Changing the landscape

(@bosbruinfan)

Well yippee kai a, the NHL and the NHLPA finally found common ground and agreed upon a 10 year Collective Bargaining Agreement. Forgive the cynical side of me but once again the NHL really did a lot of damage to the sport of hockey.

Forgive me as I see young prospects being called up to the NHL to attend NHL training camps and leaving their CHL team with a giant hole on their roster. I look at a team like the Niagara IceDogs who have Ryan Strome (NYI 2011 1st), Dougie Hamilton (Boston 2011 1st) and Brett Ritchie (Dallas 2011 2nd) on their roster and most likely will lose all 3 to their NHL teams.

I understand NHL fans are happy to see their favorite team back in action but several CHL teams could get hit really hard like Niagara. Then there is the question of the teams of the AHL and ECHL who could lose players as the NHL recalls players.

How do they fill holes in their rosters? Will we see teams like the New York Islanders offering a AHL entry level contract to a Brenden Kichton of the Spokane Chiefs?

Kichton the Islander's 5th round pick in the 2011 NHL draft happens to be 20 (he turned 20 back in June) so as the Islanders call up defensemen to fill the 3 openings on their roster, how will Bridgeport fill their holes?

The Rangers aren't in a position where they can recall any of their prospects not currently in the system. They will promote from Greenville to fill holes in the Whale roster.

Get a scorecard as I get the feeling we will need one to keep track of who is playing where.

Prospect Action

Samuel Noreau (NYR 2011 5th) and his Baie-Comeau Drakkar saw their 6 game winning streak end with a 4-3 loss to the Drummondville Voltigeurs. The Drakkar found themselves in a 0-4 hole before rallying to just come short.

Noreau was -2 on 2 shots and 2 hits.

Jesse Graham (NYI 2012 6th) had an assist on his Niagara IceDogs only goal of the game as his Niagara IceDogs dropped a 2-1 shootout decision to the Sarnia Sting. For Graham it was his 14th assist of the season (2-14-16) for the shorthanded IceDogs.

As expected Mitchell Theoret (NYI 2011 5th) missed the game with a hip pointer.

Andrey Pedan (NYI 2011 5th) was scoreless and stayed out of the penalty box as his Guelph Storm gave up2 third period goals to lose 3-2 to the Saginaw Spirit. The loss extended the Storm's winless streak to 3 games (0-2-1-0).