Weekly Update: Nov 4 – Constant Motion

It has been a busy week of player additions and recalls

It has been a busy week for the Gulls – not only did they lose two very close decisions to division rivals but they also saw a lot of roster activity as players on both the parent club and in San Diego returned from injury.

News and Observations:

Dependable Dotchin

Jake Dotchin saw his first action over the most recent weekend homestand and from watching his play I can see why Anaheim saw fit to risk offering him a contract. First off – the obvious: he is HUGE. No that is not a fat joke. The guy is a tank and tall, very tall. As noted in some of my game summaries above, he is great at smothering opposing team’s forwards, getting the puck and quickly moving it back up ice. In a way, he reminds me a lot of Jaycob Megna, except a lot meaner and more than willing to use his formidable frame to punish opposing forwards. He won’t be in San Diego all year (as soon as the Ducks feel he is ready I can guarantee he gets called up to take that 3rd pairing right side spot), but it is sure going to be fun watching him flatten forwards in the corners for the next month or so.

Soy sent to ECHL, Marchment released

As both the Ducks and the Gulls begin to slowly become healthy again, the re-addition of players has meant that bubble players such as Soy and Marchment have become spare parts. Hopefully Soy comes back from the ECHL eventually and goes on a tear much like Ortega did last season.

As of right now he has yet to play a game for the Oilers but their next game is Nov 3rd.

Larsson and Welinski recalled, Sustr sent down

Initially Marcus Pettersson was sent down also but was recalled immediately when it was found Josh Manson would not be able to go for the Ducks. The Gulls missed Larsson and Welinski in that it meant minutes for the out-of-form Oleksy and Thompson, but hopefully Sustr can steady whomever Eakins elects to keep in the lineup (probably Thompson).

Kossila called up, Steel and Blandisi sent down

As mentioned, Sherwood was briefly dropped but then immediately recalled in a move that even caught me out, but was in the end likely a paper transaction. But the move that did stick was the quick call up for Kalle Kossila – who had only just played his first two games of the season before finding himself in NHL action just a few days later. This is the final year of Kossilas waiver exemption status and he has 49 (now 48) games of exemption status left.

Sam Steel has been playing well with the Ducks – going 100% on face offs on one occasion. He has 3 points in 13 games, but was appearing to start to lack in confidence much like Terry was, and the Ducks’ current losing streak is likely not a great environment for a rookie to be enjoying their first taste of NHL action. He will take Kossila’s spot to form a Gulls first line that many Ducks fans will hope to be the new wave of talent in the very near future with Terry and Jones.

Speaking of lines…

With both the Ducks and the Gulls slowly but surely getting healthy, roster spots are starting to become scarce. Marchment and Soy have become the first casualties and with the addition of Steel and re-addition of Blandisi it means a forward will have to sit. Given the Gulls next game is against the Reign – I am guessing Gazdic stays in the line-up to help provide protection for the smaller forwards. That isn’t calling out Dostie for poor play, he and Sideroff have been brilliant together – tenacious on the forecheck and causing turnovers for goals – but he is last among forwards in scoring with just the one assist through 7 games of play thus far. He will hopefully see action when San Diego faces a more speedier opponent such as the upcoming homestand with the Colorado Eagles but for now he one step above being assigned to Tulsa. Speaking of which…

Meanwhile In Tulsa/Reading

You might be wondering, Tulsa? Well the Ducks still do not have an ECHL affiliate and appear to have an agreement with the Tulsa Oilers, who also happen to be already affiliated with the Blues which makes it more than a tad confusing given when the Gulls are short they could potentially call up St Louis Blues property such as Ryan Tesink but I digress.

Scott Moldenhauer leads blueliners in scoring with 4 assists in 6 games and Terrance Amarosa sits just behind him with 3 assists.

Angus Redmond – in Reading – has played one game and has a 1.89 GAA and .939 SVS, I wish I knew why he could not also be assigned to Tulsa but I guess their goaltender quota was already full.

Stats Update

Sam Carrick and Corey Tropp co-lead the team in scoring with 9 points each with Troy Terry sitting in 3rd with 7. Terry’s points per game has understandably come down to a still impressive 1.75 points per game.

Keaton Thompson is a team worst -5, Chase De Leo and Steve Olesky are -4; I realise +/- isnt entirely reliable but combined with the eye-test it is clear that Thompson and Olesky have struggled mightily to start the season. De Leo is painted a tad unfair here; he has played better than this indicates.

League-wide Terry now sits 4th overall in points per game, but watch that ramp back up again with the arrival of Steel.

Kevin Boyle’s disastrous outing against Stockton has dropped him all the way down to 45th in the league for GAA with 3.91, Correau sits one place ahead with 3.87. Correau is now 24th overall in Save Percentage with a 0.910, while Boyle has dropped to 35th with 0.888. Coreau is 6th overall in shots faced with 210 through 5 games, Boyle has seen 80 through 3.

Standings Update

San Diego sits 5th in the Pacific with a 3-2-1-1 record through 7 games. The surprising Barracuda lead the division with the Roadrunners hot on their heels. The Eagles, Heat and Gulls are all within two points of each-other with Reign and Condors a point behind.

Next Up

It’s a Saturday night journey to Ontario (and their terrible AHL TV camera setup – urgh) to face the Reign. 6pm puck drop.

Fun fact: Both Ontario goaltenders have over 4 GAA thus far. Cal Peterson has 4.52 GAA while seeing a league high 241 shots through 8 games and Peter Budaj has a whopping 6.16 GAA through 3 games – good for last in the league.