Monday, October 27, 2008

New Recruit: Defenseman Wes McLeod

Chris Heisenberg today listed 18 year-old left handed defenseman Wes McLeod from Prince George in the BCHL as a 2009 commitment.  McLeod is in his second year of Junior A hockey. Last season he had 3g-11a in 58 games.  This season in 16 games he has 1g-10a in 16 games.  McLeod is currently the 2nd leading defenseman on PG's roster behind their 20 year-old leader and captain Davies.  Wes was recently listed on the NHL's Central Scouting Bureau Players to Watch list as a "B" player.  He was one of only three BCHL players on the "B" list.  No BCHLer's were rated "A".

As I look at this it occurs to me that Wes could be either an 09 or 10 recruit since he is in his second year.  He just turned 18 at the end of September.  I'm excited about this pick as it seems to continue a trend of finding guys to play for the Seawolves well before they've used up all their junior eligibility.  If a kid is good at 18 you know he'll be good at 20.  If a kid was only so-so at 18 but dominates as a 20 year-old then questions about how he'll do in D1 are pretty valid.  Finding and getting a kid to commit before his junior eligibility is completed is a positive sign for UAA's recruiting.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the write up Donald! You beat Doyle to the punch.

Congrats UAA coaches! He looks like a solid recruit.

Anonymous said...

Welcome aboard!

Anonymous said...

If the NHL guys are looking close at Wes and UAA is bringing him early, it would suggest that he is the real deal. Wes obviously feels he can contribute right away. Folks are saying that Wes is a highly skilled D man that can anchor the PP. Good for UAA, taking a slight risk and giving Wes the opportunity to play college early. Nice job Regg, great eye for talent.

Kris said...

I agree with the last post. I am excited about the recruits that we have coming in. McCabe left but was also being looked at by the NHL his draft year. Now we have two guys coming in (McLeod and Bailey) that have the talent to be looked at by the NHL. That is a giant step in the right direction to get up to the level we need to be at in this conference. Hopefully these guys will continue to improve. Gustav seems to be stalled out in the NAHL. But back to the main point of my comment, excited to see the talent level of incoming student athletes appear to be going up. Now if they keep working hard we should be good to go!

Donald Dunlop said...

I understand that Bengtson has a shoulder injury of some sort.

Kris said...

ahhh that might explain his not playing.

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