2013/14 Regular Season

[Sttop]

Nice pickup . leverton will be a nice 3rd or 2nd liner that works hard...hopefully its contagious

[puckdad]

I liked this kid when he played for the Saskatoon Contacts as a 15-year-old. He should be happy playing a little closer to home. Without seeing him play this year, it should be a good trade. We got a little older, but a picked up a player with 2 years WHL experience. Lethbridge seems to be stock-piling a good pool of young talent.

[jkanes]

What can Raiders fans tell us about Spencer Meyer? Can't seem to find much about him on the internet...

[Wapitikev]

I liked this kid when he played for the Saskatoon Contacts as a 15-year-old. He should be happy playing a little closer to home. Without seeing him play this year, it should be a good trade. We got a little older, but a picked up a player with 2 years WHL experience. Lethbridge seems to be stock-piling a good pool of young talent.

Lethbridge needs all the help they can get.

Leverton seems like a decent player on an average squad...could definitely blossom with better linemates this year...Reid Gardiner seems to think he can play.

Does he play bigger than his 5'10?

Plus, I could be wrong, but wouldn't a bus with half of Debden in it pull up whenever Lethbridge played us? I'm sure it wasn't a factor in the trade but it likely means more than a few new season tickets from up that way.

Which just adds more motivation to play hard.

I liked Spencer (I sat in front of his dad during a few of the camp scrimages) but this has a ton of potential to be a good trade for the team.

And probably for Spencer too...hope he sticks with the Canes this season.

-Wapitikev

[Wapitikev]

What can Raiders fans tell us about Spencer Meyer? Can't seem to find much about him on the internet...

Spencer has decent hands, good speed, works hard and isn't afraid to check and play in the corners. He also has an extremely interesting presentation prior to throwing punches in a fight...you'll see what I mean.

He improved a fair bit in the PIJHL last season and showed well at Raiders camp this year. He's going to be a good player as he continues to develop.

But the Raiders are pretty deep at Spencer's age, with 4 17yo forwards still on our roster heading into the regular season (two whl veterans from last season, a local favourite and a taller/bigger version of Spencer). Not to forget Passlot(17), who could make the team next fall, after finishing high school in Minnesota this year.

Spencer was the odd-17yo out when camp ended. His stats are here:

We have only 2 18yo forwards on our current roster though, and one may be in the NHL next fall, so adding Leverton (also a local fan favourite) makes sense from an age-bracket standpoint.

What did you think of Leverton's play in Lethbridge?

The new logo is a big improvement, by the way...never liked the "Hurrjcanes" graphic.

-Wapitikev

[here for the long run]

Spencer has decent hands, good speed, works hard and isn't afraid to check and play in the corners. He also has an extremely interesting presentation prior to throwing punches in a fight...you'll see what I mean.

He improved a fair bit in the PIJHL last season and showed well at Raiders camp this year. He's going to be a good player as he continues to develop.

But the Raiders are pretty deep at Spencer's age, with 4 17yo forwards still on our roster heading into the regular season (two whl veterans from last season, a local favourite and a taller/bigger version of Spencer). Not to forget Passlot(17), who could make the team next fall, after finishing high school in Minnesota this year.

Spencer was the odd-17yo out when camp ended. His stats are here:

We have only 2 18yo forwards on our current roster though, and one may be in the NHL next fall, so adding Leverton (also a local fan favourite) makes sense from an age-bracket standpoint.

What did you think of Leverton's play in Lethbridge?

The new logo is a big improvement, by the way...never liked the "Hurrjcanes" graphic.

-Wapitikev

Craig never got the chance to succeed on our team. I think he has all the tools and desire but lacks the speed to be an elite talent.

[RandyJackson]

Is anyone else extremely nervous about our defense this year? We currently have 3 out of 8 defensemen that provide me with some sort of comfort when they're out on the ice- Morrissey, Morden, and Lange. Other than that things are shaky to say the least. Busenius looked good in preseason, but he's been known to be a defensive liability (as per last season). Andrlik has been all right, but he hasn't been anything spectacular by any means. Certainly not the big, shutdown d-man we desperately need in the absence of Ruopp. Guhle will develop into a solid blueliner, but will be prone to many errors this season while adjusting to the pace of the WHL. And Stewart and Dea are huge question marks every time they're on the ice. Christ, Stewart can barely skate. Other than the abundance of 19 year olds on the team right now, I'm really scratching my head wondering how Guenther got the axe. Not to mention that we have SEVEN! out of 8 lefties, with Lange being the only right-handed shot.

I'm trying not to be too cynical, seeing as Clouston's style is to have a complete defensive effort by all players on the ice, but I would be a lot more comfortable with at least one more solid shut down guy.

[BillyBean]

I am not sure that a quality shut down D man is available in the league right now for a reasonable price. If one was available it would be at an unreasonable price. Since the Raiders are seen to be the front-runners in the East division, no other GM from another team will do the Raiders any favors in terms of what this shut down D man will cost. As well, what assets would the Raiders nation be happy to give up to obtain this D man. The only valuable assets that the Raiders have is within their forward depth.

A more confusing element of the current roster is that the Raiders have 4 18-year-old D man on their roster. Andrlik will develop into a very good D man while Stewart and Dea I believe are significantly behind Morrissey and Andrlik in their future potential. Every team in the CHL has at least 2-3 16 and 17-year-olds on their D roster. The Raiders have one 16 yo and have no 17-year-old D men on their roster. This leaves a huge hole in the development of future D men. This roster decision is somewhat confusing as the Raiders appear to have done a good job with developing depth and taking young forward players on this year's roster.

I still believe that the key to Raiders success this year is engaging and activating Leon Draisaitl to have a very successful season. Winther, Hart, Braid, and Conroy are good starts. However, I believe Leon needs one more dynamic experienced 19 or 20 yo forward that can potentially put the puck in the net as well as create space for him utilizing speed.

I would take Morden, Dea, Stewart, and potentially one of the younger forwards such as Zaharichuk or Dylan Stewart and offer them up in a trade to acquire such a F and perhaps an 18 yo utility D man that is more skilled than Dea or Stewart. The Raiders could then bring up a 17-year-old D man such as Verral and potentially another 16 yo like Coghill for development. This would also allow the Raiders to play their top five remaining D men (Morrissey, Busenius, Lange, Andrlik, and Guhle) with significantly more minutes.

I believe the Raiders roster will be modified by 3 to 4 players after the first 5 to 10 games of the regular season.

[puckdad]

Starting Lineup;
Conroy-Draisaitel-Braid
Winther-Hart-Gardiner
Perreaux-Danyluk-Leverton
Quinney-Gennaro-Vanstone

Busenius-Lange
Morden-Andrlik
Stewart-Guhle

Chevy
McBride

[puckdad]

New Unis look good