Draft pick Kyle Hope signs with Generals

By Roger Lajoie

The Oshawa Generals continue signing up their draft picks for the 2009-10 Ontario Hockey League season.

General Manager/Coach Chris DePiero announced Tuesday the signing of defenseman Kyle Hope, the club's second 3rd round selection in May's Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection.

Hope played last season for the Chatham-Kent Cyclones Minor Midgets last season and is considered a solid prospect. He was taken 45th overall, right after Collin Sullentrop, who committed to the club recently along with first round selection Boone Jenner.

An offensive defenseman with very good skating and puck-handling skills, Hope will get every chance to show what he can do at the Generals training camp this fasll, according to DePiero.

"We're delighted that Kyle has committed to our hockey team for this coming season," DePiero said. "Our scouts identified him as a tremendous prospect and young man and we felt fortunate to get him when we did in the draft.

"Kyle is a smooth skater with a lot of offensive upside and we feel he's going to be a very solid OHL player for us for the next few seasons. We certainly welcome him and his family to our Generals family."

Hope had two goals and 15 assists for 17 points in 27 games last season with the Cyclones, along with 30 penalty minutes. He's 6-foot-2, 165 pounds and is a strong physical presence along with being a talented puck-moving rearguard.

"We're looking for certain kind of individuals to play in our organization and we're confident that Kyle is the kind of young man that is a great fit for us both off and on the ice," DePiero added.

I'm looking forward to all these young defencemen. We're going to be missing alot of the older guys this year.

The Generals have Hope.

i live are back end..... future is bright if we can get the puck into the net

Yeah, we have a tonne of defencemen signed: DeHart, DeHaan, Valentine, Wilson, Dzielski, Suellentrop McDowell, Hope.. that's eight not counting Barletta and Perna who are both probably history. There appears to be a real shortage of forwards, however, with only 8 or 9 returning at this point. Can't see the roster being filled with "08's" and the Gens can only play four "09's" (draft year) and they have four signed already with only one being a forward (Jenner)! They may have to pick up some overagers from elsewhere, especially at centre and left wing.

Perhaps they are planning on flipping a defenseman or two for some forwards.

Chamoo wrote:Perhaps they are planning on flipping a defenseman or two for some forwards.

Or maybe the Gen's are getting insurance just in case Calvin DeHaan not returning.It stricks me a bit strange that all the signings have been of D but no signings of forwards(I knowed they tried to sign Biggs) and at the forward position we could be very weak because there is a good chance that Parhnam and Nagy will be playing pro some where.But I like the moves that Dips is doing now I hope that we can get this ownership worked out.
can't wait till the Gen's start up again in about 5 weeks

I wouldn't worry about DeHaan sticking in New York. He is not big enough or strong enough to play in the NHL and he only has one year of OHL experience. He'll be back!

Calvin is a good player, but he is no where near NHL ready. He will be back for another season.

One never knows if Calvin will be back or not,yeah he may not be ready for the next step but we are talking about the new
CAPED NHL.and for that reason one can't say he'll be back or not.
it all comes down to $$$$$$$$$

steamed wrote:One never knows if Calvin will be back or not,yeah he may not be ready for the next step but we are talking about the new
CAPED NHL.and for that reason one can't say he'll be back or not.
it all comes down to $$$$$$$$$

The Islanders are about 10 million under the cap. I think we are safe.