in the process trading away basically all picks and players he could.Because of this we will feel the effect for several years...worst than we should. So i say we should sacrifice this year completely and not waste spots on guys who won't help the future(except Gaudet & A.Mac).
As for our euro situation i would wip out the fat wallet we have and get some big time snipers that most couldn't afford....get rid of Bart since we will need offense.
Bourdon will be back next year so does that mean we also lose Samson as compensation?? Lamoureux shouldn't be sent back to MAAA if they have plans to make him a fighter.
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Post by SteveUL on Jun 12, 2006 10:08:46 GMT -5
And another thing ... I don't think there is an actual trading period around the Euro draft ... usually you just see Euro picks changing hands at the draft for draft picks ... can't recall ever seeing players involved. So if your rumour is true ... you guys would have to draft a player for us as we could not release Bartulis and draft two new guys ... we'd have to sever our rights to Bartulis before we could trade him to you in August. There are trades allowed around the Euro draft, last yaer St.John acquired the Cats Euro pick for a 6th. A few years back the Cats made a package to the Sags for their early pick and got Kalinin or Afanasenkov early. I said picks were allowed to be traded ... you don't need a trading period to trade picks and/or 20's ... usually at the Euro draft any trade is limited to midget draft picks ... I can't recall seeing players involved ... they may come later in part two of trade. Kalinen and Afanasenkov came into the league back in the 98-99 season ... hardly a "few years back" ... trading rules have tightened up significantly since then. I'm pretty sure there is no official trading period around the Euro draft that allows players to be swapped back and forth ... meaning we couldn't send Bartulis anywhere until August ... which means we can only select one Euro in the import draft ... unless somebody else selects one for us and we deal in August.
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Post by Cristobal Huet on Jun 12, 2006 11:06:05 GMT -5
There are trades allowed around the Euro draft, last yaer St.John acquired the Cats Euro pick for a 6th. A few years back the Cats made a package to the Sags for their early pick and got Kalinin or Afanasenkov early. I said picks were allowed to be traded ... you don't need a trading period to trade picks and/or 20's ... usually at the Euro draft any trade is limited to midget draft picks ... I can't recall seeing players involved ... they may come later in part two of trade. Kalinen and Afanasenkov came into the league back in the 98-99 season ... hardly a "few years back" ... trading rules have tightened up significantly since then. I'm pretty sure there is no official trading period around the Euro draft that allows players to be swapped back and forth ... meaning we couldn't send Bartulis anywhere until August ... which means we can only select one Euro in the import draft ... unless somebody else selects one for us and we deal in August. You can trade players at the Euro draft, usually it's just picks since teams have their set lineup for the upcoming season and don't want to change. This year, I can see PEI or Victo moving one of their 20's to move up in the Euro draft. Here is an example of a player traded for a pick... The Baie-Comeau Drakkar trade to the Chicoutimi Saguenéens their 1st round pick choice of the 2003 European draft; In return, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens trade to the Baie-Comeau Drakkar the European player MICHAL LUKAC (84-08-26).
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Post by SteveUL on Jun 12, 2006 11:16:33 GMT -5
2.14.7 Trading Period The league declares that there will be three transaction periods during the season. The first is held at the annual draft. The second in August. The third is held after the last game scheduled at mid-season until January 8th at noon. No trading shall be made outside these three periods except for 20 year-old players who may be traded at all times, and for a third European player who becomes available prior to noon on January 10, in compliance with the By-Laws of the CHL and with the approval of the Commissioner. If a team having three European players is unable to satisfactorily trade one of them at the end of the transaction period, then the team shall immediately waive one of the three players to allow other teams to claim him.
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Post by cbtitan on Jun 12, 2006 12:13:16 GMT -5
Billy! How can you have Bourdon on your D and Samson on your first line?? Everybody know that, if Bourdon is back, Samson is heading to Vald'Or.
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