Thursday, July 16, 2009

Saad still in mix for Saginaw?

By Kyle Austin/The Saginaw News

A little more than a month before training camp is scheduled to start, the Saginaw Spirit have signed three of their 2009 draft picks and are working on continuing to fill out their roster before the 2009-10 season.

Since the Ontario Hockey League Priority Draft in May, the Spirit have signed their 2009 first- and second-round picks, Anthony Camara, a left winger, and Vincent Trochek, a center from Birmingham. The team also signed its third-round selection, defenseman Alex Lepkowski.

Now, as the Aug. 26 training camp nears and the season opener approaches September 18, the focus turns to the 2008 draft class. None of the players from that draft are currently on the Spirit roster, after the team failed to sign its top two draft picks from the class last summer.

"We're working on those guys," head coach Todd Watson said of the 2008 draftees. "We'd like to sign a couple of them, but it just hasn't worked out that way."

The most notable names from that class are first-round pick Brandon Saad and second-round pick John Parker. The team gambled when it drafted Saad in 2008, confident that the then 15-year-old would sign. When he didn't sign before last season, the team had a chance to release his rights in exchange for compensatory picks in the 2009 draft.

Rest of the story HERE

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