Stockton Heat 2015/2016 General Discussion

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Drury18

More assignments to Stockton:

Kenny Agostino, Bill Arnold, Ryan Culkin, Jon Gillies, Keegan Kanzig, Morgan Klimchuk , Oliver Kylington, Kenney Morrison, Emile Poirier, Blair Riley, Patrick Sieloff, and Bryce Van Brabant.

Turner Elson and Derek Grant will also be assigned if they clear waivers.

So they more or less announced Culkin is cut more so than assigned to Stockton since he can't officially be sent down until he is medically cleared.

But that leaves Stockton with:

G - J. Gillies
G - K. Simpson

D - R. Culkin (IR)
D - K. Kanzig
D - O. Kylington
D - K. Morrison
D - P. Sieloff
D - A. Johnson

F - B. Arnold
F - M. Klimchuk
F - E. Poirier
F - B. Riley
F - B. Van Brabant
F - T. Elson
F - D. Grant
F - A. Carroll
F - H. Smith
F - M. Heard
F - R. Lomberg
F - L. Marcotte
F - M. Kirkpatrick

I think it is safe to assume we will see a handful of PTOs as well.

[sureLoss]

Full training camp roster (spoilered for size)

Spoiler!

[sureLoss]

* indicates try out

[Scornfire]

Ryan Constant sounds like a pretty reliable guy

[Fire]

I'm thinking Kanzig is almost certainly going to spend part of the season in the ECHL. Just too many defensemen.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Fire

I'm thinking Kanzig is almost certainly going to spend part of the season in the ECHL. Just too many defensemen.

There isn't that many. Only 6 of the 9 in camp have any form of contract and one of them is injured. Then the Flames have 2 more to cut and Wilson may not get a contract. I fail to understand how that is too many.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

There isn't that many. Only 6 of the 9 in camp have any form of contract and one of them is injured. Then the Flames have 2 more to cut and Wilson may not get a contract. I fail to understand how that is too many.

I would put Morrison, Kylington, Johnson, Sieloff ahead of Kanzig. Only one of (Nakladal, Wotherspoon, and Kulak) will likely stay up in Calgary. That makes 6 ahead of Kanzig. When Culkin comes back he'll be ahead of Kanzig as well. I assume Dustin Stevenson was signed to an AHL contract to be a veteran leader for a very young d-core.

They could try to make it work, but I rather see Kanzig playing top minutes in the ECHL instead of playing the occasional game as a bottom pairing defenseman in the AHL.

[Roof-Daddy]

The Flames kept the Adirondack franchise for a reason.

IMO they will not hesitate to put some of the younger D-men in the ECHL if there are too many healthy bodies around, and that's not a bad thing at all IMO.

They'll get a bigger role, and get to build confidence, all under the tutelage of a coach the Flames hired, and on a team the Flames own.

Kulak spent time there last season, and he's now one of the final cuts at this years camp.

Again, it's not a bad thing IMO. It's just a numbers game.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by Fire

I would put Morrison, Kylington, Johnson, Sieloff ahead of Kanzig. Only one of (Nakladal, Wotherspoon, and Kulak) will likely stay up in Calgary. That makes 6 ahead of Kanzig. When Culkin comes back he'll be ahead of Kanzig as well. I assume Dustin Stevenson was signed to an AHL contract to be a veteran leader for a very young d-core.

They could try to make it work, but I rather see Kanzig playing top minutes in the ECHL instead of playing the occasional game as a bottom pairing defenseman in the AHL.

Last year Huska rotated the D in and out often used 8-9-10 guys. Why would we expect different this year? Last year it seemed like only Wotherspoon & Yonkman were the only AHL blueliners not to rotate in and out of the lineup. The way I see things is the Flames & Heat let several defensemen walk in the offseason (Yonkman, Acolatse, Cundari, Ramage, Potter) and they will be adding Morrison, Kanzig, Kylington, Johnson and a full season of Kulak. I think Kanzig very well could play some minutes in the ECHL, as could Kylington and Stevenson. I think will more or less play out like year because there will always be injuries in both Calgary and Stockton, gets will get traded and guys will struggle.

[Fire]

Originally Posted by Alberta_Beef

Last year Huska rotated the D in and out often used 8-9-10 guys. Why would we expect different this year? Last year it seemed like only Wotherspoon & Yonkman were the only AHL blueliners not to rotate in and out of the lineup. The way I see things is the Flames & Heat let several defensemen walk in the offseason (Yonkman, Acolatse, Cundari, Ramage, Potter) and they will be adding Morrison, Kanzig, Kylington, Johnson and a full season of Kulak. I think Kanzig very well could play some minutes in the ECHL, as could Kylington and Stevenson. I think will more or less play out like year because there will always be injuries in both Calgary and Stockton, gets will get traded and guys will struggle.

So we agree. Kanzig most likely will see time in the ECHL.

[Vulcan]

The Heat play their second exhibition game tonight. They beat the Barracuda 4-2 on Thursday.

The upgrade to the AHL has brought a ton of exciting talent to Stockton including former first round selection of the Calgary Flames Emile Poirier.
Since his selection in 2013, Poirier has turned heads with his grit and his offensive upside.
In his first full season as a pro last year, he put up 42 points in 55 games while playing in Adirondack and even played 6 games with the big club in Calgary.
Fans could see Poirier penciled in to the lineup tonight make his unofficial Heat debut and should be one of the more recognizable talents on the ice for Stockton.

http://stocktonheat.com/news/gameday...e-bakersfield/

[sureLoss]

The up-sell is palatable with the Heat. Trying very hard to win over Thunder fans. Hyping the Flames prospects and bringing in some long time popular Thunder players on a tryout basis to camp.

[Alberta_Beef]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

The up-sell is palatable with the Heat. Trying very hard to win over Thunder fans. Hyping the Flames prospects and bringing in some long time popular Thunder players on a tryout basis to camp.

It will make it easy too if Garet Hunt keeps playing like he did last night. He's spent pretty much his entire pro career (7 years) in Stockton and is probably the most popular player in Stockton Thunder franchise history, they have a Hunt #24 Thunder banner in the rafters. He's also relatively young (27) and plays a brand of game that not many in the Flames organization do as he is definitely a scrapper (even though he is 5'8), he could fill the role that Gillies has had the last couple years and if he helps put asses in the seats it's not a bad thing.

[Freeway]

Heat up 3-0 over the Baby Oilers in the second pre-season game.

[dammage79]

Colton Orr signed with the flames farm team

[sureLoss]

Randy Sportak @SUNRandySportak
Want to know why Orr was signed to AHL Heat? Take a gander at the enforcers in their division.

[sureLoss]

The Stockton Heat, proudly owned by the NHL’s Calgary Flames, sign veteran NHL forward Colton Orr to a AHL contract. In addition the Heat have released forwards Rob Bordson, Dana Fraser, Garret Thompson, Kyle Flanagan and defenseman Ryan Constant, Taylor Doherty and Mike Bergin from their professional tryouts. The team has also assigned Louick Marcotte to the Adirondack Thunder of the ECHL.

http://stocktonheat.com/news/heat-si...m-camp-roster/

[Vulcan]

I think we'll have a pretty good team in Stockton this season. The young guys have a year of experience which will show compared to last season.

[sureLoss]

Flames trade for Freddie Hamilton and assign him to Stockton

[Roof-Daddy]

That's a pretty decent add for the Heat IMO.

Really deep at center in the AHL now. Plenty of righties too.