Habster:
The Bulldogs are on a free fall to no where including the playoffs!!!! It’s been a terrible season that had such potential when the season started…….defending Calder Cup Champion, a solid roster of good players with a balance of veterans and youth.
We can point the finger at various reasons for the Bulldogs demises:
Instability of the team roster with numerous key players being recalled by the Canadiens. Impact type players like Sergei Kostitsyn, Maxim Lapierre, Mikhail Grabovski, Jaroslav Halak, Carey Price, Ryan O’Byrne are now key members of the Canadiens………..some seriously talented players!!!! Don Lever had to shuffle players back and forth from Cincinnati which certainly didn’t help build on ice chemistry. Needless to say, an NHL farm team’s mission statement is simple: prepare their players to play in the NHL when the big club calls their number……the AHL is a development/feeder league for the NHL.
Injuries to key players like Ajay Baines, Pavel Valentenko, Mikhail Grabovski, Mathieu Biron and Mathieu Carle. There have been worst injury depleted years but it still didn’t help their cause in the long run.
Overall, the Hamiton Bulldogs have been at the mercy of the Montreal Canadiens (which is only normal) and have been one of the reasons why the Canadiens have been so successful this season. Julien Brisebois, Don Lever and Ron Wilson should be commended for their great work in developing the Kostitsyns, Lapierres, Halaks and O’Byrnes of the hockey world. Instead of being overly critical of the Hamilton Bulldogs performance this season, we should be applauding them for helping build a solid NHL roster as well as trying to deal with a difficult situation at the AHL level.