STEELHEADS BLOG

As I look out our conference-room window overlooking Qwest Arena, I see ice covered with hockey players.

It's "go time."

The team is in the midst of a players-only skate before two-a-day practices begin tomorrow (Tuesday) at 10 AM here at the arena. New head coach Hardy Sauter has said all along that, more than his first game or his first win with the Steelheads, he was anxious simply to see the ice down, see the guys out there, and have the locker room buzzing. Well, he's got it.

Two things stand out to me as I look out the window. First, there are a lot of guys down there, skating around and getting used to the home barn. And we haven't gotten all of our ECHL-contracted guys back from American Hockey League camps yet ... nor have we been assigned anyone by our AHL affiliate in Texas. Secondly, there are a lot of familiar faces down there. From guys who have been here a long time (Marty Flichel) to guys who only skated with the team for a couple of games last season (Dustin Molle, Kael Mouillierat), there's a comfort in familiarity.

At least there is for me. Coach Sauter has said repeatedly that he hopes the players weren't too comfortable this summer. He wants the guys in good shape and he wants them hungry - remember, as great as last season was for the Steelheads, the team came up one step short. There's no shame in calling yourself the National Conference champions, but Sauter wants to see these players lifting the Kelly Cup this spring rather than watching someone else do it.

With the sheer quantity of guys in camp, Coach Sauter is going to have to make some tough decisions. He's likely going to have to let some good players go. You never want to see it, but it's a part of the game. The guys know it and look ready to get after it, to show that they deserve a spot on the opening-night roster.

In other Steelheads-related news, Aaron Gagnon was reassigned by the NHL's Dallas Stars to the AHL team in Texas this morning. But not until after he watched another former Steelhead, BJ Crombeen, beat the Stars with an overtime goal in a preseason game over the weekend.

With Dallas making the last few moves to set its opening-night roster, that means Texas now has a few moves to make to set its roster. Which, in turn, means the Steelheads should be seeing a few players headed this way from Texas in the next couple of days. Exactly how many (and which ones) is yet to be determined ... but don't be surprised if you recognize a name or two.

Don't forget Friday night's exhibition game at Qwest Arena against the Utah Grizzlies - there are no tickets for sale to the general public. Only way you can attend the game is if you're a Season Ticket Holder or an invited guest of one. And the regular season opens on October 15 here in Boise against the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Labels: Alumni Update, General, Roster Movement

NHL camps are underway and a number of former Steelheads are trying to win a job in hockey's highest level of competition (a list of them can be found here).

One who has impressed early is goaltender Richard Bachman. He caught Dallas Stars head coach Marc Crawford's eye with his performance in a team scrimmage over the weekend:

"I thought (starting goaltender Kari) Lehtonen was outstanding early and I really liked young Bachman. I thought the other guys (Brent Krahn and Andrew Raycroft) were fine for a second day," Crawford said.

One of Bachman's gems was a stop on a breakaway when the scrimmage was tied. He stopped all 16 shots he faced.

Conventional wisdom says Krahn and Raycroft are battling to back up Lehtonen in Dallas with Bachman headed to Texas of the American Hockey League. Neither seems cemented into that number two role behind Lehtonen, though, so the door remains open for Bachman to earn time with Dallas this season.

In the scrimmage, one of the lines was Aaron Gagnon centering Greg Rallo and Mathieu Tousignant ... shades of Steelheads days gone by. Gagnon, in fact, is considered a real player to watch in training camp for Dallas. He could win an every-day job with the Stars if he performs well in camp.

The Steelheads open training camp on Monday, October 4. New head coach Hardy Sauter has been hard at work finalizing his training camp roster, with news of player signings on the horizon.

Season ticket plans begin at just $275 per seat for all 36 home games - drop us a line at 208.383.0080 to find out your seating options!

Labels: Alumni Update

New Steelheads head coach Hardy Sauter is getting a good look at the Dallas Stars of the future this week at the NHL Prospects Tournament in Traverse City, MI.

Dallas, Idaho's parent club, is one of eight NHL teams to send teams of rookies and prospects to Traverse City for a week of practice and games against one another. The other seven teams are Detroit, Saint Louis, Tampa Bay, Minnesota, Columbus, Carolina and the New York Rangers.

Dallas' entry opens on Saturday night against the Detroit team. The complete schedule for the tournament can be found here.

It's highly likely that more than one of the players on the Stars' Traverse City roster will wind up in Idaho at some point this season, starting with goaltender Tyler Beskorowany. Former Steelheads netminders Matt Climie and Richard Bachman also backstopped a squad in Traverse City.

Several of these players still have junior eligibility - the Western Hockey League and Quebec Major Junior Hockey League are both represented with an abundance of players on the Dallas entry - and will likely wind up skating with their junior club this season.

You'll also see some names on that roster that have played in Idaho before - forwards Luke Gazdic, Mathieu Tousignant and Mike Neal along with defenseman Guillaume Monast.

Opening night is a little over a month away - October 15 at home against Victoria. And don't forget about the Season-Ticket Holder Only game on October 8, an exhibition game against the Utah Grizzlies.

The website HockeysFuture.com has been rolling out prospect rankings for each of the NHL teams and it was Dallas's turn under the microscope late last week.

Seems the folks at Hockey's Future don't think all that highly of Idaho's role in developing future Stars, as only four players who have ever worn a Steelheads sweater made the list of twenty. One of those four, Tyler Beskorowany, has yet to play in a game for the team, dressing as a backup goaltender in the first round of the playoffs this past spring.

Here are the four: Richard Bachman (8th), Beskorowany (12th), Sergei Korostin (17th), and Aaron Gagnon (19th).

There are a handful listed in the "Other Notables" column, such as Michael Neal, Mathieu Tousignant, Luke Gazdic, and Guillaume Monast. In fact, now that I look at it, that's it. Those are the four.

Couple thoughts real quick -

1) Bachman actually moved down two spots in this year's list. Seems hard to fathom, seeing as how he was arguably the best goaltender in the ECHL last season and was playing absolutely out of this world in the playoffs before being recalled to ride the pine in the AHL. His size (5-foot-10) seems to be his biggest enemy, despite his production at every level he's ever played at. The two prospects who jumped him? First-round draft pick Jack Campbell (a goaltender) and 19-year-old right wing Tomas Vincour.

2) Aaron Gagnon made the list? It seems odd to think, since he was with the Steelheads back in 2007-2008, that Aaron Gagnon is still just 24 years old. He made his NHL debut last season and had a wonderful season for Texas of the AHL, leading the club in goals (27) and points (58). There are some who think he's got a shot to make Dallas's opening-night roster as a fourth-line grinder.

The next question is probably, "which of these players might play in Idaho this coming season?" We probably won't know until mid-September at the earliest (when Texas opens AHL training camp) but, logically, you'd think Beskorowany would be sent here to follow in the footsteps of Bachman and Matt Climie in net for the Steelheads. In fact, both he and the Stars organization seem to be anticipating it.

Beyond that, the crystal ball is really foggy. Perhaps Sean Backman, signed by Dallas late in the spring out of Yale? I also think it's entirely possible we haven't seen the last of Michael Neal or Guillaume Monast here in Boise.

We'll see. Training camp is a little over a month away and new head coach Hardy Sauter is filling roster spots.

Something to keep in mind, though: two of Idaho's top players last season - Tyler Spurgeon and Mark McCutcheon - fell into the Steelheads' lap very late in the game as final AHL cuts were made. So, when you look at the high quality of players Sauter has already signed and consider that we'll be getting some players assigned by our affiliates in Dallas (NHL) and Texas (AHL), it figures to be another highly-competitive training camp.

Stay tuned ... opening night is October 15 here at Qwest Arena against the Victoria Salmon Kings!

Labels: Alumni Update, General

I guess it's the price you pay for playing hockey deep into May ... I woke up this morning and thought, "only about six weeks left until training camp opens up."

Training camp? Already? Feels like the season just ended.

I suppose that's a good thing - I love the games, the competition, but I also love summer and I'm not ready for it to be over yet. However, I hear the calendar isn't going to stop because I want it to so I guess we move on.

If you haven't been keeping up this summer, here's a recap of what has happened around here: One coach left for the Western Hockey League, another one came in from the WHL. An affiliation was renewed, the team re-signed an all-star and a local favorite, and I went to Seattle to see my beloved Mariners play (and, get this ... they won).

Not a boring summer by any stretch of the imagination.

In all, new head coach Hardy Sauter has signed eight players (click here to keep a running tab of who has put their name on the dotted line) thusfar with more in the works. You may notice a trend among the eight signed thusfar - they have all worn a Steelheads sweater before.

Yes, you do have varying degrees of experience. For instance, Matt McKnight is going into his third season with Idaho, while Dustin Molle played two games for the team late last season. It's part of a plan, however, for Sauter. He's no dummy. He knows what the Steelheads accomplished last season. And he knows it'd be foolish to walk in here and say he doesn't want any of those players back.

Sauter won't get everyone back. Evan Barlow is in Finland, Brett Blatchford signed with Toledo, Steve Oleksy signed with a team in the International Hockey League. And there will be others who don't come back. But he has already brought back a core of players from last season's team ... there will likely be at least a couple more, too ... to show the new players how to win at this level.

You can click here to hear Doug Plagens talk to Coach Sauter about the whirlwind as he prepares for his first season as Idaho's head coach.

Other teams have been busy signing players as well. One big name has moved, but stayed in Idaho's division as Wes Goldie left the Victoria Salmon Kings and joined the Alaska Aces. Victoria didn't wait long to replace Goldie, snagging a pretty good centerman to play for the S-Kings.

Meanwhile, Bakersfield signed a veteran goaltender to go with a young forward and defenseman. Can't tell you much about the goaltender or the defenseman but the forward, Adam Naglich, is a solid player. He had two assists in five games for the Condors against Idaho last season. The Ontario Reign - the only team in the conference to miss the playoffs last season - has brought back two of its more productive players last season in forwards Jon Francisco and Tim Kraus. Kraus finished second on the team in scoring (53 points) as a rookie last season.

Stay tuned to IdahoSteelheads.com for the latest on player movement and get ready ... the October 15 opener against Victoria is barely two months away.

Labels: Alumni Update, Around the League, Media Coverage, Player Movement

No new coach. Yet. So it sorta derails this blog before we really get going, but we'll give it the ole sporting try anyway.

We're halfway through July and players are beginning to sign around the ECHL. Idaho has made its qualifying offers to eight players from last season's Kelly Cup finals squad.

So what could Idaho's team look like next year? Too early to tell, but keep in mind that this is a team that hasn't won fewer than 40 games since joining the ECHL for the 2003-2004 season.

Idaho's NHL affiliate, the Dallas Stars, announced on Friday that they had signed four players to two-way contracts (meaning the player gets a different salary depending on which roster - the NHL team or its AHL affiliate - he is on) and three of them are defensemen. Couple that with the earlier announcement that former Steelhead Matt Stephenson had signed an AHL contract with the Texas Stars and you start to see a crowded blue line in Texas.

Mike Heika of the Dallas Morning News breaks it down further in his blog and he mentions a name near the end that deserves a little discussion - Guillaume Monast. Heika (who is the team's beat writer and offering insight, not saying "this is how it's going to be") suggests the numbers crunch could punch Monast's ticket back to Boise for another season in the ECHL.

The 22-year-old defenseman from Quebec has one year remaining on a two-year contract with the NHL parent club in Dallas. Given the fact that Texas already has one defenseman under contract (Stephenson) and potentially four others on two-way contracts, is there room for Monast in Texas?

Let's look at the resume for a moment. He came to the organization from the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with a reputation for scoring. With some of the other defensemen in Idaho, he didn't get much power-play time ... so the point total numbers never materialized. He didn't net his first goal until the playoffs (1 G, 4 A in 13 postseason games) and only had six assists in 68 regular-season games.

But while the point totals don't jump off the page, another number does: "Nasty," as his teammates called him, was a staggering plus-30 in the plus/minus rating during the regular season. As in, Idaho scored 30 more goals than they allowed when he was on the ice during even-strength situations (goals surrendered on the power play don't count against a player's plus/minus). It carried over in the playoffs, where he was plus-15 in Idaho's run to the Kelly Cup Finals.

Do the math with me - 81 games when it was all said and done ... and, in those, Monast was plus-45. Plus-freaking-45.

I've heard the arguments that plus/minus can be a bit of an overrated statistic but, for a defenseman, there's not much else to hang your hat on. You're just not going to get the goals and assists that a forward does without about five times as much icetime and a whole lotta power plays. That leaves plus/minus and a team's goals-against average to help statistically quantify a defenseman's performance.

Do I need to mention it again? Plus-45.

And, as for the other statistic I mentioned (Idaho's goals-against average as a team) - 2.65, which comfortably the best in the ECHL during the 2009-2010 season. No other ECHL squad gave up fewer than 200 goals ... and Idaho held its opponents to 191.

Is Monast a finished product? No. You'd like to see a bit more consistency in his game, perhaps a little more physicality (though he did demonstrate a willingness to drop the gloves if necessary). And you'd like to see him become more of a factor in the offensive zone.

But, keeping in mind that he's on an NHL contract, isn't it in Dallas' best interest to see what it has? Not that they're sinking millions of dollars into Guillaume, but they do have a vested financial interest in him. Simply shuttling him back down to Boise and letting him play out his contract - remember, he didn't get so much as a token callup to the AHL last season, either - doesn't strike me as the most prudent thing I've ever heard.

Of course, like Heika, I'm speculating and theorizing. Perhaps the Stars organization has every intention of putting Guillaume in a Texas jersey this season. However, it looks like the possibility exists that he could be back in Idaho.

Stay tuned ...

Labels: Alumni Update, General, Media Coverage

When former head coach Derek Laxdal announced he was leaving the Idaho Steelheads to take a job with the Edmonton Oil Kings of the Western Hockey League, we heard a lot of questions, asking why the reigning ECHL Coach of the Year would leave his post to take a job in major-junior hockey.

Why he would leave the professional ranks to coach teenagers. It must, many reasoned, be a step backwards for him professionally.

Here's some perspective, courtesy of the Dallas Morning News, on why it is not a step backwards for him at all.

(For those who don't have time to read the link, the NHL's Dallas Stars have added Willie Desjardins to their coaching staff. Desjardins spent last season ... you guessed it ... coaching in the Western Hockey League.)

Just some food for thought. In Edmonton, Laxdal will be sharing a facility with the NHL's Edmonton Oilers. His office is literally next door to the head coach of the Oilers. If he does well, it won't take very long for him to get noticed by people at the highest level of professional hockey.

Anyway ... moving on. The Steelheads continue to prune the tree of coaching candidates to replace Laxdal. We're hoping to have some news to report to you on that front very soon.

Meanwhile, more players who starred in the ECHL last season are headed overseas for their next paycheck (don't be alarmed, this isn't uncommon at all), including former Steelheads goaltender Frank Doyle. Doyle, who still holds the team record for best goals-against average in a season (2.16 in 2004-2005), signed with Italy's HC Fassa after almost single-handedly reviving the reeling Alaska Aces last winter. After a series of brilliant starts, Doyle was called up to the American Hockey League from Alaska and the Aces proceed to slide back down the hill, getting KO'd quickly from the ECHL playoffs by Stockton.

Forward Tyson Marsh, also most-recently of the Alaska Aces, will be joining Doyle in Italy, albeit for a different team, HC Alleghe.

Another player venturing elsewhere is point-a-game forward TJ Fox. Fox scored 60 points in 64 games for the Wheeling Nailers this past season and also has two seasons of AHL experience under his belt. Fox, a college teammate of Steelheads defenseman Brendan Milnamow, has signed with a team in Germany. Utah's James Sixsmith - arguably the Grizzlies' best player last season - has also reportedly signed with a team in Germany.

Defenseman Cleve Kinley (Stockton, 2008-2009) is headed to Norway. Aaron Brocklehurst (Victoria, 2008-2009), a college teammate of John Swanson and former 'Heads Michael Olson and Matt Stephenson, is headed to France.

Have you purchased your ticket plan for this coming season? Opening night is October 15 and full-season plans start at just $275 per seat. Contact me (whoenike@idahosteelheads.com) for more information.

Labels: Alumni Update, Media Coverage, Player Movement