So it's Christmas and 2012 is almost upon us, meaning of course we are at the half way point of proceedings in 2011/12 season. So what does that mean to the Grizzles????
One way to sum it up is, we are in contention for a playoff spot despite a slow start and a bit of an upheaval in the roster recently. However, Victoria are in for a battle to claim one of the top four coastal conference playoff spot. Cowichan and Powell River seem to be on course to lock up two of the four spots which leaves the rest of the contenders, to go tooth and nail for the other two places.
Surrey, Nanaimo, Coquitlam and the Grizz look like they are fairly evenly matched on paper. Also, at this stage we can't rule out the bottom two of Alberni and Langley,but, it would take a hell of an effort from both teams to get back in playoff contention.
Surrey, are a little more experienced and are quite a well rounded team.Victoria has had trouble getting the upper hand on the Eagles this season who with the Morley brothers and a quality goaltender in Andrew Hunt, should take a playoff spot
Nanaimo, is a bit of wild card. They've added two nice pieces with Sones in defence and a quality AJHL scorer in Dan Correale recently. The Clippers forecheck well and do compete for three periods of hockey most games. Coach Vandekamp has a never say die attitude.
Coquitlam, after a slow start to the campaign have reloaded with a couple of shrewd trades and a little help from two ex-Vancouver Giants in Conner Redmond and Zach Hodder. Express goalie, Cole Huggins has been one of the most consistent goalies in the league this season.
And what about the Grizz:
In a recent poll on the Grizz Roar Blog, we asked "will the Grizzlies be buyers or sellers at the trade deadline"? The response from that was 70 % sellers and 30% buyers (go for it in other words)
The firepower is there and then some. In Murphy, Myron, Ten Vaanholt, Maron and quality secondary scoring from Holland, Kaiser and Hansen goals shouldn't be a problem for the last couple of months of the season.
The defence has tightened up a bit recently with Nolan deJong really looking the part in his rookie season. When the Grizz traded for Stefan Gonzales, it ensured that a much needed steady/experienced presence was inserted into the defensive core. With Taylor Pernerowski out at this time and Sean Robertson traded, the Grizz are without two solid and experienced BCHL defenders. Pernerowski loss, is tough due to his effectiveness on special teams. At this moment in time there are a lot of question marks on defence for the Grizzlies.
Goaltending has been a little hot and cold this season with Tucker and Rockafellow looking great one night and not so much the next game. Tucker's confidence has grown a lot recently and has look like the goaltender he can be at times,but, consistency is a must from here on in. Rockafellow, has looked very good lately with the rookie goaltender adjusting to the Junior A game well. For the the Grizzlies to "go for it" solid goaltending is a must.
Potential Buyers Scenario:
So if the Grizzlies are buyers what then? Do they bring in a couple of experienced defenders or maybe a player or two cut from there WHL teams. If you make a couple of trades, chances are your going to give up futures at the end of the season. Now the whole futures thing, has decimated Grizzlies teams in the past as we always seem to give up one too many futures at seasons end (anyone remember what happened at the end of the 2008/09 RBC cup season). But, that's hockey.
Again with the firepower the Grizzlies have, it might be hard not to go for it and take a run at a long playoff drive. The Grizzlies have usually always gone that route and do make a few trades(more than a few some years) and bulk the squad up for a run. As a Grizz fan you do respect the fact that you know the organisation wants to give it a good run every year at this stage of the season.
However, caution is advised this time. All roads out of the Coastal will more than likely go through Duncan and/or Powell River; a tough prospect over a 7 game series. Then, if you make it out of the Coastal Conference, you have to go up against the Juggernaut Penticton Vees (pretty safe bet) in the Fred Page Cup.
Potential Sellers Scenario:
The Grizzlies has secured some pretty solid futures from the Vipers in the Sean Robertson trade and if they are to trade some of the rosters bigger guns for more futures, they should have the platform to bring in a younger very talented squad next season. The case and point for this is, this years version of the Cowichan Valley Captials. When the Salmon Arm Silverbacks acquired former Grizz player Mike Hammond from the Caps last mid-season, the Caps set themselves up with some dynamite futures in the form of Gannon, Mistal and other futures. The Caps also traded Aimes and St.Denis to the Vees for further futures and also netted Charles and Iacobellis, which in turn set the foundation of a strong Caps squad this season.
As the Grizzlies have a few of their big names moving onto the NCAA season next year, it could be tempting to sell!!!!
The drawback from this, is just that, being a seller with the talent we have on this team at this time. There are some real quality players and watching the likes of Murphy and Myron in the final season in Junior in there home town has been awesome.
We'll just have to wait and see. Whatever the outcome at trade deadline time, which is around mid January...all we can say is GO GRIZZ GO!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment