With thirteen games left in the 2017-18 CCHL Regular Season for the Dayton Musicmen, here are a few observations for the hometown team:
Oscar Sundqvist sustained a severely sprained left knee early in the first period against the Hammerheads. The trainers told the media after the game last night this season is over. "Its sprained so bad that we'll need to wait for the swelling to go down, which will probably take the better part of a week. If there's ligament damage, then we'll decide whether rehab or surgery would be the best way to go. If there's not, I'm told it'd be smart to stay off skates for at least a month and work on strengthening the entire knee over the summer." said Sundqvist. Either way, he should be fully ready to go for next season.
Sundqvist joins Mark Stuart who is also injured and will not return this season as Musicmen who won't be seeing any game action the rest of this season. Likewise, Jared Coreau, Jason Dickinson, Carter Rowney, Zach Sanford and Tomas Nosek have each hit their team imposed game limits to avoid paying a full season of salary.
Other players who will not be returning include Mikhail Grigorenko (not on next disk), John Mitchell (not on next disk), Adam Cracknell (probably not on next disk), Drew Stafford and Matt Irwin (both are UFA's, Irwin - who is currently running away with the shot block lead after post SIX blocks against Halifax last night - may be of interest to some other team or if Dayton trades pending UFA goalie Mike Smith, would then be a possible resign. Likewise, pending RFA's Phil DiGiuseppe, Reid Boucher, Luca Sbisa and Matt Tennyson don't appear to be in the plans for next season.
DiGiuseppe and Boucher have shown next to nothing this season in limited time in the NHL and are probably watching their last serious shot at the big show fade away forever. Tennyson went through the same thing earlier in the year for Buffalo and has been in Rochester ever since late October. Sbisa is an interesting case. His $4M/yr. contract expires after this season in Vegas and he will be a UFA. The word from the Musicmen front office is that while they all like Sbisa as a player, no one seems interested in playing him $4M let alone what his new salary might be after he signs a new deal in the NHL.
The 18-19 Dayton blueline projects to be: Girardi, Del Zotto, Barberio, Ruhwedal and rookies Travis Sanheim and Robert Hagg. After those six, DAY seems likely to pursue 3 lower end dmen with good games played, affordable contracts and reasonable job security to start next season with.
Next year's forwards look to be: Ryan, Comeau, McAnn, Janmark, Nosek, Mitchell, Archibald, Sundqvist, Pyatt and rookie forwards Christian Fischer and Luke Kunin. From that group of eleven, look for between 3-4 2nd/3rd line types to be targeted in UFA, again with good games played, affordable contracts and reasonable job security to start next season with.
If Dayton resigns Mike Smith, he's their unquestioned #1 goalie, with Subban and Brossoit as the backups. If Dayton trades Smith and gets a goalie in return, whoever comes over in that deal would likely be the presumptive #1 guy. If Smith leaves via trade or UFA and no other goalie is on board by the time the UFA bidding begins, the 'Men will likely target one of the following group of UFA goaltenders: Lehtonen, Khudobin, Montoya, Neuvirth, Varlamov or Pavelec. Most like, Mike Smith returns to Dayton for another few years until the new blood arrives.
Of the 13 remaining games, 7 are at home (NIA, OTT, FOR, SEA, DRT, HAL & CGY) with 6 games left on the road (CGY, PAR, POR, WIS, NIA & OTT.)
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