Erie Otters 2019-20 Season Thread

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Mata

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A little observation on our fighting as a side note which was meant to get the crowd going...

The last 3 home games with a fight Sarnia, Niagara, and Kitchner has scored less than 2 minutes after the conclusion of said bout. I guess we just shouldn't drop the gloves hahaha!
 
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NOA

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Here’s a question for Erie fans..

30 games left in the season. What type of expectations do you have, and could it change your opinion of Hartsburg?

I want him gone regardless. But obviously if things go great from now until end of the year, then the organization probably keeps him. So, what would it take for you fans to also be okay with them keeping him

They have about half their remaining games against teams hovering around or worse than .500. At the very least, I want to see them team win 19 games down the stretch. Would put them at 35 wins. That would give them a chance to get to 6th seed. The goal would then be to win at least 2 playoff games and be competitive
 

Mata

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Here’s a question for Erie fans..

30 games left in the season. What type of expectations do you have, and could it change your opinion of Hartsburg?

I want him gone regardless. But obviously if things go great from now until end of the year, then the organization probably keeps him. So, what would it take for you fans to also be okay with them keeping him

They have about half their remaining games against teams hovering around or worse than .500. At the very least, I want to see them team win 19 games down the stretch. Would put them at 35 wins. That would give them a chance to get to 6th seed. The goal would then be to win at least 2 playoff games and be competitive


Short answer, no. I've moved on from Hartsburg. He lacks creative coaching and is about average with fundamentals. That is not going to push the kids to their true potential.

What would I be ok with: Erie needs to consistently be 4 - 6 in conference every year (.500 against top tier and higher against bottom teams) with a few exceptions of up or down years. I don't see him as that coach here, ever.

My hope is we do finish strong, but not for him for the future of our team and build into next season. I would be overjoyed with a 6 or 7 finish and a possible first round upset given our roster/talent/depth. That being said I don't think we get over the hump with him. Brown seems to be a great draft guy, trades are hit or miss and I would keep him, regardless of Hartsburg.
 
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Mata

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Piggy backing off of the opinion question NOA and for Erie Fans;

Who has been your biggest growth player this first half and who has kinda played below expectations in your minds?

I am most impressed by Hoffman. The kid never takes a shift off, got inserted into the penalty kill and does a great job clogging the middle. He isn't our most skilled player, but he plays big nearly every night and I think it goes relatively unseen because of our depth/talent.

Singer has been my biggest let down. I expected his goal tally to be much higher considering he has a great shot and is on PP1 most of the time.

I think the maturation of our younger players is starting to come to fruition with guys like Morton, Cohen, Lockhart, and if you want to count Swankler I'm not opposed to that as he is in his first year with us. Campbell is as advertised, though has his moments where he lapses, when he is on he can be lights out.
 

Moroz

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In thinking about NOA's question about biggest growth player, I thought about D'Amato. I went to the OHL website to check his stats. He has 12 goals and 7 assists in 38 games, and is a plus 8, which is the best +/- on the team,

Then I noticed that Kyen Sopa was listed as being on the Erie roster. Any news on what has happened there?
 

NOA

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Piggy backing off of the opinion question NOA and for Erie Fans;

Who has been your biggest growth player this first half and who has kinda played below expectations in your minds?

I am most impressed by Hoffman. The kid never takes a shift off, got inserted into the penalty kill and does a great job clogging the middle. He isn't our most skilled player, but he plays big nearly every night and I think it goes relatively unseen because of our depth/talent.

Singer has been my biggest let down. I expected his goal tally to be much higher considering he has a great shot and is on PP1 most of the time.

I think the maturation of our younger players is starting to come to fruition with guys like Morton, Cohen, Lockhart, and if you want to count Swankler I'm not opposed to that as he is in his first year with us. Campbell is as advertised, though has his moments where he lapses, when he is on he can be lights out.

Biggest disappointment for me is Sproule. He just hasn’t quite been a productive player on offense throughout his career. I expected it to really click for him this year
 

Savard18

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Here’s a question for Erie fans..

30 games left in the season. What type of expectations do you have, and could it change your opinion of Hartsburg?

I want him gone regardless. But obviously if things go great from now until end of the year, then the organization probably keeps him. So, what would it take for you fans to also be okay with them keeping him

They have about half their remaining games against teams hovering around or worse than .500. At the very least, I want to see them team win 19 games down the stretch. Would put them at 35 wins. That would give them a chance to get to 6th seed. The goal would then be to win at least 2 playoff games and be competitive
They’re gonna be awfully hard pressed to go 19-11 down the stretch. Aren’t they 16-22 right now?
 

NOA

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They’re gonna be awfully hard pressed to go 19-11 down the stretch. Aren’t they 16-22 right now?

yes, let’s lump together overtime/SO losses to their overall record

They lost those games, but 6 were in a SO.. They could just as easily have 20-22 wins. Had a chance to win all 8 of those games


If you followed the team or even just the discussion here, you would know what the fans know. That this team could have 6/7 more wins if not for inconsistent play which many fans believe is related to coaching. They are capable of more. The western conference is not that scary right now. Yes I believe they can win 19/30 games. 19-11 is not an overly impressive record. But would be better than 16-14 (regulation record) that they currently have. Remove the extra time losses and within that sample size, Erie just needs to improve by 3 regulation wins.. I think they could, or rather should manage that..
I have my doubts but not because of the talent..
 

Savard18

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I’ll give you shootout losses. Basically a coin flip skills competition at that point but every team has 5-6-7-8 games that were one goal losses or EN 2 goal losses where they should have had it. Every team in the O has shown somewhere between a little inconsistency and a lot of inconsistency. I’ve watched 35 games of ridiculous line juggling and kids being hurt, kids being gone for tournaments and D retiring due to concussions too. Erie had some bad luck with Imports, which always hurts bad and I can’t see them winning a playoff round once the top teams solidify their rosters. I certainly wouldn’t be adding from a bare draft pick cupboard and I think they’d be better served long term to win less games this year and recruit another top pick the way they did Drysdale. You can pride yourself on adding quality late round picks to supplement or enhance your roster but you can’t live on that and expect to build a Championship core.
 
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NOA

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I’ll give you shootout losses. Basically a coin flip skills competition at that point but every team has 5-6-7-8 games that were one goal losses or EN 2 goal losses where they should have had it. Every team in the O has shown somewhere between a little inconsistency and a lot of inconsistency. I’ve watched 35 games of ridiculous line juggling and kids being hurt, kids being gone for tournaments and D retiring due to concussions too. Erie had some bad luck with Imports, which always hurts bad and I can’t see them winning a playoff round once the top teams solidify their rosters. I certainly wouldn’t be adding from a bare draft pick cupboard and I think they’d be better served long term to win less games this year and recruit another top pick the way they did Drysdale. You can pride yourself on adding quality late round picks to supplement or enhance your roster but you can’t live on that and expect to build a Championship core.

they have 6 SO losses .. that’s my point.

again, I don’t necessarily agree with the Sopa trade but it happened. I would have stood pat/tried to move Henry. But right now the question is what are the new expectations. If they go 16-14 in regulation in the first half of the year, then add a player like Sopa and have a few guys returning from injury very soon, it’s reasonable/fair to expect 19-11 down the stretch

as for trading Drysdale.. I completely disagree. This organization and fanbase can’t support a team missing the playoffs for 4 consecutive years. That can’t happen. If it does, it don’t matter how many picks you have - nobody will want to come to Erie, PA with bad fan support and dwindling funds.

Next year is an entirely different evaluation. If they have a bad offseason with signing players/imports - then they can and we can discuss moving Drysdale or others. They could just as easily sign a few guys and be a top 4 team in the conference though. Too early to tell.
 

Mata

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I’ll give you shootout losses. Basically a coin flip skills competition at that point but every team has 5-6-7-8 games that were one goal losses or EN 2 goal losses where they should have had it. Every team in the O has shown somewhere between a little inconsistency and a lot of inconsistency. I’ve watched 35 games of ridiculous line juggling and kids being hurt, kids being gone for tournaments and D retiring due to concussions too. Erie had some bad luck with Imports, which always hurts bad and I can’t see them winning a playoff round once the top teams solidify their rosters. I certainly wouldn’t be adding from a bare draft pick cupboard and I think they’d be better served long term to win less games this year and recruit another top pick the way they did Drysdale. You can pride yourself on adding quality late round picks to supplement or enhance your roster but you can’t live on that and expect to build a Championship core.

Normally I would agree with you shootouts are a coin flip...

Then there is this years coaching. Perhaps if he put in our top offensive threats into shootouts our record would be better. That being said we have had the coach favorite in a couple and a defenseman going in another. Under Hartsburg it is more of a 30/70 us/them.
 

Mata

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I would also say that Drysdale was a direct result of a rebuild. We should be on the tail end of rebuild and it seems like we are still trying to find an identity (line changes and injury) like others have stated. The talent is there, the coach just can't put the pieces together IMO.
 

Leo Minem

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Feb 4, 2019
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Piggy backing off of the opinion question NOA and for Erie Fans;

Who has been your biggest growth player this first half and who has kinda played below expectations in your minds?

I am most impressed by Hoffman. The kid never takes a shift off, got inserted into the penalty kill and does a great job clogging the middle. He isn't our most skilled player, but he plays big nearly every night and I think it goes relatively unseen because of our depth/talent.

Singer has been my biggest let down. I expected his goal tally to be much higher considering he has a great shot and is on PP1 most of the time.

I think the maturation of our younger players is starting to come to fruition with guys like Morton, Cohen, Lockhart, and if you want to count Swankler I'm not opposed to that as he is in his first year with us. Campbell is as advertised, though has his moments where he lapses, when he is on he can be lights out.


A friend of mine is close with the agents and family around Hoffmann and I heard that he was basically sat down at the beginning of the year and was asked to play a more defensive role this year at the cost of playing offensive roles on the powerplay, again, it's a "he said what she said what he said" type of case but I just find it interesting how a physically mature, relatively one ended offensive player from last year, 12 goals, switches to being one of our most reliable players in the D zone...

While typing this I actually checked the stats and between Hoffmann, Sellan, and D'amato, they have the least combined goals against of any line this team has had consistently, and I can't be the only one that notices we're matching them against other teams top lines???

Also, with the case being that we lost badly to Ottawa, we can't take away from a 2-1 effort playing the #1 and #2 team in the league right now, and although 5-0 against Ottawa is embarrassing, 5-0 against Peterborough is impressive, and honestly I think it's the light at the end of the tunnel as to what this team can achieve from it's core group of players.
 

NOA

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Normally I would agree with you shootouts are a coin flip...

Then there is this years coaching. Perhaps if he put in our top offensive threats into shootouts our record would be better. That being said we have had the coach favorite in a couple and a defenseman going in another. Under Hartsburg it is more of a 30/70 us/them.
Lol glad you brought that up Mata

We have had games with Henry or Sellan in the SO..
 

SHL

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Biggest disappointment for me is Sproule. He just hasn’t quite been a productive player on offense throughout his career. I expected it to really click for him this year
I don't agree on this one. I just looked at his stats (and others) and he has had some good streaks this year. I think with Sproule and many other players such as D'amato, Hoffman, who aren't getting the same ice time opportunities, and not much pp then production will be much less. Also, many games playing on bottom lines and some games not much ice time at all. Others who get to play 1st pp, plus top 6 minutes should be producing big points. Sproule, D'Amato are still 7th and 8th on team in points.
 

NOA

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I don't agree on this one. I just looked at his stats (and others) and he has had some good streaks this year. I think with Sproule and many other players such as D'amato, Hoffman, who aren't getting the same ice time opportunities, and not much pp then production will be much less. Also, many games playing on bottom lines and some games not much ice time at all. Others who get to play 1st pp, plus top 6 minutes should be producing big points. Sproule, D'Amato are still 7th and 8th on team in points.

Sproule hasn’t been given the opportunity lately but he had plenty early on. He’s a former first round pick in his 3rd year. Expectations are higher for him vs many others
 

Mata

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Sproule hasn’t been given the opportunity lately but he had plenty early on. He’s a former first round pick in his 3rd year. Expectations are higher for him vs many others

I believe going into the season I had higher expectations for Sproule, but I think it is in part because he ended last year on a high note.
 

Fischhaber

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I think Sopa, barring any more serious injury to the squad, moves us a tier above Flint, SOO, and Owen Sound mostly because of the depth of the roster we have. The only thing holding us back from competing for a 3, 4, or 5 slot is coaching (now) and the early season injuries that in my mind cost us 3 - 5 wins.

We CAN compete against the top with our roster in a playoff series as evidenced by this previous road trip, the biggest problems being inconsistency and IMO, being outcoached, not so much lack of talent/depth.

What kind of depth? The Greyhounds have a lot more points in their bottom 6 and have been a top team in the Conference since sorting out their goaltending. Flint had a better blueline to begin with and just added Tucker. I'd argue that their forward corps are also deeper. You have an argument for being deeper than Owen Sound.
 

EON

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Danial Singer waived and sent down to the Niagara Falls Canucks of the GOJHL. A little surprised no one else wanted him, I thought he had played a little better recently, but didn't really fit in on this roster. That trade stands out even more now as a huge failed opportunity by Brown, everything surrounding Lodnia really, though it's rumored he didn't have many options in the matter.

I assume this means Swankler is healthy and MacDougall is returning soon, as this puts the team down to 13 forwards (with Bressette in Jr. B).
 
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NOA

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Danial Singer waived and sent down to the Niagara Falls Canucks of the GOJHL. A little surprised no one else wanted him, I thought he had played a little better recently, but didn't really fit in on this roster. That trade stands out even more now as a huge failed opportunity by Brown, everything surrounding Lodnia really, though it's rumored he didn't have many options in the matter.

I assume this means Swankler is healthy and MacDougall is returning soon, as this puts the team down to 13 forwards (with Bressette in Jr. B).

I continue to believe from all I heard that Lodnia screwed them. Brown was completely hand tied. Didn’t help that of all organizations, it was NIA. Who low balled the heck out of that deal. Imagine having 3/4 higher picks in the cupboard if not for that deal... rolling eyes forever on that. Brown should have just played hard ball and not moved him at all. Basically would have been the same compensation..

Content with Singer gone if it means still getting Cohen/Lockhart valuable ice with Sopa here now. I thought Singer would be a bit more productive but didn’t happen. Wish him the best and yes, must mean that Swankler/MacDougall will be back
 

7D442

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MacDougall possible for the weekend. Possible winger coming from London

You know I was just thinking yesterday : this would be an ideal time to complete a trade with London for ANOTHER overrated player for which we overpay for ..

Just like we usually do with Niagara

Brown : you have SUCKER written all over your forehead .. wake up and quit overpaying would ya ??
 

rangersblues

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You know I was just thinking yesterday : this would be an ideal time to complete a trade with London for ANOTHER overrated player for which we overpay for ..

Just like we usually do with Niagara

Brown : you have SUCKER written all over your forehead .. wake up and quit overpaying would ya ??
Fox and Donnay helped launch Erie on their 4 year run. I'd say that worked out for you.

I'd say the trouble is you guys emptied your draft cupboard and went on an unprecedented 4 year run. Now Brown has no idea how to restock. That trade today was ridiculous - just throwing away draft picks. It's like putting your last $50 on 00 on the roulette wheel.

Even if he had an idea, it's still going to take time. Personally I think finally getting the OHL championship was worth it, not to mention the caliber of hockey you should have enjoyed. How soon you forget.
 
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NOA

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You know I was just thinking yesterday : this would be an ideal time to complete a trade with London for ANOTHER overrated player for which we overpay for ..

Just like we usually do with Niagara

Brown : you have SUCKER written all over your forehead .. wake up and quit overpaying would ya ??

I thought Brown had a terrific year in 2016-17. Did great to get what the team got and needed, especially with limited assets. Built a Mem Cup level team.

The biggest busts for Brown have been the Lodnia trade and Golden. Golden is not very good and with limited assets, they could have retained a valuable 3rd round pick just to move on from him at start of year. They idiotically kept him. Lodnia trade I will give him a half a pass on for reasons already stated

But if we look back to 2015-16, that was a wasted year. The team was good enough to do what they did but was not good enough to waste limited assets on needed pieces to put them over the top. As a result, they held onto players like Dermott. Trading him and having 3/4 extra picks would have meant probably keeping Neumann (even eventually trading him). That was a waste

The biggest new development with Brown is wtf is he doing in the import draft and with our (limited) early round picks??? Cajka - only got 1 year out of, not even a elite prospect anyways. Khusnutdinov- no show. Alexander - college. Saganiuk - USNDT

That’s the real issue for me. It’s not the trading as much as it is that the team isn’t hitting on or getting these top players they need to get to that next step. The depth has been built up great due to superior drafting. Yetman, Golod, Gillard, Cohen, DAmato, Morton, Campbell, Murphy - etc

I mean seriously, they are far better than 90% of the league at 5-15th round drafting. Very good at it. The problem is those can’t possibly be “elite” guys. Most teams, like OSH and PBO, can’t even draft many depth players in those rounds. Erie at least is able to get OHL quality depth. And sometimes hit big (like Golod/Yetman) on legit, top 6 talent. But it’s still never going to be the T Raddyshs or Burakovskys of the world. You need higher (1-3rd round) picks for those players.

Right now, they either don’t have those picks because Brown trades them away or they end up wasting them on no shows (which is more concerning when they have few of those picks to begin with)

Bottom line: what is this team missing (besides the coach)?? Top talent. The depth is there and built up very well. Heck, with better coaching they would probably be a 35 win team (pretty good for the lack of 2-4th round picks and no imports on our roster)

they need to start signing these top guys though. Or else it’s just going to be the same up and down crap. Never good enough to go all in but never crappy enough to sell out. Never having good enough players to sell for needed high assets and never enough high assets to buy the top players

They are going to need to figure it out soon. Or they will be stuck in purgatory for a long while
 
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NOA

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Fox and Donnay helped launch Erie on their 4 year run. I'd say that worked out for you.

I'd say the trouble is you guys emptied your draft cupboard and went on an unprecedented 4 year run. Now Brown has no idea how to restock. That trade today was ridiculous - just throwing away draft picks. It's like putting your last $50 on 00 on the roulette wheel.

Even if he had an idea, it's still going to take time. Personally I think finally getting the OHL championship was worth it, not to mention the caliber of hockey you should have enjoyed. How soon you forget.


Oh please.. stop with the Fox crap. He lit up the lamp in 2013-14 but was the biggest fraud in the playoffs that year. Donnay was an average defender. They didn’t help Erie launch crap. That was McDavid giving the city a chance and as a result Knoblauch signing. Which btw, I highly doubt McDavid regrets. The city was great to him and the fans were insane. Strome as well, who still talks about his love for Erie. McDavid started it but Knoblauch the real reason for sustainability. Plus, Erie sucked for about 10 years prior. They had a million assets (which bassin burned in 2 years on stupid trades). So with or without Fox/Donnay, they would have traded for someone else and still have been damn good during the McDavid era. Fox was only around for year 1. He was long gone by the time the best team arrived (2016-17)
 
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