Eagles Cut Five- Quite A Few Surprises

[section8]

Watched Lee Chuck in Charlottetown. He was not good at all. he was all over the ice. lost in his own end, and had trouble with the speed ,of what should be the Rocket team. He can't think at the major junior level yet. A year of junior A would do him good.You know with DD it's the numbers game of 20's. Watts played forward on the Island so the writing was on the wall there. D. Fontiane looked okay in the fighter tryouts.

[brec7]

While I don't necessarily agree with the Denny cut, I do respect the organisation for trying to pick the best team possible. As hfan says, there's a lot we don't see. Of course, if we just sat back and blindly agreed with everything the organisation did, that would make this board and all other boards really boring. To me the most puzzling is keeping Ceccanese over MacDonald.

I also don't buy at all that La La is "anti Denny" by any means... he's just offering his opinion on a player.

[habh8er]

brec7 said:

While I don't necessarily agree with the Denny cut, I do respect the organisation for trying to pick the best team possible. As hfan says, there's a lot we don't see. Of course, if we just sat back and blindly agreed with everything the organisation did, that would make this board and all other boards really boring. To me the most puzzling is keeping Ceccanese over MacDonald.

I also don't buy at all that La La is "anti Denny" by any means... he's just offering his opinion on a player.

And He seems to have an opinion on most...Amazing...seems to know his stuff too!...as you said the boards would get really boring if everyone just said "yup".."thats right"...and "I agree" all the time

[hal]

brec7 said:

While I don't necessarily agree with the Denny cut, I do respect the organisation for trying to pick the best team possible. As hfan says, there's a lot we don't see. Of course, if we just sat back and blindly agreed with everything the organisation did, that would make this board and all other boards really boring. To me the most puzzling is keeping Ceccanese over MacDonald.

I also don't buy at all that La La is "anti Denny" by any means... he's just offering his opinion on a player.

Firstly ,they kept MacDonald over Ceccanese.I don't have a problem with this ironically.I believe he will be a very tough checking centre to play against.As far as La La goes,he is entitled to his opinion and it is welcomed......................."BUT"................we have "earned" the right to "second guess" this current Management / Coaching Regieme.He has seen his Organization make changes behind the Bench,in an attempt to win Championship and has the luxury of averaging 7000 fans a night , so he knows his Team is not going anywhere.We however have a "stale" product that has Zilch Marketing Savvy and an announcer that after a big win complains about attendance.I personally think we are fairly stable in the Community but as an Organization they follow Pascal Blindly.Don't ask me what Paul MacDonald does,he may be President but he has no real input that I can see.If I'm calling the shots ,unless you can really convince me that the Local Kid (Eskasoni) in this case is far inferior,I am putting on my Business Face and telling you I want those x-tra 200 or so Butts in the seats ! I would love to see a Q Title some day but more than that I want to be watching the kids who are at the Games Today,taking their own kids Tommorow !

[mackenzy]

The way sec.8 describes lee chuck in c'htown , I won't dispute , cause I wasn't there.... But funny.... that would be my description of Nick MacNeil the night before in Hfx...(And I don't see Mgt. sending him to Jr.A). Hey but that's another story, and besides All players have bad games. And it's okay that Lee Chuck is going to Jr. A, a lot of current players on the Eagles belong in Jr. A also(IMO)..... But I totally buy that Laprise is anti Denny.... You don't shit all over a kid, whithout not liking him at least a little. To say Lee Chuck was overratted last yr., and that the Eagles drafted him too high, and that he's not Q material, is totally unfounded,
( also contradicting himself by saying we gotta trust MGT. now)...Well guess what guys Mgt. isn't always right, cause if they were always right we'd win every year. But have we ever won !!!!!
Well we've had the teams to do it !!!! But let's not get into that now...... Once again I'll say it maybe Lee Chuck being Cut is good for the team.... Okay , but maybe finding new Mgt. and most of all a new Coach & GM (once and for all) is also maybe good for the team!!!!!
What do we got to lose!!!!!!

[Clubber Lang]

So the eagles have 25 left in camp technically speaking with 4 20's! So 2 more cuts need to be made and I think you are going to see them stick with 14 forwards 7 D and the 2 goalies. I know Pascal said they may keep 8 dmen but that would be a a lot of D men getting limited action. If the rumors are true about Beau I think you will see Beau, Meilleur and either Brodeur or D fontaine move. If he keeps Beau and the rumours are not true about not being happy Gallant is out! Meilleur being a 90 may benefit playing elsewhere getting more time since he is on the bubble and has impressed. Regardless a tough call anytime.

[crossbar]

lalalaprise said:

downtown said:

Don't give up on Watts yet. Vincent knows where he'll go play and he's only 17.

Truro own his MJAHL rights and there is no better developer of D talent in NS than Bearcats coach Shawn Evans. Over the last few years, he's had the following kids at 17 and helped to seriously develop their game. Andrew MacDonald, Luke Gallant, Franklin MacDonald....... so Eagles fans may not have seen the last of Watts.

You bring up many good points...Watts is 17...never give up on 17 year olds...the thing with Watts is he needs to get stronger and you could tell at times last year in AAA he would bail on physical contact plays...so i knew he'd have problems adjusting to junior but i think a year of JR A would do him wonders....

I agree with you 100%.

I found during camp, it was his inability to handle stronger players which seemed to affect his confidence, which then affected his offense.

He looked lost a lot of times.

Hopefully he goes to a good Junior A program and hits the weight room for next year. He could use another 10-15lbs on his frame.

I saw too much good things in midget to give up on him right now, he does have a lot of potential.

[crossbar]

mackenzy said:

I disagree with Lalala... I was at the game in Hfx. and Denny was Not invisible. I found him to play very decent on a couple of penalty kill situations , and did fairly well on his regular shifts. He was no more invisible than most of the other players who are still in camp. Case in point ,most everyone on the ice that nite could be construed as "Invisible" with the James Sheppard show going on ! And your numbers are off LaLa... there would have been more like 500-600 extra fans from Esky.. attending, not to mention the money spent on even -splits, canteen , and concessions, as it 's well known Mi'kmaq are not Cheap ! That being said, Lee Chuck is still young and I don't believe it is over for him, even though you've probably written him off Lalala..... I guess time will tell...
Ps. This League and Team (Eagles ) is still a Business isn't it !!!!!

Denny had one good game, and then found trouble keeping up with major junior players, it doesn't surprise me he was cut.

Ceccanese had a string of good games, and had no trouble whatsoever keeping up and was a great physical presence out there. I'm really still shaking my head on this one.

[Jack Bauer]

People are over-rating what Denny would of brought in terms of fan support. Chad Denny only played here a few times a year so it was easy for Easkasoni to organize trips, no way are 800 people from Easksoni driving to 35 Eagle games to watch a 4th liner. The attendance boost overall would of been minimal imo.

And that does not mean I think attendance increases are not good but you can't make proper selections based on how many extra seats you might sell, that should not play a part in the selection process at all.

[crossbar]

jackbauer said:

People are over-rating what Denny would of brought in terms of fan support. Chad Denny only played here a few times a year so it was easy for Easkasoni to organize trips, no way are 800 people from Easksoni driving to 35 Eagle games to watch a 4th liner. The attendance boost overall would of been minimal imo.

And that does not mean I think attendance increases are not good but you can't make proper selections based on how many extra seats you might sell, that should not play a part in the selection process at all.

Your right on all counts, if his name was Chad MacDonald, no one would even be talking about him. How many threads / topics were started on :

Jeff Deruelle
Marco Desveaux
Michael Querry
Cody Roland

From a marketing point of view, I'm sure the Eagles would love to have someone from the Mi'kmaq community on the roster as it generates interest and exposure to a new, relatively untapped fan base. Let's face it, we all have a little bit of interest in seeing on of "our own" make it and play, regardless of who are "own" are.

But from a hockey standpoint, the Eagles have a responsibility to ice the best product they can.

If all things were equal hockey / talent wise, and it came down to a choice between a Cape Breton player from any of the islands communities and someone not from Nova Scotia, obviously the Eagles are going to go local...it's good business.

But the players that were kept over Denny were better, so things weren't equal in this case. I agree with the cut...and agree with Jack that the attendance boost would have been nominal.

[eaglefanX]

On an exciting note for Cape Bretoners 16 yr old Dakota Johnson has cracked the Gatineau D corp in his first training camp. He is from Iona and everyone is very proud of him

[devilsfan]

jackbauer said:

People are over-rating what Denny would of brought in terms of fan support. Chad Denny only played here a few times a year so it was easy for Easkasoni to organize trips, no way are 800 people from Easksoni driving to 35 Eagle games to watch a 4th liner. The attendance boost overall would of been minimal imo.

And that does not mean I think attendance increases are not good but you can't make proper selections based on how many extra seats you might sell, that should not play a part in the selection process at all.

Exactly. Not to mention that if you did let a kid go who has more potential and talent just to fill the stands, if your team is in a re-building year, those seats would quickly become unfilled any ways. Most people aren't diehard fans. If a team is marginally unsuccessful or boring to watch, you won't get them to the rink. Therefore, keeping a more talented player over Denny seems to be the right choice for the long haul. Clearly overrated. I even thought Chad was overrated in my books but that is a whole other story.

[eaglewatcher]

mrbean said:

So the eagles have 25 left in camp technically speaking with 4 20's! So 2 more cuts need to be made and I think you are going to see them stick with 14 forwards 7 D and the 2 goalies. I know Pascal said they may keep 8 dmen but that would be a a lot of D men getting limited action. If the rumors are true about Beau I think you will see Beau, Meilleur and either Brodeur or D fontaine move. If he keeps Beau and the rumours are not true about not being happy Gallant is out! Meilleur being a 90 may benefit playing elsewhere getting more time since he is on the bubble and has impressed. Regardless a tough call anytime.

I hear from some it would be 14 and 7 . Yet IMO the team needs an enforcer like Brad and a D-man like Beau it gives the team toughness and protection for your young rookies. I see Laberge and Meilleur as most likely cuts . Brodeur I see as having to much potential to cut with his size and still being some what coordinated at only 17 could be a backbone in the future.

[brec7]

mackenzy said:

But funny.... that would be my description of Nick MacNeil the night before in Hfx...(And I don't see Mgt. sending him to Jr.A).

MacNeil has actually proven he can play at this level for a whole year and scored more than 10 goals last season, in the Q. Not the best example for you to use.

mackenzy said:

But I totally buy that Laprise is anti Denny.... You don't shit all over a kid, whithout not liking him at least a little. To say Lee Chuck was overratted last yr., and that the Eagles drafted him too high, and that he's not Q material, is totally unfounded

With statements like these, you're making all Denny supporters look bad.

I don't always agree with what LaLa says, but he follows MAAA pretty closely, and all he is doing is voicing his OPINIONS on hockey players based on what he sees. And clearly his opinion that Denny is not major junior calibre is agreed upon by the Eagles organisation, and quite a few on this board- even posters that disagreed with some of the other cuts.

If you want to make the argument that Denny is major junior calibre, that's fine. If you want to make the argument that Denny isn't major junior calibre, but should be kept for "business" reasons- that's fine too. There are valid arguments to both. But you can't just say someone is biased against Denny just because they don't think he's a good hockey player.

[hal]

eaglewatcher said:

mrbean said:

So the eagles have 25 left in camp technically speaking with 4 20's! So 2 more cuts need to be made and I think you are going to see them stick with 14 forwards 7 D and the 2 goalies. I know Pascal said they may keep 8 dmen but that would be a a lot of D men getting limited action. If the rumors are true about Beau I think you will see Beau, Meilleur and either Brodeur or D fontaine move. If he keeps Beau and the rumours are not true about not being happy Gallant is out! Meilleur being a 90 may benefit playing elsewhere getting more time since he is on the bubble and has impressed. Regardless a tough call anytime.

I hear from some it would be 14 and 7 . Yet IMO the team needs an enforcer like Brad and a D-man like Beau it gives the team toughness and protection for your young rookies. I see Laberge and Meilleur as most likely cuts . Brodeur I see as having to much potential to cut with his size and still being some what coordinated at only 17 could be a backbone in the future.

Remember what Pascal gave up for LaBerge ! Draft Picks and Stoddard plus he gave up a second rounder to get Stoddart in the first place .That's quite a bit if Laberge ends up as a Rental for last year's run.Pascal the GM "wants" to keep LaBerge even if Shinyhead the Coach might want to keep Beau and Brad.I personally don't see Deano playing Pro this year.What I see is him carrying 4 - 20's a little while longer than usual !