wingfan91

I dont know where you've been but it's pretty much been common knowledge that Brunner was not coming back for the ahl season for a fee weeks now.

According to Brunner's facebook page, I believe it is a done deal.

How many of those 18 teams crying poor spend money that they dont have, or much more than they do, like it grows on trees? Hmmm, let's see, minnesota, washington, pittsburgh, carolina, buffalo, dallas, san jose. I have no sympathy for these teams as they are victims of their own circumstance. Most, if not all, generate enough revenue to be profitable franchises(apparently tha is the goal, not winning stanley cups). As for the rest of them, well, I thi k we can all draw the conclusion here that, save winnipeg, which is playing in a sorely undersized arena, aren't in hockey hot beds, and most are gary's expansion babies. Why should anyone other than the NHL and it's owners be responsible for fixing these problems?

Apparently he was traded by the London Knights to the Barrie Colts for a few picks...

Ian White an 84, but Big E a 77? Flip an 83? C'mon...

Mattheiu Schneider. It seemed like every time he touched the puck, regardless of location, he was teeing it up for the glory goal. He had to have more awful shots in a little over two seasons with us than any other dman in the history of the franchise...

Watching this video makes is hard to NOT get excited about Brunner, assuming his game will translate to the smaller, more physical ice surface of North American hockey. To argue his level of skill, regardless of the league he plays in(which most major hockey gurus rank ahead of the AHL), is foolish. He has the shot, he has the speed, and he has the hands. You can argue he's going to "get killed" by NHL dmen cutting to the middle like he does, but he's going to be backing off defensemen, save a select few shutdown dmen(Weber, Doughty, Chara, etc.) regardless of league because of his wheels. It wasn't a fluke that he netted a point per game in the WC's, more than Abs, as many as Pav and Franzen on a much poorer team. What I love about this video too, is that it goes by season, and you can clearly see his refinement as a player, from pure sniper/speed, to developing a great set of hands. 1:25 is one of the filthiest goals I've seen. Period.

Brunner has the potential with that filthy wrister to put up 25+ goals this season if he adjusts well and plays on the 1st or 2nd with Pav or Hank. Nyquist, in my opinion, is, as you said, a puck possession player. He is almost unsettlingly calm with the puck in traffic for a kid who's played 18 NHL games. He has that Datsyuk sense where he's able to hold on to the puck just long enough for someone to get free. I could definitely see Nyquist putting up 60(12-18 goals/42-48 assists) points this season if he plays mostly top six minutes, his chemistry with Pav was superb for a rookie, unfortunately he's not shoot first.

Just saw this as well, lame...

I think the biggest surprise this year will be Jarnkrok making the team out of training camp. In all reality, I see a Nyquist type situation where he plays like a champ in the pre season, but we have no open roster spot because bert, cleary, and emmerton are much more "valuable" to the team