Wednesday, continued to see new faces on the ice for the Clones’as reigning ECHL Defenseman of The Year, J.C. Sawyer and forward, Dylan Hunter made their debut on the ice after spending last week in camp with the AHL Milwaukee Admirals.
The reactions to these two players were as expected, both big mobile players with scoring ability. Sawyer will provide the punch from the blue line with the man advantage. The same could be said for Dylan Hunter who has ability to be a top-line center.
Head Coach, Jarrod Skalde spoke about both players. “They’re both offensively gifted players,” said Skalde. “I know Sawyer had a good camp up in Milwaukee so we could see his talent level for sure. He’s going to really help our power play. We’re going to touch on some things over the next couple of days before we get into the weekend. He moves the puck well and has a great shot from the point.”
Even with the tramendous stats offensively, many people point out the +/- of -10 and assume he is not a very good defender. While, Sawyer knows his skills need to improve on that side of the ice there were many circumstances that went into the season.
“You look around, there were a lot of minus guys in Toledo, it wasn’t just myself,” said Sawyer. “Obviously it’s something I have to look at and something I’ve got to improve upon. I look to be a plus player while having the same type of impact on the offense.” This is a fair point. 25 players for the Toledo Walleye were in the minus category.
Dylan Hunter’s scouting reports are just as high. Many project him as the top-line center for the Cyclones. Hunter joined camp today and impressed early on with his speed and puck control. Today’s practice focused a lot on breakouts and offensive zone cycling. Hunter did a solid job of jumping right into the mix. Like many of the guys have noticed, Hunter made comment on the size of the team. “There are some big boys out there,” said Hunter. “Most of our team looks pretty mobile, and that’s good to have for the year so you can intimidate some other teams.”
The Cyclones open their pre-season on Friday at WesBanco Arena against former Cyclones goalie Robert Mayer and the Wheeling Nailers.
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