There are two ways that one can look at the Loons inaugural CCHL season. A positive person would see the first place finish in the Corfield Conference, most wins in the CCHL and second most in points as a huge success - but I am not a positive person. Instead, I continue to dwell on the second round exit to the Falcons. A series that ended with a devastating game 7 overtime loss on home ice. Did I scratch the wrong player? Were my lines not optimal? Should I have leaned more heavily on my top lines? And then there is #GoalieGate. In the preseason we had picked the Falcons as the team we thought would represent the Corfield Conference in the Kehler Cup Finals. Admittedly, the Falcons are a more talented team then the Loons, so we should take solace in the fact that we lost to a better team, right? Wrong! Instead, we are bitter that we lost to a team we thought we had been lucky enough to avoid. (It is easier to be bitter and blame everyone and everything else than admit we weren't the better team right?) Hopefully, the Loons can use this bitterness in a positive way. Hopefully, that bitterness will stick with them and be a constant reminder that we need to work harder and make better decisions if we want to beat more talented teams like the Falcons.
Now since that is out of the way, let's take a look at the upcoming offseason.
Free agency is rapidly approaching. Capeside currently has 9 unrestricted free agents on our roster: both Loon goaltenders in Rask and Halak, top defenseman Niskanen, second leading scorer Sedin, along with Bobby Ryan, Kris Russell, Rick Nash, Eric Fehr, and Jay McClement. Nash, Sedin, and McClement have already filed their retirement paperwork with the league. CCHL rules allow only one UFA to be resigned, the decision seemingly comes down to Niskanen, Rask or the cheaper goaltending option in Halak. Ideally, we would bring both Rask and Niskanen back, but finding a trading partner with an open UFA spot would be difficult. GM Czepiel will likely have to make the hard decision to trade one of them or try to outbid 21 other teams.
As far as restricted free agents go, the Loons have only 4: Viktor Arvidsson, Derek Grant, Jean-Gabriel Pageau, and Teemu Pulkkinen. Resigning Arvidsson even to a hefty raise is a no brainer. Grant is expected back on a team friendly deal as a depth player. Gabriel large salary increase and Pulkinen's lack of talent make them likely to play elsewhere in the CCHL or in Pulkinen's case - a Friday night beer league.
To say Capeside was active in the trade market last year would be an understatement. GM Czepiel did a complete overhaul of a terrible roster and was able to bring in players that were more of his type of guys. We anticipate being far less active this year. However, a deal with Sudbury has already been made. Brayden McNabb who was a trade deadline addition last season is once again on the move. McNabb heads to Sudbury in return for the 32nd overall pick in the upcoming draft along with prospect Tyler Madden. Because of our semi-successful season last year we were propelled to make moves that depleted both our prospects and our upcoming draft picks. We currently have only 7 picks in the upcoming draft and will be looking for ways to add a few more in the upcoming weeks. The loss of McNabb, along with the uncertainty around Niskanen, the Loons will surely be looking to add some veteran leadership to the blue line over the next few months.
Right wing is another hole that the Loons will be looking to fill over the next few months. We have an overload of players on the left side in Donato, Debrusk, Vrana, Gourde and Lucic with only Arvidsson on the right side. Vrana and Gourde will most likely to be used as trade bait in order to balance out line combinations.
Some of our young players made great strides over the past year. Capt. Dubois will lock down a top six center spot next year. Carlo is steadily evolving into a top pairing shutdown defenseman. And players like Debrusk, Murray, and Vrana will be leaned on more heavily next year as they will hopefully continue to improve.
At least we can say that we tried to end this on a more positive note.
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