1. I think the ICE have room for only 4 new players next year. They usually have 22 players on the roster and with the departures of Dustin Sylvester, Ryan Molle, Dominik Pacovsky and one of the potential overagers Todd Mathews/Matt Fraser/Steele Boomer/Kevin King, that leaves 4 openings. If the club drafts 2 Import players who make the roster that leaves 2 openings.
2. I think Brandon is the favorite in the East Final against Calgary. The Wheat Kings won the season series 3-1 with 2 of the wins in Calgary after the trade deadline. Calgary won 4-3 in Brandon in an overtime shootout October 7th. November 20th Brandon won at home 4-2. January 29th in Calgary it was Brandon winning 6-3 and then February 13th Brandon won 4-2 in the Saddledome.
3. I think Tri City will be the favorite in the West Final. The Americans were 4-0 vs Vancouver and 8-2 vs Portland.
4. I think there could be a few WHL trades in the next few weeks leading up to the Bantam Draft. Teams still in the playoffs won't be trading there active players obviously, but in the last few years teams have made moves involving Bantam picks.
5. I think if the Calgary Flames make any management changes Hitmen GM Kelly Kisio should receive consideration. The Hitmen are owned by the NHL team. The Hitmen are in the East Final for the 4th consecutive year. The Hitmen have made great picks in the Bantam draft but here is a list of players acquired in trades the last 5 years ... Michael Fisenko, Zak Stebner, Jimmy Bubnick, Giffen Nyren, Kris Foucault, Del Cowan, Joel Broda, Tyler Shattock, Paul Postma, Kyle Bortis, Tomas Karpov, Dan Mercer, Brock Nixon, Ian Duval, Ryan Gillen, Dylan Yeo, Eric Frere, Derek LeBlanc, Ryan Gillen, Justin Pogge, Brett Carson, Kris Deines, Michael Reich and Craig Linekar.
6. I think in the NHL East the first round winners will be Washington, New Jersey, Buffalo and Pittsburgh (although will be cheering for Ottawa).
7. I think in the NHL West the teams advancing will be San Jose, Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit.
8. I think eventually I have a Washington/Chicago Final.
9. I think the new baseball park for the Twins looks great. They may regret not having a retractable roof in Minnesota but there is nothing like a wide open baseball park.
10. I think I'm tired of trying to get my satellite supplier to get the MLB Network channel. We have NHL Center ICE and the NFL Network, but not the baseball channel.