Windsor Spitfires 2022-23 Off-Season Thread (Part 7)

[KyGuy9]

Looks like Woll starting with Onuska backing up. Hope he makes the most of the experience, never could have seen this sequence of events coming together but here's his chance to live out his NHL dreams.

 

[Cherrydon]

Onuska's stats must have been overlooked because of the teams defensive woes even for PTO contract.

 

[Earlofpoundcake]

Onuska's stats must have been overlooked because of the teams defensive woes even for PTO contract.

Don’t be a buzz-kill.

 

[DetSpitsFan]

It blows my mind. I mean I get the NTDP kids graduate quicker and most guys aren’t stepping right into the Pro’s and the playoffs might lack the drama of the O but I was just down to watch USA beat Sweden for the Gold and half the place was half full and it was half AAA kids and their parents from across the country who were there for a tournament. I don’t get it. Hell, the arena is even way better now too.

My last visit they were still lacking a video board. The format is just tough to follow, and you have to accept your team is never going to do anything in the playoffs.

It’s two teams. U17 & U18, that play separately, but count as the same team in the standings. Then playoffs is a weird format too for USNTDP. With random exhibition games vs college teams mixed in. Only the “nations” tournaments are worth going to.

 

[hockeylegend11]

Looks like Woll starting with Onuska backing up. Hope he makes the most of the experience, never could have seen this sequence of events coming together but here's his chance to live out his NHL dreams.

Agree about making the most of what would be a players dream in to be suited up for an NHL team,and while he was dressed because of availability not ability he still can say he dressed 1 game at the NHL level regardless of what he does hockey wise moving forward and for that I am happy for him and any player in that situation, can never be taken from him.

 

[I Loveallsports]

Any word on my isles sighing Maggio? Wonder why the delay..

 

[dirty12]

Every team should be striving to copy Hamilton’s formula.

Hamilton has schooled the OHL at the art of re-tooling.
Missassauga had a deadline for the ages. I know of one top 5 picked rookie traded in January prior to the Steelheads netting the 5th & 6th picks this year. Getting a 2005 born 1st and 2004 born 2nd and future picks in addition to that; wow!
Kingston without the championships has done well too; a first and three 3rds in conference over the past decade. This time around a roster that appears all-in for 2024-25 should not be on the the same time-line as Hamilton.

 

[Cherrydon]

Any word on my isles sighing Maggio? Wonder why the delay..

Signed a ATO with Bridgeport Islanders, no deal with the big club yet.

 

[Teflon]

I cant believe how many are willing to give BB a pass here! This is on him. Team has had a D issue for years, then he compounds it by building a team with zero grit or toughness! Add to that its a Windsor team that supports aggressive hockey. He thinks hes the smartest guy around which was harshly proven very wrong!

 

[rve24]

I cant believe how many are willing to give BB a pass here! This is on him. Team has had a D issue for years, then he compounds it by building a team with zero grit or toughness! Add to that its a Windsor team that supports aggressive hockey. He thinks hes the smartest guy around which was harshly proven very wrong!

You know why, Im sure.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I cant believe how many are willing to give BB a pass here! This is on him. Team has had a D issue for years, then he compounds it by building a team with zero grit or toughness! Add to that its a Windsor team that supports aggressive hockey. He thinks hes the smartest guy around which was harshly proven very wrong!

Yep like with a few Letowski was infallible, Bowler is as well. Savard isn't because he did this wrong, that wrong etc.. If we are to be honest Bill Bowler is an extremely mixed bag as a GM. He filled in the gaps last year with top tier guys not acquired by Bowler. We are citing his great 06 draft class, Maillet, Christopolous and..... People can wax poetic about the 06 class but what about the absolutely terrible job in the import draft???? Bowler is teflon pardon the pun.

 

[OHLTG]

Let's be clear - Bowler had issues this season. He should have grabbed a goaltending upgrade and a defensive upgrade. While Dionicio was supposed to be that, we all saw how it turned out (better offensively than anything). I don't think you'll find many, if any, that would argue that. However, I'm not sure Bowler can do anything right, either.

It feels like a situation where, no matter what he does, people are going to go "yeah, but..." He got Maillet and Christo... "yeah, but Baisov is horrible!" Fine, he got us to the G7 of the OHL Title last year.... "Yeah, but this year blew chunks." Okay, he's shown he's not afraid to make the bold moves.... "Yeah, but where did THAT get us?" I have no issues admitting that he screwed a few things up and, if you ask him, I'd imagine he wouldn't disagree. He's going to make mistakes. I'm just not sure everything is worthy of a "yeah, but..." with him. Sure, you take the bad with the good, but what about the good with the bad?

 

[StingUpdates]

Let's be clear - Bowler had issues this season. He should have grabbed a goaltending upgrade and a defensive upgrade. While Dionicio was supposed to be that, we all saw how it turned out (better offensively than anything). I don't think you'll find many, if any, that would argue that. However, I'm not sure Bowler can do anything right, either.

It feels like a situation where, no matter what he does, people are going to go "yeah, but..." He got Maillet and Christo... "yeah, but Baisov is horrible!" Fine, he got us to the G7 of the OHL Title last year.... "Yeah, but this year blew chunks." Okay, he's shown he's not afraid to make the bold moves.... "Yeah, but where did THAT get us?" I have no issues admitting that he screwed a few things up and, if you ask him, I'd imagine he wouldn't disagree. He's going to make mistakes. I'm just not sure everything is worthy of a "yeah, but..." with him. Sure, you take the bad with the good, but what about the good with the bad?

I posted on here after the deadline I was thoroughly impressed of his work. It's easy to forget everybody's reaction to the Wright trade was "That's it???" He did phenomenal there no matter how it ended.

Dioncio trade was excellent. He's a game changer. Castle definitely a bit of a letdown. Costanzo trade was brilliant. Harrison trade was the exact same as Arcuri/Zhilkin etc. I did not like the Holmes trade ever personally.

He created the league's best offense & got a stud 17 yr old goalie. He definitely slipped up on D & maybe needed to add a power forward type. But no team is perfect.

Unfortunately for u guys you ran into the perfect storm.. Injuries to key players (especially Abraham, not enough was made of his absence), ran into the best 8 seed we've seen, suspension issues & maybe chemistry issues with lack of reps as a full team. Brutal pill to swallow & not one to go "ahh shucks at" but unfortunately just the reality of what happened. He deserves blame as everyone does, but I think he's a great GM.

 

[nelli27]

How would you respond to this? Bowler recognized that Windsor was a leading contender to win the West prior to the deadline, and instead of sitting on his hands, he made bold moves to go all in, to do his best to position the Spits above the competition. Adding Wright, and improving the D with Dionicio and Holmes. Why is he the fall guy? Explain to this outsider.

 

[hockeylegend11]

Yep like with a few Letowski was infallible, Bowler is as well. Savard isn't because he did this wrong, that wrong etc.. If we are to be honest Bill Bowler is an extremely mixed bag as a GM. He filled in the gaps last year with top tier guys not acquired by Bowler. We are citing his great 06 draft class, Maillet, Christopolous and..... People can wax poetic about the 06 class but what about the absolutely terrible job in the import draft???? Bowler is teflon pardon the pun.

I will gladly have a GM at the helm if his record after covid the only team in the West to have back to back 1st place finishes in the regular season,most wins in the conference the last 2 years regular season,most points,most goals,2nd most wins in the league regular season last 2 years combined only North Bay has more wins but just 1 conference win regular season, a conference title,and I am not going crazy on a crap shoot draft like the Euro one especially when picking 40th or 48th.
Sobolev for me a solid pick,its rare u have 2,and it didn't help Hamilton last year in the Mem Cup having 2 they lost anyways.
A GM won't always be perfect but I will take this one over anyone else at this time.
Far more positives overall then negatives.

 

[Cherrydon]

Bowler's drafting especially last year was stellar. His ability to acquire players has been very good. The type of players could be suspect defensively but he is still stuck with the coaching philosophy which means offense. He hired the coaches so if he has the same mentality offense at all costs, then he bears some responsibility. He trades for another goalie, already had an overager, where would that had left Joey? Junior B. Not going to develop a young goalie without playing meaningful games. The collapse in the playoffs started 30 seconds into game 1 when we left them uncovered fir a quick tip. No doubt that rattled JC. We were put on notice how we would be played. The team never adjusted to their style not scoring an the pathetic PP costs us the series. When you average under 2 goals for in this league no team would win a series. If JC and Onuska had a 2 gga average in the playoffs, we still loose the series. The number one takeaway for me was the inability for us to adapt a counter offensive attack against them especially with all the guns we had. PP remained the same structure every time. We score a couple of PP goals and the Rangers woukd maybe back off their hard nosed approach for fear of penalties. Maybe that is why the players were deflated as soon as they got those early leads. They knew there is no plan B. We were out coached big time. Hats off to the Rangers for executing a perfect strategy to debunk the Spits.

 

[rve24]

From the outside I think BB has done a good job. Inherited some top end talent.
Did very well with additions last year with productivity and on value ( cost to acquire )
This year didn't have the same great fortune with additions but it happens ( I posted here at the time I like aggressive management style ) just didn't push as many right buttons this year. (using same criteria as previous year)

The draft and it's success will be easier to gaguge in a year or 2, compared to other teams.

Windsor also benefitted from that covid draft lottery selection.

His upcoming year will say alot. JMO

 

[TheGremlin]

I will gladly have a GM at the helm if his record after covid the only team in the West to have back to back 1st place finishes in the regular season,most wins in the conference the last 2 years regular season,most points,most goals,2nd most wins in the league regular season last 2 years combined only North Bay has more wins but just 1 conference win regular season, a conference title,and I am not going crazy on a crap shoot draft like the Euro one especially when picking 40th or 48th.
Sobolev for me a solid pick,its rare u have 2,and it didn't help Hamilton last year in the Mem Cup having 2 they lost anyways.
A GM won't always be perfect but I will take this one over anyone else at this time.
Far more positives overall then negatives.

All those positive and no OHL title.

Until i see how Bowler does going forward i’m not going to say he is good or bad. It easy to trade assets. Its another to tear it down and rebuild it again. The next few years will show us how good of GM he will be.

 

[Teflon]

How would you respond to this? Bowler recognized that Windsor was a leading contender to win the West prior to the deadline, and instead of sitting on his hands, he made bold moves to go all in, to do his best to position the Spits above the competition. Adding Wright, and improving the D with Dionicio and Holmes. Why is he the fall guy? Explain to this outsider.

Ok so for me. Yes he made some great trades, got some quality players, BUT he didnt address what the team needed. Thats my problem. If your going all in you need to have a properly built team. So he makes his deals and we have a super talented team with small players that have no grit and toughness. Who is going to go to the dirty areas, corners, front of the net? Who will clear our zone, protect the slot? The answer is no one and this is the result. I was at both home games, kitch literally manhandled our guys and laughed at them. We had nothing to respond with. You can site last years success but that was coming off covid there were so many unknowns, what ifs…. Yes the stars aligned last year theres more credit due there than anywhere. So thats my take.

 

[windsor7]

Ok so for me. Yes he made some great trades, got some quality players, BUT he didnt address what the team needed. Thats my problem. If your going all in you need to have a properly built team. So he makes his deals and we have a super talented team with small players that have no grit and toughness. Who is going to go to the dirty areas, corners, front of the net? Who will clear our zone, protect the slot? The answer is no one and this is the result. I was at both home games, kitch literally manhandled our guys and laughed at them. We had nothing to respond with. You can site last years success but that was coming off covid there were so many unknowns, what ifs…. Yes the stars aligned last year theres more credit due there than anywhere. So thats my take.

Absolutely.
Defense was weak.
And no toughness on this past team.
No team was scared or worried about Windsor. Too many extra jabs and such and laughed.

 

[OHLTG]

I posted on here after the deadline I was thoroughly impressed of his work. It's easy to forget everybody's reaction to the Wright trade was "That's it???" He did phenomenal there no matter how it ended.

Dioncio trade was excellent. He's a game changer. Castle definitely a bit of a letdown. Costanzo trade was brilliant. Harrison trade was the exact same as Arcuri/Zhilkin etc. I did not like the Holmes trade ever personally.

He created the league's best offense & got a stud 17 yr old goalie. He definitely slipped up on D & maybe needed to add a power forward type. But no team is perfect.

Unfortunately for u guys you ran into the perfect storm.. Injuries to key players (especially Abraham, not enough was made of his absence), ran into the best 8 seed we've seen, suspension issues & maybe chemistry issues with lack of reps as a full team. Brutal pill to swallow & not one to go "ahh shucks at" but unfortunately just the reality of what happened. He deserves blame as everyone does, but I think he's a great GM.

Re Wright - Absolutely, that was a steal at the time. I think the biggest issues were that Wright got hurt very shortly after arriving and I even heard "oh, is he finally playing?" when he DID get into the lineup. Then, the guy who was supposed to be our "McTavish" didn't do much in the playoffs and the criticism adds up. Heck, within hours of the series being done, I saw articles questioning whether he was a PRO bust or not. It was just a weird situation. That said, you pull that deal every time because 9 times out of 10, Windsor is still playing hockey right now.

Re Dionicio - I think the issue here was that he was supposed to be the tough D, but turned into the offensive/tough D AND F. Which doesn't help the D as much. I love his game, though, and I hope he's here for at least another season.

Re Castle - This was a case of a talented forward being put in a defensive role. Once he got into the top six, you could see his talent coming through. I think, with the right linemates, he'll be just fine.

You're right, though, in that the series was a perfect storm. The Rangers were as "on" as we've seen any team all season and the Spitfires simply couldn't find an answer. Whether that was fatigue (which would be justified), issues with the lines, or simply beaten by a better team at the time... or even some combination of the three... it happens. It sucks, but it happens. No single person was responsible for everything, whether that be Wright, Savard, Maggio, Bowler, or some random player. This is why I gave props to the Rangers. They did their part to perfection.

 

[punch1943]

Hindsight, as the old folks say, is 20/20. However a goodly number of our posters wanted a grittier D. If we had had last years D we would be in the running for the Memorial Cup.
That being said we did have a great regular season. We do have some very good youngsters and with some luck and wise trades we’ll be back in the not to distant future.

 

[OHLTG]

Maggio just named OHL OA of the Year.

 

[spits]

I think Bowler has done a good job. The drafting has been good. He also brought in guys like Maillet, Christopoulis, and Costanzo for almost nothing. The Dionicio trade was outstanding, he could be 80-90 point player next year. Should he have added someone like Del Mastro? Yes probably but that would have likely meant trading Cristoforo. It likely would not have made a difference as the team could not score any goals in the first round. Hard to blame Bowler for the highest scoring team in the CHL all of a sudden not able to score a goal. They got out-coached in that series.

I am confident Bowler can manage a quick and efficient rebuild with so many key players returning.

 

[Spits1963]

Re Wright - Absolutely, that was a steal at the time. I think the biggest issues were that Wright got hurt very shortly after arriving and I even heard "oh, is he finally playing?" when he DID get into the lineup. Then, the guy who was supposed to be our "McTavish" didn't do much in the playoffs and the criticism adds up. Heck, within hours of the series being done, I saw articles questioning whether he was a PRO bust or not. It was just a weird situation. That said, you pull that deal every time because 9 times out of 10, Windsor is still playing hockey right now.

Re Dionicio - I think the issue here was that he was supposed to be the tough D, but turned into the offensive/tough D AND F. Which doesn't help the D as much. I love his game, though, and I hope he's here for at least another season.

Re Castle - This was a case of a talented forward being put in a defensive role. Once he got into the top six, you could see his talent coming through. I think, with the right linemates, he'll be just fine.

You're right, though, in that the series was a perfect storm. The Rangers were as "on" as we've seen any team all season and the Spitfires simply couldn't find an answer. Whether that was fatigue (which would be justified), issues with the lines, or simply beaten by a better team at the time... or even some combination of the three... it happens. It sucks, but it happens. No single person was responsible for everything, whether that be Wright, Savard, Maggio, Bowler, or some random player. This is why I gave props to the Rangers. They did their part to perfection.

Very well thought and post.