I don't believe the Wolves will make the playoffs this year.
They do not have anyone on that roster that can play a defensive game. They had Dunda last year but are deciding to go with Valentini instead. Letting Dunda go was a bad move.
Now that he isn't in the lineup, who are the Wolves going to rely on as their PK/ shutdown player? It can't be Carson, the Wolves need his points, can't be Levin, Sokolov or Valentini. These three were in the top ten for worst +/- last season, and I don't think Sokolov has even been in his own end before.
The Pilon twins do not belong in the OHL. There is absolutely no upside to these two players at all. I would cut them both loose and replace them both with Evan Krassey, for toughness and Gaudreau for a mix of both. The Pilons are a hazard. What do they do besides get stupid penalties?
Lane, Gilhula and Balitka had a hard time playing regularly so there defensive game has question marks all over it.
Now that leaves the draft picks, there is no way any guy the Wolves drafted that can play that style of game.
Now defense:
The blue line is a disaster. On a good team, O' Grady is 5-6 in the lineup. On a great team, he is in the stands or doesn't make it.
Rhodes is a milk bag. Try and define him. He is not an offensive threat, he has a whopping 23 points in in 3 seasons, he isn't a defensive specialist, he is -52 in three seasons, he isn't a physical guy either, only 100+ pims in the last 3 seasons. Why Papineau would trade a 4th round pick for him is a mystery considering he could have got him for the bag that holds the pucks if he waited a bit. Or just saved the pick and looked for a 19 yr old that could do just as well.
Wilkie: He is a disaster.
McGrath: Every shooter in the league know they can blast pucks past his blocker more times than not. This is why he did not get drafted....
Cory Stillman will be interesting as coach. He has zero experience managing Jr players. So can he coach? Not sure. Moxam is no more than a Papineau yes man and has absolutely no say in anything. The trainer has as much input as he does. The new guy, if he is anything like he was in the NOJHA, will have no effect at all.
To be real here, Papineau is worse than Burgess was. Burgess was a jerk period, while Papineau is a jerk an a control freak. This guy has no experience at all. His was a very minor scout for Carolina and was one of the most hated girls hockey coaches in the city. He went from managing a Jiffy Lube to running the Wolves.
Granted, he did a good job in raping the Storm for another undefinable player in Lalonde, behind Levin the second worst pick in the history of the draft.
Players didn't want to come here because of Burgess, now, guys don't want to come here because of Papineau. That is the same reason players want out as well.
Think of this posters: According to the papers, "Matsos left because "they couldn't come to agreement on an extension". BUT, he had a year left on his contract. Smith left because of Papineau, everyone knows that.
Two days after Matsos left, magically Stillman was hired. Pretty coincidental that he was a Carolina guy. But funny things happen. But, to connect the dots, Zulich states on the radio that the first time he met Stillman was at Stillman's farm when he was planting potatoes? This was not even in June, 3 or 4 days after they "parted ways" with Matsos. This was all planned from the get go and the really sad thing is that a coach that brought the team to the playoffs, with the horrible players he had from Burgess, for the first time in forever, is gone because he couldn't come to terms on a contract for 2018-2019? Some people are just stupid....
