Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
Hathaway, Quine, Mangiapane, Foo and Dube will be in the AHL unless we can trade away Brouwer. Maybe there is a surprise push and Czarnik spends time in the A and Foo or Dube make the squad, but I really don't see that happneing.
Gaudreau-Monahan-Neal
Tkachuk-Backlund-Lindholm
Bennett-Jankowski-Frolik
Lazar-Ryan-Czarnik
Brouwer
Giordano-Brodie
Hamonic-Hanifin
Stone-Kulak
Andersson
Smith
Gillies
That's my guess as to who makes the roster. Ignore the lines because they'll change lots. That leaves one more roster spot and if they don't fill it, then they have flexibility to bring somebody up when there aren't injuries and somebody earns a chance to break into the squad... OR... Valimaki starts the year and Stone-Kulak-Andersson and Valimaki fight for the final two spots... which doesn't make sense for Andersson and Valimaki to spend much time in the pressbox. Maybe Hathaway does stay the team as the 14th forward.
I think there has to be a move at some point before the rosters need to be set. Trelving is in position to wait and see if somebody can push for a spot. Neither Valimaki or Andersson are guaranteed to start in the NHL. Prout is there to either play in the A or take the the 7th spot if the two youn'uns don't earn the spot out of camp.
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Dube was good enough to make the team last year but going back to play a significant role in the WJC was deemed more valuable to his development. It proved to be the right move but this year is different as he's playing pro no matter what. I think he's too good for the AHL already.
Foo is at an age now where he needs to take that next step so he should be pushing hard for a spot.
Mangiapane is coming off a significant injury so I wouldn't be surprised if he started in the AHL again as he probably lost significant training time rehabbing.
Lazar and Brouwer are not overly valuable to the organization anymore. They were brought in due to a lack of RH forward depth and have proved in 2 years they aren't an overly great fit. Lazar was a reasonable gamble at the time and may still be worth developing but Brouwer was a disaster waiting to happen, in my eyes, right from the start.
Brouwer is the most useless contract we have and is just hindering the teams flexibility.
I feel like the team wants to be gritty and hard to play against so Hathaway might not be sent back to the AHL. He played above Lazar and Brouwer on the depthchart last year, was told to find a home in Calgary and was recently qualified so it's not crazy to think he starts in Calgary.
If that's the case there will be no room for youth, barring injury, with Brouwer and Lazar also in the fold.
I think moving players like Brouwer, Stone or potentially Lazar (to minors after clearing waivers) will happen. It might not happen until Foo, Dube, Mangiapane, Andersson, Kylington or Valamiki push their way onto the team but I think it will happen nonetheless.
It's too crowded and we have all of these young guys pushing - it's a good problem to have but it's something I think Treliving will fix in order to attain some of the roster/cap flexibility we are lacking at the moment.