Puempel put in his time for a perennial bottom feeder and then made a decision to further his personal career. No big deal. This is his last chance to win in the OHL and a critical year for his future as a pro - he needs to look out for himself.
He just joins the likes of Austin Watson, Ryan Spooner and others leaving the Petes in recent years.
Like it's been said, it happens enough in junior. From players scaring teams from drafting them so they can go to their chosen destination or from players just flat out demanding trades. Peterborough's fallen victim several times lately, Watson, Spooner, Kassian and Puempel all gave the Petes a chance to climb the latter but they failed.
It's not wrong for these kids to lean a little towards selfishness when these junior years are so crucial for their long-term development. And often enough, the OHL teams themselves, even the teams falling victim, understand that they should cater to the kids and give them the best chance to be the best they can be.
I don't like giving anybody a pass for demanding a trade. Sends a bad message. Players should live and die for their teams.
Player movement is a reality in sports. I expect Puempel will live and die with the Kitchener Rangers. He was dying with the Peterborough Petes.
As a fan, it's easy to see it the way you are. Put yourself in the shoes of a kid that has dreams of playing in the NHL for more than just a cup of tea and hopefully signing a long-term deal. The CHL is a development league first and foremost for players with NHL ambitions.
As a fan of the Sens, you've gotta like that he's thinking this way. And it's interesting he mentions "being around Ottawa, I realized this was the best thing" as his thinking...it probably isn't out of the realm of possibility that our organization may have told him or his agent that finding another place to play may be best for him.
I don't like giving anybody a pass for demanding a trade. Sends a bad message. Players should live and die for their teams.
Thats good for you. It happens all the time in the CHL. Its not a big deal. He will become a better player in Kitchener then he would in Peterborough. Kitchener is a team you want a prospect to be developed by. Peterborough, not so much.
This isn't like the nhl, these are teenagers who are paid a pittance from what the ohl teams make off of them. He gave the peterborough petes organisation a couple years and went through quite a bit, he was the last to leave out of Watson, Spooner, and Kassian. This is more like ray bourque leaving boston, this is his final year in junior. Last time to be closer and spend more time with his family before starting professional hockey, the last chance to win an ohl championship and a memorial cup. There's not a chance in heck peterborough is going to do that.
It's his last oppurtunity for many things and this isn't like being in the nhl as a paid professional this is a common thing and often for a good reason; as for being demanding take the OHL draft, if an undesirable organisation wants to draft you or has a pick in the area many players would have simply stated they were going to college etc or say they wouldn't report, (jeff skinner, tyler seguin among huge numbers of players), that is why they were drafted so low, Ryan O'reilly was drafted 1st overall but that wasn't because he was the best prospect, it's because the others guys fell in the draft because of the games that are VERY commonly played. Why do you players do this? It's because certain teams are better than others for developing players or there is that perception. Many teams work on improving that, Windsor is now a desirable place to go but at one time it wasn't at all. Peterborough is not a desired place to go (and that many players leaving shows that something is up there) but Matt Puempel went and reported and didn't demand any teams or do the college game and played for a team known to be a lower class of a team and he did it for years until his final chance to do a lot of different things has come.
Puempel is a really nice guy, and actually the Ottawa organisation encouraged him to go for it, getting the experience of that success and and having a strong season is very important, he's had his past seasons derailed by various issues. I think he's a player of immense potential but is misunderstood by many people, old school hockey guys know why Puempel is highly regarded, he's a master of the black arts of hockey.
Last edited by King City Warrior: 09-24-2012 at 08:09 PM.
Like it's been said, it happens enough in junior. From players scaring teams from drafting them so they can go to their chosen destination or from players just flat out demanding trades. Peterborough's fallen victim several times lately, Watson, Spooner, Kassian and Puempel all gave the Petes a chance to climb the latter but they failed.
It's not wrong for these kids to lean a little towards selfishness when these junior years are so crucial for their long-term development. And often enough, the OHL teams themselves, even the teams falling victim, understand that they should cater to the kids and give them the best chance to be the best they can be.
Yeah, and MacKinnon got drafted by Baie-Comeau and refused to play for them and threaded to go USHL if his rights didn't get traded. Puempel isn't the first player to request a trade, and it happens to more teams than just the Petes.
Yeah, and MacKinnon got drafted by Baie-Comeau and refused to play for them and threaded to go USHL if his rights didn't get traded. Puempel isn't the first player to request a trade, and it happens to more teams than just the Petes.
Did people really think that Halifax got the #1(Mackinnon) AND #2(Drouin) AND #11(Fucale) overall picks in the Q draft?? Lol
What about Duclair? He said that he was going and play for Dubuque(i believe) in the USHL, then Quebec drafts him in the 3rd round and he ends up playing there. He was going top 3 if not for that. Not sure if that relates to the topic, but I thought I'd share it.
In late August, NHL teams had to submit short list (no more than 2 or 3) of drafted CHL juniors they would like to recall if lockout ends....OTT has Cody Ceci and Stefan Noesen.
I'm kind of surprised that, given the option, they didn't choose to include Puempel on the list. Perhaps given his disjointed year last year they decided consistency would be better for him.
I'm kind of surprised that, given the option, they didn't choose to include Puempel on the list. Perhaps given his disjointed year last year they decided consistency would be better for him.
Or maybe the list was only allowed to be 2 players.
I'm kind of surprised that, given the option, they didn't choose to include Puempel on the list. Perhaps given his disjointed year last year they decided consistency would be better for him.
That, and there's no chance Puempel's filling a top 6 spot. A guy like Noesen fits like a glove into the 4th line if they think he's ready to play. If we were in pre-season right now, Noesen would probably get a real chance to play deeper into the pre-season, Puempel not so much.
This is completely the same situation as Lindros and Heatley
It's good for his development, he very clearly doesn't have character issues, who cares?
Yeah, I know it's not the same situation. But it does seem like there are at least a few examples of players demanding trades more than once. I'd prefer that Puempel hadn't requested the trade and slogged it out in Peterborough, even if it means his numbers take a bit of a hit.
Yeah, I know it's not the same situation. But it does seem like there are at least a few examples of players demanding trades more than once. I'd prefer that Puempel hadn't requested the trade and slogged it out in Peterborough, even if it means his numbers take a bit of a hit.
So you'd rather a prospect develop in a crappy system rather than one that has produced tons of great NHLers recently? OK bud.
He's playing in a development league. His development is wayyyyyyyyyyyy better off in Kitchener than in Peterborough.
If Kadri or any other leaf's prospect was in a similar situation we'd be ripping him a new one and questioning his character.
Almost every high end CHL player gets traded in his final year if he's on a bad team, it's better for the player and sometimes the team. Its nothing new.
If Kadri or any other leaf's prospect was in a similar situation we'd be ripping him a new one and questioning his character.
People who understand the way the CHL works wouldnt be.
You can always tell those who are junior educated or not by the way they react when a JR player requests a trade or refuses to report to the team that drafts them. It happens all the time.
It's also important to keep in mind that a trade demand usually doesn't cripple a CHL team as much as it would an NHL team.
A star demands a trade from your NHL team, it could be four or five years before you've developed a prospect to replace him. A star player demands a trade from your CHL team, it's at most two years before your draft picks become impact players and replace him. It's in part due to the nature of the leagues (the CHL has complete player turnover over every four seasons).
Consequently, trade demands aren't as big a piss off for the CHL teams.
If Kadri or any other leaf's prospect was in a similar situation we'd be ripping him a new one and questioning his character.
Jason Spezza asked for a trade from Don Cherry - this happens in junior hockey. Toewes didn't report to his junior club and went to college instead, it's not a big thing.
