One day after the Mercury reported that Estevan Bruins leading scorer Dylan Smith has left the team, it is confirmed that another core player won't be back.
Bruins captain Josh Jelinski has decided not to play this year, mostly for personal reasons. He has been working in the family business this summer and will continue with that.
Jelinski notified the team some time ago that he was thinking about not coming back, and that is now official.
"Some things in life are more important than hockey and I respect his decision," said Bruins head coach and GM Keith Cassidy.
"We endeavoured to give him time over the summer to think about it and just make sure he was comfortable with that decision. A lot of guys (in that situation) ... the season rolls around and they're chomping to play. I think Josh is mature enough to know which way he wants to go with it. One of the things that I try and live by is that it's family first."
It's been a tough summer for Jelinski, with the death of a couple of close friends as well as an impaired driving charge stemming from a traffic stop the morning after the Bruins' year-end party.
There has been no decision yet on who the next captain will be and that does not sound imminent. Cassidy did mention the names of Cole Olson, Connor Milligan and Calder Neufeld as veterans who can step up and provide leadership.
Cassidy said the task of leading the team will have to be a collective effort. He added that he was happy with the job Jelinski did as a 19-year-old captain.
"I'm not going to say that one person's going to be a Josh Jelinski, because he's a pretty unique individual.
"I thought he did a tremendous job last year being a young captain, learning the role," Cassidy said of Jelinski. "He had some hiccups along the way, but all in all he did a solid job for us and i can't thank him enough for that.
"What I'm more concerned about is he was a pretty positive voice in the dressing room ... When we decided to go with a younger captain last year, the reason we did that is we were hoping he'd be around for a year or two."
Add Jelinski to the growing list of players not coming back: RW Dylan Smith (EJHL), D Zach MacLellan (school), LW Michael Hengen (another knee surgery), D/RW Eric Baldwin (requested trade, mutual agreement), G Tyler Ross (Muskegon, USHL).
Cassidy said MacLellan's plan all along was to play the rest of the season here and then attend post-secondary.
Hengen learned earlier this summer that he will need another surgery (reconstructive I believe) on his knee. Recovery time is nine months. Very tough news after watching him go through the process of coming back last year from the original injury.
All of this means the Bruins currently have five 20-year-olds, plus a deal about to be finalized to add another (more on that later): LW Calder Neufeld, C Cole Olson, RW Tyler Paslawski, D Connor Milligan and recently acquired F Nick Weiss.
One thing is for sure, all the players who impressed at spring camp this year will have ample opportunity to push their way onto the squad.
Then again: "You would think so, but I'm sitting here staring at the wall at the moment and we've got 10 D that can play and 15 forwards that can play, and probably more coming out of camp," Cassidy said. "You look at a guy like Hudson Morrison or Wyatt Garagan, those are guys that are going to be able to fill some holes."
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UPDATE
The Bruins have picked up 20-year-old blueliner Patrick Hurley from the Wisconsin Wilderness of the Superior International Junior Hockey League for futures. Hurley is 6'3", 216 pounds and has two years of NCAA Division 3 experience under his belt.
Hurley is expected to make a significant impact with the Bruins (I would compare the hoped-for effect to what Milligan came in and did last year, although I've never seen Hurley play), at both ends of the ice as well as in the leadership department, given his previous play at the college level. As you can see from his stats, he put up solid numbers with Wisconsin last year, albeit in a limited sample size.
Another deal, a smaller one, is expected to be agreed on sometime later this week.
