I would hope with this draft the Spits would roll the dice on a lot of american players. Hopefully the Spits still had a scout out there seeing players.
My only concern with the Spits drafting American players is will they report? The last two or three training camps, outside of Kruszewski any non signed American born kids have not reported that I can think of, at least those they've drafted.
All of these supposed surefire picks that were going to report and make the team the year after they were drafted never reported.
None of the high end kids ever reported.
None of the lower end kids never reported.
Kruszewski and no one else I can think of from the 01s/02s/03s. We'll see what happens with the 04s/05s this year but if they're not signed I don't see them coming this year.
So many if’s!!!! If TL is the coach, not that it matters for draft day. If anyone walks away, you would hope they’ve had those chats already. If your studs return, Which I believe they will. You need to remember also, last years draft class are rookies, have they progressed? You may have more open spots than you think. I think US kids will be able to come. Scouting is an entirely other subject, my info says they have a part time guy and are relying on other sources of info?!?! What the hell does that even mean??? Saving grace, the entire league is in the same boat, albeit with a real scouting staff. That said, what does that mean because there really wasn’t much game action to scout. This draft will boil down to those with incredible scouting or incredibly lucky scouting staffs. Gonna be some interesting moves that’s for sure. Makes you wonder what a true, experienced GM could pull off.
Everything is a big if, this year across the league but this franchise in particular has been nothing but a bunch of ifs for three or four seasons, beyond the normal question marks that every team faces.
While Letowski doesn't have an impact on draft day, hopefully, going into the draft with a defined new direction could definitely help recruiting post draft.
Agree that any discussions that needed to happen following last season better have happened but with the league at a stand still the past year I can't see much interest in worrying about the basic operations of the franchise outside of the owners/governor meeting to discuss league related business. It would be interesting to know how much Bowler and company have kept up with the players. I'm sure they've checked occasionally but would they have maintained weekly contact regardless of the player/prospect to keep up with their training or checking in on those playing in other leagues> I have a feeling contact has been limited. Simple phone calls can do a lot.
I don't see anyone beyond the three kids signed from last year's draft having a shot at a roster spot. Whether they've regressed or not they are rookies and that will be taken into account. Just looking at the past couple of seasons they've signed three or four kids from the draft and moved on from the rest.
04s - Abraham, Downey and De Angelis
03s - Johnson, Zito and Jodoin
02s - Cuylle (Pete's pick), Foudy, Robinson and McDonald
That's it. Everyone else was either signed under Rychel or traded for. I know the 02s were technically under Rychel but Bowler was in the process of taking over.
Scouting has disappeared. The problem is the scouts aren't gone because of what's happened, they've been gone since before last season started. Other sources? Could be anything. Like I said before they'll probably look at whatever rankings they can get from various services, talks with past coaches if the coaches call them up promoting their players and then fit in what sounds good with the OHL list, if there is one this year and pick whoever is next on the list. Maybe they'll make a few calls to any out of work scouts they know but that's about it. There wasn't many games to scout this year but most scouting staffs have a line on kids at least a year before their draft, at least the high end kids so while this draft will definitely present challenges for all teams those who had a scouting staff last year likely will be much better prepared than a team who let go and didn't replace much of their scouting staff.
It's going to be interesting, maybe even entertaining to say the least but the potential results don't look promising based on how things have been handled the last couple of seasons leading up to this mess. Year to year decisions likely made a bad situation much worse. Maybe Bowler has a horseshoe stuck somewhere we don't know about and everything magically falls into place. Just going into this blind and hits on everything he needs to. Betting on luck seems to be the way this franchise is heading so why not.