As usual, Alan Caldwell on his blog is providing some primo information (see link on left). Currently he’s in the process of listing off each team’s prospects, along with their stats. Everett’s prospects were added earlier today.
Now why is this special? After all, I’ve been giving periodic updates on Everett’s prospects throughout the season. However, Alan somehow manages to get his hands on up-to-date protected lists from time to time, which is no easy task. So while the majority of players on his list are known, a handful of names are unfamiliar.
Therefore, I figured I give a quick first-impressions synopsis of the names that were new to me. There were five of those on Alan’s list: forwards Paul Van De Velde and Brad Robbins, defensemen Drew McDermott and Nick Perez, and goaltender Josh Benton.
Three of those — Robbins, Perez and Benton — are Americans, so there’s no telling whether they’re even considering the WHL. They probably belong in a group that also includes the likes of Jordan Schroeder, David Fischer and Max Nicastro as speculative listees who the Tips hope to get lucky on.
That leaves Van De Velde and McDermott. These two bear a little closer look because they’re the unfamiliar names who are most likely to make a run at making Everett’s roster next season.
Van De Velde, an 18-year-old center, is the interesting name. He was a third-round pick by Kamloops in the 2005 bantam draft. A skilled offensive player, he averaged more than a point a game playing junior A in the MJHL last season, though he seems to have missed a large chunk of the season. He was back in time for the playoffs, where he again was a point-a-game guy. He also played for the Team Manitoba squad that finished second at the 2007 Canada Winter Games (which replaced the U-17 World Hockey Challenge that year), apparently putting up some good numbers for that team, although I was unable to locate the final stats from the tournament. According to Gregg Drinnan of the Kamloops Daily News, Vande De Velde left the Blazers after he asked for “guarantees that the team wasn’t prepared to grant him,” following a poor training camp last August.
As for McDermott, a 17-year-old defenseman, I can’t find any evidence he was selected in the bantam draft. He attended training camp with the Edmonton Oil Kings last August, but apparently didn’t impress enough to stick on the expansion team’s protected list. However, he had a pretty good season in the SMAAAHL, so perhaps he can make a run at the roster.
Now keep in mind, the players like this who Everett listed last year were Morgan MacLean and Eddie Friesen, neither of whom made much impact during short stays with the Tips. But we’ll see what happens come training camp.
As for names that were missing from Alan’s list, the most prominent were forwards Ryan White, Brody Moen and Devan McLean. White is the playmaker from Colorado who the Tips were trying to talk into coming to the WHL. Moen was a third-round pick in the 2006 bantam draft, while McLean was a fourth-round pick in 2007. White never attended camp with the Tips, while Moen and McLean didn’t distinguish themselves during previous rookie camps.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
