EHM The Blue Line

As the league breaks for the annual allstar weekend it was a good time to see the status of the Whaler's
innaugral season. As no Whalers were selected for the Allstar game it gives the young team a good chance
to recupriate. Of most benefit to this is defenceman Erik Johnson who suffered a fractured jaw and was
expected to miss 1-2weeks anyway. With no games for a week due to both the allstar weekend and
scheduling, this bodes well for the Whalers as Johnson has been a key top 4 defenceman for the Whalers,
with 3g 15a in 57 games.
The team themselves sees them stting comfortably in 2nd place in the East. With 36 wins and 78 points in
57 games, the Whalers are 1pt behind conference leaders Pittsburgh and 13pts clear of the Senators, who
sit 2nd in the North-East division. The Red Wings lead the NHL with 82pts.
The Whalers currently lead the NHL with 214 goals scored, but their 185 goals against ranks as 23rd which
for such a highly placed team is insufficient.
Currently leading the team is still Ryan Getzlaf with 33 goals and 77pts, which is good for 6th and 3rd
overall respectively. Cam Janssen currently sits 6th in the NHL with 238PIMs and 5th for FMs with 16.
Pat Maroon has signed an Entry Level Contract which comes into effect immediately (December). He was
contracted to the Whaler's AHL affiliate in Portland, however had yet to dress. He has been loaned out to
Elmira.
Three junior players have also signed E/L deals effective in June, goalie Martin Jones, defenceman Colten
Teubert and winger Ian Schultz.
Several Portland players have had call-ups due to injuries to Whaler's regulars. James Wisniewski got
7GPs, scoring 4assists and 11PIMs. Jannick Hansen got the best results, replacing Bobby Ryan and Zach
Parise at different points, scoring 4g, 9a in 11 gp's. Devin Setoguchi got 6-1-1-2, Cal Clutterbuck 2
fights and 16PIMs in 5GP, James Neal 20-7-9-16 and Wayne Simmonds 1assist in 3GP's.

This post will be a prospect update. Here is my organizations Top 12 prospects according to my Assistant GM, Al Macneil:
1. Bobby Ryan, 19
2. Aaron Marvin, 19
3. Matt Pelech, 19
4. Brett Sutter, 19
5. Hugo Carpentier, 18
6. Trevor Lewis, 20
7. Luc Bourdon, 20
8. Daniel Ryder, 20
9. Dustin Boyd 20
10. Brent Krahn. 24
11. Vince Theissen, 21
12. Patrick McNeill, 19

These are the top 12 prospects, in my mind:

1. Bobby Ryan, 19
2. Luc Bourdon, 20
3. Aaron Marvin, 19
4. Semen Varlamov, 18
5. Dustin Boyd, 20
6. Trevor Lewis, 20
7. Patrick McNeill, 20
8. Joe Barnes, 20
9. Matt Pelech, 19
10. Daniel Ryder, 20
11. Vince Theissen, 21
12. Ryan Daniels, 18

Bobby Ryan is currently the point leader in the OHL with 93 pts (45, 48) in 54 games. I predict he will be a future 1st or 2nd line right wing.

Luc Bourdon is 2nd in points in the entire QMJHL (including forwards) with 84 pts (25, 59) and an average rating of 9.36 and a plus/minus of plus 54. I hope he will be a 1st pairing D-Man.

Aaron Marvin currently has 93 pts (40, 57) with a 9.58 AVG rating in a league I’ve never heard of. He’s playing in a league with 16 year olds so I’m not too impressed. If he doesn’t get transferred to a different league next year I will have to sign him and offer him for a loan to a WHL team.

Semen Varlamov has currently only played 3 games in a Russian league. He has 2 wins, 1 loss with a SV% of .932%. The reason I like him is because he has played many tournaments with the Russian U-20 team and has played phenomenal, going 4 games without allowing a goal, having about 100 straight saves. Like Marvin, if he doesn’t get more ice time, I will sign him and lend him to a different team.

Dustin Boyd has 91 pts (41, 50) in 58 games in the WHL. I hope Boyd will be able to center the third or fourth line in the near future.

Trevor Lewis has 68 points (30, 38) in 55 games in the OHL. I have the same expectations for him as I do for Boyd.

Patrick McNeill has 69 pts (17, 52) in 59 games in the OHL. He is 5th in points for the entire league and second in D-Men, behind only Marc Staal.

Joe Barnes has 68 points (33, 35) in 57 games in the WHL. I hope he can someday crack the NHL, but I expect in to mostly play in the AHL or ECHL.

Matt Pelech has 34pts (9,25) in 55 games in the OHL. I plan to let him pan out to his full potential and one day maybe pair him with Regehr as both guys are very reliable shut down, D-Men. If he doesn’t reach expectations, he should be a regular AHL guy.

Daniel Ryder has 52 points (25,27) in 50 games played in the OHL. He was taken out with a month long injury near the start of the season, but came back and returned to fine form.

Vince Theissen holds 48 pts (30,18) in 61 games in the AHL. I’ll admit he is doing better than I expected, and maybe one day he will make the NHL. Looking at his stats, it looks as if he needs to pass the puck a few more times before making the big league.

Ryan Daniels is playing great in the OHL, with 44 wins, 0 losses, and 5 ties and a save percentage of .918%. If he keeps this play up, he should be a stellar NHL backup.