blades on the bubble

[wango tango]

if you buy into the theory the top two lines for the team will look something like...

hulak-mccrae-brandis
gillies-durand-kaye

then klotz, geric, wintoneak, cameron, cuthbert, crowley, patterson, braid, and belyk along with rookies hamilton, toomey, and philp are battling for six spots. at least 12 guys (not including unknowns, and other prospects) 6 spots. half of those kids will not be in the blades lineup. tough decisions.

break down by position.

lw - hamilton, klotz, geric, cameron, crowley.
rw - belyk, wintoneak, cuthbert, philp.
c - patterson, toomey, braid.

defense (which currently looks to be the biggest weakness)...

funk, ward, zahn, and niemi seem to be the only in stone guys. leaving canart, clemens, klassen, friesen, berg, elliott, and brown if he reports (not including unknowns, and other prospects) battling for three maybe four spots. again tough decisions.

in goal (the teams greatest strength)...

having two guys in holtby and zemlak who both seem to be capable of being the #1 guy is a luxury, is it one the blades can afford, and can they set aside egos for what's better for the team? if krahn or morrison steps up in camp and preseason, and shows they are capable of being a solid understudy at #2, watch for a deal to address an area of need for the team.

[GOBLADESGO#3 (among other aliases)]

Who the heck is Brandis???

[Shortys]

Who the heck is Brandis???

LOL, he is our second import pick from slovakia.

[Trav]

not worried at all there. If the guys from last year like Wintoneak, Crowley, Cameron have improved any they should be fine, then add pattersson, hamilton, toomey, braid, belyk, Cuthbert i think will be gone due to age. He didnt show much here last year.

Molleken is probably still looking for d-men so it'll be interesting to see whose there. I'm sure Niemi, Elliot, Zahn, Funk are definites. 3 or 4 spots open for the rest. Brown will probably be on the team if he reports.

Teams may want Zemlak or Holtby or a good young prospect for one of their expierenced d-men. Dunno if that'd be a good idea or not.

[GOBLADESGO#3 (among other aliases)]

defense (which currently looks to be the biggest weakness)...

funk, ward, zahn, and niemi seem to be the only in stone guys. leaving canart, clemens, klassen, friesen, berg, elliott, and brown if he reports (not including unknowns, and other prospects) battling for three maybe four spots. again tough decisions.

I don't underatand that. With Niemi, Berg, Elliott, and Brown our defence looks awsome. Of course Brown might not play for the Blades but even if he doesn't we still have 3 strong guys.

[howley]

IMO Berg and Elliot can not be counted on to make our defense look awesome at this point. I think alot of people are going to be very very dissapointed with these guys this year only because those people have unmeetable expecations for 16 yr old rookies. They will be great players if they progress the way they are expected but as 16's I don't know if it's fair to expect them to come in and be huge impact players. I guess I like to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised rather than high expectations and be dissapointed.

Neiemiee is only 17 to if I remember correctly. Never played the North American game + we know really nothing about him other than what we've all heard. I thought I read a quote from Molleken saying that he would take some time to adjust and maybe not be a huge piece of the puzzle this year. Maybe I dreamt that though...

[GBG BLEED BLUE]

IMO Berg and Elliot can not be counted on to make our defense look awesome at this point. I think alot of people are going to be very very dissapointed with these guys this year only because those people have unmeetable expecations for 16 yr old rookies. They will be great players if they progress the way they are expected but as 16's I don't know if it's fair to expect them to come in and be huge impact players. I guess I like to have low expectations and be pleasantly surprised rather than high expectations and be dissapointed.

Niemi is only 17 to if I remember correctly. Never played the North American game + we know really nothing about him other than what we've all heard. I thought I read a quote from Molleken saying that he would take some time to adjust and maybe not be a huge piece of the puzzle this year. Maybe I dreamt that though...

I think that quote that you read was from the article in the SP: (maybe?) http://www.canada.com/saskatoonstar...47-0be593bd5fc4


He's a mobile guy for somebody his size and he makes really smart decisions with the puck," said Oster. "He doesn't do anything fancy and I don't expect him to be an overly prolific offensive guy, but he shoots the puck well and makes strong decisions."

Oster cautioned that Niemi will need time to adjust to his new hockey hangout.

"I don't think he'll come in next year and be a huge impact player, just because he's 17 and there aren't many 17-year-olds that are impact players, whether they're from Canada or Europe," said Oster. "Yet as he matures and understands the North American style of play, I think he can be a very, very good player."

Overall everyone has some very valid comments I also agree with Howley when he said that even though Berg and Elliott have high expectation from some,and that those two should not be counted on to "carry the defence/team." We do know the rest of the defence has some experience,but I would expect that this is an area that will be addressed by Molleken to make the defensive core older,more experienced and to help Berg and Elliott,as well as the rest of the guys back there.

I think that Jyri Niemi will be a very welcomed addition to the defence,even more so because of his size,hopefully he will become accustomed to the Canadian/North American style of hockey,progress well and develop into a solid player for the Blades and future NHL draft pick.

[howley]

there will still be one more d-man coming in as an OA. I'm still sticking with Dane Crowley as the player brought in. But we all know I'll be wrong.

[GOBLADESGO#3 (among other aliases)]

Probebly but even so, I would love to see him back in a Blades uni. I remember going to a game last year, I had completely forgot about him at that time and I was sitting with GBG BLEED BLUE and Blades 4 Life! which their season tickets are right by the penalty box and I noticed someone was in there so I looked and it was none other than Crowley, so of course I took a picture of him on my phone which is now broken and I have a new one so there goes the memory...

[wango tango]

I don't underatand that. With Niemi, Berg, Elliott, and Brown our defence looks awsome. Of course Brown might not play for the Blades but even if he doesn't we still have 3 strong guys.

take a look at that list for defense, howley is barking up the right tree.

too many questions.

berg. young talented, inexperienced, and foot speed questions.
elliott. young talented, inexperienced.
ward. steady. plateau'd. if there was more to his game we would've seen it by now.
funk. can he comeback and be a factor after a complete season lost to injury?
niemi. euros always need some time to adjust to the higher level of play and the number of games.
zahn. young talented, inexperienced. probably the rock of the group.
canart, clemens, friesen, brown. all the same type of issues. inexperienced, small, can they raise their game to the next level?
klassen. shows well in flashes. i think it is telling about the potential defensive weakness for the blades when he is considered a vet, and probably around third or fourth on the depth chart.

this is definately the area of the team molleken has to be looking to address to solidify in the short term without sacrificing too much.