Ottawa 67's 2018-19 Season Thread (Part 3)

[OMG67]

Meh, I wouldn't worry too much. This was a tough road weekend. The team hasn't played together in over 6 weeks because of tournaments and injuries. It will take them a little time to get their mojo back and it isn't necessarily that easy to do it in London and Guelph.

I am sure once they get back home, find their routine and juggle the lines around to find those right fits with the new players they will do fine.

I agree and was calling for a PP QB type D-Man with slick puck skills (Durzi) but we didn't go that route. So be it. We can't look now at what we should or should not have done. We can only look at what we need to do to prepare better against the stiffer competition.

 

[LR8]

Less familiarity in Guelph and London line ups than 67 - they will be better as well. Ever team is facing that issue right now. D need help at both ends of the ice, and getting through the neutral zone. Coaches will earn their money in next few weeks

 

[1967]

Better to have a few struggles in January then in the playoffs
This team is talented and sometimes losing a few makes you more humble and forces you to focus harder

 

[OMG67]

s
Careful now. You don't wouldn't want to hurt the Snowflakes up in Ottawa with a real HONEST assessment of their team without someone getting all b******* now would ya? Bottom line, you mess with chemistry and you disrupt the cohesiveness. Bringing on DiPetro was an unwise move. Watch the freefalling begin!! Let see how long this post lasts until the Gestapo erase it?

There is a constructive way to make a point and then there is a mean spirited way of making a point. I've gone both ways on here; however, you seem to go straight to the mean spirited approach. This is why your posts get deleted by moderators.

I understand your underlying point which is fine. You are entitled to your opinion just as I am. That said, if you continue to choose to set fire to the ground in a Chicken Little type of format, no one will take you seriously which makes your point irrelevant.

I know for a fact you have a lot of interesting viewpoints that would be insightful if they were shared in a manner that was conducive to open discussion. I encourage you to be the open voice of opposition and criticism of the Ottawa 67's without all the rhetoric. It would be helpful to many fans to have an opposing viewpoint presented that is insightful and articulate.

 

[LDN]

Bringing on a goalie of his caliber is not a bad move. His mojo is missing after the WJR, he’ll get that back. He needs a couple weeks to acclimate to the team.

I dont feel DiPi was bad against us...the goals we scored most goalies would have trouble with...idk about the Guelph game. I am guessing that one was bad for him....

 

[ETA 2000 Fan]

After loading up, and facing London and Guelph, there is no excuse for stinker. 5w 5L in last 10 games.

All good teams under-perform at certain points. Even "loaded up" teams. Guelph lost to Kitchener after loading up. Sudbury just beat "loaded up" Niagara 7-3. London gave up 5 in the 3rd and lost to Guelph just last week.

To assess a team based on a single game or a weekend is ludicrous.

 

[NamesAreHardToChoose]

Guelph beat Niagara, London and Ottawa this week, but lost to Kitchener in OT.

With three notable injuries as well.

That's not too bad if you ask me for a team that has played three full games together.

 

[LR8]

All good teams under-perform at certain points. Even "loaded up" teams. Guelph lost to Kitchener after loading up. Sudbury just beat "loaded up" Niagara 7-3. London gave up 5 in the 3rd and lost to Guelph just last week.

To assess a team based on a single game or a weekend is ludicrous.

Agreed - as mentioned 5w and 5L in last 10 games. Did Not refer to a single game or a weekend. Very strong team but not upgrading the d might be an issue in the long run. Hope not but 67 had a chance to separate from top teams with a simple move or 2 which did not happen. If you are going to go out and get a top3 goalie, why not make the final moves to ensure success. A point of concern left unaddressed

 

[Houndsfan22]

After loading up, and facing London and Guelph, there is no excuse for stinker. 5w 5L in last 10 games.

After loading up and facing a Guelph team who also loaded up.. So.. One of the loaded teams came out on top. Rough weekend for the 67's. But there's a lot of room to gather team composure. 67's will recover guaranteed. Good luck the rest of the way guys!

 

[sirius67fan]

Hum wish I forgot to tape that game. Ouch!

 

[sirius67fan]

That being said I'm not worried at all. Good wake up call for the boys. Lots of concern being expressed from posters about our D. Yes adding a puck moving D would have been great but it did not happen. However we have a very strong D defensively and physically but they need to play within their strenght. The last two games they've tried to be too cute especially Bahl and Okhotiuk which led to key turnovers ( although the whole team was guilty of poor puck management). They need to play strong defensively, get the puck out and let our forwards do their thing. In my view only Hoef should be given the green light at all times the others need to play a simpler game.

 

[Old Watcher]

Guelph beat Niagara, London and Ottawa this week, but lost to Kitchener in OT.

With three notable injuries as well.

That's not too bad if you ask me for a team that has played three full games together.

eh hem
Midwestern opponent loss...

Guelph loaded up YUGE.

It seemed a bit odd....at the time. But look at that line-up.

Ottawa could have done that with much more ease.

 

[Chico Maki]

eh hem
Midwestern opponent loss...

Guelph loaded up YUGE.

It seemed a bit odd....at the time. But look at that line-up.

Ottawa could have done that with much more ease.

I agree...Trudeau should no longer be the most hated man in Ottawa imo. James Boyd failed large at the trade deadline. Had the 2nd best team all year in the CHL. Had what? 15 seconds and 10 thirds to work with and came up with Depitro, a 5 foot OA, and another average OA imo. All this talk of next year, and not moving any roster players. Let’s see how it unfolds but I’m calling it a D.

 

[OMG67]

All good teams under-perform at certain points. Even "loaded up" teams. Guelph lost to Kitchener after loading up. Sudbury just beat "loaded up" Niagara 7-3. London gave up 5 in the 3rd and lost to Guelph just last week.

To assess a team based on a single game or a weekend is ludicrous.

Agreed. This was just horrible timing.

 

[beastintheeast]

This is a team that will compete. As to the trades yes I think we could have gotten better players but the challenge that you have is what do the other teams offer. I still think that the 67's will have the easier road to the finals.

As it stands now Niagara will have to get by Oshawa in a tough series.
SSM/London and Guelph will be hard series o matter who plays.

The trick is to see who can stay healthy.

Having Andree proved to definitely be an asset when you have that caliber sitting on the bench you are not worried about changing goalies in a game.

Ottawa has a few weeks to get things organized and I think they will definitely be able to do that.

 

[Bob Barker]

Honestly I don't see the weekend as being a disaster at all. They beat Sarnia, were tied with London in the third period, and then got smoked by a rested Guelph team with the 67s in their third road game in three nights. As has been said, it's silly to judge a team based on one weekend, but even so, I don't think the weekend was even that bad.

 

[analyser]

Personally I think that management should have upgraded the defense. Their overall lack of speed is showing up. To rectify this we will have to move the puck a lot quicker and get help from the forwards in our own end. #1 priority, stop jumping in and getting burned on odd man rushes.

We also should of went all in on Durzi and Suzuki so Guelph could not load up so much. I know Boyd would not give up roster players but was it a real smart move.

We go and get a top goalie but then don't accquire the other top end pieces required. Nothing against Maksimovich or Chiodo but we already have enough smaller players.

Could of used size up front like Yantis.

Why keep 2 2nds and 2 3rds for a draft that is supposed to be weak this year.

 

[OMG67]

Personally I think that management should have upgraded the defense. Their overall lack of speed is showing up. To rectify this we will have to move the puck a lot quicker and get help from the forwards in our own end. #1 priority, stop jumping in and getting burned on odd man rushes.

We also should of went all in on Durzi and Suzuki so Guelph could not load up so much. I know Boyd would not give up roster players but was it a real smart move.

We go and get a top goalie but then don't accquire the other top end pieces required. Nothing against Maksimovich or Chiodo but we already have enough smaller players.

Could of used size up front like Yantis.

Why keep 2 2nds and 2 3rds for a draft that is supposed to be weak this year.

Hindsight is always 20-20. But, when you actually look at what OS got for Suzuki and Durzi, it is a little painful. Our problem is we didn't have spare parts to trade. It would have cost at least one of Quinn, Tolnai or Clarke plus Yule and potentially Wilson and picks.

We all know my opinion on Clarke. I can take him or leave him. Very one dimensional. So I have no issue's moving him but all of Tolnai, Quinn and Clarke have NTC's. I believe only Tolnai was a possible for waiving it. I'm not sure that would have been a good move.

 

[4 Bobby ORR]

Personally I think that management should have upgraded the defense. Their overall lack of speed is showing up. To rectify this we will have to move the puck a lot quicker and get help from the forwards in our own end. #1 priority, stop jumping in and getting burned on odd man rushes.

We also should of went all in on Durzi and Suzuki so Guelph could not load up so much. I know Boyd would not give up roster players but was it a real smart move.

We go and get a top goalie but then don't accquire the other top end pieces required. Nothing against Maksimovich or Chiodo but we already have enough smaller players.

Could of used size up front like Yantis.

Why keep 2 2nds and 2 3rds for a draft that is supposed to be weak this year.

Personally I think Ottawa is gunning for two runs so each trade needed to be more calculated. Suzuki and Durzi would have got you a run for this year only. so that may have been too many assets to give up.

I agree that Ottawa's defense needed an upgrade. Eliot or beating Oshawa to Mattinen could have helped. Having mid PP and sub-par PK may come back and haunt them.

I think that when Boyd stated that roster players are off limits, GM"s weren't calling- wonder how many times he checked the phone's volume. Teams trading high end players were asking for a player just to start. Would Dick of Tolnai (NTC issue?) have been a game changer for any of those runs. Boyd needs to look at what Rychel does when he sees it as their year. Mind you it's easier when you are invested.

For me, Ottawa's trades at the deadline left a lot to be desired. You got DiPietro for this year so go make some noise. Instead of a splash Boyd gave us a sploosh. Probably should of went after Dellandrea and/or Yantsis (as you suggested) to give them extra size and skill for a couple of years. Hope I am wrong. Hoping to see DiPietro & 67's in Halifax.

 

[OMG67]

Personally I think Ottawa is gunning for two runs so each trade needed to be more calculated. Suzuki and Durzi would have got you a run for this year only. so that may have been too many assets to give up.

I agree that Ottawa's defense needed an upgrade. Eliot or beating Oshawa to Mattinen could have helped. Having mid PP and sub-par PK may come back and haunt them.

I think that when Boyd stated that roster players are off limits, GM"s weren't calling- wonder how many times he checked the phone's volume. Teams trading high end players were asking for a player just to start. Would Dick of Tolnai (NTC issue?) have been a game changer for any of those runs. Boyd needs to look at what Rychel does when he sees it as their year. Mind you it's easier when you are invested.

For me, Ottawa's trades at the deadline left a lot to be desired. You got DiPietro for this year so go make some noise. Instead of a splash Boyd gave us a sploosh. Probably should of went after Dellandrea and/or Yantsis (as you suggested) to give them extra size and skill for a couple of years. Hope I am wrong. Hoping to see DiPietro & 67's in Halifax.

Kirin and Wooley are decent players but neither are considered game changer prospects. NEither will come close to equaling the players they were traded for.

Prueter is a decent player that may turn into something.

Perrott may turn into something decent.

So, if we were to omit the players Niagara traded since in my opinion they were completely out to lunch this deadline, there were no real significant prospects traded.

If we look at Ottawa’s trade chips that were being asked for, I’d suggest all of them are better prospects than the players listed above.

Quinn
Tolnai
Clarke
Peric

My personal opinion of Clarke aside, he still has significant value and is still a desired player.

It is interesting to note, if we had simply held on to Robertson instead of trading him for the two 2nds, we may have actually had a trade chip that could have been more enticing than the two 2nds we got for him! How ironic is that?

Also, drafting the NCAA bound players in the ‘01 draft may have hurt us a bit. Sure, we did flip a couple of them in deals but if they were signed players, I believe we’d have gotten much more and-or had more depth from which to trade from.

So, if we look at this a little deeper, maybe the draft strategy in 2017 hurt us a bit at this deadline. The players we have are pretty good players, good enough to think we have a good chance of contending next year with these guys as 18 year olds and not enough actual bodies to use as trade chips for throw in players like many that were tossed into trades at this deadline.

What I fail to understand is how devalued the draft picks were in general. We see 2nds traded at the beginning of the year for players all the time. It is easy to flip those picks for players at the start of the season out of training camp. OWen Sound could have made similar trades as they did with the Robertson trade had they taken a big picks package.

 

[beastintheeast]

While I agree that size would have been nice I think that one thing that hast o be taken into account is that Niagara has gone all in next year they will not have much of a team. If you look at teams like London you notice that while they get great players they never truly sell the store.

It is great to have a good team but as I have said before from a business standpoint if you sell the farm for one year you get the one yer gate. The next year fans stay away. To have a franchise that has a chance of building a fan base you have to have a team that is competitive every year.
With What Boyd and Tourgny have done Ottawa has the makings of bringing back that era to Ottawa.

OMG and I disagree on the old style of filling positions but building with what you have as was done previously but you can not deny that every year Ottawa had a competitive team.

I like the trades and also think that if the defense plays tough as they can then their speed is not going to make a lot of difference. The playoffs are not about speed it is about physical toughness.

The Kingston Peterborough series a few years ago showed that. Kingston had the speed and the offense but when they kept getting hit hard every time they touched the puck they got worn down by a Petes team that was not as good.

This team is ready and with 4 effective lines is going to be hard to defend.

 

[analyser]

While I agree that size would have been nice I think that one thing that hast o be taken into account is that Niagara has gone all in next year they will not have much of a team. If you look at teams like London you notice that while they get great players they never truly sell the store.

It is great to have a good team but as I have said before from a business standpoint if you sell the farm for one year you get the one yer gate. The next year fans stay away. To have a franchise that has a chance of building a fan base you have to have a team that is competitive every year.
With What Boyd and Tourgny have done Ottawa has the makings of bringing back that era to Ottawa.

OMG and I disagree on the old style of filling positions but building with what you have as was done previously but you can not deny that every year Ottawa had a competitive team.

I like the trades and also think that if the defense plays tough as they can then their speed is not going to make a lot of difference. The playoffs are not about speed it is about physical toughness.

The Kingston Peterborough series a few years ago showed that. Kingston had the speed and the offense but when they kept getting hit hard every time they touched the puck they got worn down by a Petes team that was not as good.

This team is ready and with 4 effective lines is going to be hard to defend.

I tend to disagree as Ottawa is not going to wear too many teams down with the size of the players we have. Physical toughness is not our forte.

You can't hit what you can't catch. Lack of foot speed as far as I am concerned particulary on defence. Durzi for one would have really helped with puck movement.

I hope for the best but lets be realistic more should have been done if we want to be a serious contender.

Competitive teams every year and how many championships did that bring back in the earlier years.

We had our chance to really improve with our draft picks and a player or two, but I think we really didn't address the situation properly.

Anything could happen but it is going to be a long and difficult road.

 

[ETA 2000 Fan]

Frankly I don't understand the criticism of the 67's D-corp's skating. I do notice most of the criticism comes from posters/fans from other threads/teams.

Skating is a combination of quick feet, agility, and stride, which equal range. Kevin Bahl doesn't have the quickest feet (he's 6' 6" and 230) but he is very agile and has an excellent stride which equates to far above average range. Hudson Wilson is very similar. Noel Hoefenmayer does have quick feet and agility, has, IMHO, a bit of an awkward (choppy) stride, but his quick feet give him good range. Okhotyuk, Rippon, and Peric all are above average skaters with good range.

Too many critics think giving up a 2-on-1 is a result of poor skating D-men. I disagree. When you activate your D to pinch down the wall, like Ottawa almost always does, it is the responsibility of his partner or a forward to support that. If that doesn't happen a D-man can get caught and made to look bad. Odd man rushes or breakaways happen due to bad/questionable decisions or turnovers in the "danger zones", not because of poor skating.

When was the last time you saw a 67's D-man beat on the outside 1-on-1? I'm not saying it doesn't happen but it's very rare.

I believe Boyd was actively looking to upgrade the back end and each time he identified a candidate, that player's GM wanted one of the '00 or '01 defensemen in return or wanted to add a Clarke or Quinn (both with NTCs anyway) and he walked away. Only time will tell, and I mean this season and next, before one can fairly assess the strategy of keeping this roster intact and only adding.

 

[4 Bobby ORR]

With the team & assets they had I thought they could have went out and made themselves the number team in the CHL hands down. They did not address their special teams which baffled me. They shored up all positions except defense. I thought Ottawa would have went after Boka (best shot block in the league) to help with the PK.

 

[beastintheeast]

Okay let's look at this team We are 2nd in the league in goals against and that is without Dipietro. We are tied for first in goals for. Yes Niagara is catching up.
The defence we have is one of the most experienced in the league and is also a defence built on position play.
We have 2 of the top 5 goalies in the league.

4 of our so-called bad defence are in the top 10 in plus-minus for defence.

I think that people that have a problem with this defence really do not know what they are looking at or are fans of other teams.

As I said OHL hockey is a business. Do the owners care if they win the MEMORIAL CUP Yes but not if it means that the next year they will lose their fan base because they are rebuilding and playing like crap.

Owners want bums in the seats. The way to do that is to provide a consistent product that makes a night out enjoyable. Ottawa hailed Kilrea as the greatest thing in the world. He could have cared less about the Cup his drive and goal was to have a competitive team that brought fans to the game. It was also to develop men that became citizens and went on to better things.

Good teams do not sell the farm for one year and a dream it is too risky.

What you do is build a team that on any given night can win and put an exciting product on the ice.

I am sure that they had a chance at other players that might have been better but to give up a Tolnai or a Quinn for a 3-month player is stupid and bad business.

Remember if Ottawa had not been hosting the M Cup the last time they won it they would not have even qualified.