Phantoms farm out 3
 

Nick Dechenes, Brent Robinson and Stephen Wood were assigned to the Titans today.

Also, Jeff Smith has been suspended for 2 games for cross-checking Zach Parise.

They keep Jeff Smith and send down Deschenes and Robinson?

I expected more from Wood as well. Seemed highly skilled for a defensemen from what I saw of him. Doesn't play defense well?

Atta boy Jeff! :handclap:

Would their contracts have something to do with it? Maybe they have 2 or 3 way contracts making them easy players to move around to make room for others with not so flexible contracts. Did any of them play in the Phantoms/Titans game?

For Wood, particularly, it has more to do with numbers. Pitkanen and Seidenberg should be with the Flyers and along with Slaney, make the need for another offensive d-man unnecessary. Also, David Printz has outplayed him.

What about Hope and Skolney? I thought Wood would ( :banghead: ) be above them in the depth chart.

To update this a bit, Ruggeri and Brunelle are also going to start the season in Trenton. www.phantomshockey.com It's on Phantoms Weekly Feature. Smith----will be on suspension to start the season---so after this is up there may be another cut. Also Neil Little is suspended for the 1st game so after this Chris Houle will be a Titan.

So the rivalry begins...

We're going to be seeing alot of Parise. Not so much though of Smith.

Not Skolney. His toughness will be a big factor on a non-physical defense.

I didn't think Hope was all that impressive but he has a year of pro experience and like I said earlier Printz is ahead of Wood right now.

Hope may get cut when Slaney is back from injury.

According to San Filippo in one of those Jersey or Suburban papers, Slaney is all right and will play as it stands now. When Smith and Little are off suspensions, They will return Houle to Trenton and probably go from 8 defensemen to 7. Yeah, I think Hope would go to Trenton, if there are no injuries in the mean time.

I don't know...Trenton cut a defenseman yesterday but still have 12 in camp. I think the Phantoms may go with 8.

Anyone seen Printz play?

Yeah, according to one of those 2 Trenton papers I saw today, the Titans have 12 Defense as of now. It says they can't cut Phantoms guys on their own. They probably would want their Phantoms anyhow. So Wood and Ruggeri are probably 2 D. Article says Vince Williams (their veteran captain) and Matt Libby are locks. So they have 7 guys going for 3 spots. So those I have seen stuff on would be Jeromy Douthitt (who they had some good writings on) Last year's big defense stay-at-home fighter type, Ryan O'keefe, former Atlanta choice Evan Nielsen, last year's player Ryan Crane, and evidently 3 other guys I can't recall. Maybe they can make room for Hope, also, maybe. Should be of interest to keep up on the movements.

He looked very good in the Norfolk game. He dished out several big hits and, because of that, drew a lot of attention from Admiral players. I still say his fighting major was a mistake. I didn't see him go with anyone and I don't think he's "fight" physical just "big hit" physical.

The ECHL website says Deschenes is no longer with the Titans. What's up with that? :dunno:

He was recalled briefly to the Phantoms...I believe he just went on the Injured list