Steelers 21/22 Signing Discussion

[Doom]

Giants fan coming in peace (I swear!) with a genuine question about your roster: What do you guys make of the age profile of your team? Absolutely no doubt they are quality players, I will happily admit that. But an average age of over 31 to me raises a couple of questions.

It certainly raises questions, but they won't be answered until the season gets underway.

I think Brust looks top quality and could be the best netminder in the league.

We can only really go on his last season which was outstanding, but will he be able to come back at that level and also carry the workload expected in the EIHL?

I get the impression he's been keeping fit, so I think he'll be fine, but I would expect to see Churchfield get more games than backups for most other teams (we did ok with Churchfield in the Elite Challenge series).

Defensively the older guys don't concern me, because age is usually less of an issue for defenseman.

It's in the forwards I have most concerns. Fox will have an expectation of how many goals he expects the team to score across the various lines.

Based on previous experience, that's likely to be:

Vallerand 30+
Dowd, Eberle, Connolly, DeLuca around 25

DeLuca and Eberle are still relatively young, but the others are well into their 30's and will they be able to match previous seasons, especially if they're starting to lose a yard?

Also older players generally become more vulnerable to injuries, so that is a potential issue.

As I said at the start, these are issues we won't know until the season gets underway, but overall I'm very happy with our squad and with a fair wind I think we can challenge for all the trophies.

Regards

Doom

[BontSteeler]

These days I leave it to my mate to come up with the numbers.

He uses league multipliers like I used to do and generally isn't too far off overall, although there are usually a few howlers.

He did bring out all sorts of stats on Saturday night, but after a long day in the pub i can't remember them.

I think he had Sheffield and Belfast at the top of the scoring, but that made certain assumptions about the likely final signings for all teams.

I think overall he had a similar number to you HoS, which was a slight/reasonable reduction on his prediction for the 19/20 season.

I'll message him to find out his numbers.

Regards

Doom

Does the message usually end up saying

"See you in the pub"

[smbmetal]

Giants fan coming in peace (I swear!) with a genuine question about your roster: What do you guys make of the age profile of your team? Absolutely no doubt they are quality players, I will happily admit that. But an average age of over 31 to me raises a couple of questions.

In a previous post I've expressed the same average age concern. We will see I guess on this one, but I think it's a valid concern.

On paper we look like a very well assembled squad. If we can stay relatively injury free and the returning core group of players play up to previous season's expectations/numbers we should be challenging very well in all competitions.

I'm certainly very encouraged with the squad and look forward to seeing how we match up once we get underway.

How about your team? What's your thoughts?

[Ron 25]

Giants fan coming in peace (I swear!) with a genuine question about your roster: What do you guys make of the age profile of your team? Absolutely no doubt they are quality players, I will happily admit that. But an average age of over 31 to me raises a couple of questions.

The short answer from me is - I've absolutely no idea. Only time will tell I guess.

[TealSteeler]

Sometimes you can't buy experience but as you attest to Ron, only time will tell and answer the question posed.

[Nathan]

Been out of the loop for a while here.
Got a bit of catching up to do it would seem.

[TealSteeler]

Been out of the loop for a while here.
Got a bit of catching up to do it would seem.

As they say Nathan, be reyt.

[Jayboy]

Been out of the loop for a while here.
Got a bit of catching up to do it would seem.

You need to get doing a bit of reading bud...

[Nathan]

Been out of the loop for a while here.
Got a bit of catching up to do it would seem.

You need to get doing a bit of reading bud...

Or perhaps just turn up to the 1st game and look confused for an hour.

[Jayboy]

Been out of the loop for a while here.
Got a bit of catching up to do it would seem.

You need to get doing a bit of reading bud...

Or perhaps just turn up to the 1st game and look confused for an hour.

It worked for Paul Thompson for a couple of seasons and he was the best coach to ever stand behind our bench...