Rumours - Season 24/25

[ginger]

Heard Watling and Diffley both returning. Not sure how reliable, but crossing fingers!

Very reliable source! Any more to add?

Balmas. Will be last returnee.

Then I think most new ones have been floating around the usual Twitter rumour accounts and mentioned here - Daniel Leavens, Angelo Miceli, Sam Tremblay (spare import) and Joel Janutainen are forwards to be announced. Ben Betker will be one of the D men. No idea on backup import N/M or the final D

[Doom]

No return for Vally then?

I did hear that he wanted to wait until the end of June to consider his options, because he didn't like the schedule.

Whilst I'd be concerned about his age and another injury, there's no doubting the quality he brings to the team, especially on the powerplay.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

No return for Vally then?

I did hear that he wanted to wait until the end of June to consider his options, because he didn't like the schedule.

Whilst I'd be concerned about his age and another injury, there's no doubting the quality he brings to the team, especially on the powerplay.

Regards

Doom

Yeah, I think he's going. Not sure where, but we'll see. I'd be shocked if he ended up in EIHL, I suspect Alps might be more likely, or maybe France.

Definitely can still put the puck in the net, but I think Fox probably not wanting to push for one season too many

[mark]

Yeah, I think he's going. Not sure where, but we'll see. I'd be shocked if he ended up in EIHL, I suspect Alps might be more likely, or maybe France.

Definitely can still put the puck in the net, but I think Fox probably not wanting to push for one season too many

Agreed, as much as he's been a fantastic player for us I felt he wasn't at his very best last season, still lethal on the PP but 5 on 5 he wasn't having the same impact, at a guess I'd assume he was on a decent wage so I'd be hoping for a quality replacement should he move on.

[ginger]

Yeah, I think he's going. Not sure where, but we'll see. I'd be shocked if he ended up in EIHL, I suspect Alps might be more likely, or maybe France.

Definitely can still put the puck in the net, but I think Fox probably not wanting to push for one season too many

Agreed, as much as he's been a fantastic player for us I felt he wasn't at his very best last season, still lethal on the PP but 5 on 5 he wasn't having the same impact, at a guess I'd assume he was on a decent wage so I'd be hoping for a quality replacement should he move on.

Leavens/Janutainen I think are Nicholls/Vallerand replacements, with Miceli effectively replacing Allen. Neumann spot will be used on the other import D.

I personally think that gives us a great group of forwards, obviously some unknowns with new players coming in but all 3 have CVs which suggest very good players. ICEHL has a lot lower import numbers so they are expected to perform if they want to stay there. Both Leavens and Miceli have multiple seasons there, with Leavens having better PPG than Ciampini in that league.

Janutainen will have some question over injury the last 2 years, but season before he was roughly at 0.5 PPG in Liiga. In a very low scoring, high level league it suggests excellent potential to be a high performer in the EIHL. He'll be similar to Juusola in the fact his skating, defensive game and puck handling will be top notch. I'd expect at least very similar points output.

Betker looks a really good addition on D. Again, multiple years in good leagues. Big, and not afraid to drop the gloves. Very interested to see who the final D will be

[Doom]

With regards to Vally, he actually finished the season as our top goalscorer, which was very impressive considering where he was at around Christmas. In 2024 I suspect he was scoring at well over 30 goal a season pace.

Obviously he had a bad injury and it would have been a risk bringing him back, but if the names noted above are our replacements, I think we've lost a lot of goals compared to last season.

Vally v Janatuinen - Difficult to call because of the lack of game time over the last couple of seasons for Janatuinen, but I'd go for a 10 goal drop. Vally scored around 25 last season, Janatuinen looks a little less potent than Juusola, so I'd have to go around 15.

I do like the Finns though, they've been very good for us over the years.

Nicholls v Leavens - This one looks about a break even to me. Leavens scored about 1 in 4 in ICEHL, which I'd say equates to around 15 in our league. He was double that the previous season, so maybe we could be looking slightly higher. Nicholls scored 18, so I don't see much difference, possibly Leavens will be slightly more potent.

Allen v Miceli - In terms of goalscoring, Allen had a poor season going at around 15 goals.

Miceli was 1 in 4 in ICEHL, so I'd say he's around 15 as well. Break even in terms of goals, although I hope one of the new guys is as strong as Allen at faceoffs.

Neumann v Ulrick - Needless to say this is a big downgrade. Although Neumann was only at 15 goal pace last season, I'd be surprised if Ulrick scores more than 5, so that's a 10 goal drop.

Overall I'd say we're down about 20 goals, although I think we'll be very strong defensively again.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Think you're underestimating on goals for Leavens - Sam Herr scored 30 here to then go to 19 in 48 games in ICEHL and he finished behind Ciampini in points.

But then this is the joy of stats - doesn't tell you anything about line mates, coaching strategies, line match ups etc.

Agree Janutainen a bit harder to read, but I'd be shocked if he doesn't achieve similar output to Juusola.

Miceli probably about right at 15 goals, he's also listed as playing C, as well as wing so potentially another draw taker.

I wouldn't be shocked if we saw Simpson take some 2nd line minutes, especially early in the season as no doubt try to find the right combinations. I feel like he's got the tools to do it, so might be something that gets looked at

[Doom]

Predicting goals scored is certainly not a precise science, but I'd say over time I've had a lot more hits than misses.

There have however been a few howlers over the years, probably due to how players adapt to our league.

A couple of example would be:

JJ Piccinich - Generally he was around 1 in 5 in the ECHL, so when he came here I had him down for 15.....he scored over 30.

Josh Shalla - When Nottingham signed him he was scoring around 1 in 2 in the ECHL. Based on that I would have had him between 25 and 30 goals.....when Notts released him he'd scored 3 in 26.

He went back to the ECHL and started banging them in again.

I guess some players are just more suited to the bigger ice.

I'm sure when Fox recruits he'll look on Elite Prospects, check out their points, do a filter on their +/- to see where they finished on the team etc.

However, he also has the luxury of videos and will speak to other coaches/players to gauge how a player will fit into our league/team.

Some like Piccinich seem to suit the bigger ice, others don't....the best coaches will spot that.

All we can do is play with the stats at hand.....it helps to pass the time in summer with no hockey available

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Predicting goals scored is certainly not a precise science, but I'd say over time I've had a lot more hits than misses.

There have however been a few howlers over the years, probably due to how players adapt to our league.

A couple of example would be:

JJ Piccinich - Generally he was around 1 in 5 in the ECHL, so when he came here I had him down for 15.....he scored over 30.

Josh Shalla - When Nottingham signed him he was scoring around 1 in 2 in the ECHL. Based on that I would have had him between 25 and 30 goals.....when Notts released him he'd scored 3 in 26.

He went back to the ECHL and started banging them in again.

I guess some players are just more suited to the bigger ice.

I'm sure when Fox recruits he'll look on Elite Prospects, check out their points, do a filter on their +/- to see where they finished on the team etc.

However, he also has the luxury of videos and will speak to other coaches/players to gauge how a player will fit into our league/team.

Some like Piccinich seem to suit the bigger ice, others don't....the best coaches will spot that.

All we can do is play with the stats at hand.....it helps to pass the time in summer with no hockey available

Regards

Doom

The video resources available now are so far on from what they were. Fox and all others will often get full videos of multiple games to watch on potential signings (certainly if coming from decent leagues). It's definitely no longer a case of just word of mouth/trusting agents etc.

Probably why generally recruitment across the league is better than it was, why we are getting more 'hidden gem' types being found by teams and probably (Belfast aside) less mid season turnover. Now generally seems to only be 1/2 players changed per team per season which given the import numbers I'd say is pretty good

[BontSteeler]

Ben Betker

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/102378/ben-betker