Needless to say, the next couple of years will be interesting to watch from a Canadiens fan perspective. The biggest changes will once again be very evident at the AHL level. Bulldogs’ head coach, Don Lever will have his work cut out for him this upcoming season with potentially no less than six rookies vying for jobs at the AHL level and six new veteran faces.

It will be a very exciting yet unpredictable season for the Hamilton Bulldogs with a huge turnover of players, both rookies and AHL veterans.

Gone from the Bulldogs 2007-08 roster are Janne Lahti, Corey Locke, Mathieu Biron, Marvin Degon, Duncan Milroy, Brett Engelhardt, Yann Danis and Daniel Corso (I’m sure I’m missing some players).

Bob Gainey and Julien Brisebois have had a busy off-season signing players to fill out the Bulldogs roster for the upcoming 2008-09 season. The Canadiens have locked up established AHL veterans like Mike Glumac, Alex Henry, Yanick Lehoux, Shawn Belle, Chad Anderson while adding an experienced NHL goaltender in Marc Denis who is slated to start with the Bulldogs.

Most, if not all of the above mentioned players will make the Bulldogs roster with returning players like Matt D’Agostini, Gregory Stewart, Ajay Baines, Jonathan Ferland, Jean-Philippe Cote, Mathieu Carle and Pavel Valentenko filling the other roster positions.

Add into the equation the six rookies: Ben Maxwell, Yannick Weber, James Wyman, Ryan White, Max Pacioretty and Brock Trotter to round out a nice balance of youth and veterans.

Let’s take a closer look at the Hamilton Bulldogs at every position:

Forwards

This was an area of concern with the 2007-08 edition of the Bulldogs as they had difficulties scoring goals especially when the Canadiens called up offensive catalysts like Sergei Kostitsyn and Mikhail Grabovski.

The additions of offensively talented players like Mike Glumac and Yanick Lehoux will help. Lehoux has tremendous skill and if he can show up every game, he’ll be a factor for Lever.

Returning players like Matt D’Agostini and Jonathan Ferland should add grit and secondary scoring especially D’Agostini who had a poor start to his sophomore season after a strong rookie year in 2006-07. He should have a rebound season and improve on his 23 goal/53 point season. His defensive game needs to greatly improve after a team worst -22.

Don Lever will also have to rely on some of his talented yet inexperienced rookies like Ben Maxwell, Ryan White, J.T. Wyman and Max Pacioretty to supply some much needed scoring punch to the lineup. Each of these players have shown a strong offensive game at the NCAA or CHL level so they should be able to provide some goal scoring to the Bulldogs lineup. They might not have an immediate impact but over time, these players will develop their game and contribute.

The loss of Corey Locke’s 72 points in 78 games will be difficult to replace but hopefully Lehoux will help make up the loss with his establish offensive game.

Two offensively gifted players who shouldn’t be dismissed because of their lack of size are David Desharnais and Thomas Beauregard.

Desharnais was the run away winner of the ECHL scoring title with 106 points and was the playoff MVP when the Cincinnati Cyclones won the Kelly Cup. He displayed great playmaking abilities and played bigger than his 5’6″ 160lbs frame. He has a good shot at making the Bulldogs roster this season and truly has nothing more to prove at the ECHL level where he dominated games on a nightly basis.

Thomas Beauregard also had a great rookie pro campaign with 65 points in 59 games and displayed the ability to score clutch goals. Both players are very adept at setting up teammates and/or putting the hockey biscuit in the net.

Prediction:

If the rookies can be quick learner and contribute in the early going, then the team should improve in the goal scoring department. Veterans will also need to step up and lead the way to the opposition’s net.

Defense:

Only two regular defensemen (Pavel Valentenko and Jean-Philippe Cote were +3) were plus players so the defense had to be improved and tweaked.

With the exit of AHL veterans Marvin Degon and Mathieu Biron plus the graduation of Ryan O’Byrne to the Canadiens roster, Gainey and Brisebois had to find some solid players to fill the gaps.

Over the summer, UFAs Chad Anderson and Alex Henry were signed to two way contract while Shawn Belle was aquired in the Corey Locke trade. All three players are steady yet unspectacular defensemen who should help improve the Bulldogs blueline.

Anderson can play a solid two way game and contribute some offense from the backend while Henry will add size (6’5″ 235lbs), toughness and a hard nosed presence with a willingness to drop the gloves at a moments notice.

Belle also has good size (6’2″ 220lbs) and is a terrific skater who plays a solid game in his own zone. He hasn’t been able to transfer his offensive game from junior to the pro level so we shouldn’t expect too much.

Returning defensemen Pavel Valentenko, Jean-Philippe Cote and Mathieu Carle will only get better and will round out the remaining blueline spots.

If Valentenko continues his solid development after a good rookie season, look for him to get the first call-up when or if a Habs defenseman is stricken with an injury. He displayed a mean streak and hit everything that moved which made him one of the toughest defensemen to play against (and one of the most hated!!) in the AHL. He also showed an offensive flair to his game with 16 points and collected most of those points at the mid point of the season when he had acclimatized himself to the North American game. He missed 23 games due to a separated shoulder and would have added to his stats if he remained healthy. Look for Valentenko to play a bigger role on the top four pairing as a shutdown defenseman.

Another returning defenseman, Mathieu Carle had a good rookie season where he contributed offensively (G-7 A-17 -6) from the backend but had his moments in the defensive zone with down low coverage and decision making with the puck. Expect Carle to improve on those totals while learning to play more steady defense.

The Bulldogs struggled to score on the powerplay and truly lacked another quarterback at the point to compliment Carle and Degon. Valentenko was able to help on the second PP unit with his blooming +100 mph shot but the addition of newly signed prospect Yannick Weber should help add another blooming shot with playmaking capability to the powerplay unit.

Prediction:

With the additions of Belle, Anderson and Henry plus Sophomores Valentenko and Carle having a year under their belts, the Bulldogs’ blueline should be an improved unit. Add to the mix the always steady defensive minded Jean-Philippe Cote and this could be a solid defensive corp.

The biggest question marks will be if Weber can make the AHL and how much he can help contribute to the team.

Goaltending:

The Bulldogs have had solid goaltending the last 2-3 years primarily because of chaps named Yann Danis, Jaroslav Halak and Carey Price. This year’s edition of the Bulldogs should have another solid goaltending duo with the likely tandem of Marc Denis and Cedrick Desjardins performing most of the duties in net.

The signing of Marc Denis had some people scrathing their heads but Bob Gainey wanted to add a veteran goaltender to the AHL/NHL roster in case of injuries or poor performances.

Denis will most likely start the season with Hamilton as their starter and provide them with a solid veteran goaltender to compliment the young yet talented late bloomer, Cedrick Desjardins who will backup Denis for the most part.

Prediction:

Once again, the Bulldogs will have a solid goaltending tandem in nets. Hopefully, they’ll be provided with a much improved commitment to team defense by the forwards and defensemen.

Needless to say, it should be an exciting season to watch as the Hamilton Bulldogs will have a lot of new faces in the lineup with a good balance between steady veteran leadership, eager rookies and hopefully a new commitment to a team system which will win hockey games.