Monday, October 16, 2006
Could Brule head back to the Giants?
Gilbert Brule...back in Vancouver?
There have been mumblings and rumours abound since Brule has had a poor preseason, been player very little by Gerrard Gallant, and is still eligible for another WHL season. With the Memorial Cup here in Vancouver, you can imagine how much Giants fans would love to see him back.
That said, I can't see it happening, even with the Jackets jacking Brule around. Brule absolutely demolished the WHL last season, and wouldn't benefit much from coming back when he could be learning against the best of the best.
Still, stranger things have happened.
On another note, The Dinner Jackets Curse of players I like seems to have taken a chokehold. Balastik has just 1 point and is -3 in 4 games while Brule has 0 points and a -3 in 3 games.
From the Columbus Dispatch.
There have been mumblings and rumours abound since Brule has had a poor preseason, been player very little by Gerrard Gallant, and is still eligible for another WHL season. With the Memorial Cup here in Vancouver, you can imagine how much Giants fans would love to see him back.
That said, I can't see it happening, even with the Jackets jacking Brule around. Brule absolutely demolished the WHL last season, and wouldn't benefit much from coming back when he could be learning against the best of the best.
Still, stranger things have happened.
On another note, The Dinner Jackets Curse of players I like seems to have taken a chokehold. Balastik has just 1 point and is -3 in 4 games while Brule has 0 points and a -3 in 3 games.
From the Columbus Dispatch.
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Blue Jackets president and general manager Doug MacLean said he sat down earlier this week with rookie center Gilbert Brule.I can acknowledge that Brule has a rather poor preseason, but why would any smart club put so much stock into a small bundle of meaningless games? Geoff Platt? Manny Malhotra? Dan Fritsche? (Who should be a winger, anyway) and Svitov? C'mon, they have established track records and you know what you are going to get. A few meaningless preseason games isn't going to turn Cinderella's pumpkin into a DVD player.
Brule has had a hard time finding playing time early this season, and rumors started cropping up last week in his hometown of Vancouver that Brule might be headed back to his junior club.
"I just wanted to make sure the kid’s not worried about anything he shouldn’t be worried about," MacLean said. "I told him to relax and play. Just play. And he told me that he’s fine, that all he wants is a chance to play."
MacLean then was hit with the $1 million question: Are the Blue Jackets planning to return Brule to juniors?
"For now, I would say no," MacLean said. "That’s not something we’ve even discussed."
But, MacLean acknowledged, it hasn’t been entirely ruled out, either.
Brule was pegged as the Blue Jackets’ No. 2 center at the start of training camp. He didn’t have a bad camp, but he didn’t have as good a camp as Alexander Svitov, Geoff Platt or Dan Fritsche, all of whom play center.
Svitov holds down the No. 2 center spot with left winger Fredrik Modin and right winger Nikolai Zherdev. Platt is playing in Syracuse. Fritsche is out at least another week because of a shoulder injury.
So Brule, who was dropped to the No. 4 line for the first two games of the season and scratched for the third, was back in the lineup last night when the Blue Jackets played the Minnesota Wild.
Can the Blue Jackets find enough ice time for Brule to justify keeping him in the NHL?
"That’s the major issue," MacLean said. "We’ve got to do what’s right for the kid."
On the flip side, is there anything Brule can gain from a fourth season of major junior hockey?
"That’s the other issue," MacLean said. "Those are the two big things we’ve got to juggle here."
