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Post by The Flying Shirt on Nov 12, 2014 7:29:21 GMT
Perhaps we should have signed Kevin Bergin,he's just swapped French clubs. He would have been a handy spare if he was up for it,forward/Dman and tough too. No thanks.
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Post by Rob Scott on Nov 12, 2014 8:11:58 GMT
Sheffield to announce an ex NHL power forward this week. Lots of names flying around on Steeltalk.
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Post by PantherB on Nov 12, 2014 15:40:08 GMT
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nate24
Greg Hadden
Posts: 1,415
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Post by nate24 on Nov 12, 2014 19:36:58 GMT
Sheffield to announce an ex NHL power forward this week. Lots of names flying around on Steeltalk. An NHL calibre forward is fantastic in the league for any team however, and I admit this may be sour grapes, I wonder about the quality as it seems a bit of a knee jerk with Westgarth. We shall see though.
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Post by tootootrain on Nov 13, 2014 6:59:43 GMT
Sheffield to announce an ex NHL power forward this week. Lots of names flying around on Steeltalk. An NHL calibre forward is fantastic in the league for any team however, and I admit this may be sour grapes, I wonder about the quality as it seems a bit of a knee jerk with Westgarth. We shall see though. We had an NHL power forward during the lockout who didn't exactly set the league on fire and came nowhere near troubling even the team records. What he (Stewart) did do though was often look slightly out of position, slightly too ahead of the game waiting to receive the puck from players who were a half step or so behind, and perhaps understandably so. As good as the 2012-2013 team were the majority had never gotten anywhere near the NHL and it may be they were unable to read the game like Stewart in a manner that would allow effective link up play. This is a potential danger of signing 'NHL players' into a team that is predominately non-NHLers. With the best will in the world their (NHLers) EIHL team mates may be unable to lift their game to make effective use of such a player. Sign a few more and put a line together (as seen during the ISL days) and it's a different matter of course, but is that a model we want to follow again or are three/four more evenly matched lines preferable?
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nate24
Greg Hadden
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Post by nate24 on Nov 13, 2014 10:05:30 GMT
An NHL calibre forward is fantastic in the league for any team however, and I admit this may be sour grapes, I wonder about the quality as it seems a bit of a knee jerk with Westgarth. We shall see though. We had an NHL power forward during the lockout who didn't exactly set the league on fire and came nowhere near troubling even the team records. What he (Stewart) did do though was often look slightly out of position, slightly too ahead of the game waiting to receive the puck from players who were a half step or so behind, and perhaps understandably so. As good as the 2012-2013 team were the majority had never gotten anywhere near the NHL and it may be they were unable to read the game like Stewart in a manner that would allow effective link up play. This is a potential danger of signing 'NHL players' into a team that is predominately non-NHLers. With the best will in the world their (NHLers) EIHL team mates may be unable to lift their game to make effective use of such a player. Sign a few more and put a line together (as seen during the ISL days) and it's a different matter of course, but is that a model we want to follow again or are three/four more evenly matched lines preferable? Yeah, I agree tootoo, I just didn't want to pull the signing down before I'd seen who it is. My other quibble is with what is classed as an NHL'er. To me if it's a guy who played a handful of games and then disapeared in to the minors, he doesn't count as an NHL'er. I'm not sure where I'd set the bar for giving someone the title but I'd say it would have to be more than 40 games or half a season or maybe even a whole season. The other thought I had was the best players in the DEL, SHL and other European leagues are often just not suited to the NHL. Some guys play in the NHL as a fourth liner for a few years then move on and flourish in Europe or the KHL because the style of play suits them better. It was really evident in the lockout when you saw guys in the KHL you never noticed when they were on their respective NHL teams. That being said the EIHL is very North American centric and as such may prove a good home for a lot of these enforcer/ power forward style players are finding themselves out of work. Even the minors are phasing them out as those leagues need to adapt to the NHL to ensure they are kept on as affiliates and farm teams. Over all it could work but it could also fail. There are arguments for and against signing NHL players and I am keen to see how it goes over the next few years as I feel we are going to see and increase going forward. This year with Belfast and Sheffield is just the tip of the ice berg. The biggest worry I have is that teams that can't afford them going bankrupt for one guy! I hope this isn't the case in Yorkshire.
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calv
Jade Galbraith
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Post by calv on Nov 13, 2014 11:14:06 GMT
I went over to Switzerland last year and took in a few games and saw Stewart play for Fribourg. He was completely anonymous and I barely noticed him. He seems to have really struggled for points as well these past couple of seasons.
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Post by kingmonkeybutt on Nov 13, 2014 11:27:56 GMT
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Yotes
Forum Admin
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Post by Yotes on Nov 13, 2014 12:36:25 GMT
I went over to Switzerland last year and took in a few games and saw Stewart play for Fribourg. He was completely anonymous and I barely noticed him. He seems to have really struggled for points as well these past couple of seasons. I think we're a bit kind when looking back at Stewart tbh, Sestito and Belesky both put up good numbers over here, and are both still playing in the NHL.
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Post by ted logan on Nov 13, 2014 12:42:58 GMT
I went over to Switzerland last year and took in a few games and saw Stewart play for Fribourg. He was completely anonymous and I barely noticed him. He seems to have really struggled for points as well these past couple of seasons. I think we're a bit kind when looking back at Stewart tbh, Sestito and Belesky both put up good numbers over here, and are both still playing in the NHL. Belesky pretty much carried Coventry offensively during his time here - looked a quality player and put some serious points up too IIRC. Stewart wasn't really brought in at the time to score goals and/or be a playmaker - there was enough of that in the team already, at least potentially anyway. He added size and physicality though to the forwards which seemed to help and when he left Kelsey Wilson came in, carried on where he left off and took it up a notch. The rest is history. He (Stewart) does seem to have lost his way since he left though.
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Yotes
Forum Admin
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Post by Yotes on Nov 13, 2014 14:10:07 GMT
I dunno Ted, I mean Biz put up good numbers too. I think a genuine NHLer* in our league should make an impact on the points front, whatever role he plays in the NHL, the gulf in class should be huge.
I was never that impressed with him, and the too good for his linemates argument I think tends to put the blame in the wrong place.
* - This perhaps goes to Nate's point earlier, I probably overrated him before he stepped on the ice and expected too much.
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Post by ted logan on Nov 13, 2014 14:31:55 GMT
I dunno Ted, I mean Biz put up good numbers too. I think a genuine NHLer* in our league should make an impact on the points front, whatever role he plays in the NHL, the gulf in class should be huge. I was never that impressed with him, and the too good for his linemates argument I think tends to put the blame in the wrong place. * - This perhaps goes to Nate's point earlier, I probably overrated him before he stepped on the ice and expected too much. I think that's half (or more) of the issue Yotes. We (and i mean all EIHL fans, not just Panthers) see NHL on a players resume and assume that they will come in and tear the league apart. For whatever reason, it rarely happens. Maybe Blaze were particularly poor that season but i seem to remember Belesky stood out a mile. Seem to remember him bagging a hat-trick at the NIC and keeping Blaze in the game almost single handedly. They still lost though
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Yotes
Forum Admin
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Post by Yotes on Nov 13, 2014 15:46:44 GMT
True, but with those guys they were straight out of the NHL and here because of the lockout, so it perhaps should have carried a bit more weight, and for most of them did. I think we got the worst of them tbh.
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Post by ted logan on Nov 13, 2014 15:58:43 GMT
True, but with those guys they were straight out of the NHL and here because of the lockout, so it perhaps should have carried a bit more weight, and for most of them did. I think we got the worst of them tbh. Fair point - a player straight from the NHL would carry more weight (not the James Pease kind ) than someone who played a handful of games years ago. If you judge it on goals/assists/points and what the respective lockout guys have done since then we probably did get the worst of them but i still feel that Stewart did his bit while he was here.
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Post by panthersnation on Nov 16, 2014 8:42:17 GMT
@bstretton96
Word from Neil Black is that Robinson should be back before Christmas.. That's what he's hoping for at the least
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5+game
Terry Kurtenbach
Posts: 2,974
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Post by 5+game on Nov 17, 2014 12:18:56 GMT
@bstretton96 Word from Neil Black is that Robinson should be back before Christmas.. That's what he's hoping for at the least I very much doubt that Neil would be telling anyone this.
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Post by anna2014 on Nov 17, 2014 14:21:21 GMT
please can we have Rory Rawlyk
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2014 14:37:13 GMT
please can we have Rory Rawlyk Given the choice of Rawlyk or Wild (as they're both offensive defenceman), I'd take Wild everytime.
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5+game
Terry Kurtenbach
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Post by 5+game on Nov 17, 2014 15:24:15 GMT
please can we have Rory Rawlyk Given the choice of Rawlyk or Wild (as they're both offensive defenceman), I'd take Wild everytime. Wild isn't an offensive dman.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Nov 17, 2014 15:55:48 GMT
Given the choice of Rawlyk or Wild (as they're both offensive defenceman), I'd take Wild everytime. Wild isn't an offensive dman. What would you class him as?
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5+game
Terry Kurtenbach
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Post by 5+game on Nov 17, 2014 16:06:48 GMT
Wild isn't an offensive dman. What would you class him as? just a normal Dman. The points he puts up are nothing out of the ordinary for a import Dman. If he is an offensive dman then hes quite a poor one as his points production will be nothing like that of Neilson, Weaver, Rawlik etc.
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Post by Rob Scott on Nov 17, 2014 16:07:31 GMT
Wild is an offensive D man.
Can't see the argument.....
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nate24
Greg Hadden
Posts: 1,415
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Post by nate24 on Nov 17, 2014 17:13:38 GMT
@bstretton96 Word from Neil Black is that Robinson should be back before Christmas.. That's what he's hoping for at the least I very much doubt that Neil would be telling anyone this. Why? It doesn't give anything away and 'should' ensures it is not construe as a sure thing. Just PR spin and giving fans hope.
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Post by wagstaff on Nov 17, 2014 22:30:44 GMT
please can we have Rory Rawlyk No
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iginla
Chick Zamick
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Post by iginla on Nov 17, 2014 23:50:17 GMT
We could have had him in the summer......but our esteemed coach didn't want him !
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