Rumours & Offseason Nonsense 2018/19

Devil_Abroad

Well-Known Member
Completely agree Ocko. We need another puck carrier and someone who isnt arfaid to shoot the puck.

So far ive been impressed with Blood. Hes a very intelligent hockey player and has great hands and puck carrying ability. An all rounder.

If we can pick up a Hotham type but one who is a bit faster and more agile then we will complete our D which will have a great mix of everything.

Jordan Rowley for me would be a superb pick up and Jake Cardwells points in the Czech league are very impressive.
Watched 3 periods tonight where we had no trouble playing the puck out of our D and I also saw 6 D men strolling through centre ice to the end zone countless times.

Am I seeing a different Devils to everyone else? :oops:
 

pjj365

Well-Known Member
Devil_Abroad - I watched the stream and would agree with you

Also saw a D- man put in quite a few long shifts and score with a blast of a shot from the blue line. Is Blood the new Hotham - the commentators seemed to think so.

Also saw "the little guy" stand up for his captain. Yes Reddick lost but it's what people have been calling for

I'm not convinced we need to worry
 

Devil_Abroad

Well-Known Member
The way Batchy is playing on D at the moment I would happily leave him there. I think Batch is so high on confidence at the moment he would do a great job anywhere. I hope he carries this on into the rest of the season.
Another great performance - saw him struggle on only one shift, in the second. He seems to have lost weight again and is far quicker. His confidence in bringing the puck through centre ice is wonderful to see. Louis, how much has he lost in weight! Yowzer he’s quick.
 

pjj365

Well-Known Member
The way Batchy is playing on D at the moment I would happily leave him there. I think Batch is so high on confidence at the moment he would do a great job anywhere. I hope he carries this on into the rest of the season.
Agreed and I just wonder if he is looking to stake his claim on a permanent D role to get his GB place back.

If this is the case and he retains the D then we could be in for the best season ever from him
 

RedDevil17

Well-Known Member
Leave Batch on D and bring in a replacement. I know who i'd drop but i'm not naming names! I said at the start of the offseason we should've signed O'Connor when he left the KHL. If things don't work out for him in sweden then sign him! Stephenson or Klubertanz would be perfect. I'd like a big 6'1+ D man who can put up lots of points.
 
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Rich Best

Well-Known Member
Leave Batch on D and bring in a replacement. I know who i'd drop but i'm not naming names! I said at the start of the offseason we should've signed O'Connor when he left the KHL. If things don't work out for him in sweden then sign him! Stephenson or Klubertanz would be perfect. I'd like a big 6'1+ D man who can put up lots of points.
Defence looks solid to me. Goal tending has been slow to kick into gear pre-season and Bownsey let a couple of soft ones in last night (we KNOW Bownsey will not let us down over the full season, and will win us plenty of games hopefully starting tomorrow). But defence looked solid last night, really well organised on the PK also. Certainly no-one in defence that we should even consider gassing! Agree we should keep Batchy in the defence unit, as we are likely to pick up injuries throughout the year and good to rotate anyway.

I was always worried we would miss Hotham - but we are so loaded in our forwards that I am hoping we will cover his points hall and more. Wouldn't be surprised if we hit more points in the EIHL this year than any of the past 2 years, despite a clear improvement in opposition - I think we are that good upfront.
 

RedDevil17

Well-Known Member
Defence looks solid to me. Goal tending has been slow to kick into gear pre-season and Bownsey let a couple of soft ones in last night (we KNOW Bownsey will not let us down over the full season, and will win us plenty of games hopefully starting tomorrow). But defence looked solid last night, really well organised on the PK also. Certainly no-one in defence that we should even consider gassing! Agree we should keep Batchy in the defence unit, as we are likely to pick up injuries throughout the year and good to rotate anyway.

I was always worried we would miss Hotham - but we are so loaded in our forwards that I am hoping we will cover his points hall and more. Wouldn't be surprised if we hit more points in the EIHL this year than any of the past 2 years, despite a clear improvement in opposition - I think we are that good upfront.
We’re missing Hotham I don’t care what anyone says. Bowns has been poor throughout preseason but he’ll get back to normal soon enough, just going through bad form. O’ Connor would’ve been awesome and I don’t care if he’s a former steeler. He’s a great offensive D man who is almost as good if not better than Hotham in terms of point production. He’s a brit too! Our D is still too shaky in my eyes and I don’t think it was very solid at all so I’ll disagree on that. Our man coverage was poor, allowed their shooters too much room and our D needs to be more organised. We need a tall D man who can play, something along the lines of these two:

Logan Stephenson: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/11474/logan-stephenson
Kyle Klubertanz: https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/9411/kyle-klubertanz
 
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august04

Well-Known Member
I said at the start of the season Cardiff City should have signed Ronaldo.
The difference being O’Connor’s wages would be in the region of what the Devils could afford to pay if they wanted to push the boat out, whereas clearly that wouldn’t be the case for City and Ronaldo. Mind you, Tan has got a gold plated helicopter, so I guess anything is possible! I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see O’Connor at the Devils if/when he leaves Sweden, if we continue to be the dominant force in UK hockey.
 

Finny

Well-Known Member
Fair play Finny, as ‘Finnicky’ as ever ( see how I did that ) you are not anywhere near any sort of sensible comparison, so assume you are just trying - and failing - to be funny !
And once again you’ve had a pop at me without giving your own opinion.
It was a fair comparison because neither had a chance of happening.

O’Connor signed for Sheffield. The only reason he came back to the EIHL in the first place was because it was his dad’s old team and Sheffield threw silly money at him.
He got the chance to play in the KHL and Sheffield released him. By the time he had been released by the KHL team we had already signed all our players and allocated our budget. Even if we did miraculously have the budget spare for him, he’d still go back to Sheffield as he signed with them in the first place.

Posts like “we should have sign xxxx” wind me up in any sport because it’s almost always someone without a clue thinking you just decide who to sign and that player will agree regardless and without taking into account any logistics.
 

Devils86

Well-Known Member
Posts like “we should have sign xxxx” wind me up in any sport because it’s almost always someone without a clue thinking you just decide who to sign and that player will agree regardless and without taking into account any logistics.
Thread is rumours and nonsense - must expect suggestions for signings...however nonsensical.

Lord will find who he wants - or will wait. Until then people will guess and pluck fantasy signings.
 

osh

Well-Known Member
And once again you’ve had a pop at me without giving your own opinion.
It was a fair comparison because neither had a chance of happening.

O’Connor signed for Sheffield. The only reason he came back to the EIHL in the first place was because it was his dad’s old team and Sheffield threw silly money at him.
He got the chance to play in the KHL and Sheffield released him. By the time he had been released by the KHL team we had already signed all our players and allocated our budget. Even if we did miraculously have the budget spare for him, he’d still go back to Sheffield as he signed with them in the first place.

Posts like “we should have sign xxxx” wind me up in any sport because it’s almost always someone without a clue thinking you just decide who to sign and that player will agree regardless and without taking into account any logistics.
I’ve clearly given my opinion by saying your post is far from an accurate comparison, what more do you want.
 
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