Just so unbelievable in Red Deer nowhere else

[dubnut]

Wow! You fans take a lot of crow with your beaks open. I have been following all the signings since reg. season ended and one team after another shouts their players' signings from the roof tops on the WHL website as well as their own. Not Red Deer. Unless your name happens to be Brandon Sutter. What does one player gots that the other one don't? Did James Reimer or did he not sign with Toronto? I had to go to the Toronto site to find out for sure. Nothing on the Rebel site, nothing on the WHL site, a small squeeze from the fan site, no attention given to the fact that a team who needs all the propping up it can get from the successes of its players passes over the acheivement of everyone except Daddy's boy. I sit here and shake my head. In my opinion there is a direct correlation to sitting second to Portland in the standings to the sickening attention that's been given to one player over all others..you cannot build a team on one slightly above average player who bears the owner's name and disregard, ignore, black out and trade away anyone who comes within a stone's throw of casting a shadow on the attention given to this one player. Wow...either you all don't care or you've all sipped from the Sutter Cup. Visiting the Rebel website is such a joke. No offense to what Brandon Sutter has accomplished. It's how the rest of the players are seen to be treated in comparison that leaves the mouth gaping.

Well for the record...Congratulations James Reimer on signing a significant contract with your NHL team inspite of the fact that for the most part your unproven backup was given early precedance and you were injured most of the latter part of the season, someone smart out there saw your talent and potential and inked you. Your WHL team may not appreciate what that says about you but the rest of the world outside of Red Deer does salute you.

[SectionNDeserter]

Aside from Sutter and Reimer, there is no player on the team this season that has signed, or even came close to doing anything really newsworthy. So what it really comes down to is that they announced the signing of one of their significant players, and not the other--hardly enough evidence for me to buy into some sort of 'conspiracy theory' or go into some sort of a rage over. Even if Sutter seems to be in Carolina's short-term plans, while Reimer remains buried under 3 or 4 goalies in Toronto's system, his signing being omitted from the Rebel's site and more importantly the WHL's site does seem an inexcusable oversight.

There are a multitude of reasons the Rebels finished in second last place;

- They iced a dozen or more rookies for a good chunk of the season.

- Their only returning overage player turned in a absolute JOKE of a performance that was more of a detriment to the team than anything.

- Brett Sutter was not returned by his NHL team.

- Kirill Starkov refused to be sent back to Junior.

- They replaced their overage players with what they could. Players that were serviceable players, but were used in many situations that they had never really had to play in before, and given far more ice time than some of them were able to deal with (as they were better able to deal with it than the dozen or so rookies).

- I have a hard time believing that the coach(es) were teaching them the transition plays(if you can call them that) that they were using for most of the season, which leads me to believe that many of them were just tuning him(them) out.

- Luke Egener for the first 3/4 of the season and Cullen Morin for most of the season. It was like a power play for the other team when one of them were on the ice, and a two-man advantage when they were both on at the same time. Egener improved a great deal when he stopped passing the puck forward, and just started rushing up ice with the puck, but probably not enough that he could be considered for an overage spot in the WHL next season. Morin was just awful in his own end of the ice, and struggled at times in the other team's end. I think that too much of the teams overall success hinged on these two improving, or at least playing at the same level that they did last season.

[rebelfan]

I didn't read conspiracy theory into dubnuts comments or sense any rage.. just dumbfounded over the Rebel's lack of recognition of one of its key players I thought. As a Rebel fan I too noticed the omission and wondered. It seems other teams take great pride in writing up their players' signing and not to post on the WHL site seems very slack. I too noticed Brandon's detailed and lengthy write up and if Reimer's was up it must have been a one liner somewhere that I missed. Another instance of the gulf the organization fixes between Brandon and all other players.

When the owner moves too far away from the centre of operations, any business falters because the one with the vested interest no longer oversees day to day and the rest are just employees who work there and the passion to excel and succeed are diminished. I heard a report recently that the owner of the now defunct Ottawa Roughriders never once visited the team or the city in the team's entire history with that owner. We all know where that team ended up. Players feel devalued which affects their performance after awhile, employees lack direction and accountability...and a well run organization can begin to run aground in a very short time. I am not saying this is all happening to the Rebels yet but there seems to be a loosening of quality control.
I agree with most of your reasons SectionN for why the Rebels ended up at the bottom of the barrel except your theory on Egner. I think he had a pretty good season, you are consistently too hard on him. I think the players were tuning the coach out because he was not tuning in to the them. A really nice guy but needed to be far more involved not only physically but mentally. If the coach isn't mentally prepared, your players will NEVER catch the vision either. It will be interesting to see what Jesse Wallin will do with the team next year. Pretty young to be at the helm.

[SectionNDeserter]

I didn't read conspiracy theory into dubnuts comments or sense any rage.. just dumbfounded over the Rebel's lack of recognition of one of its key players I thought.It was a single mention of Reimer's signing not being posted on the Rebel's website, and then a paragraph hinting that the team's ownership might be conspiring against all the players on the team except Brandon, trading away impact players that we had this season that may have been overshadowing Brandon's performance. (like Scott Doucet, Matt Strong, and Luke Betts? :confused: ) He also concluded that the team is being built around one player (which it clearly is not), and that all the fans here just don't care (definitely not true).


Players feel devalued which affects their performance after awhile, employees lack direction and accountability...and a well run organization can begin to run aground in a very short time. I am not saying this is all happening to the Rebels yet but there seems to be a loosening of quality control.I think it could be a combination of this and the affect of the 'Warden being out of the Prison'. I think that Brent and Brian were just too different in their coaching styles, and all of a sudden there wasn't nearly enough 'motivating' going on.


I agree with most of your reasons SectionN for why the Rebels ended up at the bottom of the barrel except your theory on Egner. I think he had a pretty good season, you are consistently too hard on him.I think he had a good season--if he was a 16 or 17 year old that hasn't defined his role on the team yet. As a 19 year old however, he didn't show any offensive upside whatsoever, and he is a very soft in his own zone (especially in front of the net), doesn't block shots, and takes piles and piles of obstruction penalties. Two things that I will say in his favor though, are that he does have quite possibly the best conditioning of any player on the team, and at some point late in the season he seemed to stop shooting for the single-season record for giveaways by a player, and enjoyed much more success skating the puck out of his zone rather than passing it.

[Shinyshoes]

Sorry this response is so late. I started a new job, so i havnt had a tonne of time to get back on this site.

as for the topic at hand.

Nothing on the Rebel site you mean this one? http://www.reddeerrebels.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537&Itemid=33 Even if you go to the Rebel's website today, its on the main page.

[Rebel66]

Did James Reimer or did he not sign with Toronto? I had to go to the Toronto site to find out for sure. Nothing on the Rebel site,

I should have responded to this before too. I read about the signing on the Rebels site before hearing/seeing it elsewhere. The Rebels have always done a good job proclaiming their players success, regardless if their name is Sutter or not. Remember Cam Ward being on the front page after his Conn Smythe win? I'm pretty sure that Ward isn't spelled S-U-T-T-E-R.

Perhaps this should be for another thread but is there a more disparaged name in hockey than Sutter?

[dubnut]

Sorry this response is so late. I started a new job, so i havnt had a tonne of time to get back on this site.

as for the topic at hand.
you mean this one? http://www.reddeerrebels.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=537&Itemid=33 Even if you go to the Rebel's website today, its on the main page.

I posted a comment to this type of response on another thread but I repeat. I checked the Rebel website for several days after I heard Reimer signed and there was no mention. Then I went back later and checked the archives, there was no mention. The first time I saw it up was about two days ago. I check all the WHL team sites regularly for news. It's there now, & a direct cut and paste from the Toronto site with no Rebel commentary is cheap at best but is better than no mention at all so I will leave it at that. The Rebel website in general is poorly kept. I notice that the last pictures in the fanzone are from over a year ago. It's almost as if this year is such an embarrassment they want to erase it from their fans memory?

[SectionNDeserter]

It's almost as if this year is such an embarrassment they want to erase it from their fans memory?What year?!? We don't know what you are talking about! :D

[Rebel66]

I posted a comment to this type of response on another thread but I repeat. I checked the Rebel website for several days after I heard Reimer signed and there was no mention. Then I went back later and checked the archives, there was no mention.

I noticed it on the Rebels site shortly after he had reportedly signed a contract. I wonder where it went if you couldn't find the article. All I know it was there, on the site, when I checked way back when. That's where I found out about the signing. Ah well, I'm just filing this under, yet more, anti-Sutter bombastic commentary.

[RebelsFan]

I, in the past, have criticized the Rebels for the constant promotion of Brandon Sutter both on and off the ice. Now, with reference to the signing of James Reimer to and NHL contract on the 20th of March. First of all, congrats to Reims, he will do well in his future in hockey. Whether that means with the Leafs or their farm system. Secondly, with reference to the Rebel's announcement of his signing. I cannot say for sure whether or not I saw it on the site. I check the site everyday and sometimes more than once a day. I cannot recall anything but I may be wrong. My point is though, unfortunately for James, his signing coincided with the Rebel's office getting ready to announce the resignation of Brian Sutter and signing of Jesse Wallin. If the Rebels didn't make a big announcement about Reimer's signing, I can't think it would have been a malicious attempt to not promote it. I imagine they would have been very busy at that time. I am sure they are as proud of James' success as they are Brandon's !