Just talked to Komets General Manager David Franke, and he said the team is talking with forward J.C. Ruid, but a decision won't be coming before next week.
"I really don't know what he's going to do,'' Franke said. "We've talked to him two or three times and, in fact, I just got off the phone with him. He's considering going to Germany and talking to two or three other teams in our league as well, and told me he'd make a decision by next week.''
Ruid, 31, is a 6-foot-4, 215-pound forward who played for Komets coach Pat Bingham with Asheville in 2000-01, scoring 34 and 75 points in 74 games. He also played for Bigham in Adirondack in 2002-03, scoring 40 goals and 96 points in 71 games. With Wheeling in 2003-04, he scored 20 goals and 59 points in 48 games, also while playing under Bingham.
If the Komets sign him, that would give the team eight veterans with seven allowed to play each night.
"We're not talking to any other veterans right now,'' Franke said. "If he doesn't sign, we'll probably try to go find a non-vet for that spot.''
Even if Ruid signs, that does not necessarily mean the Komets would have to cut a veteran. It's possible, and probably likely, they would carry eight and use one as a supersub. Where else would they find a player on short notice during the season who might have all-around skills?
Franke said it's looking like the Komets will have 25 or 26 players coming to training camp which starts Oct. 2.
I know there have been questions about goaltender Daniel Ljung, but Franke said there's a reason he's coming to camp. Ljung already has a job at Culver Military Academy and could be used as the Komets' emergency goaltender during the season.
``We talked this summer and he just asked if he could come to camp,'' Franke said. "He is from Swedne and has played a lot in Europe.''
Comments
What could it possibly hurt in having the discussion ???
The benefit could be seeing exactly what type of player the fans would get rid of IF we end up signing Ruid and HAD to get down to 7 vets... Would this guy cut a scorer to keep defensive minded guy or tough guy or vice versa... Cut a one deminsional player or an all around guy... There is all kind of interesting discussions we could have with this one topic without it getting "personal" by just going off of the players past numbers and the other info you give us when they sign. I dont see the problem with that...
Blake, fellow bloggers, I think having the extra vet or two having to compete for either a job or more playing time will be good for the team, but good for the players trying to EARN the additional ice time. Blake, I agree that we should wait until these guys have actually played some games before we get too critical or analytical. However, this has been a very enlightening "pregame show" lol Let's give these guys a chance to show us what they can do before we rip them apart. I'm really looking forward to a new season, seeing my friends (old and new) at the MC and having something to look forward to on Hockey Night.
My gosh, I had to go back and make sure that my question did not read "who would you cut and make sure you rip them apart in the process".....lol I guess the next time I ask a question I'll have to make sure its 27 lines long so that nobody can misunderstand the context....LOL
Folks remember this, it has been proven that players and their families read the two Komet blogs. Being negative towards a player is going to get back to them one way or another. Do you really want that to happen before the first preseason game? Lots of new players and a new coach. Give them a POSITIVE welcome.
I give up......
As for the request Blake made, how often has he asked us to curb a discussion? Not too often even when things get heated. So lets make his job easier and respect his wishes....we don't want the players jumping him because of stuff said here! ;-)
JR my post was not directed at you (or anyone in particular) It was a general statement. Now is the time when it is ok to put on the orange colored glasses and be positive. Look at me! The Leafs may only win 25 games this year but dangit, DOUG GILMOUR IS BACK!!! There will be plenty of time and opportunity to be negative. I refuse to do it before the first frost.
Fair, enough, JR. Go for it.
Tony, are you counting all the times that you cant all of the sudden comment on a thread anymore ???? There have been a few times that sensitive subjects have been cut off for unknown reasons...
Why do you think this was meant to be personal attack on any player ??? I asked a simple question, the same one that got asked last year when the K's were persuing Koehler. with the internet we have plenty of info to go by, without getting personal, to have this dicussion...
And I'm sorry, but sports reporters have been getting heck from athletes for a long time for opinions they write in the paper...
JR, as I said above, my post was not meant as an admonishment of you. It was simply my statement that I believe this is the time of year to be positive. That is why you don't see me being critical of any of the moves made. I trust in this coach and the track record of management. I believe the mistakes of early last year will not be repeated.
Maybe I am tired right now but I can count on one hand the number of topics where Blake has suggested/demanded closure but I apologize if you took my post as a slam of you or your postings.
On the subject let me throw this out there. My first choice if I were king for a day would be to try my best to have an opening day roster with only 5 vets. Why? Because as things move and fluctuate during the season it will be easier to pick up a veteran to help out for the stretch run. To me, if you can find enough rookies where you don't have to use all of your vet spots right away, that might not be such a bad thing.
Nobody is forcing anybody to post here. It is my responsibility to run the blog, in part because it's my name on it and my reputation at stake.
Because of that, not everything goes here. That's been established from the first and is nothing new.
You can go back through and I've never killed anything off that was critical of me, but I have ended some threads that were unfair to others, players or posters, when I knew the full details. If someone started slamming on you and I felt it was unfair, I'd do the same thing.
Though I don't enjoy it, I have to make that call sometimes. I think I've made it twice in the last year, and each time I have e-mailed the offending party with an explanation. Both times, those involved have remained active on the blog, too.
Maybe I jumped too soon this time, but the sentiment was the same. I'd much rather be too soon than too late. If people would care to post their full names, that might be different.
Usually, all I have to do is ask and the discussion turns away from the questionable areas and continues. I was trying to be pre-emptive this time.
As for getting heck from athletes, you get heck no matter what you write from everyone. It just goes with the territory. If I could change one thing in life, no parents of high school athletes would ever be able to say a word. You end up just saying what you believe in and letting everyone else deal with it on their own terms. You really have no other option.
Sadly, you kind of get used to it, but I also tell young reporters that when it doesn't but you or you don't at least consider it, then it's time to get out of the business because you've lost something critical.
I just dont know why you guys thought that I was asking people to be negative when I asked the question. In my opinion it would be silly for the K's to go into next year with 8 vets (if Ruid signs...). I just think its ridiculous to let the positive and negative comments go by for several threads and then decide because you assume that I wanted to get negative that its now not appropriate... So i guess I'll let it drop since I cant seem to convince anybody that my intent was not malicious...
Six or seven posts ago, I said, fair enough, JR, go for it. so... go ahead. Say what you wanted to say before I unfairly interrupted you
I already made my opinion known, I was just asking what others may think or what they may do; but I believe everyone will refrain from commenting now seeing how much crap I got for a simple question...
I gave my opinion. I think it's too hard to say before preseason starts and Bingham can see who can do what and what holes need to be filled to round the team.
Blake-I know there is a roster max for the number of players a team can dress for a game, but is there a max number for how many players are actually signed going into the season? Reason I ask is because I don't want to see 8 vets on the team if it in anyway cuts down on the number of rookies we can have on the team.
Doesn't work that way DNL. You can sign 40 but because they aren't guaranteed contracts, it really doesn't matter. Also, remember at the end of last season when Michael Franke said the team may sign as many vets as possible and just let them fight it out at camp? Then the vets would be the same as the rookies or tweeners.
I still believe they might keep eight vets, and here's why: If your 19th player, the best player outside the 18, is a veteran I think they will keep him, especially if it is someone who can play different positions and do different things. Maybe that also means you keep five rookies and one less tweener. It might be different if that eighth vet is one-dimensional though, or can only play one spot.
i dont think anyone was bashing miller when they were only stating the obvious. great guy with lots of hustle and bal.. but all was asked was, would he be the odd man out if we signed another vet who could score. scorer or defense? i thought it was a great question to debate. kelly knows what type of player he is and i dont think anybody was bashing him for something i think he would even admit to. but its your blog and you can bash the president but we cant bash a poor hockey player cause he might get his feelings hurt? splain that to me lucy...politics is ok but talking hockey, what this blog is suppose to be about is wrong?
Don't forget all that in most seasons, there are several changes made to the opening day roster by the time you get to game 20. By then you see who can and can't cut it and also weed out any personality conflicts that are not resolvable. I agree with Blake on keeping the extra vet if he can be useful in different situations. I still would love to see the opening roster contain less than the minimum vets but that rarely happens. Plus you need to wait and see what shakes out from any AHL affiliation. Something might fall into the Komets lap shortly before the season starts.
the roster by christmas could be definitly different. it should have been last year but the cutout couldnt get bodies in here to make an impact. the only guys that came in later were all guys cut from teams not as good as us. they neded the paycheck and were just glad to be playing. the team was so laden with third liners that most people thought guinn was a hero! but hes forgotten more about ft wayne than we will ever know!
I would agree with your point most years, Chuckitt, but check out the history of Bingham's teams. They do not usually have a great deal of turnover, and wouldn't that be a nice change? I'm all for keeping the very best 19th player whether he be a rookie, tweener or vet. Most of the time, teams don't want to keep a vet because of costs, but that may not be an obstacle this year.
JR, please send me an e-mail. I've been trying to send you one for the past two hours with no luck. Thanks
Wow....I leave you guys alone all day and you start a Blog War. JR must have went 0 for 6 up in the show today.....man!!!
Positive comment....Kelly Miller is a solid player and a solid individual. I enjoy watching him play. I will now drop it.
Please do not bring back Jorde or Guinn and I will be absolutely peachy!!!
Let's drop the puck 3 weeks early all ready. Notre Dame got their arses handed to them today...so the college football season is over for me. Who cares?!?! No Chicago teams will be playing baseball in the postseason. And I can guarantee that we will have another poopy IU Basketball Season. So to make a long uninteresting story short....DROP THE PUCK....before we all kill each other talking about nothing.
3 Cheers for Enema Man on "opening" night!!!!
Oh no Hit, nothin but homers today...lol
If Ruid does sign with the Komets, I believe someone, whether a vet or a tweener, will get cut.
The reason I believe this is because with Ruid on the team, it would only allow enough room for 4 rookies. And if a rookie doesn't work out or gets hurt, they'll have to pull someone from the crowd to sit on the bench just to have the minimum 4 rookies dressed.
Also, something I meant to mention before, who's to say Ruid couldn't be the one cut? I know he has great talent, but he did have a bad back last year. Maybe he'll come in and realize that it's worse than he expected. I'm not saying I think he will, just something to think about. To name a name as to who could get cut is too hard right now. I suppose all this talk is a bit premature anyhow because Ruid hasn't commited to the Komets. If Ruid signs, I don't think any vet (or tweener) is safe. And that's a great thing to say, because we have a team full of very talented players to begin with. No one is really below the talent level of this league that I can see thus far. As for the question if Bingham will cut from offense or defense, that's a tough one too. I'll need to watch the team play a bit first. Remember the Komets roster last summer looked on paper to be an improvement, but boy was I ever wrong.
yooure right blake id love to see lots of vets and we play those who want to put out the effort. dont forget, im one who wants the vet rules dropped all together! raise the salary cap, require 5 rookies and allow 21 people on the roster with 19 allowed to dress. ssign as many vets as you can fit in the cap and lets have real hockey for a change not the euro crap or soccer mom influenced nicey nice.
Alot of guys can and will be cut if they have 30 guys in camp. That is the greatest thing about the contracts in this league.
Nobody can coast into camp and get a spot without working for it.
Sooo I am listening to the Colts game online and what do I hear after the TD? OLE OLE OLE OLE......LOL
Blake, quit abusing what little power you think you have. Miller is not that good!
Get over it. If people want to talk about him, let them.