Looking at the expansion draft
With the expansion draft quickly approaching — see the sidebar ticker — the Roughnecks have solidified their protected list. There are some interesting things to note and I question where General Manager Kurt Silcott is going with some of his decisions.
Who’s protected
It would probably make sense to start off with the list of who is protected and who is not. The following players are protected:
- F Kevin Dostie
- F Kyle Goundrey
- F Lewis Ratcliff
- F Kaleb Toth
- F Jason Wulder
- D Craig Gelsvik
- D Rob Kirkby
- D Andrew McBride
- D Ryan McNish
- D Jeff Moleski
- D Devan Wray
- D Taylor Wray
- G Ryan Avery
These players, on the other hand, are unprotected:
- F Jeremy Cheyne
- F Callum Crawford
- F Matt Green
- D Grant Hamilton
- D Andy Ogilvie
- D Jesse Phillips
- D Jamie Rooney
- G Andrew Leyshon
- G Curtis Palidwor
Analysis of the lists
First of all, let’s go over the good. Both of the Wray brothers have been protected which keeps leadership in the defense and the Roughnecks winning face-offs. Protecting other key defensive players like Gelsvik, McBride and Moleski keeps a good mix of experience and youth.
As far as the protected forwards go it’s not really a surprise. Ratcliff, Toth and Wulder are all big names in the NLL and definitely have that “star attraction” going for them.
Leaving Jesse Phillips unprotected may not seem like a good move but from a managerial standpoint I can understand the motivation behind it. Jesse has been having a lot of health issues this year. In the games he has played he has performed extremely well but the key thing to note is that he isn’t consistently playing games.
Ogilvie, the 40 year-old veteran Roughneck, has already mentioned his plans to retire after the 2006 season. I’m not entirely sure why he hasn’t made anything official yet but maybe this is a ploy by the management to keep some younger players they would not have been able to protect otherwise.
The surprises
The surprises, otherwise known as the bad or questionable decisions have myself and other fans shaking our heads wondering what is going through Silcott’s mind.
At this point it’s a tie as to which move is more questionable, leaving both Jeremy Cheyne and Callum Crawford unprotected or only protecting Ryan Avery in goal.
Cheyne only started playing for the Roughnecks late in the season but what I saw of him was very impressive. He’s young, he’s fast and he’s got a lot to prove. Keeping him around players like Ratcliff, Kelusky and Wulder will improve his game exponentially. Cheyne could be a pillar of the up-and-coming Roughneck generation.
Take what I said about Cheyne and apply the same to Crawford, except put a couple years of experience already under his belt. Callum is another up-and-coming player to watch out for but is probably also on the top of a couple lists in New York and Chicago.
Where the goaltending is concerned that is just a huge question mark to me. Sure, we all know that Avery is Silcott’s man — Silcott did give away a first round draft pick for him during the regular season remember — but what is he getting out of only protecting one goal-tender?
Leyshon has been the backup for the last two years and Palidwor has time and time again proven himself to the Calgary fans. This year was a bit of a let down in goal-tending terms but if there was no plan to protect Palidwor we should be giving Leyshon a shot at the title, he’s definitely put in the time.
The unknown
Because we can’t all be inside Silcott’s head during the days before the draft we have to keep in mind the unknown factor. There are many things that we may not think about that influenced the decisions that helped create these lists of players.
Since there is a good portion of players based in the west, if they are drafted by a team in the east they may not want to move their entire lives that direction. These players would most likely ask to be flown in for all the games and practices and that would be an expensive proposition.
Even though he’s protected and there hasn’t been any facts in the positive or negative, Ryan McNish is in the Canadian Armed Forces. If the “war effort” keeps up and more troops are sent overseas could McNish be one of the men chosen? If he was that would seem like a waste of a protected player. As I mentioned, there is no fact pointing either way but there is always the threat that it could happen.
We’ve also got to remember that the time before and during the actual draft is full of wheeling and dealing between all the teams. Maybe there are some plans laid out already to protect another goalie. Silcott could be using his wiles to finagle some more leadership or youth for the Roughnecks. Who knows for sure? Certainly not me.
When the draft is over and done with the one thing I am sure of is that a lot of the decisions behind who is protected and who isn’t will end up with some sort of justification — whether that justification was there before the list was made or it’s given to match a decision on the list is up for later debate.