Ottawa 67's 2023-24 Off-Season Thread (Part 1)

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OMG67

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Man I would love to get the lowdown on what happened there. Longtime 67's player, got tons of ice time, and was well supported by the club through his injury woes. Suddenly he wants out. What the heck? Very strange.

I still maintain that Boyd was under no obligation to trade him, as Beck wasn't exactly swimming in options. I might have been tempted to tell him to suck it up, play hard here, and maybe we move you at the deadline to a contender if we aren't in it. Otherwise, you might want to sort your @#$# out and play hard here if you are looking to earn a pro contract...

Again, it is not one single issue that is a problem. it is the collection of issues in their totality that I am starting to look at differently.

EDIT:
If Rohrer were on the London Knights, would he have stayed in Europe? I know we cannot answer that question but it is something to consider.
 
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PuckStop75

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Man I would love to get the lowdown on what happened there. Longtime 67's player, got tons of ice time, and was well supported by the club through his injury woes. Suddenly he wants out. What the heck? Very strange.

I still maintain that Boyd was under no obligation to trade him, as Beck wasn't exactly swimming in options. I might have been tempted to tell him to suck it up, play hard here, and maybe we move you at the deadline to a contender if we aren't in it. Otherwise, you might want to sort your @#$# out and play hard here if you are looking to earn a pro contract...
Teams can’t get away with that the way they use too. When they screw over the player they are also screwing with an agent who potentially has 1st round players like HB coming down the pipe. It’s just not a good look for anybody when these things happen, better handled quietly as it was.
 

beastintheeast

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Of course Stonehouse is lost, he probably believed he is the Marchant of the OHL. The problem with that is after two years, which 19-20 yr old could Stonehouse goad into coincidental penalties taking the more valuable player to his team off the ice? At 19 with a pro contact, what player could he turtle against without completely embarrassing himself?
While I think he may have some success in a couple of years with pros playing the game as he did at 17-18 in the OHL; it was a lot to ask of Stonehouse to reinvent himself in-season as a player at the OHL level.
Dirty, we have known quite a few players who could do it, although they did not turtle. Galbraith in Ottawa will be in your time. David Ling and Ken Linseman, to name a couple of Kingston players. It is not that he does not have the skill. It is more that he has a contract, has made some big bucks, and is set. In the mid 90, Ottawa saw the same thing with a goalie.

Kingston saw it with Hughes, Stewart et al. It is a death nell some some because they donot have the work ethic or maturity to understand that they still have to work if they want the abIG money.
 
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beastintheeast

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All season this team has just felt like less than the sum of its parts. On paper there is a good team, but they never could put it together for extended stretches. Not to name names, but there are a couple of draft eligible players and one who signed an NHL contract who it is fair to say were expected to contribute more than they did.

As we know, playoffs are a different beast. Go win a series and all of a sudden the year doesn't look so bad. Go out quietly in five and it looks like a lost season. This team is capable of more than they have shown - let's see if they can rise up and deliver it.
I have argued that this team was never a top team. The only reason it was on top was that everyone else was really bad.

It was a disappointing end to the regular season for a team that had aspirations to win their division and finish top-2 in the conference (and challenge for a conference championship). For a stretch of time in mid-to-late February they played like a team that could accomplish those goals, but they haven't been at that level for some time now.

The 67s can play with anyone when the dictate the pace of the game, play a relentless puck pursuit game, and get good enough goaltending that they're not chasing or cheating defensively. What I saw yesterday vs. Brantford (and down the stretch in games vs. competitive teams), in a somewhat meaningless game for both teams, was Brantford dictating the play and winning the special teams play handily. Ottawa was unable to penetrate to the inside for quality scoring opportunities. Where have we seen that before? Oh yeah, last year's 2nd round vs. Peterborough.

Unless we get MacKenzie back and he is playing as he's capable of, it will be a very short series. Maybe Ottawa takes one home game. With MacKenzie back and in full form, Ottawa could make it a series but I still can't see Ottawa win a 7th game in Brantford.

So my prediction will be Brantford in 6 games.
This team, on paper, looked like it was.

It had one goal-scorer
1 troublemaker or hitter
1 real center and a rookie
3 good defencemen and some journeymen.

The only thing that held them in many games was Donoso or MacK when he was healthy.

This team CANNOT play with any of the major teams if they are playing because those teams dictate the style of the game. Also, consider that the 67's style never did anything in the playoffs when it met a good team. This year, consider that we were owned by Kingston, who had worse defence and worse goaltending.

The players on this team now are focused on
a. the sooner we lose the quicker I get a chance in the AHL
b. I hope that I did not screw up my draft status
c. wonder which university I will go to
d. can't wait to get home and relax in my old room

OH yeah also add I wonder why no one has offered me a PTO for a defenceman

This team has no scoring if you shut down Pinelli and Kressler. Then again you want them on the ice because it is easy to score against them.

In order to penetrate the front of the net, you need size, height, and weight. lol not much on this team in that category.

Personally, I think Egert Boyd and the management need to take a close look at the WHOLE TEAM, INCLUDING THE BENCH. I think there has to be major surgery, and the idea of being competitive next year be thrown out the window.

I see this team as being competitve in a couple or years

the top line should be Whitehead Yanni and Korbler
 

NordiquesForeva

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I have argued that this team was never a top team. The only reason it was on top was that everyone else was really bad.


This team, on paper, looked like it was.

It had one goal-scorer
1 troublemaker or hitter
1 real center and a rookie
3 good defencemen and some journeymen.

The only thing that held them in many games was Donoso or MacK when he was healthy.

This team CANNOT play with any of the major teams if they are playing because those teams dictate the style of the game. Also, consider that the 67's style never did anything in the playoffs when it met a good team. This year, consider that we were owned by Kingston, who had worse defence and worse goaltending.

The players on this team now are focused on
a. the sooner we lose the quicker I get a chance in the AHL
b. I hope that I did not screw up my draft status
c. wonder which university I will go to
d. can't wait to get home and relax in my old room

OH yeah also add I wonder why no one has offered me a PTO for a defenceman

This team has no scoring if you shut down Pinelli and Kressler. Then again you want them on the ice because it is easy to score against them.

In order to penetrate the front of the net, you need size, height, and weight. lol not much on this team in that category.

Personally, I think Egert Boyd and the management need to take a close look at the WHOLE TEAM, INCLUDING THE BENCH. I think there has to be major surgery, and the idea of being competitive next year be thrown out the window.

I see this team as being competitve in a couple or years

the top line should be Whitehead Yanni and Korbler

Ottawa was able to play with/beat many of the best teams in the league post-deadline.

- Lost to Saginaw in OT, after giving up a late 2-goal lead. 3rd leg of a 3-in-3 road trip.
- Beat Kitchener 3-2 at home
- Lost 3-2 to NB on the road (outplayed NB in the 2nd + 3rd and threatened to tie it late)
- Beat NB 6-3 at home
- Beat Oshawa 5-0 at home
- Lost to London 4-3 in SO, coming back from a 3-1 deficit in the 3rd
- Beat Missy 4-3 in OT on the road

Things began falling apart with the loss to Erie in early March. But, contrary to your point, the 67s have demonstrated they can play with anyone in the league. Despite a tough stretch in March, they still have the playoffs to demonstrate their ability to do so.

Kressler is +16 in 32 games with Ottawa so the stats are not supporting what you're saying about his defensive ability. Anyone actually watching the games will also know he's good in his own zone and gives a full, 200-foot effort. Pinelli has looked lost at times in the d-zone and has made some mistakes and lazy plays, but on the whole he is good at puck retrieval in the d-zone and clearing/carrying the puck out of his own zone. I wouldn't expect him to drop in front of point shots in the regular season. While I've given him s*** on here at times for his mistakes, him and Kressler are really the least of our problems when it comes to 5-on-5 play.

I agree that the 67s lack size and physicality up front and that is a significant deficit for them to enter the playoffs with, in terms of roster construction.

I also agree that the players and coaching staff should be reviewed in the off-season and the approach to roster construction and how it fits within the coaching staff's approach should be assessed. I don't think its unreasonable to expect that to occur in light of the results from the last couple of seasons.
 

OMG67

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I agree that the 67s lack size and physicality up front and that is a significant deficit for them to enter the playoffs with, in terms of roster construction.

I also agree that the players and coaching staff should be reviewed in the off-season and the approach to roster construction and how it fits within the coaching staff's approach should be assessed. I don't think its unreasonable to expect that to occur in light of the results from the last couple of seasons.

If next season is a reset year, which I believe it is, it would be the perfect time to start to address some of these concerns. We need to remember that Cameron inherited the Tourigny teama nd we are now starting to see the younger players from that last team graduate. It is now fully a Dave Cameron team. As such, if we are to keep Dave Cameron and put our faith in him, we need players that are better suited to play his style of game.

With respect to the above, it doesn’t necessarily mean they need to be big bodies but they do need to be effective at either scoring goals or being successful physical players. DC can have a player like Pinelli as a pure goal scorer. He can also have a smaller player like Gerrior or Kressler because they actively engage the opposition. So, it isn’t purely about size.

I highlighted Dever and Korbler as two players that are more slight in stature and not physical. They are more exposed vs the higher quality teams since they don’t have the obvious attributes that allow them to play for t he inside. They are forced to the outside and they have a harder time winning board battles. They would benefit greatly from a system that is more free glowing that totally relies on speed. DC doesn’t operate that way. There are a lot of dump and chase plays in his system.

If they are going to align with DC then Boyd needs to add a bit of size through the draft and it needs to be in the first 2 rounds. It is really hard to get forwards with size and skill outside round two. They will hit more on big D-Men in the mid to later rounds than forwards. Trading for size is also really tough when you don’t have it. No one wants to give it up! You need to draft it early.

They have two first round picks. I would consider drafting the best available decent sized centres with both of those picks. Considering their 17 year old centre is smaller statures, augmenting Whitehead with at least one bigger centre would be ideal if there is one available that fits.
 

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Again, it is not one single issue that is a problem. it is the collection of issues in their totality that I am starting to look at differently.

EDIT:
If Rohrer were on the London Knights, would he have stayed in Europe? I know we cannot answer that question but it is something to consider.

Most certainly yes. If I remember correctly his explanation was that he was looking for more/better competition and wanted to play vs men. So unless he was lying I don't think London would have been more a more interesting option than Ottawa.
 

PuckStop75

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Most certainly yes. If I remember correctly his explanation was that he was looking for more/better competition and wanted to play vs men. So unless he was lying I don't think London would have been more a more interesting option than Ottawa.
The kid wasn't going to come out a say he hated Ottawa and DC, this was a carefully crafted statement that allowed him to step away without having to explain things any further.
 
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OMG67

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Most certainly yes. If I remember correctly his explanation was that he was looking for more/better competition and wanted to play vs men. So unless he was lying I don't think London would have been more a more interesting option than Ottawa.

If he wasn’t happy with his role or development in Ottawa, would he say that publicly?

I’m not saying he lied at all. I am saying that there have been a handful of issues that the team has faced this year that in their cumulative entirety make them all now questionable. Each individual incident can easily be explained away quite innocently but when so many of these have popped up this season, you start to wonder whether these are jsut single issolated incidents or whether there is something bigger going on behind the scenes.

To be clear, I don’t know any of this as fact at all. It is simply just a question I have based on what I am seeing.
 

ecraigs

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If he wasn’t happy with his role or development in Ottawa, would he say that publicly?

I’m not saying he lied at all. I am saying that there have been a handful of issues that the team has faced this year that in their cumulative entirety make them all now questionable. Each individual incident can easily be explained away quite innocently but when so many of these have popped up this season, you start to wonder whether these are jsut single issolated incidents or whether there is something bigger going on behind the scenes.

To be clear, I don’t know any of this as fact at all. It is simply just a question I have based on what I am seeing.
I feel that there are deeper issues but DC employs the Cone of Silence with a heavy hand. Rohrer is a different case. He trailed off towards the end of last year, maybe injury, maybe fatigue. Perhaps DC's methods didn't suit him. Who knows?

There seems to be few consequences for obvious bad play. The PP lacks creativity and energy. I think the point about Tourigny's team playing for DC is a good one. DC has a contract extension, so I expect that we will have two more years to assess things.

The one thing that has disappointed me most is the lack of development time for the rookies. Long stretches out of the lineup and then short shifts. Whitehead, Hilton, Brady, Yanni, Dietsch. If they are good enough to card, then they must be good enough to play. Körbler gets an incomplete. Lots of games and ice time, with very little production. Great skater, but too many fly-by plays.
 

OMG67

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I feel that there are deeper issues but DC employs the Cone of Silence with a heavy hand. Rohrer is a different case. He trailed off towards the end of last year, maybe injury, maybe fatigue. Perhaps DC's methods didn't suit him. Who knows?

There seems to be few consequences for obvious bad play. The PP lacks creativity and energy. I think the point about Tourigny's team playing for DC is a good one. DC has a contract extension, so I expect that we will have two more years to assess things.

The one thing that has disappointed me most is the lack of development time for the rookies. Long stretches out of the lineup and then short shifts. Whitehead, Hilton, Brady, Yanni, Dietsch. If they are good enough to card, then they must be good enough to play. Körbler gets an incomplete. Lots of games and ice time, with very little production. Great skater, but too many fly-by plays.

Not that it matters for the correction because I agree with your opinion regarding the younger players, but Hilton, Yanni, Dietsch, Nelson, Brady and Houben are signed players but not carded. The way the rules work for cards is the rookies need to dress for 10 games before their card is activated. Once they activate their card, subsequent seasons only require one game for them to be assigned their card. So, to start next year, Yanni will get his card one his 11th game. Whitehead will get his on his 1st game.

I was a little disappointed that Whitehead was removed from the lineup and Barlas was placed at centre on the 4th line. Not only does it stunt Whiteheads development, it reduces Barlas to a 4th line role in a position he is less effective.
 

frontsfan67

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Imo where you guys went wrong was trading donoso away and I believe I even said that before the deadline that your backbone on your team was the good depth in goal. You had really strong goaltending and McKenzie is injury prone and you knew it at the time that you traded donoso away. That’s the biggest thing for you guys.

Take away maillet and put donoso back in nets and you’re a completely different team. Michelone has never been a good goalie, he had a good run for a couple games with you guys but I’m sure nobody expected that to keep up. He is average at best. As for the size and physicality. You guys should’ve been looking at Roman Schmidt for sure before we picked him up. Although Mayer is great- Schmidt would fit in really well with you guys like bread and butter. Look at his stats since he came to kingston- and he provides a lot more than just the stats.

Still can beat brantford but it is going to come down to goaltending as drobac himself isn’t going to steal a series for brantford(and lardis is out right now I believe- not sure how long
 

OMG67

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Imo where you guys went wrong was trading donoso away and I believe I even said that before the deadline that your backbone on your team was the good depth in goal. You had really strong goaltending and McKenzie is injury prone and you knew it at the time that you traded donoso away. That’s the biggest thing for you guys.

Take away maillet and put donoso back in nets and you’re a completely different team. Michelone has never been a good goalie, he had a good run for a couple games with you guys but I’m sure nobody expected that to keep up. He is average at best. As for the size and physicality. You guys should’ve been looking at Roman Schmidt for sure before we picked him up. Although Mayer is great- Schmidt would fit in really well with you guys like bread and butter. Look at his stats since he came to kingston- and he provides a lot more than just the stats.

Still can beat brantford but it is going to come down to goaltending as drobac himself isn’t going to steal a series for brantford(and lardis is out right now I believe- not sure how long

Michelone is 12-3-2 with Ottawa. I don’t think he has been “the” problem. He may not be the solution, but he isn’t the problem. We had ONE centre. We needed two new centres. So, you wouldn’t sub out Maillet. You’d sub out Mayer.
 

badnova

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Michelone is 12-3-2 with Ottawa. I don’t think he has been “the” problem. He may not be the solution, but he isn’t the problem. We had ONE centre. We needed two new centres. So, you wouldn’t sub out Maillet. You’d sub out Mayer.
Sub out Mayer ???
 
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ecraigs

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Not that it matters for the correction because I agree with your opinion regarding the younger players, but Hilton, Yanni, Dietsch, Nelson, Brady and Houben are signed players but not carded. The way the rules work for cards is the rookies need to dress for 10 games before their card is activated. Once they activate their card, subsequent seasons only require one game for them to be assigned their card. So, to start next year, Yanni will get his card one his 11th game. Whitehead will get his on his 1st game.

I was a little disappointed that Whitehead was removed from the lineup and Barlas was placed at centre on the 4th line. Not only does it stunt Whiteheads development, it reduces Barlas to a 4th line role in a position he is less effective.
I was using card in my minor hockey mode. Each card represents a portion of the allotment allowed by Hockey Canada for a team at the Junior level, what you called signed. There used to be an actual card (carbon interleaved), but that is no more.
 

RCN83

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Sub out Mayer ???
To me, he rivalled Stonehouse as “most disappointing” 67. Marvelled at him whenever he came in with the PETES but left most games after the trade wondering what I thought I had ever seen in him.

On the issue of keeping Donoso, reports are it wasn’t an option anyway, because MacKenzie wasn’t interested in sharing the net, let alone backing up Donoso
 

OMG67

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Sub out Mayer ???

To keep Donoso, they would have had to sacrifice one of the OA spots. Considering they needed the two centres, there wasn’t an option to not go with the centres. THEREFORE, if they wanted to keep Donoso (which I think is a horrible idea), they’d have to sacrifice the spot given to Mayer. Makes no sense at all. The reality is the 67’s will live and die based on MacKenzie, not Donoso. No sense plopping an OA on the bench through the playoffs as a safety net in case the one player you live and die on is injured.

Michelone has been a serviceable backup. Is he great? No. But backups aren’t meant to be great. They are meant to fill in. If the 67’s play their game, the backup goalie shouldn’t matter much in the regular season. Having MacK go down would have been no different than most any other team’s top starter going down. If Simpson went down last season, the Petes woudl be in trouble. It didn’t mean they should have sacrificed Gavin White as an OA to plop an OA goalie on their bench in case Simpson went down.

To me, he rivalled Stonehouse as “most disappointing” 67. Marvelled at him whenever he came in with the PETES but left most games after the trade wondering what I thought I had ever seen in him.

On the issue of keeping Donoso, reports are it wasn’t an option anyway, because MacKenzie wasn’t interested in sharing the net, let alone backing up Donoso

Mayer was fine. He wasn’t’ as impactful for Ottawa as he was with the Petes but Cameron has system that mostly harnesses players than allows them to push the pedal to the floor. Same with Mintyukov last year. You gotta let your horses run when you have them.
 
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beastintheeast

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I feel that there are deeper issues but DC employs the Cone of Silence with a heavy hand. Rohrer is a different case. He trailed off towards the end of last year, maybe injury, maybe fatigue. Perhaps DC's methods didn't suit him. Who knows?

There seems to be few consequences for obvious bad play. The PP lacks creativity and energy. I think the point about Tourigny's team playing for DC is a good one. DC has a contract extension, so I expect that we will have two more years to assess things.

The one thing that has disappointed me most is the lack of development time for the rookies. Long stretches out of the lineup and then short shifts. Whitehead, Hilton, Brady, Yanni, Dietsch. If they are good enough to card, then they must be good enough to play. Körbler gets an incomplete. Lots of games and ice time, with very little production. Great skater, but too many fly-by plays.
I think the one good thing, no matter what was that Boyd sent Yanni, Dietsch, Nelson, and Hooben to junior teams to get ice time and develop their skills.

As to DC, it is interesting Yes, he has been an assistant with the season, but in his career, he has only made the 3rd round of playoffs once.

Dietsch and Yanni were playong on a sens junior team that did not make the playofs and Dietsch only had 8 points. I am not sure if that was because he is a defensive D or if his minutes were low.

yanni did ok so I think he is ready

We know Nelson is ready

It is going to be interesting to see who they draft,

Wouldnot be upset with Amidovski and Xu in the first round.


Does anyone know when the comp pick is
 

beastintheeast

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To keep Donoso, they would have had to sacrifice one of the OA spots. Considering they needed the two centres, there wasn’t an option to not go with the centres. THEREFORE, if they wanted to keep Donoso (which I think is a horrible idea), they’d have to sacrifice the spot given to Mayer. Makes no sense at all. The reality is the 67’s will live and die based on MacKenzie, not Donoso. No sense plopping an OA on the bench through the playoffs as a safety net in case the one player you live and die on is injured.

Michelone has been a serviceable backup. Is he great? No. But backups aren’t meant to be great. They are meant to fill in. If the 67’s play their game, the backup goalie shouldn’t matter much in the regular season. Having MacK go down would have been no different than most any other team’s top starter going down. If Simpson went down last season, the Petes woudl be in trouble. It didn’t mean they should have sacrificed Gavin White as an OA to plop an OA goalie on their bench in case Simpson went down.



Mayer was fine. He wasn’t’ as impactful for Ottawa as he was with the Petes but Cameron has system that mostly harnesses players than allows them to push the pedal to the floor. Same with Mintyukov last year. You gotta let your horses run when you have them.
Mayer was a good option. The only issue was that he was probably one of the last options. What we needed was a RD, not a LD, no matter how good he is/was.

We already had 2 good LDs. The issue was going to be finding someone with the defensive ability to play with us. to cover for him.

Donoso was not the issue like OMG said. On goalies and I am going to get flak for this I think they have to keep michelone handy until they see what the status is of MacK. As has been said he has had a lot of injuries this year. Hopefully, over the summer, he can heal and get back in shape, but I think, at least for training camp, we are going to need Mich to be here in case.

This will be DC's team next year. Players who do not want to play his style, I think, need to be traded early so that he can craft the team and not have any excuses.
 

OMG67

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I think the one good thing, no matter what was that Boyd sent Yanni, Dietsch, Nelson, and Hooben to junior teams to get ice time and develop their skills.

As to DC, it is interesting Yes, he has been an assistant with the season, but in his career, he has only made the 3rd round of playoffs once.

Dietsch and Yanni were playong on a sens junior team that did not make the playofs and Dietsch only had 8 points. I am not sure if that was because he is a defensive D or if his minutes were low.

yanni did ok so I think he is ready

We know Nelson is ready

It is going to be interesting to see who they draft,

Wouldnot be upset with Amidovski and Xu in the first round.


Does anyone know when the comp pick is

I believe our COMP Pick is #23. But, I am not 100% sure about that. It is supposed to be the next pick after the one we used to draft him (22nd pick in 2023). BUT, I am not sure if that is the case if the COMP Pick falls in the 2nd round. I believe there was only one 1st round comp pick this year (William Moore garners a 2nd round pick) so there will be twenty 1st round picks plus a comp pick added for HB. So, if Ottawa does get the 23rd pick, it means that two teams will pick in the 2nd round at picks 21 and 22 prior to Ottawa picking their COMP Pick at #23. I think the draft lottery is tomorrow night so after that, I assume the OHL will post the draft positions for all picks at that point. We know Ottawa will pick at #11.

I haven’t delved into the draft rankings at all so I couldn’t really give any strong sense of what players may be available at #11.
 

beastintheeast

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A couple of questions

what draft picks do we have this year

Is it my imagination, or are there a lot of American kids in this draft who already have commitments to USHL NCAA teams?
 

OMG67

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Mayer was a good option. The only issue was that he was probably one of the last options. What we needed was a RD, not a LD, no matter how good he is/was.

We already had 2 good LDs. The issue was going to be finding someone with the defensive ability to play with us. to cover for him.

Donoso was not the issue like OMG said. On goalies and I am going to get flak for this I think they have to keep michelone handy until they see what the status is of MacK. As has been said he has had a lot of injuries this year. Hopefully, over the summer, he can heal and get back in shape, but I think, at least for training camp, we are going to need Mich to be here in case.

This will be DC's team next year. Players who do not want to play his style, I think, need to be traded early so that he can craft the team and not have any excuses.

I don’t want to get too far into the shoulda-woulda-coulda conversation but if it is my opinion, Punnett should have been choice #1 for OA D-Man. I like Punnett. He is a LHD but he adds an element we really needed and that is nastiness with the ability to add offence.

I don’t necessarily have an issue with the OA’s they added overall. Each of them are good. We could argue that Maillet may not be a good fit but sometimes you don’t always get it right.

The issue wans’t what they did for OA’s. It is where they stopped adding. As many have mentioned, if you are going to sacrifice future assets you may as well go all the way. It is possible that Boyd and Cameron did not recognize further needs. IT is also possible they did but weren’t’ able to get it done with the available players out there matching up with the assets they had. I don’t know. But, I think we can agree that they were short a RHD and a sizeable winger. Both positions that were identified by the fanbase on here.

It is what it is. I feel that would have made a difference; however, if there is an issue in the dressing room for some reason, maybe adding more players wouldn’t have made any difference at all if they gave up on the coach. There has to be a reason for the indifferent play the last 3-4 weeks. @PuckStop75 suggests it is schedule fatigue. Maybe. Maybe not. I don’t know. But it is something. The question is whether it is something that can be fixed by Friday or not.
 

OMG67

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A couple of questions

what draft picks do we have this year

Is it my imagination, or are there a lot of American kids in this draft who already have commitments to USHL NCAA teams?

To be clear, there are draft rankings based on quality of player and what region they fall in. Jsut because they are eligible to be drafted doesn’t mean they will be drafted. So, the rankings are always a little short on confirmed committments. Some are the more obvious jockeying for positioning but with the comp picks now in play, there is less of that.

If you are looking at draft rankings, you need to find one that has some sort of asterisk beside the players that show likely NCAA commit. I don’t usually start to look at the rankings until after the OHL Cup. I find so much changes as well as a lot more information gets released on player intentions.

I just hope the centre ice position is deep this draft.

As of now, we are short on picks.

Erie 3rd
Ott 5th
Then nothing until the 7th.
 

beastintheeast

Registered User
Mar 27, 2013
3,005
568
Do we have a second round pick

Loooking strictly at needs I see

Amidovski barrie C

Michael Lee RD

Would be our best choices although sure Lee will be on he board as there are not a lot of RD in the first round
 

OMG67

Registered User
Sep 1, 2013
10,760
6,929
Do we have a second round pick

Loooking strictly at needs I see

Amidovski barrie C

Michael Lee RD

Would be our best choices although sure Lee will be on he board as there are not a lot of RD in the first round

No 2nd. Just the comp 1st which is really an early 2nd. Plus the 3rd round Erie pick will be on the early side as well. Essentially we ar missing the 4th round pick and 6th round pick but we have two 7ths (one of them BARRIE’s so early 7th).
 
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