Player signings thread - Sheffield...

[greeny]

Two big sets of shoes to fill, both Vallerand and Watling did not disappoint at all (still think of Watling scoring twice against Belfast with 1 good arm).

Hopefully some news soon on their replacements.

In terms of last year's team, still unconfirmed:

De Filippo (although Fox's interview on Greenfield suggests he's gone)
Diffley
Vainio
Sauce (looks Coventry bound)
Balmas
Golod
Ciampini
Leavens
Whistle
Simpson

I suspect Ciampini maybe the next confirmed retirement, and I suspect Fox will want to try and upgrade Leavens (even though I think injury did hamper him last year). Can't see Whistle going anywhere except Belfast now, so forward wise I think only Balmas and Golod are still possible returnees. Simpson is an unknown - would definitely take as 3C. Personally think Balmas is a done deal, but not sure on Golod (crossing everything).

D I think Diffley is probably the one who may still return, although I think we need a slightly different style of D for that last spot.

There's a few players who scored well in some of the commonly recruited from leagues who are not yet confirmed for any team next year, who I would hope we've looked at and enquired about. No idea if we have so won't chuck names out as it's fairly meaningless at this point. As per Simms tweet we've got at least 4 signed but not announced, so guessing we'll find out in a month or so!

Diffley, golod, simpson and balmas would do nicely,,,,,shall see soon

[Doom]

I'm surprised by the Watling news.

I wouldn't have had an issue if we re-signed him, but even if we didn't, I still thought he had enough quality to continue playing at EIHL level.

I guess either injuries or a job offer outside hockey has made this decision for him.

A very skilled and exciting player to watch. It was his signing prior to the Grandslam season that really got me believing that we were putting a quality team together.

Good luck to him in his future endeavours.

Regards

Doom

[Doom]

Two big sets of shoes to fill, both Vallerand and Watling did not disappoint at all (still think of Watling scoring twice against Belfast with 1 good arm).

Hopefully some news soon on their replacements.

In terms of last year's team, still unconfirmed:

De Filippo (although Fox's interview on Greenfield suggests he's gone)
Diffley
Vainio
Sauce (looks Coventry bound)
Balmas
Golod
Ciampini
Leavens
Whistle
Simpson

I suspect Ciampini maybe the next confirmed retirement, and I suspect Fox will want to try and upgrade Leavens (even though I think injury did hamper him last year). Can't see Whistle going anywhere except Belfast now, so forward wise I think only Balmas and Golod are still possible returnees. Simpson is an unknown - would definitely take as 3C. Personally think Balmas is a done deal, but not sure on Golod (crossing everything).

D I think Diffley is probably the one who may still return, although I think we need a slightly different style of D for that last spot.

There's a few players who scored well in some of the commonly recruited from leagues who are not yet confirmed for any team next year, who I would hope we've looked at and enquired about. No idea if we have so won't chuck names out as it's fairly meaningless at this point. As per Simms tweet we've got at least 4 signed but not announced, so guessing we'll find out in a month or so!

Diffley, golod, simpson and balmas would do nicely,,,,,shall see soon

I'd definitely take Golod, Simpson and Balmas.

Diffley I'm 50/50 on. Did a great job in the gs season, but didn't quite hit those heights last year.

Regards

Doom

[paul johnston]

Where would Simpson fit in the line up?
I have Dowd and Tremblay as third and fourth line centre.

[ginger]

Where would Simpson fit in the line up?
I have Dowd and Tremblay as third and fourth line centre.

Dowd switches to wing, or splits face offs like he did with Scott Allen (so always taking strong side draw)

[paul johnston]

Where would Simpson fit in the line up?
I have Dowd and Tremblay as third and fourth line centre.

Dowd switches to wing, or splits face offs like he did with Scott Allen (so always taking strong side draw)

Im not seeing Dowd playing on the wing. If so, are RW for the year...

1st line. Gentile
2nd. Tait
3rd Dowd.
4th. Nielson.

Or will Tait play LW.

[ginger]

Where would Simpson fit in the line up?
I have Dowd and Tremblay as third and fourth line centre.

Dowd switches to wing, or splits face offs like he did with Scott Allen (so always taking strong side draw)

Im not seeing Dowd playing on the wing. If so, are RW for the year...

1st line. Gentile
2nd. Tait
3rd Dowd.
4th. Nielson.

Or will Tait play LW.

Suspect it's still a bit fluid on where exactly everyone will land with the exception of the 4th line.

With Seitz and Jasper I have it looking something like this:

Seitz - unknown - unknown/Balmas/Golod
Juusola - Jasper - Tait/Gentile
Unknown/Tait/Dowd - Dowd/unknown - Tait/Gentile/Dowd
Shudra - Tremblay - Neilson

There's also still the Whistle factor that's unknown.

But if Balmas comes back I could easily see him and Gentile playing together and Seitz potentially moving around.

Definitely depends on who the final 3 import forwards are assuming Seitz and Jasper are nailed on

[Doom]

Maybe it was the case of wrong place at the wrong time last season for Jasper, but based on his declining numbers, I'd be worried if he was as high as 2nd line, although suspect he'll be top two lines.

It would have the feel of the Leavens signing. OK for the lower lines, but not a player who will make a big difference.

How about:

Seitz/Jasper/Balmas
Golod/Simpson/Gentile
Juusola/Dowd/Tait
Shudra/Tremblay/Neilson

Logic behind this would be Simpson/Golod played very well together. Gentile looks like a guy who could score with the right players around him, so put him on this line.

Juusola and Tait would provide a line with a lot of speed.

Seitz and Balmas are both top line players, so put them together. I don't think we have a proper 1st line centre with that group of players, so may as well throw Jasper up there.

I'm not convinced by Jasper, but he needs to fit in somewhere.

I think this would give us a fairly weak top line, a strong 2nd and 3rd lines and a middle of the road 4th.

Its a lot of assumption, but I think I'd be OK with that line-up, although I'd be happier if we had a top 1st line centre in place of Jasper.

All guesswork at this stage.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Jasper has a similar CV to Heard (they were on the same DEL roster one year), except Heard went back to the Coast and Jasper went to Czechia. He was 7th in team scoring at Mountfield and 3rd I think in +/- so it definitely looks more like wrong place/wrong time in Vienna, whereas Heard came here and put up a PPG in Glasgow.

I think Jasper has potential to be absolutely fine in a top 6 role. Still a wait and see but I don't think it's as much of a risk as when I first looked at his stats.

Having said that, I'm crossing everything for Golod. He was easily in the best 5 forwards in the league last year (Fossier, Daoust, Goodwin and then Seitz/Regush).

[paul johnston]

Maybe it was the case of wrong place at the wrong time last season for Jasper, but based on his declining numbers, I'd be worried if he was as high as 2nd line, although suspect he'll be top two lines.

It would have the feel of the Leavens signing. OK for the lower lines, but not a player who will make a big difference.

How about:

Seitz/Jasper/Balmas
Golod/Simpson/Gentile
Juusola/Dowd/Tait
Shudra/Tremblay/Neilson

Logic behind this would be Simpson/Golod played very well together. Gentile looks like a guy who could score with the right players around him, so put him on this line.

Juusola and Tait would provide a line with a lot of speed.

Seitz and Balmas are both top line players, so put them together. I don't think we have a proper 1st line centre with that group of players, so may as well throw Jasper up there.

I'm not convinced by Jasper, but he needs to fit in somewhere.

I think this would give us a fairly weak top line, a strong 2nd and 3rd lines and a middle of the road 4th.

Its a lot of assumption, but I think I'd be OK with that line-up, although I'd be happier if we had a top 1st line centre in place of Jasper.

All guesswork at this stage.

Regards

Doom

Simpson way too high up the lines . Third, or possibly alternating with Tremblay between the 3 and 4th lines. His puck handling and passing/distribution just isn't there to be higher to feed his wingers.