Bulldogs Add Veteran Player

[habscout]

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs...l=1112274690756

Basically, the Habs signed a veteran forward, Ajay Baines, to give the Bulldogs some depth. I loved these comments from Baines: "Bob Gainey called in mid July and expressed interest in me coming and joining Hamilton. That's the earliest that a team has expressed interest in me. And obviously with Bob's credentials and the fact that Montreal is a real professional organization I was really excited about it. Nothing against Chicago but the way things have been run there the last few years, this is a breath of fresh air for me."

[MAK]

to be honest, I never heard of the guy but he looks like a good guy to have on a younger team. he will show work ethics to our young players

[bombTHEice]

to be honest, I never heard of the guy but he looks like a good guy to have on a younger team. he will show work ethics to our young players

Yes, it never can't hurt to add a leader and former AHL captain to such a young team.

[montreal]

http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs...l=1112274690756

Basically, the Habs signed a veteran forward, Ajay Baines, to give the Bulldogs some depth. I loved these comments from Baines: "Bob Gainey called in mid July and expressed interest in me coming and joining Hamilton. That's the earliest that a team has expressed interest in me. And obviously with Bob's credentials and the fact that Montreal is a real professional organization I was really excited about it. Nothing against Chicago but the way things have been run there the last few years, this is a breath of fresh air for me."

The Habs did not sign him, Gainey is the GM for Hamilton now that Savard is gone, so Gainey signed him to an AHL contract. the difference is it doesn't count against the 50 contracts and he doesn't have to go through waivers to play in Hamilton.

[Tony]

Well, the Bulldogs look like their shapping up. Adding scorings, leadership and defense. Might not be a terrible season like most fans imagined.

[Chips]

The article mentions that the bulldogs still need a defenceman, a left winger and a fighter.

Can anyone give us a complete list of players slated for Hamilton for the next season? Would be nice to see that group in context of the main club; it may offer a sneak peak at the possible area that we are over stocked so to speak, which would be an indicator as to who management thinks can make the jump.

I know that carbo and the gang has said that the options are open for all to compete for a spot or two, but realistically I'm sure they have two in mind already.

[KoZed]

Baines is an career AHL 3rd liner. I'm glad the Habs got a guy like him so the kids dont have to be stuck playing defensive hockey with limited ice-time on depth lines.

[shortcat1]

Ajay Baines Center

Born Mar 25 1978 -- Kamloops, BC

Height 5.10 -- Weight 178 -- Shoots L

http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php3?pid=28659

:king: :hlogo: :king:

[Trizzak]

Third line center, eh?

Does this mean Chipchura is given some leeway to be a little more offensive minded?

[montreal]

The article mentions that the bulldogs still need a defenceman, a left winger and a fighter.

Can anyone give us a complete list of players slated for Hamilton for the next season? Would be nice to see that group in context of the main club; it may offer a sneak peak at the possible area that we are over stocked so to speak, which would be an indicator as to who management thinks can make the jump.

I know that carbo and the gang has said that the options are open for all to compete for a spot or two, but realistically I'm sure they have two in mind already.

Grabovsky Locke Kostitsyn, Manlow, Chipchura, Lapierre, Lemieux, Lambert, Ferland, Milroy, Baines, D'Agostini, Aubin, Urquhart, Stewart, Bonneau

Jancevski, Cote, Archer, Sanford, Benoit, Gleed, Dulac

Danis, Halak, Desjardins

I suspect Cote and one of Ferland/Lapierre/Kostitsyn/Grabovsky/Chipchura will be with the Habs to start the season. I also suspect Desjardins, Dulac, Stewart, Bonneau, Stewart and maybe one or two more to play in the ECHL. So far the Cyclones have only 3 players under contract officially (but I've heard they have at least 8 signed) so whoever we send to the ECHL should have the chance to see a lot of ice time.

[dlbalr]

The Bulldogs lineup currently looks as follows:

Goalies: Jaroslav Halak, Yann Danis (if he clears waivers), Cedric Desjardins

Defence: J-P Cote, Andre Benoit, James Sanford, Andrew Archer, Dan Jancevski, Jon Gleed, Alexandre Dulac-Lemelin

Forwards: Corey Locke, Andrei Kostitsyn, Francis Lemieux, Maxim Lapierre, Duncan Milroy, Michael Lambert, Jonathan Ferland, Kyle Chipchura, Cory Urquhart, Gregory Stewart, Jimmy Bonneau, Matt D'Agostini, Mathieu Aubin, Mikhail Grabovsky, Eric Manlow, Ajay Baines

Before everyone gets too optimistic about the Bulldogs, let me bring everyone down to earth here.

Gone are: Winchester, Pouliot, Jacques, Syvret, Roy (to Edmonton), plus Dagenais, Aitken, Michaud, Ivanans, Vandermeer, Paul (for the most part, this is good...), Kostitsyn if he makes the Canadiens.

Incoming are: Desjardins, Jancevski, Gleed, Dulac-Lemelin, Stewart, D'Agostini, Aubin, Grabovsky, Manlow, Baines.

If you ask me, I prefer the crew that's departed (at least the first few) over some AHL has beens and mostly fringe prospects, and several of those (Desjardins, Gleed, D-L) aren't even Habs prospects. Yes, there are a couple of intriguing prospects, but not much more after that.

Will Baines and Manlow help? Yes, but only a little, as the scoring they'll bring won't replaced the departed, which means, as it stands now, the Bulldogs are destined for mediocrity once more.

[shortcat1]

The Bulldogs lineup currently looks as follows:

Goalies: Jaroslav Halak, Yann Danis (if he clears waivers), Cedric Desjardins

Defence: J-P Cote, Andre Benoit, James Sanford, Andrew Archer, Dan Jancevski, Jon Gleed, Alexandre Dulac-Lemelin

Forwards: Corey Locke, Andrei Kostitsyn, Francis Lemieux, Maxim Lapierre, Duncan Milroy, Michael Lambert, Jonathan Ferland, Kyle Chipchura, Cory Urquhart, Gregory Stewart, Jimmy Bonneau, Matt D'Agostini, Mathieu Aubin, Mikhail Grabovsky, Eric Manlow, Ajay Baines

Before everyone gets too optimistic about the Bulldogs, let me bring everyone down to earth here.

Gone are: Winchester, Pouliot, Jacques, Syvret, Roy (to Edmonton), plus Dagenais, Aitken, Michaud, Ivanans, Vandermeer, Paul (for the most part, this is good...), Kostitsyn if he makes the Canadiens.

Incoming are: Desjardins, Jancevski, Gleed, Dulac-Lemelin, Stewart, D'Agostini, Aubin, Grabovsky, Manlow, Baines.

If you ask me, I prefer the crew that's departed (at least the first few) over some AHL has beens and mostly fringe prospects, and several of those (Desjardins, Gleed, D-L) aren't even Habs prospects. Yes, there are a couple of intriguing prospects, but not much more after that.

Will Baines and Manlow help? Yes, but only a little, as the scoring they'll bring won't replaced the departed, which means, as it stands now, the Bulldogs are destined for mediocrity once more.

I thought the waiver thing was 'waived'... that it was no longer in force...

:king: :hlogo: :king:

[dlbalr]

I thought the waiver thing was 'waived'... that it was no longer in force...

:king: :hlogo: :king:

Not entirely...yes, they upped the max salary an AHL'er can earn before having to pass through recall waivers, but Danis' age makes him have to clear waivers. The same is the case with Ferland, Milroy, and Cote.

[montreal]

Not entirely...yes, they upped the max salary an AHL'er can earn before having to pass through recall waivers, but Danis' age makes him have to clear waivers. The same is the case with Ferland, Milroy, and Cote.

Cote I beleive doesn't have to clear waivers since his first year doesn't count cause he was on an AHL contract, so this would be his final year without having to clear waivers. Danis would have been a group VI UFA but the league didn't count the lockout as a year so I don't know what they will do in terms of waivers.

[dlbalr]

Cote I beleive doesn't have to clear waivers since his first year doesn't count cause he was on an AHL contract, so this would be his final year without having to clear waivers. Danis would have been a group VI UFA but the league didn't count the lockout as a year so I don't know what they will do in terms of waivers.

You got me thinking here, so I pulled up my copy of the CBA, and here's how I see it:

- He's 24 years old

- Was under contract before the lockout, 2 seasons not including this, not including the lockout.

- Players 24 years and older must clear waivers if they've been under NHL contract, but here's the part I've never really been sure of:

In the CBA, it states that said player (24 years old and 2 NHL contract years minimum) also has to play 60 NHL games to be eligible for waivers. In that case, Cote wouldn't have to clear. However, further down, it goes on to talk about numbers of professional games, and in that case, he would have to clear.

It's all up for interpretation, and quite frankly, my head hurts too much to try to decipher it at the moment.

If anyone's up for it, here's a link to the online CBA: http://www.nhl.com/nhlhq/cba/archive/cba/article13.html

Scroll down to Article 13.4 to read that section, that's where the answer is.

[montreal]

You got me thinking here, so I pulled up my copy of the CBA, and here's how I see it:

- He's 24 years old

- Was under contract before the lockout, 2 seasons not including this, not including the lockout.

- Players 24 years and older must clear waivers if they've been under NHL contract, but here's the part I've never really been sure of:

In the CBA, it states that said player (24 years old and 2 NHL contract years minimum) also has to play 60 NHL games to be eligible for waivers. In that case, Cote wouldn't have to clear. However, further down, it goes on to talk about numbers of professional games, and in that case, he would have to clear.

It's all up for interpretation, and quite frankly, my head hurts too much to try to decipher it at the moment.

If anyone's up for it, here's a link to the online CBA: http://www.nhl.com/nhlhq/cba/archive/cba/article13.html

Scroll down to Article 13.4 to read that section, that's where the answer is.

He shouldn't have to clear. If you go by that link, he was signed to an NHL contract at age 23, so he has 3 years or 60 NHL games and he's only played 8. So he shouldn't have to clear waivers.

The interesting thing will be how they handle the lockout year for the rest of the guys. Danis is the main threat to lose imo, although most teams hopefully will be in good shape and won't need a NHL goalie come the end of September.

[Athlétique.Canadien]

EXCELLENT NEWS. I haven't responded to this yet.

It's great that new European players and prospects from the CHL and elsewhere on the team will have Ajay Baines and Eric Manlow to learn from.

The farm is an interesting piece of the puzzle. People tend to dismiss signings like this as relevant to helping the Hamilton Bulldogs and the Montreal Canadiens.

In a nutshell, these 2 players represent 2 Benoit Gratton's as far as leadership and experience go in the pro leagues. Gratton was the vet back in 2002. Fast forward 5 years and these two signings are sort of equal to that. The kids will learn from the experience they possess. And, Ajay Baines and Eric Manlow are relevant AHL players! :hlogo:

I'm very impressed with how the Mighty Hamilton Bulldogs are being run.

:hlogo:

Edited August 5, 2006 by ATHLÉTIQUE.CANADIEN

[Chips]

Well in the short term I think BG is holding the GM seat in Hamilton, until a replacement is found. So I'm not surprised of this signing. Typical BG player. Hope that this year things look up for the Dogs. They could really use another good season in Hamilton.

By the way much thanks to dlbalr and montreal for posting the rosters for hamilton. Looks like we will have some work to do in terms of chemistry. The great part about this years crop will be that all the spots will be open for the taking. Everyone will have a chance to prove themselves and buildup their skills and icetime.