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Post by Kovalchuk17 on Oct 31, 2016 10:42:42 GMT
The steelers had a very average start last season too, not sure but it may have been even worse than ours, they even lost at least once to the Caps if memory serves. It's still early and there are issues, I'm sure the coaches are aware and this is where they earn their money. A bit too early to go into full panic mode. This coming weekend will tell us a lot. I think this all boils down to deja vu with Corey. This will be the 4th straight year where (if he fails to act now) we'll run into injury trouble, head into a decline, lose pace on the league title and then probably around mid/late January get a couple of bodies in for a final push towards the CC final or Playoffs. The fact is, although Steelers didn't start well last year too, they have a history of rectifying issues early on. We have an equal history of not rectifying issues until too late.
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Post by bigbblk13 on Oct 31, 2016 11:41:16 GMT
Corey has done a good job most of the time. There are times however when I question his strategy. Now is one of those times. We have a team brimming with work horse type players, too many I would say. Sack two and bring in two goal scorers. The absence of Lawrence and Shultz only emphasise the need
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Post by ted logan on Oct 31, 2016 14:37:13 GMT
I have to say that this thread has thrown up plenty of opinions as have the GDT's from the weekend plus various other threads.
It's good to see others opinions and have engaging debates with everyone's opinion (good or bad and everything in-between) being heard. This, i have to say is in stark contrast to anything on certain social media pages where any criticism aimed at the club is immediately shot down by the True Fan/Real Fan police.
Anyway, back on topic and CN really has to act and earn his money now. Tough decisions to be made. Jeff Dimmen is our top points scorer so far this season. Admittedly, Lawrence (and maybe Schultz) would be higher barring injuries. Apart from that only Brad Moran comes close, then Clarke. Of the new imports, Brown despite being a grinder/workhorse type is outscoring Carter (1+3) and Nikiforuk (2+2) who both have a poor 4 points each from 10 games. This output is the same as Eric Neilson and one point ahead of the likes of Jay Rosehill and Patrick Bordeleau! Nowhere near good enough. Ulmer was gassed at Clan for 4 points from 6 games.
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dp
Jim Keyes
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Post by dp on Oct 31, 2016 17:42:17 GMT
I think the issue with us starting slowly this season is that our run in is AWFUL. We can't afford a slow start and rely on making up points later in the season. Final 7 games are double header away in Belfast, triple header in Scotland, home to Steelers and away at Manchester. You don't want to need to be winning all of them....
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Mark
Randall Weber
Experience has taught me that when it really matters the only person you can rely on is yourself.
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Post by Mark on Oct 31, 2016 20:57:17 GMT
Neilson's biggest fault is he consistently signs teams lacking balance. This season is just the same, too many players of one type whilst lacking in other areas. Square pegs in round holes and we are being found out. What happens in the next couple of weeks could define our season as regards the league title. History is not on our side.
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iginla
Chick Zamick
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Post by iginla on Oct 31, 2016 21:49:24 GMT
Neilson's biggest fault is he consistently signs teams lacking balance. This season is just the same, too many players of one type whilst lacking in other areas. Square pegs in round holes and we are being found out. What happens in the next couple of weeks could define our season as regards the league title. History is not on our side. I agree. It won't get any easier with the next round of the continental cup looming either,then IF we get through again another three games will get added to the schedule too. If we were really serious about the league this year,we should have turned that competition down,but of course we know Europe always comes second only to money in our owners thinking. This weekend is a crucial one,or even this early in the season we could very soon find ourselves ten points behind the Devils ! Still,at least they've got another ready made excuse if we lose again next weekend......the midweek GB game mucked up our preparation !!!!
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Post by jd on Nov 1, 2016 11:54:38 GMT
Agree with most of what has been said. I dont get how carter is still here, hopefully a change will happen.
I dont get why Lacho is playing centre. Not his position and Corey is trying him in it. He needs to play on the wing (or move on).
Sheffield seem to have done pretty well with the latest signing, so players are out there. Maybe Corey will surprise us and get a decent sniper or a playmaker? We've had some quality snipers in the past (DAB, Cook, Ling, Graham,McAslan) so its not like this is something he has had issues with in the past.
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Post by shmyrohdear on Nov 1, 2016 16:48:11 GMT
What is wrong with people? The forum has been as quiet as a mouse recently whilst we've been doing well, nobody ever wants to give praise as quickly or as often as we want to criticise, it's ridiculous. The league is as tough as it has ever been, all teams are at a good standard and each team is a threat, we are missing our two best players who are definitely the game changers. Look at Cardiff, they recently lost three home games on the bounce, I didn't hear any Devils fans calling for Lord's head! Every team will get a bad run but it's how you bounce back that matters, look at the bigger picture It's been quiet,because most of the interesting people got banned and then subsequently couldn't be bothered to post for a while ! Lol As for doing doing well. Mmmm,our last few games have been a home loss to Belfast,two wins against crap teams,a win against a half decent team and a home loss against Caps. If that's doing well then.....err !!! There isn't a bad team in the league this year, don't be so ignorant.
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iginla
Chick Zamick
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Post by iginla on Nov 1, 2016 17:21:55 GMT
It's been quiet,because most of the interesting people got banned and then subsequently couldn't be bothered to post for a while ! Lol As for doing doing well. Mmmm,our last few games have been a home loss to Belfast,two wins against crap teams,a win against a half decent team and a home loss against Caps. If that's doing well then.....err !!! There isn't a bad team in the league this year, don't be so ignorant. I know,I'm not being ignorant,I'm being realistic. All the teams have improved....except Panthers,who have gone backwards. Our Brit pack has diminished and we have lost most of our influential players whilst replacing them with average. We lost Oakford completely and we swopped Kolnik,Mosey,Bohmbach,Scmidt and Janssen for lesser or less effective players. Basically,if you hand picked six players from last year we really didn't want to lose.....we lost five of them. Sorry,but I just don't see how we have upgraded on last year,whilst every other team has done. The defence should be better,but it's not balanced right. As for the forwards,I said it in August before we had even seen them play that we didn't have enough goals or the playmakers to create them. The two recent defeats to Belfast and Edinburgh showed exactly that,we couldn't create more than a half chance and when we did,we couldn't put it away ! People said,ahh Carter is going to get 25-30 goals,NIkiforuk is good for 25,Schultz will get 30,Larry is going to get 20 plus etc etc. Sorry again,but they just aren't,with the possible exception of Lawrence. Carter is crap,NIkiforuk is average,Schultz is made of glass and Larry is well and truly in la la land for a good while yet ! Then you look at Sheffield,Mosienko packs his bags and......Bang a quality looking guy comes straight in within a week !!
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Post by pantherlee on Nov 1, 2016 18:31:15 GMT
There isn't a bad team in the league this year, don't be so ignorant. I know,I'm not being ignorant,I'm being realistic. All the teams have improved....except Panthers,who have gone backwards. Our Brit pack has diminished and we have lost most of our influential players whilst replacing them with average. We lost Oakford completely and we swopped Kolnik,Mosey,Bohmbach,Scmidt and Janssen for lesser or less effective players. Basically,if you hand picked six players from last year we really didn't want to lose.....we lost five of them. Sorry,but I just don't see how we have upgraded on last year,whilst every other team has done. The defence should be better,but it's not balanced right. As for the forwards,I said it in August before we had even seen them play that we didn't have enough goals or the playmakers to create them. The two recent defeats to Belfast and Edinburgh showed exactly that,we couldn't create more than a half chance and when we did,we couldn't put it away ! People said,ahh Carter is going to get 25-30 goals,NIkiforuk is good for 25,Schultz will get 30,Larry is going to get 20 plus etc etc. Sorry again,but they just aren't,with the possible exception of Lawrence. Carter is crap,NIkiforuk is average,Schultz is made of glass and Larry is well and truly in la la land for a good while yet ! Then you look at Sheffield,Mosienko packs his bags and......Bang a quality looking guy comes straight in within a week !! Agree to a certain extent. Yes i don't believe some of these new players are up to the standard of last years team but its not all doom and gloom just yet. i don't think panthers can be blame with the departures of last seasons players but some of the summer recruitment has been poor. I think carter with his CV was either going to be a player that was deadly and caused a surprise like Doucet or Mosey did or he was going to be crap. Unfortunately it seems we got the latter. Nikiforuk has been inconsistent but shown flashes of brilliance but then disappears although with his line being disrupted with Schultz being out hasn't helped as they and McGrattan looked dangerous early on so I'm not writing him off just yet but with Carter i think we should cut our losses and get rid. Although there are some good new faces to this team. Brown brings a lot of energy and physicality but the problem is he's almost an identical player to MacMillan and I've also been impressed by Lindhagen. Panthers have been good so far though when it comes to reacting to problems/injuries so far this season as opposed to last by bringing in Pacl and Kalus to cover for Wiikman and Schultz but they now need to be pro-active and fix the parts that just aren't working.
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Post by wgray on Nov 1, 2016 22:46:14 GMT
Personally I think that we need BOTH Brown and MacMillan, they were brought in to do the jobs that they are doing and they are doing them very well, Carter, Nikiforuk, Lacho and to an extent Kalus, aren't pulling their weight if you look at it as they aren't creating any chances or getting any goals, these are the players who we should be asking questions of.
I know we are missing players to form the lines that we want which has ultimately led to Nikiforuks drop but I still believe we need to ask questions of the others, especially Carter who I am really starting to lose faith in after he looked good at the start of the season, the physicality is too much I feel
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Post by bigbblk13 on Nov 2, 2016 13:44:15 GMT
A real beef of mine, why do we not get live information on what is happening to our injured players. It appears that we have to rely on guesswork or rumours. As an example, we are we with Lawrence and Shultz, what is the nature of their injuries and when is it anticipated they will return???
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Post by PantherB on Nov 2, 2016 13:50:34 GMT
We'll get updates regarding their progress usually mid-week but only 'still a week or so away yet'/'progressing better than expected' which is annoying as it'd be very useful to have a timeline on the injuries like every other league provides. They don't need to tell us the specific injury, confidentiality and potential targetting being the main reasons but just a simple 'Upper Body/Lower Body' type injury update would be nice.
It can't be too long now before they're both back, Schultz has been out for 3 or 4 weeks now, was expected to be a month. Lawrence was initially classed as two-weeks but that's quickly came and gone so who knows but it can't be much longer now surely. Then it becomes a probelm as to who gets the scratch along with Pacl/Wiikman.
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Post by bigbblk13 on Nov 2, 2016 13:59:06 GMT
Thanks for info PantherB, I must be looking in the wrong place i.e. the official Panthers website as I don't recall this sort of info there
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5+game
Terry Kurtenbach
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Post by 5+game on Nov 2, 2016 14:14:03 GMT
Then it becomes a probelm as to who gets the scratch along with Pacl/Wiikman. That is the easiest decision of them all, Matt 'as much use as a chocolate fireguard' Carter. As soon as we are full strength he can go permanently as we can look at bringing in someone better as injury cover.
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Post by ted logan on Nov 2, 2016 14:17:23 GMT
Then it becomes a probelm as to who gets the scratch along with Pacl/Wiikman. That is the easiest decision of them all, Matt 'as much use as a chocolate fireguard' Carter. As soon as we are full strength he can go permanently as we can look at bringing in someone better as injury cover. Totally agree. Even if it is a bit harsh on chocolate fireguards.
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iginla
Chick Zamick
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Post by iginla on Nov 2, 2016 15:24:05 GMT
A real beef of mine, why do we not get live information on what is happening to our injured players. It appears that we have to rely on guesswork or rumours. As an example, we are we with Lawrence and Shultz, what is the nature of their injuries and when is it anticipated they will return??? Because if they stated from the date of injury how long they are expeced to be out,it would make it blatantly obvious that Panthers were not doing something about it when they should be ! Lawrence (like Lee did) has concussion,that's why they say nothing,because it isn't going to be a two week fix. Why oh why we don't carry spares is beyond me,how many seasons now have we played short for lengthy spells. It happens every year,yet they don't address it !
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Post by pantherlee on Nov 2, 2016 16:31:42 GMT
A real beef of mine, why do we not get live information on what is happening to our injured players. It appears that we have to rely on guesswork or rumours. As an example, we are we with Lawrence and Shultz, what is the nature of their injuries and when is it anticipated they will return??? Because if they stated from the date of injury how long they are expeced to be out,it would make it blatantly obvious that Panthers were not doing something about it when they should be ! Lawrence (like Lee did) has concussion,that's why they say nothing,because it isn't going to be a two week fix. Why oh why we don't carry spares is beyond me,how many seasons now have we played short for lengthy spells. It happens every year,yet they don't address it ! We are. We have 16 imports on the books. More than any other team
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iginla
Chick Zamick
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Post by iginla on Nov 2, 2016 16:39:07 GMT
Because if they stated from the date of injury how long they are expeced to be out,it would make it blatantly obvious that Panthers were not doing something about it when they should be ! Lawrence (like Lee did) has concussion,that's why they say nothing,because it isn't going to be a two week fix. Why oh why we don't carry spares is beyond me,how many seasons now have we played short for lengthy spells. It happens every year,yet they don't address it ! We are. We have 16 imports on the books. More than any other team One's a goalie though who can't play his proper part and why have we played short the last few games ? With our crowds,we should have four spares !
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Post by pantherlee on Nov 2, 2016 17:07:05 GMT
We are. We have 16 imports on the books. More than any other team One's a goalie though who can't play his proper part and why have we played short the last few games ? With our crowds,we should have four spares ! Just my opinion but i'd rather the club replace the dead weight at the moment i.e Carter
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Post by PantherB on Nov 2, 2016 18:14:27 GMT
The club needs to give some youngsters a shot, straight out of juniors or Lions so there's no two-way crap.
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Mozzy
Pat Casey
Cracking
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Post by Mozzy on Nov 2, 2016 18:20:13 GMT
We are. We have 16 imports on the books. More than any other team One's a goalie though who can't play his proper part and why have we played short the last few games ? With our crowds,we should have four spares ! If my club had the money to carry 4 spares I'd rather them spend that cash on bringing in better quality players to start with. I don't get this total fascination with having loads of spares. On one hand people are crying out that the coach doesn't keep settled lines, then on the other hand clammering for carrying loads of spares. Are these spares just going to sit there week after week not playing? No, they are over here because they want to play not sit in the stands. If you have 4 spares how is the coach going to keep them all happy? They will have to play and then that will cause even more issues with having settled lines.
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Mozzy
Pat Casey
Cracking
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Post by Mozzy on Nov 2, 2016 18:22:28 GMT
The club needs to give some youngsters a shot, straight out of juniors or Lions so there's no two-way crap. Why not take the apprentice route as in Sheffield? Both kids are training with us full time and getting opportunities to play with us too. If they aren't with us they are getting good ice time with the Dogs.
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Post by ted logan on Nov 2, 2016 18:46:12 GMT
One's a goalie though who can't play his proper part and why have we played short the last few games ? With our crowds,we should have four spares ! If my club had the money to carry 4 spares I'd rather them spend that cash on bringing in better quality players to start with. I don't get this total fascination with having loads of spares. On one hand people are crying out that the coach doesn't keep settled lines, then on the other hand clammering for carrying loads of spares. Are these spares just going to sit there week after week not playing? No, they are over here because they want to play not sit in the stands. If you have 4 spares how is the coach going to keep them all happy? They will have to play and then that will cause even more issues with having settled lines. Four spares is probably overkill, however with our resources, we should be able to carry two spares (one D & one F) from the first day of the season. The settled lines v spares argument is not that simple. Its not the same person saying one thing (lines) and then another (spares). It's different fans with seperate arguments/points to make. Also, I don't think anybody has too much of an issue with lines being changed from game to game. Especially if a line isn't clicking or players get injured. Its the mix and match of lines during games that gets fans (myself included) irritated.
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Post by PantherB on Nov 2, 2016 19:35:46 GMT
The club needs to give some youngsters a shot, straight out of juniors or Lions so there's no two-way crap. Why not take the apprentice route as in Sheffield? Both kids are training with us full time and getting opportunities to play with us too. If they aren't with us they are getting good ice time with the Dogs. Thats the way it needs to be done, Sheffield's junior system is a lot better than ours without a doubt but even so, we'll never develop players to come in and be the core pack like the Clarke, Farmer, Lachowicz's etc.. Unless we follow the route Sheffield have taken. Barely 2 months into the season and Kirk has put the GB Senior jersey on already.. That's how beneficial it is what Steelers have done and it's not like he drifted, looked out of place. He made some great plays and got some good chances, it's an amazing thing to accomplish at such a young age. There's too much reliance on kids and parents going to Europe or North America to play hockey, and return to the UK when hitting their first professional year. Obviously it greatly improves them but it's as if clubs see kids and say 'Ah, let North America and Sweden take them for a few years, we can't do much' it's the easy option and the option that will inevitably never see team GB progress more than the next division. Apologise for the rant, but I agree with everything you've said!
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