Indeed. There's been an absolute load of guff written about Vallerand. He's had 1 bad season in 4 EIHL seasons, and he didn't start the year here, and had injuries. Probably a fair bit of anti Steelers bias in some comments, but people will absolutely sing the praises of Martin, Goodwin etc (and rightly - they are great players) but Vallerand averages more points than all of them per game.BontSteeler wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 1:43 pmI've said it before & I'll say it again....ginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 9:46 amAgreed - another forward like Watling and I'd have no qualms over those 2 plus Vallerand as a top line. I know Vallerand didn't have his best year last year, but he's still 2nd overall in PPG in the EIHL all time (for players that have played over 100 games). 1st is Conway.
Vallerand will be Steelers top goalscorer this season, you put him with the right players (Watling & new 1st liner) & he will put up the points.
The completed squad - Your verdict
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ginger
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ginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:38 pmIndeed. There's been an absolute load of guff written about Vallerand. He's had 1 bad season in 4 EIHL seasons, and he didn't start the year here, and had injuries. Probably a fair bit of anti Steelers bias in some comments, but people will absolutely sing the praises of Martin, Goodwin etc (and rightly - they are great players) but Vallerand averages more points than all of them per game.BontSteeler wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 1:43 pmI've said it before & I'll say it again....ginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 9:46 amAgreed - another forward like Watling and I'd have no qualms over those 2 plus Vallerand as a top line. I know Vallerand didn't have his best year last year, but he's still 2nd overall in PPG in the EIHL all time (for players that have played over 100 games). 1st is Conway.
Vallerand will be Steelers top goalscorer this season, you put him with the right players (Watling & new 1st liner) & he will put up the points.
It amazes me how many people was saying don’t re-sign Vally. Clueless imo.
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ginger
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Yep, absolutely.Morpheous wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:44 pmginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:38 pmIndeed. There's been an absolute load of guff written about Vallerand. He's had 1 bad season in 4 EIHL seasons, and he didn't start the year here, and had injuries. Probably a fair bit of anti Steelers bias in some comments, but people will absolutely sing the praises of Martin, Goodwin etc (and rightly - they are great players) but Vallerand averages more points than all of them per game.BontSteeler wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 1:43 pmI've said it before & I'll say it again....ginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 9:46 amAgreed - another forward like Watling and I'd have no qualms over those 2 plus Vallerand as a top line. I know Vallerand didn't have his best year last year, but he's still 2nd overall in PPG in the EIHL all time (for players that have played over 100 games). 1st is Conway.
Vallerand will be Steelers top goalscorer this season, you put him with the right players (Watling & new 1st liner) & he will put up the points.
It amazes me how many people was saying don’t re-sign Vally. Clueless imo.
If he declines this season then fair enough, might be his last year at a top team in the EIHL. Doubt it though. My guess is he'll be over a PPG again.
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Johnny777
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My main concern at present is apart from Tansey, we don’t really seem to have much size once again, shudra and whistle have abit of weight to them along with Petgrave but none offer much protection if/when things get physical, so do home 1 if not 2 of the remaining signings have a physical edge to their game as although Saucerman isn’t tiny in build, again doesn’t seem that side to him where he will act as a deterrent and Cardiff and Belfast have been the most successful teams of late and both had the scope to be as physical as anyone in the league when needed
For me the concern was re-signing too many of last seasons squad which clearly ran out of steam in the new year and I put that down to the age of the squad.Morpheous wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:44 pmginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 2:38 pmIndeed. There's been an absolute load of guff written about Vallerand. He's had 1 bad season in 4 EIHL seasons, and he didn't start the year here, and had injuries. Probably a fair bit of anti Steelers bias in some comments, but people will absolutely sing the praises of Martin, Goodwin etc (and rightly - they are great players) but Vallerand averages more points than all of them per game.BontSteeler wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 1:43 pmI've said it before & I'll say it again....ginger wrote: ↑Wed Jul 26, 2023 9:46 amAgreed - another forward like Watling and I'd have no qualms over those 2 plus Vallerand as a top line. I know Vallerand didn't have his best year last year, but he's still 2nd overall in PPG in the EIHL all time (for players that have played over 100 games). 1st is Conway.
Vallerand will be Steelers top goalscorer this season, you put him with the right players (Watling & new 1st liner) & he will put up the points.
It amazes me how many people was saying don’t re-sign Vally. Clueless imo.
The only players on my definite re-sign list (imports) were Greenfield, Petgrave, Nevalainen and Neumann.
The rest I was concerned about having too many ageing players on the team. Vally has been a fantastic player in our league, but let's be honest, last season he looked a shadow of the player we'd seen before. Was it just a blip or a case of him losing that extra yard of speed and no longer being able to make space to get a clean shot away? - I've seen that so many times before with the likes of PC Drouin, Kent Simpson (3rd time) etc.
Hopefully it's just a blip and Vally still has the speed to cause teams problems, but I can understand why people might be a little concerned.
I'm far more relaxed now with the likes of Vally, Ciampini and possibly Allen all returning, because it looks like we're going to be filling in around them with real quality, so we won't be as reliant on ageing legs.
In a couple of weeks I've gone from feeling negative towards next season, to being far more positive. That's because of the signings of Petgrave, Nevalainen and Watling, with the news that we're also intending to use a Uni package to bring in another 1st line player.
It's all good for me at the moment......until they reveal Kristo as our new 1st line player.
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Jayboy
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Conformation of 9 new faces in...
We will have nine new faces, 10 if you include Cole, for camp so that intense two week period is crucial for us. The four games will be important so all the guys get a good feeling on the ice and get back into the stride of things
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If I've counted correctly, that means one more player returning.Jayboy wrote: ↑Mon Jul 31, 2023 6:51 pmConformation of 9 new faces in...
We will have nine new faces, 10 if you include Cole, for camp so that intense two week period is crucial for us. The four games will be important so all the guys get a good feeling on the ice and get back into the stride of things
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Looking at Steelers roster page we currently have 7 new faces including Shudra.
8. New back up netminder
9. Juusola?
10 New 1st line forward (Hopefully)
Returning player - Possibly Allen? I can't think there would be any other import forward returning, especially now Kristo has signed with the Blaze.
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ginger
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Would definitely make sense for Allen to be the other returnee. Second line of him, Neumann and Ciampini is pretty good - you'd have to be happy if they replicated last year's output.
First line of Watling and Vallerand+ new import. If in a similar class (on paper) to Watling then that's a good top 6.
First line of Watling and Vallerand+ new import. If in a similar class (on paper) to Watling then that's a good top 6.
From the Steelers website (31st July).......
Head coach Aaron Fox believes he could be just a day away from completing his 2023-24 roster for the Steelers
“We are close” he said “maybe even just a day away”
Steelers still have two goalies and three forwards to announce, with visa and work permit paperwork well underway “It’s been a busy summer and hopefully we are close to the end of the recruitment process” said Fox “It will be nice when the roster is complete and then we can focus on training camp ahead of the two exhibition games against Nottingham and Cardiff (Saturday 9th and Saturday 16th September at the Arena)
On his final signing Fox confirmed “well it’s a forward, we have had the goaltending situation sorted for a while. The offer has been made and we believe it is acceptable, the player is just weighing up some other options, we will know one way or the other within 24/48 hours”
Aaron Fox
“We will have nine new faces, 10 if you include Cole, for camp so that intense two week period is crucial for us. The four games will be important so all the guys get a good feeling on the ice and get back into the stride of things
“Speaking to all the guys old and new, they are all excited to arrive and get going. Things are in place back in Sheffield as far as housing which is always important.
“We have many of the working visa’s through and are waiting on just a few more
“In no time at all we will be on the ice and hard at it”
Steelers have confirmed that there won’t be any signing announcements this week.
Head coach Aaron Fox believes he could be just a day away from completing his 2023-24 roster for the Steelers
“We are close” he said “maybe even just a day away”
Steelers still have two goalies and three forwards to announce, with visa and work permit paperwork well underway “It’s been a busy summer and hopefully we are close to the end of the recruitment process” said Fox “It will be nice when the roster is complete and then we can focus on training camp ahead of the two exhibition games against Nottingham and Cardiff (Saturday 9th and Saturday 16th September at the Arena)
On his final signing Fox confirmed “well it’s a forward, we have had the goaltending situation sorted for a while. The offer has been made and we believe it is acceptable, the player is just weighing up some other options, we will know one way or the other within 24/48 hours”
Aaron Fox
“We will have nine new faces, 10 if you include Cole, for camp so that intense two week period is crucial for us. The four games will be important so all the guys get a good feeling on the ice and get back into the stride of things
“Speaking to all the guys old and new, they are all excited to arrive and get going. Things are in place back in Sheffield as far as housing which is always important.
“We have many of the working visa’s through and are waiting on just a few more
“In no time at all we will be on the ice and hard at it”
Steelers have confirmed that there won’t be any signing announcements this week.