Great season one win short!!(Standing O for the team)

[Wheat Kings #1]

Next year will depend on a few things. If Schenn comes back, which I beleive he will after his 9 games in L.A. and Rajala comes back, and that will depend on his 1 year milatery commitment, that has to be done before he is 28, and you have to think he may want to get that over with and then head to Edm as a 20 yr old. If they come back you may start thinking a high finish in the standings. Then you probably keep a 20 yr. old goalie to share time with Liston. Not sure Jake will be sighned by the Flyers. Would keep him over Hayes if you go this route. Wiebe and or Radeake up front as a 20 yr old. Now the big problem,Defense! Will need a Euro for sure. A couple of Rookies,Roy and Fransoo,maybe Hunter. Can't fathom Schneider as a 20 yr old. Maybe Bestland but if you are looking to win you will need a better one.
Also will need one more "good" d-man to be a leader back their.
And if you are sitting on the edge you do what Regina should have done and dump them all and start to build for 3-4 yrs. down the road. Schenn Glennie etc. would bring in a ton of picks. Try to win that damn cup another year.

[booboo]

20's----Wiebe, Bestland, and ????--but definitely not Schneider, Hale, or Hayes. Up front--Weibe, Stone, Rajala, Glennie, Schenn(cannot see him being a 4th liner or healthy scratch with L.A. Kings--too good of a team), Walker, Ferland(watch this guy go),Synatynski, and Ciarelli. Not a bad start. Defence--Melnychuck,Miller, Bestland, Fransoo, Roy, Euro,Euro or trade. We need to firm up goaltending--Liston start--need backup. May need help on defence as well. There may be some prospects on their list that I am unaware of that may help out next year. Looks like 10 or more new faces in the lineup--time to move on. We really need a coach as well. Any thoughts on Wheats lineup next year?

[WHEATMAN]

Gone for sure: Fehr, Lewy, Calvert, Hamonic, Urbom, and Robak
Probably gone: Rajala, Raedeke (chance of Schenn being gone too)

Given those departures the BWK's are left with Wiebe, Hale, Hayes, De Serres, Bestland, and Schneider as 20 year olds. Given the way Wiebe has played since Kelly acquired him I would say he is a lock as a OA. On defence you can probably say the same thing about Bestland. While he may not be elite like Hamonic or Robak he is pretty dependable and we can expect the same from him next year. Should the rumours of Toews reporting be true I think we can pencil him in as an OA, otherwise Kelly should keep Schneider and depending on his play, possible trade him for someone with more sandpaper (I still think Schneider is incredibly soft).

Hale is a plug, and according to the rumours, not a good teammate...he's not coming back.

I doubt Philly will sign De Serres and Hayes isn't going pro, so Kelly needs to find out what to do with them. Frankly, I don't have a whole lot of confidence in either, nor would I be willing to keep one of them over Bestland, Wiebe, or even Schneider. Liston is obviously the future in goal and is already getting invited to Hockey Canada camps so I can see it being his job to lose. Trade Hayes and De Serres for anything you can get (hopefully an 18 YO goalie with nominal dub experience who will come cheap) and let Liston compete with him, kinda like how Plante competed with Nichol until he eventually took on the #1 job in the latter part of the season.

Up front that leaves...

Stone Schenn(C) Glennie
Walker Wiebe(A) Ferland
Euro? Ciarelli Sinatynski
? ? ?

Thats a brilliant 1st line and a decent 2nd line. After the top 2 lines though, there will be a lot of reliance on rookies. I would hope that we could bring in a two-way Euro who we can slot in on the third line (but thats easier said than done now that it isn't a Memorial Cup year). I'm not overly familiar with how the prospects did in Midget, but I imagine Dakota Conroy, Jason Swyripa, Tyrel Seaman, Austin Lewis, and even Wheaton King will all be vying for a spot on the 3rd/4th line.

On defence...

Melnychuk(A) Bestland(A)
Miller Schneider
Fransoo Roy
Elmes Hunter

That looks pretty patchy...definitely the weak spot. Again, maybe Kelly can try and draft a Euro to bring it up to snuff because it will certainly be an area teams will try and exploit. Now that I think about it, I would probably want a Euro defenceman over a Euro winger...defence, as is, will be a problem.

In Goal...

Liston
?

Pretty easy here, Liston is an elite prospect and Hayes and De Serres have been given their shot and didn't deliver. No point keeping either of them around anymore. It's time to move on. Whether the team can perform next year may hinge on whether Liston can play as advertised.

Hopefully its another year of reloading, not rebuilding

[BSB]

I hope that Toews does end up coming to Brandon, because there is always a chance that one or more of the guys you have pencilled into your lineup may not be coming back (these guys may get to their overage season and decide their hockey career isn't going anywhere and they might as well start their University schooling instead of playing their overage season). This has even more potential if they already have four or more years of schooling paid for, which is likely the case for a couple of them, as I believe some teams have been generous over the years of offering guys an extra year of schooling in order to sign.

Hopefully after having time to reflect on the season, they all do decide to come back for one more year though, especially if Toews doesn't come our way.

[Wheatie Pete]

For starters I know for a fact Schneider will not be back next year, if it wasn't for the Mem cup he wouldn't have been here this year(our loss). He wants to go to University next year. Anyway why waste a spot on him as an overager?

Rajala has a good chance of coming back, I read an article with the head of scouting for the Oilers and he said he liked the improvement Canadian Junior hockey did for Toni's game. If he didn't make the big club he would like to see him back in Brandon.

Raedke is a question mark. The Wings have a habit of letting their prospects mature quite a bit before jumping to the pros or AHL. So I would say 50/50 he comes back.

Guarantee Hale will not be back as he is a cancer in the locker room and have some off ice issues, Kelly isn't impressed with.

De Serres won't be back on the team, even if he gets sent back by Philly. No one has confidence in him and you just want a serviceable 18-19 year old to toe the line as Liston progresses. Why waste a 20 year old spot on the past when Liston is the bright future.

Schenn may come back. Really needs to improve his skating. 60-40 chance of coming back.

Glennie will be back, but for how long is the question. I guarantee he will be traded by the trade deadline. Too much baggage and locker room cancer.

If Raedke comes back and Toews reports either one is great trade bait,my guess it would be Toews as he has no history with the team.

Those being the biggest question marks the roster will look like this.

Forwards
Glennie-Schenn-Stone
Weibe-Toews/Raedke-Rajala
Ferland-Ciarelli-Walker
Sinitynski-Swyripa-Dakota Conroy

Defense
Bestland-Melynchuk
Fransoo-Krzyaniak
Roy-Euro/traded player

Goalies
Liston-Trade or 18-19 yr old backup for someone else

[Joe Hallenback]

Tough way to end the season. Its funny I was watching the game with my dad and he looked over at me after about 4 minutes and said "if the Wheat Kings do not score first they will lose this game". I had to concur that he was right on the money and sure enough Windsor started to push back and that was pretty much it.

I was glad we made it to the finals though, it was just too bad we may have had to play against one of the greatest Junior teams of all time. In my mind Windsor is as good as those Kamloops teams and they could very well be back here for a third time next year. The OHL was plain stupid not awarding Windsor the Host team as it would have been a Public relations dream.

Yes Goaltending was the achilles heel. I feel bad for DeSerres and Hayes. But neither could step up when we needed them to and steal us a game. I know we all belabored this fact all year long but really the Only guys I wanted are pretty much untradeable in Jones and Pickard. The next 2 best were Kuemper from Red Deer. I talked to a scout at the Brandon/Moncton game that said Brandon had put in offer for Kuemper + Archer for Depape, Swyripa and Fransoo. But Red Deer was looking to rebuild they think they can win next season. He also mentioned that before the Hamonic deal Eberle/Tuebert should and would have been on their way to Brandon for Picks + Prospects + Glennie but the Regina GM nixed the deal at the last moment. I wonder what are lineup would have been like with Kuemper,Archer,Teubert and Eberle in it. But that is the general failing the WHL has to the OHL/QMJHL teams do not like to load up other teams and I think it is a big issue and will be in the future.


Now as for next season. Talking with a few people has lead me to believe a few things.

1. Glennie might very well be traded before next season starts. I am not sure what his off ice issues are but they seem to be getting in the way of what should be a very talented and important part of the team. It would not shock me to see him traded out west to Tri-City/Portland. Both those teams will be thinking they can make a run and Glennie SHOULD help them both.

2. Schenn. If the above happens I would suspect that Schenn will get traded at some point as well. I can see him heading back home to Saskatoon to help them make a run at the Championship. Both Trades would help us net some really good 16/17 year olds,prospects and draft picks.

3. Wiebe,Bestland and Toews will be our 20 year olds. It sure seems like Toews will be coming here.

4. Walker,Ferland,Sinatynski and Ciarelli will all double there point totals next season. Again the scout I talked to was very pleased at how good Walker and Ferland looked.

5. Liam Liston will be the real deal. You don't get invited to Team Canada without a good reason. He is the ONLY goalie from the west invited to the u18's. He was by all accounts the best midget goalie in Alberta and won the Best Goalie award.

6. We have some really good prospects on the way.

Jason Swrypia - Great year in Midget. Was one of the last cuts this year and was devasted to go back. Kudos to him though as he played great. Was named Tournament MVP of the Mac's Midget hockey Tournament. He is alot like Fehr/Lewadniuk in style.

Jens Meuiller - Played Junior A in WayWay this season. Put up good numbers for a 16 year old similar to Walkers year in Portage. Good size and a good skater. Step in and fill a bottom 6 role next season. Played at the u17's this year for team west

Austin Lewis - Little dynamo of a player. Local kid and I wonder if he could be the next "Matt Calvert". Be an interesting summer if he can add some height and strength. Played for team West at the u17s.

Eric Roy - Think Mike Green. Fantastic skater and can really dangle, it is just too bad he plays defense Good size at 6'2 already he will be a nice replacement for Robak and future 1st round pick.

Dylan Kuczek - Here is a kid that got messed around with by the Winnipeg Thrashers for most of the year. He should have been playing AAA midget instead they cut him and said him back to Bantam AAA. The deal is he is a big mean kid who loves to hit,scrap and is not bad with the puck. He is alot like Miller but probably better with the puck. If he can come to camp strong he has a shot at sticking. Played for Team Manitoba at the u16s this year

Dakota Conroy - Oh boy did we get a steal here. He was ranked to go in the first and fell all the way to the third and into our laps. Why? Well he was small but he grew and he is probably around 6'2 and he can skate and loves to score. I can see this guy scoring alot of goals for us in a year or 2.

Tyrel Seaman - Very good midget season for the Mintos. Tyrel really looked good in the playoffs when I saw him play. He is a tall lanky kid already and is really smooth and a good skater. I really think there is a spot for him this year on this team.

Brendan Harms - Speed demon winger had a great season in Midget AAA. He is small too but plays like Matt Calvert as well. If he can grow an inch or two and add some weight he could surprise people at camp. Played for Team Manitoba at the u16's this year.

[Allin44]

Joe, rumor has it you are buying the WKs? :P

Here is my take on next year

20's
Bestland, Toews, Wiebe

DeSerres plays somewhere in the Philly system
Hayes gets shipped off
Raedeke plays pro
Robak/Hamonic turn pro
Hale/Schneider - traded or released(likely released)
Urbom - Goes Pro
Rajala - Serves his 6 months in the army joins the Oilers AHL team after Christmas.


Returning Forwards
Glennie - Schenn - Toews
Ferland - Walker - Stone
? - Wiebe - ?
****ed after this

Dmen

Melnychuk - Bestland(yikes)
Miller - Fransoo
Euro - Rookie

Goalie
Liston
Euro

At the deadline Brandon trades Schenn/Glennie.

I'd assume each could garner something like a
17 yr old Forward
2 Firsts
Prospect

With that kind of return the WKs could very well be a contender the next two years with a core of Stone, Walker, Ferland, Miller and whatever prospects and proven players they get in return.

[Allin44]

Also, this really stuck with me.. I was at training camp and Kelly was talking with Chewy(I think it was Chewy, maybe it was Ritchie but I digress)

KM: "Just had a chat with Ferland"
DG: "what did he have to say"
KM: "that he really wanted to be a Brandon Wheat King this year"

Kid went out there and proved it

[Joe Hallenback]

Mike Green played liked he does in the NHL. More as a rover and not as a straight D man. In fact I think he was worse in the WHL if I remember correctly. Not that that was a bad thing just different. I think Roy is similar and it probably has to do with not playing any real organized hockey till he was 14.

I thought his foot speed was very good for a 15 year old. I find kids that age that are growing still have a time were they need to adjust and for me at least it wasn't that much of an issue. I think he really came on strong in the playoffs and by all accounts only Morgan Reilly was better offensively(and I am talking about 15 year olds in AAA midget Sask last year)

He is not as refined as some prospects but that raw talent is there. Be interesting to see him in camp next year.

[Jimbo24]

After watching Schenn play this past week he will be back next year. In the biggest tournament of his life so far he showed up to play in one game. That is not good enough to make the show. Plus LA is too deep for him to make it.