As the back-up netminder last season, Kraymer Barnstable had a front-row seat on the Red Deer Rebels bench and, more importantly, a guaranteed position.
That’s far from the case this fall as Barnstable will likely have to dislodge fellow 20-year-old stopper Darcy Kuemper in order to gain the starting job.
With rookie Bolton Pouliot, 16, being the only other netminder on the Red Deer roster and the probable No. 2 man in waiting, the Rebels will keep just one of Barnstable and Kuemper, and the latter would presently appear to have the inside track in the event that he returns from the NHL training camp of the Minnesota Wild.
Therefore, with 2009-10 Western Hockey League Eastern Conference all-star Kuemper departing today for the Wild camp, Barnstable will have to seriously impress the coaching staff during the Rebels’ preseason run which opens tonight against the Calgary Hitmen at 7 p.m. at Airdrie.
“Barney is fighting for a spot on our team,” Rebels head coach/vice-president of hockey operations Jesse Wallin said Tuesday.
“We know there are no guarantees with Kuemps, he’s not signed yet and they (Wild) have some depth ahead of him, so all indications are that we’re going to get him back.
“But just because he will be coming back doesn’t mean that we don’t want competition (for the starter’s job).
“It’s a big preseason for Barney. He wants to be a starter in the league and he believes that he can be and this is his opportunity to show that. Whether it’s with us or whether it’s moving on to another team in the league . . . there’s always somebody watching at this time of the year so he’ll continue to show what he’s capable of.”
The same scenario exists with overage defencemen Nick Bell and Brad Haber, both of whom will join Barnstable to fill out the Rebels’ three allowed 20-year-old spots on tonight’s roster.
Bell and Haber are in tough to regain employment with the Rebels as fellow rearguard and team captain Colin Archer is a virtual lock for one of the overage berths. Toss in the fact that the team will carry a 20-year-old goalie and forwards Brett Ferguson and Willie Coetzee — who led the club in scoring as a 19-year-old and will leave for the Detroit Red Wings camp this week — are also in the mix and ahead in the pecking order . . . Bell and Haber may well be auditioning for jobs elsewhere in the league.
“It’s all about creating opportunities for themselves, and again, whether that’s here or somewhere else, they just have to prove and show what they’re capable of,” said Wallin.
“They’re fighting for a spot with our team first and foremost, but if that doesn’t work out here, with a good showing through the preseason they can perhaps create other opportunities elsewhere.”
Coetzee, forwards Andrej Kudrna (Phoenix) and Byron Froese (Chicago), and defencemen Alex Petrovic (Florida) and Justin Weller (Phoenix), are departing for NHL camps today to Friday and won’t be available for preseason duty for at least the next week, while Archer, Ferguson and 19-year-old forward Josh Cowen will also sit out tonight.
Cowen was dealt a four-game league suspension last spring for running over Saskatoon Blades goaltender Steven Stanford in a playoff encounter. He served the final two games of the Blades’ four-game sweep, and must sit out the Rebels’ first two exhibition games and the first two regular-season contests.
Centre Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, the reigning WHL rookie of the year, will also miss tonight’s contest.
“Hoppy’s not going to play for the same reasons we sat him out in camp — he’s played lots of hockey over the last month and he doesn’t have to prove anything. We know where he’s at,” said Wallin.
Tonight’s Red Deer lineup will include forward line combinations of Colten Mayor-Adam Kambeitz-Daulton Siwak, Turner Elson-Chad Robinson-John Persson, Tyson Ness-Marc McCoy-Locke Muller, and Lane Scheidl-Steve Oursov-Mason Burr.
Joining Haber and Bell on the blueline will be Matt Pufahl, Matt Dumba, Brad Deagle and Lucas Grayson.
Following tonight’s contest, the Rebels will prepare for a rematch with the Hitmen Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Innisfail.
gmeachem@www.reddeeradvocate.com