Tavares' former protector touts him

It's November, but the standings indicate that Atlantans may want to pay attention to the top picks in the draft for 2009. Currently ranked No. 2 on most lists is John Tavares of the Oshawa Generals. I talked to his muscle from last year, James DeLory. The four questions about Tavares are at the end of the article.

HF: You played with (2009-eligible) John Tavares there in Oshawa. What should fans of the team who drafts him know about him?
JD: He sees the ice great, great hands. Obviously by his points you can tell he has a great scoring touch. He works pretty hard so if you get him, he’ll be good for you.

HF: Did you have to fight some of his battles?
JD: Yeah, well, the thing is with JT, he doesn’t really go out looking for it, but obviously being the caliber of player he is, guys are going to be trying to get in his face. It’d be my job to step in there once in a while. Yeah, you could say I had a few because of him (laughing).

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Oh and my guess is that the Panthers will send DeLory to Dayton, where they reassigned goaltender David Shantz. If their affiliate doesn't want to play their players, they'll find someone else who will.
Edit: Nope, they sent him back to junior. "The Thrashers never send players back to junior," but other teams sometimes do.
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