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Tiger Trauma
06-03-2006, 12:16 AM
Kennewick, WA – The Tri-City Americans today have traded a pair of 17-year-old forwards, sending Lucas Bloodoff to the Kelowna Rockets and Colton Grant to the Medicine Hat Tigers. Both players had refused to report to the Americans expressing a desire to play closer to home.

Bloodoff who makes his home in Castlegar, British Columbia was dealt to the Rockets for a third round draft pick in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft. Bloodoff was originally a 6th round pick in the 2004 Bantam Draft.

Grant, a native of Standard, Alberta was traded to the Tigers for a second round pick in the 2007 WHL Bantam Draft. He was originally a second round draft choice by the Americans in the 2004 Bantam Draft.


Any Tri-city fans know what kind a player he is?

I'm guessing he is fast player, willie likes adding guys with speed:)

dondo
06-03-2006, 12:06 PM
this refusing to report syndrome is really starting to bug me. Who do these kids think they are?

The league should be cracking down on this kind of behavior imnsho --- or the smaller markets won't be able to retain good player's rights as they all will have their agents whining about playing for who-ever. Maybe the league itself should impose some sort of sanctions on this kind of action and players refusing to report to the teams holding their rights, get fined or don't get to play.

witness
06-05-2006, 09:31 AM
I think that maybe the WHL organizations need to do a better job talking to the kids. If playing closer to home is really important to them then don't draft them. The scouts go to watch the kid play 5 or 6 games, what does it take to sit down with the kid and his parents for 5 minutes? That would give you a good feel on the direction that the family is going.

You also have to remember that this is a family decision. It is difficult to sent your 16 year old away two provinces for eight to nine months a year. If you are lucky, you will get to see him maybe a half a dozen times during that nine months. To be quite honest, I would have some reservations about that.

dondo
06-05-2006, 11:29 AM
that seems like a solution witness but to me its a slippery slope. Look at the kid that Spokane drafted who asked them not to draft him because he wouldn't report because he wanted to play closer to home.

Well this kid is from Saskatchewan, and which teams does he say he'll go to? Red Deer, Calgary, Medicine Hat - the Warriors and Broncos and Pats are all "closer to home", but they aren't on his list of preferences :skeptical - which to me is a bright red flag that "close to home " is a scam and a heart-string pull dodge to get what they really want - they can't say you guys suck, so don't draft me - so they say its TOO far.. *whine whine whine* and I say bullsh*t.

The weird thing in this league is that rosters change so much and teams evolve on an almost yearly basis that there's really no predicting how good a team will be from year to year.

The thing that really bugs me about this from the best players is that do they have such a low opinion of their own skills that they don't see the potential to become a team leader on a marginal team and make the guys around them better, or is it just about the draft position in the NHL?

The thing is that great players get noticed no matter what team they play on, but its the floaters that tend to get lost in the shuffle - so for me I feel that the whiners are the eventual floaters and that the spirit of hockey comes form those more concern about how much they get to play rather than where. And players playing for themselves and no-one else drop off the radar of the scouts pretty damn quickly. You would think that the agents would realize this.

bandwagonboy
06-16-2006, 07:27 AM
this refusing to report syndrome is really starting to bug me. Who do these kids think they are?

The league should be cracking down on this kind of behavior imnsho --- or the smaller markets won't be able to retain good player's rights as they all will have their agents whining about playing for who-ever. Maybe the league itself should impose some sort of sanctions on this kind of action and players refusing to report to the teams holding their rights, get fined or don't get to play.

I think you are close.

I think market size has very little to do with this. I'm too lazy to run a google but I believe that Tri isn't smaller than the Hat. Maybe this has to do with him wanting to be closer to home but I know the cynical mind will think that it has to do with him wanting to play on a winner with a superior coach.

I agree that the league does need to do something. If they don't it won't hurt the small market teams but it will hurt the struggling organizations. These kids are probably looking to go to the coach and organization that will best help them develope into great NHL caliber hockey players. So when an organization is struggling if something isn't done it might get harder and harder for these teams to dig themselves out of a hole regardless of market size.

It wasn't that long ago when the Tigers were the stink of the league. Had players like Barker, Hollweg, St. Jaques, and so on decided to not report to the hat then the Tigers would probably still suck ass.

dondo
06-16-2006, 10:46 AM
yeah that's kinda what I am saying - in the Junior levels you are always going to have turn-over as the 19 and 20 year olds graduate which makes it damn hard to say what team will be good in two years when you are being drafted at 15.

The upshot is that a great player can make an impact on any team and hopefully be great enough to elevate those around him. That's how the league as a whole gets more competitive and better across the board.

bandwagonboy
06-16-2006, 09:50 PM
I dunno what the answer is. I'm sure for every case of a kid not reporting just because he wants to play for a guy like Sutter, Willy, or Clouston in Koot because he knows that said coach can get the absolute maximum out of him there are problably 5 kids who aren't reporting because they want to be closer to family. We do have ro remember that these are kids we are talking about. Very young kids.

Well you can talk about great players all you want. Sometimes there are players that could be great but need a Sutter or Desjardins to make them great. I don't know how you solve the problem of kids and their families wanting to play for elite coaches like that. I suspect this is not a recent developement.