I like Schilling and Gaunce. No Darcy or Johnson.
Definite on your no!!!!!!s
I'd take Schilling or Gaunce at the drop a hat.
If you really wanted a guy to anchor a young D, Ness (LD) or Prosser (RD) are your best bets, Both have a wealth of experience. Prosser is the steadier defensive D-man with a lot of NHL games played, while Ness comes with a better offensive side and a ton of AHL games played.
I really think the Comets really need a 3rd RD. Preferrably I'd like to see NJ get an NHL experienced RD for their backup, send Jaros down and still pick up an AHL journeyman for the 4th right side down here.
Comets RD :
Jaros
Walsh
Russo
one of Gaunce/Prosser
Comets LD:
Bahl
Vukojevic
Okhotyuk
Schilling/White
Maybe a pairing of either Vuk/Bahl with Walsh to see if the 2 top choices can carry a pairing. Even 2nd pair would be okay, doesn't ave to be 1st pair.
Let the guy not selected to go with Walsh pair up with Jaros.
Russo is best suited to shelter the weaker prospect which appears to be OK. Russo is the best RD at this point in all of their careers. He could just as easily be the #1 RD with the best LD/Vuk.
Jaros with the #3LD/OK as the 2nd pair and Bahl with Walsh.
Some fan is going to get his nose bent no matter how you pair this group up. They can't all be in the 1st pair and someone has to make up the 3rd. Penalty killers and PP spots also have to come out of the 6.
This team is loaded with prospects and an AHL team that runs almost exclusively with prospects in all the key spots will not end up successful. You work your experienced guys into the lines with your kids and with your D-pairings. As the season progresses and the wheat separates from the chaff, the coaches can rearrange their lines and pairs accordingly. If the top 2 lines and top 2 D-pairs are solely made up of prospects, the kids will will get their butts kicked. That's not how you want them to develop. You want them to have success. So, you mix up your top prospects with the experienced guys that have been brought in expressly for that purpose.
These kids will sort themselves out as the season moves along. It needs to be realized that at some point some of these guys are hopefully going to move ahead of the others and develop into much better players than the rest. Some of those others will catch on, but after the others have clearly moved to the next level. It may take that second group another year or so. Finally, it will be come to pass that some of these kids are not going to become NHL players. Some will carve out a successful AHL career before moving on to Europe. Others were struggle further and end up not getting re-signed and maybe bounce around to another AHL team or 2 before they find themselves in the ECHL and soon after have to make a life changing decision about hockey.
It's too soon for all of that now. They are all to be tossed into the pool and and we will see who comes out on top. That's the story of the minor leagues in a nutshell. Fans at the parent level have already selected their choices and will pull for them to be the ones and some will have a real tough time accepting they chose the wrong horse. We at this level have seen this for many seasons. The actual number decided by our ages and when we started following the AHL.
My beginning was at age 10 with the Rochester Americans in 1959. That love affair lasted until the Fall of 1972 when I married and we followed jobs to the Utica area. The Clinton Comets of the EHL would play their final season in 1972-73. My history of playing the game would gravitate to these guys after the Comets franchise folded.
Teams called the Comets would move their home ice to the Utica Aud and join the NAHL for 4 seasons. After that pro hockey here just fizzled out.
I was fortunate enough to arrive in Utica as the NY Islanders were born and all of their games were broadcast on our TV service as were the Rangers. I hated the Rangers from my association with Rochester and therefore the parent Toronto Maple Leafs. So, my hockey allegiance was newly committed to the Islanders and that was a very depressing beginning that eventually was a very rewarding experience.
I still had a soft spot for the Amerks and kept track of Hetheir play from 1973 until the arrival of the Devils in 1987. My direct connection to the AHL then had a rebirth. My son was 7 years old and became an instant hockey fan. He was devastated when the Devils pulled up their stakes and all but ran off in the night after the 92-93 season ended. He was now 13 and got heavily involved with his high school sports and the Devils faded fast.
I invested some time in the NJ Devils and split time with them and the Isles as we received the televised games of both teams. That would pay off when the NHL Devils hit pay dirt.
The Utica Comets returned the AHL to Utica in 2013-14 and left after 2020-21 to immediately be replaced as the NJ Devils AHL affiliate. I became heavily immersed in the Comets and Vancouver as I was retired and had lots of time to spare in the winter. My son was a man on his own with his own life, career, and lady, but the spark was still there and we have had season tickets since game 1 and still have them at this very moment, although with the COVID issue and rules for attendance still unannounced I'm not sure how that will work out. My wife is compromised health wise and I will not do anything that may bring the virus home. We (the family) are all vaccinated and will receive our boosters as soon as they are made available to us. It's the other jamokes I worry about.
Some of you may notice I have already begun my investment with the new Utica Comets. It will become far more noticeable as the season arrives on the horizon. I may become a thorn to some people, but I will support this team 100% and will assess and analyze things as I see them. I, as do the rest of the Utica fans, hope to see every single NJ prospect become a full fledged member of the New Jersey Devils and enjoy a long and prosperous career in the NHL. However, we are also realists and know that just won't happen. The fact is more will fail than the number who succeed. Eventually I will make my mind up as to who the top dogs are, who the strugglers with promise are, who the plain strugglers are, and who is drowning. I won't always be correct and for every kid I am wrong about I will rejoice, but that won't be as often as I would like and certainly not as often as those who have invested their hopes in those I am predicting are not going to make it.
I will post a running account of the road games and recaps the following day of the home games. Some might find my continuous posting annoying and others will join in the banter and discussion of the team and its players That's what this page is for. You all know where the ignore apparatus is if you can't take it. LOL
Looking forward to a long season that hopefully runs into the early summer. (That's how long the playoffs go.) I look forward to the many interactions that will transpire as the season moves along. Let's keep it civil and all have a good time.
Good night.
