Werewolves Get Their Men

London (CP) - Owner and GM Mark Wendling met with the media after the first round of the annual HBMHL draft, visually happy. "We could not have planned it better." stated Wendling.

The Werewolves got slick Swede Niclas Bergfors at the 14th spot overall. "We had this guy pegged in the top 10, and some of our scouts thought he was as high as 6th overall. To see him fall to 14 was more than we could have hoped for. The concern that some scouts have had around Nic was his work ethic. We interviewed him and he is delighted to be coming to London and knows what is expected of him. "

With the 20th pick overall, a pick London had picked up from Vancouver last year in the Marian Gaborik trade, took Ryan O'Reilly. "We had Ryan in the top 10 players of the draft. He is a gritty two way player, a guy who may never have more than 20 goals in a season, but he is a guy who plays tough, and is not afraid to back down. These guys are the ones you need to go deep into the playoffs, and they are not always easy to find. We believe he is as tough as Mike Richards, and can play the same type of game, but probaby have 5 - 10 goals fewer a year."

In a deal made during the draft the Werewolves sent a third (Philadelphia) and their fifth pick to St. Louis for winger Martin Erat and defenseman Mark Eaton. GM Wendling had this to say, "We needed depth for this year, and we are also in a position to be cost conscious so we felt both these guys can contribute, at affordable salaries for the year. Yes trading draft picks is always tough to do, but not a lot of third and fifth round guys have a lengthy career in the HBMHL. Yes we did get Andrei Markov in the third round many years ago and was an incredible find, and we expect Gregory Campbell to take a regular shift and he was a fifth some years ago, but ultimately we needed to take the sure thing for this year, and not get into bidding wars for some of the unrestricted guys. We expect to be in the market, but not as active as we have been some years."

Wendling was asked what he thought the teams chances were this year. "We need to start to look at rebuilding. Over the past 7 seasons, last year was our worst, and we still won 45 games. We have been reloading for the past few years, and we believe we will be competitive, but are we a top 4 team in the league this year. No. Can we shock some of the opponents based on the strength of our goaltending and defense. Absolutely. We are a playoff team, and as you all know anything can happen once you get there."