Erie Otters 2024 25 Season Thread Part I
- Thread starter SoupNazi
- Start date
We will be there today and tomorrow. I'm working the ice tomorrow so kinda forced to be there, haha!
Dhockey16
Registered User
Haven't seen a roster anywhere. Toroptsev is 8 white and has the first goal of the scrimmage.
Kayden Edwards is here and so is Woz.
If it had to rate the 1st period...everyone is playing pretty conservative and doesn't want to make the dumb mistake.
Couple players settling in, but no one is really taking anything over.
Couple players settling in, but no one is really taking anything over.
I think Clarke and D'Alessio were here today too, but can't be certain. I didn't see any fights so I assume DaSilva wasn't here lol
It’s also possible he goes to an NHL camp, and impresses and they want to sign him and so they push him back to the CHL .. even if it’s not Erie, he can still be traded. I don’t think it’s a big probability but it’s not 0% either especially if he’s a first round pick or in the top 20. That’s what’s a bit interesting about this decision to me.. Spence might be a top 20 pick so how long is he really going to be at Michigan? 1 year? Is that really a significant leap for his development over another OHL team? Because again, if its just an Erie issue, we will have zero problem trading him to another location. While college offers some upside for a new level of competition to his development, given the amount of games they play and his age, he’s also likely to get less ice time overall and have a diminished role compared to OHL.
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Most reasonable fans only want him back to trade him and get assets… nobody expects him to return and play here all year. But if they can get a young player + 6/7 picks then yes we are holding out hope now that Spence is gone.
Honestly, I don’t expect him back. Maybe a 10-20% chance? The Islanders are not a bottom team necessarily like the Sharks for instance, so maybe they are less inclined to rush him? While Schaefer is a special talent, he’s still a bit slight and just missed basically an entire season of development, which for a defensemen is a big deal. It’s possible he’s back and DB would be smart to immediately let the NHL team / agent know that they can move him without issue
And though it stings to lose Spence, if they can get some good fortune to actually go their way for once with Schaefer then trading him will help the rebuild tremendously. Yes, next years roster is lacking but the NIL/college rules still work both ways and if Erie can manage to find a few players there + add an import player then maybe they can still manage to be in the 8 seed range. The bigger issue for me is long term assets / draft picks. They are still recovering from the 2013-2017 era, mostly because DB had poor asset management from 2018-2024 and wasted the few picks they still had on guys like Gilmartin, Golden, etc. But that said, being able to trade Schaefer for instance completely fixes those issues. It puts them back above normal with their picks, giving them options so when they are back in a 4-5 seed range like this year (despite major injury issues), then they can actually afford to add 1/2 pieces to make a real run.
Losing BOTH Spence and Schaefer realllllly hurts. Like badly. The only thing you can do to crawl out of it is spend some money and be aggressive in adding some US, college players. Have to find a way to get creative, add talent in other ways. Or good luck being anything more than 7-10 seed the next 2-3 years.
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Completely agree on recruiting NCAA commits. There are college programs that have more commits for 25/26 than there are actual roster spots. For example, U of Maine has 30 commits for 25/26 according to this (College Commitments). I'd say less than half of them will actually make the roster plus there are others who will be pushed off who might still be CHL eligible.
This was the first rookie camp we've been to in recent memory where really no one took over and no one really stood out amongst the rest. Some players settled in and did a little better than others or had flashes of good play.
If I had names of the kids I'd post who I thought had a little better showing compared to others, but as it stands they just had numbers and white/yellow jersey assignments.
I really don't know if that's a good or bad thing that not a single player shined...
If I had names of the kids I'd post who I thought had a little better showing compared to others, but as it stands they just had numbers and white/yellow jersey assignments.
I really don't know if that's a good or bad thing that not a single player shined...
Apparently, there were a couple free agents there. Two of the players mentioned in the Otters instagram aren't on any draft list I can find.
Desmond Allmon, an 08 defenseman out of St. Louis and forward Max Davis an 07 out of Middleton, WI.
I think they usually have some undrafted kids each season they invite to rookie orientation camp. I would say they may take 15ish kids to the main camp and then make final cuts after.
Coaches and staff talked to some of the players one on one after the final scrimmage but appeared maybe not everyone.
My understanding is the rookie camp is for every drafted kid from the recent OHL draft, plus a few invites that weren't drafted, plus a few bubble kids from last year that may have played a few games. The main camp in August is again mostly the same kids plus anyone drafted from the previous year still looking for a shot, plus free agents the team has approached ( like the BCHL signings or USHL kids) I would expect you will see a busier than normal August camp as there is a big rollover in players this year and they are trying to fill holes. Outside the 3 OAs gone, plus Spence, probably Schaefer, whatever the goalie situation is, 05s not offered an OA spot, plus there may be a few that might choose to leave the OHL early to go to school/hockey. Time will tell, but I think this will be a very different team next year.
Also, FWIW, Mercyhurst location was a massive upgrade to be able to watch the kids in this rookie orientation IMO.
There's seating, it's warm, and you're right up on the ice to watch these kids battle it out.
I look forward to seeing how the org tries to get creative for the camp in August.
Dhockey16
Registered User
I guarantee we'll be seeing more of this. Could even develop into an informal arrangement between the programs
That's 4 CHL players signed by Mercyhurst. The Leblanc twins out of North Bay, Sedore and a kid out of the Quebec league.
It will be interesting over the next couple years to see how the US players will enter the CHL now that they have the ability to return stateside and go NCAA should they need a year or two to develop OR they realize hockey isn't going to be their career and get a quality 4 year degree for nothing or next to nothing.
The buzz is, the OHL will get stronger with younger players and it will help the NCAA become stronger as players return.
Dhockey16
Registered User
I'm referring to an Erie-to-Mercyhurst pipeline specifically, even. It'll be way easier for the 'Hurst than it has been in the past to scout and recruit some of these kids. Playing at the Mercyhurst rink is a bit of step down from a good crowd at the EIA but it's a nice campus and a good school.
There's a good relationship between players from the programs. When D1 is in town with the night off they usually catch an Otter's game and vice versa.
It would make sense becuase the young man wouldn't have to uproot, just move from Fairview onto campus.
You Otter Be There
Registered User
Congrats Big Rig you will be missed and it will be years and years before we see another 40 goal scorer on this team. I wonder if the team will score 40 combined? It will not take long for the team to reach 40 goals against though.
DB completely missed the mark, losing Spence, Schaefer and getting nothing in return will haunt this team. What is worse if he didn't know he was going to lose them, then he is that bad as a GM or if he did know they were leaving and did nothing to trade or try to keep him either way he has done such a poor job
DB completely missed the mark, losing Spence, Schaefer and getting nothing in return will haunt this team. What is worse if he didn't know he was going to lose them, then he is that bad as a GM or if he did know they were leaving and did nothing to trade or try to keep him either way he has done such a poor job
We can hate on DB all we want but let’s actually be fair about the assessment…
Schaefer was injured so realistically, they weren’t going to be able trade him. And if they did - everyone would flip s*** when they got a garbage return because any team adding him would be risking what Erie got - no games out of him in 2025. Also, I don’t blame them for just seeing how it plays out with the NHL draft. It’s not a guarantee he’s gone.. But considering he was hurt, what were they supposed to do?
With Spence - there is no evidence they knew this would happen. It’s unfair to put that on DB when it’s 2025, this is the new way of the sport, and Spence is the one who decided to leave. Again, if his issue was just Erie, then he would have asked for a trade. It’s clear, for whatever reason, he wanted to go the college route for development. That’s not on DB, and if you think it’s his fault then it feels like biased, sour grapes or you just don’t understand how the OHL works now..
had butler stayed, spence would have stayed, he loved playing for stan. when he left i started to hear the spence stuff after. it was a big factor. there are a few that may go d1 or ask out now that stan is gone. i wont name names.
i think most players did like him, he was hard on guys but they seemed to be going well.
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