My thoughts of the day:
Things that need to happen for the Firebirds going into the new year.
1. Barclay Branch needs to be fired. Replaced by someone who dads doesn't run the league. He has proven he doesn't have the ability with full control to put a good product on display.
2. Ownership needs to be figured out for the sake of stability. If Nilsen is going to keep the team, make it known for 5-10 years that he is locked in place. If the league is going to force a sale then by all means get it done. If the league is going to give control back to the current owner, I can't say that he could do a worse job.
3. Find players who want to play. Get rid of those who are there for the ride. We know that we aren't in a position to win now.
4. Look to bring back players who were released (Littlejohn, Collins) who can play forward. Currently with 12 forwards on the roster and 1 gone for the year (injury - can anyone confirm 100%). We will be short for the rest of the year.
Wellwood needs time to institute his systems and programs. Some of the players will not like this but hopefully once these programs are put into place you see a change. Keep in mind his systems have the only 2 wins we have this year. What is the term on his contract? This year, 2 years, 3 years.
My thoughts for the day...
1. Barclay Branch needs to be fired. Replaced by someone who dads doesn't run the league. He has proven he doesn't have the ability with full control to put a good product on display.
Donald Trump has never fired his own sons and David Branch will likewise not do. Branch may REPLACE Barclay due to the fact that Barclay no longer wants to deal with the fiasco that the OHL finds itself with. Flint is the worst team in all of Canadian Junior hockey and the Firebirds have the record (2-20-1) to prove it.
2. Ownership needs to be figured out for the sake of stability. If Nilsen is going to keep the team, make it known for 5-10 years that he is locked in place. If the league is going to force a sale then by all means get it done. If the league is going to give control back to the current owner, I can't say that he could do a worse job.
I see Nilsen suing the OHL for full value of what he paid for the franchise. The franchise is not worth what Nilsen paid for it since the OHL takeover. The OHL feared that Nilsen would sue at the time of his suspension. The OHL did everything to prevent this, even to the point where they assured Nilsen that his son would have a guaranteed spot on the Firebirds as long as Hakon was eligible. The OHL has interested parties to purchase the franchise and relocate it to another city.
Nilsen needs to make a decision soon, an NHL backed ownership group is interested in bringing a ECHL franchise to Flint, they have an April 1st deadline in order to proceed.
With Nilsen's son soon no longer eligible to play in the OHL, Nilsen has his sights on another league for Hakon to be able to play in. It will be interesting to see what happens.
3. Find players who want to play. Get rid of those who are there for the ride. We know that we aren't in a position to win now.
American based OHL teams have a huge disadvantage in competing with Ontario based teams. Players prefer playing for Canadian based teams, along with the fact that the USHL and NCAA are now options that produce players that can and have made it to the NHL. After the Nilsen suspension, this just made things even more difficult to get players to play in Flint. The player recruitment situation in Flint is toxic. Numerous attempts to make deals or get players to come to Flint just this year have failed. You cannot have this continue to happen, for things will get even worse than they are.
4. Look to bring back players who were released (Littlejohn, Collins) who can play forward. Currently with 12 forwards on the roster and 1 gone for the year (injury - can anyone confirm 100%). We will be short for the rest of the year.
I guarantee you that you will NOT see any players back in Flint who were released in the past. If injuries do occur look for the team to ice a team with a continued short bench.
Wellwood needs time to institute his systems and programs. Some of the players will not like this but hopefully once these programs are put into place you see a change. Keep in mind his systems have the only 2 wins we have this year. What is the term on his contract? This year, 2 years, 3 years.
Wellwood is a good guy. But, if you didn't notice when he was asked during the press conference to introduce him as to the length of his contract, that was the one question that he did not answer. He did not sign a long term contract, because there is no certainty that the team will be around for 2 or 3 years as you questioned.
