Windsor Spitfires 2018 Offseason Thread

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RayzorIsDull

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thats fine, perhaps the scouting will get better, but the reason that the team is struggling to have young players and needing to get guys like mizzi is because they havent had any pics the last 2-3 years, everyone is a late pick. windosr has had the least amount of pics the last 3 years, their fault, but we need to fix that. every year london/kit/owen sound have 5-7 picks in the top 5 rounds, we have 1, there is zero room for error. those teams can miss on a few, we cant. if they have 5-7 picks in the top 5 rounds this year, they have way more room to make mistakes. its what the leafs did as soon as dubas got there, turn sell players at their peek who in years you wont win to get as many picks as possible. the more picks, the more lottery tickets. its way smarter to go into a draft with 17 pics then 8. every team will have a miss or two, kit had mike davies, london had herbst, it happens, what the difference was they had more then a few pics, so they had more options. if trading luchuk gets us 2 top 3 round picks and more amo so to speak, then do it. this year doesnt matter, they have guys like mizzi and larionov in the lineup, they are not winning in the playoffs. most of the guys on the roster exepct for 5-6 will be gone in 2 years, so bomb out. what the benefit to trying to win again?

You're correct and it's a little bit of both imo. They have had a mixed bag of 1st round picks Hall being top of the line. Then you have Vilardi, Fowler, Nemisz, and Stanley. Brassard was moved in January. Webermin/Maletta being at the bottom of the chain. The Spits are pretty much in the position they need to take whatever picks they can get. The Spits need 2nd/3rd rounders, 4th and 5th rounders aren't really going to move the needle, yes you have a better shot with a 4th or 5th than 8th or 9th. We can see the list of diminishing returns after round 2/3, if you exclude flyers that want to play the draft game and use the NCAA card it's not pretty after round 6 or so.

You can bomb out that's fine but if the following year is middling and not a playoff team showing signs of being a contender then they're doing it wrong. You're right there at the stage where there's zero room for error though. Can't have a Maletta/Webermin, can't afford to take a guy like Fowler. Need more guys like Nemisz/Vilardi/Hall.
 

OHL4Life

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I don't think there is any question Windsor will strip away some tradable assets to aquire picks & younger players. But depending on how the young kids adapt to the league & bigger leadership rolls will determine how agressive they can be doing this.
If they feel the group has strong internal leaders & kids who can handle the minutes they may trade every veteran they have.
But if the young group struggles & has a fragile mindset. They'll keep some veterans around so the kids don't get curbed stomped every night out from an unforgiving league and lose all confidence going forward.
Several factors play into this balance.

agreed, but i think they have guys who dont have great trade vaule who can stay and be those vets. Kutkevicius, Nother, Boka, Purboo and McEneny dont add much trade value (maybe nother) and can be those guys. if they keep mizzi and larionov and smith those are more vets. i 100 percent agree that trading everyone and thowing the kids to the wolves is a bad idea. playing 16 year olds in the ohl when they are not ready is not a good idea, im not sure tyler angle is better for getting limited ice here last year, but well see, guys like damico and henault hopefully are jr b guys this year who jump in later. if we are moving brown and dipietro then sure, keep luchuk, i just dont want us only to move brown and then complain about the fact we dont have any picks in the draft. if you dont want to move luchuk, you cant complain about the lack of picks.
 
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OHL4Life

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The Spits are pretty much in the position they need to take whatever picks they can get. The Spits need 2nd/3rd rounders, 4th and 5th rounders aren't really going to move the needle, yes you have a better shot with a 4th or 5th than 8th or 9th. We can see the list of diminishing returns after round 2/3, if you exclude flyers that want to play the draft game and use the NCAA card it's not pretty after round 6 or so.

You can bomb out that's fine but if the following year is middling and not a playoff team showing signs of being a contender then they're doing it wrong. You're right there at the stage where there's zero room for error though. Can't have a Maletta/Webermin, can't afford to take a guy like Fowler. Need more guys like Nemisz/Vilardi/Hall.

you can still get good depth players in the 4th, luchuk was a 4th, other teams in the west have done well in that area, agree that you want 2nd and 3rds, but ill take as many as i can get. if they become a middling team again after bombing, then we know its a scouting and management issue, i just dont think we can assume that they cant rebuild, bombing out has a better history of success then treading water does. either way they cant go into more drafts with less then 10 picks, when you do you cant make any mistakes, every top pick needs to hit. if you have 6 or 7 top 5 round picks, you can afford mistakes.
 
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RayzorIsDull

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you can still get good depth players in the 4th, luchuk was a 4th, other teams in the west have done well in that area, agree that you want 2nd and 3rds, but ill take as many as i can get. if they become a middling team again after bombing, then we know its a scouting and management issue, i just dont think we can assume that they cant rebuild, bombing out has a better history of success then treading water does. either way they cant go into more drafts with less then 10 picks, when you do you cant make any mistakes, every top pick needs to hit. if you have 6 or 7 top 5 round picks, you can afford mistakes.

I agree with this, if you go by the idea you can get good depth in the 4th round and after. Don't believe a productive 4th or 5th rounder makes up for bombing your 1st.

I agree being in the middle is the worst thing for any organization. It's tough to differentiate between teams in the league being in the middle and bombing out. Guelph has obviously bombed out the last 2 years. What has Saginaw been doing? What has Ottawa been doing? Barrie has been good at the bottoming out it got them Ekblad and now this year with Suzuki and Svechnikov. North Bay I suspect will be middling now.

I guess it depends on your view if you can be like London and a flagship franchise then go out and do it. There's no reason why Windsor can't be a team like Oshawa/Owen Sound/Soo, to a lesser extent Barrie. It takes a patient GM who doesn't always want to sell the farm when they have a shot to win it though.
 

OHL4Life

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I agree with this, if you go by the idea you can get good depth in the 4th round and after. Don't believe a productive 4th or 5th rounder makes up for bombing your 1st.

I agree being in the middle is the worst thing for any organization. It's tough to differentiate between teams in the league being in the middle and bombing out. Guelph has obviously bombed out the last 2 years. What has Saginaw been doing? What has Ottawa been doing? Barrie has been good at the bottoming out it got them Ekblad and now this year with Suzuki and Svechnikov. North Bay I suspect will be middling now.

I guess it depends on your view if you can be like London and a flagship franchise then go out and do it. There's no reason why Windsor can't be a team like Oshawa/Owen Sound/Soo, to a lesser extent Barrie. It takes a patient GM who doesn't always want to sell the farm when they have a shot to win it though.

I agree with Saginaw and Ottawa, they have been just treading water and not doing much in the last few years. being in the middle is death unless your like the london/kitchener/owen sounds who seem to be able to stay competitive and build at the same time. i just think that the more picks you have in a draft, the more lottery tickets you have. odds are you miss on the mid to late guys, but without the picks you dont even get the chance.
 

OHLTG

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Windsor has a pretty solid history of finding talent in the later rounds, too. They won't all make the NHL but a valuable OHL player is still something to strive for.
 

OHL4Life

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Windsor has a pretty solid history of finding talent in the later rounds, too. They won't all make the NHL but a valuable OHL player is still something to strive for.

they havent had any since doran left. if valuable ohl player is the baramater, the last 10th round or later guy that played well was Locke? thats 8 years ago. maybe im missing someone?
 

randomhero4life

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The talk around NHL Rookie Camp/Tournament

- DiGi has had a good camp, logging lots of minutes in tournament games, scored a goal yesterday, was even on the penalty kill!!

- Stanley by the opinion from a lot of Jet's fans that have went to the rookie tournament is that he has not been too impressive, some have even said he looks like a bust!! was a turn over machine the other day!!, This suprised me!!

- Boka did not dress in game one, game 2 he was 3rd line but did manage an assist and had a +3 rating, highest in the line up

- Luchuk according to some on the Canucks message boards did not look to impressive, one comment was that he looked like was skating through mollasses in overtime the other night, gassed out, who know's

-Chatfield has had a great rookie camp scored a goal and assisted on 2, fans are impressed with his speed and puck carrying skills. Should get an invite to pro camp.

Thats all I read so far today.....killing time @ work going through message boards etc.
 

OHL4Life

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The talk around NHL Rookie Camp/Tournament

- DiGi has had a good camp, logging lots of minutes in tournament games, scored a goal yesterday, was even on the penalty kill!!

- Stanley by the opinion from a lot of Jet's fans that have went to the rookie tournament is that he has not been too impressive, some have even said he looks like a bust!! was a turn over machine the other day!!, This suprised me!!

- Boka did not dress in game one, game 2 he was 3rd line but did manage an assist and had a +3 rating, highest in the line up

- Luchuk according to some on the Canucks message boards did not look to impressive, one comment was that he looked like was skating through mollasses in overtime the other night, gassed out, who know's

-Chatfield has had a great rookie camp scored a goal and assisted on 2, fans are impressed with his speed and puck carrying skills. Should get an invite to pro camp.

Thats all I read so far today.....killing time @ work going through message boards etc.

thanks, some jets fans where saying that stanley was a bust right when they drafted him, so thats not surprising.
 

RayzorIsDull

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they havent had any since doran left. if valuable ohl player is the baramater, the last 10th round or later guy that played well was Locke? thats 8 years ago. maybe im missing someone?

Agreed and I am sure a lot of teams have had at least a guy like that over the past 8 years. There needs to be a different barometer when you're a 1st/2nd/3rd rounder etc... For example I hope Henault shows to be a decent OHL D tempering my expectations because he's a 5th rounder though, just as those other guys like D'Amico and Frasca. Hopefully they can turnout to be decent players probably not a top 6 forward.
 

hockeylegend11

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Tough to project an opening night roster on the 21st of September vs Saginaw but here goes,though I will at and possibly change a couple spots after viewing the last 2 exhibition games vs Sarnia.
Also going to assume the Big 4 won't be here at the start of the year,(Brown, Vilardi, Day and Sergachev)
Ages are in brackets
Goalies- Dipietro (18), Baier (18)
Defense-McEneney,(20),Nother(19), Corcoran (17), Starikov (17), Stevenson (18), Staios (16)
Forwards-Kitkevicius(19), Luchuk (20), Boka (18), Kozhevnikov (18), Larionov (19),Smith(20), Playfair (17), Angle (17), MacDougall (17),
Purboo(18),Latta(19),Sirman(18)
Spares
Defense- Henault(16)
Forwards,- D'amico (16), Mizzi (19)
JrB- Patton-G(18),Gauvin-D(19),
Frasca(16)
LaSalle Jr B with Spitfire prospects
Unlikely any will be signed this season
Dobrich -D(16), Pizzutti-D(17)
Silverio-C(17),Bowler-C(17)
Draft pick likely to be signed
Austin Brimmer-RW(16), before end of season.
Would not shock me if Mizzi slides into the lineup in place of Purboo or Sirman.
The reason I put Purboo and Latta together,much needed size/ experience,open to changing one of them
Like I said my views may change after the next 2 exhibitions time will tell.
 

OHL4Life

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Agreed and I am sure a lot of teams have had at least a guy like that over the past 8 years. There needs to be a different barometer when you're a 1st/2nd/3rd rounder etc... For example I hope Henault shows to be a decent OHL D tempering my expectations because he's a 5th rounder though, just as those other guys like D'Amico and Frasca. Hopefully they can turnout to be decent players probably not a top 6 forward.

just looking at rosters now, not including rookies becaue we dont know if they will stick or not

owen sound - 2
soo - 3
Kitchener - 1
london - 3

if 1 over 8 years is good, those teams must be great
 

OHLTG

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Players chosen 13th round or later that have put up 40+ goal seasons since Locke:

- Reid Boucher (Sarnia) - 62g
- Connor Brown (Erie) - 45g
 

OHL4Life

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Players chosen 13th round or later that have put up 40+ goal seasons since Locke:

- Reid Boucher (Sarnia) - 62g
- Connor Brown (Erie) - 45g

boucher was an ncaa pick I believe. brown was a great pick. what does that have to do with windsor thou? like we pointed out, windsor hasn't had a lot of late round guys lately
 

OHLTG

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While it's been a while since Windsor has had one, the comment was that many teams have had a guy like Locke since Locke's time in the league. That's where my post came in.
 

OHL4Life

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While it's been a while since Windsor has had one, the comment was that many teams have had a guy like Locke since Locke's time in the league. That's where my post came in.

you said Windsor has a lot of success in the late rounds, but they haven't had a guy in 9 years on the roster. you didn't say what 'success' meant, left it very open. if there's only 3 guys that have had those results in 10 years, probably worth throwing those guys out as outliers, exception to the rule. not typical or really projectable. it's like assuming all fa's are cirelli, he's an
Outlier too, cant plan for that.
 

hockeylegend11

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Spits

you said Windsor has a lot of success in the late rounds, but they haven't had a guy in 9 years on the roster. you didn't say what 'success' meant, left it very open. if there's only 3 guys that have had those results in 10 years, probably worth throwing those guys out as outliers, exception to the rule. not typical or really projectable. it's like assuming all fa's are cirelli, he's an
Outlier too, cant plan for that.

This year you will see Brock Baier drafted in the 10th(2016), Thomas Stevenson (10th)-2015, and William Sirman in the (14th)-2015 on the team, plus Cole Purboo was drafted in 2015 in the 9th, just saying.
 

OHLTG

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What I said was Windsor has had "pretty solid history of finding talent in the later rounds, too." This goes back to when Rychel and Boughner took over. While there was a significant lull in the action during one stretch, they've still had success with later round players. To me, success is playing a regular OHL shift and contributing to the team. A guy like Locke was tremendous, but to say "a lot of teams" have had a player like him (late round + 40+g) is incorrect. Windsor hasn't been able to capitalize on all of their top-round talents but there is a history of finding talents in the later rounds. It doesn't make up for it, but it doesn't hurt them, either.

This year you will see Brock Baier drafted in the 10th(2016), Thomas Stevenson (10th)-2015, and William Sirman in the (14th)-2015 on the team, plus Cole Purboo was drafted in 2015 in the 9th, just saying.

He posted this as I was posting; it furthers my point, though.
 

windsor7

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A significant lull for Windsor is an understatement.
Hockey in most of the month of April does not exist at all for Windsor.
If it wasn't for winning the bid for the Memorial Cup.............,
Fans have looked forward to other things when the season ends for a quite awhile now.
 

OHL4Life

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This year you will see Brock Baier drafted in the 10th(2016), Thomas Stevenson (10th)-2015, and William Sirman in the (14th)-2015 on the team, plus Cole Purboo was drafted in 2015 in the 9th, just saying.

right, but those players have never played a game. if we wanted to go down that route, we could add alot more to london and the soo, i left out 2 soo rookies who where signed. purboo is fine, on a rebuilding team he can fill a role, but he had zero points in the playoffs/mem cup, not sure hes worth promoting as a successful pick. formenton on london would be a 'hit', not sure about purboo. he has years left, so well see. we have no idea if they will be any good, we can assume they will, but that can be dangerous, in the past you said guys like graham and cortellessa would be good, they where not, no offence, but thats why we wait to see if rookies are good. they could be great, they could be cut after the 3rd game, who knows

stevenson and sirman where signed as 18 year olds, that rarely if ever happens. usually because the team didn't have any 16 year olds to take their spots. stevenson may stick around, sirman very well could be a one and done, im not sure either of those players makes many teams this year.
 
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