Erie Otters 2020 Offseason Thread
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Jamie Drysdale Named CCM/AHL Rookie of the Month | San Diego Gulls
Definitely miss watching him and the team but man, this kid just keeps going up!
Such a privilege to see him play 2 years in Erie and hoping for much more success out of him!
Definitely miss watching him and the team but man, this kid just keeps going up!
Such a privilege to see him play 2 years in Erie and hoping for much more success out of him!
Alex DeBrincat just reached 100 NHL goals
the only NHL players from his draft class to do it faster? Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine (picks 1, 2 overall respectively)
I remember on 2016 draft night being stunned when DeBrincat fell outside the top 20 (size being the only reason he could fall outside the top 10). When Max Jones then went at 24 overall I was disgusted and embarrassed. Those feelings continue to show up to this day. Congrats to Alex
the only NHL players from his draft class to do it faster? Auston Matthews and Patrik Laine (picks 1, 2 overall respectively)
I remember on 2016 draft night being stunned when DeBrincat fell outside the top 20 (size being the only reason he could fall outside the top 10). When Max Jones then went at 24 overall I was disgusted and embarrassed. Those feelings continue to show up to this day. Congrats to Alex
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As if the hits this "off-season" don't just keep coming, we lost Wes Wolfe to the Cobourg Cougars.
Wish him the best in his new endeavors as a head coach!
Wish him the best in his new endeavors as a head coach!
Unfortunate for sure. He was the only coach of the 3 that I really felt was a good fit and the players love him
I wonder how much of a role COVID played in this. Would imagine a good sized role but a head coach job is a hard thing to pass up.
Sometimes a new voice and new ideas is a good thing though. Erie has been the same mediocre team for 3 years and had the same staff. I would have preferred we moved on from Hartsburg and/or Adams but at least this is a new voice to maybe mix things up
Potential 2021/2022 lineup? What does everyone think? I'm skeptical about them getting games in on the 2020/2021 season but it appears that the hub city plans are gaining momentum. Some tough decisions to be made next September as far as the OAs go, and replacing Drysdale is going to be challenging. It would be a shame if we didn't get to see him play in an Otters uniform again, or potentially trade him and cash in. I'm glad to see how well they're doing in the pros though.
This is the best, extremely rough guess as what it could look like, but there's so much uncertainty with the lack of playing team this season for the Otters players and potential prospects.
Swankler (OA) - Lockhart - Saganiuk
D'Amato/Sproule (OA) - Cohen - Hoffmann (OA)
Sedore - Bressette - Ross
???? - Lowe - ????
Any 2019 picks? I could see guys like Benjamin White, Cole Melady, Ryan Forberg, or Frank Tafelski making the team if they come to camp.
Other 2020 picks? They just signed Lowe, Kaleb Smith is the other obvious target.
They could use their 2021 first rounder on a forward as well to slot into the 4th line as a rookie, but I actually think they should probably go defense again, they seem to have okay forward depth, especially if they use all 3 OAs on forwards, but replacing Drysdale is going to be incredibly difficult.
Morton - Sova
Kulakov - Kyrou
Murphy - ????
From the 2019 guys I could see Thomas Lonsdale making a push, especially since he's right-handed. Patrick Geary is the obvious target from the 2020 picks. Perhaps add those two and the 2021 first would make up the 8 dmen.
Kolosov/Campbell
Lalonde
For the 2021/2022 season, Lalonde will need to be on the team, so they're going to need to choose between Kolosov and Campbell. Kolosov seems like the better goalie right now, but Campbell is the home-grown guy and could improve. Releasing Kolosov's rights then keeping Kulakov would allow them to make another import pick. Perhaps then they could try and add an impact forward or another import dman.
I hope we get some games in on the 2020/2021 season so all of the '01s can play and make the OA decision in August/September easier. It would be helpful to get all of the 02/03/04 players some live playing time to prepare for next season as well.
This is the best, extremely rough guess as what it could look like, but there's so much uncertainty with the lack of playing team this season for the Otters players and potential prospects.
Swankler (OA) - Lockhart - Saganiuk
D'Amato/Sproule (OA) - Cohen - Hoffmann (OA)
Sedore - Bressette - Ross
???? - Lowe - ????
Any 2019 picks? I could see guys like Benjamin White, Cole Melady, Ryan Forberg, or Frank Tafelski making the team if they come to camp.
Other 2020 picks? They just signed Lowe, Kaleb Smith is the other obvious target.
They could use their 2021 first rounder on a forward as well to slot into the 4th line as a rookie, but I actually think they should probably go defense again, they seem to have okay forward depth, especially if they use all 3 OAs on forwards, but replacing Drysdale is going to be incredibly difficult.
Morton - Sova
Kulakov - Kyrou
Murphy - ????
From the 2019 guys I could see Thomas Lonsdale making a push, especially since he's right-handed. Patrick Geary is the obvious target from the 2020 picks. Perhaps add those two and the 2021 first would make up the 8 dmen.
Kolosov/Campbell
Lalonde
For the 2021/2022 season, Lalonde will need to be on the team, so they're going to need to choose between Kolosov and Campbell. Kolosov seems like the better goalie right now, but Campbell is the home-grown guy and could improve. Releasing Kolosov's rights then keeping Kulakov would allow them to make another import pick. Perhaps then they could try and add an impact forward or another import dman.
I hope we get some games in on the 2020/2021 season so all of the '01s can play and make the OA decision in August/September easier. It would be helpful to get all of the 02/03/04 players some live playing time to prepare for next season as well.
Amazing. In the middle of a pandemic, arguably the toughest time to sign prospects in OHL history (especially given all the routes available to these young men)
Yet here we are, Erie managed to sign:
Colby Saganiuk (NCAA commit)
Spencer Sova (1st rounder w/ likely NCAA option)
Nolan Lalonde (3rd rounder)
Lucas Ross (NCAA commit)
Artyom Kulakov (import)
Alexei Kolosov (import)
Now we add Cam Lowe
HUGE kudos to Dave Brown and staff. Erie has many uphill battles that some other OHL cities don’t have to deal with and yet they continue to scout, recruit, and sign some great pieces
Great work on that projected roster EON. Not easy to do right now given all the uncertainty
I think overall Erie has some nice options. There are certainly bodies to work with. I count about 9/10 (at least) forwards that are OHL level players. I count 4 on defense assuming Kulakov adjusts. And potentially 3 OHL quality goalies
The question for Erie really is what is has been before - who are the high end pieces? Super hard to predict that because Lockhart/Saganiuk and others lost a crucial year of development. That said, Lockhart has talked a lot about size/strength being a huge issue for him last year so I would hope undersized players were able to work more on those issues this past year
I would say right now Erie probably should feel better than a good chunk of the league. They would lose Yetman/Golod and potentially(likely) Drysdale but it wasn’t even certain that all 3 would have played a 2020-21 season anyways.
The brightside is they added respectable young talent during a worldwide pandemic in Saganiuk, Kulakov, Kolosov, Sova, Lalonde, Ross
I think overall Erie has some nice options. There are certainly bodies to work with. I count about 9/10 (at least) forwards that are OHL level players. I count 4 on defense assuming Kulakov adjusts. And potentially 3 OHL quality goalies
The question for Erie really is what is has been before - who are the high end pieces? Super hard to predict that because Lockhart/Saganiuk and others lost a crucial year of development. That said, Lockhart has talked a lot about size/strength being a huge issue for him last year so I would hope undersized players were able to work more on those issues this past year
I would say right now Erie probably should feel better than a good chunk of the league. They would lose Yetman/Golod and potentially(likely) Drysdale but it wasn’t even certain that all 3 would have played a 2020-21 season anyways.
The brightside is they added respectable young talent during a worldwide pandemic in Saganiuk, Kulakov, Kolosov, Sova, Lalonde, Ross
First Otters hockey news and signing in months has me rusty. But now that I have collected my thoughts and can assess this signing a bit more:
Lowe, a 7th rounder, is drafted in the same round as Cam Morton, Brendan Hoffman, Aidan Timmermans, and Patrick Fellows. Erie has had small success in this round
He is the 6th ranked out of 14 players that Erie drafted in 2020 based on Neutral Zone rankings.
Lowe is a defensive forward who is willing to play a power forward game. Listed at 6'0 160lbs, he will need to add some weight to do that at the OHL level but you love to see willingness in a player. From what I read, he likes to drive the net and reads his defenders well when off puck. Seems to be a decent enough skater with some quickness as he is a puck pursuit player.
Lowe, a 7th rounder, is drafted in the same round as Cam Morton, Brendan Hoffman, Aidan Timmermans, and Patrick Fellows. Erie has had small success in this round
He is the 6th ranked out of 14 players that Erie drafted in 2020 based on Neutral Zone rankings.
Lowe is a defensive forward who is willing to play a power forward game. Listed at 6'0 160lbs, he will need to add some weight to do that at the OHL level but you love to see willingness in a player. From what I read, he likes to drive the net and reads his defenders well when off puck. Seems to be a decent enough skater with some quickness as he is a puck pursuit player.
Drysdale is rumored to making his NHL debut this evening for the Ducks.
And he had the assist on the next goal...
1 game, 1 goal, 1 assist.
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He’s a stud. Too bad we’ll never see him in the OHL again. Was one of my favourite players to watch in minor midget too
It was slim chances to begin with. I was holding out little hope due to size/strength but Covid likely allowed him more time to address that this past year. Can’t for the life of me think why he was not a top 3/4 pick. Elite skating, elite awareness and smarts, and elite attitude/leadership. As long as he adds some size, he is guaranteed to be a top 4 defender for 15-20 years.
But again, him being a stud in the NHL and only ever playing his junior career in Erie is still great for the brand. Erie has some great players representing them in the NHL now and that’s important in recruiting
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This is random, but does anyone else on here think Brown should have picked someone different than Connor Lockhart at #3 in the 2019 Draft? Hindsight is 20/20, and perhaps there were concerns about some guys reporting, but I think Clarke or McTavish would have been better picks here. Pinelli would have been, too, but I don't recall him being talked about that high back in 2019. At #3, you have to go best available. To me, that was/is Clarke.
Lockhart may very well prove me wrong - and I hope he does - however, I can't help but wonder if the franchise wouldn't be a bit further ahead if there was another potential/likely first round NHL draft pick on the roster.
Thoughts?
Lockhart may very well prove me wrong - and I hope he does - however, I can't help but wonder if the franchise wouldn't be a bit further ahead if there was another potential/likely first round NHL draft pick on the roster.
Thoughts?
This discussion has been had before at length, around 2019 draft specifically. The reality is Clarke wanted Barrie and so I don’t think Erie had a choice. Combine that with at the time Erie was expecting Drysdale for 2019-20 and 2020-21 (nobody predicting Covid) and that meant the far bigger need was offense and certainly a centerman.
So there were a variety of reasons. Personally I feel Clarke is a great player but I’m not sold on some things with him. Barrie likely gets one more year out of him (2021-22) and he’s gone. So I’ll take Lockhart for 3/4 seasons over Clarke for 2.
The Pinelli thing is not really fair to debate. He was not as highly regarded as Lockhart. Lockhart was pretty much a consensus top 5 pick, no worse than top 6/7, from everything I read.
You can debate McTavish but he had options to play in Europe and flirted with the idea. Erie was not in a position to screw around with the pick and McTavish was probably less likely to report than Clarke imo. As a player, he’s not really what Erie typically looks for or drafts in early rounds. They value speed and transition. McTavish is a center who doesn’t drive the play in transition game.
Lockhart had a tougher time last year because of numerous factors -
Size, talent around him, playing time/situations, and injury
Overall he’s an elite skater and has some nice skills. I really think he needs to just get stronger and gain confidence. The jury is still very much out on the entire 2019 draft thanks to a full missed year of development. I will wait before I label that pick anything but “to be determined”
As of now I think Erie did the smart thing. Based on talent/projection their options were 1) Clarke, 2) McTavish, or 3) Lockhart. Some people had Lockhart above McTavish. They took the guy who would 100% commit and the guy that fit their needs/system most
(In terms of the NHL first round pick reference.. don’t worry about that. Max Jones was a first rounder and DeBrincat a second rounder and 100% was based on size/London factor. Lockhart would be talked about way more if he was 6’0 but this is 2021 and this is the OHL - size really don’t matter. The NHL still thinks it does though)
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