Start of the season

[Rebelsfan13]

The Rebels had a good start to the season until they went on the road to Calgary. That game was awful. If it were the old days I am sure Sutter would have had them keep their equipment on for the bus ride home. I get they were coming off a game the night before but they looked beat out there, couldn't win a single battle and couldn't hit a fly. The only player from my perspective that was noticeable the entire game was Mpofu.

[peatfan]

Yes I agree that Mpofu was the most noticeable Rebel. Pawlenchuk & Dixon also had good moments but overall a bad showing by Red Deer. Especially Bartosak who let in two bad goals.
Yeah I could see Coach Sutter making the players to keep their uniforms on. Still the best coach in junior hockey and I'm sur ethe next visit here will be a closer games (with the Hitmen still winning)

[JMoney1988]

Tough loss for you guys tonight, quick question, did anyone catch the Valcourt incident and was it bad or did he do accidental contact?
Thanks for the info

[SectionNDeserter]

Tough loss for you guys tonight, quick question, did anyone catch the Valcourt incident and was it bad or did he do accidental contact?
Thanks for the info

He probably could have passed it off as accidental contact if he hadn't raised his knee up to make sure he caught Bartosak in the head, I assume that is where the major came into play.

It is really going to change the team's direction (as it did two years ago) if Bartosak is out for any length of time.

[JMoney1988]

Okay, so would that a suspendable offense, but hopefully he is alright and comes back soon

[calcheyup]

Aside from some brief stretches, this season has been an unmitigated disaster. Clearly nobody expected this team to be competing in the top echelon of the conference, but trailing the likes of Kootenay, Regina, Brandon, and even PA is just unacceptable given what this roster is capable of. Take away Bartosak, and we're looking at the Lethbridge Hurricanes out there. Awful home losses to Brandon and Moose Jaw recently after playing their best game of the year vs Calgary and stealing one from Edmonton. This team is nowhere near good enough to be able to take a club like the Warriors (or the Hurricanes for that matter) for granted and still win. Some really abhorrent efforts against Lethy this year too now that I think of it.

At the start of the year I felt that the Rebels would be in a similar position as last year, the 4-5 range. It's still possible, obviously, but not with the inconsistency they are playing with. They are even more (!!) reliant on Bartosak than last year, and if he has anything but his absolute best game you can pretty much chalk it up as a loss. If this continues towards the deadline, I'm totally in favor of Brent getting what he can for Bartosak and, to a lesser extent, Dieno, and look ahead to next season. If they can get a decent goalie for next year and shore up the back end, there's no reason why this couldn't be a very, very dangerous club in the next couple years with the talent a Bartosak/Dieno trade could potentially bring back and the young talent on the roster right now.

[SectionNDeserter]

At the start of the year I felt that the Rebels would be in a similar position as last year, the 4-5 range.

I had that feeling at the end of last season, and thought they could even improve on that when I heard that Los Angeles was returning Bartosak. Once training camp was over, and the roster started to take shape with a dozen first-year players on it, it was clear that the management had different plans. I don't think they are doing too badly given that they have had ten to twelve rookies in the lineup on any given night, and are the youngest team in the WHL at the moment. I think the fans however were hoping that Sutter would make some deals to make the team a little older in the offseason/early in the season.

If this continues towards the deadline, I'm totally in favor of Brent getting what he can for Bartosak and, to a lesser extent, Dieno, and look ahead to next season.

Not really a big market for overage import goaltenders. All of the contending teams have solid goaltending and/or three solid overage players and/or two solid imports. The only team that I believe would have any interest in Bartosak would be Prince Albert (as they still seem to think they are contenders this season). I didn't like the look of Dieno's injury last night, and it could be hard to trade him, if he is out for a while.

If they can get a decent goalie for next year and shore up the back end, there's no reason why this couldn't be a very, very dangerous club in the next couple years with the talent a Bartosak/Dieno trade could potentially bring back and the young talent on the roster right now.

They do need a starting goaltender for next season, or at least someone that can split games with Burman to take some heat off of him. As it sits, there is a good chance that Bear or Dixon are on the second pairing next season based on projected subtractions from the roster. I'll just let that sink in...

[calcheyup]

I had that feeling at the end of last season, and thought they could even improve on that when I heard that Los Angeles was returning Bartosak. Once training camp was over, and the roster started to take shape with a dozen first-year players on it, it was clear that the management had different plans. I don't think they are doing too badly given that they have had ten to twelve rookies in the lineup on any given night, and are the youngest team in the WHL at the moment. I think the fans however were hoping that Sutter would make some deals to make the team a little older in the offseason/early in the season.

They've been forced to play a lot more rookies lately, but honestly at the beginning of the season I felt like Maxwell, Dieno, Sutter, Volek, Bleackley, Bellerive would be a pretty decent top 6 to reckon with. As well, I didn't expect Fafs and Gaudet to fall apart at the seams and cave in this defensive group.

Not really a big market for overage import goaltenders. All of the contending teams have solid goaltending and/or three solid overage players and/or two solid imports. The only team that I believe would have any interest in Bartosak would be Prince Albert (as they still seem to think they are contenders this season).

Obviously those are mitigating factors, but there's gotta still be interest out there. This is the CHL goalie of the year we're talking about.

They do need a starting goaltender for next season, or at least someone that can split games with Burman to take some heat off of him. As it sits, there is a good chance that Bear or Dixon are on the second pairing next season based on projected subtractions from the roster. I'll just let that sink in...

I really, really hope that doesn't happen, and knowing Brent he is probably not going to roll with that. Gaudet may stick around in an overage role but Fafs will be the odd man out.

Again, this club isn't winning the Dub anytime soon, but I have a hard time believing they won't be significantly better in a couple of years as their youngsters progress. Outside of the obvious (Bleacks and Fleury) you've got Musil, Pawlenchuk, and Mpofu who are all legit WHLers at their age, and guys like Polei and even Chorney who are definitely showing signs that they could be solid contributors in the coming years. Of course, all that hinges on the big IF - is Burman going to be a respectable Dub starter and/or can they get one, and can Sutter address the back end. If neither of those things happen, it won't matter how well that forward group progresses.

As for this year, up front there's no way this isn't a better squad than last year's on paper. Elson was a huge loss, obviously, and yes the points that Hamilton and Ness provided add up. But Hamilton got pushed around by every team that had any decent sized defensemen and Ness wasn't a huge loss. Unfortunately, Sutter has been a bust, Maxwell looks like he hasn't improved at all, Dieno's slumped, Volek played 20 games before he decided to be effective, and although I wasn't expecting 30 goals I had hoped Wyatt Johnson would provide a bit more offense than last year. Defensively the play of Fafard and Gaudet has been a huge let down and really hurt the club.

You have some good points, but there's no way you believe this club should be in 9th place, trailing the likes of Kootenay and Regina.

[SectionNDeserter]

You have some good points, but there's no way you believe this club should be in 9th place, trailing the likes of Kootenay and Regina.

Sutter should have made some moves to add some experience to the roster during the offseason, even just depth guys. First few weeks of the season, they were dressing eleven rookies at times. Lines that have three or four rookies on them statistically don't maintain a lot of puck possession, and that is an area they have struggled in.

Kootenay has solid goaltending in Skapski, and boasts a more experienced blueline, projected first overall NHL draft selection Sam Reinhart, and they added 90 point import Tim Bozon early on. They have played three more games than Red Deer, and yet they have only a few more points. I would be quite dissatisfied if I were a Kootenay fan.

Regina made some nice deals earlier in the season, grabbing the tenacious Boston Leier and shutdown man Jesse Zgraggen, that turned their season around, at least until recently. They are also only a few points ahead of Red Deer, and have played two more games. They had a slow start, and they dropped two overage players, and added two big upgrades on them, and fought their way back into playoff contention. I would be quite satisfied if I were a Regina fan.

Red Deer so far this season has traded for Victoria's #7 defenseman (Dixon) and picked up an injured energy forward that has yet to play, and a project power forward in Polei as well as calling up a few 15 year old APs to cover injuries/tournaments. I think this experience is going to help some of these rookies moving forwards, but when the opening night roster had ten rookies on it lets just say that I tempered my expectations a little bit. Overall, I wouldn't say that I am disappointed or ecstatic about their performance so far--they are about where I figured they would be.

[calcheyup]

Agree to disagree then. Red Deer has the best goaltender in the Dub and a collection of talent just as good as their 4th place club from last year, so I'm not going to sit here and say I expect nor accept 9th place - this team should be a middle-of-the-pack club. The fact that so many guys have underperformed and they are still 4 points out of 5th place in the EC validates that. These guys get healthy and start playing with a little consistency and I think it will come out in the wash that they are a lot better than they have shown so far this year.