Euro Situation

[RDRebelsfan]

With how bad we finished last season, shouldn't we have a high Import pick? What's the point of hanging onto both Valach and Polak?

Polak is injury prone imo and I think D wise Valach is a liability. What do you see occuring? Personally if it was me I'd see if I could shop either of the two out or let them play back at home, why let a high Import pick go to waste?

[Red celtic]

I am pretty sure that they will use their first pick which is a fifth or sixth pick. Which means Polak is out and I hope they keep Valach it's hard to find a 6'6" 220 lb. defencemen with a shot like his.

[RDRebelsfan]

some good players here, who I'm sure we could snag

http://www.hockeysfuture.com/article...pects_for2008/

Of course it all depends if the drafted player is willing to come over, there's no way we'd get Filatov. Markstrom would be nice, but he's a goalie, we seem to have an abundance of them, however his stock is a heck of a lot better. And we all know goalies can take you a long way, and I don't think this team has EVER had a euro goalie.

Of course with our lack of offensive production last year, team will likely target a F with scoring upside.

IMO next season's success will depend on certain players on who is back and who isn't. Getting a top of the line Import will help, goaltending could be a concern if Clark, Kuemper and Aime are not ready for full time starter status. As it doesn't seem like Reimer is returning.

[Red celtic]

Personally I think they will be looking for skilled forward and with Brent having the ability to bend the ears of both the Devels and Flames Euro scouts he will have a fairly food idea who to get with his pick. As far as goal tending is concerned Kuemper looked fairly good at the spring prospect camp. Even with that in mind don't be surprised if we get another goalie via the trade route.

[RDRebelsfan]

Good to hear that he looked good then. To me Clark isn't set to be a starter yet, Kuemper I've not seen cannot comment. And as I said most likely the euro pick will be a F, hopefully a sniper, we know how much we scored last year. Not much.

Kevin Armstrong would be a nice goalie to have if we able to work out a deal there. Spence is another goalie who will be moved out, but I'm not really too crazy on him.

[SectionNDeserter]

Valach was easily our second best defenseman down the stretch, and caused a great deal of havoc when he was used as a forward at the very end of the season. He has a huge shot, and will rush up the ice with the puck. Only problem I have with him is that even though he does fine defensively, he could be far more physical with his enormous frame. Polak on the other hand has a bit of 'Lindros' syndrome, where he spends parts of the game skating around looking at the ice directly in front of him, and his play wasn't all that inspired prior to all the concussions--I can see him being replaced by whomever we select in the 1st round of the import draft (if Valach choses to return).

If Valach doesn't return I would select 2 imports, one of them being a skilled defenseman. After taking in the rookie camp, the only defensemen for me that stood out as being somewhat 'well-rounded' or even skilled aren't eligible to play this season (Pufahl, Bresciani), or have already been taking a semi-regular shift (Petrovic).

[RDRebelsfan]

I'm sure that if the Rebels management were able to turn the clock back on who they took in the import draft it'd of not of been Polak. Luca sbisa was taken much further ahead. But that's how the import draft goes, it's a crap shoot.

[Shinyshoes]

I have it on pretty good authority that Valach will not be back.

Also, a lot of people have been giving Polak a hard time, but fail to remember that he was only a 17 year old last year. That makes him the same age as Mappin, Archer, Scarborough, Kot, and the recently departed Krgovich.

While I agree he may have been a little injury prone last year, he was pretty good when you compare him to the others in his class. He potentially has 3 more seasons with us, unless he makes some form of pro league sooner. If he can stay a little more healthy, i think he could be a good one.

[SectionNDeserter]

I have it on pretty good authority that Valach will not be back.

I have heard that there was a good chance that he would be back, but it wasn't from good authority at all.

That makes him the same age as Mappin, Archer, Scarborough, Kot, and the recently departed Krgovich.

Teams bring in import players, because training on the larger ice surfaces (or whatever) typically makes them play a more skilled game. Our last import pick had 71 points for us, 17 years old or not I think you can see why some people might be critical of Polak and his 5 goals. If we got to have an infinite number of import players I could see your point, but if there are 2 new ones available in the draft that are going to address some of the shortcomings on this team, I say get 2 new ones. If Polak even still wants to come halfway around the world to play here after the dreadful season, and getting concussed 2 or 3 times, it will speak volumes of his character though.

He potentially has 3 more seasons with us, unless he makes some form of pro league sooner.

Given how flighty import players can be (we have had a few just go home after taking a solid hit) I would never draft one based entirely on the hopes that they are going to become a good player 2 or 3 seasons down the road.

[RDRebelsfan]

with the pick they make I'm crossing my fingers it's a damn sniper. Maybe we'll get another Hanzal or we'll be blessed with a player like Oscar Moller.