by Nic Phelan, Lead Correspondent, IceCaps Hockey Report

ST. JOHN’S, NL. — In the next couple months the All Habs team will be taking an in-depth look at the St. John’s IceCaps roster for the upcoming season 2015-16. For the lineup below the assumption is that Daniel Carr, Charles Hudon and Jarred Tinordi will start the year with the parent club, while players like Mark Barbeiro, Sven Andrighetto and Christian Thomas are listed in this lineup. It’s understood that several players could be interchanged. With that said, we will be featuring a piece on each player while forecasting if we will see them play with the big club this season.

Forwards:

Christian Thomas – Gabriel Dumont – Nikita Scherbak
Tim Bozon – Mike McCarron – Sven Andrighetto
George “Bud” Holloway – Jeremy Gregoire – Stefan Fournier
Connor Crisp – Brandon McNally – Mark MacMillan

Defense:

Mark Barbeiro – Darren Dietz
Mac Bennett – Morgan Ellis
Joel Hanley – Brett Lernout
Ryan Johnston – Dalton Thrower
Josiah Didier

Goaltenders:

Mike Condon
Eddie Pasquale
Zach Fucale

The first line begins with Gabriel Dumont, the Bulldogs captain and leading goal scorer from last season. Nikita Scherbak is a blue chip prospect so expect him to be surrounded with the right pieces to help him learn to be a pro, while getting critical minutes.

The second line, Bozon – McCarron – Andrighetto, has a youth aspect to it, but I believe the size differential between the three, their abilities to score from different parts of the ice and most of all, their work ethic will make them a successful second line.

Holloway – Gregoire – Fournier appears to be a solid third line on paper, all responsible in their own end with a scoring upside.

Finally Crisp – McNally – MacMillan which I have affectionately called “the McCrisp line.” I fully expect that Connor Crisp will quickly become a fan favourite in St. John’s.

Defence is a little tougher to project, we really don’t know what the pairings will look like, depends on their shot hand and experience. I’m sure that head coach Sylvain Lefebvre already has an idea of the pairings he’s anticipating.

Goaltending is a very straight forward category as I believe that we will see all three of these players start a game for the IceCaps this season. What is yet to be seen is how Marc Bergevin & co. would like to develop prospect Zachary Fucale. I believe that Fucale is likely to play in Brampton as the starter for the Beast (ECHL) to start the season.

With that said, I think there are questions surrounding Dustin Tokarski who is set to become a restricted free agent on July 1, 2016. Tokarski’s fate will start a domino effect which could result in Mike Condon backing up Carey Price in Montreal.  Fucale could take starts in St. John’s while Eddie Pasquale (IceCaps record holder under the Jets regime) would likely sit as backup either way. It is worth noting after watching Pasquale over the last few years, I believe he is capable of overtaking Condon if given enough time this season.

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With one month left until preseason action begins, I’ll be taking a look at each player in-depth, providing you an idea of what to expect in St. John’s and potentially Montreal in 2015-’16.