Whats up next for Southern Minny?

Hey, all you express fans, until we get a blog of our own, I just wanted to say Welcome!

Oh yeah, keep comments clean.

The draft is next, not too sure how that will work yet.
Still kind of numb from the blog yesterday.

What is the difference between tenders and draft picks?

punisher36 wrote:

What is the difference between tenders and draft picks?

Tenders are given to players throughout a season. Once a player signs a tender, the team then owns the playing rights for that player. A draft is simply picking up un-signed players.

a friend of mine had this question for me and I didn't have a definitive answer. If a player attends a tryout for a certain team, will there be scouts from other teams there to take a look just in case a player that doesn't make on the team having the tryout may be worth taking a look at? I know it's a long winded question.

Anything is possible, but not likely, IMHO. Scouts are far more likely to congregate at tournaments, showcases, etc. Sometimes a coach might call another coach or suggest a different team ( a lot of the time an affiliate in a lower league) for a "bubble player", especially one that might have skill but just doesn't fit the team "scheme". Of course, this depends entirely on what type of coach and his contacts, but for the most part a player who is cut is on his own.

Old Hippy wrote:

Anything is possible, but not likely, IMHO. Scouts are far more likely to congregate at tournaments, showcases, etc. Sometimes a coach might call another coach or suggest a different team ( a lot of the time an affiliate in a lower league) for a "bubble player", especially one that might have skill but just doesn't fit the team "scheme". Of course, this depends entirely on what type of coach and his contacts, but for the most part a player who is cut is on his own.

It also may depend when the tryouts for the team in question are being held. Perhaps if they do not overlap another teams tryout date, they may have a scout attend the others teams tryout to take a peak.

Looks like our division will be loaded this year. Not considering the draft it could be an uphill climb. Hearing scuttle around town to this effect.

punisher36 wrote:

What is the difference between tenders and draft picks?

The draft is for amateur players less than 21 years of age on or before December 31, 2008 who are not listed on an NAHL team roster or are listed on an NAHL team roster but played less than (10) NAHL regular season and/or playoff games during the 2007-08 season and did not accept a tender from an NAHL team prior to the 2008 NAHL Entry Draft are eligible for selection in the draft.
The number of players each team is able to draft varies on that team's current roster (protected list) minus the number 30 as of midnight of May 19.

Leading up to midnight of May 19, each team's roster is comprised of veteran players and signed tenders only.

For example, if a team has 15 veterans rostered and 8 tenders signed as of midnight of May 19 (23 total), that team is allowed seven (7) draft picks.

Eligible teams shall make selections in each round in reverse order of their finish in the 2007-08 NAHL regular-season standings. New member clubs shall have their order of selection determined by lottery. If there is only one new member club, it shall have the first selection in each round.

I believe we now have 3 new teams so how will that work in the draft,
Albert Lea #1, Washington? #2 and then Owatonna #3?

wells wrote:

I believe we now have 3 new teams so how will that work in the draft, Albert Lea #1, Washington? #2 and then Owatonna #3?

"Eligible teams shall make selections in each round in reverse order of their finish in the 2007-08 NAHL regular-season standings. New member clubs shall have their order of selection determined by lottery. If there is only one new member club, it shall have the first selection in each round."

Thank you for the information regarding the draft. Lets see what the results will bring for the Owatonna Team.

Article on new Owatonna Coach Pat Cullen

5/22/2008 11:02:00 PM Email this article • Print this article
Cullen is excited to be coaching again
Junior A hockey

By IAN STAUFFER
istauffer@owatonna.com

OWATONNA - Pat Cullen has been a busy man over the last few months, and it all came to a head Wednesday with the North American Hockey League Entry Draft.

Cullen, the head coach of the new Southern Minnesota Express franchise, and his staff selected 17 players in the draft and now own the rights to 30 players as far as the NAHL is concerned.

While the 17 draftees were listed on the league's Web site after the draft Wednesday night, Cullen refused to give the names of the other 13 players the Express have tendered, per league rules.





"The league said that if (the players) are published on their site, that's fine. If not, it's not for public knowledge yet," Cullen said. "Right now, I don't want to talk to too much about the individual players because we don't actually know how many of those kids we'll get.

"Some of those kids we just drafted on speculation. There will be some kids not on that 30-man list that will make the team as well. It's May and there are just too many kids right now. So much can happen between now and when our final roster is due on August 1."

The tender list and draft pick rights only qualify in the NAHL. Any of those players are still free to play in any other league. In fact, five of Southern Minnesota's draft picks were also selected in the United States Hockey League Entry Draft.

Any players that hope to make the Express' final roster will have to attend the team's lone tryout camp, which will be July 17-20 in Owatonna. While other teams are holding anywhere from two to five camps, the Express got into the game so late that only one is possible.

In addition to whichever players from the original 30 come to the camp, there might also be some familiar names from the Fargo-Moorhead Jets from last season. The Jets franchise will be dormant this season after the owners failed to reach an agreement to relocate to the Twin Cities metro area. As a result, all the players are free agents and can go anywhere they want.

"We haven't really contacted any of them yet," Cullen said. "We expect some of those guys to show up at our camp in July, but we don't know for sure which ones."

Cullen was with the former Express franchise from the inaugural season in 2005 until August of 2007. He resigned from the club just weeks before the season began after the original owners sold to BAM, LLC.

"I enjoyed my time here a lot," Cullen said. "Quite honestly, I wouldn't have left had it not been for the ownership change. But when the new guys came in and I saw what the structure of the organization was going to be, I left."