Rumours - Season 24/25

[ginger]

Signing announcement tomorrow according to Yorkshire Post article on Norton signing.

Guessing Ciampini, but could be a different returnee

[greeny]

Good bet its a returnee

[Rendo]

Never known an off season so quiet on rumours

[ginger]

Ben Betker rumoured to Steelers from HK Poprad. 6'6 D man, played last few seasons in Europe (mainly Slovakia and Austria), but also has AHL experience and just the right side of 30.

Looks a very solid signing if true. Posted by one of the rumour accounts on X that usually gets more right than wrong

[teeLIST]

Ben Betker rumoured to Steelers from HK Poprad. 6'6 D man, played last few seasons in Europe (mainly Slovakia and Austria), but also has AHL experience and just the right side of 30.

Looks a very solid signing if true. Posted by one of the rumour accounts on X that usually gets more right than wrong

Had a few conversations on Betker. No issues with the player or his ability, it's more the fit, particularly with how we have played under Fox.
Certainly not objecting to change as it's how teams evolve, just my initial view.

[ginger]

Ben Betker rumoured to Steelers from HK Poprad. 6'6 D man, played last few seasons in Europe (mainly Slovakia and Austria), but also has AHL experience and just the right side of 30.

Looks a very solid signing if true. Posted by one of the rumour accounts on X that usually gets more right than wrong

Had a few conversations on Betker. No issues with the player or his ability, it's more the fit, particularly with how we have played under Fox.
Certainly not objecting to change as it's how teams evolve, just my initial view.

What concerns you on fit? He's big, but as we've seen with Simpson that doesn't mean he can't skate. He also has put up very reasonable points regularly in the Slovakian league so obviously has something about him in transition. Plus minus is mixed but hard to really take anything from that as probably more a measure of lines/teams he was on than him individually.

[Doom]

With defensemen in particular the first thing I look for is the +/- relative to the rest of the team and therefore sort the player stats by +/-.

Last season with Poprad he was 5th on the team, the season before he was bottom.

The other seasons it really is a mixed bag, sometimes he's at the lower end and others he's near the upper end.

The thing I liked about Nevalainen when he joined us was that he came top of the +/- the season before in Norway.

Obviously it's far from a precise science, but I always find it the best way of judging a defenseman when I've not seen him play.

In the case of Betker, I can't say I'm thrilled looking at those +/-, but it doesn't always follow they won't perform in our league. Last season my biggest concern in defence was Tansey, because his +/- were more of a mixed bag than the other players....he didn't turn out bad.

If we have signed Betker I'll trust AF's judgement, he has plenty of credit in the bank at the moment.....at least until October.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Far too many variables in +/- which is why it's not something the stats guys really look at anymore when assessing player metrics - ice time, match ups, line mates, goalies, the fact that you as an individual could do everything right and still end up a minus.

Without video and/or advanced metrics, the quality of the league would be what I'd go off and longevity - he's been in the Slovak league for a while (with a couple of hops over to the ICEHL), would suggest he's been playing consistently well enough to keep getting contracts. CV looks really solid. He might not be a top 2 D, but he's a 4th/5th D on a top team in the EIHL just based on Elite Prospects.

[Doom]

You say that Ginger, but you listen to how often Fox mentions players +/- in interviews, so he certainly considers them relevant.

Of course you do also have to look at the quality of the league the player has performed in, but I'd personally be more excited signing a defenseman who has consistently been near the top of the +/- in a league like Slovakia than one who has been at the lower end.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

You say that Ginger, but you listen to how often Fox mentions players +/- in interviews, so he certainly considers them relevant.

Of course you do also have to look at the quality of the league the player has performed in, but I'd personally be more excited signing a defenseman who has consistently been near the top of the +/- in a league like Slovakia than one who has been at the lower end.

Regards

Doom

It's a bonus and nice to have, also very much a stat that coaches will talk about when positive but tend to ignore when not.

It's an easy stat to understand for majority of people rather than looking at Corsi, xG etc

From a judging player perspective, it's really not a good stat, especially in isolation. Viewed alongside the more advanced stats it can help provide so more context, but from what we get via elite prospects which is all we have to go off, I wouldn't even look at it. If he was bouncing around a different euro league every season, I would maybe take a bit more of a look, but given he's stayed in the same league for a large chunk of his European career suggests he's strong at that level