Been out of the forum for a while but what do you guys think about the AUS recruitment summer ?
I think Acadia had the best. Considering they have the UCup next year.
Moncton did a solid job and I would like to see them back on track.
PEI with good elements, same with SMU.
UNB, as usual ($).
DAL..well.
In terms of just looking at the quality/quantity of recruits brought in this summer (ie/ not taking into consideration who teams lost/might lose), this is how I would rank it.
1) UNB - Only 6 guys but all of them are above-to-well-above average. Gatenby and Rassell are blue-chip with Dove-McFalls possibly in that tier as well. Boucher/Watling/McEwan are all solid pieces, especially when you consider they may be 3rd/4th liners, at least to start. Also keep in mind they have the ability to add one more piece, most likely a d-man.
2) Acadia - Obviously the biggest class in the conference and a lot of quality as well. The recent addition of McFadden pushes Acadia close to UNB IMO as he was arguably one of the best CHL defencemen available. Houck, MacDougall, Corneil, Fergus, Colello, Flodell all look like "top of the line-up" type additions. The rest appear to be just depth pieces right now. I believe they are at the maximum of 22 skaters right now.
3) SMU - Like UNB in that it is a small class but Friend, DeNoble, Theede, and Welsh all look to be above-average. I don't think they have maxed out their roster yet so could still add someone.
4) St. FX - Not going to lie, I am a little underwhelmed with their class outside of Holwell. Thompson and Webster are ok. They are probably better than their numbers show and could turn into very good shutdown defenders in the AUS, but right now I see St. FX as having a weaker class than the above three teams. I am surprised they recruited exclusively east coast guys this summer after being one of the more active teams to recruit from the OHL in recent years. Sounds like they are done adding for the summer.
5) Moncton - St. Cyr and Montpetit are upper-echelon guys and Lanoue is a big addition for them. Getting another CHL defenceman in Desjardins should help as keeping pucks out of the net has been their biggest weakness recently. With three top notch recruits you could make an argument it’s a better class than St. FX. What isn’t an argument is that it is their best class in recent memory and hopefully this is a sign of things to come to get them back on track to where they once were.
6) UPEI - Three of their four announced recruits have CHL experience, but no real stand-out player like the teams ahead of them have been able to land.
7) Dalhousie - Par for the course I guess with a bunch of Jr A players.