Sylvain Cloutier has today put out a stark warning to his current squad: shape up or ship out.The Canadian, who has seen his side lose seven of their opening eight games, announced to the Hull Daily Mail that he is in the process of signing a new defenceman to guard the ever impressive Tommy Sandahl in the Rays net, whilst Ryan Jorde recovers from a broken arm.
The revelation that he will sign a new blueliner comes with strong words to his current squad, the 35 year old coach said:
"I know the guys who care and the guys who are here just for a ride. Those things are going to be addressed and we are going to make sure we bring guys in who want to be here."Hopefully that will send a message to some of the guys that they can't get comfortable...We are not going to accept being in last place and lose hockey games and just go through the motions."
With Jorde out, and with Cloutier bringing in a new defenceman during his layoff, the commitment questions are being firmly laid at the door of current D men Stephen Burns and Pavel Gomenyuk, although it is still feasible that those question marks are over an import forward.
If that were the case, Cloutier would have to re-shuffle his pack by releasing said forward and keep tough guy Adam Knight up front, where he has produced some decent performances so far this season.
In what is a clear message for his side to improve following a bad run of form, Cloutier believes that the defenceman will be one of the best in the country, therefore implying that this is not a temporary signing and that he will be staying in Hull once Jorde returns to the lineup in early November.
"There is a defenceman coming in and if that doesn't send a message to anybody to pick up their game… he is going to be a number one or number two defenceman in this league and hopefully the paperwork will go through this week and we can get him after next weekend."Very early speculation suggests that James Sanford, a 5'10 D man from Alma, New Brunswick, has signed for the side after his agents website announced he would be joining an unnamed EIHL club.
The 25 year old, who last season played 24 games in the ECHL with Utah and seven games in the AHL with the Chicago, had initially joined HYS Den Haag in the Dutch capital this season before they were forced to release him, as one of their highest played players, for poor performance.
A former Canadian junior international at under 18 level and prolific scorer at junior level in the QMJHL, with over 170 points in 200 plus games, in 2004 he signed a two-way contract with the NHL's Montreal Canadiens and he would significantly improve the Rays rearguard options, providing them with a clear number one at the back.
This seemingly unexpected move has been taken by Cloutier to shake things up and to get the side performing after a torrid couple of games in Elite League and Challenge Cup action, including a 9-2 thrashing at the hands of the Edinburgh Capitals.
With Adam Knight and Curtis Huppe set to return on Saturday against that same Edinburgh, and with Lee Mitchell well on the road to recovery, the, as yet, unnamed player could join the team a week on Saturday, forcing the current squad into a month long scrap for jobs before the return of Jorde.
