2019-2020 - September & October Games - Cheers to a new Season

[chopper]

They have needed some more veteran depth on D from the beginning of the season if they were serious about trying to make a push for a playoff spot. It's ludicrous under those circumstances to add two more rookies to an already too young d-corps. Wytinick is a solid if not spectacular addition. Right now the Pats need any help they can muster. About anything else they can do is rearrange the chairs on the deck of the Titanic.

They have no talent much to deal with, although probably Jan 10th a few pieces will move. They obviously can't give up any more top picks when they are short some as soon a next draft The Alkhimov/Holt/Guschin thing has been a colossal failure at so many levels, and it's an ugly look that management doesn't wear well. Management hasn't been able to recruit a lot of the top talent they have drafted or listed, especially USA kids. If they're long-shots then draft them in the 9th or 10th round? Don't use up 3rd and 4th round picks. They shouldn't be given passes for their inability to get it done. Hamilton in Kelowna got his man Pavel Novak (taken after Guschin). When I last checked he was the leading rookie scorer. You either get er done or you don't. There are no great young forwards on stream next season, with some hedging on reporting. Guschin and Smilanic are just a pipe dream…never going to happen. Bank on it.

You can't blame the kids. The 3rd and 4th line talent for not being able to do the things Brooks, Steel, Wagner could do. In most good years here and on most teams anywhere else now, a lot of these guys wouldn't be in the WHL. We got 3rd line talent attempting to be 1st and 2nd line players. They just can't do it. The bench looks dead and they don't seem to be responding to the coaching. With all the young d-men it's hard to understand why a dedicated d-coach wasn't hired to work with them and be on the bench working during games.

Now the Holt experiment will go down as one of the huge recent blunders. The start which is worse than last year has effectively taken them out of any possibility of making the playoffs. They would need to play around 600+ hockey the rest of the way and this group doesn't have the talent to do it. If reports are correct once Holt is gone, they will need another forward. Another rookie…Paulhus maybe or do they try to find a little untapped talent somewhere. Maybe using one of the extra d-men they will have once Sedov returns in a couple weeks. JP likes those untapped potential types but unlike Leedahl, they don't have much if any offensive magic around them to help boost individual stats.

Sadly this fiasco is likely to last at least four years and maybe longer. Anybody drafted this last draft are two to three years away from being difference makers. Kids drafted next draft will be even further away. Outside of Swift I don't know of any other team that has had to go through this, and why would we want to compare ourselves to them? PA didn't falter this year and look to be good for a long while. Red Deer hasn't missed the playoffs since they hosted in 2016. Since Portland was in the Memorial Cup about nine years ago they have finished with at least 40 wins (sometimes nearly 50) every season but one and never missed the playoffs. Some things just become very obvious.

[dsquared]

Alao can the moderators or administer do something about these pop up ads?

My 5 cents

[Reider]

Vancouver Giants 4
Regina Pats 2

The outcome wasn't a surprise, but the game was definitely closer than one may have predicted, as it was a 3-2 game with 3 minutes left in the 3rd period. The Pats worked hard most of the game and out shot the Giants 36-29, but were only able to score 2 goals. Ryker Evans and Cole Dubinsky both scored their first goals of the year. Zach Wytinck played his first game in a Pats uniform and looked decent. He made a nice play to set Ty Kolle up in front of the net, but Kolle couldn't put it in the back of the net. The Pats were able to draw 6 penalties, but were not able to score any goals on the power play. At the same time, the Pats took zero penalties, which was fantastic. I can't remember the last time the Pats played an entire game without taking any penalties. If they keep working hard and staying out of the penalty box, they should be able to win some games. However, it is still very apparent that the Pats need some high end scoring, to not only score more goals 5 on 5, but to also take advantage of their power play opportunities. They did have some other good scoring chances throughout the game, but were unable to capitalize on them (Kolle, Massier, Stanick etc.). Vancouver was able to capitalize on a couple of Pats' turnovers and that was the difference in the game.

The ugly side to this game is that it was the Pats' 8th loss in a row and they are now 1-8-0 and still have the worst record in the WHL.

[chopper]

Hey I most certainly agree that these pop-ups are a nuisance, and one hopes there are no viruses in them.....

1-9 doesn't look very good regardless what ones thoughts might be on this reload/rebuild or whatever you want to call it. It was suggested by one contributor here that we would be 5-8 by the 13 game mark. We already have more losses than that and it might be a good long while before we see 5 wins. We are currently on pace for a 10-12 win season. I think we are categorically worse than last season. It's almost impossible to blame the players for this mess. There weren't put in a situation where they could succeed.

In all fairness the past two games were a much better effort but it gets harder and harder. I have really liked Dubinsky's play lately and he is a key cog to the future. He has skills and hopefully they will place him in many opportunities to be successful. Time on the PP and think about elevating him to one of the top two lines. They need as much skill as they can muster. Massier has great speed and when he starts driving to the net he will make things happen. Wright has quietly climbed up the team scoring. However it's nearly impossible for career 3rd and 4th line talent to play meaningful minutes on the 1st and 2nd lines. Talent is still talent. Most nights we are only scoring perhaps 3 goals and on a great night we score 4, so we don't have much room for error. The only way to improve outcomes is to have improved play from our goal-tenders (whoever is in), D-men have to be more aggressive and make simple outlet passes, our forwards have to focus much more on getting more and quicker back pressure. The entire team has to begin playing a much more structured system with and emphasis on defense. I'm not entirely sure they have anyone who can implement a game plan like that which will give them a better chance to win, and crawl out of this funk.

I don't know for sure what the season will bring besides the obvious. Long losing streaks and repeated bad seasons can become a real big problem. They can breed a lot of problems in the dressing room and on the ice. Sadly this season is shaping up to be worse than last. That's not how they should be trending. If the losses mount and their record deteriorate further what will they do! It would be a source of bewilderment if things keep going poorly, and some measures weren't taken. I sure don't want to go through another 12 win season again.

[dsquared]

It would be a source of bewilderment if things keep going poorly, and some measures weren't taken. I sure don't want to go through another 12 win season again.

What measures could they take? Trading draft picks is what got us in this position. We are just starting to get our head above water with a good pick in 2020 (swift current) and our own in 2021. We could trade Pratt and Paddock but we would not receive much for them. There is nobody waiting in wings to join the team. We are going to have to endure this group for the rest of the season.

Someone mentioned that Portland was able to keep going to the playoffs year after year - keep in mind that they had lost several first round picks for spending/travel violations and were still able to make the playoffs.

[Reider]

TRADE: Pats trade forward Blake Allan to Calgary for 2020 Draft Pick

https://reginapats.com/article/trade...020-draft-pick

In the article it says there's a condition on the pick, which could upgrade it to a 7th round pick in 2020, but on the WHL Transactions page, it says the Pats receive an 8th round pick in 2020.

[Fight Guy]

It's an 8th round pick with a condition that could turn it into a 7th round pick...