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10.01.2013

Mitch Elliot on his way back to Seattle

Mitch just posted on twitter

"Headed back to Seattle I would like to thank the for the great opportunity"

So whats everyone think will happen now?

23 comments :

jon said...

I like Mitch, he's a good kid but I'll take the playoff experience of Benoit and the hustle over that. Either way they both slot in as 3rd and 4th line skaters. Benoit is typically out there on the first PK, not sure Mitch would. Mitch on the other hand, definitely knows his role and has no bones about it but I think I still keep Benoit. I think Forsberg and Swenson are safe.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget we have too many d-men. So I'm not sure Forsberg is a lock. Especially if they want to get some ice time for the younger guys. IMO we missed Bear out there in Portland. The team lacked some energy. And a lot more. I know, I know...it was only one game.

Anonymous said...

Id be scared if i were Forsberg... I think he may be the odd man out here

Anonymous said...

continued from above.... plus also he would get the TBirds the biggest return in a trade

Anonymous said...

When I initially read the comments here I was basically already decided that Mitch would be going away. But the point about Forsberg is extremely interesting. There is no reason Bear shouldn't be playing every night and trading Forsberg or releasing him would free up some space.

Unknown said...

i agree with all the points here, i just cant imagine getting rid of a 20 year defenseman, just so a 16 year old can play for a team trying to make a deep playoff push.you want to make room for bear, then you clear out another defender, to me our top defenders are forsberg, theo, hauf and wardley, leaving to open spots for bear to play in. i too want to see bear play because he has played pretty well when hes been in. that leaves smith, foulk, douglas, and wolf. i agree that is to many defenders, i think the writing is on the wall for wolf, and maybe douglas too. to me it makes the most sense to ship off elliot and one of the defenders, heck i would even give wardley or hauf up in the right deal. to me this team lacks offense, and bringing in someone like elliot, doesnt help that at all. we have really relied on three guys to score all year, and i know its very early but something needs to give. i would seattle to go a prince george and go get an alex forsberg, or go to lethbridge and get a watson or a yakubowski. or any other team who isnt looking to make the playoffs this year.i would love to go and get another young stud to play along side that barzal swenson line. lets say you trade elliot, wardley,douglas, holub, a prospect like lane pederson, or someone like that and a first or second round pick for jaimen yakubowski, macoy erkamps,a prospect and a draft pick. you get a guy scored over 30 goals, a younger defender in erkamps, not saying lethbridge makes this deal but imagine this lineup. trook, delnov, honey: yakubowski barzal swenson: lipsberg, benoit,hickman: sheen, eansor, kolsar or folk and then a defense of forsberg theo, smith and hauf, erkamps and bear. seems like a much better team to me. that might not be the best trade scenerio, its probably something that wont work but the point is this team doesnt need mitch elliot, and that it makes more sense to keep the other three 20s.

Mr Tell13 said...

yes, the team that is 4th in the WHL in GF is lacking a scoring touch.

Grover Cleveland said...

In preseason (I know), the Holub line was scoring when Elliott was with them. It will be interesting to see if he can use his pro experience to improve his who game. I'm sort of in the Forsberg should be worried camp, especially if he keeps playing like he did in Portland Saturday.

Anonymous said...

Quite frankly, I don't see much of a 'win' in this situation no matter how it ends up. Hauf and Smith made several mistakes in the Tri City game last week and then both really got exploited to the tune of a pair of -4's in the Portland game. Forsberg also had an ugly night in that one, but I certainly remember the playoff series against Kelowna last year and what an impact Jesse had. I guarantee this.. Not one single game will be one or lost on account of adding Elliot, as he does not add that kind of value. The Defense still looks unstable in places, but keep in mind that Forsberg will likely pull it together more when he has a few more games under his belt now that he's back from injury. I say that the T-Birds should keep investing in improving the Defense and send Benoit or Elliot away.

Anonymous said...

I agree Elliot would be skating on a 3rd or 4th line, but the length of his tenure in the lockeroom with this team outweighs the other 20's. Which sets him up to be a leader. I also disagree that he doesn't bring anything of value on the ice. I think his presence would have made a difference in both the Everett preseason home game and the Portland game. He seems to have had a spark in playoffs that even Kono acknowledged it continued into camp, I would think he learned even more being gone.

Fact is none of them are stand outs on their own. I would lean toward cutting Benoit or Forsberg. Benoit because really nothing was paid for him so nothing is lost and Forsberg for reasons stated above; we are loaded with D. It will be an interesting couple of weeks. And really could boil down to: Can Russ get anything for any of them? What about goalie? Is it clear Fordyce is out?

Anonymous said...

trook, honey, delnov = 20 pts

rest of the team = 27 pts ( 13pts of that coming from the defense ) the point i was making is we need more scoring from more than just three players.

Anonymous said...

Everett just moved Reid Petryk to Edmonton, filling Edmonton's last overage spot (and getting Everett down to three). I mention this only because its one fewer trading partner for whichever 20 year old we try to trade.

Anonymous said...

damn... i was thinking that Forsberg to Edmonton woulda been a GREAT fit.. looks like that wont happen

Anonymous said...

Hickman on the 2nd line has been terrible. Why would a coach mess with the top 2 lines when you're team is 3 and 0.
Ever since Hickman, Theo and Forestburg have come back we are 0 and 2 ??????
Hickman is getting more ice than Honey, Troock and Dlenov ??? Can't figure this out. Someone please explain????

Unknown said...

Hickman played with that line in the scrimmages and the preseason games he was able to play. It might take him a couple of games to get back into the flow after not having any game time.

Anonymous said...

Elliot stays, he brings more to the ice than just scoring, he wins the battles in the corners, he intimidates, He forechecks, He is respected in the locker room.
I think that Wolfe, Douglas and Swenson will be gone. Benoit brings playoff & Mcup experience, Forsberg is your most experienced Dman

Anonymous said...

you want to give up 46 points from last year to just 4 points? i understand what mitch elliot brings to the team. but thats exactly the bad decisions that has put this organization where it is. this team needs all the scoring it can get and it hasnt gotten any of that from mitch.

Unknown said...

I think the T-birds have shown what they think of Swenson in the first three games by having him play with Barzal and Lipsbergs while Hickman was serving his suspension. I don't think you get rid of the guy who is your 7th forward. It's hockey, guys are going to miss a game here and there. I also think Swenson is insurance for Troock. Troock hasn't made it through a full season yet and I really hope he does, but you have to have that contingency covered.

I could see trading Forsberg if you can get a good return for him. Otherwise it will come down to Benoit or Elliot. I wasn't able to watch the preseason tournament in Everett, how did Mitch look? He had 4 points in 3 games, so from that perspective it is nice. What did he pick up from his time with the Canucks and Comets? I think a lot of people are deciding on Elliot from last years play.

I would guess that the T-birds are probably looking to get rid of only one defenseman. I think they will want to go with 8 so they have people on hand for injuries and tournaments should they arise. They could send Wolf or Douglas back, but with 6 18+ defenseman how are they going to get the minimum games for Bear? If they don't trade one of the 18+ defenseman they would probably have to send Bear back.

Hopefully they can get things going again on this road trip and bring back a couple of wins.

Mr Tell13 said...

Benoit and Swenson are way to versatile to drop at this point.

Forsberg is the elderly on D.

That leave (sadly) Mitch. Unless Farwell gets some return for Forsberg in a trade (where he would get an experienced (19y/o) Dmen, I don't see anything else happening. (been suprised before though)

And again, I can appreciate what Elliot brings to the team, but it had very little effect in the past years result wise

We will see soon enough

Kodi said...

I believe that Russ will trade the person that will get him what HE THINKS is the best return on investment and not what's best for the team.

Do I believe that Mitch could have a breakout year?
Yes

Does his past numbers support this in any way?
Nope

Mr Tell13 said...

@kodi
I agree with you that Elliot could have a breakout year.

I just don't see it in Seattle with the lineup and excpectation of the team

Anonymous said...

I agree Elliot could have a breakout year with his pro experience. But I do think he would also have to show major signs in his first few games for Farwell to take a risk on him. Also looking at experience, Elliot and Swenson lead the team in games played. As well as Swenson leading the roster in playoff experience followed by Benoit. Could just come down to trade value.

Anonymous said...

Trade value is diminshing every day as spots are filled. And there need to be moves beyond the 20's. It will be interesting to see how these 3 games go; who plays, who sits and I would expect moves rather quickly when they get back.

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