The Wish List

If you are of a certain vintage you will probably remember receiving the Sears Wish Book. It was a like a dream came true. An entire book dedicated to your wildest wish lists.

Anything seemed possible putting that list together.

The excitement, the anticipation!

You can bet the Moncton Wildcats organization have that same feeling right now.

Believe you me they will be putting their wish list together very soon if not already. It’s going to get WILD!

Stay On Target

“Stay on target, Stay on target”

We all remember those famous lines from Star Wars!

Damn, I’m showing my age, nevertheless, the million dollar question remains who will the Moncton Wildcats target?

Jeremy McKenna’s return changes everything.

Does that sound like a broken record?

Well it’s true and everyone knows it.

So Top 6 Elite Scoring Winger….☑️

Obviously, the Wildcats don’t have to worry about that anymore or do they?

So what would you do if you had a ‘carte blanche’?

What would your wish list look like?

Do you pull a Rouyn-Noranda Huskies and strategically add two major pieces and pay an arm and a leg to get them and trust your core group to respond when it matters most?

OR

Do you build a similar model to the Acadie-Bathurst Titan and go all in and acquire as many pieces as possible, to ensure the best opportunity to capture a Championship, hoping they find the chemistry along the way and excel when it matters most.

What would you do? What’s your wish list? What players would you target?

53 Ways to Build a Champion

Ok so let’s get this out there right now, Noah Dobson is a New York Islander.

He’s done his time, and paid his dues in junior. Dobson has won everything there is to win twice over.

It’s time, so let’s end all the speculation, he’s not coming back, well maybe.

Noah Dobson is there and hopefully he’s there to stay.

It’s his time.

He’s a pro, well he’s been a pro for a long time in my books, but to think that Noah Dobson is going to return to the QMJHL for one more shot at glory is absurd really, but yet entirely possible?

The Summerside, PEI product deserves to be in the NHL this season.

Name one player in the last decade that has played in more big games, and did more for their franchise in those big games and moments than Noah Dobson.

Is Noah Dobson going to play for Canada at the World Juniors Probably.

Is Noah Dobson or his rights going to be traded during the QMJHL Trade Period? Hell yeah!

Is Noah Dobson going to return to the QMJHL? Highly unlikely, almost no chance of that happening, well never say never.

Is Noah Dobson going to play for the Moncton Wildcats? I haven’t got the slightest clue, all I know he’s more than likely on a lot the teams wish lists, and why wouldn’t he be, but in my opinion he really deserves to stay in the NHL.

Addition by Long Division

I hate math, I hate stats, but for the Moncton Wildcats and their championship aspirations, the magical number is two maybe three?

The Cats need to add another top six scoring forward to the mix along with McKenna in order to create three elite scoring lines.

They will more than likely add two pieces on the backend, or one depending on how well Axel Andersson performs when he arrives.

Oh yeah he’s coming, well I’ve been writing about that for two months now, but he’s coming.

Remember it’s make a wish season and anything goes, so you can rest assured the Cats will be swinging for the fences when it’s all said and done.

If you’re the Wildcats, you are looking for the best 19 year olds in the league and you are starting to kick tires right now.

In my opinion the Cats should be looking for veteran experience, scoring and leadership.

Now that’s going to cost you in the long run, but you can worry about the long division after the fact.

Remember they are going all in. Remember they want to win at all cost.

You don’t come from the depths of Major Junior hockey hell, aka “the rebuild” without loading up and going after it all when the time is right.

The time is right, but the question remains do the Cats have the constitution to stomach it all over again? Because that’s what’s going to happen, that’s enviable.

So let’s just say for ‘carte blanche’ sake, the Cats go after Jared McIsaac and Benoit-Olivier Groulx from the Halifax Mooseheads.

Groulx and McIsaac check off all the boxes.

Experience, amazing skill, top six gritty highly talented two-way player who can both forward positions, and a top end d man who can move the puck, play both sides of the ice and play in any situation and log massive minutes.

Remember anything goes, but how much are you going to have to give to get those two players?

That’s where the long division comes into play.

The blueprint to a Championship caliber team really all starts with a wish list.

From that point it’s all about building it, trusting the process, trusting your advanced scouting personnel and not caring how much damage you do after the fact. Nevertheless, it all starts with a wish list.

It’s going to be very interesting to see what all the top end teams in the QMJHL do with their wish lists and how much they are willing to pay when the time comes.

You can count on each one of those organizations having a catalog of players and a wish list that they intend to follow to build their championship team