Go! ‘Necks! Go!

Over the last couple weeks we’ve been hearing about how this trade will benefit our beloved Roughnecks, how that new player will be the key to our new season, etc., etc., etc. All of this rhetoric is coming from our questionable General Manager Kurt Silcott.

In more than a few conversations I’ve been privy to not a single person can see a solid reason or motivation for what Silcott is doing. I’m not just referring to lunch break conversations and water cooler talks either, some of these conversations are with individuals both close to the team and veterans of the game — yes, that also includes fans that have been watching the game since before I was born.

The expansion draft

The first red flag happened during the 2006 season but I’m going to forge ahead and start with what happened during the expansion draft. Jeremy Cheyne, Callum Crawford, Curtis Palidwor, Andrew Leyshon and Andy Ogilvie were all left unprotected to start the draft. Sure, each time a player is picked you get to protect another one on the unprotected list but why would you even take the chance with some of those players.

Last year Palidwor played well but it was popular opinion that it might be time for a regime change between the posts. Since that’s the case leaving Palidwor unprotected is explainable but what isn’t explainable in any sense is why Andrew Leyshon was unprotected as well?! That left Ryan Avery, our mid-season trade last year — which also cost us a first round draft pick — and a third string net-minder, as the only protected goalie for the Roughnecks. I’m sure the fact that Avery used to play for Silcott when he was with the Buffalo Bandits had nothing to do with that decision.

Trades

Right now we’re in the middle of trading season and heading towards the mid-September entry draft. So far we’ve seen Callum and Palidwor lost in the expansion draft, traded Kevin Dostie away to, surprise surprise, Buffalo and most recently we’ve lost Jason Wulder to our provincial rivals, the Edmonton Rush.

According to Silcott, he’s trying to build a bit of a younger team while keeping some of the leadership around to help the new kids. If that was the case then why not keep upcoming superstars like Callum Crawford, Kevin Dostie and Jeremy Cheyne? All of these guys are younger, eager to perform and have experience working with the leaders such as Lewis Ratcliff, Tracey Kelusky and Kaleb Toth. There is no motivation to get rid of them so we can build a younger team when the younger is them.

Now we’re playing catchup and getting rid of some great players in order to regain some of our draft picks. Does anyone else think maybe we shouldn’t have wasted the draft picks the first time?

The future of the Roughnecks

Even though we’re still several months away from having a final roster in place things don’t really seem to be shaping up all that well. Many fans are losing confidence in the Roughneck organization which is mostly due to the decision-making by GM Kurt Silcott. The fans will always support the team but when a manager runs that team into the ground it becomes a lot more difficult to keep the level of support high.

While it may seem that I think Silcott is completely ruining the Roughnecks I don’t, yet. Truthfully, only time will tell but from what I’ve seen of Silcott’s record and what he’s doing with our ‘Necks right now he is not giving me much confidence in his abilities. Just remember Silcott, you will be held accountable if the proverbial crap hits the fan.