Steve Lee back for 18/19

[Pies]

As much as people may be underwhelmed, it does deserve its own thread.

[block9]

Gawd has he got to improve.......

[pantherlee]

Steve Lee is like lacho. An easy target. I don't think he's been that bad this year personally. Certainly a big improvement over the previous two seasons when he was played as man offensive dman. Who else could we really get who would be an upgrade?

[Yotes]

I thought he was OK this year. Certainly started well, remember him being good in the CHL, although also remember a few more mistakes as the year drew to its close, but then again the entire team went the same way.

Not sure about captain material, but Brit defencemen don't grow on trees and his health has held up well this year. Was a must re-signing tbh.

[wgray]

Welcome back Steve, a bit of an underwhelming signing but it can only get better from here!

In all seriousness I’d hope that Rich puts Steve with a a big, experienced, stay at home dman and have them as our shut down pair, let Steve focus on the simple side of the game.

[dill1015]

A no brainer signing. He had a much better season last year as he played a more simple game (something anyone with half a brain knew would happen).

At 27 hes in his prime and theres no real prospect of replacing him. Curious to see how he does under a new coach. Not sure about him being captin though.

[texpef]

Thrilled........ or is that underwhelmed...

As stated without going and stealing other teams top brits its about as good as we are going to get but please not the captain he really isnt a captain...

It worked well last season to some extent as Sauve was our best d man and he covered alot of Lee's shall we say shortcomings...

[shinobi]

Thought he was alright last season. Decent re-signing.

[Kovalchuk17]

Will be good to see him under a different coach.,, hopefully won’t feel like his feet are under the table and take nights off.

Improved a bit last year, didn’t seem to be as many glaring errors but still prone to an easy turnover. Certainly should never have been captain... way too timid and unassuming - don’t think I saw him challenge a single decision!

[Mark]

Underwhelming but he’s a Brit.

[iginla]

As good as we are going to get as we’ve got to have the Brits....but definitely NOT as captain.

[Caesar]

Not really a re-signing. I thought he was on a multi year deal.
But, every team has to have a Brit pack, you simply cannot function in this country without them. He is one of the better and more experienced ones without a doubt. Lets hope he flourishes under a different coach

[tootootrain]

As long as he isn't made captain again its a bearable re-signing.

[deke]

Lee is a meh sort of player on his good days he is OK on his bad days he is god awful and costs us. One of the sticking points this season for me was when he was on a line with tetlow, Lee made a mistake hung tetlow out to dry, we concede and tetlow doesn't play the rest of the game. Certainly not a captain and not close to our best brit. Sadly he is a brit which means we get stuck with him. Wish we didn't but not a lot we can do.

[ted logan]

I’m ok with this. He did have a better season last season when he went back to a simpler, more physical, less offensive type of game. Some quality hits and dropped the mitts a few times too.

Brit dmen don’t grow on trees, O’Connor and Richardson are clearly the standouts but beyond those two, I can’t think of many I’d trade him for? Definitely not donkey davey up the road!

Welcome back #45

[bobness]

Apr 20, 2018 21:19:26 GMT deke said:

Lee is a meh sort of player on his good days he is OK on his bad days he is god awful and costs us. One of the sticking points this season for me was when he was on a line with tetlow, Lee made a mistake hung tetlow out to dry, we concede and tetlow doesn't play the rest of the game. Certainly not a captain and not close to our best brit. Sadly he is a brit which means we get stuck with him. Wish we didn't but not a lot we can do.

To inject a fact or two...
This happened (Lee and Tetlow iced together and conceded a goal) exactly 3 times this season just gone.
First time vs Dundee 6th March. They conceded a goal in the 27th minute, but also were on the ice together for 2 later goals scored.
Second time 10 March vs Sheffield. Conceded in the first period, neither had any statistical input into the rest of the game. I don't have any ice time stats for that game.
Lastly, the night after vs Belfast, they conceded together very early on, but got one back together in the third.

So, Lee and Tetlow conceding a goal together and then Tetlow not icing again in that game may have happened once last year.

[deke]

Never said every time I said one game where Lee was at fault for the goal. Granted that doesn't narrow it down much.

[bobness]

Apr 23, 2018 7:27:20 GMT deke said:

Never said every time I said one game where Lee was at fault for the goal. Granted that doesn't narrow it down much.

So you must mean that 10 March game vs Sheffield? (That being the only time it happened?)
I'd say Lee was hardly "at fault" for that goal. The "blame" for that one for me lies squarely at the skates of #71 who stood over a puck rather than touch it and get a whistle, then let the Steelers player rattle it round the boards from under his nose when no-one was expecting it, least of all Lee. (Quite why he didn't touch the puck, who knows?) Steelers then get an incredibly fortunate odd man rush, from which they score. As I say, I've no idea whether Tetlow's icetime stopped at that point, that night. I'd say harsh if it did.

[Robbie Nud]

Was watching the GB game yesterday and possibly the first time the Lee is mentioned is when he gives away the puck and gifts Slovenia a scoring chance, luckily Bowns bailed him out.

[Yotes]

Apr 23, 2018 8:19:43 GMT bobness said:

I'd say Lee was hardly "at fault" for that goal. The "blame" for that one for me lies squarely at the skates of #71 who stood over a puck rather than touch it and get a whistle, then let the Steelers player rattle it round the boards from under his nose when no-one was expecting it, least of all Lee.

TBH, I think that was pretty much an all round cockerel up, with the exception of Tetlow and the goalie. Mok stands over it, Perlini and Brown pretty much skate themselves out the play, and Lee misplays the one up the boards letting Roy in behind him.

[bobness]

Apr 23, 2018 11:01:56 GMT Yotes said:

Apr 23, 2018 8:19:43 GMT bobness said:

I'd say Lee was hardly "at fault" for that goal. The "blame" for that one for me lies squarely at the skates of #71 who stood over a puck rather than touch it and get a whistle, then let the Steelers player rattle it round the boards from under his nose when no-one was expecting it, least of all Lee.

TBH, I think that was pretty much an all round cockerel up, with the exception of Tetlow and the goalie. Mok stands over it, Perlini and Brown pretty much skate themselves out the play, and Lee misplays the one up the boards letting Roy in behind him.

Agreed. Why on Earth didn't Mok just touch it?

[Yotes]

It was very odd, although I remember seeing the same thing done again later in the season - don't remember who because it didn't lead to a goal (don't think it was us doing it), but after the Mok incident it stuck out. I guess they want to keep the game going and it would probably pass unnoticed 99 times out of 100.

Don't remember Tetlow getting benched for it though. I imagine Neilson probably took him out of tight games as they wore on (as a lot of ours were last year), perhaps fearful of a youngster's mistake proving costly at the business end, rather than blaming him for stuff earlier in the game.

[bobness]

The more you look at it, the more you think it was just a brain f...ade.
Mok stood over it, Perlini and Brown just kind of switched off, assuming that Mok would eventually touch it, I guess. The Steelers, crucially, didn't switch off and took the chance well. A very poor goal to concede.