Steelers signings and departures

[ginger]

Watling was late twenties when he signed and probably near his peak.

Archambault is 33 and clearly on the downward slope.

I see this as a Pu/Jasper/Southorn type signing. Decent enough player, but not of the quality to put us ahead of Belfast (that's the goal for me).

We're going to require some top level signings to get ahead of Belfast, Archambault falls middle of the road for me rather than top level.

Regards

Doom

Sorry, I'm not seeing him move down leagues? He came over to Europe to Slovakia, went for a year in ICEHL, back to Slovakia, then short stint in Czechia before back to Slovakia - only reason he goes to France mid season is due to issues at the team in Slovakia and was probably an available option mid season. He's essentially spent all his time in Europe in leagues of similar/slightly higher quality than here.

Southorn clearly dropped down leagues in his CV (full seasons), but don't see that really in Archambault CV. His PPG output even on half a season puts him in top 20 in Slovakia last year, and really there's only about 6 or 7 players who really pushed it higher (some with limited games). He had scored at a higher rate in previous Slovakian stints but that could be due to quality of team mates (or maybe a lack of team off ice issues).

[Jayboy]

I don't see any down side to this guy and his stats... only maybe his age.. which is no doubt why we have him.. as always with players its a wait and see.. but aren't they always.. his stats scream a decent player maybe on the slow final career journey...but we have had many of those types of players before that have lit the league up for the time we have them.. I dont think its fair we right a player off Purley down to his age.. not yet anyway..

Jayboy

[ginger]

I don't see any down side to this guy and his stats... only maybe his age.. which is no doubt why we have him.. as always with players its a wait and see.. but aren't they always.. his stats scream a decent player maybe on the slow final career journey...but we have had many of those types of players before that have lit the league up for the time we have them.. I dont think its fair we right a player off Purley down to his age.. not yet anyway..

Jayboy

Age is much less a factor now than it was even 10 years ago - guys are so much better at taking care of themselves. It still happens, but there's just no obvious downturn in Archambaults CV/stats.

Look at Dowd - 37 and still a ppg player roughly

[greeny]

Not fussed about stats/.age etc , but just how they perform and gel on the ice and only time will tell , been dissapointed sometimes in past when certain players have been signed with big c/v etc only to not show up on the ice, hopefully some gems can found,,,,,

[Jayboy]

Not fussed about stats/.age etc , but just how they perform and gel on the ice and only time will tell , been dissapointed sometimes in past when certain players have been signed with big c/v etc only to not show up on the ice, hopefully some gems can found,,,,,

The other side of that coin is the amount of players with had that have truly surprised us and shone in our teams over the years despite having what many described as a distinct average CV when they arrived... Few saw Sam Trembley as anything special when he arrived from Storm on a two way with the Steeldogs.

And when Cormier was rumoured in for Petgrave, nobody could forecast the kind of player we would end up with, and look how he has turned out...

[Doom]

To me he looks like a 15 goal player, maybe very slightly higher.

He scored at 1 in 3 in France which I'd suggest is a slightly weaker league than the EIHL and 1 in 4 in Slovakia which is slightly better than the EIHL.

Not a signing to get me excited and I certainly think we'll need some serious quality to add to our top 6 if we want to topple Belfast.

As others have said though, until he plays we won't know how well he adapts to our league.

Our top two centres are going to be crucial.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Look at how many assists he racks up though. He's probably more a playmaker than goal scorer which Fox alluded to in his interview.

His ppg average in Slovakia is better than all but 2 recent imports in this league with recent experience over there. Those 2 are Chase Pearson and Jamie Arniel, both who only played part or one season there. Brett Ritchie had worse ppg in that league last year than Archambault (0.75 Vs 0.98)

[Doom]

Agreed his assists numbers look good, but I tend to put a greater weighting on goals than assists.

If he is more a creator then he'll need to be on a line with somebody who knows how to finish.

I really hope we're not going down the route of lots of ageing forwards from Europe. I know it didn't work out with Gentile, but the Balmas signing from North America hasn't worked out too badly.....hopefully we'll look to one or two hungry younger guys from North America.

Regards

Doom

[greeny]

Not fussed about stats/.age etc , but just how they perform and gel on the ice and only time will tell , been dissapointed sometimes in past when certain players have been signed with big c/v etc only to not show up on the ice, hopefully some gems can found,,,,,

The other side of that coin is the amount of players with had that have truly surprised us and shone in our teams over the years despite having what many described as a distinct average CV when they arrived... Few saw Sam Trembley as anything special when he arrived from Storm on a two way with the Steeldogs.

And when Cormier was rumoured in for Petgrave, nobody could forecast the kind of player we would end up with, and look how he has turned out...

Exactly ,, it is usually the players that do not always stand out at first that usually become the best finds [hidden gems] hopefully we get a few next season

[Clear The Zone]

I don't see any down side to this guy and his stats... only maybe his age.. which is no doubt why we have him.. as always with players its a wait and see.. but aren't they always.. his stats scream a decent player maybe on the slow final career journey...but we have had many of those types of players before that have lit the league up for the time we have them.. I dont think its fair we right a player off Purley down to his age.. not yet anyway..

Jayboy

Age is much less a factor now than it was even 10 years ago - guys are so much better at taking care of themselves. It still happens, but there's just no obvious downturn in Archambaults CV/stats.

Look at Dowd - 37 and still a ppg player roughly

Similarly Vallerand didn't have an problem playing for us and producing whilst age 30-35. Or Connolly, or Ciampini, or Látal - "typical Fox signings".