Baghdad Sun, June 17, 2011 - Languishing in 14th in the 2009-2010 season, the Bombers reshaped their lineup to finish 2nd in 2010-2011. The club revamped the lineup by bringing in veterans Scott Nichols, Jed Ortmeyer, Brian Gionta and Joffrey Lupul to provide depth for Mike Richards and Shane Doan. Jimmy Howard solidifed his #1 role by starting 80 of the 82 games this season. Unfortunately, despite the solid run, the team could not muster enough to get by the first round against the Aviators - stretching the series to 7 games, but coming up just short. Fans in Baghdad were appreciative of the Bombers efforts, by starting a huge riot and torching cars - eerily copied by Canuck fans in Vancouver in the NHL.
Bombers GM has a lot of decisions to make next season. With the team's focus on youth in its inaugural 2009-2010 season, many of those players are ready for prime time next year. Tyler Ennis, Clarke MacArthur, Milan Lucic, Michael Grabner, Teddy Purcell and Cody Franson will all be competing for a spot on the team, while Jimmy Howard will face stiff competition against Tim Thomas as the #1 goalie.
While the forward and goalie positions are in good shape, the defense is laddened by long term, overpaid players, like Phaneuf, Volchenkov and Stralman. Anton Babchuk and Cody Franson will definitely get a look on the power play next year, potentially replacing Stralman. After that, the current defensive outlook is pretty grim, and Bombers GM has his work cut out. The team has a lot of high quality defensive prospects, but does not expect them to be ready for prime-time for another 2-3 more years.
Players on the bubble and potentially could be released include, Garnet Exelby, David Hale, and Nathan Paetsch.
With the draft fastly approaching, it is no surprise that the team is looking to diversify its prospect pool away from defensemen, given its stockpile defensive prospects. However, Bombers GM has repeated stated that they will pick the best player, regardless of position.