Ice Dogs Season 6 Press Room

With the Draft closing in quickly, the Ice Dogs management have been busy offering contracts to its player and working with other GM's across the league to bring a improved Ice Dogs to Derby this season.

There should be some returning players to announce shortly along with a deal or two that will see some old faces move on and new exciting players move to Derby.

GM Carnell said "We've been contacted by a couple of General Managers looking to move a few guys on and they have come to us with some good offers, we are hoping to have at least one trade complete before the draft and then another couple before the pre-season starts!"

With Olli Jokinen and Kristian Huselius retiring, the Ice Dogs have unlocked more salary space and will be able to bring in some new blood and will look to the Hornets to bring some youth through whilst looking at the free agency to bring in experience.

There is still no news on the Head Coach position with the Ice Dogs, only that Roberts has come out saying he hasn't been offered a new contact so far

Derby Ice Dogs confirmed today that top defenceman Shea Weber, along with winger Evander Kane and prospect Sven Baertschi have left the club along with a second round pick in a trade with The Giraffes which see’s the Ice Dogs pick up defenceman Braydon Coburn, Ladislav Smid and Keith Yandle, along with left winger Nikoli Zherdev, prospect Jeff Fairweather and an all important first round pick in this year’s draft, which was originally Derby’s pick.

“This trade will benefit both teams” said GM Carnell. “Weber is a huge loss; however with picking up a good group of guys, this will help the defence, whilst adding to the offence.”

Coburn, a 6ft 5in defenceman comes with an expired contract; however, this is soon to be rectified with the big Canadian already offered a contact following talks before the trade was confirmed. Smid adds yet more size to the defence this season and will help clear the front of goal and give protection to the netminder. Ukrainian Zherdev will add some needed fire-power to the team, his fast skating and great puck-handling will be an asset to the team whilst he also excels in his defensive duties

Finally Yandle and Fairweather are expected to start the season in the Farm team gathering valuable ice time, with Fairweather expected to gain in experience and confidence before being brought up to the first team.

We would like to thank Shea and Evander for their efforts with the Ice Dogs and wish them will.

Derby Ice Dogs were the lucky team to have the first overall pick of the Season 6 entry draft. GM Carnell said he was pleased with the draw and looks forward to getting the prospects signed up and working their way through the ranks here in Derby.

Kerby Rychel - First Round (1st Overall)
18 year old American left winger Rychel stands 6ft 1 and weighs in at 200lbs, he is a good all round player who skates well and will provide a good level of support at both ends of the ice. It is expected that Rychel will be signed to a standard contact and will see out the first year with the Hornets

Jason Dickenson - Second Round (32nd Overall)
Another 18 year old American Winger, Dickenson comes to the Ice Dogs franchise with an eye for goal. It is hoped he will develop his passing skills to provide a more all round game and his presence on the Hornets team will only benefit other around him.

Frederik Gauthier - Third Round (33rd Overall)
Canadian Centre quickly followed Dickenson to the Ice Dogs, this huge player is well disciplined and can make tape to tape passes with ease. He is likely to pick up a spot with the Hornets where his vision will be used well.

Nick Sorensen - Third Round (48th Overall)
This Danish winger has good puck-handling skills who also reads the game well, Nick is expected to stay in Denmark for this season before returning next season for re-evaluation.

Carl Neil - Fourth Round (49th Overall)
A small British winger plays a physical game and is not afraid to stand up for his team, he has a bullet of a shot however needs to develop the rest of his game before he will be offered a contact with the Hornets. He is expected to remain with his current team for the upcoming season.

Jacob De La Rose - Fifth Round (65th Overall)
18 year old Swiss winger is another prospect expected to remain with his current team, he is a good defensive forward who will be expected to work on his stick handling and passing game before his returns next summer for re-evaluation

Derby Ice Dogs today confirmed that they had completed deals with most of the players they wanted back from last season, with just two players still to sign, captain Jamie Langenbrunner will return for another season along with Mark Savard (1 year). New signing Braydon Coburn has inked a 3 year deal worth £12,000,000 and prospect Tim Horton (3 years) have taken the last spaces on the blue line for the Ice Dogs.

GM Carnell said "Bringing back Jamie was a no-brainer, he wants to finish his playing days here and after a good season last year it seemed right to get him back, as with Savard, he had a good personal season picking up 47 assists, which we hope he can replicate again this season. Braydon expressed his intentions of signing prior to the trade when initial talks were made, he showed hunger to help achieve the clubs goals and as soon as his trade was complete, contact negotiations commenced."

26 year old Andrew Cogliano has moved up to the Ice Dogs from the Hornets after a excellent year and has signed a 2 year deal. Matt Keetley will share net-minding duties with Jaroslav Halak for the Ice Dogs for next season.

Moving to the Hornets will be prospects Jamie Ram (2 years) and Willie Failing (2 years) with the expectation they will gain valuable ice time in all situations during the upcoming season before potentially moving back with the Ice Dogs in season 7. Netminder of the future Enio Sclisizzi, has signed a 2 year deal with the club and has the same goal as both Ram and Failing, progress to the Ice Dogs before the end of their contact. Also signing for the Hornets are Alexei Ponikarovsky (1 year), Steven Goertzen (1 year), Brad Stewart (1 year) and Derek Meech (2 years)

GM Carnell has also confirmed that they will not be offering new contacts to several players including left wingers Derek Boogaard and Maxim Mayorov and defenceman Jonas Frogren, Brian Salcido, Daniel Tjarnqvist and Steve MacIntyre

Derby Ice Dogs are pleased to confirm the return of defender Andrej Sekera on a two-year deal before he hit free agency. The 27 year old decided late on that he wanted to return having wanted to commit to a longer deal, however the Ice Dogs believed it would benefit both teams if a two-year deal was signed.

“It was important for both parties to be happy” said GM Carnell “We always wanted Andrej to return, he had a solid year with us and we expect him to improve again this term”

Also heading back to the Ice Dogs will be future star netminder Steve Self, he signed a one-year extension and will head to the Hornets along with Chris Cross, who signed a two-year deal and Edward Purcell and Chris Higgins who both return for another year.

GM Carnell said “Steve is going to be a top netminder in the future, he has the skill and we wanted to extend his deal with us for the next two-three years, however he wanted to sign a single year and look at what he is worth after another season.”

The Ice Dogs expect to be busy in the free agency market, not only bringing in players but a head coach who will guide the team in the right direction for a number of years.

Derby Ice Dogs are pleased to confirm left winger Sean Avery has signed a one year deal. GM Carnell said
"We want Sean to show everyone what he can do, he is determined to prove his worth and we expect him to have a good season"

The Ice Dogs also confirmed the acquisition of veteran forward Milan Hejduk, the 37 year old has signed a two year deal and will assist with the development of the franchises prospects, including Bold Munkhtulga, who has also committed to the Ice Dogs franchise

"Munk will be the future of the Ice Dogs" said Carnell "We have picked him up at the right age and with his 3 year deal, we will give him plenty of ice time in the minors and see how things go"

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Two more signings have been announced, experienced centres Todd White and Brandon Dubinsky have signed one year deals with the club

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Derby Ice Dogs today unveiled Ruslan Salei as their new Head Coach for the upcoming season having signed a deal worth £2,000,000.

The 39 year old Belarusian national was in Derby having a look around the facilities and said "I'm pleased to be here, we have a big task to get to where the club wants to be, but I'm committed to getting the task done!"

Derby Ice Dogs kicked off Season 6 with a win over Bedford Brewers away from home. The Ice Dogs stormed into the lead after at 0:48 of the first period with last seasons top point scorer, P.M Bouchard picking up where he left off hitting the back of net. Just before the half way point in the first and the lead was doubled after a big shot from defenceman Ballard (9:59) beat Ben Bishop in the Brewers goal. Less than five minutes later, Jamie Langenbrunner made it 3-0 (13:26)

Second Period saw the Ice Dogs kill off two big penalties before stretching the lead again, this time on a powerplay thanks to upcoming defenceman Tim Horton (16:31). Then just over a minute later, the lead was cut, Brunnstrom broke Halak's shutout at 17:32.

With the Ice Dogs going on power play duty again early in the final period, Kubina restored the four goal lead (4:01) and then again on the power play, recent pick up Nikolai Zherdev picked up his first goal for his new club, and his third point of the game at 12:47. Brewers grabbed a late consolation goal (16:19) when Fowler rounded up the scoring.

GM Carnell said after the game "I'm very pleased with how we played tonight, its always good to get an early win, particularly on the road. Both teams are going to have to work hard all season and I'm pleased we got off to the best start possible tonight."
Tomorrow night they face conference rivals Fumblesaurus Rex in their home opener at the Markeaton Arena before New York City Crunch head to town. "Both teams are strong, we're going to have to put everything into those games to come out with a win, its going to be hard, but this early in the season, we need to pick up points" Carnell said.