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Prospect Info: Hershey Bears/South Carolina Stingrays 2022-2023 Vol. 1

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18th out of 32 teams in goals scored seems odd for the one of the top teams in the league though they are 4th in goals against. Yeah, I could see how that would be boring, coin-flip hockey to watch. Haven't watched a minute of either team but the Firebirds and the Wranglers look like wagons based on their GD. Calgary is 1st in both goals scored and goals against, looks like they're pummeling teams.
 
Strawberry Fields said:
Man what I wouldn't give for a Graham Mink type on this team. I'm incredibly biased because he's one of my two favorite Bears of all time with Bourque, but I don't think it's a coincidence he was a big contributor in two of their last three Cups. He was a perfect complement to Fleischmann and Beech in 06 and especially to Giroux and Aucoin in 09. Big body who excelled at board battles and parking his ass in front of the net (and had the skill to finish) and always gave 110%.

Don't get me wrong, I love the small skilled modern brand of hockey but I think that up front, the Bears are rapidly approaching too many cooks in that regard. They do have a few big boys already, of course. Protas has been pretty good along the boards and has the most talent of said big boys, maybe he can develop a touch of that extra edge to his game.
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This is where Leasons loss, hurts the Bears. He wasn’t necessarily a Mink type, but he was big bodied and could skate.
 
That was a much better full game effort overall!

They dominated the first and scored three goals in the last five minutes or so of the period to take a nice lead into the intermission, then dominated the first 15 minutes of the second possession wise but just didn't get much on net.

Frankie had two shots at a hat trick with the empty net, hit the post on the first one and actually scored on the second but was waved off for offsides. Get my guy a contract!

Sutter was booted for a blindside hit to the head in the second period, wouldn't be surprised if he gets a call. Bears gave up a goal about a half minute into the powerplay but killed off the remaining 4:30.

It was a fun, exciting game tonight, so I'm fully expecting a stinker with me in attendance tomorrow. But hopefully this is a sign of what's to come offensively and my unhinged rant on Wednesday can be thoroughly mocked- they really gelled well tonight.
 
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DWGie26 said:
You guys both need to stop going to games. Haha. I’m going to get up there at some point, but not this weekend. Caps, playoff football, bourbon in basement… you know.
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This is my last one till Feb 26- I know they have plenty of road games between now and then but it'll give them an opportunity to win the home games they do have left in the meantime :laugh:
 
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Haven’t been around for a month or so but of course I wasn’t going to miss seeing Bourque’s number retirement in person. Was a solid retirement ceremony for a well deserving Hershey legend. It will probably be over 20+ years until we see another number retired because guys don’t stick around for almost a decade like Bourque did in his two stints with the team.

That being said, it was a great game and the prospects (and future prospect Ethen Frank) led the way. First and foremost, the Todd Nelson hire was huge for this team. Guy has done a great job with the group. They have a lot of talent, but he has had plenty of big injuries and major roster juggling to battle through and he has this team top of the league. He’s not afraid to push buttons but he truly gets the most out of the guys. I was impressed to see pretty much all players playing hard at both ends of the ice. The defensive game of a lot of the forward prospects has taken huge strides.

McMichael stood out the most tonight. His line (Snively-McMichael-Borgstrom) dominated and out worked Springfield on most shifts. He worked his tail off at both ends of the ice and he got into the dirty areas quite a bit tonight. His snipe in the 2nd period was an absolute beauty. He’s already up to 8 goals on the year. Also played decent minutes on the penalty kill and power play.

Snively didn’t miss a beat and looked like he has played with McMichael and Borgstrom all year. Had a couple of beautiful stick lifts while back checking. I really appreciate Borgstrom’s game. He’s not flashy but he’s really solid and he busts his ass every shift. A great complementary piece to that line.

Frank will get a contact next year. He’s been on a tear all year long. Springfield honed into him quite a bit tonight. They were all over him after he scored two Friday evening, but he still had a solid tip in during the third period. He has another gear when skating that allows him to blow past guys.

Lappy didn’t stand out as much tonight as he did last time I saw him, but I attribute that to his line. They didn’t seem to have the chemistry that others had. He had Protas and Pilon on his wings tonight. He did a solid job anchoring the 2nd PP unit and ended up getting into the dirty areas for a PP goal in the first period. You can see that Protas is a lot stronger than last year. Was using his body very well along the boards.

Rybinski centered the 4th line. I wasn’t too impressed with him at center. He did well penalty killing but it wasn’t his best game overall. He lost a ton of puck battles. He needs to add weight to his frame in the offseason.

First PP unit was Protas, Snively, McMichael, Sgarbossa and Frank.

Second PP unit was Lapierre, Morelli, Borgstrom, Nardella and Pilon.

I still think the biggest concern moving forward is overall toughness. They are a pretty small team outside of Protas and McIlrath. Adding some grit would be beneficial, especially for a long playoff run.
 
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hopefully the caps stay fully healthy for a while (obviously a pipe dream), the bears can absolutely dominate when fully on with the roster they have and are probably more poised for a deep run than they have in the recent past, although I do agree the team could use a skilled skater who can provide some physicality
 
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Thought it was gonna get ugly last night, especially after Friday got chippy the last half of the game. Morelli went after a guy following a hit, nearly got wrestled into the Springfield bench, ,and a few minutes later got a glove punch to the face from a Tbird. Martin "I'd like to buy a vowel" Frk literally straight up wrestled Nardella to the ice near the penalty boxes after the latter confronted him and didn't get called. They were tangled together for a solid fifteen-twenty seconds, even after getting back to their skates, and I really thought they were gonna drop the gloves. Other than a few fairly standard scrums later in the game, things started to settle down pretty quick after that. McIlrath did absolutely destroy a guy later in the third who struggled to get back to his feet.

All I could think was I was glad Kessy is out or else there was a 95% chance he'd do something stupid to retaliate and put the Bears shorthanded for five minutes :laugh:
 
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Very fun game to be at, from the ceremony through the end. First game I've been at this season where I didn't think Hershey would let the other team back in it. Outside of a couple of minutes in each period, Hershey was clearly the dominant team last night.

I agree with everything HB11x summarized. I know some posters in the Caps threads here are not overly impressed with Beck, but I'd like to see him get an extended look in DC next season. He gives 100% every shift, which is not always the case with those in DC. Also, he signed my wife's #47 Caps jersey last night, which made her season (so far).

A big win always makes the two hour drive home seem quicker!

**Edit - Beck has another year left per Capfriendly**
 
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If my understanding of the rules are right - definitely no guarantee - since Frank will be 25 in September of 2023 the only contract he is eligible to sign this offseason is a one year ELC (plus bonuses).

And I think - again, amateur hour here - if not signed to an extension during next season he would become a group 6 UFA at the end of the one year ELC.

www.capfriendly.com

Thank You - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Thank you for the amazing 9 years
www.capfriendly.com www.capfriendly.com
 
Random schmoe said:
If my understanding of the rules are right - definitely no guarantee - since Frank will be 25 in September of 2023 the only contract he is eligible to sign this offseason is a one year ELC (plus bonuses).

And I think - again, amateur hour here - if not signed to an extension during next season he would become a group 6 UFA at the end of the one year ELC.

www.capfriendly.com

Thank You - CapFriendly - NHL Salary Caps

Thank you for the amazing 9 years
www.capfriendly.com www.capfriendly.com
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Not an expert here either, but I think what that chart says is he can not get RFA status. Not sure he gets waivers either. So you can sign him to a 2-way deal, but has to pass through waivers.

That said, he will be looking for a one-way contract and so if we want to beat others out, that would be the smart move. Can still bury the contract in AHL but you pay (like Pilon and Nardella and Malenstyn this year). Johansen, Snively, Malenstyn next year.
 
hb11xchamps said:
Down in Florida visiting my parents who are semi snow birds. They are about 30 minutes from Estero where the Florida Everblades play. South Carolina is in town so we might go check out the game. Would be nice to see Hugo Has and Bear Hughes
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Hell yeah do it!
 
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