Originally Posted by
sbtatter
As far as I can remember we brought back 8 forwards and 5 dmen and 1 goalie from the season before the mem cup. Then we added Deserres, hamonic, Wiebe, raedeke, Urbom and Rajala, ferland, walker, and that team was good enough to win the Mem Cup if Windsor hadn't been so stacked ( we did beat both other teams at Men Cup).
To answer Curwie, the players we brought over from the squad in 08/09 to the mem cup team were playing in the following age groups (not including goalies) in the mem cup year
17's Stone
18's Schenn, Glennie, Melnychuk, Ciarelli, Miller
18's Robak, Bestland, Hale, Schneider
20's Fehr, Lewadniuk, calvert.
IMO, at the mem cup it's no point having fighters/tough guys if they can't play a solid game (re, Hale). They may help you through the season, but at the Mem Cup, you have to be able to contribute. Lower level players for us who got shown up were hayes, bestland, miller, hale, schneider.
I think the Blades have a tonne of work to do, many of your current players just aren't good enough, so you need to replace them as well as bring in the stars that you need. Once again, not a jab, just how it looks from the outside. I don't think you had any players make the all star teams or win league awards did you? Guys like Benson need to be traded, or take a 3rd or 4th line role.