A New Beginning

HEADLINE SPORTS (ON) - Guelph

It is a new year for the Guelph Reapers. With a new year, and new blood, and new life, there is new hope. Will there also be a new outcome?

Both fans and management alike have endured a roller coaster of emotion the past four months. This team went from an incredible run to a heartbreaking 7th game loss in the Kings Cup Finals. Shortly after that, the team went on to lose long time fan favourite and RHL Scoring Leader Shane Doan to free agency. Not long after that, another legendary Reaper and scoring champion Vincent Lecavalier was dealt away. As if the shakeup was not enough, first ever Reaper Pavel Kubina was dealt leaving the team minus all three of its captains.

"It was a tough stretch," GM Gandour said to me in an exclusive interview for RHLCentral Blogsphere. "We lost the title we wanted so bad, we lost our co-captain and scoring leader to free agency. We had to overpay to sign Vinnie, and to keep him would have left us no room to breathe or make a single move. Thus went our second co-captain. Pavel was another contract we needed to move. He was signed to big dollars years back when he was a top two. He was not going to fit in with our new revamped D at his salary. With the contracts we freed up we began to rebuild. The minimal assets we got back were only part of the moves. The players we were able to sign were the rest. To add Paul Kariya in free agency replaced Shane Doan, something we could not do had we kept Vinnie. Adding Peca, Neilsen and Connolly gave us Sakic and Vinnys replacements. Quincey replaces Kubina nicely for us and suddenly we have a few more assets then we did before in the process."

For those of you just joining us, the name in there that might have caught you off guard is Tim Connolly. Today the Reapers announced a deal sending two 2nd round picks off to the Grizzlies for skilled Centre Tim Connolly.

Connolly brings a great deal of playmaking skills and offensive flare. He is gifted at reading plays as they happen and finding his linemates in the open. Tim however does come with some question marks. He is injury proned, and that makes him more of a risk then Vinnie would have been. He also can not play the long ice time Vinnie can so that makes him less useful as a number one, a role he must fulfill this season. What Tim does bring is some nice intangibles. His versatility to play wing as well as Centre gives the Reapers their first option at Centre in over two years. Sakic, Fedorov and Vinnie last year were all Centre only options. Connolly also brings a much MUCH more reasonable contract and three more years of contract. After this season, he will be a lot healthier for the next two and under a million is unheard of for top end talent of his calibre as we saw in auction this year.

Connolly will however have support this year for his injury proneness. He has Sergei Fedorov who ate his wheaties, drank his red bull and hulked up for this season. He also has new additions Frans Nielsen and Mike Peca to support him with the ability to step into bigger roles. Ryan Johnson and Stephane Yelle bring up the rear with great defensive presence.

Connolly is tied for the second highest rated passer in the RHL... behind only one person, Paul Kariya who will patrol his left wing side this season.

Kariya is a rarity in the RHL. A 6 rated passer with great speed and awesome offensive instincts will be hard to contain by opposition defenses. The similarities with Connolly and Kariya are eerie. Both players have awesome offensive potential. Both players are incredible playmakers with an uncanny knack for finding the perfect pass to the man in the clear. Both are new acquisitions for the Reapers. Most importantly both players are stepping into huge shoes. Did we mention both players are so injury proned that they may just break a leg walking to the arena entrance?

"Yes I thought of that," GM Gandour told me in our exclusive. "Both these players have had a hard time lately, but both also want to prove to the league they can play. Both are driven, and very motivated. We feel that managing their ice time right, we can get the most out of them. Luckily, we have a great coach who the past several years has proven an amazing ability to manage lines and get the most offense out of his players. This year we will test that to the max."

It is true that Coach DeBoer has managed to make the most of everything he has gotten. He seems to drag every last ounce of offensive flare from even the lower line players, and motivates them to give their best years in Reapers Black and Red.

If he can preform the miracle again, then this top line could remain one of the most deadly in the RHL. With two dynamic creative playmaking centres, there is only one piece missing. And patrolling the other wing is that piece. Arguably the best sniper in the RHL (ok Ovechkin may be better), Hossa will light the lamp as much as any Reaper has to date. Hossa also knows his own end of the ice, and is not as vulnerable as his linemates to injury.

"It is not a perfect solution," GM Gandour admitted, "but lets face it, if the Lecavalier's and Doan's of the world were easily replaced, then they wouldn't have been the most dynamic duo in the league last year, and two of the best players the past three years in RHL history. The truth is they led the league in points because there is no equal for them. So the option left us was a gambit. Two high powered potenet offensive players very capable of over a point a game, but with the risk of fossibly getting that ratio over 20 ames played all year. A risk for sure, but the chance to replace the offense lost is not easy."

The gamble takes a lot but gives new hope to the Reapers. When they are healthy, the team will still intimidate with offense, but now the team also has two stellar goalies. Last year Garon has to play a huge role and almost MVP year to carry his team. This year, Khabibulin back as a Reaper on a stronger squad this time, and Scott Clemmensen will split duties and both have proven they can step up and single handedly win games.

The biggest difference for the Reapers is their depth. For the first time in a long time, from lines 1 to 4, the team can ice players capable at both ends of the ice. Having the likes of Radim Vrbata, Frans Nielsen, Lee Stempniak, and Sean Bergenheim all capable of 20 goal campaigns and all on third or fourth lines, is exciting and brand new for the Reapers.

"We have never had a deeper team," GM Gandour commented to me. "We have players this year that will be benched that last year would have been regular third liners for us at worse. Even on defense we have 8 very skilled dmen despite moving two veterans."

Getting serious, the Reapers season will be full of nervousness, and questions. But the truth is, how is that different from any other Reapers Season? The only answer I can come up with, it is different because ever year is different. It is a new team, new players, and a New Beginning.

Reporting for your Reapers,

Sal Trachan