Quote:
Originally Posted by Buff
That is complete crap! The City of Lethbridge is being horribly run right now.
City: "We've booked a major event in the Enmax Centre for April"
Hurricanes: "Uh, we need it to play our playoff games"
City: "Who are you again?"
Hurricanes: "The WHL Team that has been here since 1987....
City: "Oh, well there are other arenas around town, they'll work out nicely for you. Maybe you can play in a venue out of town. Medicine Hat has a nice new arena!"
I wish I could just leave.
Back on topic... Hurricanes have some nice pieces moving forward. I'm not 100% sold on goaltending though. Klassen was backup last year and doesn't have enough games for us to know what he is really all about. Dylan Cozens is going to be an absolute beast. I could see that when he joined the team for the playoffs two years ago and he kept improving throughout last year. Add to him Jordy Bellerive, who should crack 50 goals and 100 points this year, and young giant Logan Barlage who should be close to a ppg player. They have a lot more forward depth. Their defense is light on depth but they have three good work horses on the back end.
Two years ago when Tyler Wong played his last game I thought the Hurricanes were going to rebuild mode and suck again for a few years. The team really stepped up and the young guys they have been bringing in have been developing nicely.
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The Canes also added Akira Schmid in net with the 2018 import draft, he's a 2018 NHL draft pick of the New Jersey Devils. 6'5 with pedigree, hopefully he can tandem with Klassen while he gets used to the dub. Klassen also had a stellar pre-season to boot.
The Canes top end at forward and D is very potent. It's how the depth players develop that will be key for the team.
Barlage, Jeri-Leon, Joseph, Shepard and Blocker need to step up. Losing Vandervlis really hurts, but hopefully Ross (who had an outstanding second half and playoffs last year) steps up to fill the OA void at forward.
They are solid on D with Addison, Merezkho, Stanley, Wilson and Prefontaine returning, plus they have three guys I'm really excited to see how they look at the WHL level. Three 2001's in Cotton and Jones, as well as imported Belerussian Palivko.
Hopefully they can live up to their 3rd place CHL ranking right out of the gate here.