Corfield Conference 2017/18 Season Preview

Corfield Conference 2017/18 Season Preview

(Roster as of September 1^st, 2017)

Calgary Chinook

Offense: A

Chinook literally swapped team with the Musicmen this off season in hope of winning their 1^st cup in their franchise history. GM Yip certainly hopes Crosby, Panarin and Pavelski can duplicate their output from last season.

Defense: A+

Chinook has one of the best defensive core in the league. Weber, Suter and Pietrangelo all having 5 defense ratings makes Chinook one of the hardest team to score against.

Goaltending: A

Price is still one of the elite goaltender in the league. Howard is a decent backup that can also help when Price needs a rest.

Dayton Musicmen

Offense: B

The defending champion decided to turn on rebuild mode this season. After a flurry of trades, the Musicmen are left with many young promising players, the future is bright in Dayton. Guentzel has shown great potential in the preseason but can he keep it up in the regular season.

Defense: C-

After trading away key pieces like Weber, Burns and recently acquired Provorov, the Musicmen has probably the worst defense in the league. Their best D is Tyutin, they would need a miracle to stop from getting scored on.

Goaltending: C

Elliott wasn't the same since he left the Blue in the NHL a year ago.

Dartmouth Lakers

Offense: B+

Hall, Parise and Voracek provide a big chunk of their offense. Need much better centers after Stepan.

Defense: B-

Most of the defensemen have only 2-3 in defense rating. Depth is also a problem if there is any injury.

Goaltending: B+

Rising star Talbot should anchor their crease just fine.

Fort Erie Falcons

Offense: A

Lots of depth at forwards and their first and second are equally lethal. An excellent move to acquire Sequin in the off season.

Defense: A

Another smart move by GM Young by getting Brett Burns the scoring machine. Hamilton and Werenski will only get better and better.

Goaltending: A

John Gibson will have a taste of playing the full season and his performance will not be disappointed.

Halifax Hammerheads

Offense: B

Rookie sensation Austin Matthews has shown a lot of flashes in the preseason, he is the real deal. Right wing position is a little weak but there are lots of depth at forward

Defense: B-

A very average group of D, Faulk and Carlson makes a great pair at the 1^st line.

Goaltending: B

3-4 goalies will be sharing the duty this season, might need more experiment to see who is the #1 starter.

Niagara Fall Thunder

Offense: A-

The Thunder has one of the best group of centers with Stamkos, Toews and Couturier. Could use a little more help on the left wing position.

Defense: A-

A lot of hard forechecking defensemen and most of them have 4 in defense rating too which fits GM Nicol style perfectly.

Goaltending: B+

Rinnie is good but could use a better backup.

Ottawa Barracudas

Offense: B+

Lots of depth at each position and their centers are really good at face off.

Defense: B

Chara and Myers are huge, it will be fun to watch them play together this season.

Goaltending: B-

Certainly need a better starter than Hellebuyck.

Parry Sound Orrsmen

Offense: B

Good depth at center but not many are good at faceoffs, If the Orrsmen can add one or two quality right winger, they would be a much better team

Defense: C

Need a much better defensive core in order to survive this high scoring league.

Goaltending: C

Also needed a better starter than Condon.

Portland Owls

Offense: B

12 right wingers but only 4 centers and 4 left wingers, luckily Marleau can still play center position

Defense: B+

First two lines are good and they have a lot of depth. Need to trade for a defenseman who can put up big minutes.

Goalie: B+

Darling will be good for 45 games, but can Chad Johnson do the same for the rest of the games?

Seattle Reign

Offense: B+

A very balanced group of players, should have no problem scoring.

Defense: B-

Need to find better defensemen to play with Ekholm.

Goaltending: B+

Crawford can play most of the game, Need a better backup in case he gets injured.

Wisborg Donuts

Offense: A-

Draisaitl preseason performance is awesome, need to translate them into regular season. All 4 lines of their wingers has ability to score goals.

Defense: B

Need better D after McDonagh to become a contender in this league

Goaltending: A-

Lehner and Nilsson is going to share the goalie duty and they will do just fine.

FINAL STANDING PREDICATION

1. Calgary Chinook
2. Fort Erie Falcon
3. Niagra Fall Thunder
4. Wisborg Donuts
5. Halifax Hammerheads
6. Portland Owls

7. Dartmouth Lakers
8. Seattle Reign
9. Dayton Musicmen
10. Ottawa Barracudas
11. Parry Sound Orrsmen

Update: Dayton Wraps up Training Camp, Ready for Opening Night...

In the 2017-18 season preview in the Dayton Daily News for the Musicmen, they included the results of a local poll which explored how fans felt about the team.

To put it simply, the fans are in a state of disbelief what has happened to their championship team.

Mounting financial pressures, a lack of young talent in Dayton's prospect system and no promising draft picks to look forward to led GM Bill Corfield to some hard decisions.  Big name players were dealt, young players with attractive upsides were brought in, especially on offense, and payroll was cut. Dayton now holds 37 draft picks over the next two draft, which puts them just behind Siberia in that regard.

Dayton's payroll sits at $80 million with $24.5M in additional cash outlays for this coming season. That's $44 million dollars less in salaries than last season and next year's payroll looks to be even lower, with projections another $30 million less for the 2018-19 team payroll coming in at just under $48 million dollars.

Dayton, if nothing else, should see its financial circumstances turn around significantly after the next two seasons.

As training camp wrapped up over the last few days, the last significant move saw veteran sniper Phil Kessel and young defensemen Igor Provorov sent to the Minnesota Norsemen for winger Sebastien Aho, prospects Thomas Chabot, Joseph Woll and Luc Snuggerud. Dayton also sent $5M in cash to the Norsemen to offset some of Kessel's costly contract.

"Every move we've made over the last month has been to secure the next era of great hockey in Dayton," said Corfield.

The Daily News projects the team to finish in 9th place in the Corfield Conference, possibly in the mix for a lottery pick.

On the Ice: 

*Team captains and alternates have been announced. Nate MacKinnon and Alexsander Barkov will split the captain's duties this season and will alternate each game. Each will also serve as an alternate captain when not the actual captain.

Jason Pominville and Marc Methot will wear "A's" this season.

*Starting lines for tonight's season opener:

Mackinnon, Guentzel, Drouin
Barkov, Vanek, Aho
Monohan, Upshall, Pominville
Ryan, Larkin, Guentzal

Defensive pairings:

Tyutin/Irwin
Stuart/Beauchemin
Methot/Wiercioch

Starting goalie:

Elliot/Smith

*The Musicmen open their 17-18 regular season with three games on the road (FOR, SEA & DRT) before returning to Dayton for their home opener on Saturday, September 9th when the Parry Sound Orrsmen make their debut visit to the Soundstage.

*THEY SAID IT: "Look, we've got some of the best young forwards in the game. We've got some great dmen coming in a year or two. We'll be busting our ass every game and sticking together. We have to pay this price tag to earn the next step we all want to take. We know we're not the best team in the league anymore..." (Jason Pominville)

Canosa Conference 2017/18 Season Preview

Canosa Conference 2017/18 Season Preview

(Rosters as off August 30th, 2017)

Georgetown Millers

Offense: B
Center position is their strong suit with Backstrom providing the offense while Carter and Fisher providing help on face off and penalty kill.  Lacking a true goal scorer on the wing might be a problem in a long run.

Defense: B+
Josi and Ristolainen on the first pairing can take up big minutes.  Josi is great in any situation.  Not so much to see after that.

Goaltending: B+
Reimer can play most the the season barring injury, hopefully Budaj can perform well as a backup

Hamilton Tigers

Offense: A+
Insanely talented right wingers with recently acquired Patrick Kane, Ho-Sang, Laine, Hossa and Perry.  Can match up with any defense pairing in the league.

Defense: A
Lots of depth and great defensive defensemen.  Expect Karlsson to lead the Defensemen in points this season.

Goaltending: A-
Would be an A if Anderson could play more than 54 games.

Long Island Express

Offense: B
Centers are not so great at defense and faceoff compared to other teams.  The team relies heavily on their first line.

Defense: B
Not enough depth could be a problem down the road.

Goaltending: C+
An off year by Lundqvist could become a disastrous season the the Express

Las Vegas Aces

Offense: B-
Will need Marchessault to have a breakout season for the Aces to be successful

Defense: B
Not many Defensemen that can take big minutes other than Eric Johnson, who is a borderline 1st line Defensemen

Goaltending: C
Need to somehow trade for a better starting goalie,  right now Pickard and his .904 save percentage won’t be able to stop a lot of pucks.

Minnesota Norsemen

Offense: A
Made a lot of off season changes, with addition of Bergeron, Kessel and the up and coming Mitch Marner. The Norsemen have suddenly become one of the favorite to win the Canosa divison.

Defense: B
One aspect the Norsemen need to improve to becoming a true contender.  The recentl addition of Provorov is a great move though.

Goaltending: A
Dubnyk can play every game for the Norsemen, also a great addition in the off season.

Rejkjavik Puffin

Offence: A+
Has the best offence in this league, you know they are for real when Koviu is their 4th line center.  Kucherov and Tanks as 1-2 punch at right wing.  This will be the team to beat in Canosa conference this season.

Defense: A
Again, a very offensive minded setup with Hedman, Ekman-Larsson, Subban, Lindholm all are great powerplay specialists.

Goalie: A
Excellent move by the Puffin acquiring Holtby in the offseason.

Sanibel Islanders

Offense: A-
Whoever has Ovechkin deserves at least an A automatically.  Lots of PK specialists in this league, they won’t get easily score on when short handed.

Defense: B
Could use more depth in Defense, their 3rd line could be unbearable to watch.

Goaltending: B
Miller is probably on his last straw,  need a better starter in order to win games.

Siberia Icecats

Offense: A
Probably the most exciting team to watch this season with the emergence of McDavid and Ehlers, lots of youngsters and depth at every position, this team is going to be great for many years to come.

Defense: A-
Good depth overall, but could use a big name Defensemen in the first line.

Goaltending: A
Murray proves to be the real deal winning 2 cups in the NHL thus making Fleury expendable, but can he help the Icecats to do the same in CCHL?

Springfield Isotopes

Offence: A-
Great depth, could use a true scorer in the LW position.

Defense: B+
Left Defensemen looks good but what about the Right?  Lots of shot blocking defensemen and with Bobrovsky in net, this team will be hard to score against.

Goaltending: A+
Bobrovsky is the best goaltender this season period.

Sunbury Miners

Offence: B+
Good depth but lack a truly competitive 1st line.

Defense: B
Lots of promising youngsters like Nurse, Ekblad , Montour and Larsson, but probably need a few years to reach their potential

Goaltending: B
Grubauer save % is good but can only play one third of the season's games.

Victoria Ronin

Offence: A-
Recently acquired Nugent-Hopkin will help the team in a long run, Benn and Radulov will be the Ronin offensive output for this season.  Mr. Canosa is building a very competitive team that is not afraid of playing physical and fore-checking every night.

Defense: B+
Will be heavily relying on Trouba - which is not good news.

Goaltending: B-
Mason is not the answer for goaltending this season, hopefully Saros will be playing a bigger role in the future.


FINAL STANDING PREDICATION

Rejkjavk Puffin
Siberia Icecats
Hamilton Tigers
Springfield Isotopes
Minnesota Norsemen
Victoria Ronin

Sanibel Islanders
Sunbury Miners
George Town Millers
Long Island Express
Las Vegas Aces


UP NEXT: Corfield Conference Preview

(lightly edited by Bill Corfield)

Season Preview for the Sudbury Miners...

An Inside look at the Sudbury Miners - 2017-18 CCHL Season Preview

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON):

Since their move at the conclusion of the 2016-17 season, the Sudbury Miners have done everything they to get this team ready for their inaugural season in the Nickel Belt of Northern Ontario.  With training camp now complete, now comes the next step:  seeing how their plans come together on the ice.

"Training camp will be unique from more than just from a historical standpoint, being our first in Sudbury", General Manager Terry James said. "This is a transitional year for us.  We are evaluating players that we are getting to know as well as we can in such a short period of time.  Our fans know there will be some growing pains, but in the end we are looking for players with that Miner Mentality that we can move forward with a build a winner"

The Miners are building a foundation as evidenced during this past summer’s entry draft.  They are also armed with nine (9) first round picks in the next two entry drafts, so their future looks bright.  But in the present, they are not a playoff team and are even farther away from being a true Kehler Cup contender.  There is going to be pain and the need for patience from their fans.  James knows this.

UP AND COMING PLAYER TO WATCH

Philip Danault is looking to build upon his first full season.  Originally thought of a just a checker, he has the skills and versatility to play a little farther up in the line-up, even if it is just on a temporary basis.  The 24 year-old needs to fully establish himself with another productive campaign.  He will get the opportunity in Sudbury to do so.

WHAT A SUCCESSFUL 2017-18 SEASON WOULD LOOK LIKE

Given the roster turnover that the Miners have experienced since the end of last year, simply contending for the playoffs would be unexpected.  From a purely hockey standpoint, giving some of their young minor league players some valuable CCHL experience will help with their development, and that is the goal.  However, today’s hockey is more than just sticks and pucks.  Financially, if this franchise can break even or even turn a profit, while remaining relatively competitive, the season would have to be considered a huge success.

BIGGEST REMAINING QUESTION

If the pre-season games were any indication, who is going to score goals for this team?  A first line of Trocheck, Palat and the aging Vrbata while serviceable, doesn’t exactly strike fear into opponents.   Lack of top notch forward depth is also an issue, as this team is littered with an abundance of 3rd and 4th liners.   The hope is that a few of their highly touted prospects make the jump quickly and can contribute sooner, rather than later.

Georgetown Millers The Week That Was Aug.21 to Aug. 27

Lance Pitlick 

Georgetown Millers

The Week That Was Aug.21 to Aug. 27

Transactions:

 Dropped Alexei Marchenko and Peter Holland.

A slow week as far as roster moves were concerned. Marchenko became expendable with the signings of Chiarot and Barberio. Once looked upon as a solid 3rd pairing Dman, things never quite worked out for the Russian blueliner. Despite spending 3 years with the Millers he never appeared in a regular season game. Holland was acquired earlier this summer in the Marc-Andre Fleury salary dump. He failed to impress in the final 2 pre-season games and it was determined he lacked the upside to be kept on the roster during the regular season.

Observations from the Pre-Season:

The biggest surprise was Peter Budaj’s strong performance in net, and James Reimer’s likewise poor showings, playing behind almost identical lineups. Budaj was acquired with the idea of playing 30 games during the season; he may see more work if Reimer’s struggles continue into the opening weeks of the new season.

Andrew Cogliano secured himself a spot on the 2nd line with his strong play (and Teuvo Teravainen’s lackluster results). A UFA at season’s end, Cogliano will be looked at to provide secondary scoring in the 45 to 50 point range along with his usual strong defense and penalty killing.

Speaking of UFAs, Cogliano, Nick Backstrom, Jeff Carter and the retiring Mike FIsher are all in the last year of their contracts. A slow start may force management to see what they can get for these players instead of building around them for a last hurrah.

It’s been determined that Fisher will not play on back to back nights, with Radek Faksa expected to move up to the 3rd line when he rests. The 4th line Center slot would then be filled by usual 3rd line winger Zach Smith. Fisher has also decided to relinquish the Captaincy to Roman Josi. Fisher will now be an alternate, along with Backstrom and David Savard.

Scott Wilson and Viktor Stalberg are expected to rotate as the 4th line RW and 13th forward. Despite his strong pre-season Mikhail Grigorenko will begin the season in the minors, along with the now healthy Scott Cousins. Ben Chiarot won the 7th Dman spot, with Mark Barberio playing top line minutes with AHL Northern Kentucky. The Chinstraps will also include Lance Pitlick and Bryan Flynn among their forwards and Anton Khudobin in goal.

What the Hell is Going On In Dayton??? (Part Two)

The morning of July 9th was a bright, clear and comfortable time to be outdoors. As Musicmen General Manager Bill Corfield cycled along the Great Miami River Recreation Trail, his mind reviewed the 'Men's roster that would be going into the 17-18 preseason. The CCHL had finally reached the start of "Summer shut down," which allowed other issues to be the focus over the day to day operations of the league.

Centers: Sid - a top 5 player in the CCHL at almost $11 Million a year. He was worth it. Bergeron - an elite 3rd line center who seemed lost in much of the 16-17 campaign and had one year left on a $8.8 million dollar contract. Almost certainly gone after this season barring something wholly unexpected. Antoine Vermette, who returned to Dayton for the third time in the last six seasons, but was now a depth defensive centerman. Also entering the final year on his contract, his time with the team was likely drawing to a final chapter. Only Sid was permanent, well, nothing is permanent in hockey, but a core player. The rest of the guys were solid pros and Corfield wanted to make sure Vermette wound up somewhere he liked, if possible... Mattias Janmark was also a part of our future but wouldn't be on the next disk due to an injury. We wouldn't see him until the 2018 training camp.

Forwards: Panarin and Pavelski were core guys but Pavelski was getting up there in age. Artemi Panarin was coming off two strong seasons and was seventh overall in that time span in scoring. Surely, Corfield thought, Artemi Panarin wasn't going anywhere. Then there was Phil Kessel. Despite his unfairly low defensive rating every year, Kessel was a valuable member of the team. Defense and backchecking was never Phil's game but he did what we asked him to do. In the last two seasons combined, Kessel had played in 163 games, scored 60 goals, 106 assists and was a plus 142. In APBA, with the right guys, Kessel was big money. He was signed to a four-year deal after the playoffs and all sides were happy.  Nikolay Kulemin, the leader of the team's 3rd line was also looking forward to a strong season in 17-18.

Defense: Some big names... Shea Weber, Brent Burns, TJ Brodie, Andrei Markov, Francoise Beauchemin, Alec Martinez along with Mark Stuart were the returning seven blueliners. Weber was solid as hell like he always seems to be, plus Burns had turned in a Norris Trophy year and had been Dayton's UFA resign. They were expensive too, totaling over 40 Million dollars for the group. Weber and Burns were the top guys and the rest filled in nicely behind them.

Goaltending: Devan Dubnyk seemed to be on his way to an elite season until the All-Star break after which he seemed not himself. Finishing with a .923 save percentage was still very good, but hopes for a plus .930% number faded quickly. There's a huge difference between a .923 and a .930+ save percentage and Corfield had been troubled by Dubnyk's inconsistency since last January. Was he the real deal or was he a good but not great netminder benefitting from a great system. Behind him was Brian Elliot, a solid backup. Both guys were going to be UFA's after the coming season.

AS CORFIELD RODE through the Ohio countryside, he strained for ways to improve his team for the coming season. Teams like Georgetown, Calgary, Rejkjavik and Fort Erie were always good it seemed and newcomers like Hamilton, Siberia and Minnesota had all been hoarding high upside talent the past few years and everybody knew that they were going to be major factors going forward. Every year there were also a few "surprise teams" that most didn't see coming.

Dayton had virtually zero draft picks from the next two drafts. Dayton's elite prospects were all gone and those that remained were B prospects at best. Most weren't that good. Financially, Dayton was at its lowest cash reserve level of $78.4 since the late 1990's, when the league was in a very different financial place. The Musicmen had always had a LOT of cash available but it had come time to pay the hockey piper.  They'd lost $14M last season and the payroll didn't look to be that different this year.

No picks or prospects to swap for important pieces and the money was looking rough.

Bill took a break by the Taylorsville Dam on Route 40, just North of Dayton and sat on a bench. He sat there for about an hour playing different scenarios out in his mind. Did he trade a big fish to get 2-3 lesser fishes that might produce a net gain? He had a good goalie but not a great one and his 3rd line needed major work, Bergeron and Vermette, while good defensively, brought almost no offense for the coming year. His top line would be unstoppable, but after that - there were holes and questions all throughout the lineup.

He thought back to the Summer of 2012 after Dayton had won their third Cup. While different, there were similarities to this year's situation. Aging team core, payroll sky high, big name prospects and draft picks shipped out to win then. Win they did. That off-season, Corfield developed a plan to blow it all up in the first half of the 2012-13 CCHL season. Which they did. Move anybody and everybody out the door to the highest bidder for the sake of the future.

Dayton had drafted well in the 2013 draft after the fire sale, grabbing eight kids who would be future NHL-ers. That retooling had set the table for his recent success.

It worked then...

It could work again...

BACK on his bike, about 15 miles from his home, it was decided the pros outweighed the cons and the decision had been made. After the disc was released, Dayton would first put Shea Weber on the block and see who was interested. Then, after that, they would send out a larger trade block with everybody else except Panarin. Even that was flexible.

"I've always said be willing to trade anybody if the return is right..."

The new APBA disk was released in the first week of August.

On August 6th, Dayton sent out an email to the league alerting them that defenseman Shea Weber was available.

On August 13th, Shea Weber, Antoine Vermette and $10,000,000 were traded to the Calgary Chinook for Sean Monahan, a few role players and six late round draft picks.

On August 13th, the larger and second trade block went out to the league with everyone on it.

In the afternoon of August 13th, Dayton traded Sidney Crosby, Andrei Markov and $3.75M to CGY for Alex Barkov, Ivan Provorov, Jonathon Drouin and a 6th round draft pick.

Also on the 13th, Brent Burns was traded to the Fort Erie Falcons for Nate MacKinnon.

Next, Artemi Panarin was moved to the Chinook for Dylan Larkin, Travis Sanheim and the rights to DAY 2nd in the 2019 CCHL Draft.

Dubnyk and Bergeron were then moved to the Minnesota Norsemen for Jake Guentzel, prospect Dante Fabbro and Blake Comeau and Jimmy Howard.

Joe Pavelski and a 3rd was traded to Calgary for former 19th over all pick Evgeny Svechinov and several additional mid round picks from CGY.

Next, Martinez and Kulemin were dealt to the Hammerheads for a 2nd and 3rd rounder.

Howard was sent to the Chinook for prospect and former 2nd round pick, defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

In all, over a dozen current Musicmen were traded away that week. The roster virtually turned over, the only players remaining from the Cup championship team were Brian Elliot, Phil Kessel and reserve forward Mattias Janmark.

Reaction was swift. Most people tipped their hats to Eugene Yip, GM of the Chinook who walked away with most of the core of Dayton's Cup team and when layered onto what Yip already had in house, people just shook their heads. Calgary has to be the clear favorite to win the Cup next Spring.

A few GM's whispered that Calgary had certainly gone all in with these moves, but has sent away a ton of youth with elite upside. In the end, it was a price he felt comfortable paying and the guys from Dayton will perform and produce. Does that mean a championship? Maybe...

PART THREE

Fans explode, young players arrive for camp and Phil keeps his bags packed....

(Part three will be published August 29th, 2017)

Georgetown Millers: The Week That Was

After a hectic day 2 weeks ago of moving out depth players with expensive contracts to acquire depth players with cheaper contracts (and backup G Peter Budaj) things were a bit quieter in the Miller’s front office this past week. The week’s transactions are summarized below:

GEO trades B. Lovejoy & GEO 10th-18, GEO 11th-18, GEO 12th-18, GEO 10th-19, GEO 11th-19 & GEO 12th-19 to DAY for Yan Pavel Laplante-p…

Lovejoy had lost his starting job with the emergence of Brett Pesce, and his inability to play any position aside from RD made him unsuitable for the 7th Defenseman role. He was packaged along with several late round picks (so Dayton would take on his complete salary) for a long-shot Winger prospect in Yan Pavel Laplante. YPL scored a bit in juniors but not in his first pro season, but his size, skating ability and willingness to mix it up make him a potential bottom 6 NHL forward.

GEO signs M. Barberio to a 1 yr., $700K contract…

Barberio was signed to replace Lovejoy. He will compete with earlier signing Ben Chairot for the 7th Dman slot. A decent showing could see him re-signed as an RFA at season’s end.

DAY trades B. Comeau to GEO for GEO 4th-18 & GEO 9th-18…

Looking for more depth in their bottom 6 forwards and on the penalty-kill, GHC sent a couple more mid to late-round 2018 draft picks to Dayton for Blake Comeau. Although his days of occasionally popping 12 to 20 goals a season are gone, Comeau is still a reliable checking forward and will supplement the club’s penalty kill unit.

The club has taken some flack recently for not bringing in bigger names to keep up with Calgary and other teams. GM Chris Kash spoke to reporters to address the criticism.

“I understand the concerns of our fans but I want to reassure them that we are staying true to our vision of how we want to keep this club competitive in the short and the long term. We are blessed to be breaking in 4 exceptional young talents this season in Teravainen, Faksa, Pesce and Orlov. To properly give these guys a chance to grow and develop we felt it necessary to remove any internal hurdles and just let them play. With Brock Boeser expected to play a role next season, and other young guys like Anders Bjork, Janne Kuokkanen, Samuel Girard and Filip Hronek being ready in 2 to 3 years, we are transitioning to a younger team. We’ve spoken to the veteran players about it and they are on board. We will of course reassess our progress at defined points during this upcoming season and if it improves the team enough we have plenty of payroll room to add more players.”

Recently traded Winger Gustav Nyquist responded to reports that he was dealt partly because he came to camp overweight and out of shape. Nyquist said “ Once the trade to Georgetown was done, I came down to look for a home and get to know the area. No one prepared me for Hot Browns and Burgoo being on every restaurant menu, and a trip to northern Kentucky introduced me to Goetta and Grippo’s potato chips, plus the craft beer scene here is amazing. So yeah I gained a few pounds, and now I’ve got to find a way to get Dad’s Beer Cheese sent to me in Ontario, but I regret nothing.”