Thought this topic deserved it's own thread since there were so many good comments about this on another thread. I will bring some of them over to get the ball rolling.
Unfortunately for the kids, the WildCats are getting exactly what they deserve, the number of stupid trades, poor drafting, I feel sorry for the kids, but I really wonder what they are thinking about, we
have to bunch of 3rd and 4th line players, the only bright light I see on this team is Le Coutre and possibly McKenna, the rest are 3rd and 4th line players, great depth players but not much top 6.
That's what I fear, out of the pile of 17 year olds, not a ton of upside to be front line players. They will need to add a lot of blue chip young players the next 7-8 months or it will be a rebuild that keeps rebuilding.
I was expecting a lot more from Campannelli, McKenna, Lecoultre, Waite, Meisenheimer, Mooney, Lavoie and Dicaire. Not to be great night in and night out, but to show flashes of brilliance, which you usually see with high upside 16/17 year olds.
I agree what you are seeing now on the ice is what they deserve. Roger Shannon has to be the dumbest and worst GM in the entire CHL, he trades top picks and prospects away like giving candy away on Halloween and for marginal players at best. Then when we have a vet to trade he gets a couple nickels and dime for a dollar. The other person to blame is Robert Irving, he may be a great business man , but he knows jack shit about hockey and he keeps interfering with this go for it every year mentality, he needs to hire a competent GM and then leave him alone to run the team. Junior hockey goes in cycles and you just can't be a contender every year, you need a couple down years and then keep your dam high draft picks and build that way, along with key FA signings and making sensible trades to help when you are in position to make a serious run.
The worst part is that even when (hopefully) they blow it up at Christmas only Askew likely brings back any real value. Almost every other veteran has under performed to this point. You would think that the plan would be to add some high value pieces at the Christmas trade period but at this point I think that plan is likely not going to go as well as they hope.
I just hope that they don't keep most of the 19 year olds in an effort to try and make the season respectable.
A quick look into some our recent stellar trades show that:
-we traded a 3rd 2015 and a 2nd 2016 for a 2nd(37th overall) to draft an off the board Noah Corson and then
-traded Noah Corson for a 9th rounder
-traded rights to O'Leary, a 2nd and a 4th for Donaghy and then
-traded Donaghy and Mann-Dixon for a 4th and a 10th
-traded Rioux and 8th overall for Capanelli and the 15th overall,which would have been ok but then they
-traded 15th overall(with Alexis Gravel still on the board) for a 3rd, 2 5ths and a 2nd 2017(this one might still turn out ok,,,maybe)
-traded Zachary Beaudoin and a 1st 2017(which could have been Zach Lauzon, Gabriel Sylvestre or Gabriel Bilodeau) for Cam Askew
-traded Eric Leger and 2 2nd rounders for Mr. .880 Keven Bouchard
-traded a 1st rounder for Karabacek and a 2nd rounder
I'm tired of the Spin Doctors picking up this piece of shi*, dusting it off and calling it a rose. This rebuild has been started with 3rd round talent. They seem like good kids, but they aren't first round level talent, which is
what you start your rebuild around.Look at Halifax. Picked up Chainey from Shaw-a first round dman. THEN they drafted 1st and second and picked another first round dman and a forward. They did it before with MacKinnon and Drouin and then
built around them. Andrews and Co. were the supporting cast for strong leads. Saint John got Huberdeau in the first round and then
built around him. Phillips,Hoffman and Co were the supporting cast.
Where is the meat of this effing
REBUILD? We've done it before. Built around Bernier and then Gormley but fell short. But it was still the right thing to do.
Don't dismiss this post as me being upset because the Cats are losing games. I accept that losing games is part of a Major Junior rebuild. I'm upset at the poor job being done drafting and trading talent by the Wildcats over the last couple of years. A simply horrendous job by the scouts and ultimately the GM. Horrendous.
Couldn't agree more, I've said it before, Shannon is an absolute joke of a GM, boasts about being GM of UNB and all their championships but is really just president of the fan club, literally has had nothing to do with any player decisions, etc. on that team...only thing he does there is run his $$$ making spring program which funds UNB players...claims of several NHL players he says he developed or the program has, when most have never had a V-Red jersey on. If you look closely and know the background of how many players he picks simply because he has a personal relationship with their family, or because they attended a V-Red Prospect camp, and passes up on much much better players...BRUTAL...it's all about show and no substance.
this team will never win with Shannon leading the way, it's crazy that Irving hasn't realized this already, he's the laughing stock of the league and the other GM's lick their lips when they negotiate with him cause they know they are going to score a big win.
