2015-16 AHL Ontario Reign - going back to Cali, Cali, Cali...

[PJ Kings Hockey]

He's with the team. I'm curious to know what they'll do, too.

Welcome to Ontario, Cernak!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Christ. 18 year old that's bigger than Biz. That's a huge kid. He would have been bonking heads cartoon villain style in juniors.

 

[ScoreZeGoals]

Biz is a great guy to have down in Ontario

 

[Peter James Bond II]

Thanks, Holden, for the awesome review!
Encouraging to hear good things about Mersch, Zykov and Kempe.
A few days ago, someone likened Kempe to Stumpel for physical
play. No way. He does play physical and that will be seen.
He just turned 19 and in a man's league - this being his 3rd
year in a man's league and he will keep getting stronger and growing
another year. No way is he the listed 6'1" 187. Why don't they
take the training camp weighins and update the site?

With the Kings offensive lack of production and the meteoric rise
of Mersch...Mersch will force his way onto the Kings this season.
Even if Sutter tries to scratch him or give him 6 minutes. He was
great in pre season and was a league leader in shots, for cripes
sake! Dwight King on steroids - good one - with better net presence
and hands!

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

Love the review Holden, thanks.

That feistiness that Kempe showed was what I thought I saw before, too. A lot of folks here had compared him to Kopitar in terms of physicality (absorb contact, don't shy away, but don't really throw many hits), but I had seen him get in faces and throw some subtly monster hits in both highlights and regular flow of play. He seems to be very engaged in doing so which I love.

 

[Sheng Peng]

Did anybody see Bissonnette after one shift in the 1st? I didn't see him; Mersch gobbled up a lot of his shifts with Horvat-Brodzinski afterwards.

Almost done with the tracking for the weekend games, you guys are going to be blown away by Mersch's numbers.

 

[damacles1156]

Mersch is a beast in the AHL.

 

[Hutch]

AHL Live

I'm sure some of you are watching the Reign games on AHL Live. Can you DVR them to the computer? Is there play by play? No home games yet, by CBA is a great arena, I wonder how it stacks up from a video standpoint.

Also, I am very grateful and more than pleased with the recaps here on the Reign. It's really great coverage, well beyond what has thus far been available on the team website, although with the launch of regininsider, I hope that improves.

I'm interested to see what happens on defense. There's just no way the team carries 8 or 9 defensemen for very long. I wonder what the aversion to sending pro players to Manchester would be? They're already in the pros, burning off ELC years, what's the problem with playing in a lower level if they're getting ice time and running Kings' systems in real time vs real opponents. Lintuniemi is there, and by all estimation he is certainly in the mix as a legitimate prospect. Finally, how much better than McBain could Erhoff actually be?

 

[Holden Caulfield]

I'm sure some of you are watching the Reign games on AHL Live. Can you DVR them to the computer? Is there play by play? No home games yet, by CBA is a great arena, I wonder how it stacks up from a video standpoint.

Also, I am very grateful and more than pleased with the recaps here on the Reign. It's really great coverage, well beyond what has thus far been available on the team website, although with the launch of regininsider, I hope that improves.

I'm interested to see what happens on defense. There's just no way the team carries 8 or 9 defensemen for very long. I wonder what the aversion to sending pro players to Manchester would be? They're already in the pros, burning off ELC years, what's the problem with playing in a lower level if they're getting ice time and running Kings' systems in real time vs real opponents. Lintuniemi is there, and by all estimation he is certainly in the mix as a legitimate prospect. Finally, how much better than McBain could Erhoff actually be?

Kempe and Cernak will not use up a year of their contracts this year unless they play 10 or more games at the NHL level.

 

[Hutch]

Thanks for the clarification on the ELC's. Is that because of their draft status as Europeans that were playing in a European league? That's great news, mainly for Kempe, as Cernak has yet to draw a game.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

Thanks for the clarification on the ELC's. Is that because of their draft status as Europeans that were playing in a European league? That's great news, mainly for Kempe, as Cernak has yet to draw a game.

Due to age. Since both signed contracts at 18 years old they both have two years where their contract's can slide. Kempe's slide last year and so this is last year his contract can slide. Cernak's contract can slide this year and next. The only way for the contracts not to slide is to play 10 or more NHL games.

All players are eligible for this slide. It is used quite often for signed players sent back to junior. However the reason the contract slides is unrelated to the NHL-CHL rule that requires players drafted out of CHL to return to CHL before 20. The King could also have signed Alex Dillon this off-season and sent him to AHL instead of WHL and his contract would have slide one year.

 

[Mike Carr]

excellent to read the report - thank-you

 

[buzzworthy]

I am sure that sitting on the bench is helping Cernak's development. Meanwhile, the Otters are 9-0 and ranked #1 in the entire CHL. Cernak would benefit from playing with Travis Dermott, who was the 34th overall pick this past year. He was sent back to Erie from Toronto. By the way, Travis is 5' 11" and 210 lbs. Cernak would not be as dominate in the OHL as some of you think.

 

[Sheng Peng]

Scoring chance + possession numbers for the weekend's games...Mersch madness:

Ontario Reign #FancyStats Recap: Mashing Manitoba

 

[Frolov 6'3]

I am sure that sitting on the bench is helping Cernak's development. Meanwhile, the Otters are 9-0 and ranked #1 in the entire CHL. Cernak would benefit from playing with Travis Dermott, who was the 34th overall pick this past year. He was sent back to Erie from Toronto. By the way, Travis is 5' 11" and 210 lbs. Cernak would not be as dominate in the OHL as some of you think.

Please quit whining and move somewhere else. Second time already.

Whats the point of all of this ? Nobody here will or can change it.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

I am sure that sitting on the bench is helping Cernak's development. Meanwhile, the Otters are 9-0 and ranked #1 in the entire CHL. Cernak would benefit from playing with Travis Dermott, who was the 34th overall pick this past year. He was sent back to Erie from Toronto. By the way, Travis is 5' 11" and 210 lbs. Cernak would not be as dominate in the OHL as some of you think.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

I am sure that sitting on the bench is helping Cernak's development. Meanwhile, the Otters are 9-0 and ranked #1 in the entire CHL. Cernak would benefit from playing with Travis Dermott, who was the 34th overall pick this past year. He was sent back to Erie from Toronto. By the way, Travis is 5' 11" and 210 lbs. Cernak would not be as dominate in the OHL as some of you think.

Neither Cernak nor Kings management is in these threads, so you can stop with the lectures about where Cernak is best served, the chest thumping on how good Erie is, and how little all of us know about the OHL.

 

[Captain Mittens*]

Neither Cernak nor Kings management is in these threads, so you can stop with the lectures about where Cernak is best served, the chest thumping on how good Erie is, and how little all of us know about the OHL.

 

[PJ Kings Hockey]

I am sure that sitting on the bench is helping Cernak's development. Meanwhile, the Otters are 9-0 and ranked #1 in the entire CHL. Cernak would benefit from playing with Travis Dermott, who was the 34th overall pick this past year. He was sent back to Erie from Toronto. By the way, Travis is 5' 11" and 210 lbs. Cernak would not be as dominate in the OHL as some of you think.

Yeah, that's a legitimate point, Buzzworthy. I'd have to think that playing with the best team in the junior leagues would be excellent experience for Cernak. We have a serious logjam on defense. Leslie has already had to play an overage year, right? He hasn't even gotten a game? Schultz and McBain are both in Ontario. Lintu's in Manch. Hard to understand.

(So stick it, haterz.)

Photo of our Ontario-eligible defensemen.

 

[Raccoon Jesus]

rofl!

The point is he's not going to be sitting on the bench unless there's something behind the scenes that causes it. He's a good player and will be playing, he's just obviously in transition from team to team. Something's gotta give this year with our d-corps period.

 

[King'sPawn]

Thank you for the work, Sheng.

And buzzworthy, Cernak refusing to report really is too bad. I think most of us were happy he was assigned to Erie, but since he is refusing to go, we can only hope it works out. If anything, I hope he gets bored being a healthy scratch and changes his mind about going to Erie. If not, then I just hope he proves he belongs in the AHL.

 

[Holden Caulfield]

IMO Cernak is quite a bit better than MacDermid at least. Probably better than Raine as well. We'll see, let him get some practice in and he'll be a regular IMO. And yes Cernak would have a been a really great OHL D near the tops in the league.

 

[damacles1156]

It's the Start of the year, Mike is not going to bench the kid all year.

 

[cali101]

ha ha, great shot PJ.

i know people are raving about mersch; i know he's great. BUT, right now he is ranked 68th in point production. he has 2 goals and 1 assist for 3 points in 3 games.

mind you, some of the other guys ranked higher have hv played more games, so they hv more points.

but that are 7 guys ranked in the top 20 who have played only 3 games too but have put up 5-7 points. devon shore, a rookie for the texas stars, has 6 goals and 1 assist in 4 games!

i am hopeful we'll see mersch move up the ranks in terms of points production.

as we've seen with the kings, shots on goal don't always translate to points.

okay i know the anger is going to "reign" down on me now...

 

[kingsboy11]

ha ha, great shot PJ.

i know people are raving about mersch; i know he's great. BUT, right now he is ranked 68th in point production. he has 2 goals and 1 assist for 3 points in 3 games.

mind you, some of the other guys ranked higher have hv played more games, so they hv more points.

but that are 7 guys ranked in the top 20 who have played only 3 games too but have put up 5-7 points. devon shore, a rookie for the texas stars, has 6 goals and 1 assist in 4 games!

i am hopeful we'll see mersch move up the ranks in terms of points production.

as we've seen with the kings, shots on goal don't always translate to points.

okay i know the anger is going to "reign" down on me now...

There's a reason why they play 76 games in a season. Give him time. I'm not saying he is going to be a point per game player, but it's way too early to judge him right now. That's like saying the Kings aren't going to make the playoffs after 3 games.