Miners Weekly Record: 3 wins, 1 loss, 0 OT loss.
Miners League Standing: 5 wins, 3 losses, 0 OT Loss = 8 points total. Currently, sitting in 4th place in the
Canosa Conference, 8th overall in the CCHL.
Miners Special Teams: Power Play – 23.1% (8th); Penalty Kill – 80.4% (12th)
Miners Scoring Leader: Center Nicklas Backstrom (4G – 4A = 8 pts; 45th Overall in the CCHL)
After a slow start to the first week of the CCHL season, the Sudbury Miners responded with a
week that saw them collect 6 out of a possible 8 points, and vault them into 4th place in the Canosa
Conference. “We got back to playing the way we know we can. We have a lot of new guys this year but we just needed a few games to adjust. We hope this is just the start of something special. We like our team and we think we can make some noise this year”, stated Miner's defenseman Aaron Ekblad.
But, that was not the biggest news to hit the Nickel City this past week.
The Miners pulled off a couple of big trades this week, to acquire help now and for the future.
The two deals brought them a top player in Tyler Seguin, along with young defenseman Brandon Carlo and a 1st round pick in 2021. The cost was not cheap to acquire this talent, as the Miners would surrender aging forward Evgeni Malkin, along with top prospects Owen Tippett and K’Andre Miller among others in the two deals. “Both Seguin and Carlo will help us now and in the future. I know some of our fans will not be happy with having to part with a prospect like Tippett but we have drafted the depth to make these types of moves, and you have to give something to get something”, stated General Manager Terry James.
Once Sean Monahan returns from injury, the Miners will boast Seguin, Monahan, Backstrom and
Tierney at the centre ice position. That kind of depth is needed for a long playoff run, which the Miners are hopeful for.
MINERS PLAYER PROFILE OF THE WEEK: Timo Meier
Meier is one player that the Miners have always had high expectations for since acquiring him in
a trade a couple of years ago. They see him as an important piece this year and beyond. He has CCHL
size and enough skill to play a top-six winger role at the highest level. He is a speedy winger with a very
strong lower base, with good hands who is also adept at passing the puck. If there is a knock on Meier, it
is the fact that he should shoot the puck more and look to pass less.
All-in-all, the hope is that Meier can develop into the kind of versatile player who you can put on a
skill line, and trust to create dangerous chances, or on a shutdown line, and trust to help stop pucks from
going into your net.
MINERS PROSPECT NEED TO KNOW: Spencer Knight
Scouts will argue that using a high draft pick on a goaltender is sketchy at best. The bust rate is
simply too high and the development timeline is simply too long. However, in judging the strength of
Knight as a prospect, he has been an elite goalie for his age group.
He is a phenomenal athlete, plays a mature, refined technical game, and is above average in
playing the puck up the boards. His play seems to step up when the action is toughest, but it is worth
noting that he has never carried a full starter’s workload. Simply put, he has the tools to be a high end
NHL starter, but only time will tell if he can reach it. With Andersen in tow, the Miners will give him plenty of time. Expected CCHL arrival: 2023-24.
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