09-10 Canadian Junior Discussion (WHL, OHL, and QMJHL)

Post by **batdad** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:23 pm

It is a very interesting precedent for sure. Mr Branch is going to get a lot of flack for it.

Anyway, going to show you two hits from last season on youtube in a second from the same league, in fact involving Mr Liambas's team .....the suspensions were nowhere near what this one was.

And guess what..t.hey are way way dirtier hits. I don't necessarily have a problem with the suspension---the hit is not good...definitely not. And I feel for Fanelli and his family a WHOLE lot more than for Liambas....

However....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVu8Vv_f ... r_embedded and

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lFjZEkGz ... r_embedded

are way way worse in terms of hits. They are by the same guy...who clearly has a record at least for the 2nd one, and not by a guy without a record. So...you tell me,... how fair is this to the Liambas kid when he SAW..was PResent and possibly on the ice for these hits...for what he got this season.

Yes horrible, yes suspension worthy, yes stupid, yes dirty, yes bad result. But......CONSISTENCY IS LACKING. DAvid Branch is gonna have a lot of people upset with him on this one.

Yes..good message...but it is getting closer and closer and closer to girls hockey. Must get a suspension rule set to enforce Must. This is willy nilly do whatever you want rubbish.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:31 pm

That Rinaldo guy is definitely a dirty player. Honestly, he deserves (or deserved) one of these long suspensions. They definitely needed to set an example but I do understand your point about consistency. They've set a new standard with this suspension for this type of hit. Now they need to add it to their rule book and consistently enforce it.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 6:45 pm

They won't. They have not. They will not. God sounds like a Dr Seuss book. David Branch is going to get dodoo from the other CHL guys for sure on this one. No question. Next time this happens, especially to someone without a record....it won't be this bad. Too much negative reaction already.

Go Fanelli!

Post by **philou21** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:17 pm

Franck wrote:I put the smiley there for a reason Philou

I know but people makes me mad when they acting like this. Anyway, i'm off topic.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:37 pm

ISS TOP 30. Notice Pulkinnen at 22. About where expected.

1. Taylor Hall - Windsor
2. Cam Fowler - Windsor
3. Tyler Seguin - Plymouth
4. Kirill Kabanov - Moncton
5. Brandon Gormley - Moncton
6. John McFarland - Sudbuy
7. Brett Connolly - Prince George
8. Mikael Granlund - HIFK
9. Vladimir Tarasenko - Sibir
10. Erik Gudbranson - Kingston
11. Jon Merrill - NTDP
12. Mark Pysyk - Edmonton
13. Joey Hishon - Owen Sound
14. Quinton Howden - Moose Jaw
15. Derek Forbort - NTDP
16. Riley Sheahan - Notre Dame
17. Alex Burmistrov - Barrie
18. Austin Watson - Windsor
19. Stanislav Galiev - St. John
20. Jeffrey Skinner - Kitchener
21. Evgeny Kuznetsov - Meche
22. Teemu Pulkkinen - Joker
23. Jarred Tinordi - NTDP
24. Nick Bjugstad - Blain HS
25. Ryan Spooner - Peterborough
26. Jason Zucker - NTDP
27. Maxim Kitsyn - Metal
28. Petr Straka - Rimouski
29. Emerson Etem - Medicine Hat
30. Tom Kuchnhackl - Lands

Post by **philou21** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 8:41 pm

Kabanov for the Moncton Wildcats looks a promising one. He play very good this far and impress me. But for now the Wildcats are in quarantine because 2 or 4 players got the H1N1 and 10 others got flu symptoms. They won't play for the week.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 9:02 pm

This draft has some players with NHL bloodlines in it. I saw Bjugstad there in the Top 30. And also in the Top 30 is Mark Tinordi's kid. There's some others too.

Check out this article. It's written by a guy on the Bruins group at HFBoards that's really knowledgeable about prospects.

http://bruins2010draftwatch.blogspot.co ... -pt-1.html

Hensel · Post by **Hensel** » Thu Nov 05, 2009 10:51 pm

batdad wrote:ISS TOP 30. Notice Pulkinnen at 22. About where expected.

1. Taylor Hall - Windsor
2. Cam Fowler - Windsor
3. Tyler Seguin - Plymouth
4. Kirill Kabanov - Moncton
5. Brandon Gormley - Moncton
6. John McFarland - Sudbuy
7. Brett Connolly - Prince George
8. Mikael Granlund - HIFK
9. Vladimir Tarasenko - Sibir
10. Erik Gudbranson - Kingston
11. Jon Merrill - NTDP
12. Mark Pysyk - Edmonton
13. Joey Hishon - Owen Sound
14. Quinton Howden - Moose Jaw
15. Derek Forbort - NTDP
16. Riley Sheahan - Notre Dame
17. Alex Burmistrov - Barrie
18. Austin Watson - Windsor
19. Stanislav Galiev - St. John
20. Jeffrey Skinner - Kitchener
21. Evgeny Kuznetsov - Meche
22. Teemu Pulkkinen - Joker
23. Jarred Tinordi - NTDP
24. Nick Bjugstad - Blain HS
25. Ryan Spooner - Peterborough
26. Jason Zucker - NTDP
27. Maxim Kitsyn - Metal
28. Petr Straka - Rimouski
29. Emerson Etem - Medicine Hat
30. Tom Kuchnhackl - Lands

Pulkkinen and Spooner hopefully will go higher. Both are un-real and could break the top 15 easily.

Post by **batdad** » Fri Nov 06, 2009 5:50 pm

maybe they will. Maybe they are right with their rankings for the first time EVER. Maybe they drop dramatically (Cherepanov, Esposito, Schroeder). One never knows what each team will see. These are rankings basically for fun for us

I mean to me seeing Brett Connolly at #7 means this is not a great depth draft. Kid is good..real good...but at best a 2nd liner in the NHL in his prime. And a 2nd liner without much defensive ability.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Nov 10, 2009 3:57 pm

I came across a good article about the top 30 prospects for the 2010 NHL draft with anonymous scouts' takes on the players.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2009/w ... index.html

bossman · Post by **bossman** » Wed Nov 11, 2009 4:16 am

Just wanting to chime in on the Michael Liambas-Ben Fanelli incident.

While I agree a suspension was warranted...a LONG suspension, this raises a few questions.

One, did David Branch react to the injury more than the hit?

Two, was the hit even the dirtiest play this season?

Three, if another player comes along and injures someone fairly severely, will they get the same punishment from one Mr. Branch?

My answers to the questions would be as such:
1 - Yes
2 - No
3 - Probably not

I actually feel sorry for David Branch also in this case. He was put in a hard spot but he stuck to his guns and did the right thing with the suspension. The problem is, he won't back it up. He has proven that in the past. I remember an incident involving Jesse Boulerice almost killing Andrew Long (and no, that is not an exaggeration) and got, I believe 10 games for it. Then I think it was the next season, Jeff Kugel of the Soo Greyhounds skates around the ice, acts like an idiot while challenging every player on the other team to a fight (including Sean Avery, who jumped over the boards to get away from him). Was he possibly insane? Perhaps. But he got into one fight and then acted like a moron. Which in turn got him a LIFETIME suspension. So the consistency has definitely not been there.

Was it dirty? Yeah it was although Fanelli turning into the boards AND not having his helmet on correctly didn't help. I just hope Liambas learns something from this. Hopefully David Branch does to and continues to weed out any of this rubbish.

bestrafer7 · Post by **bestrafer7** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:13 am

batdad wrote:ISS TOP 30. Notice Pulkinnen at 22. About where expected.

1. Taylor Hall - Windsor
2. Cam Fowler - Windsor
3. Tyler Seguin - Plymouth
4. Kirill Kabanov - Moncton
5. Brandon Gormley - Moncton
6. John McFarland - Sudbuy
7. Brett Connolly - Prince George
8. Mikael Granlund - HIFK
9. Vladimir Tarasenko - Sibir
10. Erik Gudbranson - Kingston
11. Jon Merrill - NTDP
12. Mark Pysyk - Edmonton
13. Joey Hishon - Owen Sound
14. Quinton Howden - Moose Jaw
15. Derek Forbort - NTDP
16. Riley Sheahan - Notre Dame
17. Alex Burmistrov - Barrie
18. Austin Watson - Windsor
19. Stanislav Galiev - St. John
20. Jeffrey Skinner - Kitchener
21. Evgeny Kuznetsov - Meche
22. Teemu Pulkkinen - Joker
23. Jarred Tinordi - NTDP
24. Nick Bjugstad - Blain HS
25. Ryan Spooner - Peterborough
26. Jason Zucker - NTDP
27. Maxim Kitsyn - Metal
28. Petr Straka - Rimouski
29. Emerson Etem - Medicine Hat
30. Tom Kuchnhackl - Lands

Tyler Seguin should be at least #2. I have watched both Fowler and Seguin play live and I have to say that Seguin showed more potential. He was great with the puck.

Brandon Gormley should be lower.

Goaltending depth is better this year than last year, but still no goaltender in the Top 10.

And does anyone think Granlund will go higher than 8? He should be.

Post by **batdad** » Thu Nov 12, 2009 3:44 am

Tis all subjective. The 10-15 scouts who compile their numbers to make up each list think differently from each other...never mind from what the fan sees. And the 30 NHL GMs have different lists from that. And the 250 or so scouts that work for each NHL team also think differently. As one head scout once said: "The day we all think the same about players and have the same list....is the day we should all be fired"

Fans and commentators notice different things about players. I once had a coach of a high level team ask me how in god's name he could tell how a line was working together if he did not have stats for the game, because noone took them. I asked him how could he not? But each guy works in different ways...scouts and coaches. ANd sometimes one person's ideas work and sometimes the exact opposite works...with the same player.

It is the same with scouting. People see different things. I watch how guys play away from the puck as much as when they have the puck, or when their team has the puck. Honestly, I saw a package somewhere of hilites of Ovenchicken AWAY from the puck and was astounded at what I saw. He is magic when the puck is nowhere near him as well as when it is on his stick.

As for Granlund he is good, but so are the 4 guys on the list ahead of him that I have seen this season (Connolly live, and Hall, Fowler and Seguin on tele)

Do I think Seguin is better than Fowler? With the puck yes. Away from the puck...and compete level physically and defensively...no. Better than Connolly...yes. And all are better than Granlund.

And Emerson Etem is a very very interesting player to me. But I cannot rank him ahead of any of the guys on that list that I have seen play. Not a one. Pysyk too. In fact of the WHL kids I have seen this season....the order in the list is exactly the way I have it in my head.

eme · Post by **eme** » Mon Nov 16, 2009 12:45 pm

About pulkkinen, he's still out for atleast 2 months and will miss the world junior championships, so doubt that his ranking will go up atleast.

Granlund is also injured, but should be back in a week or so.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 4:53 pm

Central Scouting has released their Top 25 Rankings by league.

http://centralscouting.nhl.com/

bestrafer7 · Post by **bestrafer7** » Tue Nov 17, 2009 6:18 pm

bruins72 wrote:Central Scouting has released their Top 25 Rankings by league.

http://centralscouting.nhl.com/

Gormley over Kabanov is interesting, but not a surprise. It will take some time for Kirill to adjust to the N. American game.

I am surprised Tim Harrysson is not on that list.

eme · Post by **eme** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 7:59 pm

Sami Vatanen, has he been drafted already, or why is he not in the rankings?

Post by **Manimal** » Thu Nov 19, 2009 8:30 pm

eme wrote:Sami Vatanen, has he been drafted already, or why is he not in the rankings?

Drafted by Anaheim

Post by **Manimal** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:43 pm

Here is a story I found about a guy in the WHL that was traded for a bus!
http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=389677

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Nov 25, 2009 4:50 pm

LOL! I guess it's better than the whole "I wouldn't trade him for a bag of pucks!" thing. A bus isn't cheap!

Post by **CatchUp** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:57 pm

The Canadian World Junior selection camp roster was announced today: http://www.tsn.ca/world_jrs/feature/?id=11996

Lots of Windsor Spitfires.

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 5:59 pm

Hey! The Bruins got a player on the team. Caron made it. Nice!

Post by **joehelmer** » Wed Dec 02, 2009 6:14 pm

Sweden's preliminary roster has been chosen as well:
http://www.swehockey.se/ImageVault/Imag ... ndler.aspx

bruins72 · Post by **bruins72** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:03 pm

This is just awesome! I'd love to see an NHL team do this (Bruins maybe? Bruins are bears!)

London Knights Teddy Bear Toss 09

Post by **batdad** » Tue Dec 08, 2009 9:17 pm

Yeah me too! It is a tradition in the CHL. Every single team in Canadian Junior Hockey does one. It is really really cool.