Erie Otters 2022-23 Season Thread

[Monster66]

Hard to say. Erie has a good amount of middle line forwards and he adds to that. But considering the assets they spent to get him and his age, he almost certainly gets top 6 minutes. Maybe not tonight because of the timing of the trade but the hope is probably that he gets those minutes at some point. He has played with Saganiuk in the past with USNDT but not sure if they were ever on a line together

Could be something like this:

Gilmartin - Saganiuk - Cohen
Sedore - Terrance - Alfano
Spence - McDonald - Bressette


I feel like McDonald earned a look in the top 9. He showed flashes of skill and actually won over half of his faceoffs, which was best on the team in preseason. Let’s see how “loyal” BJ is though and how much he values experience in the system. But again based on preseason, I think these are their best 9 forwards in terms of ceiling. Bottom 3 should be a combination of the rest. All of these guys need to earn their time still

Signoretti/Artichuk - Lowe/Edwards - Smith/Messier

I get what your saying but I feel maybe to much emphasis is being placed in the preseason. Second year players usually get a little more rope than free agent singings or players selected in U18 draft. I do agree, the McDonald kid scored a nice goal but I'm not sure how much real evaluation you can do during the OHL exhibition season. He's clearly impressed BJ. Let's see what happens on this road trip and see where some of these inexperienced guys show up. BJ said Lowe has come in bigger, stronger and ready for a bigger year. Is he not ahead of McDonald? and Lucas Signoretti is a second round draft pick that should in theory be ahead of McDonald. But all this speculation will be answered soon enough. The other challenge the Otters have is they might be in the toughest division in the league this year.

 

[NOA]

I get what your saying but I feel maybe to much emphasis is being placed in the preseason. Second year players usually get a little more rope than free agent singings or players selected in U18 draft. I do agree, the McDonald kid scored a nice goal but I'm not sure how much real evaluation you can do during the OHL exhibition season. He's clearly impressed BJ. Let's see what happens on this road trip and see where some of these inexperienced guys show up. BJ said Lowe has come in bigger, stronger and ready for a bigger year. Is he not ahead of McDonald? and Lucas Signoretti is a second round draft pick that should in theory be ahead of McDonald. But all this speculation will be answered soon enough. The other challenge the Otters have is they might be in the toughest division in the league this year.

All fair points. BJ also spoke to them needing to be or feeling like they can be more offensive. They need to score more. We all know that. The little bit I saw of McDonald, most highlights I’ll admit, showed more offensive flash than Lowe ever has. Lowe reminds me of a Patrick Fellows type. Maybe McDonald can be a Mason Marchment type. Ultimately Marchment had a higher ceiling

Overall I agree that early on the vets get more opportunity. But that shouldn’t be a running theme either. BJ had 6 preseason games to evaluate it. If all is equal, you go with the vet early on as a security blanket to see what type of team you have. But if the kids can hold their own and are learning from mistakes, buying in on coaching, offer more upseide, etc., then you go with them. Time will tell. They have a lot of guys that we just don’t know about. Let’s give it a few weeks before we totally know where the lines shake out. My above projection was more just a “could be something like this” and not necessarily the best option to start

 

[Mata]

Ugh great. I hope this is not already a bad sign of things to come. Ha, I literally just said they need a good start. And already game one they have to go with their backup who last year was shaky at best. Love it!

If Nicholls is starting...

Lalonde could still be playing/training with Columbus.

Lalonde picked up a knock while playing in Columbus.

They want to see what they can expect from him early possibly to bring up Gibbons, if necessary, for a large portion of the season.

In the article above it appears BJ hints that Nicholls improved a lot from last season and his lack of play last season had more to do with the cut to his hand rather than his inability to adapt to the league. Let's hope that's the truth and he has progressed enough to keep us in games.

One other thing to note as breaking news:

Eriebank announced a new partnership venture with the Otters and will have logos on their helmets this season. Perhaps some foreshadowing for a future ownership consideration? It was league approved so I have to think it is a pretty significant development that we haven't heard the end of.

 

[NOA]

If Nicholls is starting...

Lalonde could still be playing/training with Columbus.

Lalonde picked up a knock while playing in Columbus.

They want to see what they can expect from him early possibly to bring up Gibbons, if necessary, for a large portion of the season.

In the article above it appears BJ hints that Nicholls improved a lot from last season and his lack of play last season had more to do with the cut to his hand rather than his inability to adapt to the league. Let's hope that's the truth and he has progressed enough to keep us in games.

One other thing to note as breaking news:

Eriebank announced a new partnership venture with the Otters and will have logos on their helmets this season. Perhaps some foreshadowing for a future ownership consideration? It was league approved so I have to think it is a pretty significant development that we haven't heard the end of.

I doubt related to future ownership but you never know. I would think Erie Insurance would be a stronger candiate or more involved in that if it ever got to that point. Seems more like a larger partnership though which is a good thing to have a strong partner like Erie Bank. That’s a bigger name in the Erie area so positive news for sure

 

[Mata]

Season predictions as far as NOA started...

I’ll say they finish 28-35-2-3 and I'm giving them the 9th seed only because with this prediction we SHOULD sell at the deadline instead of trying to hold an 8th seed and DB will keep everyone while playoff contenders improve.

Leading Points - Cohen
Leading Goal Scorer - Alfano
Best Rookie - Spence (obvious)
Most Improved - Sova
Biggest Surprise/Wildcard - Terrance

I think the 3 keys to success this season will be in no particular order...

1. Steady Goalie play (including backups)
2. We need Terrance and Sova to make leaps
3. Development of team/players from a coaching standpoint.

 

[NOA]

Hard to say. Erie has a good amount of middle line forwards and he adds to that. But considering the assets they spent to get him and his age, he almost certainly gets top 6 minutes. Maybe not tonight because of the timing of the trade but the hope is probably that he gets those minutes at some point. He has played with Saganiuk in the past with USNDT but not sure if they were ever on a line together

Could be something like this:

Gilmartin - Saganiuk - Cohen
Sedore - Terrance - Alfano
Spence - McDonald - Bressette


I feel like McDonald earned a look in the top 9. He showed flashes of skill and actually won over half of his faceoffs, which was best on the team in preseason. Let’s see how “loyal” BJ is though and how much he values experience in the system. But again based on preseason, I think these are their best 9 forwards in terms of ceiling. Bottom 3 should be a combination of the rest. All of these guys need to earn their time still

Signoretti/Artichuk - Lowe/Edwards - Smith/Messier

Well I was somewhat close. Swap out Saganiuk and Bressette in the top 9 and move Terrance to line one.

Opening night lineup:

 

[OttersFan]

28-32-3-5

Just taking a stab in the dark. Solely based off preseason which isn’t a large showing, I’m not confident in how we are in the SO. Obviously take it as a grain of salt.

Leading Points - Cohen
Leading Goal Scorer - Alfano
Best Rookie - Spence
Most Improved - Sedore
Biggest Surprise/Wildcard - Artichuk or Signoretti, for some reason I feel like they both need to step up. Otherwise, I’d say Terrance is due to have a big year.

I hope Nicholls can prove himself this year.

 

[NOA]

28-30-2-5

Just taking a stab in the dark. Solely based off preseason which isn’t a large showing, I’m not confident in how we are in the SO. Obviously take it as a grain of salt.

Leading Points - Cohen
Leading Goal Scorer - Alfano
Best Rookie - Spence
Most Improved - Sedore
Biggest Surprise/Wildcard - Artichuk or Signoretti, for some reason I feel like they both need to step up. Otherwise, I’d say Terrance is due to have a big year.

I hope Nicholls can prove himself this year.

They play 68 games so you are missing 3 with the prediction but overall, I think we are all in the same boat on this thread. About 27-29 wins. Sad. I hope we are wrong but…

 

[OttersFan]

They play 68 games so you are missing 3 with the prediction but overall, I think we are all in the same boat on this thread. About 27-29 wins. Sad. I hope we are wrong but…

Oops. You’re right. Fast fingers trying to get it in before puck drop.

Honestly if we get 30 wins I’d be surprised. By SOL, I’m confident that LaLonde can make some good saves. I’m not confident our shooters are picked wisely.

 

[Savard18]

Some good things tonight so far for Otters fans. The bad news? Connor Lockhart is currently on pace for 136 assists this year.

 

[NOA]

so same team as a year ago. Blowing two goal leads and a backup who is in over his head

Edit: what a bad loss. In the context of how prior years have gone this is too deja vu to feel any confidence from it. You have to win these types of games, you have to. Just so damn frustrating. It’s hard to follow this team…

 

[Mata]

so same team as a year ago. Blowing two goal leads and a backup who is in over his head

I think it's going to take a little bit for this team to get going...if they ever take off.

Was nice to see Terrance on the board. I expected Kyrou to have a showing. Sova playing pretty well. McDonald getting on the board in his first game was awesome!

Alfano is just slow...he looks awkward out there and doesn't match the pace of his teammates.

The lines got more and more compacted as the night went on and I didn't see a ton of variation in the 3rd. I get they want to start with a win, but very reminiscent of Hartsburg's style which is a huge step backwards imo.

Nicholls and the defense as you pointed out need to hold these 2 goal leads.

They did a lot well and they showed old habits. I hope it's not a preview of an extremely long season.

 

[OttersFan]

so same team as a year ago. Blowing two goal leads and a backup who is in over his head

Same old same old.

And yet again we can’t score in a shootout. It was our game to lose. We should’ve never let up.

 

[NOA]

Same old same old.

And yet again we can’t score in a shootout. It was our game to lose. We should’ve never let up.

Why do we always go with defensemen in the SO? I get Kyrou is a beast but his best shot is a slap shot or something on a one timer/off a pass. He’s not a guy that’s going to deke you around. You mean to tell me we don’t have better options?

 

[OttersFan]

Why do we always go with defensemen in the SO? I get Kyrou is a beast but his best shot is a slap shot or something on a one timer/off a pass. He’s not a guy that’s going to deke you around. You mean to tell me we don’t have better options?

I never understood that myself. Certainly I’d have better confidence in Sova, Cohen, Sedore and heck might as well give Spence the nod!

This could be the start to a very long road of SOL if we can’t even put proper skaters out. We didn’t seem to know what to even do once we got close to the net.

 

[NOA]

I never understood that myself. Certainly I’d have better confidence in Sova, Cohen, Sedore and heck might as well give Spence the nod!

This could be the start to a very long road of SOL if we can’t even put proper skaters out. We didn’t seem to know what to even do once we got close to the net.

Remember 2019-20? I think that was the year with like 18 extra time losses haha. Brutal

 

[OttersFan]

Remember 2019-20? I think that was the year with like 18 extra time losses haha. Brutal

Remember that fairly well and if the saying is still true, history definitely repeats itself.

Hopefully they can regroup for tomorrow. It’ll be interesting to see if they swap goalies tomorrow. I don’t see why not. I know Gibbons will likely be sent down, but a little experience is always good.

 

[three dog night]

A point on the road not bad.

 

[G0Otters]

I agree with a lot of the sentiments posted here. It will take some time for the team to come together with a bunch of new faces and new lines. Besides not being able to score in shootouts, I think they need to work on faceoffs. They only won 17/61 faceoffs last night (<30%). D’Amato and Hoffman mostly carried the load in faceoffs last year. We need a couple guys to step up this year who can at least win 50% of their faceoffs.

 

[NOA]

I agree with a lot of the sentiments posted here. It will take some time for the team to come together with a bunch of new faces and new lines. Besides not being able to score in shootouts, I think they need to work on faceoffs. They only won 17/61 faceoffs last night (<30%). D’Amato and Hoffman mostly carried the load in faceoffs last year. We need a couple guys to step up this year who can at least win 50% of their faceoffs.

I’ve been saying this for years but nobody wanted to listen or didn’t think it was a big deal. Their faceoffs have been a complete dumpster fire since Knoblauch left. This isn’t new to last night and isn’t likely changing this year. Their best guys on their best days are only around 50-55% but that’s rare for them. I would bet that they have lost the faceoff battle in something like 70-75% of games the last 5 years. It’s bad.

When you can’t even win the draws, you are starting without the puck and that’s a big thing especially on special teams. Over the course of the season, I totally believe it can cost you at least 4-5 games, maybe more, because it’s impacting the puck possession and ultimately the potential scoring opportunities. When they were winning in 2014-2017, they were elite at winning draws and it made a huge difference. Their attention to detail was way higher. To me it’s all practice, coaching, and technique. Clearly they haven’t been properly teaching or developing the skillset because its a trend despite new faces every year. Not good. Lack of detail or doing the little things to win will cost a team that doesn’t have a high end elite talent to just bail them out

As for last night, yes we can agree it wasn’t a bad game necessarily but I won’t remove my stance that those are the games you MUST win. You had two 2 goal leads, with you backup in, and you were most importantly up 4-2 early in the 3rd. You have to win that. Whether it’s game 1 or game 50, on the road or at home. You have to win. To me it’s a potential omen for things to come. A bad sign. There is just something about this team that they find ways to lose. We know the coaching and talent concerns but I also question some leadership in the locker room. Not to mention I spent plenty of time researching their very experienced D core which was supposed to be a strength of the team. They had the same 6 guys last night that they had most of last year and yet, they made some really bad mistakes that cost them. Can’t have that with this defense. They can’t be that out of position or have that many breakdowns on a consistent basis

 

[ohloutsider]

You're in first place in the west.

 

[EON]

I don't have much more to add that hasn't already been said about last night's game, but I do want to defend Nicholls a bit, I thought he had a decent game and the four goals he gave up were essentially all open shots in the slot. That's more on a defensive breakdown than it is on him.

Also, Terrance's goal last night was filthy. Hope to see more of that from him.

 

[Monster66]

I’ve been saying this for years but nobody wanted to listen or didn’t think it was a big deal. Their faceoffs have been a complete dumpster fire since Knoblauch left. This isn’t new to last night and isn’t likely changing this year. Their best guys on their best days are only around 50-55% but that’s rare for them. I would bet that they have lost the faceoff battle in something like 70-75% of games the last 5 years. It’s bad.

When you can’t even win the draws, you are starting without the puck and that’s a big thing especially on special teams. Over the course of the season, I totally believe it can cost you at least 4-5 games, maybe more, because it’s impacting the puck possession and ultimately the potential scoring opportunities. When they were winning in 2014-2017, they were elite at winning draws and it made a huge difference. Their attention to detail was way higher. To me it’s all practice, coaching, and technique. Clearly they haven’t been properly teaching or developing the skillset because its a trend despite new faces every year. Not good. Lack of detail or doing the little things to win will cost a team that doesn’t have a high end elite talent to just bail them out

As for last night, yes we can agree it wasn’t a bad game necessarily but I won’t remove my stance that those are the games you MUST win. You had two 2 goal leads, with you backup in, and you were most importantly up 4-2 early in the 3rd. You have to win that. Whether it’s game 1 or game 50, on the road or at home. You have to win. To me it’s a potential omen for things to come. A bad sign. There is just something about this team that they find ways to lose. We know the coaching and talent concerns but I also question some leadership in the locker room. Not to mention I spent plenty of time researching their very experienced D core which was supposed to be a strength of the team. They had the same 6 guys last night that they had most of last year and yet, they made some really bad mistakes that cost them. Can’t have that with this defense. They can’t be that out of position or have that many breakdowns on a consistent basis

They were the better team last night and should have won. The Pete's had four very good players (Stillman, Avon, Guryev) out of their lineup so the Otters needed to take advantage of that. It will be a dog fight for the 8th seed in the west and those points could come back to haunt them later in the season. Tonight's game is a must win (oddly two games into the season and I am saying that) but Ottawa will be tough, Mississauga, Flint and London next week can't afford to bank only 3 points after 5 games. Need to come away 2 2 1.

Also, didn't help that Lalonde wasn't in nets as I think the Pete's scored two goals from longer range that should be stopped. If they play like that tonight they should beat a Kingston team that is likely going to be near the bottom of the east this year. My concern is this team doesn't know how to win and finds ways to lose games they should win. Is this a cultural thing? is it bad leadership? which starts with the coach, is it a miscalculation on the talent they deploy - there are no players in the lineup that know how to close out games. Imo, they have very good team skill and are a offensive minded team at least by the type of players they have in the lineup. No elite faceoff guy that can win you a faceoff when it matters the most and not sure they have enough experience in that lineup that knows what it takes to win.

Lockhart did nothing imo, but ended up with 3 assists (2 secondary) and scored one of Erie's goals - McDonald you owe Connor a pepsi.

 

[NOA]

Also, Terrance's goal last night was filthy. Hope to see more of that from him.

Heard some comments from people at that game that he was flying around and showed a lot of flash. I hope that is a consistent thing that turns into more and more offense as the year progresses. We need him.

 

[NOA]

They were the better team last night and should have won. The Pete's had four very good players (Stillman, Avon, Guryev) out of their lineup so the Otters needed to take advantage of that. It will be a dog fight for the 8th seed in the west and those points could come back to haunt them later in the season. Tonight's game is a must win (oddly two games into the season and I am saying that) but Ottawa will be tough, Mississauga, Flint and London next week can't afford to bank only 3 points after 5 games. Need to come away 2 2 1.

Also, didn't help that Lalonde wasn't in nets as I think the Pete's scored two goals from longer range that should be stopped. If they play like that tonight they should beat a Kingston team that is likely going to be near the bottom of the east this year. My concern is this team doesn't know how to win and finds ways to lose games they should win. Is this a cultural thing? is it bad leadership? which starts with the coach, is it a miscalculation on the talent they deploy - there are no players in the lineup that know how to close out games. Imo, they have very good team skill and are a offensive minded team at least by the type of players they have in the lineup. No elite faceoff guy that can win you a faceoff when it matters the most and not sure they have enough experience in that lineup that knows what it takes to win.

Lockhart did nothing imo, but ended up with 3 assists (2 secondary) and scored one of Erie's goals - McDonald you owe Connor a pepsi.

Good thoughts here. I sort of feel the same about a “must win” tonight. Again this team is fragile when it comes to confidence and consistency. A good start can help turn the tide, which was why last night was a bad blow and gut check. Their response tonight even more crucial. Got to start feeling good about yourself rather than sorry. Like you said, Kingston is a bottom half team and those are the games we got to compete in.

Overall if you start out with 3 of 4 points on the road, without your top goalie - you feel pretty solid. Then you just need to split next two on the road. It’s all about gaining confidence early. When they started 2-6 last year, it put them in the hole and chasing the rest of the year. Not to mention they felt dejected early. This team says all the right things about wanting to win/make the playoffs but the results are the results. Idk I just feel the mental mindset of this team is so fragile that it means more early for them than most teams.

The improvement this year would be to just stay around .500 all year. That’s my goal or expectations. Try to just be consistently “average”

Agree on Lockhart. Putting up assists isn’t what means much to me. It’s more about the consistency and goal scoring ability with him.