Dianicio is a liability and should be suspended for the rest of the season. They should trade him for a bag of pucks. Useless player.
Niagara IceDogs 2022-23 Off-Season Thread
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What is your goalie situation like? Are your goalies struggling due to their play or the rest of the team’s play? Otters released one of their goalies, Marshall Nicholls, who played well for the Otters in the few games he played this year other than against Flint where the defense left him out to dry.
New coach same result a tough 3 to 2 loss to Saginaw before 3,384 fans at the Meridian Centre .Next game tomorrow night in Guelph.
Uncle Slick
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spot on!
problem is dobbelaer is a typical hockey dad with $$ so he's more about surrounding himself with people he can control.
his interim coach doesn't even go on the ice for practices, runs practices from the bench.
he's not hiring anyone who threatens his "hockey" status. clearly all of his hires with each of his clubs establish this.
look no further than the gong show that is the current OJHL 99's, and remember, best predictor of his future ice dog decisions is the past performance of his other junior clubs. not a skilled or talented roster, thoroughly outplayed last night and the only reason they lost 2-0 was their goalie stood on his head.
Hard to accept a Mem Cup application when his club is turning into a sad joke.
Feel bad for the current players on each of his clubs, they deserve much, much better.
Wouldn't expect either Wamsley or Gretzky to remain associated with the ice dogs long term.
A disappointment third period for the Dogs has they gave up four third period goals and lose to Guelph 6 to 4 the most disappointing fact the Icedogs blew a two goal lead and gave up three power play goals tonight in four chances. Zero for two under the new coach five straight looses . Next game a week tonight hosting Barrie.
You can’t win when you get outshot 2 to 1. A lot of passengers just watching. D’s are terrible
OMG67
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Just imagine how bad it would have been had he not brought in nine new players……
ok, so clammer some more for a new coach! please bring in a new gm and give them a month and a bit to view the team and see where changes need to be made, including a new coach with experience. if the owner makes trades at deadline, we are in for years of last place finishes.
If things continue as they are, the Icedogs will pick twice in the top 5; years of last place finishes is incredibly unlikely
OMG67
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You are assuming he doesn’t flip those players next year at the deadline in an effort to win a Championship.
Then the odds of ‘years of last place finishes’ would be slim to none.
List two top 5 picked 16 yr olds traded in January this century. Actually just find two, I’m curious.
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you are also assuming that the players selected will report! in it's current state, i dont see too many quality players eager to commit after watching this dumpster fire
OMG67
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Name one team that traded for 9 players in the off-season through the first couple weeks of the season and declared their top 5 pick defected and already started to use those picks to trade for more players.
You need to stop linking “reason” to the Niagara Ice Dogs moves. They been unreasonable since the takeover. No reason to assume someone is going to learn quick.
No way to dispute how unlikely years of last place finishes and trading of two top 5 picked 16 yr olds is, so you’re going to move the football/soccer sized goal posts?
I will bite.
I think pride or arrogance could be the reason DeDobblear does not follow the ‘67s model of suck hard for consecutive 1st picks as well as sell hard for picks a couple of times before hiring a coach that can win.
There is no question that model will prove successful eventually as several bad teams with not great GMs have proved, but I will guess DeDobbleaer continues to build his team his way at least until January 2023.
OMG67
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You keep referring to the 67’s model. The 67’s “model” is not about sucking on purpose. I know some teams have done that out of necessity but the 67’s sucked because of poor management until Jeff Brown took over from Kilrea. There is a big difference between sucking on purpose and sucking because of mismanagement. I know many posters on this board understand the difference including yourself. For example, right now, Niagara is sucking bad because of mismanagement, not on purpose.
If Niagara continues down this path of resisting “the 67’s model” as you put it, then they will likely continue to suck because of mismanagement. You don’t need to bottom out every four years and make a silly run every four years. Build your foundation of a franchise and then operate it as if you actually know something about the League. Build your team organically and add pieces when it makes sense and trade pieces when it makes sense. In between that, draft well and develop talent. It really can’t be more simple than that to be honest.
Sometimes teams will find themselves in a awkward position of being in a great position at the same time as a handful of other teams are in a great position and you get caught in the middle not knowing what to do and you have to make an educated decision as to how to proceed. Barrie is in that situation right now. But, when you are coming out of a really poor season and your #4 overall pick is defected then it probably isn’t the right time to build a team from scratch through the offseason trade wire, then hire a coach with no experience and no winning track record only to fire that coach and replace him with another coach with less track record and experience. Just sayin’.
I’m not saying ‘67s sucked purposely, rather they are set up well now due to sucking and giving in to sucking by selling to suck longer and selling once again to the point of being absolutely loaded. That’s quite similar to the other teams doing it the right way like Erie, Soo, Flint, and most recently Sudbury.
OMG67
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This is Ottawa since the 2012-2013 season which is a 10 year window. Anything outside a 10 year window is probably not of any consequenc…
2013 - (.297) Traded Ceci, Graovac & Cardwell
***This was a pretty big sell off. We added Middleton and Blandisi. The other players were ok returns.
2014 - (.382) Traded Blandisi
***added Bradford and a 3rd so not really a big seller move to add pieces.
2015 - (.596) Added players
2016 - (.551) Traded Konecny & Studnicka to Sarnia (finished .551) so a strategic trade. Added Rymsha from London. It sounded like Konecny wasn’t happy with Ottawa and requested a trade. I don’t think they would have traded him otherwise.
***The Konecny deal was a big deal but he made the early jump so Ottawa didn’t get the haul of conditional picks. Added Chmelevski and three 2nds which was great but the pick side was underwhelming Compared to what it could have been. Sort of a reshuffle Becuase we also added Rymsha.
2017 - (.441) Traded Rymsha (by request) and Added Felhaber
2018 - (.507) Traded Stratis (by request) Added Rippon
2019 - (.779) Added Dipietro, Maksimovich & Chiodo
2020 - (.815) No moves of consequence
2021 - No Season
2022 - (.478) Traded Sirizzotti (by Request) and Belanger
2023 - (.944) Traded Gaidamak, Cranley, Gill-Shane, Johnston, and Sawyer
The very last seller move by Ottawa was Travis Konecny in 2016. Since then it has all been adds except for some strategic sells of expendable players or players requesting trade. So, you can continue to suggest that Ottawa was set up by multiple bad seasons but really only the Konecny deal was significant. The rest is juse the normal flux’s of picks in and picks out.
Ottawa has done well drafting and making strategic adds at quality prices. They’ve recouped some picks because of expendable players and have managed their draft cupboard well. Codi Ceci was the only other big trade back in 2013. Ottawa is not a team that cycles to the degree in which you are suggesting. They just aren’t.
No cycle was suggested by me. Just very much like Erie, Soo, Flint, now Sudbury 2018-22; just 5 looooong years to rebuild to the inevitable point the team will have a relatively long period of undetermined success. It should be longer without serious all-in attempts at a championship.
I never doubted that is one to do it, just not the only way. And I’m not buying the BS of your so-called model franchise owing its’ success to first setting up training facilities and all the other crap you suggest is the right way model franchises do things.
One more time, It was a prolonged period of not being good and accumulating picks until it was nearly impossible not to be a good team.
OMG67
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You underestimate the ability to develop talent with off ice training and support. Healthier players following an elite athlete diet and training regimen working with trainers that work with NHL athletes makes a huge difference. You hear kids coming back from pro camps suggesting they now see what it takes to be a pro player with the discipline And focus on diet and training. 67’s players now come back saying it is a lot faster. They are already in an elite training program. The 67’s now operate in the Pro Realm. This is what Tourigny brought to the team. Now they need to maintain solid drafting.
That program is within the control of EVERY OHL team. The question is whether they have the finances to fund it. Same with scouting. Can teams/scouts view the players they need to cover not only Ontario but Europe and the USA? That is a differentiator as well.
My overall point is when the new Niagara owner came in, he inherited a clown show tire fire of a franchise. If he had any sense whatsoever, he’d have first tried to tackle the organizational issues by building a foundation from which to develop players. Put a solid GM and Coaching staff in place to make the most out of what they have and build organically like a PROFESSIONAL.
If you think that his way of building a team is “another way” then you are accurate but it is a shining example of HOW NOT TO do it. I said it when he was doing it and I say it now. The evidence speaks for itself.
Stuff bantam age players practice
I believe the foundational piece for an OHL team is a coach that can teach kids to be winners.
The evidence shows it’s not working [(in this case)] right now, in fact it’s ugly currently.
But the team was/is being constructed to contend in 2023-24 so try to wait out the ~18 months before emphatically stating it was a complete failure and the 5-yr program proven to work for franchises that have hit rock bottom is the only way to build a contender. Contending is a measurable success imo. Long term mediocrity is not.
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OMG67
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I wasn’t aware that Bantam aged players across the board had access to:
1> NHL level training and strength development consisting of at least five different disciplines. And I am not talking about the power skating clinic at the local rink With Joe Schmo
2> A team of dieticians and health experts monitoring their daily diet and tailoring it to their performance needs on an individual basis
3> A team of doctors and psychologists helping them prepare for games and working with their mental and peak physical preparation
That‘s interesting. I wasn’t aware Bantam aged kids were monitored and had individual access tailored to them individually . Training has come a long way. I stand corrected.
A coach can’t teach a team how to be winners. The players need to develop their foundational skills AND the coach needs to implement a program that best takes advantage of those skills. you can’t jsut bring in a great coach and that coach teaches them how to be winners. That’s just crazy.
We will wait for next year to see but if this team makes any changes that don’t involve their 1st rounders next year.
Power skating clinic for Joe Scho; you might be stuck in the ‘70s. I can tell you at least as far back as 2005 that parents of 25 kids in an area with two AAA bantam (and minor midget I should add) programs were shelling out $5K a pop for professional training sessions, many of them two sessions in the off-season. That is in addition to 2 week hockey camp and a power skating clinic. A parent of a goalie might feel compelled to shell out an additional $5K for private coaching to keep up with Joe Schmo.
Parents dig deep so that one day the child might fulfill the parents dream.
And yeah, kids can be taught how to be winners. Keefe turned a floundering hounds team within 3 weeks, he had that team playing 0.667 by week 5 or 6. Erie dominated with Knaublach behind the bench, but not without. Richmond makes pros out of kids with about half the draft capital of the ‘67s. Almost all agents/parents want their kids in Hunter’s program. The ‘67s success is much more due to Tourigny & Cameron than all other factors combined imo.
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