Confirmed signings: ONLY OTHER TEAMS

[Doom]

One big concern I do have with our squad is faceoffs.

Watling started the season well, but by the end was below 50% which suggests a very poor 2nd half of the season.

Dowd was slightly above 50%, but I've never thought of him as a strong faceoff guy.

Whistle was well under 50%.

The only one I really have confidence in is Simpson, who performed consistently well in the dot.

Allen will be a big miss in this area, because he was arguably our best last season.

Belfast will be very strong in this area with Conway and a few other specialists. If we don't want to get pressed back into our own defensive zone against them, I hope one of the new guys is strong at faceoffs.

Regards

Doom

[Gisland]

Belfast sign yet another player who should be capable of 25 goals.

In terms of goal scoring, both from the forwards and defence, Belfast are absolutely stacked and way ahead of anybody else. Defensively though, who knows, maybe the offensive ambitions of their team might leave them a little exposed at the back.

One thing is certain though, they've thrown a fortune at their squad, so I don't want to hear them whining about others spending if they don't win trophies.

Regards

Doom

Surley the squad budget for the Giants is on par with at minimum the Devils and Shheffield. You don't keep an all conquering team together with love and kisses... each returnee to Sheffield must be getting more than last year.

Some are totally fixated with finding any reason why a particular team has won or lost, and that reason nearly always comes down to "well they spent the most" ..fully expect the Devils forum,Guildford fans on the hockey forum and Giants fans on whatever forum, will start the same moan..

Starts to get a tad repetative after 20 years,no matter which forum it comes from. Surley we have moved on from this...

[ginger]

Belfast sign yet another player who should be capable of 25 goals.

In terms of goal scoring, both from the forwards and defence, Belfast are absolutely stacked and way ahead of anybody else. Defensively though, who knows, maybe the offensive ambitions of their team might leave them a little exposed at the back.

One thing is certain though, they've thrown a fortune at their squad, so I don't want to hear them whining about others spending if they don't win trophies.

Regards

Doom

Surley the squad budget for the Giants is on par with at minimum the Devils and Shheffield. You don't keep an all conquering team together with love and kisses... each returnee to Sheffield must be getting more than last year.

Some are totally fixated with finding any reason why a particular team has won or lost, and that reason nearly always comes down to "well they spent the most" ..fully expect the Devils forum,Guildford fans on the hockey forum and Giants fans on whatever forum, will start the same moan..

Starts to get a tad repetative after 20 years,no matter which forum it comes from. Surley we have moved on from this...

It's even funnier though when most other teams fans had Belfast and Cardiff winning everything before the start of last season - most put Sheffield 2nd/3rd in the predictions I saw.

Only when we started pulling away that the complaints started.

Belfast, Cardiff and Sheffield will basically be spending about the same as each other. Guildford not far behind (no where near as far as their fans will suggest), then Nottingham and Glasgow not far behind again. Realistically all 6 of those teams should be in with a shout of winning trophies every year based on budget. League is likely 3 horse race but CC and Playoffs all of them should compete.

[Doom]

Belfast sign yet another player who should be capable of 25 goals.

In terms of goal scoring, both from the forwards and defence, Belfast are absolutely stacked and way ahead of anybody else. Defensively though, who knows, maybe the offensive ambitions of their team might leave them a little exposed at the back.

One thing is certain though, they've thrown a fortune at their squad, so I don't want to hear them whining about others spending if they don't win trophies.

Regards

Doom

Surley the squad budget for the Giants is on par with at minimum the Devils and Shheffield. You don't keep an all conquering team together with love and kisses... each returnee to Sheffield must be getting more than last year.

Some are totally fixated with finding any reason why a particular team has won or lost, and that reason nearly always comes down to "well they spent the most" ..fully expect the Devils forum,Guildford fans on the hockey forum and Giants fans on whatever forum, will start the same moan..

Starts to get a tad repetative after 20 years,no matter which forum it comes from. Surley we have moved on from this...

I think you're probably correct, I doubt there's much between Sheffield, Belfast, Cardiff or even Nottingham in terms of budget for next season.

I doubt there was much difference between the budgets last season either, but it was allegedly a source from Belfast who made accusations about Steelers having the largest EIHL budget ever, hence my comment.

As Ginger has correctly pointed out, hardly anybody looked at the Steelers squad at the start of last season and had them down as favourites, it was only after we started walking away with it that the accusations were forthcoming.....it came across as very sour grapes.

One of the funniest was Finny on The Inferno. After we beat Cardiff away I recall him mentioning he was sat there counting how many on the Steelers squad had AHL experience.

One of his own supporters then pointed out to him that Cardiff had exactly the same number of players with AHL experience. He wasn't giving up though, he then decided 30 games was a reasonable criteria for proper AHL experience and Sheffield were well ahead of Cardiff on that front.

If he'd have picked a full season of 70 games as the criteria, then Cardiff would have had more players, but that obviously didn't suit his narrative.

It was actually quite funny watching him squirm.

Regards

Doom

[Sully]

We can all create stories that suit a narrative.

I feel that injuries and staying injury free plays a big part., especially with Netminders. It must be frustrating if you can’t have consistent lines and systems if you’re having to constantly chop and change.

[Doom]

Despite the alleged noises from Belfast last season, I doubt their budget was much different to ours.

I suspect the reason they fell off the pace so badly was due to injuries and the unexplainable drop in form from Besko.

If you assume all the top teams play 12f and 6d, through a 54 game season that's 972 man games. My mate brought the figures out last week for Cardiff, Sheffield and Belfast in terms of what actually happened. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think Cardiff and Sheffield were high 800s, but Belfast were much further down in the low to mid 800s (he excluded Brit fill ins).

Injuries undoubtedly play a big part, although having cover and reacting quickly to injuries also helps.....we did that superbly last season.

Regards

Doom

[Doom]

Sam Tremblay signs for the Steeldogs.

Not a huge points scorer for Manchester, but top of their +/-.

He should be a very good players for the Dogs at that level and possible cover for us.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Despite the alleged noises from Belfast last season, I doubt their budget was much different to ours.

I suspect the reason they fell off the pace so badly was due to injuries and the unexplainable drop in form from Besko.

If you assume all the top teams play 12f and 6d, through a 54 game season that's 972 man games. My mate brought the figures out last week for Cardiff, Sheffield and Belfast in terms of what actually happened. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think Cardiff and Sheffield were high 800s, but Belfast were much further down in the low to mid 800s (he excluded Brit fill ins).

Injuries undoubtedly play a big part, although having cover and reacting quickly to injuries also helps.....we did that superbly last season.

Regards

Doom

Yeah Belfast really struggled due to Besko form. They did have a couple of key injuries (Cooper, Barriga) but equally did replace those players.

I also still maintain that Keefe is not a brilliant recruiter, and last year really did land some duds. He's not terrible, but I would argue Fox is a better recruiter, whilst maybe being slightly behind in coaching (although improving season on season)

No excuses this year for Belfast, obviously spent big (as have Sheffield and Cardiff) and brought the old faces back. If they have another slow start then it'll be interesting to see what happens.

[greeny]

Despite the alleged noises from Belfast last season, I doubt their budget was much different to ours.

I suspect the reason they fell off the pace so badly was due to injuries and the unexplainable drop in form from Besko.

If you assume all the top teams play 12f and 6d, through a 54 game season that's 972 man games. My mate brought the figures out last week for Cardiff, Sheffield and Belfast in terms of what actually happened. I can't remember the exact numbers, but I think Cardiff and Sheffield were high 800s, but Belfast were much further down in the low to mid 800s (he excluded Brit fill ins).

Injuries undoubtedly play a big part, although having cover and reacting quickly to injuries also helps.....we did that superbly last season.

Regards

Doom

Yeah Belfast really struggled due to Besko form. They did have a couple of key injuries (Cooper, Barriga) but equally did replace those players.

I also still maintain that Keefe is not a brilliant recruiter, and last year really did land some duds. He's not terrible, but I would argue Fox is a better recruiter, whilst maybe being slightly behind in coaching (although improving season on season)

No excuses this year for Belfast, obviously spent big (as have Sheffield and Cardiff) and brought the old faces back. If they have another slow start then it'll be interesting to see what happens.

Definately agree that fox is a top notch recruiter and good coach, keefe is a very good coach and would have him behind my bench all day long

[ginger]

Sam Tremblay signs for the Steeldogs.

Not a huge points scorer for Manchester, but top of their +/-.

He should be a very good players for the Dogs at that level and possible cover for us.

Regards

Doom

Tremendous signing for the Dogs. He'll top 80 points in the National.

Agree that he's also solid potential cover for us if need be. Potentially for CHL games too (since no import limit)?