Samuel Carrier and the Death of the Lewiston MAINEiacs

photo by Bridget Samuels/bridgetds

After development camp practice Tuesday, Samuel Carrier and Samuel Henley left the rink at Kettler Capitals Iceplex walking side-by-side. This year's camp is a reunion of sorts for the two.

They had been teammates for two seasons, but now, their team no longer exists.

On May 31, 2011, the owners of the QMJHL voted to fold the Lewiston MAINEiacs, based in Lewiston, Maine. The team will return (somewhat) as an expansion team in Sherbrooke, Quebec for the 2012-2013 season. 

The group relocating the team to Quebec, owned by former NHL goaltender Jocelyn Thibault, would not have been able to relocate the team in time for the 2011-2012 season, and so the team had to completely disband via a special dispersal draft.

The dispersal draft took place on June 3, just a few days after the league announced the decision to fold the team. It was a tough situation for all the players involved as it was, but the QMJHL also completely botched how they handled the dismantling of the MAINEiacs.

Some of the players, active on Twitter, said that they had no idea what was going on in the days between the folding and the dispersal. No one in the league was in communication with the players, and the players were understandably panicked about their futures. 

Cameron Critchlow, captain of the MAINEiacs, was also one of the more candid players, tweeting on June 1, "Wants to send the #qmjhl a big @#9* off and let the god damn boys know what's going for crying out loud what a joke."

Tuesday, I spoke with Sam Carrier, who was selected second overall in the dispersal draft by Baie-Comeau Drakkar, about the situation in Lewiston.

"It was pretty tough. No one knew what was happening," Carrier said. "The news came out one or two days before the dispersal draft. It was weird. It was the first time I'd seen that. Every player was like, 'What's going on?' We were talking on Facebook and Twitter, and nobody knew, so it was weird."

But Carrier is looking to move on with his new team in Baie-Comeau. He said that the Drakkar brass called him before the dispersal draft, and he met with them at the junior draft. Drakkar's head coach, Mario Pouliot, was Carrier's coach in Midget AAA (at Collège Antoine-Girouard), so his transition should be a fairly smooth one having previously worked with Pouliot.

Carrier does know some of his new teammates as well, saying that he has trained with a couple of them in the past.

He's hoping to further improve his game next season, after making strides last year with Lewiston. In 14 playoff games, he scored 15 points, and was a huge part of Lewiston's push in the postseason. Carrier feels he also improved on the other side of the game.

"I think my defensive side of the game improved a lot, just looking at the stats. Last year I was -9 and then this year I was +40," said Carrier. "It's a huge step for me, and I want to continue with this."

Kirill Kabanov Traded to Lewiston

 photo by Getty Images

There were mixed feelings when the New York Islanders selected Kirill Kabanov in the third round (65th overall) of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Kabanov's skill is undeniable; his offensive talent was good enough for him to be drafted in the first round, but his history of problems with his teams and agents dropped his draft value. Teams didn't necessarily want to risk the drama, and the Islanders took a gamble by drafting him.

Kabanov was drafted from the Moncton Wildcats of the QMJHL where he excelled on the ice. In the 2009-10 season, his first season with the club, he averaged over a point per game (23 points in 22 games). He missed the first ten games of the season due to a dispute over his rights between the QMJHL (who selected him seventh-overall in the 2009 CHL Import Draft) and his KHL club (Ufa). The IIHF, mediating the dispute, ruled in favor of the QMJHL, and Kabanov headed to Moncton.

But Moncton wasn't too secretive with their feelings on Kabanov as the season went on. After coming back in February from injuring his wrist (an injury which required surgery), he was a frequent healthy scratch, including during Moncton's playoff run. Moncton actually released him during the playoffs so that he could play in the U-18 IIHF World Hockey Championships for Russia, but he was rejected from the team due to disciplinary reasons. Russian team Head Coach Mikhail Vasiliev told Sovietsky Sport:

"I removed him from the team because we thought Kabanov would help us, but he brought only confusion to the team. Kabanov came and thought 'Here I am, a star from Canada, who will save all.' But it's the team that wins rather than an individual player."

Kabanov's father had also had a great deal to do with some of the issues clubs have with Kabanov. Kabanov has gone through at least five agents, most leaving due to the demands of his father, Sergei. Jay Grossman is a former agent of Kabanov's, and Ilya Moliver, who is an agent in Grossman's firm, spoke to Sovietsky Sport about dealing with Kabanov's father. Here are some excerpts from the English translation:

"Sergei Kabanov believes that an agent is a player's servant. He doesn't know how to communicate with people. In view of this, he incorrectly educates Kirill."

 "I've told Kirill once: 'You have to choose. We either work with you or with your dad.' Kabanov's dad is hard to please. I work with players and their parents since 1992, and I never had to deal with such a complicated person."

"When we just started working together, Sergei told me: 'My son is considerably better than Kovalchuk, Ovechkin and Malkin at 16.' Why all this arrogance? This can only spoil the kid. And I understand why scouts and agents changed the attitude towards Kabanov. Because Kirill isn't progressing as he should, but the guilty ones are the ones surrounding him."

And perhaps the most pertinent excerpt vis-a-vis Kabanov's talent:

"A couple of years ago I visited a tournament in London, Ontario, and Kirill played great. Elegant, intelligent, he made beautiful rushes to the net. It was evident that the guy can play. The fans were crazy about him and he became the top contender for the first overall pick. But what can you do when you have so much pressure from your father? And Kirill himself has a talent to get into awkward situations."

Had Moncton just had enough with Kabanov's antics?

Maybe, but the Lewiston MAINEiacs paid a big price to get Kabanov. His deal gives Moncton backup goaltender Jordan Kennedy, a second round draft pick in 2011, a fourth round draft pick in 2011, a first round pick in the 2011 CHL Import Draft, and a fourth round draft pick in 2012. And the MAINEiacs (who have struggled in recent seasons) seem to be excited about the idea of getting a talent such as Kabanov. Lewiston Head Coach Jean-Francois Houle said in the press release announcing the trade:

"He is very gifted offensively, and is a threat every time he touches the ice. Adding him to this team adds speed and skill to an already dynamic offense. With open arms, we welcome Kirill to our organization."

With his history of being late (more than once) to his first NHL Training Camp, bizarre statements to the press, and intense tattoo obsession, it's difficult to tell how Kabanov is going to take this opportunity. For his, Lewiston's, and the Islanders' sakes, I hope he takes it as a second chance, to prove that he can take his hockey career seriously and show that he's not as high-risk as initially thought. But will his father ruin everything for him once again?

Kabanov will join Lewiston once his visa is sorted out (Lewiston is in Maine, so he obviously needs a U.S. visa to play there). It should be an expedited process, so he may make his Lewiston debut as early as next week. Capitals prospect Samuel Carrier plays for Lewiston, and will have a new teammate.

Focus on Prospects: Samuel Carrier

Second in my series counting down to rookie camp, we have Samuel Carrier.  Let me know if there's someone you want to know about.

photo by Harry How/Getty Images

Man I love this awkward photo shoot

Name: Samuel Carrier

Position: D
Shoots: Right
Height: 6'1"
Weight: 186 lbs
Birthdate: 1992-04-28

Hometown: Varennes, Québec

To set the tone for this post, I'd like to share someone's first-hand experience of Samuel Carrier.  Twitter friend Sarah (of somethingsbruin.net) went to a QMJHL preseason game of the Lewiston MAINEiacs as they played the Victoriaville Tigres.  She promised to keep an eye on our Sam to see how he played.  I'll let her take it away:

"[Carrier] got elbowed from behind by [Tigre] Vincent Marcoux into the half wall.  He fell down, stood up, turned around and punched the guy in the face."

Now THAT'S what I like to hear.

The feisty French Canadian was the 2010 6th round (176th overall) pick of the Washington Capitals, and seemed delighted to be coming to the team.  He's said that he enjoys watching Mike Green, as Carrier is also an offensive defenseman who enjoys occasionally joining in on the rush.  And like Green, he too is valuable on the power play due to his offensive skills.

Carrier was drafted by the Québec Remparts in the first round (10th overall) of the 2008 QMJHL Entry Draft.  He had set several records with his Midget team (he has the record of most goals by a rookie defenseman in a single game, as well as landing in the top 5 of most goals by a rookie defenseman in a season).  But yet Carrier's offensive instinct didn't seem to kick in until last season.  He spent his first QMJHL season with the Remparts (home to Dmitry Kugryshev and head coach Patrick Roy).  But despite the talent there, he didn't exactly have a breakout rookie season.  Although he had some success in Midget, in 56 games with the Remparts in 2008-09, he scored only 9 points.

After the season's end, Carrier was traded to a struggling Lewiston team in a multi-player, multi-pick deal.  His first season there in 2009-10, he seemed to hit his stride.  In 66 games, he scored an enviable 42 points (10 goals, 32 assists).  Five of those ten goals came on the power play.  Carrier helped the MAINEiacs to the playoffs last year - a team that was last in the Central division the season before Carrier arrived.  The MAINEiacs didn't make it past the first round, but Carrier did score a power play goal in the series against Drummondville.

Hockey's Future stresses Carrier's youth and inexperience when they point out areas where he needs improvement.  He sometimes is out of position chasing after the play (though it's not like we haven't seen that before; see #8 on this list) but he is effective along the boards in the defensive zone, puckhandles well, and has a heavy, accurate shot from the point.  Carrier may not ever make the NHL, but he was still draftable due to his potential:  

"Carrier is by nature an offensive player from the backline and has some skills and creativity that set him apart from prospects his age - which is why he was drafted.  He is still young enough to develop the complimentary elements to make him a successful attacking defenseman and potential power play specialist at the NHL level."

Carrier is only 18 and therefore will return to play with the MAINEiacs this upcoming season, but he seemed to take a lot from this year's development camp.  While not making a huge impression like Johansson or Kuznetsov, he was solid on the blue line and took the experience very seriously.  He showed maturity in his approach to camp, but I also loved Carrier's naïveté - in an interview on a Potomac cruise for the attendees, Carrier admitted that he "didn't know" there was a river in Washington:



Ah, to be young and Canadian.