Looking forward to season forty-four, Jack Kennedy looks to shoulder a larger role on the team, both on the ice and in the dressing room. It's not that Kennedy's skills have increased over the off season, it's that several veteran Whalers will be making the big jump to the SHL. This is not to say that Kennedy has not been working on his game because he has. It's more that the Whalers were an extremely deep team last year, so they had maxed out players skating on the third line. Next year Kennedy will be expected to put up more points to go with the increase in ice time that will occur-- especially on the power play. There is also some talk that a letter (Captain or Alternate captain) may dawn Kennedy's Whaler uniform this year, considering the old leadership core is moving on. All in all, these are steps that Kennedy is more than ready to take.