Open Thread: MHH Week in Review 8/16/14

August is half over, so we got that going for us. Which is nice. Things on the MHH radar this week include:

- Reports out of Colorado and elsewhere indicate Tyson Barrie still hasn't re-signed. :(

- The Avs bid farewell to three prospects today. Nate Condon, Gus Young and Luke Moffatt were not signed and become Unrestricted Free Agents. Fare thee well, gents!

- The Hawks also bid farewell to prospect Kevin "Willie Mays" Hayes today, although they get a 2nd round pick to salve their guilt at stringing a guy along for 4 years then telling him to get lost when the chips are down. Hayes will sign somewhere, maybe even Colorado according to many. Whether this is a good thing is debateable, but at least it's news.

- In looking at our roster on NHL.com to make sure the gentlemen listed above are indeed not with us anymore, I found a few guys that aren't signed but seem to be under the Avs umbrella in some way. Max Iafrate was on there, not surprising since he had a PTO with Lake Erie and participated in the prospect Conditioning Camp in July, but these two fellows were new:

Oliver Cooper - A 6'2 185# forward, late of the Saint John Sea Dogs and slated to play for the Charlottetown Islanders in the Q this year. Only 19 so he can't play for the Monsters, I guess this is just a camp invite or something. We'll see in a few weeks.

Duncan MacIntyre - A 6' 190# defenseman from Patrick's beloved Remparts. 18 years old, so like Cooper isn't available for the Monsters. Another camp invite most likely.

None of the other unsigned guys from conditioning camp were on there, even Matt Pufahl who we believe has been invited to rookie camp, so it's seems pretty random.

- Ren Lavoie and others are reporting that JS Giguere will officially retire at some point soon, perhaps this coming week. More on this as it develops.

- The Monsters announced their usual pair of pre-season games against the hated Grand Rapids Griffins presented by Amway. The first will be across the river from one of America's finest cities in Windsor, ONT, but the second will be at the home of the Fort Wayne Komets, the Avs and Monsters new ECHL affiliate. Great to see the organization embracing our new development club like this, from all I read Ft Wayne is really into this too.