Confirmed with Link: Tampa Bay signs G Adam Wilcox to 2-year contract

[DFC]

Erik Erlendsson retweeted
Syracuse Hockey ‏@syrhockey 29m29 minutes ago
Wilcox said he talked to players who went to other teams' prospect camps, seemed to him like TBs were better and more serious

Interesting comment.

 

[More 2004]

Interesting comment.

Good for him in doing some exploratory work.. He is smart enough to know the grass isn't always greener.

 

[DFC]

Good for him in doing some exploratory work.. He is smart enough to know the grass isn't always greener.

We're also getting a pretty good reputation for developing players. Even if he doesn't think his future is with us, he seems smart enough to know we can turn him into a better player, which will lead to more $ somewhere down the line.

 

[TheDaysOf 04]

http://www.syracuse.com/crunch/inde...r?hootPostID=0704389cff7547f6a12512c759eb98ee

"I like the culture and the direction they're going here. When I started my pro career, I wanted it to be with this team. I knew that coming in here, I'd have a lot of success just because of the players they have, the prospects in the system that they're running here,'' Wilcox said after practice on Thursday.

"There's some good goalies (in the system). I knew that coming in, that I was going to sign with a team with great goalie depth,'' Wilcox said. "They've got young guys in the system and that was potentially a (reason) for going to the (unrestricted free agent) route. But for me I know, goalies, they've got to play a couple of years. I figured I wanted to come into an organization, and, a strong one, and be able to have success in the AHL, because obviously that's a first step.''

Wilcox said he never seriously considered spurning the Lightning. Four summer prospect camps with the team already made him feel part of the family, and when he compared notes with friends who skated in other camps the Lightning seemed to stand apart.

"Coming to four camps helped. I talked to people, friends, teammates, that go to other camps,'' Wilcox said. "When you compare our camp to what they go through, this seems like a pretty serious system. They are pretty serious, and treat us well. They've had success here in last couple of years. It just looks like an upward direction and I want to go along with it.

"I knew in my heart, my gut the whole time, was telling me to come here. I just took some time to weigh the options. My decision didn't change throughout the time. I knew this was the place I wanted to go.''

Syracuse coach Rob Zettler didn't have a timetable for when the 6-foot-1 Wilcox might make his pro debut, but he will certainly get minutes in the last three weeks of the regular season and possibly in the playoffs.

"I'm always confident in my game. But if I get thrown in, I think I'll be ready. I'll be there for the team,'' Wilcox said.

"Speed is an asset, which is good. It's more speed through save execution. Just his ability, if he's in his stance, just to blast out of it and make a save,'' Syracuse goalie coach David Alexander said of Wilcox. "He's got quick hands and quick feet to make saves. He's a competitor, for sure. He doesn't give up on a puck in practice. He's smart, he understands the game and can think it a little bit so that's a good thing too."

 

[More 2004]

Drake wrote a song about our Goalie prospect pool. I believe it goes something like "started from the bottom now we're here"

 

[Glide5]

Glad to see Wilcox is signed. I'll have to do some writing on our goalies. We have a great/ bad situation. A lot of depth, but that is both a good and a bad thing.

 

[LTIR Trickery]

I'd prefer if Vasy goes back down to AHL and gets more playing time :/ Bring back up Gudlevskis

Why? Hes struggling in the AHL with consistency.

 

[The Macho King]

I'm fine with Vasilevskiy staying with the big club. If nothing else, he has to stop shots from guys like Kucherov, Stamkos, and Johnson in practice. He's a little rusty in the first period after a long layover I think, but honestly if he's the second best goaltender in the organization, he should be playing.

Next season we'll actually have a full time backup that can stop a beach ball. That's good for at least 6 more points in the standings.

 

[snowden]

In Brandon, they had Wilcox/York working together and Vasi/Guds working together. The Lightning were obviously rating Guds higher than Wilcox. They mentioned last night during the Crunch game that Guds never had a goalie coach before joining the Lightning organization. He is raw talent still - which would explain some of the inconsistencies. Guds in the loss yesterday stood on his head and had some huge saves that kept the Crunch in it.

Wilcox/York are going to battle for the backup job in Syracuse. Forget about Vasi coming back to the AHL - he is too good for that. They fast tracked him - it will be 60/40 between Bishop and him next year.

In defense of Wilcox here, Guds was great in the ECHL, AHL, Olympics, and played in the NHL playoffs. That's some good professional experience compared to Wilcox. So rating Guds higher makes sense. No idea what kind of impact Wilcox will have since he did so well in the NCAA.