Wolves will live and die by rookies this season

The Sudbury Wolves were gutted by graduations (and one big trade) and it left a lot of question marks in the line-up from the goaltending to the defence to the forwards.

The exhibition season has proven these are legitimately hard questions to answer. These questions are, eventually, going to be answered by the youth movement on the team.

It is a nearly impossible task to replace the likes of Kevin Raine, Craig Duininck, Trevor Carrick, Connor Crisp, Radek Faksa, Mathew Campagna and Franky Palazzese, among others.

The Wolves have a lot of battle-tested players coming back such Jacob Harris, Jeff Corbett, Brody Silk, Nathan Pancel and Nick Baptiste. They will do their part and lead this team into war each game and never flinch.

The Wolves are going to live and die by their rookies and sophomores this season. How they develop and become bona fide OHL players will go a long way in determining what team Sudbury truly is this season.

Rookies such as Michael Pezzetta, Trenton Bourque, Brady Pataki, Ivan Kashtanov, Devon Paliani, Pavel Jenys, Jonathan Masters, Chase Hawley, Austin Clapham and Sam Tanguay along with sophomores Troy Timpano, David Zeppieri and Kyle Capobianco must develop and raise the bar each game.

The hockey world has noticed the new faces on the Wolves could become impact players.

“They have an exciting, young group moving forward,” North American Central Scouting chief scout Mark Seidel said.

“With guys like Pezzetta, Pataki and Bourque, they have a nice base to build around. Pezzetta is what everyone expected him to be and that is a big and strong guy who is hard to play against each shift. Bourque has shown he will be a good offensive defenceman. Pataki is maturing and Sudbury got good value in getting him.”

The Wolves have two wins against four losses in pre-season play. Sudbury is 2-1 in the last three games though, so it might be an indication the team is getting better.

Ask some of the established players if the team is improving and they will give a resounding yes as an answer.

Veterans such as Harris and Corbett were both impressed with the team after last week’s come-from-behind 4-3 shoot-out victory over the Barrie Colts on home ice. What impressed them was the play of the team’s rookies. Harris and Corbett raved about their willingness to play a team game.

A big factor for the Wolves enjoying more success than failure this season will be the play of European imports Kashtanov and Jenys. Both have come in and earned their spots on the team thanks to skill and grit.

“Kashtanov is an exciting player who will be a fan favourite,” Seidel said. “Jenys is a big body who is also hard to play against. Sudbury did a good job at the Import draft.”

The Wolves wrap up their exhibition season on Wednesday, Sept. 17 when they hit the road to take on the Kitchener Rangers. The Rangers are 2-1 in preseason play. Kitchener defeated Mississauga twice and lost to Niagara in a shoot-out. Sudbury begins its 2014-15 season on Friday, Sept. 26 on home ice against the Niagara IceDogs.