Defence

[major]

Despres won't be sitting too many games, my pairings go like this:

Grant Stich
Rioux Sauve
Amyot Despres
McNeil

[major]

ghost said:

McNeil or Amyot will most likely be the odd man out. There is no way the Dogs will sit the first overall pick. They have, for the past two years played the first pick and Depres will play. Amyot should be given the opportunity to prove he belongs and McNeil will be the 7th man.

Amyot will not be the odd man out if its going to be anyone it will be McNeil. They but too much time into getting Amyot to report.

[Gallant-Unit(14-0-3)]

Grant Stich
Sauve Rioux
Amyot McNiel/Despres

[crossbar]

With such an abundance of strength and youth on the blueline, why don't you deal some to address scoring needs?

I'm not going to suggest names so someone freaks out, but if you have 5 legit guys you could play 20-30 minutes a game, why roll them evenly when you could trade one for a high end scoring forward.

I think Steve Anthony is going to be a good one, but if he breaks 55 points this year I'll be very surprised.

The Sea Dogs biggest need this year, IMO, is consistant goal scoring.

[berner]

canucklehead said:

I hope your not saying Despres in the top pairing with Grant cuz that would be just plain crazy dude.

Despres will play likely the 7th Dman and maybe with injuries or some experience work his way into the 5 / 6 spot.

Grant / Stich
Sauve / Amyot
Rioux / Despres
McNeil

It may not start out this way but I just feel like Despres will end up getting more icetime as the season moves along and Rioux will be expected to spend time working with him.

I agree, I expect to see those pairings out of the gate or shortly thereafter. Despres won't sit, just like Grant didn't sit in '05 and just like Sauve didn't sit in '06.

[Judas In My Mind]

I think Despres will sit out his share of games. I expect him to get not as much ice as Sauve saw in his first year, but more than Amyot did.

[killer]

Why sit Despres and play a 19 year old fringe player like McNeil..............He will play as much as Sauve did, Only way to develope is to play

[killer]

markofthebeast said:

You guys have 9 19 yo's on your roster in a year when your not competing, it seems a little top heavy. Now I understand that 7 of the 9 are fwd I'm thinking probably only 3 or 4 of them are returning but I can also see them getting rid of one of your d-men (probably McNeil) to give Despres his playing time. That one defense slot wont make much of a difference to your team considering your filling it with a first overall pick I think it's a better move for the future with little cost right now.

I don't know why you would want your #1 pick in the stands that's simi-retarded the last thing a young player needs is to be sitting around. If your not going to play him for 75% of the games send him back to Jr A to play. The younger players need as much development time (ice time) as they can get sitting one simply because you can is not the way to go about it. If anything sit McNeil until Christmas and then trade him but for gods sake don't sit the number one pick!

We may have quite a few 19 year olds on the roster but 4 or 5 of them won;t even make the team this season............a few of those guys didn;t make the team last year or quit

[Judas In My Mind]

killer said:

Why sit Despres and play a 19 year old fringe player like McNeil..............He will play as much as Sauve did, Only way to develope is to play

Just telling you what I think will happen. Not saying I agree with it. JB sat Amyot a ton last year and gave Sauve less ice time than I thought Sauve should get. Despres isn't as hyped as Sauve was, but more hyped than Amyot. Thus I imagine he gets time equal to some middle-ground of what Sauve-Amyot got.

You could ask why even bring in McNeil last year at all based off the question you just asked. He could have played Amyot more instead of bringing in McNeil. Despres will play but he is also going to sit out some games in there too, which might be a good thing. The Q season is a ton more games than Despres is used to playing.

[canucklehead]

This is why I think he'll start out as the 7th defenseman but eventually work his way onto the 3rd pairing and play more with Rioux in that pairing.

[dogbert]

crossbar said:

With such an abundance of strength and youth on the blueline, why don't you deal some to address scoring needs?

I'm not going to suggest names so someone freaks out, but if you have 5 legit guys you could play 20-30 minutes a game, why roll them evenly when you could trade one for a high end scoring forward.

I think Steve Anthony is going to be a good one, but if he breaks 55 points this year I'll be very surprised.

The Sea Dogs biggest need this year, IMO, is consistant goal scoring.

The logical move, but for a higher ended younger forward. Someone who can put more than a few in the following year or two. It's definately a rare commodity, but so is a #1 defenseman.

[mvp]

you will see grant step it up this year imo

you should see sauve and amyot step it up being there draft years

and you better see stich step it up

the other 3 should do most of the sitting with rioux and mcneil its just a numbers game nothing against them but now is the time we need to play the younger guys including depres

[ashtrayfoot]

We are all assuming we will have the same D as last year, jobs will be hard to keep the way we helped out our goallies last year, we have to do a much better job to get through the first round of the playoffs. I think the only sure ones to make the team on D are, grant, sauve, stitch and despres.

[dogbert]

ashtrayfoot said:

We are all assuming we will have the same D as last year, jobs will be hard to keep the way we helped out our goallies last year, we have to do a much better job to get through the first round of the playoffs. I think the only sure ones to make the team on D are, grant, sauve, stitch and despres.

You never write off a highly rated 17 yr old 6'4" defensemen with a year of Q experience. Amyot is there. Both 19yr olds have something to prove, but Rioux will likely wear a letter this year.

[chillywack]

dogbert said:

ashtrayfoot said:

We are all assuming we will have the same D as last year, jobs will be hard to keep the way we helped out our goallies last year, we have to do a much better job to get through the first round of the playoffs. I think the only sure ones to make the team on D are, grant, sauve, stitch and despres.

You never write off a highly rated 17 yr old 6'4" defensemen with a year of Q experience. Amyot is there. Both 19yr olds have something to prove, but Rioux will likely wear a letter this year.

I agree that Amyot is there. From what I've been hearing he has really improved his foot speed from last year.

I remember watching him for the first time in training camp and thinking "where the hell did they get this kid at", but throughout the year he improved tremendously, and he will continue to improve, especially with the speed he's picked up over the summer.