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2013/14 State of the Hamilton Bulldogs


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So what new players are joining the Dogs this coming season?

Negryn, Dietz, Thrower?

Any forwards coming over?

Not sure who is old enough out of Collberg, Hudon and Vail.

Hopefully the Dogs have a better time finishing this season.

Thrower, Hudon, and Vail are too young. Collberg will likely stay in Sweden.

Bennett is gonna complete his senior year I think. Archambault, Pribyl and Walsh need new contracts for us to keep their rights but It doesn't look like we'll be signing them.

Kristo, Nygren and Dietz are coming. Not sure about anybody else.

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  • 1 month later...

"MONTREAL, QUEBEC - Montreal Canadiens and Hamilton Bulldogs General Manager Marc Bergevin announced today the signings of forward Justin Courtnall and defenceman Matt Grassi. Courtnall, 24, signed a one-year, two-way AHL / ECHL contract. The 6’3”, 210-pound forward split the 2012-2013 season between the ECHL’s South Carolina Stingrays and the AHL’s Providence Bruins. In 44 games with South Carolina, he produced nine points (five goals, four assists) and accumulated 92 penalty minutes. In five games with Providence, he recorded no points and no penalty minutes. Grassi, 24, signed a one-year AHL contract. The 6’4”, 220-pound undrafted defenceman finished his 2012-2013 season on an amateur try out contract with the Bulldogs after completing his collegiate career with the Michigan State University Spartans. In three games with Hamilton, he recorded no points and no penalty minutes. In 41 games with Michigan State last season, he recorded three points (one goal, two assists) and 22 penalty minutes. In 121 career games with Michigan State (2009-2013), Grassi recorded 19 points (three goals, 16 assists) and 101 penalty minutes."

Seems like MB wants the Dogs to get bigger too.

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New arrivals to the Hamilton Bulldogs:

Ben Duffy*: Top QMJHL scorer last season. Really impressed during his invitation to rookie camp.

Justin Courtnall* and Matt Grassi*: Huge frames, known for their physical style of play. (6'3 and 6'4 respectively.)

Stephen MacAulay*: Two-way forward. Was primarily drafted by the St. Louis Blues, but they lost his rights.

Erik Nystrom*: Was drafted by this organization in the 6th round during the 2012 draft. Has been signed to a 25-game professional tryout contract with the Bulldogs.

Drew Schiestel*: Hamilton native. 6'2 AHL veteran defenceman.

Sven Andrighetto: Put up some impressive stats with Rouyn-Noranda. Just recently drafted but old enough to play in the AHL.

Mike Condon: Goalie. I have only heard good things about him. Lots of hype surrounding this guy.

Darren Dietz: Good two-way defenceman with a heck of a slapshot and nifty hands. Finished first in goal scoring for defenceman in the OHL with 24 goals. Let's see how that translates into the AHL.

Stefan Fournier: Two-way forward. Captain of the Halifax Mooseheads.

Magnus Nygren: Popular swedish defenceman who won the award for best defenceman in the swedish elite league. Described as being a good two-way defenceman with a little more offensive upside to his game.

Martin St-Pierre: AHL veteran who is known for putting up big points in the AHL.

Nick Tarnasky: AHL veteran who hits HARD.

Christian Thomas: Had a tough rookie season in the AHL last year. Described as a perrenial sniper. Acquired from the rangers in return for Danny Kristo.

Those marked with Stars only have AHL contracts (not officially signed with Montreal)

It is also important to note that some of these players could end up playing in the ECHL too.

I saw a few questions concerning a few of our prospects:

Hudon and Thrower are still too young to play in the AHL. Collberg has stated that he will play one more season in Sweden.

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This is how I think their defense will look like to start the season(barring any trades or signings):

Beaulieu - Pateryn

The shutdown pairing that played very well for Hamilton in the second half of the year when Beaulieu became their best D man and Pateryn came back from injury. I think both will start in Hamilton but who knows?

Tinordi/Drewiske/Somebody - Nygren

Depends on if Tinordi starts in the NHL or not. If he doesn't, these two would look great together IMO and may even end up getting more minutes than the top pair. If Tinordi does start in the NHL than Drewiske would be a good stay at home guy and help Nygren work on his defense. Nygren isn't your traditional rookie as he has a good amount of pro experience in a superior league(and was the best D man in that league).

Ellis - Dietz

Hopefully Ellis is healthy and good as he will be relied upon to mentor Dietz. Playing with the offensive whiz, hopefully Ellis can rediscover his own offensive play.

Scheistal/Grassi

The better one stays and the other one goes to the ECHL.

The forwards are hard to predict. Maybe something like:

Holland - St. Pierre - Thomas

Blunden - Bournival - Leblanc

Nystrom - Nattinen - Andrighetto

Fournier - Tarnasky - Quailer

Tokarski

Mayer/Condon

Looks a lot better than last year.

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This is how I think their defense will look like to start the season(barring any trades or signings):

Beaulieu - Pateryn

The shutdown pairing that played very well for Hamilton in the second half of the year when Beaulieu became their best D man and Pateryn came back from injury. I think both will start in Hamilton but who knows?

Tinordi/Drewiske/Somebody - Nygren

Depends on if Tinordi starts in the NHL or not. If he doesn't, these two would look great together IMO and may even end up getting more minutes than the top pair. If Tinordi does start in the NHL than Drewiske would be a good stay at home guy and help Nygren work on his defense. Nygren isn't your traditional rookie as he has a good amount of pro experience in a superior league(and was the best D man in that league).

Ellis - Dietz

Hopefully Ellis is healthy and good as he will be relied upon to mentor Dietz. Playing with the offensive whiz, hopefully Ellis can rediscover his own offensive play.

Scheistal/Grassi

The better one stays and the other one goes to the ECHL.

The forwards are hard to predict. Maybe something like:

Holland - St. Pierre - Thomas

Blunden - Bournival - Leblanc

Nystrom - Nattinen - Andrighetto

Fournier - Tarnasky - Quailer

Tokarski

Mayer/Condon

Looks a lot better than last year.

Looking at those forwards I don't see anyone making the NHL or if they do, it'll be 4th line or maybe 3rd at best.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hamilton line-up:
Erik Nystrom – Ben Duffy – Jordan Owens
Chad Wiseman – Akim Aliu – Alex Belzile
Justin Courtnall – Joonas Nattinen – Andre Morrissette
Stephen MacAulay – Stefan Fournier – Kelsey Wilson

Dalton Thrower – Matt Lashoff
Jeremy Price – Joel Chouinard
Matt Grassi – Nathan McIver

Mike Condon
Robert Mayer

Tryout Filled Bulldogs Drop Preseason Opener to Marlies 5-3

The Bulldogs are next in action Saturday night with a rematch against the Marlies in Cobourg, Ontario. Their final preseason game is scheduled for Thursday, October 3rd against the Utica Comets in Dundas, Ontario, before opening their regular season at home on Friday, October 11th. You can tune in via radio throughout the season on the new home of the Hamilton Bulldogs, Hamilton AM 900 CHML, which will feature brand new pre- and post-game shows sure to highlight many Montreal Canadiens’ prospects.

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Posted Oct. 4th: Habs world:




Hamilton's roster now stands as follows (newcomers in italics):


Goalies (2): Robert Mayer, Dustin Tokarski


Defencemen (8): Nathan Beaulieu, Joel Chouinard, Darren Dietz, Morgan Ellis, Nathan McIver, Magnus Nygren, Greg Pateryn, Drew Schiestel


Forwards (14): Akim Aliu, Sven Andrighetto, Michael Blunden, Justin Courtnall, Ben Duffy, Gabriel Dumont, Stefan Fournier, Patrick Holland, Louis Leblanc, Maxime Macenauer, Joonas Nattinen, Erik Nystrom, Martin St. Pierre, Nick Tarnasky


There are also a pair of forwards who were injured in Montreal's training camp that are not yet on the roster, Steve Quailer and Christian Thomas. Although both players are with the team, they technically cannot be added to Hamilton's roster until they receive medical clearance. In the meantime, because Thomas spent time in the NHL last year, he will count against Montreal's cap at a reduced rate (relative to his time spent on the Rangers' roster in 2013).
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  • 2 weeks later...

Off to a pretty crappy start... 1 - 1 - 2, I think.

That's correct but to be fair,,, they've only played 4 games, while most of the other teams in their conference have played 5, 6, or 7 games. They're also in 13th spot out of 15th, in the conference. They just need some scoring.

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If it wasn't for Tokarski and Mayer they could easily have been 0-4-0. They've been playing bad.

And the line combos are puzzling. Schiestel and Chouinard are playing over Ellis. Macenauer(I don't know who he is) and Courtnall(a face puncher) are playing over Quailer and Fournier. And it's not like the scratched players even got a chance, they played 0 games. In the first two games of the season Leblanc played with Blunden and Dumont which was fine but after that he's been playing with guys like Macenauer, Tarnasky and Courtnall. And Lefebvre seems to really like Tarnasky,he took Leblanc's spot with Blunden and Dumont while Leblanc was on the fourth line last game.

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And guys like Aliu and Tarnasky are also getting PP time while Leblanc is on the bench. Tarnasky and Macenauer were also given a shootout opportunity.

They've also been hit with the injury bug. Blunden missed a game, St. Pierre missed the last two and Thomas hasn't played a single game.

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If it wasn't for Tokarski and Mayer they could easily have been 0-4-0. They've been playing bad.

And the line combos are puzzling. Schiestel and Chouinard are playing over Ellis. Macenauer(I don't know who he is) and Courtnall(a face puncher) are playing over Quailer and Fournier. And it's not like the scratched players even got a chance, they played 0 games. In the first two games of the season Leblanc played with Blunden and Dumont which was fine but after that he's been playing with guys like Macenauer, Tarnasky and Courtnall. And Lefebvre seems to really like Tarnasky,he took Leblanc's spot with Blunden and Dumont while Leblanc was on the fourth line last game.

Gotta admit,,,last season, SL,,,made some questionable moves,,, and in this season,,,,seems like same old,,,, same old.

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