RUMOURS

[ginger]

Slight hunch at Josh Nicholls from the KHL. Kind of fits the narrative. Experienced, wore No.10 last year, from Richmond, BC.

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/3 ... h-nicholls

Yep, I think it's this guy from a few posts on Twitter.

[Johnny777]

The standard of league he’s played in seems to be quite high but not a great deal of goals to his game, hopefully the drop in quality will change that

[Doom]

I can't say either particularly shout out 1st line forward, but of the two I'd take Olsen.

Olsen is a bit younger and does have a reasonable recent record of finding the back of the net, so I'd probably have him down for between 20 and 25 goals.

Nicholls is older and doesn't have much of a recent scoring record. 5 years ago I'd have him down for 25 goals, but now I think he looks closer to 15 (that's discounting his numbers in the KHL, which aren't a fair comparison).

Nicholls is also listed as right wing, so I couldn't see him on the top line because Vally is right wing.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow, I'm hoping for a completely left field signing like Watling.

Regards

Doom

[Jayboy]

I can't find any imagery of Ryan Olsen wearing number 10 or indeed any number he could conceivable add up to 10, in fact the numbers ive seen him wearing would be available to him as a Steeler as I cant see any player using them, he seems to have played wearing 81 in most of the available images...

[House_of_Steel]

I can't say either particularly shout out 1st line forward, but of the two I'd take Olsen.

Olsen is a bit younger and does have a reasonable recent record of finding the back of the net, so I'd probably have him down for between 20 and 25 goals.

Nicholls is older and doesn't have much of a recent scoring record. 5 years ago I'd have him down for 25 goals, but now I think he looks closer to 15 (that's discounting his numbers in the KHL, which aren't a fair comparison).

Nicholls is also listed as right wing, so I couldn't see him on the top line because Vally is right wing.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow, I'm hoping for a completely left field signing like Watling.

Regards

Doom

Unfortunately it does seem likely it’s this lad considering theres a fair few supporters following him on Twitter, discounting the numbers in the KHL, his recent goal scoring in DEL2 and Norway is quite woeful.

[Johnny777]

Was slightly underwhelmed with Olsen after the Watling signing hopefully setting the top line marker, however right now I’d be over the moon if it turned out to be Olsen as opposed to Nicholls

[Doom]

I can't say either particularly shout out 1st line forward, but of the two I'd take Olsen.

Olsen is a bit younger and does have a reasonable recent record of finding the back of the net, so I'd probably have him down for between 20 and 25 goals.

Nicholls is older and doesn't have much of a recent scoring record. 5 years ago I'd have him down for 25 goals, but now I think he looks closer to 15 (that's discounting his numbers in the KHL, which aren't a fair comparison).

Nicholls is also listed as right wing, so I couldn't see him on the top line because Vally is right wing.

I guess we'll find out tomorrow, I'm hoping for a completely left field signing like Watling.

Regards

Doom

Unfortunately it does seem likely it’s this lad considering theres a fair few supporters following him on Twitter, discounting the numbers in the KHL, his recent goal scoring in DEL2 and Norway is quite woeful.

If it is him I'm struggling to understand the plan with the forwards.

I was hoping for a genuine 1st line left winger to go with Watling and Vallerand.

Instead we could be signing a low scoring right winger, which probably means shoving Juusola on the top line and weakening the 3rd.

I like our netminding and the defence, but if we're finishing off with Nicholls the forwards look quite a bit short of Belfast.

For a team who struggled to score the second half of last season, it seems bizarre to sign a lot of new forwards to our league who are all coming off poor seasons.

Juusola 0 goals
Nicholls 0 goals
Kielly 3 goals
Simpson 5 goals
Watling 6 goals

Don't get me wrong, I think Watling and Juusola will be very good, but overall we just look a bit short to me.

I hope we're not in for another season of Fox juggling his lines to try and find a combination which works.

Regards

Doom

[Doom]

Now confirmed as Nicholls.

Probably my own fault because I'd built up a certain level of expectation in my own mind regarding this final signing, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed.

I was hoping for a high scoring 1st line forward to join Vallerand and Watling and give us a proper 1st line this season.

Nicholls shouts out St Pierre, McGrath or Owens to me, which means decent player, but not an impact player.

The article suggests he's a centre, although Elite Prospects has him down as right wing.

I'm not sure where that puts him in our line-up, because I thought Watling would be our top line centre with Allen 2nd line, Simpson 3rd line and Whistle 4th line.

Does this mean we'll now be playing players outside their favourite positions?

It will be interesting to hear what Fox has planned as his line combinations, because I'm now at a loss.

Regards

Doom

[ginger]

Now confirmed as Nicholls.

Probably my own fault because I'd built up a certain level of expectation in my own mind regarding this final signing, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed.

I was hoping for a high scoring 1st line forward to join Vallerand and Watling and give us a proper 1st line this season.

Nicholls shouts out St Pierre, McGrath or Owens to me, which means decent player, but not an impact player.

The article suggests he's a centre, although Elite Prospects has him down as right wing.

I'm not sure where that puts him in our line-up, because I thought Watling would be our top line centre with Allen 2nd line, Simpson 3rd line and Whistle 4th line.

Does this mean we'll now be playing players outside their favourite positions?

It will be interesting to hear what Fox has planned as his line combinations, because I'm now at a loss.

Regards

Doom

I wouldn't pay too much attention to forward positions listed/mentioned. Whilst most guys will have a preference, if the play 1 wing, they can 99% of the time play the other. Centre is the one which some players cannot play to a similar level as requires a few extra elements than playing as a winger.

Not concerned on his scoring potential - compared to the guys you mentioned, Nicholls scored very well in junior. He also scored at close to PPG when in Norway briefly 21-22 season. He scored over 20 in every season in the ECHL. Last season was playing bottom six and asked to perform a role he's not really suited for, which added to quality of the league resulted in no goals.

His CV is harder to read than most as he's spent quite a lot of time outside of regular recruiting leagues for our league - but junior numbers suggest he absolutely knows how to put the puck in the net and rack up points when given the opportunity.

[Doom]

Now confirmed as Nicholls.

Probably my own fault because I'd built up a certain level of expectation in my own mind regarding this final signing, but I have to say I'm a little disappointed.

I was hoping for a high scoring 1st line forward to join Vallerand and Watling and give us a proper 1st line this season.

Nicholls shouts out St Pierre, McGrath or Owens to me, which means decent player, but not an impact player.

The article suggests he's a centre, although Elite Prospects has him down as right wing.

I'm not sure where that puts him in our line-up, because I thought Watling would be our top line centre with Allen 2nd line, Simpson 3rd line and Whistle 4th line.

Does this mean we'll now be playing players outside their favourite positions?

It will be interesting to hear what Fox has planned as his line combinations, because I'm now at a loss.

Regards

Doom

I wouldn't pay too much attention to forward positions listed/mentioned. Whilst most guys will have a preference, if the play 1 wing, they can 99% of the time play the other. Centre is the one which some players cannot play to a similar level as requires a few extra elements than playing as a winger.

Not concerned on his scoring potential - compared to the guys you mentioned, Nicholls scored very well in junior. He also scored at close to PPG when in Norway briefly 21-22 season. He scored over 20 in every season in the ECHL. Last season was playing bottom six and asked to perform a role he's not really suited for, which added to quality of the league resulted in no goals.

His CV is harder to read than most as he's spent quite a lot of time outside of regular recruiting leagues for our league - but junior numbers suggest he absolutely knows how to put the puck in the net and rack up points when given the opportunity.

From past experience I only tend to consider the last 3 seasons, because what happened prior to that doesn't usually reflect the output of a player who is in his 30's..

Players from Norway and DEL2 usually score at a similar level to our league and in both recent stints for Nicholls he's scored at 1 in 4, which is why I've pencilled him in at 15.

The Norwegian play-offs he had a much better production, so hopefully that's the player we get when he's on a top line in this country.

It's a bit of a worry we've signed so many players who couldn't hit a barn door from a yard last season, but hopefully in our league they'll find their form.

I do actually feel we're in a better place this season than we were at the start of last season and Belfast look a bit weaker, although I still make them favourites.

My current goal predictions has both us and Cardiff on 201 and Belfast on 222, although my mate who produces numerous stats has us within 5 of Belfast with Cardiff a little bit further back.

Nottingham aren't complete yet, but currently it looks like they will also be very close to us and Cardiff on my predictions.

Regards

Doom