[Freeway]

Defencemen

BALDWIN, Gord
-Vitals: 24 years old, from Winnipeg, Manitoba
-Drafted: 2005 third round choice
-Status: Restricted Free Agent
-Skinny: Steady if unspectacular on the back end, Baldwin doesn't have overly showy offensive numbers but isn't a liability, either. Bounced between second and third pairing in AHL, likely to stay in roughly same position.
-Potential: Once a fringe AHL player, Baldwin has managed to quietly round himself into a steady contributor. He's somewhat in the shadow of higher-drafted players (Brodie, Pelech) though.

BREEN, Chris
-Vitals: 21 years old, from Uxbridge, Ontario
-Drafted: Undrafted
-Status: Two seasons left on contract
-Skinny: One of the bigger surprises of the year, the 6-foot-7 Breen has become a top-four defender in Abbotsford and one of Jim Playfair's favourites. The secret? He learned to use his size to his advantage.
-Potential: With T.J. Brodie and Tim Erixon expected to contend for spots with Calgary, Breen could be eating up first-pairing minutes in Abbotsford. Playfair has told reporters that he expects Breen to be in the NHL someday.

BRODIE, T.J.
-Vitals: 20 years old, from Chatham, Ontario
-Drafted: 2008 third round choice
-Status: Two seasons left on contract
-Skinny: Strong puck-moving blue-liner surprised organization by making Flames roster out of camp. Eventually sent down to AHL to round out defensive game a bit. Ended up among team scoring leaders AND being a plus player on a team that didn't score very much.
-Potential: Should contend for a spot in Calgary. Either that or continue to be an offensive contributor in AHL until a spot in Calgary opens up.

ERIXON, Tim
-Gonzo.

LEACH, Joey
-Vitals: 19 years old, from Wadena, Saskatchewan
-Drafted: 2010 third round choice
-Status: One year remaining in junior
-Skinny: Though not as highly-touted as teammate Max Reinhart, Leach is a strong positional player with surprisingly good hands (as evidenced in three-assist game in WHL finals against Portland). Big kid (6-foot-4).
-Potential: Hard to say, but he's likely to be one of the older blueliners in Kootenay next year, which could test his maturity and leadership a bit.

MEYERS, Josh
-Vitals: 25 years old, from Alexandria, Minnesota
-Drafted: 2005 seventh round choice (by Los Angeles)
-Status: Restricted Free Agent
-Skinny: Not particularly flashy, but the reliable Meyers has been decent as a 7th defender for the Heat. Puts up decent point totals for a blueliner that plays the amount of minutes he does.
-Potential: Unlikely to be much more than the 7th man on the back end, but he's fairly effective in the role.

NEGRIN, John
-Vitals: 22 years old, from West Vancouver, British Columbia
-Drafted: 2007 third round choice
-Status: One season left on contract
-Skinny: If Negrin could stay healthy, he might be in the NHL by now. He's missed a TON of time (he's appeared in 49 games over two seasons) but generally looks solid.
-Potential: Should see a fair bit of ice-time in Abbotsford, particularly if Brodie and/or Erixon hit the bigs. Very important for him to stay healthy, particularly heading into final year of contract.

NYREN, Giffen
-Vitals: 22 years old, from Calgary, Alberta
-Drafted: Undrafted
-Status: Free Agent (had AHL contract)
-Skinny: Bounced between ECHL and AHL, but played well in limited action at each level. By no means a top-level prospect, but has a ton of heart.
-Potential: Could get another look at training camp, although unlikely to factor into team's long-term plans.

PELECH, Matt
-Vitals: 23 years old, from Toronto, Ontario
-Drafted: 2005 first round choice
-Status: Restricted Free Agent
-Skinny: Big physical defenseman is all heart, no luck. Terrible track record with injuries, but he's quite effective when he's healthy. Great "team" guy, assistant captain in Abbotsford.
-Potential: While not quite a "project" the way Kris Chucko has developed into, Pelech could really use a full season to showcase himself.

RAMAGE, John
-Vitals: 20 years old, from Mississauga, Ontario (via St. Louis, Missouri)
-Drafted: 2010 fourth round choice
-Status: Two years left in college
-Skinny: Physical and positionally sound, key leadership guy on Team USA at World Juniors. Captained team to first back-to-back medals in US junior history.
-Potential: Has two years of college left before he turns pro (and plays in the often-hard-to-gauge NCAA). That said, he's looked good in international tournaments against comparable players.

SEABROOK, Keith
-Vitals: 22 years old, from Delta, British Columbia
-Drafted: 2006 second round choice (by Washington)
-Status: One season left on contract
-Skinny: Seabrook has seemingly played himself out of Calgary's plans, as he was sent to Manitoba to get ice time down the stretch. Not a bad player by any means, but has skill-set that is duplicated by many other Flames blue-line prospects.
-Potential: Unsure where he fits in for next season, though he could end up back in Abbotsford depending on which free agents are retained and which players end up in Calgary.

Forwards:

ARMSTRONG, John
-Vitals: 23 years old, from Unionville, Ontario
-Drafted: 2006 third round choice
-Status: Restricted Free Agent
-Skinny: Finally had a full season without major injury. Played fairly well, but many of the debuting pro prospects (Nemisz, Bouma, Patterson) likely leap-frogged him.
-Potential: Second/third line contributor in Abbotsford, at least for the next while.

ARNOLD, Bill
-Vitals: 19 years old, from Needham, Mass.
-Drafted: 2010 fourth round choice
-Status: Three years left in college
-Skinny: Point-a-game player on the US National Development Team when he was drafted, maintained a decent scoring pace (20 points in 39 games) in the NCAA against arguably better competition in a lesser role as a new college player. Finished junior year at Boston College, where he was on the Hockey East All-Rookie Team.
-Potential: Arnold's got three years of college left, but it's intriguing that he's already getting noticed by NCAA brass. He's definitely a long-term project, though.

BANCKS, Carter
-Vitals: 21 years old, from Marysville, British Columbia
-Drafted: Undrafted
-Status: Free Agent (had AHL contract)
-Skinny: Looked really good before sidelined with a concussion. Looked really good when he returned from said concussion. One of Jim Playfair's favourites, the coach said the team would've made the playoffs had Bancks not gotten hurt.
-Potential: If one "non-contract" prospect could get a deal, it'd be Carter Bancks.

BENNETT, Spencer
-Gonzo.