The Brampton inferno were playing with fire this year at the CLAX draft as they decided to take a risk and draft players that have already been drafted to the NLL.
Manager Brian Beisel hopes this strategy will pay off as Beisel figures that not all players can make the NLL and that if they don’t the Inferno will be stronger because of the risk.
One of Beisel’s early picks in the draft was Scott Tining who Beisel has coached before. Tining is a solid defensive player that can also punish you on offense. The Inferno then drafted Steve Toll who played in Edmonton last season and will give the inferno a boost of offense. Beisel added some home grown talent as well as he selected Brampton native Michael Burke who had been drafted by Edmonton of the NLL. The Inferno would also draft Dhane Smith, Curtis Knight and Alex Crepinsek, all players who were drafted to the NLL as first round picks, but if even one of them were to play for the Inferno this year they would make an immediate difference.
The strategy of drafting NLL picks is high risk but high reward since many of these players would be able to dominate in CLAX while also improving their skills. Since they are rookies in the NLL this year they will have their work cut out to make the roste,r and an NLL team may choose to let them play in CLAX and develop an extra year so that they can make a bigger impact when they reach the pro stage.
While the Brampton team may be burned up near the border there have been Monster sightings as the Niagara Lock Monsters are gearing up to begin their season. The Monsters have made two trades so far already this season as they traded for St. Catharine’s natives Dylan Llord, Jon Arnold, and Dan Williams from the Brampton Inferno while giving away Sean Thompson, Jamie Kirk and Brandon Ivey.
Niagara has acquired some great talent through trades as Williams had 20 goals for Brampton last year while Arnold is a defensive player with speed and grit. Overall the Lock Monsters will be looking to terrorize the CLAX league this season but will have their work cut out for them. With only a few more weeks from the beginning of the CLAX season expect there to be more news as the season nears.
Comments are closed.