I saw Brandon Saigeon's season much differently, and upon speaking with many fans during intermissions in Hamilton and Oshawa, I haven't heard (or read) nearly as much criticism of his game or season. No offence, but the article lacks a lot of context, and even though his points per game average dropped, he was still among the top in Oshawa, including the Generals’ playoff scoring leader. I'm very familiar with Saigeon and have followed his OHL path and attended too many games to count since he was a rookie with the Belleville Bulls in 2014-15.
In Hamilton the big difference this season compared to the prior season was that Hamilton went through an entire overhaul after winning the OHL championship. Their 3 lines of lethal offence slimmed down to one top line, their top goalie graduated and they relied on a rookie, and they only had 2 returnee dmen (1 regular with playoff experience). They also started the season with a new head coach, who had to take a leave of absence for the remainder of the season due to health issues. This season the top line of Strome-Saigeon-Kaliyev was consistent and with major roster and coaching changes, Saigeon's points per game still
increased to 1.58 points per game from 1.08 the year prior. Even just 40 games in Hamilton this season, he still finished third in Hamilton’s point standings, third in goals, and had the second most PP’s goals. Despite so many changes and a much younger and newer defence, the Bulldogs still ran one of the top PPs in the league.
Trade deadline rolled around and Oshawa acquired Brandon Saigeon, Anthony Salinitri, and Brett Neumann to bolster their forwards. The Gens also traded away their top forward (Jack Studnicka), which also affected chemistry.
While I only followed Oshawa closely after the trade deadline, I found that Oshawa’s style of coaching was very different, which is normal, but theirs was frustrating for a few reasons. I felt that they didn’t fully utilize players' strengths and therefore, missed on opportunities. Saigeon's shot and skating have always been among some of his best known assets. He finds ways to score from everywhere in a variety of ways, but particularly, would receive passes and score from the faceoff circle to the left facing opposing goalies on a regular basis. In Hamilton, that area was known as his office because it was so common. In Oshawa, he still wound up on the scoresheet on a regular basis but Oshawa’s coaching didn’t utilize his offensive abilities like Hamilton had. Oshawa’s line combinations were also very inconsistent in the regular season, which were often juggled right when it appeared that players would find some chemistry. It was strange and was a common frustration with many Generals season ticket holders. Of all of the line combinations, I would have liked to have seen Saigeon and Salinitri on the same line with a good playmaker but it never happened.
Let’s not portray a narrative that Saigeon was an offensive disappointment in Oshawa. It's not accurate. Yes, his points per game average declined after the trade. However, his regular season points per game average with Oshawa (1.04) was similar to his average in Hamilton last season (1.08) when Colorado drafted him. Overall he finished the 2018-19 regular season with 92 points in 68 games (1.35 points per game), which was the highest season total in Oshawa. Additionally, he lead the Generals in playoff points (16 points in 15 games), which is the most important time for players to step up. This is also a team that finished top 4 in the playoffs, and pulled off what many considered to be a huge upset against Niagara (4-2 series win), as many fans and media across the OHL predicted a quick series win for Niagara. While I agree that there were chemistry issues in the regular season, it was not as evident in the playoffs, and the lines were more consistent by then.
I didn’t see a change in Saigeon’s intensity from the time he was traded to Oshawa. He was still battling every game and generating offence. If anything, he would have had to work harder to maintain his spot in the line-up in Oshawa because of their depth on three lines. With Oshawa having much more depth than Hamilton, they had options to bump guys down the lineup. One part of Saigeon’s game that did decline in Oshawa was his shots on goal. I believe this happened for 2 reasons: (1) I think coming in to Oshawa he didn’t want to come in saying “pass me the puck, I’ll score the goals”. That’s not his demeanor. Coaches have wanted him to shoot more in the past, which John Gruden, the former coach from Hamilton’s championship team had mentioned in interviews a few times in the past. (2) Oshawa didn’t utilize him in a way where he could generate more goals. He still scored goals in Oshawa like we’d see in Hamilton, except we’d rarely see him get set-up for goals to the left of the goalie, which I noted above.
He’s not one of the most physical players on the ice, but he still hits, isn’t afraid to play along the boards, and certainly doesn’t shy from scrums. He has also had 1 or 2 fights each season, with the OHL’s 3 fight limit. Particularly in Oshawa on St. Patrick’s day versus Sudbury, Darian Pilon, a 20 year old veteran, was after Lleyton Moore, a rookie with the Oshawa Generals. Pilon is a few inches taller than Moore and about 20lbs heavier. Saigeon took exception to Pilon being a **** disturber and stepped up to fight Pilon instead.
A few good links I’d like to share for Colorado fans:
OHL stats:
Ontario Hockey League – Official Site of the Ontario Hockey League - you can toggle seasons, teams, regular season/playoffs. If you click show/hide, click some columns to hide, and you’ll see more stats to the right for players. You can even switch from the “player” tab to “team” tab and view special teams stats.
Saigeon’s 2017-18 highlights:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=42Y9sfmhYTE – if skating were a big issue, there’s no way some of those goals would have been scored.
. I guess we should just move on from Drouin. I know, most Avs fans have lost love for Drouin. Maybe some other team will take him.
