Rumours 2025/26 Season

[ginger]

Rumour is Nick Ritchie to Nottingham. Definitely would be biggest on paper signing of the summer - NHL regular 3 seasons ago

[Doom]

Rumour is Nick Ritchie to Nottingham. Definitely would be biggest on paper signing of the summer - NHL regular 3 seasons ago

I was looking at that this morning and found it a difficult one to fathom.

On paper it should easily be the best signing in the league and make Panthers clear favourites.

There is however a question mark, even though he's a good age.

From NHL to a top league in Europe like Liiga is a natural progression when a players gets past his best.

But you'd think if he performed in Liiga he'd either be back there or moving to another top paying league like the KHL.

His numbers weren't great in Liiga, especially his +/-, so that coupled with him moving to Slovakia would suggest he's dropped off quite a bit.

I'd still be surprised if he came here and I'd probably have him down for 25 to 30 goals, but I don't think he'd be quite the dominant force his CV might suggest.....still a great pick up though.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Here's our final forward according to the usual rumour account on X

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/1 ... hen-harper

Will definitely take him. Assuming injury or general issues in Slovakia are the reason for less games last year. Everything else is a big old tick in the box.

[Doom]

Last season not the best, but not a complete disaster either.

Good numbers the previous season in Slovakia including strong +/-.

Based on EP, difficult to know his main position, but I'm hoping he's a centre and strong at faceoffs.

Any mention any where of his faceoff ability?

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Last season not the best, but not a complete disaster either.

Good numbers the previous season in Slovakia including strong +/-.

Based on EP, difficult to know his main position, but I'm hoping he's a centre and strong at faceoffs.

Any mention any where of his faceoff ability?

Regards

Doom

He's primarily played centre since coming to Europe apparently. Apparently decent face off % as well.

Slovakia is just weird - imports either seem to love it or hate it, and think it's a bit luck of the draw as to which. More horror stories out of there than anywhere else these days.

Golod was only at about 0.5 ppg in his handful of games there last year before joining us and he was a standout whilst here.

[ginger]

Also Kelly cup champ and playoff MVP in 2021.

[Doom]

If it is Harper, that probably gives us the following centres:

1. Pu
2. Harper
3. Dowd
4. Tremblay

I'm comfortable with that. Pu and Harper both sound like they'll be decent at faceoffs. We know Dowd can generally hold is own and Tremblay proved to be very strong.

As for the overall forward lines. My take is that we'll arguably have the weakest top line of the big 4, but with there being very little drop off to our 2nd and 3rd lines we'll have excellent strength in depth.

It's how Fox likes it, lines 1a, 1b and 1c. With Tremblay at centre on the 4th, I'd also expect that line to contribute.

Overall I'd say we're slightly ahead of last season on netminding, thanks to the number 2 position.

Slightly behind in defence, due to Kelly replacing Guimond.

Slightly ahead in the forwards due to the added depth.

Last season we were competing for the league title. With this squad of players I'd expect the same again, especially as we don't have the CHL distraction.

Regards

Doom

[tim123]

Last season not the best, but not a complete disaster either.

Good numbers the previous season in Slovakia including strong +/-.

Based on EP, difficult to know his main position, but I'm hoping he's a centre and strong at faceoffs.

Any mention any where of his faceoff ability?

Regards

Doom

He's primarily played centre since coming to Europe apparently. Apparently decent face off % as well.

Slovakia is just weird - imports either seem to love it or hate it, and think it's a bit luck of the draw as to which. More horror stories out of there than anywhere else these days.

Golod was only at about 0.5 ppg in his handful of games there last year before joining us and he was a standout whilst here.

In the 23/24 season in Slovakia:

Stephen Harper - 1.07 ppg in 28 games (14+16)

Scott Conway - 0.93 ppg in 42 games (14+25)

Not the best direct comparison, but a promising indication for sure!

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

[ginger]

Last season not the best, but not a complete disaster either.

Good numbers the previous season in Slovakia including strong +/-.

Based on EP, difficult to know his main position, but I'm hoping he's a centre and strong at faceoffs.

Any mention any where of his faceoff ability?

Regards

Doom

He's primarily played centre since coming to Europe apparently. Apparently decent face off % as well.

Slovakia is just weird - imports either seem to love it or hate it, and think it's a bit luck of the draw as to which. More horror stories out of there than anywhere else these days.

Golod was only at about 0.5 ppg in his handful of games there last year before joining us and he was a standout whilst here.

In the 23/24 season in Slovakia:

Stephen Harper - 1.07 ppg in 28 games (14+16)

Scott Conway - 0.93 ppg in 42 games (14+25)

Not the best direct comparison, but a promising indication for sure!

Sent from my Pixel 7a using Tapatalk

Yeah his Slovakian stats are strong. His face off % is also really high last year, albeit with a limited number of games - in the 65% region on about 130 draws. Obviously expect that to be slightly lower over a full season but I suspect he's likely to be very good in that department too.

Apparently he's a bit more direct, big body type who gets to the net. If so, I like it - a bit different from what we have so far which is always useful to give different looks to the offense.

[Doom]

His face off % is also really high last year, albeit with a limited number of games - in the 65% region on about 130 draws. Obviously expect that to be slightly lower over a full season but I suspect he's likely to be very good in that department too.

Apparently he's a bit more direct, big body type who gets to the net. If so, I like it - a bit different from what we have so far which is always useful to give different looks to the offense.

I'd take both of those as a positive.

Another strong faceoff centre would be a real bonus, especially now we've lost Simpson.

It would be a big advantage if we could win more than 50% of the powerplay and penalty kill faceoffs.

I also like the idea of a centre getting into the dirty areas. I've no problem with the skilled guys on the perimeter, but sometimes you need something a bit different.

It changes from week to week, but today I think I'll go with:

Seitz/Pu/Balmas
Jasper/Harper/Gentile
Juusola/Dowd/Tait
Neilson/Tremblay/Shudra

I'd be very happy with that as a set of forwards.

Tremblay on the 4th, but could quite easily move up the lines if required.

Regards

Doom