Central Division

[Oh-Vee]

Last night I took a quick look at the rosters of the other 4 teams in the Central to see how we stack up and who will not be back this year. I have no "inside" information so if any thing that any one could add would be great.

Calgary
It looks to me like Ladd and Getzlaf are gone. I can't see those guys not sticking with at the very least the AHL. Pushkarev is a 20 year old and could be back but if not those three provided a lot of offence.

The D in Calgary is huge and I think will be key to thier success this year. Does anyone know if Schultz will be back? Pogge is pretty solid in net but he does make a lot of mistakes with the puck.

Lethbridge
To me this looks like a team in trouble. Seabrook is likely gone. Sorchan is gone and thier are rumours of a bunch of guys wanting out (Versteeg is among the rumoured). It seems like no one likes the coaching staff. Looks like a young team and goals will be at a premium. It will be interesting to see if Yellowhorn can follow up his break out year.

Red Deer
Picked up a decent marketing guy. How do you replace 35 - 40 minutes a game on defence? The offence will have to be by commitee as I see no one who can jump in and score 30. Solid in net with Andrew Leslie.

Medicine Hat
I think that they will be the team to beat in the East this year. McCarther and Meyer will be difficult to replace but Barker and Russell are both fantastic D-men. I think Russell would have been a top 10 NHL pick this year if he were bigger.

Should be fun to watch.

[D.A.]

Red Deer: No one that can score 30? Wick had 32 last year - he's gotta have a good shot at it. Also look for Rome and Walker to get 20+. Look for Hansen and Mihalik to log a bunch of icetime on D, which should mostly cover off the time that Dion spent there, if not the talent. Look for the Rebels to finish about the same as last year.

[Oh-Vee]

Red Deer: No one that can score 30? Wick had 32 last year - he's gotta have a good shot at it. Also look for Rome and Walker to get 20+. Look for Hansen and Mihalik to log a bunch of icetime on D, which should mostly cover off the time that Dion spent there, if not the talent. Look for the Rebels to finish about the same as last year.

Your right DA, I completly missed Wick. Rome seems to have the tools to be an impact player at this level but for whatever reason has not put up the numbers. I admit that I don't know much about Walker.

I never expect a team coached by a Sutter to do poorly (Chicago was the exception). I agree that the Rebels will be very competitive next year. I think that it will have to take a special season from a lot of players for them to compete with the Tigers for first in the Division however.

But then what do I know.

[Toswammi]

Well, there wil be no huge powerhouse this year, at least not on paper. Every team has weaknesses that they need to suer up before the season starts, so this could be a wide open division this year and be really competitive or it could be like the east last year. We will have to wait to see i guess.

[Broncs in RD]

Wick will be huge this year. He is an amazing player. Walker was huge for them in the strech last year. Rome great two way player along with pieper. they got a pretty good D. It will be underrated this year, because of Dion leaving, but they brought in Hansen. Mihalik,they have frere, lameroux and kurceba. Pretty good 5. Great tending in Leslie. With a work ethic like Sutters they will be still tough to beat.

[Broncs in RD]

If the Broncos can score goals this year they will give any team a run. Great goaltending and pretty good D it seems.

[Hockey101]

i think the rebels will surprise some people in the whl this season, and sutter in chicago needed one more and things would have taken off for that team

[Hitmen1]

I still like the Tigers right now, but I do think this division will be very competitive. As for the Hitmen Getzlaf and Ladd will not return, Getzlaf may even make the Ducks lineup out of training camp. Pushy will not be back, I see him with Kings AHL team, the Hitmen have 2 new Euros in camp this year, you can read more on them in the article I posted in the Hitmen forum. I think Schultz will be back and I agree, the defence is the strength of the Hitmen this season, it will be alot of scoring by committee imo.