Afternoon Camp Demotions (Sep 28)

A couple of tryout cuts to speak of out of the Blackhawks camp, as forward Tomas Kopecky and defenseman Lubomir Visnovsky were released on Monday, possibly giving them a chance to get a shot elsewhere.  One would think that these two players would be able to give some sort of veteran leadership somewhere, but their price tag may have been a bit too high for the Blackhawks and their cap situation, if they were not already deemed unsuitable for what the team was going to do moving forward.  Tough to say.

Next up in the day was the Winnipeg Jets cuts and there were a few players with projections let go to the minors.  On top of the list, forwards Matt Fraser and Matt Halischuk, both were depth forwards, but their demotions do open up spots for some rookies, which makes the draft a little bit more interesting.

Depth on defense for the Jets was also going to be a tough roster to crack, just ask Josh Morrissey, who was among those who were sent down today, taking another rookie away from the possible pool, for the time being.  Morrissey is too old for the junior ranks, so he'll be available to the Jets, if injuries happen, so his projection of 5 points will remain.

The rookie crop gets even smaller after the demotions from the Anaheim Ducks camp on Monday afternoon, as they assigned Shea Theodore to the AHL, a part of a huge clearance of their roster, leaving 34 players to vie for spots on the opening night roster.  Theodore was projected for 26 points by the Hockey News, which would have made him into a pool worthy defenseman in the draft, so he could end up being a land mine to those who bring that guide to the draft (and not read the blog).

Theodore's demotion doesn't end his season with the Ducks, as he can be brought up on the recall, if necessary.

The San Jose Sharks have opted to send their 2015 1st round pick, forward Timo Meier, back to Halifax of the QMJHL on Monday, scratching another potential rookie from consideration in the rookie pool this year.  Meier did well to have gone this far into camp, but the depth of the Sharks forwards didn't help his cause at all.  The return of Raffi Torres from injury and the acquisition of Joel Ward likely were leading reasons why the Sharks didn't need any more young talent up front.

The Washington Capitals did a little bit of trimming of their own, including their 2014 1st round draft pick, Jakub Vrana, who was projected for 24 points by the Pooler's Guide this season.  The Capitals have had their fair share of competition for forward spots this season and Vrana just didn't make the cut with a week to go.  Derek Roy is still kicking around on a tryout at Caps camp, which likely made things far more difficult, as they try to shore up their experience for a long playoff run this year.

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