Erie Otters 2019 Offseason Thread

[NOA]

I'm with you there neili, I would have preferred Erie take Clarke. Big reason for me is that they have potential high end forward prospects (Swankler, Alexander, now Saganiuk, possibly the import draft) while they don't have any high end defense prospects. But I'm still happy with the Lockhart pick and now will just hope Brown signs Campbell, at least one of Swankler/Alexander,Sagniuk, and picks up a solid top 4 dman in the import draft.

I think you could make the same argument about the offense if they don’t sign those guys. Saganiuk now looks the most promising but will be 1-2 years until we see him. If we see him.

There are less defensive spots on a team than forwards. I feel that Wil Murphy, Cam Morton, Ethan Ritchie, and potentially others are solid good options that could become great.

If we go defense in the import draft than it all makes sense and we get best of both worlds and our defense would be more than fine. Important to sign Campbell though to ensure we don’t need import goalie

 

[EON]

Erie takes LD Connor Olson 3rd overall in the U18 draft: Connor Olson at eliteprospects.com

G Bryce Walcarius with the 3rd pick in the 2nd round: Bryce Walcarius at eliteprospects.com

RW Zachary Power with the 3rd pick in the 3rd round: Zachary Power at eliteprospects.com

Olson seems interesting, could make a push for a depth spot on defense. Otherwise I doubt the other two make the team with the amount of returning players.

 

[NOA]

Every single Erie Otter fan should be fortunate that Bassin did all he could to sell the team to legit owners who had the right intentions. Then the owners who bought the team, and mainly Jim Waters, actually respected the league and the players. We are actually in better hands currently with the new owners than ever before. Meanwhile Flint is still trying to recover, the Petes are working to figure it out, Sudbury has their issues, and now there is Windsor... yikes

 

[7D442]

Every single Erie Otter fan should be fortunate that Bassin did all he could to sell the team to legit owners who had the right intentions. Then the owners who bought the team, and mainly Jim Waters, actually respected the league and the players. We are actually in better hands currently with the new owners than ever before. Meanwhile Flint is still trying to recover, the Petes are working to figure it out, Sudbury has their issues, and now there is Windsor... yikes

AMEN to that !! I was just thinking the same thing as I wrapped up reading the last 5 pages of new material on the WSR thread ..

 

[Animal House]

Are the Otters having an orientation camp? Any dates set for rookie/free agent camp? Thanks in advance.

 

[NOA]

Are the Otters having an orientation camp? Any dates set for rookie/free agent camp? Thanks in advance.

They typically do it sometime in May. But in past years have done it in June and some years in late April. It more depends on how schedules work out for them and many of their prospects. But probably would expect it to be in the first or second week of May

 

[Puckit97]

Otters announcing a signing from the 2018 draft class Thursday.

My guess is Aidan Campbell.

 

[EON]

Alexander would be a dream but Campbell is much more likely considering he visited Erie late in the season. Would still be a great signing, looks like a very solid young goalie.

 

[EON]

Unrelated to the Otters now, but I was honestly pretty happy to see Ivan Lodnia and Niagara go down in the 2nd round after he forced his way there.

 

[three dog night]

Unrelated to the Otters now, but I was honestly pretty happy to see Ivan Lodnia and Niagara go down in the 2nd round after he forced his way there.

You were not happy with Singer.

 

[EON]

You were not happy with Singer.

No, he's not very good and I expect him to get pushed out next barring a huge jump in his ability. So it was nice to see Lodnia lose and not really improve much at all.

 

[three dog night]

No, he's not very good and I expect him to get pushed out next barring a huge jump in his ability. So it was nice to see Lodnia lose and not really improve much at all.

Oh okay you do know he missed significant time with an injury and helped you beat London a few seasons back nice to know your loyal.

 

[EON]

Oh okay you do know he missed significant time with an injury and helped you beat London a few seasons back nice to know your loyal.

Any "loyalty" was thrown out when he demanded a trade than told Brown he'd only report to two teams, handicapping the Otters of one of their most important trade assets in a rebuilding year. Look at what Maksimovich did, that's loyalty earned. Lodnia was a problem child his entire time in Erie and did very little in that playoff series. I'm glad he and the IceDogs lost and couldn't care less about how his pro career turns out.

 

[NOA]

You were not happy with Singer.

That’s not the point...

Singer was decent and provided depth. But he’s not a clear top 6 forward on this team going forward

Meanwhile lodnia was and is a signed 3rd round nhl pick.

Erie got fleeced and only because Lodnia handcuffed them. Didn’t allow them to trade him at the 2018 deadline. Then before the 2018-19 season he forced an immediate trade but only was willing to go to 2 teams. Who knows who the other team was but maybe that other team had no interest. So erie got a 5th and Singer???

It was a joke of a trade because of Lodnia not being more fair to the organization.

Realistically he should have got a 2nd and 2 thirds. MINIMUM

So yes, EON, I’m happy to see him lose on an undisciplined team that wasn’t even close to the 2017 title team in Erie. Maybe if he was more patient and was willing to go to 2-3 other teams, he could still be playing hockey and Erie would have got the fair price they deserved. Niagara also played unfair to not just throw in at least 3rd round pick on top of the 5th and Singer to show respect. That would have still been a major deal for them but also would have given us more of a fair price. Glad they lost to a team they should have beaten. Even more glad they were one of the most undisciplined teams I’ve ever seen. Terrible penalties all series long

 

[NOA]

Any "loyalty" was thrown out when he demanded a trade than told Brown he'd only report to two teams, handicapping the Otters of one of their most important trade assets in a rebuilding year. Look at what Maksimovich did, that's loyalty earned. Lodnia was a problem child his entire time in Erie and did very little in that playoff series. I'm glad he and the IceDogs lost and couldn't care less about how his pro career turns out.

Agreed.

All he had to do was just be a bit more fair. Instead of 2 teams, maybe more like 4 teams? Instead of only a small window for a trade maybe tell Erie you are will to at the 2018 deadline. Or maybe tell them you would like to be traded early in the year but are willing to be here until November/December if that’s how it goes

People, including me at first (though I backed off when I learned the details) blame Dave Brown for the trade. He got totally screwed

Lodnia won a title here and only because Erie sacrificed and mortgaged their future to get Foegele/Cirelli. We could have held on to the 5/6 high end picks and Neumann/McShane and be competing for a title next year. Instead we went for it because Dave, even without the picks/assets, was LOYAL to his team and fans. Lodnia then won the title. He had a great time and situation here. And screwed us on the way out. Unlike Mak or Raddysh or Sambrook.

It was a simple case of just being more reasonable with an organization that did so much for him and got him a title. Maybe his only title he will ever get.. and he just didn’t seem to care. Again, knowing how little assets we had, he sort of screwed our future up a bit when if he was just a littttttle more reasonable, we could have got 3/4 high end picks instead of ZERO.


Btw three dog..
lodnia had 2g 0a in 22 playoff games in 2017. He played 3rd line. He contributed defensively and was still a part of that team but provided little to no offense in the playoffs and was not close to the reason we beat London that series. He was probably the 8-9th best forward (at best) on the team during that playoff run. Poddubyni (a rookie) had bigger moments on the 4th line and bigger goals than Lodnia

 

[OttersFan]

Getting rid of Lodnia was the best thing for Erie. He was just selfish and to see him lose on one of the two teams he would only report to is kind of the icing on the cake.

Lodnia did nothing but hurt the Otters and there's nothing about staying loyal to him there. It has to go both ways and unfortunately Erie wasn't his place. He only stayed in Erie because he knew we could make a run with our 2017 team. As soon as we needed to rebuild, he jumped the ship.

After visiting Niagara, the fans around us didn't like him playing for Niagara either.

 

[NOA]

Getting rid of Lodnia was the best thing for Erie. He was just selfish and to see him lose on one of the two teams he would only report to is kind of the icing on the cake.

Lodnia did nothing but hurt the Otters and there's nothing about staying loyal to him there. It has to go both ways and unfortunately Erie wasn't his place. He only stayed in Erie because he knew we could make a run with our 2017 team. As soon as we needed to rebuild, he jumped the ship.

After visiting Niagara, the fans around us didn't like him playing for Niagara either.

I guess it made sense that he wouldn’t to go to Niagara though. Because with all their undisciplined play, you could argue they are the most selfish team in the league

But I do think you are way off to blame him for wanting to leave during a rebuild. He’s a signed nhl player who has the talent to go to a team and make a run. Also as a former first rounder, he had that in his contract.
He actually stuck around for all of 2017-18 (a rebuild year) by choice. So I don’t blame him for that. You think Taylor Raddysh wanted to stay or wanted one more crack at a title? I blame lodnia for how he handled it and how he limited Erie severely in what they could do. If he was more willing to work with them and say he would go to 4/5 teams and that the deadline to trade him was the actual league deadline not before the season started.. then Erie would have got the fair value they deserved. That’s my only issue with Lodnia. That’s what made him selfish. He was actually incredibly unselfish in his draft year when he got pushed down the depth charts post trades and no longer was scoring/putting up points. Yet he was playing a 200 foot game. Knoblauch demanded and got the best of him that year

 

[three dog night]

Getting rid of Lodnia was the best thing for Erie. He was just selfish and to see him lose on one of the two teams he would only report to is kind of the icing on the cake.

Lodnia did nothing but hurt the Otters and there's nothing about staying loyal to him there. It has to go both ways and unfortunately Erie wasn't his place. He only stayed in Erie because he knew we could make a run with our 2017 team. As soon as we needed to rebuild, he jumped the ship.

After visiting Niagara, the fans around us didn't like him playing for Niagara either.

I don’t think so Lodnia was popular in Niagara

 

[OttersFan]

I guess it made sense that he wouldn’t to go to Niagara though. Because with all their undisciplined play, you could argue they are the most selfish team in the league

But I do think you are way off to blame him for wanting to leave during a rebuild. He’s a signed nhl player who has the talent to go to a team and make a run. Also as a former first rounder, he had that in his contract.
He actually stuck around for all of 2017-18 (a rebuild year) by choice. So I don’t blame him for that. You think Taylor Raddysh wanted to stay or wanted one more crack at a title? I blame lodnia for how he handled it and how he limited Erie severely in what they could do. If he was more willing to work with them and say he would go to 4/5 teams and that the deadline to trade him was the actual league deadline not before the season started.. then Erie would have got the fair value they deserved. That’s my only issue with Lodnia. That’s what made him selfish. He was actually incredibly unselfish in his draft year when he got pushed down the depth charts post trades and no longer was scoring/putting up points. Yet he was playing a 200 foot game. Knoblauch demanded and got the best of him that year

Not selfish as in only wanting to go to a certain team. That's understandable. I think he became selfish the second half of the previous season where he made the plays all about himself. He just wasn't a team player for Erie before being traded and often created a lot of turnovers which led to the other team to score.

 

[7D442]

3 dog : there are more opinions that count here other than just yourself or the team ( Niagara ) that he MAYBE actually played for aprox say 20-30 games or however many for due to injury ,etc..he did us wrong , as what we needed to do was recoup picks which is what all teams usually do after going for it it -or in our case after WINNING A CHAMPIONSHIP ...for instance both Miss and Erie did this in subsequent years after the 2017 FINAL

To demand only 2 teams that he would go to and 18 others he wouldn’t combined with a short term period to get the trade done is what we’re talking about here ..

 

[NOA]

Not selfish as in only wanting to go to a certain team. That's understandable. I think he became selfish the second half of the previous season where he made the plays all about himself. He just wasn't a team player for Erie before being traded and often created a lot of turnovers which led to the other team to score.

Fair enough. He definitely became a selfish player on the ice by the end of the 2017-18 season

 

[NOA]

Drysdale made Canada’s U18 roster as a 2002. 1 of only 2 players that are 2002 born on the roster and the only one from the OHL. Foudy and others didn’t make the team

 

[EON]

He also finished 3rd in rookie of the year voting, behind Byfield and Perfetti. What a player.

 

[EON]

Campbell signing is official. Very nice pickup, Erie has lost some promising goalie prospects the last few years to the NCAA (Point, Gibson). I'm guessing Murphy/Campbell will be the goaltending duo next season barring anything unexpected.

 

[7D442]

G -Aidan Campbell commits to the Erie Otters !!! He appears to have some great stats and could have a very bright future ahead of him ..

Lockhart now Campbell - now we need Alexander ..