An excerpt from the Hamilton Spectator (Garry McKay):
“He was good to me and good for us and he put points on the board,” said Hamilton coach Don Lever. “I wish him all the best.
“He’s was a pretty good soldier for us and he became a better player. His points will be hard to replace.”
Locke was a key cog in the Bulldogs’ Calder Cup Championship team two years ago. He led the team in playoff scoring that year with 10 goals and 12 assists. He was unavailable to comment.
The Newmarket resident was drafted by the Canadiens in the fourth round of the 2003 NHL draft. He had a stellar junior career with the Ottawa 67s of the Ontario Hockey League, where he was an OHL scoring champion.
With the Bulldogs Locke was also quite active in the community, and he was a two-time winner of the club’s HECFI leadership award.
Habster:
It seems ashamed that Corey Locke wasn’t given a real shot at making the NHL the last 4 years. He certainly has enough talent to thrive at the AHL level so hopefully he’ll get a fair shot at making the Dallas Stars this season.
Locke showed a lot of class by being a team player and not whining when he could have made a stink about not getting a fair shake with the Canadiens.
Unfortunately, he was stuck in the numbers game with more offensively skilled players like Tomas Plekanec and Saku Koivu ahead of him.
The main concerns with Locke’s game was his lack of foot or skating speed as well as his small stature (5’9″ 170 lbs). When you’re a small gifted player like Locke, you have to have an extra gear to move through traffic at the NHL level, something Locke didn’t possess.