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62 Players in Camp: Who makes the Team - Part 2 |
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Yesterday we looked at the Coyotes 62 man training camp with an eye towards what the actual roster might look like when the season starts. We looked at defense and goalie, and today we will look into the forwards.
Before we do, there are four notes that we must, um, note:
1) Branden Perlini, the Coyotes most recent first round (12th) selection is out with a broken hand. He was probably an extreme long shot to make the team anyways, but now he is likely headed back to junior.
2) Eight cuts were made:
Forwards Dan O'Donoghue, Dyson Stevenson, Ryan Macinnis, Christian Dvorak, Laurent Dauphin, Pavel Laplante and defenseman Collin Suellentrop.
3) Mark Visentin, the goalie prospect, has a lower body injury. He won't be making the team, but let us hope it is not serious.
4) The Coyotes play the Kings tonight in an un-televised preseason game.
No real surprises on the cuts listed above, after all, 62 players is a huge number to need to pare down from. In yesterday's post, we talked about how NHL teams can keep 23 players on a roster, usually 2 goalies, 7 defensemen and 14 forwards. If the Coyotes follow this formula, and accounting for the 7 forwards cut already, they have 30 currently remaining in camp trying for 14 jobs.
To whittle it down further and get an idea of who might make the team, let's go ahead and assume that the following players are locks to make the team: Boedker, Hanzal, Erat, Doan, Korpikoski, Vermette, Gagner, and Chipchura.
That is eight players, which leaves six jobs up for grabs for the remaining 22 players in camp.
Of those 22, several who standout because of their previously having played in the NHL:
- Klinkhammer, although a healthy scratch at times last year, was on the team.
- Crombeen and Vitale are new additions, and while Vitale provides a decent fourth line presence, I don't think Crombeen brings very much at all.
- David Moss played all but 3 games last year for the Coyotes, so you figure he'd have to be in the mix.
-Jordan Szwarz played 26 games last year and looked OK, but scored only 3 points.
-Brandon McMillan played 22 games and scored twice, adding 4 assists. Despite his relative lack of scoring, I thought he was a positive in games he dressed. I would like to see more of him.
-Matt Kassian played 33 games for Ottawa, and got 2 points.
-Krys Barch played for Florida and had 4 assists in 55 games.
In addition to those players, the only other player who had time with the big club last season is Lucas Lessio, and while he didn't score and I barely remember how he played, you have to figure his experience can only help him, and the fact that he made the team out of camp last season makes him a decent bet to do so again. He scored 29 goals in Portland while playing only 69 games, so considering the offensive outlook of this forward group, he ought to get a long look.
Beyond those players, there are the potential rookies.
- Max Domi, is almost a lock to make it. He nearly made it last year, and I figure he would have to be terrible to be cut this year.
- Henrik Samuelson will also be looking to make the jump from junior to the NHL, but barring him beating down the door, it's thought he'll have to start in the AHL. Maybe not, there are always surprises in training camp and it is not inconceivable that he makes it over Domi, that both make it, or that neither of them do.
- Tyler Gaudet is a long-shot, but after going undrafted he scored at almost a point-per-game last year in the OHL and was signed by the Coyotes. On a team starved for offense, you have to figure he'd at least get a look.
The other 11 players in camp not accounted for so far, have almost no chance to make the team. I am sure as the pre-season gets underway, it's possible that one or two of them make enough of an impression that people get talking, and who knows, maybe one of them could really surprise. But, for our purposes here, there's no point in speculating further than we already have to. Tobias Ryder, for instance, is an intriguing players, and he scored 28 goals for Portland last year, but I would be pretty shocked if he made the team.
Remember, we locked in eight players above and have six to pick out of the remaining 22. I'll say Domi makes it. Samuelson too. The Coyotes are too thin up front to turn their back on scoring and even if it's just for a cup of coffee, I think they might be curious to see how Samuelson does in real games. There are reports his skating is better than it was.
You have to figure they'll almost certainly take Vitale for the 4C role and Moss as your veteran healthy scratch guy. When he's on, Klinkhammer brings some good energy to the fourth line, so I think they'll bring him back. I like McMillan's game, and I think he'll make the team.
Keeping in mind that I am basing this all off of last year and that I realize that training camp provides an opportunity for people to rise up the depth chart, and that it almost always has a surprise or two. That being said, I think the Coyotes opening night line-up should look something like:
*these are not predicted pairings/line combos. I'm just lining them up that way for ease of viewing.
Goalie
Smith
Dubnyk
Defense
OEL - Michalek
Yandle - Stone
Murphy - Gormley w/ Summers as the 7th
Forward
Erat - Hanzal - Boedker
Domi - Gagner- Samuelson
Korpikoski - Vermette - Doan
Chipchura - Vitale - McMillan
X - Moss, Klinkhammer
Thoughts? Thanks for reading.
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