Last Edit: 2:50 mtn (Added Kale Kessy)
Well It's time to ramp up and get this blog going again as Tigers Camp starts with their retreat into Cypress Hills.
This upcoming season should be an exciting one to watch as the Tigers have quite a few draft eligible guys on the roster this season highlighted by Hunter Shinkaruk who is projected to be a first round pick as well as a potential candidate for the world juniors.
NHL Lockout
It is starting to feel like the beginning of the NHL season will not start on time. Recently Don Cherry among others have said they expect at least a 2 month lockout into the season. While I hope that doesn't happen, this could be the wrong year for a lockout to benefit the Tigers.
Tyler Bunz - Neither Dubnyk or Khabibulin are on 2 way contracts, which means they won't be sent down in case of a lockout. If their is a lockout their would still be a goalie slot open in Edmonton's System.
I think the ECHL would be a better than usual training ground, and I think the Oilers would want to put him in pro hockey for his development. I doubt he comes back.
Edit: Kale Kessy
I think lockout or no lockout he will be returned by phoenix. He had a disappointing season last year, plagued with suspensions and injuries. I expect to see the same work ethic this year as he brought in the first round of the playoffs against saskatoon, and help instill that confidence in the younger players.
Emerson Etem
I'm quite certain the Ducks will want him playing in the AHL. The ducks have a lot of forwards on 2 way contracts, and some unsigned guys from the previous season, so they will have a lot of depth in case of a lockout in the AHL.
Even though Anaheim's Farm Team (Syracuse) forward depth is packed, Etem is good enough that he will be on that team........The ducks however did send Etem back early 2 seasons in a row..... I think their is a really good chance he does not return either.
I would put Bunz as 95% not coming back, and Etem at 90% not coming back. Their is still always a chance if something funky happens with this looming NHL lockout.
Forward Group
The forward group will be slightly different to the group that ended last season. Less top heavy with the loss of Emerson Etem, but the core young guys are one year older and offense should be spread a little more evenly.
The potential loss of Etem will be a big hole. However the emergence of Curtis Valk and Boston Leier in the second half of last season and the acquisition of Miles Koules should really help spread out the goal scoring depth.
The Tigers should have an extremely dangerous top line, followed by a lot of depth and speed at forward. I expect Leier, Hart, Koules, Valk, Shinkaruk, Cox, to reach at least the 20 goal mark with maybe Dieno, Labelle, possibly Kessy sniffing close to that area as well barring big injuries.
To think that all of them are eligible to come back next year(minus kessy) is absolutely mouth watering. Cross your fingers now that the forward core will all be back after (next season 2013-2014 ) as the Tigers have potential to dress one of their strongest groups at forward since the memorial cup days next season.
Depth Purposes Only
Shinkaruk Bredo Koules
Hart Valk Leier
Kessy Cox Dieno
Doty Labelle Broadhead
penner
+ prospects
Defense
Losing Matt Konan, James Bettauer, Patrik Parkkonen...that's 3 important players in which their experience will be hard to replace. Fortunately the young crop of D-men looks like they will be a pretty talented group in 2-3 years, but that could mean slumps and tough times depending on how fast this group adapts.
Depth Purposes Only
Busenius Theriau(inj?)
Lewington Becker
Stanton Jensen
Hanson
+Prospects
The D group is mildly inexperienced with Theriau out of the lineup...but every single guy shows really good potential...They could start the season with Busenius and Lewington as the number 1 pair (with theriau's status unknown) and those 2 were sort of the #3 pairing at season end. These guys may takes some lumps early in the season if they don't adapt quickly and defense could be an issue if Theriau is out for a long time.
Import Pick Daniel Hanson skill level is unknown, and for predictions sake you gotta put him on a similar path to Patrik Parkkonen where the first year was a bit rough.
The explosiveness and speed the Tigers have up front should hopefully help them have greater success at getting the puck out of their zone once their forwards have puck possession.
Goaltending
Marek Langhammer
Kenny Cameron
Dawson MacAuley
Zac Robidoux
I don't really expect goaltending to be a concern even with the loss of Bunz. If Langhamer does indeed come over the Tigers will have 2-#1 goalies this year and that will make it hard for the young Zac Robidoux, and Dawson MacAuley to crack this team. Nonetheless the job for the goalie spot will be highly competitive and extremely interesting.
Overall
I love the mobility of the roster this year.
I think this team could be very competitive right off the bat and in the later half of the season, but their will be bumps and bruises along the way. They are a bit younger this year than usual, so hopefully they don't get too cocky, or too down when things get tough.
Their is competition in every position and they still have room to add a 20 year old with Mckay going to school. They may look at bringing in a Dman with the forward group already quite packed.
With the mobility the Tigers have I'm certain their will be some tinkering. They may offload a prospect, they may offload a 19 year old. They may offload a goaltender. They may bring in a defense-man/overager. Their are a lot of options they could go with.
MH News Articles
Time To Get Aquainted
54 comments:
Your lines have not been right any year. Dont thing your close again. You should wait till the season starts then correct yourself again.
Its not meant to be line combos, but for depth purposes only as said in the title. Of course they are not going to be right.
I like our forward group. Even though we lost Etem I agree with you that we have lots of potential. Cox, Hart, Labelle, Leir, Valk and Koules are all guys who can score. I like the looks of the team. I also agree on goaltending. Sounds like Kenny has put in a tremendous amount of work to get the #1 spot and I think he can fill that role. I would like to see them pick up a 20 yo Dman mostly for experience! I also like that we have Doty in the line up. Makes our team more well rounded. I think this will be a tough team to play this year!
If you loved Mccue then people will love Doty the guy is a warrior and is as protective of his team mates the same way a crazy boyfriend protects his girlfriend plus he is a hotter like Kessy but is a much cleaner hitter
How many guys are we allowed to have on our final roster?
They typically take 7 Defenseman, 14 forwards and 2 goalies for 23 spots.
Each team is allowed a max of 25 players after the overage cutdown day in mid october.
Add Bredo to your 20 goal men. Too much speed and skill not to be on the top 2 lines. He wont feel like he has to defer to Emerson this year..
You think Bredo has 20 goals in him? I like him as a player, defensively you can not get better and really responsible with the puck no matter where he is but he seems to lack any scoring ability.
I know Bredo personally and its all he has been working on in the off season when the Tigers are done he is in camps 2 weeks later, if he doesnt get the "C" id be shocked as for his offence its going to come but his d is so amazing it doesn't even matter if he is a 20 goal scorer
He kinda has stone hands around the net and doesn't shoot often.
Hopefully he can surprise us and have a break out year offensively, while still being effective defensively.
20 goals would be a remarkable improvement if he were to reach it.
I think Bredo or Theriau would be my bets for captain.
I heard rumours that Boston was in the mix
Has anyone heard anything about Theriau's Status? I have not heard one peep on if he has even had surgery?
Theriau did have surgery in May. I've heard that he won't be playing till mid to late October. That's a long time to be without him. B
But that means guys like Busenius and Lewington will be able to step up to the plate and play!
Thanks for that info.
The young guns on Defense will have lots of opportunities this year.
If he is out with a nagging injury they need to look at another D man at 20 and then if he impresses Theriau is gone, Theriau looked horrible and was a little above average at best, we need 20 year olds that arent injured and can produce
Yup Anonymous..you sure know how a player should look with a torn labrum all year and then a completely torn cartilage. I guess he looked horrible???
For a guy(Theriau) who played all year on one leg, he did very well. How many games did he miss last year TWO?? Most guys would have folded the tent. Says something about his character.
WOW!!
Gotta love those armchair critics, who don't have any idea!
Sometimes you are better getting surgery then playing a below average game. I don't think accolades should be given from continuing to play. It would have been better for the team had he had surgery last year because we had konen and Bettauer. Then he could have been 100% for this year.
Is the euro goalie coming? I was watching one of the sessions and did not see a 4th goaltender? Is it not expected that he would be at camp my now?
Actually the player never had a choice. Both Dallas and Tigers told him to play.
Oh wow, thanks! It is funny that he is not here then! Either way, I think we are good in goal! I had confidence in Kenny last year and will have this year too.
The players always have a choice. I don't believe one bit the player in question was forced to come up here.
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With Marek Langhamer the MH Coaches said you never know with euros but that every indication was that he was coming and he was probably coming late.
Thanks for clearing that up! Should be a real battle for goal. Can't help but pull for Kenny, he seems like a good kid with talent and a guy willing to put in the work!
Just FYI... Langhammer is not yet here due to international transfer issues.
Yep me too I'm pulling for Kenny. Agreed, I think we are good in goal and euros are overrated anyhow, then show up expecting a hand out. If transfer issues are the hold up, then what was he thinking, just show up and play. duh He had lot's of time to prepare and imports on other teams are on time. Our local talent earn these spots, hope Clouston sees it that way. Either way, this year will be interesting and fun.
A stupid player would play with serious injuries
Unfortunately that is the reality of the dark side of the game, that nobody ever hears about. Players often are push into playing through injuries. That, you better believe.
It is easy to sit back and draw your own conclusions , but truth is as anonymous mentioned previously. Players can and have been asked to play through their injuries. And unless it is something that can be seen, teams will and have pressured players to play on. I have three sons who have played pro sports. I know first hand it happens. Sorry Tiger Turf . I still love your blog, and respect most of your opinions. Thanks again for keeping this blog going.
Sorry I somehow thought the conversation switched to the new Defenseman rookie from Texas as I was trying to digg up some info on him last night, you can tell by the way I worded my last response about "coming up here".
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It would be interesting to see what kind of conversations and decision making led to Theriau playing through the injury.
Theriau would have been done for the rest of the season. It was also his last season to get Dallas to try and sign him before becoming a free agent.
I could definitly see Dallas and the Tigers talking to him about delaying it into the off-season, to mimimize his downtime.
I think you are partially right, but I don't beleive forced is the right choice of words. I think it was a mutual decision regarding the best interest of the player trying to get him maximum exposure on the ice and minimal downtime.
I 100% beleive that the Tigers are an organization that would immediately halt any playing time if his injury had degraded or come to a point where it could have health implications or long term side effects.
We've seen multiple occurances where players have been held out an extra game/weekend/week in the past few seasons.
Of course playoffs are a different story for everyone.
Excellent write up Tiger Turf, you are on your game already. And of course lines are purely speculation, tough crowd, you get chirpped on that LOL. And Clouston will correct you, your doing good. Hope fans are a bit more forgiving with the players, they are better than all of us will ever be. Go Tigers Go.
Listen you dont run a business on feelings and "oh he tried hard" or "he played injured that should mean he gets a roster spot" the tigers are a business and if Theriau is going to be on and off with injures all season (if he had surgery thats a huge deal) he shouldnt be on the team, we are building a team that wins not a team that is going to be plagued by injures and down the road may seriously hurt the team
With the possibility of a lockout coming the Tigers should defiantly keep there eyes on the Winter Hawks and other high caliber teams and see who they could trade a low draft pick for and then bring in that 20 year old and see how he does, if he fits the system great keep him if not go with Theriau and you only lose a late round draft pick
Just my two cents it seems like a lot of Tigers fans forget this is a business and at the end of the day the goal is to win the memorial cup
I think tigers have always shown a history of putting together a good team. So I have no concerns that they will do anything other then that this year. I do think, like Tiger Turf said in the main page, they have left room for a lot of mobility. I think they are not stupid and know that if there is a lock-out they will be looking for a quality guy - this is not their first rodeo you know?
Brennen Hunker looks good out on the ice. He is a big kid with a physical presence. I hope he keeps this play up, would like to see him on the team if he does! A real nice kid too! He will challenge for the open Dman spot.
Unless Kenny Cameron has made huge improvements over the summer in positioning and rebound control I personally don't think he can carry the load of a 72 game schedule. Goaltending is going to be the biggest issue for this team going forward.
Hunker and Stanton are monsters
Not sure how anyone of us can judge Kenny on his play considering 1 game a month. We boo'd him against Kelowna and he got a shoot out winner. Shows how much we know about goaltenders. I think defence is the key to good goaltending. Somebody has to watch their back. No support No Wins. Bunz had defensive support and it showed. Team win, Team looses?
But hey why is everybody so serious and critical so early in the PRE-season. Cum'on lighten up all.
No critical comments here. I think Kenny has the ability to be a real good goaltender. I am really pulling for him. Also really like the looks of Hunker. Big physical Dman, really hope he makes the team! I think he looks like one of the best Dman out there, he stands out.
Stanton is a fighting machine and loves to smash bodies and Kenny has to impress or i would look at someone else isnt he 19 this year?
Stanton and Hunker would make a nice pairing! We need tough smart dmen!
Pulling for those guys!
agree, watched hunker play, big tough guy, should make the team
Is zac a good goalie? never seen him but lower draft pick. do we have any other goalies to choose from?
How old are these kids? Sounds promising.
zac is 16 hunker 17
Let's wait until they skate with the vets before we pick our d pairings, seems a little premature when it's 17 year olds skating with 15 yr olds
Hunker playing with the vets not with 15 year olds
Does anybody know what rookies made it to the main camp?
AND WHO FOUGHT AT CAMP YESTERDAY!
Would't it be nice if they had a brochure with names and matching numbers during these camps. I do not go down to watch for that very reason.
You need names to enjoy a hockey game? Weird. You should try just going to enjoy the hockey.
they dont release games in case other teams have people there looking at our players - that was what i was told when i asked
Butcher looks awesome, scored 2 goals this morning playing with the vets. One was a SO goal. He will be challenging for a spot.
Names wouldn't make any difference to some people. Doesn't sound like much of a fan, pretty shallow at best bud. Then again, more people than not enjoy the entertainment for what it is. Most fans , would fail miserably at running a couple of drills on the board. But... Are never satisfied regardless.
Let's just support the Tigers without the commentary of what they are not doing.
cheers to that
Great game. Interesting result. Some good young guys. They have the ability to really challenge some older guys for a spot, especially our 19 year olds. Was great to see good competition and even better to see great hockey...... finally!
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