Read that camp report. I was thinking the same thing with Savard moving on. I am sure the Rangers will be trying to convince Xu and his parents to commit. Scouting reports on him is he plays a simple heavy game and is one of the better skaters in this past draft. Guess we wait and see what MM has up his sleeve as far as this season's roster. Hopefully he bites the bullet and goes with a young line up. Most teams like to have a vet or two to mentor the young D. That camp has about 6 teams of 19 players. Mostly all American kids. Players would really have to stand out to make the final roster.
I agree that the void created by Savard creates room for Xu on the roster. But, we can only sign four 16-year-olds to A cards.
I’m all in on Xu. Anything MM can do to get him to sign here and report helps this team big time. That means he’ll likely have to guarantee him an A card. If that happens, who of the four remaining signed 08’s, get the three remaining A cards?
The rule on underagers says your first two picks plus two more can be signed to A cards. Headrick and Bilecki are our first two picks.
So who gets the last A card if Xu is signed? Cameron or Anstis?
Cameron was ranked by many as a late 1st round pick and he slipped to the third round for us to take a “chance” on. Now that he’s signed, it’ll be tough to tell a player of that quality he’ll play JrB this year.
Anstis is American and I’m not sure if he can play JrB in Canada. Not sure the rules or if they’ve changed over the years. (Back in the day, we had a 16 year old American on our roster who practised with the team, rarely got into a game, and couldn’t be sent the JrB because he was from the US). It’ll also be tough to tell Anstis, another higher ranked player we took a “chance” on when he slipped to the 11th round, that he’ll have to play in a lower league next year.
As much as it would be a big win to get Xu signed, it’ll create a bit of a (good) problem in September.
