Weekly Update: Oct 1 – Déjà vu?

Injured Regulars? Parent club gutting the incoming talent? Rushed veteran PTOs? Haven’t we done this before?

Welcome to the new season of Meanwhile On The Farm – or MOTF for short.

If the beginning of this season is feeling a tad like Groundhog Day but without the disheveled Bill Murray – you would be correct.

The Gulls are missing the following eligible players to start the year:

• Kalle Kossila
• Kevin Roy
• Sam Steel
• Kiefer Sherwood
• Ben Street
• Korbinian Holzer

In a rush to fill out the remaining empty forward spots we saw the return of Logan Shaw on a PTO as well as veteran Luke Gazdic (last seen on the Heat) in addition to a PTO for ECHL forward and nephew of Bryan Marchment – Jake Marchment.

Prior to training camp beginning, the Gulls also signed Tyler Soy and Simon Benoit to one year deals.

Benoit in particular earned his deal – standing out in Rookie camp and making it through the first couple of cuts from the main Ducks camp. The undrafted 20-year old had 28 points in 63 games for the Shawinigan Cataractes in his last year in the Q – his style appears to be no-nonsense stay-at-home, and at rookie camp he reminded me of a younger more raw Josh Manson.

Possibly the most important and exciting news of the pre-season came in the form of the Gulls announcing that they would be naming their 2nd ever captain in the rebooted franchise’s history. I had the smart money on it being either Corey Tropp, Sam Carrick or Jaycob Megna and got my wish when it was announced that Megna would be given the C.

As to be expected the new season has not started well for San Diego – with the absence of firepower up front in missing Kossila and Roy, as well as the expected incoming talent that has not quite made it down yet due to the injury bug also present with the Ducks, the team has struggled to ice a competitive side through their first three games.

News and Observations:

PTOs

So in total the Gulls have signed 5 PTOs to cover for the lack of forward depth/experience due to the injuries in Anaheim.

Logan Shaw: It’s great to see him back, because I think a lot of Ducks fans were sad to see him go last year. He was trying out with the Flames but did not make the team, and so rather than go to Stockton he came to San Diego. He has something to prove, and I hope he becomes this year’s Eric Fehr story – except without the being traded at the deadline part.

Luke Gazdic: If Shaw is this year’s Eric Fehr, then Gazdic would be the Ryan White. Gritty, grinding forward, grizzled veteran type.

Peter Sivak: A 36(!) year old right shooting winger who split time between the Grizzlies and the Rush in the ECHL last season. He is signed to the Tulsa Oilers but is with the Gulls on a PTO. He had 61 points in 62 games in the ECHL last year.

Ryan Tesink: 25 year old left shooting winger originally drafted by the Blues in the 6th round of the 2011 draft. Just two picks after Josh Manson. He had 25 points in 49 games in the ECHL last season, but has previously played on a memorial cup winning CHL team, and had 13 points in 14 playoff games in his final season in the Q. Much like Sivak, I am not entirely sure when he is going to get into the line-up, but I guess it doesn’t hurt to have extra bodies on hand in case things go south suddenly like they did last year.

Jake Marchment: 2014 6th rounder for the Kings – the 6’3” 205lb center saw time between the Grizzlies and Eagles last year in the ECHL. He got in the line-up for the season opener when the Gulls were short on bodies due to immigration issues affecting Shaw and Gazdic but has not seen another game since.

Scratches & Reassignments

Tyler Soy: Speaking of Marchment and a lack of bodies – the fact that he made it into the line-up over the younger and speedier Soy is a bit of a concern. Tyler Soy is yet to see a game this season, and that season opener was a great opportunity; however, given recent call-ups – he could make it in over the next few games coming up- but more on that later…

Steve Oleksy: With Andy Welinski returning to the line-up from a 1 game suspension, it was Oleksy that was the odd-man out in the Gulls’ most recent game against the Reign. An interesting call made by coach Eakins – but likely not a permanent one. With only a small number of preseason games – he is likely still tinkering with the pairings to start. Benoit did deserve the bigger minutes but I felt it was Keaton Thompson that probably needed to sit.

Terrance Amorosa: The Clarkson University signing who had an average showing at rookie camp has been lent to the Tulsa Oilers of the ECHL. He has 1 assist through 2 games thus far.

Scott Moldenhauer: As with Amorosa, Moldenhauer has also been lent to the Oilers in the ECHL. He has 2 assists in 2 games.

Chris Forney: You guessed it, Forney is also in Tulsa but has 0 points in 2 games. So essentially half of the ECHL Oilers 6 active blueliners are Gulls excess depth.

Recalls and Injuries

As previously mentioned – the Gulls – much like their parent club – have a number of scorers missing to start the year due to injury. They also just lost another forward to injury, while the Ducks just lost another two – prompting another two forwards to be called up.

Kalle Kossila: As reported earlier in September, Kossila underwent hip surgery and will be out until Thanksgiving at the earliest. Hope to see you in another month, Kalle!

Max Jones: Suffered a hand injury during a scrimmage at the prospect camp in July and was reported in September to be out until October 15th – which was a few days ago; so he should be showing up any day now…..

Kevin Roy: Suffered an undisclosed upper body injury during a pre-season camp scrimmage, and since then we have had no word on him whatsoever. Stephens has replied to my enquiry that the last time he saw him he was wearing a cast – so he may be out longer than originally thought.

Jack Kopacka: Kopacka started the year out strong and was seeing first line minutes with the Gulls, playing alongside Aberg and Shaw in the most recent tilt with the Reign, but then a freak incident with an opposing players skate saw Kopacka need to leave the ice under urgency. He has since been listed as out with a lacerated wrist. A terrible start to the kids pro-career, and a very scary injury to begin it with. Here is hoping he is able to recover quickly and without it affecting his game.

Joe Blandisi: Blandisi seems to be this year’s Shea Theodore given the amount of times he has been listed on the recall-and-then-dropped daily transactions register. He is also not generally waiver eligible, but technically is at the moment because he managed to pass through waivers at the start of the season. He will remain exempt so long as he does not play 10 or more NHL games or stays on the Ducks roster for longer than 30 days (which possibly also explains bouncing him up and down). Blandisi has been recalled before the Ducks next game to cover for the injured Carter Rowney. He has two assists through three games with the Gulls thus far.

Chase De Leo: De Leo was one of the later cuts and has impressed in the early goings with his speed. He has the exact same waiver status situation as Blandisi and has been recalled as injury cover for Jakob Silfverberg. The La Mirada native has four points in three games with one goal and three assists. UPDATE: He has just be returned to the Gulls without seeing NHL action.

Breaking News

As reported yesterday, the Ducks have signed controversial defenceman Jake Dotchin as well as RFA holdout Nick Ritchie. Dotchin was immediately placed on waivers so it is expected that he will play with the Gulls this weekend and until he is NHL game ready. Because he is a right-shot I am assuming this means that poor Simon Benoit is the odd man out – given they wouldn’t scratch newly minted captain Jaycob Megna and Andy Welinski is too important to the power-play. But I believe this will only be a temporary assignment and that Dotchin will eventually be called up to the Ducks to be paired with Marcus Petersson on the 3rd pairing.

The re-addition of Ritchie should mean the Gulls receive back at least one forward and Eric Stephens has hinted that Isac Lundestrom is not out of the question.

Breaking News Part Two!

The Ducks have just traded Mitch Hults to the Tampa Bay Lightning for future considerations. Hults had been playing relatively well to start the season and has 1 assist in 2 games playing on a line with Dostie and Thomson. One can only assume this is the Ducks attempting to make room for the small cavalry of forwards soon to be sent down as it has been reported Kase could be medically cleared soon, Carter Rowney is close and Getzlaf is day to day.

Standings and Next Up

The Gulls currently sit bottom of the Pacific through 3 games played and are 25th in the league overall. Sam Carrick leads the team with 5 points in 3 games and is 31st overall in scoring.

Next up is a weekend home-stand facing the Milwaukee Admirals (Nashville) and the Bakersfield Condors (Edmonton).