Windsor Spitfires 2018 Offseason Thread

[OHLTG]

The rebuild cant be put off given the draft pick situation. If we lose Brown, Luchuk, and Day, to name a few, and gain nothing for them, we're in a world of hurt. You could, in theory, obtain assets at end of season, but they'd be a fraction of what you'll get now. Going for it sounds nice but cant happen, especially after last season.

 

[hockeylegend11]

With last night's victory at Kitchener, Spits now 4-0-1 in their last 5 games.
Cole Purboo continues his real fine ,play,with 2 assists last evening now has 11 points in his last 5 games to lead the team in scoring,Mattew MacDougall is 2nd in team scoring for the last 5 games with 8 points.
Those 2 guys along with William Sirman have made a great line during the last 4 games, especially with Logan Brown out of the line for the last 3 games with an illness.Secondary scoring has been impressive during this stretch as only forward Adam Kadlec is pointless. Spits have used 8 dmen including rookie Hayden Johnston and all have at least a point during this time.
Spits have scored 24 goals and allowed 15 goals, pretty good when considering the lineup has been injury/ illness depleted of late.
Overall pretty impressed with continued development of most of the team's youngsters, especially MacDougall, D'amico,Staios, Henault.
Also like the work from guys like Corcoran, Stevenson, Sirman,the improved play of Kozhevnikov,even 17 year old callup Hayden Johnston hasn't looked out of place when called upon.
Forward Chris Playfair and dman Lev Starikov are coming along nicely
Hopefully Spits continue winning towards the Christmas break,as I am sure there will be roster changes after the break.

 

[ohloutsider]

Is Vilardi in the line up tomorrow night or is he just clear for contact in practice?

 

[OHLTG]

Just cleared for contact. Earliest he could play, if all goes well, is Dec 28 in Sarnia.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I think a case could be made to put off the rebuild based on the fact that DiPietro is playing lights out. He's the best in the league, he'll be back next season for sure, and maybe even another season after that. A goalie of that caliber is so difficult to acquire that it does make some sense to compete while you have him. A possible buyer's market might make it worth putting things off and rolling the dice that you can get a player or two on the cheap to augment what you have once Vilardi is back. Having said that I'm not sold on that being the right path to choose, it's just something I think about when I see a lot of other teams looking to sell as well. When healthy, this roster beats most of the teams in the league in a seven game series so putting off a rebuild isn't the worst idea ever.

Not feasible to try and hang onto assets and try and make some impossible run. They are too far behind Sarnia/Soo so best case scenario would be a 4 seed more likely settle into a 6th seed or maybe 7th who knows. If you don't do this rebuild now it's short term gain for long term pain.

 

[youngblood10]

Stretching out the sell off stretches out the time it takes to return to competing at the top.

A 3/4 year rebuild becomes a 4/5 year one.

I don't believe that to be true. All teams only can have so many draft picks and selections incorporated into a line up any given year. For example if they move their most time sensitive and in demand assets this season, recouping all the picks (generally speaking) for this upcoming draft and the next one, add (a) young player(s). The team still wouldn't be ready to be competing at the top of the league the following year regardless. So repeating this process, also filling in the draft board and collecting future picks to be dealt for the upcoming "all in seasons" doesn't set them back any.

In no way am I saying they are not in acquiring future assets mode this season and next but I don't think they need to strip things down bare bones tomorrow. Although that is an option if it's presented, it's not the only one and wouldn't effect the "scheduled" timeline.

 

[OHLTG]

They won't be acquiring picks just over the next two years, though. No team is going to give them that kind of return. You're looking at seconds, third, etc. spread out over the next 4-5 seasons through various deals. There are a handful of guys that need to be dealt - Brown, Luchuk, Day, perhaps Smith, and maybe DiPietro. Those are the keys right now. That's not stripping down to "bare bones", but managing your assets properly. You deal them, get 10-12 picks back between now and 2022ish (5yrs, 10 picks), plus a few players, and you're doing well.

 

[member 71782]

I don't believe that to be true. All teams only can have so many draft picks and selections incorporated into a line up any given year. For example if they move their most time sensitive and in demand assets this season, recouping all the picks (generally speaking) for this upcoming draft and the next one, add (a) young player(s). The team still wouldn't be ready to be competing at the top of the league the following year regardless. So repeating this process, also filling in the draft board and collecting future picks to be dealt for the upcoming "all in seasons" doesn't set them back any.

In no way am I saying they are not in acquiring future assets mode this season and next but I don't think they need to strip things down bare bones tomorrow. Although that is an option if it's presented, it's not the only one and wouldn't effect the "scheduled" timeline.

The sooner you strip it down, the sooner you bottom out, the sooner you can turn it around.

I agree, there are only so many picks you can use in a draft, excess picks can be flipped to acquire more picks further out.

Dealing someone like DiPietro this year when the team is not going to be in a position to contend will bring a higher return than dealing him next year. This also allows us to focus on developing a goaltender for when we are ready in hopefully 3 years. We have no one who would be here currently if 3/4 years is the timeline.

Selling off this year, looking to add another 01 or 2 more at the deadline allows this team to build around our 00/01/02s. If we are still in sell mode next year in terms of our higher end talent this team won't truely start rebuilding/bottoming out until then meaning our core for another run will be built around 01/02/03s.

If we want to be in a position to contend in 3 years we need multiple 2nds/3rds over the next 5 years plus a solid group of young players to move in deals and build around.

IMO, ideally Windsor gets back to even this deadline for the next 2 drafts by moving Day, Brown and Luchuk plus adds an extra 2nd and 3rd each draft plus adds an 01 and 2 00s. That's roughly 10 picks and 3 players and should be doable. Moving DiPietro for another 01 and 5/6 high picks, even if they are 3-5 years out solidifies the youth we need and gives us future assets to deal when we are ready in 3 years.

This doesn't take into account moving Vilardi, Boka and Purboo next year to keep stockpiling assets/youth.

It still keeps vets around to help develop the kids but not enough high end ones that block their development.

Moving DiPietro next year likely returns 4 good picks but probably no player cutting his value in half while blocking development of all other goaltenders in the system.

All of that moving only 4 players.

 

[windsor7]

I hope everyone brings lots of teddy bears to the game tonight.

 

[windsor7]

Tonight could be the last time seeing some players on home ice.
Guess we will see what happens.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

The sooner you strip it down, the sooner you bottom out, the sooner you can turn it around.

I agree, there are only so many picks you can use in a draft, excess picks can be flipped to acquire more picks further out.

Dealing someone like DiPietro this year when the team is not going to be in a position to contend will bring a higher return than dealing him next year. This also allows us to focus on developing a goaltender for when we are ready in hopefully 3 years. We have no one who would be here currently if 3/4 years is the timeline.

Selling off this year, looking to add another 01 or 2 more at the deadline allows this team to build around our 00/01/02s. If we are still in sell mode next year in terms of our higher end talent this team won't truely start rebuilding/bottoming out until then meaning our core for another run will be built around 01/02/03s.

If we want to be in a position to contend in 3 years we need multiple 2nds/3rds over the next 5 years plus a solid group of young players to move in deals and build around.

IMO, ideally Windsor gets back to even this deadline for the next 2 drafts by moving Day, Brown and Luchuk plus adds an extra 2nd and 3rd each draft plus adds an 01 and 2 00s. That's roughly 10 picks and 3 players and should be doable. Moving DiPietro for another 01 and 5/6 high picks, even if they are 3-5 years out solidifies the youth we need and gives us future assets to deal when we are ready in 3 years.

This doesn't take into account moving Vilardi, Boka and Purboo next year to keep stockpiling assets/youth.

It still keeps vets around to help develop the kids but not enough high end ones that block their development.

Moving DiPietro next year likely returns 4 good picks but probably no player cutting his value in half while blocking development of all other goaltenders in the system.

All of that moving only 4 players.

Terrific post. It's not just about acquiring picks to put you where you were at prior to selling the farm. It's getting more picks than that so it enables you to contend in the future. Right now even in 2018 they don't have any picks between round 2 and 6. Even if you make trades now maybe you can only get a 2nd and 3rd for this year and you're still without anything from round 4 to 6. Who's to say young guys currently like Angle/Playfair are good enough to be on a contending team or valued enough to be moved for top assets? Spits will still have to find an heir apparent to DiPietro and just playing Baier during this time when DiPietro is away won't tell you much either.

At the very least you need to acquire more assets and young players to find out what Letowski can actually do with young players. Guys like Corcoran and Staios look fine the same can't be said about guys like Playfair/Angle/Stevenson. The Spits have rode DiPietro along with their OAs and 19 year olds. It's time to see what they can acquire for the future.

 

[youngblood10]

The sooner you strip it down, the sooner you bottom out, the sooner you can turn it around.

I agree, there are only so many picks you can use in a draft, excess picks can be flipped to acquire more picks further out.

Dealing someone like DiPietro this year when the team is not going to be in a position to contend will bring a higher return than dealing him next year. This also allows us to focus on developing a goaltender for when we are ready in hopefully 3 years. We have no one who would be here currently if 3/4 years is the timeline.

Selling off this year, looking to add another 01 or 2 more at the deadline allows this team to build around our 00/01/02s. If we are still in sell mode next year in terms of our higher end talent this team won't truely start rebuilding/bottoming out until then meaning our core for another run will be built around 01/02/03s.

If we want to be in a position to contend in 3 years we need multiple 2nds/3rds over the next 5 years plus a solid group of young players to move in deals and build around.

IMO, ideally Windsor gets back to even this deadline for the next 2 drafts by moving Day, Brown and Luchuk plus adds an extra 2nd and 3rd each draft plus adds an 01 and 2 00s. That's roughly 10 picks and 3 players and should be doable. Moving DiPietro for another 01 and 5/6 high picks, even if they are 3-5 years out solidifies the youth we need and gives us future assets to deal when we are ready in 3 years.

This doesn't take into account moving Vilardi, Boka and Purboo next year to keep stockpiling assets/youth.

It still keeps vets around to help develop the kids but not enough high end ones that block their development.

Moving DiPietro next year likely returns 4 good picks but probably no player cutting his value in half while blocking development of all other goaltenders in the system.

All of that moving only 4 players.

I agree in theory. But teams (wsr & trade partners) only have so many cards, assets & gold packages to go around per season. We don't know what the offers are or how bad a top team next year may need a goalie now, given they don't move 64 this season. I think the difference in development and draft position is marginal doing things all at once or over a period of time. Other than to the people who pay to watch the team. I realize we're not discussing the public relation and business side of the coin.

 

[punch1943]

First trade of the day....
Barrie Colts sending forward Kirill Nizhnikov to the Sudbury Wolves for four draft picks (Sudbury's 2nd in 2021 and in 2023, Owen Sound's 3rd in 2018, and Hamilton's 5th in 2019)
Barrie clearing the decks and adding picks to help in acquiring a. Stud from the Spits? It’s early in the day...

 

[hockeylegend11]

Terrific post. It's not just about acquiring picks to put you where you were at prior to selling the farm. It's getting more picks than that so it enables you to contend in the future. Right now even in 2018 they don't have any picks between round 2 and 6. Even if you make trades now maybe you can only get a 2nd and 3rd for this year and you're still without anything from round 4 to 6. Who's to say young guys currently like Angle/Playfair are good enough to be on a contending team or valued enough to be moved for top assets? Spits will still have to find an heir apparent to DiPietro and just playing Baier during this time when DiPietro is away won't tell you much either.

At the very least you need to acquire more assets and young players to find out what Letowski can actually do with young players. Guys like Corcoran and Staios look fine the same can't be said about guys like Playfair/Angle/Stevenson. The Spits have rode DiPietro along with their OAs and 19 year olds. It's time to see what they can acquire for the future.

Actually I think Letowski is doing fine with the youngsters 18 and under, especially lately,the line of Sirman,Purboo and MacDougall has been the best line in the last 5 games,the youth on the D, including Staios, Henault, Corcoran,Starikov all are developing nicely,ditto 16 year old forward Daniel D'amico, Playfair has been better, Stevenson fine on the D, Johnston when called upon has been good, Dipietro for the most part has struggled the last 15 games not all of them of course check his average compared to the 1st 13 games he played,he was 2.11, has been over 3.30 since.
Lately in my view both youngsters and vets have been contributing nicely, yes there have been some exceptions, Kadlec,Angle and Kozhevnikov come to mind as under acheivers to date, certainly re the offensive side of the puck.
Don't see the direness you do,I am expecting guys like Frasca,Brimmer, Paterson upfront and Yelle on the backend to be here sooner then later.
5th rounder Henault,and 6th rounder D'amico are showing to be solid later round selections, the trade for MacDougall was a real good one, get a couple 2nd rounders, draft like you did in 15 getting Vilardi, Dipietro,Boka, Purboo, Stevenson,Sirman, Sergachev in the Euro,plus drafting and trading Auger and Carter for impactful players things will be fine.

 

[OHLTG]

The issue with looking into the Barrie trade is that Barrie still doesn't have a 2nd in 2018. They do have six 2nds from 2019-2021, but are those enough to entice WR? They have some nice F (Suzuki, Douglas), and a couple nice D, but is that enough? If we could figure out how to get 4-5 seconds, plus Douglas and/or Tucker, I'd be okay with that.

 

[youngblood10]

The issue with looking into the Barrie trade is that Barrie still doesn't have a 2nd in 2018. They do have six 2nds from 2019-2021, but are those enough to entice WR? They have some nice F (Suzuki, Douglas), and a couple nice D, but is that enough? If we could figure out how to get 4-5 seconds, plus Douglas and/or Tucker, I'd be okay with that.

In a situation like such, missing a 2018 2nd... package future picks & call Saginaw on draft day. It will not be feasible for them to select that many early picks. There's only so much room in the inn...

 

[DetSpitsFan]

It is pretty interesting that they took 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 5th for a player they gave up a 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd*, 3rd*, 4th, 4th*, 5th for 15 Months Ago. I see Barrie buying a veteran with their spot in the standings, but not sure who's really out there and available besides Day/Luchuk/Brown. Strange to me they sent 10 picks for a guy, they turned around a year later, while they're in contention. There's gotta be more to it for the Colts.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I agree in theory. But teams (wsr & trade partners) only have so many cards, assets & gold packages to go around per season. We don't know what the offers are or how bad a top team next year may need a goalie now, given they don't move 64 this season. I think the difference in development and draft position is marginal doing things all at once or over a period of time. Other than to the people who pay to watch the team. I realize we're not discussing the public relation and business side of the coin.

If we are to believe DiPietro has already invoked his ntc for one possible deal. Wouldn't it give you some pause to think if you get the right deal now you do it?? For instance maybe there's a team next year that needs a goalie but DiPietro doesn't want to go there. He's without a doubt their most valuable asset out of anyone on the roster if there's a right deal you can't hold off and possibly left holding the bag next year.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

It is pretty interesting that they took 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 5th for a player they gave up a 2nd, 2nd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd, 3rd*, 3rd*, 4th, 4th*, 5th for 15 Months Ago. I see Barrie buying a veteran with their spot in the standings, but not sure who's really out there and available besides Day/Luchuk/Brown. Strange to me they sent 10 picks for a guy, they turned around a year later, while they're in contention. There's gotta be more to it for the Colts.

They added Lipanov/Suzuki/Svechnikov all in one offseason. Guys like Willms/Magwood/Chiodo/Douglas have taken off. It's more along the lines of recouping picks for a guy most likely that wasn't going to flourish as a bottom 6 forward. Barrie is ready to contend now and have more assets to move now.

 

[ohloutsider]

If we are to believe DiPietro has already invoked his ntc for one possible deal. Wouldn't it give you some pause to think if you get the right deal now you do it?? For instance maybe there's a team next year that needs a goalie but DiPietro doesn't want to go there. He's without a doubt their most valuable asset out of anyone on the roster if there's a right deal you can't hold off and possibly left holding the bag next year.

Right deal is the key phrase here - if you don't have the right deal then you have the luxury of waiting until next year but you don't trade him for the sake of trading him - he can still help this year if he can't be moved. without him we don't win 10 more games this year. I'm ok with that but it has to be the "right deal" to be worth tanking the rest of the year.

 

[OHLTG]

There's a happy middle somewhere in here. You can't trade DiPietro for less than acceptable value, but at the same time, you can't hold back if there IS acceptable value. Set your price, both "acceptable/low" and "ideal." Aim for ideal, but take "acceptable" this year if that's what you're offered. If no offer reaches "acceptable", then walk.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Actually I think Letowski is doing fine with the youngsters 18 and under, especially lately,the line of Sirman,Purboo and MacDougall has been the best line in the last 5 games,the youth on the D, including Staios, Henault, Corcoran,Starikov all are developing nicely,ditto 16 year old forward Daniel D'amico, Playfair has been better, Stevenson fine on the D, Johnston when called upon has been good, Dipietro for the most part has struggled the last 15 games not all of them of course check his average compared to the 1st 13 games he played,he was 2.11, has been over 3.30 since.
Lately in my view both youngsters and vets have been contributing nicely, yes there have been some exceptions, Kadlec,Angle and Kozhevnikov come to mind as under acheivers to date, certainly re the offensive side of the puck.
Don't see the direness you do,I am expecting guys like Frasca,Brimmer, Paterson upfront and Yelle on the backend to be here sooner then later.
5th rounder Henault,and 6th rounder D'amico are showing to be solid later round selections, the trade for MacDougall was a real good one, get a couple 2nd rounders, draft like you did in 15 getting Vilardi, Dipietro,Boka, Purboo, Stevenson,Sirman, Sergachev in the Euro,plus drafting and trading Auger and Carter for impactful players things will be fine.

Nobody said he isn't doing a fine job this year. Where do you get that from? You're taking a 5 game sample size and MacDougall has been fine most of the year. Even with 18 year olds currently you can't have the mindset they will be around when this team is ready to contend again. It's nice Purboo has played well for 5 games he had struggled up until that point, he was hot early on last year. If he plays well and can bring assets back for when the team is ready to contend again that's good. I disagree on Stevenson he's been a bottom pairing D and a liability in his own zone, he's already 18 he has a low ceiling. It's not a dire situation but everything we have seen to date is window dressing for what's coming. Start looking at how players develop and perform when there aren't guys like Brown/Day/Luchuk around. That will be the biggest eye opener.

 

[dirty12]

The issue with looking into the Barrie trade is that Barrie still doesn't have a 2nd in 2018. They do have six 2nds from 2019-2021, but are those enough to entice WR? They have some nice F (Suzuki, Douglas), and a couple nice D, but is that enough? If we could figure out how to get 4-5 seconds, plus Douglas and/or Tucker, I'd be okay with that.

I count Barrie as having one 2nd for each year starting 2019. The three conditional Kitchener 2nds are for rights to Totora?

 

[hockeylegend11]

Nobody said he isn't doing a fine job this year. Where do you get that from? You're taking a 5 game sample size and MacDougall has been fine most of the year. Even with 18 year olds currently you can't have the mindset they will be around when this team is ready to contend again. It's nice Purboo has played well for 5 games he had struggled up until that point, he was hot early on last year. If he plays well and can bring assets back for when the team is ready to contend again that's good. I disagree on Stevenson he's been a bottom pairing D and a liability in his own zone, he's already 18 he has a low ceiling. It's not a dire situation but everything we have seen to date is window dressing for what's coming. Start looking at how players develop and perform when there aren't guys like Brown/Day/Luchuk around. That will be the biggest eye opener.

I know you were going to bring up Purboo and the 5 games,the fact is that he has 18 points in his last 15 games,has surpassed last year's numbers by 40 per cent already with 40 less games played,has been more of a physical presence then last.As for being without Day and Brown,they are 4-1 on the season without them,9-4-2 without Brown in the lineup overall,only Luchuk has missed no time, considering Vilardi has not played at all,4D 17 years old and under are all plus players, Staios, Henault, Corcoran and Starikov,Day and McEneny at 0.Spits 4-1 without Day in the league.Like I said the youngsters overall are doing well, looking forward to seeing how things progress.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I know you were going to bring up Purboo and the 5 games,the fact is that he has 18 points in his last 15 games,has surpassed last year's numbers by 40 per cent already with 40 less games played,has been more of a physical presence then last.As for being without Day and Brown,they are 4-1 on the season without them,9-4-2 without Brown in the lineup overall,only Luchuk has missed no time, considering Vilardi has not played at all,4D 17 years old and under are all plus players, Staios, Henault, Corcoran and Starikov,Day and McEneny at 0.Spits 4-1 without Day in the league.Like I said the youngsters overall are doing well, looking forward to seeing how things progress.

Of course "you knew that." Maybe you should replace Miss Cleo passed away 18 months ago or so and still looking for a replacement.