Rumours 2025/26 Season

[Morpheous]

Seen the name Colby McAuley Mentioned tonight as a rumoured signing

Don’t know much about him, why did he leave Belfast? 5th in his team in scoring last year in Del2, but lead his team in scoring year before in echl, looks like he plays with an edge, and doesn’t mind dropping the gloves if needed which is something I personally think we’ve lacked a lot last few seasons.

[Morpheous]

Just reading Belfast fans thoughts when he left looks like most wanted to keep him

https://x.com/belfastgiants/status/1601 ... lKqvdbXniw

[ginger]

He, allegedly, was a bit too friendly with his teammates wives and girlfriends.

[Doom]

He, allegedly, was a bit too friendly with his teammates wives and girlfriends.

I remember that, but didn’t realise it was McAuley.

His points numbers 2 years ago in ECHL look quite good, but then I looked at his +/- and he was 2nd worst on the team with -18.

Last season in DEL 2 his numbers are awful for an import forward. He managed 10 + 17 from 48 games.

Jamal Watson, who has signed for Guildford in defence, was on the same team and scored 10 + 27 from 50 games.

McAuley was -14 and Watson -1.

I really hope this rumour turns out to be nothing more than that.

Regards

Doom

[Doom]

So I would settle for these 5...

Eamon McAdam
Cliff Pu
Jack Daugherty
Nick Seitz
Evan Jasper

If it is those 5, I'd say we have a slight downgrade on defence, even though I really like the look of Daugherty.

Daugherty/Southorn v Diffley/Sauce - Possibly a slight upgrade, but not a lot in it. I really liked what Sauce brought to our team and even last season he was 2nd on our +/-.

Kelly v Guimond is a downgrade in my book.

In the forwards it should be an upgrade, especially in our depth, but I think the final forward is now key. It either needs to be a top 6 centre or Golod. If it's McAuley, then I see him as bottom 6 and overall I think we've upgraded very slightly, mainly due to Tremblay for Ulrick.

McAdam would be an upgrade as 2nd netminder.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

I've not seen the Macaulay rumour except for a slightly tongue in cheek post on X, and nothing through the usually reliable sources. Think it's probably not correct.

I think the list above (McAdam, Dougherty, Seitz, Jasper) is correct, but I think last forward isn't done yet (likely waiting for some more fallout from NHL/AHL free agency and guys end up looking elsewhere). Also likely we look for a spare import, suspect on D, which gives option of Tansey going to forward.

Dougherty on paper is an upgrade, Southorn maybe slight downgrade, but only due to the one season in France. Kelly is a downgrade on Guimond but with high potential so needs to take a step forward next year.

Forwards we looked stacked with just the rumours included. One more space that we could fill - I wonder if we'll look more for a power forward in the Scott Allen mould, rather than an out and out scorer. Think that adds a bit more size to the lines and if can score at about 0.7 ppg that's probably enough in terms of firepower

[ginger]

Seems to be prevailing feeling on X that Diffley is also returning, so would give a spare import D.

Certainly would give options and maybe some insurance if Southorn has declined significantly as opposed to just a weird season in France.

[ginger]

Nolan Yaremko to Cardiff. Looks ok, and definitely got ppg potential but not great stats last year 0.67 PPG in DEL2. His team weren't great though and looks like he probably got an injury which limited his games played.

If their other forward to sign is similar, then they're probably the underdog of the big 4. Could be a bit of Thommo magic and all comes together, or they could be in a race for 4th with Coventry/Guildford/Glasgow.

Hard to say, and they've been a thorn in our side at times, especially in Cardiff.

[Doom]

I saw the rumour regarding Yaremko earlier today and thought he'd be a great signing for a team in our league.

I like the look of Gentile and Yaremko out scored him at USports level.

He also has good numbers at AHL and ECHL level. His DEL 2 numbers aren't great, although he is 2nd on the team for +/-.

This is a bit controversial, but if he does sign for Cardiff, I could see him out scoring Pu.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

I saw the rumour regarding Yaremko earlier today and thought he'd be a great signing for a team in our league.

I like the look of Gentile and Yaremko out scored him at USports level.

He also has good numbers at AHL and ECHL level. His DEL 2 numbers aren't great, although he is 2nd on the team for +/-.

This is a bit controversial, but if he does sign for Cardiff, I could see him out scoring Pu.

Regards

Doom

His AHL scoring is not dissimilar to Pu, and I think Pu has a few more games. Also, Pu went junior to the A, and then went to the K, rather than going back to uni.

In comparable leagues last year, Pu had better PPG rate.

Yaremko doesn't look bad, but Pu has more games/points/PPG rate in higher leagues.

Given the choice on paper, Pu is the better of the two.