Boychuk Sent to Juniors, What's Next?

I struggled to find stats on pettinger…….Vancouver just recalled him from Manitoba (AHL). He had 3 goals in 2 games for Manitoba. Didnt do much last year, 6g and 7a in 73 games last year between Wash and Van. I wonder how you can be that bad after back to back seasons of 38pts and 32pts? He scored 20 goals in 05-06. Who knows, I dont have a coaches eye, but I liked the hustle and spark I saw in Boychuk. I understand that hes not ready, but I would of liked to have seen him play at least 2 or 3 more games. Maybe give him a few more games to really get the jitters out and the NHL speed down, if anything for his own development.

It was pretty clear Zach wasn’t ready yet, either because he was shaking off the rust of not having played or he’s just still too young. This is the logical move. The team has a couple of guys in Albany that can step in and have a chance to produce. At this point, I’m still against adding salary via trade or big-ticket free agent, and the D is down to seven, so trading someone doesn’t make sense right now unless the team thinks Borer or Carson is ready.

which goalie is going tostart

I totally agree with you Cory. I never thought that trading a D man for a forward was a good idea, especially after trading Cole for Pik in the offseason. They seem to have the offense to score without Williams or Walker, so it will be nice to see them all on the ice now.

Unless something terrible or freak occurs, I think we need to keep the cards we have in our hand.

Another name I haven’t heard mentioned as far as defensive players go… if we needed to call up someone:

I thought Bryan Rodney played great in camp right through the last couple of exhibition games….

As for Forwards… It seems we would need a trade for RIGHT NOW… but then when we get Walker and Ruutu back… then we have too many forwards. We may be better off to call up someone from Albany. Helmenin or Jensen could fill in just fine until we get guys healthy… If you look at our team over the long run a trade (much like my post) doesn’t make much sense…

And then Williams down the road, too. It’s easy to forget those guys and the logjam that would occur down the road if the team added another forward. For now, this needs to be a two-line team (for scoring purposes) with the occasional goal chipped in from the third and fourth lines. The real issue is getting the PP back on track.

Yeah… I agree that Power Play and Penalty Kill may be where our team lives or dies this season… If we did (for some reason) trade for a forward it would need to be someone who could help in either or both of those areas… otherwise I say “no thanks.”

Well, I still think that this team could really benefit from adding a guy like Gelinas. His work ethic has always been impeccable and he’s known to be great in the locker room. Plus, he is a great penalty killer and has a higher skill level than some of our penalty killing forwards, e.g. Chad Larose, so he wouldn’t look out of place on a 3rd line.

I don’ think Gelinas can keep up anymore, David. The other factors are:

1) The team’s looking to shed salary. How does signing another player, regardless of cost, get justified?

2) What happens when Walker, Ruutu and Williams return?

FWIW, Chad had 11-12-23 last year compared to Gelinas’ 9-11-20 season with Nashville.

To play devil’s advocate, perhaps the team could use another forward.

First off, insurance should be paying most of William’s salary while he is out, so that should not be a factor.

When and if Walker, Ruutu, and Williams return, another forward could very well be out. When is the last time the Canes did not have a single forward injured?

Here’s something I might be open to:

Sharks right wing Lukas Kaspar – San Jose’s first-round draft pick in 2004 – was placed on waivers Monday even though the team had room on the roster and space under the salary cap to accommodate him.