2017 Off Season

[booboo]

I agree Moose Jaw should be good, Whilms will struggle with young d core but team should still battle for top in east. The Pats will buy a good team for the Memorial Cup but may start out of the gate really slow. I think the Blades will compete with Swift for 3rd in the Division. Brandon will come in 4th and PA will still be rebuilding. The Brandon players quit on the coach after Xmas and they will struggle this year again. I think Patrick will be dealt at the trade deadline.

You have first hand knowledge that the team quit on the coach after Xmas or are you basing this on the team's play after Xmas? The coach is here for another year so the boys need to suck it up and play their best for the crest on their chest. I will admit the coaching had me scratching my head last year, but hopefully he has learned enough to be better this year. We had 3 rookie coaches last year so no excuses this year. I feel we just do not have a good enough team to hang out with the top dogs on the East. We were a 500 team last year. Where do you think we will finish this year with PA, Sask, being better and the other 3 will lead the division. If Patrick was to come back with the right attitude then we would be in the mix for the top 3 in the division. With the glut of 20' s in the league this year, we may be better off to trade Jensen for a good forward.

[Kirmel]

I disagree about trading Jensen . I think he's a important piece . He brings some physicality to the back end that is needed. I'm never a fan of a 20 year old goalie. But they have no choice as there is no other option . I thought they would have been better last year then they were .so maybe they will surprise us this year . I Also think they are going to see a major improvement in Bukac this year . He looked brutal to start the year . I actually thought at one point they would send him home I thought he was that bad . But he came back after Xmas like a whole different player . I also think the 2 rookies coming in will make a impact right away . It is the offence I'm not sure of . If they can land a impact import forward and Patrick comes back like you say with a good attitude this season could be alright .

[Clark3]

This is where i differ from some of you . If and i say if patrick comes back it would be for one more year only. With him and a couple good ready to play now euro,s we could be a 3 or 4 place team at best for next year and we would miss our opportunity for the reload. I personally do not see a top 2 finish for us no matter what way we slice the pie so would rather see a dramatic reload and a serious run in another 2 or 3 years.

[booboo]

This is where i differ from some of you . If and i say if patrick comes back it would be for one more year only. With him and a couple good ready to play now euro,s we could be a 3 or 4 place team at best for next year and we would miss our opportunity for the reload. I personally do not see a top 2 finish for us no matter what way we slice the pie so would rather see a dramatic reload and a serious run in another 2 or 3 years.

I totally agree with you. But Bukac will be one of our imports this year, so we need to draft only one. No matter how you look at this year, we are NOT contenders, so in the team's best interest for the future we need to divest ourselves of our older assets to speed up the rebuild.

[olwpgjet]

With a team in our own division, having a berth in Memorial Cup,(Regina) , we know they are going to load up from somewhere, whether us or elsewhere. It will be extremely tough this year to get out of our own division(even plugging a few holes with a couple trades to move up) even though we probably do have a playoff eligible , middle of the pack to good type of team for next year. I would be more apt to agree with posters saying if the opportunity came to pillage Regina to set up stronger future years,we should go for it. What we could get for Patrick, possibly Clague should amount to a King's ransom but only IF the right deal is there. Whether we see Patrick or not is another question, but with all the injury problems he has had over the past year, you would think another year of junior might be beneficial to truly dominate the league this year. He did have games where he dominated but many games where he did not as well at least to the normal degree that an expected 1st overall draft pick would dominate.

I agree with alot of what you say Kirmel. I like having a big physical dman (Jensen) in front of our net, something that has been somewhat lacking too often on recent wheat king teams.
Also agree on Bukac last season, was not really impressed with him at all in the first half but thought he was a pretty good dman for us by the end of the season. If I recall, I think he was a scratch for some of our last playoff games which indicated to me that we had already conceded the series and that giving playing time to the new rookies was a higher priority than actually trying to win which was another questionable coaching decision in my mind. Don't get me wrong, I am really looking forward to watching Schneider play this year but in the biggest games of the season , do you play the raw rookie with no experience or the rookie that has played all season and improved in spades all season. I'm not sure Bukac would have been my pick as the scratch either but probably a pretty close call.
I don't like carrying the 20 year old goalie either but I do think Thompson will be good and don't see any alternative at the moment either. Perhaps that will change and we can deal Thompson but not seeing that option at the moment.

[JoeHallenback]

Heard from a friend who works for the Wheat Kings that the Pats are quietly poking around asking about Clague,Kaspick and the rights to Patrick next season. Possibility of them offering Muir,Paddock and draft picks in return.

[CasualFan]

Heard from a friend who works for the Wheat Kings that the Pats are quietly poking around asking about Clague,Kaspick and the rights to Patrick next season. Possibility of them offering Muir,Paddock and draft picks in return.

I have to wonder about all this talk of the Pats trying to pick up Clague and/or Bean. On the surface, they seem like no-brainers. But dig a little deeper and you have to wonder if they really need more players in the vein of Mahura and Davidson (players that are small/play small, think all offense, and can't play defense in their own end to save their lives). What happens when Mahura, Clague, and Bean are all competing for PP time? I can think of one off the top of my head that will quickly become pouty and darned near useless in any situation if it isn't him. And there is no doubt that both Clague and Bean are a huge step backwards defensively from Hobbs and Zborovsky. Pats fans cried about their team's inability to deal with the size of Seattle's defense in the league championship. I don't think Clague and Bean are going to replicate that...

Kaspick would be a huge improvement over Sloboshan. Not sure he'd make it much higher up the depth chart on the Pats to be honest...this isn't Brandon we're talking about anymore.

And the synergy between Patrick and Steel, two players who are known to make their line-mates better, would be something to see. Might do Patrick some good motivation-wise to have a teammate give him some competition for the spotlight as well.

[CasualFan]

With respect to the other posts in this thread regarding the Wheaties potential roster/lines/playoff potential next season, I'll come back and post my thoughts when I'm done rolling on the floor laughing about what's already been posted.

[sbtatter]

Heard from a friend who works for the Wheat Kings that the Pats are quietly poking around asking about Clague,Kaspick and the rights to Patrick next season. Possibility of them offering Muir,Paddock and draft picks in return.

I think there would have to be a lot more than Muir and Paddock, maybe Regina's first picks in the 2019 and 2020 draft, and a serviceable forward for the next two years
I have no problem trading Clague, he just hasn't been an impact player in my mind, I'm sure it's in him, but not delivered for Brandon so far. kaspick, i never would have traded him before, but I felt he let himself down last season, too many poor penalties, too many lacklustre efforts, and very injury prone, I'm not convinced the Blues sign him, so there would have to be something additional in the trade in case he returns as a 20
Nolan Patrick was an enigma to me last season, I'm not convinced he wanted to play in Brandon, and he certainly wasn't the same player upon his January return. Like Clague, i think he has it in him to dominate, but maybe not in Brandon. I'd trade his rights to Portland or kelowna, but the payback better be good. I thought it was very telling he didn't dress for the playoffs, didn't return to the ice until after the trade deadline, and Kaspick got the C in the playoffs
I don't think Brandon has a hope in hell of winning the playoffs next season with MJ and regina in the same division, so would like to build around the 16's, but keep enough veterans around to look after the kids this season
And I really believe the coaches, along with the on ice leadership group set a very poor example last season, I hope everyone's attitude, discipline and demeanour improves or it will be another long season. My expectation is for a .500 season, and trade away at Xmas to build for the next three years

[booboo]

Agree with your expectations for the team this year. Cannot beat MJ or REG and will probably have trouble beating SC, PA and even SASK. Agree we see how things play out until the trade deadline and then trade away assets for younger players and draft picks. I guess the team could surprise if last year's players all take a step forward and Patrick is sent back to Junior. Defence and goaltending should be strong----lacking some offence up front unless some of last year's players improve a lot with more opportunities this year. Am looking forward to the future with Schneider, Selame, Iorio, Kehrer, and Zayat on defence. Some great potential here.