2009 Vancouver Giants Season Preview

No more other commitments, it's Vancouver Giants/Abbotsford Heat only on this blog this year, plus the usual International Hockey pieces. I mean it, 100% hockey on blogs, so this is it and I'm excited to be back.

The Vancouver Giants kick off their 2009 season tonight on the road against the defending WHL champion Kelowna Rockets, who abruptly ended Vancouver's campaign last year in Game 6, when Mikael Backlund lead his Rockets to a comeback victory.

Backlund is gone (to the Abbotsford Heat no less), but the Rockets are still mostly in tact, with a lineup that will make tonight's tilt interesting.

Vancouver has lost their starting goalie, two defencemen and the number of forwards missing is yet to be determined.

Tyson Sexsmith is off to the Sharks system, Brent Regner to Columbus, Jon Blum to Nashville, and Evander Kane will probably crack the Atlanta Thrashers roster. What remains to be seen is if James Wright will head elsewhere this year, as the 19 year old can either go to the Lightnings where he is now, or come back to BC. My vote's on Vancouver.

On the back end, Nolan Toigo returns just days after being cut from the Vancouver Canucks, and returning is also Neil Manning who has been plagued with injuries in his two Giants seasons. Manning will man the point this year, and is expected to have a major impact.

20-year-olds Ryan Funk and Toigo are the only Overagers on the D, but up front Overager Garry Nunn is out for 6-8 weeks with a broken leg. Vancouver could bring in an extra overager but who knows as of yet.

The roster was not officially announced so there are still some question marks, but Funk, Kevin Connauton of Vancouver Canucks draftee fame, Manning, Toigo, Mitch Spooner and Dillon Scholten seem like locks for 6 spots. The others could go to Lane Scheidl or Luke Fenske, or even David Musil.

Forwards returning are Lance Bouma (Calgary), Brendan Gallagher, Todd Kennedy (out for a month), Craig Cunningham (NYR), Mike Piluso, JT Barnett, Nunn, James Henry, Import Andrej Kudrna and James Wright potentially. Out of the 7 in Kelowna tonight, there are still 5 spots that remain, and they could go to Brandon Scholten, Mikael Jung and Sebastian Svendsen who is a lock being the only other European. Greg Lamoureux who is 17, and Nathan Burns, a 16 year old will also see time this year.

In net, Jamie Tucker will man the ship, after being a key part to the G-Men last year, with Brendan Jensen, a 17 year old, serving as his backup.

This year will be interesting with all the young talent on the Giants, but whether Evander Kane returns or not will play a large role in the team's success.