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Flint Firebirds 2022-23 Off-Season Thread

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Hockytwn51419

Hockytwn51419

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Is this season really over? Please tell me I'm dreaming.;) Wow what a series!! I did not expect them to even make the playoffs this year let alone battle back from a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7. They should have won Game 4 to tie the series up butttttt...... they didn't. The boys played some great hockey down the stretch and have nothing to hang their heads for. I will miss watching Cranley, Deline and Piercey. It is with great difficulty realizing that was the last time they all will wear the Firebirds jersey as part of this team and I wish them nothing but the best on their next adventures.

IMO they weren't outplayed, they were out coached (the entire season). No I'm not just blaming Dent, but damn he has made some awful decisions.

Looking at next years OA's who do we retain? Which do you see being in either AHL, ECHL or possibly in the NHL?

Lombardi
Kressler
Giroux
Kuzmin
Guryev
Dann

Go Firebirds!!! Looking forward to next season already and what these boys can do. But in the mean time I have to root for Avery and the Pete's in the EC and in the WC well I'll just keep that one to myself. ;)
 
Hockytwn51419

Hockytwn51419

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Savard18 said:
Remember Luke Cavallin losing a blade and freaking the hell out? You don’t blow the whistle for a blade.
Click to expand...
I know for goalie equipment you get a stoppage, but like you said never a whistle for a skate blade. AND why did they let it go on for so long?? Or did it just seem like it was taking forever?
 
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MJ5

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Hockytwn51419 said:
Is this season really over? Please tell me I'm dreaming.;) Wow what a series!! I did not expect them to even make the playoffs this year let alone battle back from a 3-1 deficit to force a Game 7. They should have won Game 4 to tie the series up butttttt...... they didn't. The boys played some great hockey down the stretch and have nothing to hang their heads for. I will miss watching Cranley, Deline and Piercey. It is with great difficulty realizing that was the last time they all will wear the Firebirds jersey as part of this team and I wish them nothing but the best on their next adventures.

IMO they weren't outplayed, they were out coached (the entire season). No I'm not just blaming Dent, but damn he has made some awful decisions.

Looking at next years OA's who do we retain? Which do you see being in either AHL, ECHL or possibly in the NHL?

Lombardi
Kressler
Giroux
Kuzmin
Guryev
Dann

Go Firebirds!!! Looking forward to next season already and what these boys can do. But in the mean time I have to root for Avery and the Pete's in the EC and in the WC well I'll just keep that one to myself. ;)
Click to expand...
Lombardi, Kressler, and Kuzmin are all signed. I'd be shocked if any of them are back.

Giroux, Guryev, and Dann are the probable OAs at the moment.
 
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FirebirdsFan21

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MJ5 said:
Lombardi, Kressler, and Kuzmin are all signed. I'd be shocked if any of them are back.

Giroux, Guryev, and Dann are the probable OAs at the moment.
Click to expand...
Kressler could be back as well. With the multiple games missed over the last few years. Prove that he can handle the full season. Kuzmin - definately gone. Would be an OA and Import. Lombardi - moving up as well.
 
MJ5

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FirebirdsFan21 said:
Kressler could be back as well. With the multiple games missed over the last few years. Prove that he can handle the full season. Kuzmin - definately gone. Would be an OA and Import. Lombardi - moving up as well.
Click to expand...
Kressler is signed by Toronto, and they apparently really manipulated his time this year wanting to hold him out and be overly cautious at times. I'd guess he would end up in ECHL next year to start. Being coached by the Toronto system.

I'd say sure, there's a chance Kressler or Lombardi struggle at the next level and they get sent back for the OA year, but I wouldn't bet on that happening in Oct, and wouldn't hold my breath on it happening at all.

Hockytwn51419 said:
Go Firebirds!!! Looking forward to next season already and what these boys can do. But in the mean time I have to root for Avery and the Pete's in the EC and in the WC well I'll just keep that one to myself. ;)
Click to expand...
As for who am I rooting for?

Anyone but Saginaw in the West, and anyone but Othmann in the East.
 
Hockytwn51419

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MJ5 said:
Kressler is signed by Toronto, and they apparently really manipulated his time this year wanting to hold him out and be overly cautious at times. I'd guess he would end up in ECHL next year to start. Being coached by the Toronto system.

I'd say sure, there's a chance Kressler or Lombardi struggle at the next level and they get sent back for the OA year, but I wouldn't bet on that happening in Oct, and wouldn't hold my breath on it happening at all.


As for who am I rooting for?

Anyone but Saginaw in the West, and anyone but Othmann in the East.
Click to expand...
I figured Lombardi and Kuzmin would not be back, but struggle with Kressler due to lack of playing time, but I could see him with the Growlers.

I guess by default I’m rooting for Othmann, but more so Hayes and White (wish they would have stayed in Hamilton lol).
 
Savard18

Savard18

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Hockytwn51419 said:
I figured Lombardi and Kuzmin would not be back, but struggle with Kressler due to lack of playing time, but I could see him with the Growlers.

I guess by default I’m rooting for Othmann, but more so Hayes and White (wish they would have stayed in Hamilton lol).
Click to expand...
Well. There’s a reason they didn’t and that’s because unlike Dent, Hamilton knows how to build a winner. As evidenced by the…..7? banners they have hanging in their building including two OHL Championships over the same amount of time the Firebirds have been in Flint. This is why MJ5 and myself were screaming “SELL!!!” at the deadline and wanted them to move Lombardi and Kuzmin. Kressler, Deline and Piercey I would have accepted but was less about that. What did Flint do this year? First round playoff exit. They could have done that WITHOUT Lombardi and Kuzmin. Soo wasn’t catching them. So what did we get? Nolan Dann and -6 picks for a 1st round exit. We KNEW they were a 2nd round exit AT BEST anyway. Wouldn’t it have been much better to NOT acquire Dann, move Lombardi for let’s say 3 2nd’s, 2 3rd’s and take your dream pick of stud 05/06’s (Jack Van Volsen, Nick Lardis, Angus MacDonnell, Porter Martone etc) move Kuzmin for let’s go with 2 2nd’s and a 3rd. So now you’ve got….ready?…. 6 additional 2nd round picks, 7 additional 3rd rounders and 2 additional 4th rounders to go with your bada$$ ‘05 you just added to Day, Bertucci, Hay, Pitters, Jenken, K Pitre, Aspinall, Klinkhammer, Gee, Strohack. How did Hamilton build two Champions? Picks. How did Sarnia, Ottawa, Peterborough, Kitchener build their teams this year? Picks. I have ZERO interest in watching some mid-pack team get bounced from the playoffs year after year and spending 1-2 maybe 3 rounds on playoff tickets to leave the last game dissapointed every year. See Sarnia, Saginaw, Soo, OS, Kingston. Nope. Let me watch the kids develop and put a banner or two or three or four or FIVE in the building every few years. Sure. You’re gonna have to trade favorite players every now and then and you’re gonna have years where you might miss the playoffs but I’m tired of watching them have no real shot at anything already.
 

letsgofirebirds1

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Savard18 said:
Well. There’s a reason they didn’t and that’s because unlike Dent, Hamilton knows how to build a winner. As evidenced by the…..7? banners they have hanging in their building including two OHL Championships over the same amount of time the Firebirds have been in Flint. This is why MJ5 and myself were screaming “SELL!!!” at the deadline and wanted them to move Lombardi and Kuzmin. Kressler, Deline and Piercey I would have accepted but was less about that. What did Flint do this year? First round playoff exit. They could have done that WITHOUT Lombardi and Kuzmin. Soo wasn’t catching them. So what did we get? Nolan Dann and -6 picks for a 1st round exit. We KNEW they were a 2nd round exit AT BEST anyway. Wouldn’t it have been much better to NOT acquire Dann, move Lombardi for let’s say 3 2nd’s, 2 3rd’s and take your dream pick of stud 05/06’s (Jack Van Volsen, Nick Lardis, Angus MacDonnell, Porter Martone etc) move Kuzmin for let’s go with 2 2nd’s and a 3rd. So now you’ve got….ready?…. 6 additional 2nd round picks, 7 additional 3rd rounders and 2 additional 4th rounders to go with your bada$$ ‘05 you just added to Day, Bertucci, Hay, Pitters, Jenken, K Pitre, Aspinall, Klinkhammer, Gee, Strohack. How did Hamilton build two Champions? Picks. How did Sarnia, Ottawa, Peterborough, Kitchener build their teams this year? Picks. I have ZERO interest in watching some mid-pack team get bounced from the playoffs year after year and spending 1-2 maybe 3 rounds on playoff tickets to leave the last game dissapointed every year. See Sarnia, Saginaw, Soo, OS, Kingston. Nope. Let me watch the kids develop and put a banner or two or three or four or FIVE in the building every few years. Sure. You’re gonna have to trade favorite players every now and then and you’re gonna have years where you might miss the playoffs but I’m tired of watching them have no real shot at anything already.
Click to expand...
You keep talking about trading Kuzmin, which would have been much easier said than done because you'd have to find a "go for it" team that had room and need for a) an import and b) a defenseman. Other than Ottawa, who traded for Mintyukov, I can't think of any of those teams where both of those criteria were true.
 
MJ5

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letsgofirebirds1 said:
You keep talking about trading Kuzmin, which would have been much easier said than done because you'd have to find a "go for it" team that had room and need for a) an import and b) a defenseman. Other than Ottawa, who traded for Mintyukov, I can't think of any of those teams where both of those criteria were true.
Click to expand...
Is there any kind of rule you can't trade an IMP for an IMP that I am not aware of? If there is, ignore this entire post.

We could have taken an import player back of lesser skill with picks to make it happen. Outside of Mintyukov, was their a better IMP D man? Dionicio? He moved as well to Windsor.

Barrie has an open import spot, also would have been an upgrade over Artur Cholach.
Sadly, London had an open import spot.
North Bay had Alexander Lukin, Kuzmin major upgrade.
Peterborough, Kuzmin would have been an upgrade over both imports.

There were options, and thats just a few.
 
Hockytwn51419

Hockytwn51419

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Savard18 said:
Well. There’s a reason they didn’t and that’s because unlike Dent, Hamilton knows how to build a winner. As evidenced by the…..7? banners they have hanging in their building including two OHL Championships over the same amount of time the Firebirds have been in Flint. This is why MJ5 and myself were screaming “SELL!!!” at the deadline and wanted them to move Lombardi and Kuzmin. Kressler, Deline and Piercey I would have accepted but was less about that. What did Flint do this year? First round playoff exit. They could have done that WITHOUT Lombardi and Kuzmin. Soo wasn’t catching them. So what did we get? Nolan Dann and -6 picks for a 1st round exit. We KNEW they were a 2nd round exit AT BEST anyway. Wouldn’t it have been much better to NOT acquire Dann, move Lombardi for let’s say 3 2nd’s, 2 3rd’s and take your dream pick of stud 05/06’s (Jack Van Volsen, Nick Lardis, Angus MacDonnell, Porter Martone etc) move Kuzmin for let’s go with 2 2nd’s and a 3rd. So now you’ve got….ready?…. 6 additional 2nd round picks, 7 additional 3rd rounders and 2 additional 4th rounders to go with your bada$$ ‘05 you just added to Day, Bertucci, Hay, Pitters, Jenken, K Pitre, Aspinall, Klinkhammer, Gee, Strohack. How did Hamilton build two Champions? Picks. How did Sarnia, Ottawa, Peterborough, Kitchener build their teams this year? Picks. I have ZERO interest in watching some mid-pack team get bounced from the playoffs year after year and spending 1-2 maybe 3 rounds on playoff tickets to leave the last game dissapointed every year. See Sarnia, Saginaw, Soo, OS, Kingston. Nope. Let me watch the kids develop and put a banner or two or three or four or FIVE in the building every few years. Sure. You’re gonna have to trade favorite players every now and then and you’re gonna have years where you might miss the playoffs but I’m tired of watching them have no real shot at anything already.
Click to expand...
Like I said Dent has made some awful decisions. Without Lombardi and Kuzmin not sure you would have had to worry about watching them get bounced from the playoffs, they probably wouldn’t have made it this year. You seem to have it all figured out, maybe see if Rolf will hire you as the GM.

My comment about wishing they would have stayed in Hamilton was a joke (guess I should have added the laughing emoji) because MJ5 said he was rooting for anyone but Othmann in the East and by default rooting for Hayes and White is rooting for Othmann.
 
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dirty12

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MJ5 said:
Is there any kind of rule you can't trade an IMP for an IMP that I am not aware of? If there is, ignore this entire post.

We could have taken an import player back of lesser skill with picks to make it happen. Outside of Mintyukov, was their a better IMP D man? Dionicio? He moved as well to Windsor.

Barrie has an open import spot, also would have been an upgrade over Artur Cholach.
Sadly, London had an open import spot.
North Bay had Alexander Lukin, Kuzmin major upgrade.
Peterborough, Kuzmin would have been an upgrade over both imports.

There were options, and thats just a few.
Click to expand...
Of those teams, NB would likely have been interested. Though I think you may under estimate Lukin a bit, and NB had few good picks to offer.
London was probably set at D.
The Petes were only looking at RD.
The Colts’ D must be top 2 in the league.
As good as Kuzmin is, it would not have been easy to get fair value at the deadline.
 

PuckStop75

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Hockytwn51419 said:
I know for goalie equipment you get a stoppage, but like you said never a whistle for a skate blade. AND why did they let it go on for so long?? Or did it just seem like it was taking forever?
Click to expand...
A skate blade is not considered a piece of protective equipment so they will not blow the play dead. It falls under the broken stick category.
 
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