puck7x Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Traverse of all people with 2 goals tonight.... Boxscore : http://pointstreak.com/framed/prostats/box...ml?gameid=45168 Hamilton - Eero Somervuori (Ron Hainsey, Francois Beauchemin) 8:47 Period 2 Hamilton - Patrick Traverse (shorthanded) (Jozef Balej, tomas plekanec) 10:11 Hamilton - Patrick Traverse (powerplay) (Jozef Balej, Gordie Dwyer) 13:44 Hamilton - Jean-Philippe Cote (tomas plekanec, Jozef Balej) 14:17 Period 3 Hamilton - Philippe Plante (powerplay) (Duncan Milroy, Marcel Hossa) 3:24 <hr> Balej is now the AHL scoring leader with 46 points in 44 games... How long until the habs call him up? Or would you prefer we go the "Ryder route" with Balej and let him develop his game in the minors for a few years? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheAussiePosse Posted January 18, 2004 Share Posted January 18, 2004 Traverse on the PP? Traverse on the SH!?!?! :?- ??!?!?!?!? what is this world coming to... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
habitual_hab Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Originally posted by puck7xBalej is now the AHL scoring leader with 46 points in 44 games... How long until the habs call him up? Or would you prefer we go the "Ryder route" with Balej and let him develop his game in the minors for a few years? This is what The Forecaster has to say about Ryder: GOING INTO CAMP: Ryder will get an outside chance at winning a roster spot with the Canadiens at training camp. His versatility could be a big plus in his favor. ASSETS: Excels at the two-way game and is an improving offensive player. Can play either center or wing. Is extremely versatile. FLAWS: Doesn't have top-shelf scoring prowess, which will ultimately limit him to a checking role in the NHL. CAREER POTENTIAL: Checking-line forward. http://www.forecaster.ca/demo/hockey/player.cgi?1058 Nice to see that, so far, Ryder has proved them wrong. Balej's numbers mirror Ryder's 2002-2003 numbers. I'd speculate that if Balej keeps up his point-per-game pace that Gainey'll call him up. BTW, how fast is Balej? Russ Courtnall speed? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dlbalr Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Personally, I hope we DON'T bring Balej up this season at all, like we did with Ryder last season. Let the kid actually develop for a couple of years! We tried bringing Hossa up too early (half a season doesn't cut it in the minors in terms of development), and look what happens - no confidence at either the AHL or NHL level, now some people want to trade him. Same with Chouinard, although he had less of an NHL shot with us... Also, where exactly do we put Balej if he's called up? He needs to play on the top-2 lines to be effective, and right now, I don't think we want to mess with the top-2 lines for the time being. We could move Bulis back to the 3rd line, but that puts Koivu with a pair of rookies, not the best of ideas for a team battling for a playoff spot. Next season (if there is one), maybe we could give him a brief look, but I would rather see him play a full or close to full 2004-05 season in Hamilton before I'd consider him a legitimate candidate for a roster spot. He has the talent already to be decent, but I'd rather he hone his skills a little while longer, just to be on the safe side. And since the team is doing OK for the moment, we can afford to play it safe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Habs77 Posted January 19, 2004 Share Posted January 19, 2004 Not only would I prefer he continue to develop with a full year as the league leader in the AHL for the rest of the season... ... but we currently have Ryder & Dagenais both doing great at RW and there's simply not room for him now. You could move Ryder to LW, move down Bulis back to the 3rd line... if you REALLY wanted Balej here right now, but no thanks. As the season winds down the games will get more physical & hard fought... and we're already pretty young. Now is not the time IMO... unless there's an injury or someone really gets cold all of a sudden let him do his thing in Hamilton for now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Westcoasthabsfan Posted January 21, 2004 Share Posted January 21, 2004 Should spend the entire year in the A.... alot better for his career.... not needed with the big team just yet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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