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Post by 1barney22 on Jun 25, 2007 1:03:28 GMT -3
Saw this posted on Hockeysfuture:
OK.....I guess its time to take a good look at the upcoming season.
IMO, I believe that Anaheim wil return Morrison for one more year of Junior, but Grags will not be back. Having said that, I think PEI is looking relatively solid with their top two lines assuming they can get a bonafide Euro at the draft on Wednesday.
Top 2 lines should shape up with these players
Morrison critical to have him to compete..he will be the core of this team Walker - We know what we are getting. Solid Q player 80-100 pts this season Doyle- I expect we will see him average at least a ppg this season. He has everyhting to be a star, but he needs to win the one on one battles in the offensive corners, He struggled with that as a 16 year old...but as a 17....its time to step that part of his game up. He does that?....and he will be a FORCE Latal - Not a natural scorer...but a crucial piece of the rocket puzzle. Makes a lot of things happen when hes on the ice...and is capable of at least a ppg Locke - If given the chance, he can be a good top 2 line forward. He really has not had the opportunity to date, but he definitely can fit one the second line. Euro Draft Pick - I am assuming that we will get an impact Euro who can fit in the top 2 lines and step in immediately and make a difference.
Not a bad top 2 lines...however...in a perfect world...adding 1 more prolific forward would put them over the top....pushing Locke to the 3rd line
The greater concern right now is the 3rd and 4th lines. With the players available, I am not sure that they are entirely the group needed for checking and providing a little offensive help.
MacLean - by all accounts I expect him to be 3rd line...learning the ropes and providing some offensive help LaChaine - will be a third line player. Struggled in the playoffs, and if the rocket are looking at moving someone, he should be considered Cliche - Another guy who right now sits as a 3rd liner, but is a project that IMO has not developed. He is another I would consider moving Paynter - Perfect checking forward. Knows his responsibilities, and does his job well. Great energy player too Street - Expect him to begin the season on the 4th line and depending on performance, battling for a space on the 3rd line McKinley - Expect him to start as alternating between 3rd and 4th line
Extra forwards
Snowie - Personally, I would have him on the club playing 3rd 4th line...but doubt that is expected Tough Guy - Need to get one of those as we have no bonafide enforcer yet Main - Not sure what we will get from him...so listed him as an extra forward There will be a couple more forwards when its said and done....but will not speculate on that till training camp
OVERALL - Top 2 lines...solid assuming a good Euro. Need one more scorer to make them good enough to challenge for league title. 3rd and 4th line....we need responsible defensive players, with the ability to chip in on occasion. Right now, I think we are 2 players shy of the right stuff to have a winner.
DEFENSE:
Lessard - Will be the core of the Defense. Hes a solid player. Nothing spectacular, but does everything well Gervais - I am worried about this guy as a go to veteran. Not a great skater. Average D man overall Swit - I like his leadership abilities in the locker room, but average player Southorn - Needs to step up this year to compensate for the lackluster vets. Like what I have seen so far, as long as he keeps it simple and smart and does not try to do too much, he will be very solid. Not too worried about him Clow - He should have played Major A last year, but chose not to but is committing for this season. Very good hockey player here. Probably the most complete player of the entire rocket D corps. However, he will have an adjustment period to the league, and I hope hes on the weights. His only downside is strength. If he gets heavier and stronger over the summer, he will be an impact player. Another concern though is whether he will get a chance as a rookie. Malouin - He should be a solid 3rd pairing guy. I expect a simple game from him, but also physical and effective Deighan - I think he will make this team. He had a solid rookie year in Junior. He needs to work on winning battles in the corner. Only 5'11 which is nit ideal Owens - Prob will be battle with Deighan for the number 6 spot
OVERALL: D is still missing one impact veteran. If PEI wants to win, one of the 17 year olds will need to be traded as part of a deal to get another D. Also, Yannick Jean has to forget about the ages of Southorn and Clow and play them like vets. These kids can make a difference if given a chance. They don't make many mistakes
GOALTENDING
LaFleur - Great talent. Can win games on his own and I am sure he will be brimming with confidence after the high NHL selection. I think his mental game needs a little work though. He was his own worst enemy in the playoffs. Looked and played very nervous
Mosher - I think this kid can be a good reliever for Lafleur, but he needs to be played. If he gets in 25 games, he will be game ready, get some confidence, and be a solid backup. If he does not get these games, PEI is dead in the water if Lafleur struggles or gets hurt.
OVERALL Goaltending tandem looks solid for PEI
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Post by 1barney22 on Jun 25, 2007 1:07:57 GMT -3
I like a lot of things this guy has written. Except, even though I think we need another impact vet on D, don't know if I would trade one of the 17 year olds. Also....isn't Main supposed to be a tough guy?
The one thing I really like about the post though, is that I think we need more than a couple of adjustments to be a championship team, and it seems to me that several other teams have made some nice moves to bolster thier team while we have been sitting on our hands, which makes me worry that the Rocket are satisfied with the status quo
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Post by Score on Jun 28, 2007 11:53:34 GMT -3
Top 2 lines should shape up with these players Morrison critical to have him to compete..he will be the core of this team Walker - We know what we are getting. Solid Q player 80-100 pts this season Doyle- I expect we will see him average at least a ppg this season. He has everyhting to be a star, but he needs to win the one on one battles in the offensive corners, He struggled with that as a 16 year old...but as a 17....its time to step that part of his game up. He does that?....and he will be a FORCE Latal - Not a natural scorer...but a crucial piece of the rocket puzzle. Makes a lot of things happen when hes on the ice...and is capable of at least a ppg Locke - If given the chance, he can be a good top 2 line forward. He really has not had the opportunity to date, but he definitely can fit one the second line. Euro Draft Pick - I am assuming that we will get an impact Euro who can fit in the top 2 lines and step in immediately and make a difference. Not a bad top 2 lines...however...in a perfect world...adding 1 more prolific forward would put them over the top....pushing Locke to the 3rd line The greater concern right now is the 3rd and 4th lines. With the players available, I am not sure that they are entirely the group needed for checking and providing a little offensive help. MacLean - by all accounts I expect him to be 3rd line...learning the ropes and providing some offensive help LaChaine - will be a third line player. Struggled in the playoffs, and if the rocket are looking at moving someone, he should be considered Cliche - Another guy who right now sits as a 3rd liner, but is a project that IMO has not developed. He is another I would consider moving Paynter - Perfect checking forward. Knows his responsibilities, and does his job well. Great energy player too Street - Expect him to begin the season on the 4th line and depending on performance, battling for a space on the 3rd line McKinley - Expect him to start as alternating between 3rd and 4th line Extra forwards Snowie - Personally, I would have him on the club playing 3rd 4th line...but doubt that is expected Tough Guy - Need to get one of those as we have no bonafide enforcer yet Main - Not sure what we will get from him...so listed him as an extra forward There will be a couple more forwards when its said and done....but will not speculate on that till training camp OVERALL - Top 2 lines...solid assuming a good Euro. Need one more scorer to make them good enough to challenge for league title. 3rd and 4th line....we need responsible defensive players, with the ability to chip in on occasion. Right now, I think we are 2 players shy of the right stuff to have a winner. Now that the Import draft is beyond us, we have the extra FW that we expected. So, what should we expect our FW lines to look like...... as of now? Walker-Morrison-Latal Kana-Doyle-LockeCliche-Lachaine-MacLean Street/McKinley-Main-Paynter Wish we had a bit more help on that 3rd line......
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Post by David Aebischer on Jun 28, 2007 12:49:09 GMT -3
Top 2 lines should shape up with these players Morrison critical to have him to compete..he will be the core of this team Walker - We know what we are getting. Solid Q player 80-100 pts this season Doyle- I expect we will see him average at least a ppg this season. He has everyhting to be a star, but he needs to win the one on one battles in the offensive corners, He struggled with that as a 16 year old...but as a 17....its time to step that part of his game up. He does that?....and he will be a FORCE Latal - Not a natural scorer...but a crucial piece of the rocket puzzle. Makes a lot of things happen when hes on the ice...and is capable of at least a ppg Locke - If given the chance, he can be a good top 2 line forward. He really has not had the opportunity to date, but he definitely can fit one the second line. Euro Draft Pick - I am assuming that we will get an impact Euro who can fit in the top 2 lines and step in immediately and make a difference. Not a bad top 2 lines...however...in a perfect world...adding 1 more prolific forward would put them over the top....pushing Locke to the 3rd line The greater concern right now is the 3rd and 4th lines. With the players available, I am not sure that they are entirely the group needed for checking and providing a little offensive help. MacLean - by all accounts I expect him to be 3rd line...learning the ropes and providing some offensive help LaChaine - will be a third line player. Struggled in the playoffs, and if the rocket are looking at moving someone, he should be considered Cliche - Another guy who right now sits as a 3rd liner, but is a project that IMO has not developed. He is another I would consider moving Paynter - Perfect checking forward. Knows his responsibilities, and does his job well. Great energy player too Street - Expect him to begin the season on the 4th line and depending on performance, battling for a space on the 3rd line McKinley - Expect him to start as alternating between 3rd and 4th line Extra forwards Snowie - Personally, I would have him on the club playing 3rd 4th line...but doubt that is expected Tough Guy - Need to get one of those as we have no bonafide enforcer yet Main - Not sure what we will get from him...so listed him as an extra forward There will be a couple more forwards when its said and done....but will not speculate on that till training camp OVERALL - Top 2 lines...solid assuming a good Euro. Need one more scorer to make them good enough to challenge for league title. 3rd and 4th line....we need responsible defensive players, with the ability to chip in on occasion. Right now, I think we are 2 players shy of the right stuff to have a winner. Now that the Import draft is beyond us, we have the extra FW that we expected. So, what should we expect our FW lines to look like...... as of now? Walker-Morrison-Latal Kana-Doyle-LockeCliche-Lachaine-MacLean Street/McKinley-Main-Paynter Wish we had a bit more help on that 3rd line...... Right now your 2nd line(Locke) and #3-4(Swit, Southorn should be #5) defense are definitely subpar for a contender.
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Post by Score on Jun 28, 2007 16:34:48 GMT -3
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Post by 1barney22 on Jun 28, 2007 17:25:11 GMT -3
Wasn't Lebel on the team 2 years ago? Does anyone have any info on Dimello, MacArthur, Snow and Wesley?
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Post by Score on Jun 28, 2007 18:04:22 GMT -3
Wasn't Lebel on the team 2 years ago? Does anyone have any info on Dimello, MacArthur, Snow and Wesley? Yes, he (Lebel) was....and I don't expect to seem him at camp at all.
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Post by Score on Jul 17, 2007 16:04:42 GMT -3
With the current Rocket roster, how do you feel about the FWs that we have........and what do the Rocket need to do to make an impact this season?
Walker-Morrison-Latal Kana-Doyle-Locke Cliche-Lachaine-MacLean Street/McKinley-Main-Paynter
1st line.......solid!
I feel that our 2nd line can turn out to be pretty damn good. Doyle should have a big year, and IF Locke can play as he did late season and in the playoffs, he should contribute some more as well. Kana is a question mark, but from the reports that are out, it sounds like he can and should fit in nice on that line. I personally feel that this line can really pump some pts out this season!!
Our 3rd line is where my biggest concern is. I hope that someone can step it up and also make the 3rd line some what decent. I feel that MacLean will get his amount of ice time on this line, and this season Cliche needs to step up his play IMO. As I mentioned, this line is my only concern for our FW's.
4th line is what a 4th line is. With Paynter and perhaps Main, we get two guys who have planty of energy and who love to hit. Neither one are big players, but will drop the mitts when needed. I think that Street/McKinley will split duties on this line, and also get bumped up to the 3rd when needed.
Thoughts?
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Post by Hockeyfan99 on Jul 18, 2007 7:29:07 GMT -3
Obviously we first need to wait and see if both Morrison and Walker return from their AHL camps. I am certainly very hopeful but honestly not completely confident that both will.
Having said that for the purpose of this dicussion here are the lines that I would like to see.
Kana-Morrison-Latal Walker-Doyle-Locke Cliche-Lachaine-McKinley/MacLean Main-Street-McKinley/MacLean
Courcelles and Piche or a surprise
Just to explain I have always been a supporter of developing some balanced scoring and IMO both Morrison and Walker are potential 40 goal scorers, Doyle and Latal potential 30 goal scoreres and hopefully Locke and Kana can produce in the range of 20 plus goals.
The reason I divided up the lines like this is that Walker and Locke previously showed some good chemistry as did Doyle and Walker. I think that line together can really work the boards with a lot of goal scoring skill.
Whereas Latal is all about speed and creating plays off the rush which never really suited Walker's game. But Morrison has the speed to play with Latal and can be the trigger man for opportunities created. I believe Kana's scouting report referenced above average speed so he should be able to keep up and playing with both Morrison and Latal will ease the pressure and help him adjust.
Obviously our number 1 powerplay unit can pair Morrison and Walker together.
I agree with Score our third line is the question mark. Obviously Lachaine is solid but I expect Cliche to have a real boom or bust type of year (nothing inbetween). And if Maclean also plays on that line there isn't much speed on the wings. Personally I am expecting McKinley to really show what he can do this season and I think you see McKinley get at lot of third line ice time especially at the start and should be a regular penalty killer to keep his ice time up.
And I am a huge Paynter fan but the fact that they used a high 6th rounder on Main suggests they want him and I don't see the room for both on this team.
Finally the battle for the final 1 or 2 roster spots should be interesting. Personally even though I haven't see him play I am predicting Courcelles will make it as his style could make him a solid 3rd line centre at 18 and 19. Piche also should have a good chance although if they don't think that he can be a future scoring line player they may prefer to try and develop a bigger player with more grit.
Anyway just some mid summer predictions as obviously this team and its lines are far from being choosen. Training camp is coming up quickly and then we can really debate how things look.
Personally I am most looking forward to seeing how Cliche, Owens and Malouin developed and getting a first look MacLean and Street.
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Post by habs24 on Jul 18, 2007 13:21:04 GMT -3
Need heavyweight!! Then roster will be complete
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Post by yousuckref on Jul 18, 2007 21:57:42 GMT -3
Need heavyweight!! Then roster will be complete You say this every year and it is getting old. A team does not need a heavy to contend. Besides last year we went out and landed Lafferierre(ranked 7th Overall by QMJHL tough guys) and watching Paynter fight was more entertaining. If a fight has to happen I would much rather watch Paynter instead of a technical guy that hardly throws punches. Heavy Weights are nice additions but in the end barely get ice time and take time away from developing rookies.
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Post by wingman on Jul 18, 2007 23:19:03 GMT -3
Before the season starts I hope that Savard is able to get another forward, someone who can play on the top 2 lines. Right now I think there are too many "if's" and "hopefully's" with some of the top 6 players that people currently have pencilled in for the top 2 lines.
One is Latal. He didn't show much finish around the net in the regular season but he did have a good playoff and hopefully he will be able to build on that and develop some finish. It may have taken him the regular season to adjust to life on and off the ice and the playoffs was an actual glimpse of what he can really do. But either way, the Rocket need the Latal that played in the playoffs because if not, that will be a big hole on the wing scoring wise.
Another is Locke as I'm not convinced he is a player who can play on the top 2 lines. He played well in the playoffs but he still only had one point in 7 games and only 25 points in the regular season. He has shown glimpses of promise in the past, but so far that's all they've been....glimpses. The past 2 playoffs he played well and every off-season there has been talk of him building on his play on the playoffs but that has never happened and even had a really poor training camp last fall. I think he is better suited for the 3rd line because I don't think he has really improved like he should have since he arrived here.
If what people say about Cana's ability is true he may be the real deal and hopefully he is because the Rocket will need him to play like he did in Europe. Even though in Europe he played bigger than his 5'6" size, he might not be as effective here in North America where the bigger players play a more physical game than the ones in Europe. But time will tell and he will be interesting to follow in training camp.
If Morrison turns pro that will be a huge blow to the Rocket offence which could result in a very long season. I don't even want to think of that possibilty because I think that he is going to be heavily relied upon to provide spark and at times carry the offence.
One other wildcard I think is going to be behind the bench. Going into last season Savard promised a more exciting play but as the season progressed we saw more and more of the trap. If the offence sputters or the Rocket lose key players to injuries, pro etc early on, there is the possibilty that Jean will use a game plan that relies more on defensive play rather than a plan that takes chances offensively.
If everyone plays to their potential and everything goes right the Rocket may very well be alright offensively, but I think that if one or two players don't perform as hoped it could be a challenging season offence-wise.
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Post by habs24 on Jul 19, 2007 7:44:52 GMT -3
Need heavyweight!! Then roster will be complete You say this every year and it is getting old. A team does not need a heavy to contend. Besides last year we went out and landed Lafferierre(ranked 7th Overall by QMJHL tough guys) and watching Paynter fight was more entertaining. If a fight has to happen I would much rather watch Paynter instead of a technical guy that hardly throws punches. Heavy Weights are nice additions but in the end barely get ice time and take time away from developing rookies. I say this every year becasue every year they need one. Even though Lafferiere wasn't the best, the boys definitely played better after he arrived. They played with more confidence. Payneter is a good grinder but there is no way he should be the one to step up every night to take on the league heavy's. Way too much to ask from him. He'll end up like Praught the first half of last year. They drafted Manson, but it'll be a year or two before we see if he can step into that role, if he even wants it.
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Post by Hockeyfan99 on Jul 19, 2007 8:50:39 GMT -3
I say this every year becasue every year they need one. Even though Lafferiere wasn't the best, the boys definitely played better after he arrived. They played with more confidence. Payneter is a good grinder but there is no way he should be the one to step up every night to take on the league heavy's. Way too much to ask from him. He'll end up like Praught the first half of last year. They drafted Manson, but it'll be a year or two before we see if he can step into that role, if he even wants it. I can't believe that you are attributing the Rocket's strong second half with the addition of Laffiere and his 1 shift (max) per game. Don't get me wrong I'm not knocking the kid but personally I am giving a lot more credit for the team's success to the addition of Morrison & Gervais, the stellar goaltending by Lafleur, the development of rookies like Latal, Doyle and Southorn as well as the rest of the team playing well. Certainly nothing to do with the addition of a one-dimensional enforcer. What you have to realize is that thankfully the era of loading up with non-skilled enforcers is over. Look around the division none of the other teams really have a REAL Heavy like a Cormier that is going to intimidate other teams. And I would much rather a skilled team full of guys who can play with some willing to occassionally drop the gloves when needed. And we have those with Main/Paynter, Gervais plus others willing to go like Walker, McKinley, Lessard. This isn't a fighter filled team but I also don't think it is a team that will be intimidated. Personally my concern is that all of our 20's will return to the Q and like Wingman I'm HOPING that the Rocket produce enough offense to compete with the top teams in the East. Any thought about an enforcer is absolutely last on my list.
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Post by Krang7 on Jul 19, 2007 9:07:11 GMT -3
What you have to realize is that thankfully the era of loading up with non-skilled enforcers is over. Look around the division none of the other teams really have a REAL Heavy like a Cormier that is going to intimidate other teams. You know what, I thought that those days were gone as well. Then I saw what Anaheim did with 2 or 3 enforcers on their team, and every GM's knee jerk reaction to start drafting big, and signing enforcers all over again. I don't know, but it seems like things are slowly turning back to the way they were before. Of course just because it's happening in the NHL doesn't mean it will happen in the Q, but things that happen in the NHL tend to mirror themselves in the lower leagues. I really hope it doesn't but goonery may be making a come back.
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