Is Our Holiday Break Here Yet?

Evgeny Grachev got to see what life was like when one does not have a whole lot of support as his Brampton Battalion got shut down and then shut out by the Barrie Colts 4-0.

The Battalion were with out their leaders Cody Hodgson and Matt Duchene who were off to Team Canada's selection camp. Take your top two players out of any lineup and then lose one of your better defensemen in Alexander Eriksson to injury and the results are predictable.

Grachev who has been playing most of this season as a left wing was shifted to center for this game and to be honest, that is not his NHL future. It was not that Grachev played badly but rather it is clear that on the wing, Grachev has more freedom to look for his offense.

Grachev saw his 5 game scoring streak come to an end; during the streak Grachev was 4-5--9 which has moved him up into the upper levels not only among OHL rookies but overall as well.

Now while we hope that Alexander Eriksson is not badly hurt, there is a huge part of us that would just love to see the Battalion make a move to add a top level defenseman to an already potent lineup.

We are of course talking about Michael Del Zotto as we know the work of Stan Butler and if you needed any reason why we dream about this possibility then just take a look at the picture of Grachev and you will know why.

Del Zotto with a supporting cast like Grachev has right now would speed up his development as there are very few CHL level coaches who are also great teachers like Stan Butler is.

(Grachev picture courtesy of the Brampton Battalion)