Erie Otters 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part I

[agillarda]

Maybe Paps and your GM can get creative and do a one stop shop type deal. Musty, McCoy and Kwachuck for Challenger, Royston, Knight and picks. You would have to figure our a OA solution as Erie has 3 already or just do a Musty and Kwachuck solidifies back up potentially. Just a thought

 

[OttersFan]

There was a lot of talk last season how Terrance's absence to world juniors may have hindered the 2nd half of the season. This year it appears he has been trending upwards so far. Let's hope it continues and perhaps translates to a solid 2nd half of the season!

I think his absence was likely due to jet lag, but more importantly because he sat around the entire time watching. I’m glad he got a shot this year and actually scored. Luckily WJ is in the same time zone and he’ll likely meet the team on the road once it’s over with. Great experience this year for sure.

 

[Mata]

Maybe Paps and your GM can get creative and do a one stop shop type deal. Musty, McCoy and Kwachuck for Challenger, Royston, Knight and picks. You would have to figure our a OA solution as Erie has 3 already or just do a Musty and Kwachuck solidifies back up potentially. Just a thought

Would be a very interesting trade to entertain. Would Krawchuck be open to playing 2nd fiddle in net? It would give Erie 3 solid players to help solidify all 3 areas of the ice. I guess it would depend on what the picks (how many) might be.

Erie does have the players in Spence and Schaefer (if needed) to recoup a boatload of picks in a rebuild assuming Schaefer returned next season.

 

[agillarda]

Would be a very interesting trade to entertain. Would Krawchuck be open to playing 2nd fiddle in net? It would give Erie 3 solid players to help solidify all 3 areas of the ice. I guess it would depend on what the picks (how many) might be.

Erie does have the players in Spence and Schaefer (if needed) to recoup a boatload of picks in a rebuild assuming Schaefer returned next season.

This year has been his first year having that chance and early it was a 1a/1b situation and would likely be a favorite for your number one spot over Burns. Like I said just a creative idea, when limited assets is there a way to make a bigger sensible move.

 

[Mata]

This year has been his first year having that chance and early it was a 1a/1b situation and would likely be a favorite for your number one spot over Burns. Like I said just a creative idea, when limited assets is there a way to make a bigger sensible move.

Erliden is our clear number 1, but Burns is definitely not a suitable BUG for any time of playoff series and/extended amount of time should Erliden get hurt.

That being said, we do need another solid D player in contention of top 4 minutes. Holomego just isn't there. Henry looks to have developed enough and if he's playing better than Daviault you could push him (Daviault) 3rd line and pair him up with a younger player to help mentor them.

Any team in the league benefits from Musty playing on offense.

 

[agillarda]

Erliden is our clear number 1, but Burns is definitely not a suitable BUG for any time of playoff series and/extended amount of time should Erliden get hurt.

That being said, we do need another solid D player in contention of top 4 minutes. Holomego just isn't there. Henry looks to have developed enough and if he's playing better than Daviault you could push him (Daviault) 3rd line and pair him up with a younger player to help mentor them.

Any team in the league benefits from Musty playing on offense.

Sorry I meant for next season Kwachuck likely favored for number one should Erliden not be back for OA season.

 

[chl2024]

Erliden is our clear number 1, but Burns is definitely not a suitable BUG for any time of playoff series and/extended amount of time should Erliden get hurt.

That being said, we do need another solid D player in contention of top 4 minutes. Holomego just isn't there. Henry looks to have developed enough and if he's playing better than Daviault you could push him (Daviault) 3rd line and pair him up with a younger player to help mentor them.

Any team in the league benefits from Musty playing on offense.

From what I've seen D looks like this

Schaefer/Sauder
Henry/Mccall-Ambrosio
Daviault/Mccall-Ambrosio

D'ellesio/Holomego 7th

I think it comes down to how offensive or defensive Mccall plays. If he's all offensive, he can't play with Daviault who tends to play very offensively at the expense of d coverage. I like the way D'ellesio has been playing, but they have been using him mostly against opposing 3rd and 4th lines. Holomego is a defensive d, but I'm not sure what's going on there sometimes. I'm also concerned if Erliden gets injured from overuse, but that has been said by pretty much everyone.

 

[sirius67fan]

Just wanted to say, so impressed by Schaefer in world juniors. 17 y.o. wow? We don't see him much in Ottawa, didn't realize how good he is.

 

[Mata]

From what I've seen D looks like this

Schaefer/Sauder
Henry/Mccall-Ambrosio
Daviault/Mccall-Ambrosio

D'ellesio/Holomego 7th

I think it comes down to how offensive or defensive Mccall plays. If he's all offensive, he can't play with Daviault who tends to play very offensively at the expense of d coverage. I like the way D'ellesio has been playing, but they have been using him mostly against opposing 3rd and 4th lines. Holomego is a defensive d, but I'm not sure what's going on there sometimes. I'm also concerned if Erliden gets injured from overuse, but that has been said by pretty much everyone.

It is also tough with Henry, the kid has the build of a stay at home defender BUT when he gets open ice is insanely fast and can rush with the best of them. I personally like his game and appreciate he's not 1 dimensional in his defending style.

Holomego, agree. The guy is stay at home for sure. I will applaud him for his shot blocking. He does tend to eat up a lot of shots in front of the goaltender, but thats about it. For his size he's not very strong. He's not very fast. There is almost 0 offensive upside there either.

Ambrosio and D'Alessio definitely seem to have a solid upside and shouldn't be rushed this season. We've also added Willis who appears to be on the "smaller" side at 6' and 160. I am anxious to see him play. While Knight was playing I love the fluidity in his skating, but he also needs time to develop.

I don't think we need another puck moving defender, but rather a stay at home one who can play 3rd line and has time to grow.

We should be just fine with Schaefer, Sauder, Henry and a +1 to eat up most of the top minutes.

 

[Fischhaber]

I hope Schaefer is alright. That was a nasty collision with the net.

 

[OttersFan]

I hope Schaefer’s injury is only a shoulder separation and he’s out for precautionary reasons. Kid doesn’t deserve to be sidelined after everything he’s been through.

 

[Mata]

The more I look at these two trades, the more I realize how incompetent our front office is with DB at the helm. We traded away probably our 2nd best defender and a boat load of picks for a guy who couldn't make the roster and a guy who might not even be a 3rd liner on a contending team.

 

[User13452]

Sounds like surgery for Schaefer tough blow for Erie. Broken clavicle apparently hopefully he’s back before playoffs for you guys

 

[AGranderson]

Will miss 3-4 months with a Broken collarbone, if surgery is required could be longer

 

[OttersFan]

With Schaefer being out and the team not being able to function without him, where does this leave us?

Stay put and just coast being a middle/bottom seed or sell off to get some picks?

This PP and PK hurts without Schaefer. This defense won’t be able to hold it down and the goaltending BUG doesn’t stand a chance. The forwards group might be okay, but if we can’t keep pucks out of the net, we can’t afford to play catch up.

I’m sure DB is scrambling.

 

[chl2024]

With Schaefer being out and the team not being able to function without him, where does this leave us?

Stay put and just coast being a middle/bottom seed or sell off to get some picks?

This PP and PK hurts without Schaefer. This defense won’t be able to hold it down and the goaltending BUG doesn’t stand a chance. The forwards group might be okay, but if we can’t keep pucks out of the net, we can’t afford to play catch up.

I’m sure DB is scrambling.

" the team not able to function without him" lol

Yes he's one of the best players on the team, and yes he is presence is definitely missed when he's gone, but keep in mind, he's barely played more than 50% of the games this year and they appeared to be able to function. Erie has won big games without him this year, and has lost bad games with him. He's not the entire team. Top players go down all the time and teams find a way.

Erie needs to grab another D at the trade deadline to try and fill some of the void.

 

[Mata]

With Schaefer being out and the team not being able to function without him, where does this leave us?

Stay put and just coast being a middle/bottom seed or sell off to get some picks?

This PP and PK hurts without Schaefer. This defense won’t be able to hold it down and the goaltending BUG doesn’t stand a chance. The forwards group might be okay, but if we can’t keep pucks out of the net, we can’t afford to play catch up.

I’m sure DB is scrambling.

There is NO way this team makes a deep playoff run without their "franchise" player. The smart thing to do would be a sell off, although this COULD lower his draft stock and keep him in Erie for another year.

This likely takes any talks of a Musty trade off the table as well. There is no reason to drain assets further with him out of the lineup for the rest of the year.

However, all that being said, we have Dave Brown as a GM...

 

[frontsfan67]

With Schaefer being out and the team not being able to function without him, where does this leave us?

Stay put and just coast being a middle/bottom seed or sell off to get some picks?

This PP and PK hurts without Schaefer. This defense won’t be able to hold it down and the goaltending BUG doesn’t stand a chance. The forwards group might be okay, but if we can’t keep pucks out of the net, we can’t afford to play catch up.

I’m sure DB is scrambling.

Should still be back for playoffs. I’d say load up still on d especially with his absence. Losing lots of great pieces next year. Also Schaefer could be one of them.

 

[OttersFan]

" the team not able to function without him" lol

Yes he's one of the best players on the team, and yes he is presence is definitely missed when he's gone, but keep in mind, he's barely played more than 50% of the games this year and they appeared to be able to function. Erie has won big games without him this year, and has lost bad games with him. He's not the entire team. Top players go down all the time and teams find a way.

Erie needs to grab another D at the trade deadline to try and fill some of the void.

Of course they’re going to play on as any team would. Our special teams cannot function without Schaefer being the QB. Hopefully the McCall kid can help somewhat on the back end.

Our defense is weak. We’ve discussed this for months. Schaefer brought the best out of it.

We have 26 pts up for grabs in January. Let’s see how many we take home.

 

[Wolf on a Wire]

" the team not able to function without him" lol

Yes he's one of the best players on the team, and yes he is presence is definitely missed when he's gone, but keep in mind, he's barely played more than 50% of the games this year and they appeared to be able to function. Erie has won big games without him this year, and has lost bad games with him. He's not the entire team. Top players go down all the time and teams find a way.

Erie needs to grab another D at the trade deadline to try and fill some of the void.

ie: Musty and Wolves

 

[Kingpin794]

Brutal. Hope he can be back by playoffs

 

[Mata]

Of course they’re going to play on as any team would. Our special teams cannot function without Schaefer being the QB. Hopefully the McCall kid can help somewhat on the back end.

Our defense is weak. We’ve discussed this for months. Schaefer brought the best out of it.

We have 26 pts up for grabs in January. Let’s see how many we take home.

Agreed...

Our team now needs a BUG, a top 3 defensive player and a top 6 forward at the very least.

London is on an insane level atm...

Spits and Rangers are not far behind. We have a healthy Schaefer all season I think we could be up there with the top 3. This will ensure the team stays a 4 - 6 seed.

 

[NOA]

Should still be back for playoffs. I’d say load up still on d especially with his absence. Losing lots of great pieces next year. Also Schaefer could be one of them.

I would say they should still load up with a trade or two. Ultimately, Schaefer should be back for the postseason and this actually increases his chances of coming back next year where you can trade him away for plenty of picks. Standing pat is a poor approach

Sad Schaefer won’t be able to play for McDavid retirement night..

 

[OttersFan]

Agreed...

Our team now needs a BUG, a top 3 defensive player and a top 6 forward at the very least.

London is on an insane level atm...

Spits and Rangers are not far behind. We have a healthy Schaefer all season I think we could be up there with the top 3. This will ensure the team stays a 4 - 6 seed.

Which is why I mentioned we, at our current state cannot function without him. If we fill the roles you mentioned, we will be okay. Even with Schaefer in the line up, we concluded we still had places to fill. His spot for the next few months bumps up in priority for seeking out a trade replacement.

A BUG is a must and we can’t forget Erliden was injured before the break. We cannot afford to lose him, or we are really done for. We don’t need a flashy goalie, but we need someone the team can buy into and play for. We need someone who is guaranteed to steal us winnable games.

We play Kitchener twice, Windsor and London both once in January. Right there is 8 pts I wouldn’t feel confident in securing. We have Niagara twice and there’s 4 more points.

We have to start winning all games against lower standing teams. There’s no question about it. That’s been the goal since day one, but they seem to take those games lightly and get smushed every time. Set the standard this weekend with Guelph and Brantford.

 

[Mata]

Which is why I mentioned we, at our current state cannot function without him. If we fill the roles you mentioned, we will be okay. Even with Schaefer in the line up, we concluded we still had places to fill. His spot for the next few months bumps up in priority for seeking out a trade replacement.

A BUG is a must and we can’t forget Erliden was injured before the break. We cannot afford to lose him, or we are really done for. We don’t need a flashy goalie, but we need someone the team can buy into and play for. We need someone who is guaranteed to steal us winnable games.

We play Kitchener twice, Windsor and London both once in January. Right there is 8 pts I wouldn’t feel confident in securing. We have Niagara twice and there’s 4 more points.

We have to start winning all games against lower standing teams. There’s no question about it. That’s been the goal since day one, but they seem to take those games lightly and get smushed every time. Set the standard this weekend with Guelph and Brantford.

I still see DB going all in because he has arguably been the worst GM in the OHL in the past 7 years. This season has been no exception.