Niagara Icedogs 2024-25 Season, Part II

dirty12

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Mar 6, 2015
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Remember, with loser points 6 in 6 games is below average.
If Niagara finishes a perfectly middling 10-11, it will have been a surprisingly good season.
Brampton is one of eight teams at 0.500 over the past 10 games; rough patches of illness, suspension, and prolonged absences due to injury will happen to most teams.
It is the eight teams currently at or below 0.500 after 35% of the season has been played that are likely to finish below average.
 
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bigsportsfan

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Sep 28, 2012
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Niagara might want to consider selecting a goalie in the next import draft if Robertson is unable to prove himself this season.
Import draft??? The IceDogs try to avoid picking players in the import draft, likely due to the costs. Last year’s pick, Podrekar, was traded away after just one season despite the IceDogs having the 4th overall pick and this years pick, Eliasson, appeared to be a blind pick by the IceDogs and failed to report.

I don’t have much hope that the low budget IceDogs will ever sign a premium player through the import draft.
 
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dirty12

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Mar 6, 2015
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Import draft??? The IceDogs try to avoid picking players in the import draft, likely due to the costs. Last year’s pick, Podrekar, was traded away after just one season despite the IceDogs having the 4th overall pick and this years pick, Eliasson, appeared to be a blind pick by the IceDogs and failed to report.

I don’t have much hope that the low budget IceDogs will ever sign a premium player through the import draft.
If there appears to be a good season ahead in addition to draft years for Roobroek, Wassylin, and Crete; agents and NHL teams will be more willing to send their players to Niagara.
There is a minimal fee to make an import selection, and no real concern of having to pay education costs of the top imports.
 

Sam14

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Mar 28, 2018
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Brace yourself for this weekend then.
One statistical analysis of the first third of the season may indicate a possible pattern? The real outlier, statistically, were those first 12 games, where the IceDogs played .750 hockey. The following 10 games, the IceDogs played .550 hockey; followed by the last 5 games which has been .400 hockey.

The IceDogs’ November schedule was favourable, however, December and January appear to be more difficult and will be a challenge for the IceDogs.

Import draft??? The IceDogs try to avoid picking players in the import draft, likely due to the costs. Last year’s pick, Podrekar, was traded away after just one season despite the IceDogs having the 4th overall pick and this years pick, Eliasson, appeared to be a blind pick by the IceDogs and failed to report.

I don’t have much hope that the low budget IceDogs will ever sign a premium player through the import draft.
Exactly! The cost required to bring in an elite player over in the Import draft is too expensive for Niagara. The initial $2000.00 dollar draft fee and just the travel expenses alone required in an Import’s OHL contract is way out of the owner’s price range. The team has in place some serious financial restraints and the recent focus has been on cost-cutting.
 
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Sam14

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If Niagara finishes a perfectly middling 10-11, it will have been a surprisingly good season.
After back to back losing seasons, wasteful disposal of high draft capital (and youth) on over-pays to finish 6th or 7th, all while leaving yourself with insufficient draft capital to make any improvements to the team over the next two years is not the measure of a successful season to anyone in Niagara other than Darren DeDobbelear. His cost-cutting measures, fixation on the present and lack of long term planning is the reason half of his STH base is gone and will not return!
 
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Dog Fan

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Apr 22, 2017
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What a game for Bryant. Correlation between the trade and the dogs slump? Absolutely.
I think it was a bad trade. I would have traded Loshko. He is slow and adds zero on the defensive side of the puck. Gavin was a better fit and a better all around player plus we could have turned a waiver signing into some decent assets.
 
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knowescape

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Jan 26, 2016
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His fixation on the present and lack of long term planning is the reason half of his STH base is gone and will not return!
I agreed with everything in your post except the last part. Niagara has shown time and again that they are OHL Hockey fans. Do the right things and the STH will return. Do I think Darren DeDobbelaer has the capacity to make these changes? No. This would require a new owner who invested not only in purchasing the team, but also on making it successful in a multi-year scenario. The fans in Niagara are not fickle, they are educated. That's a huge difference. Give them a new take on OHL hockey and they will return faster than they left.
If it didn't cost him anything, I suspect DeDobbelaer would be content to have his title and tinker away at things year after year, like he did in Brantford. The trouble is, the margins in running an OHL team, even cheaply, are extensive. Meaning if sales of tickets, concessions and merchandise don't meet a certain level, it is costing the owner every game. If the conjecture is correct that DeDobbelaer financed a considerable chunk of his investment in the franchise, then in addition to making up income shortfalls, he is also faced with hefty interest payments. Long way of saying, I think there is a breaking point for him where it stops being fun and starts becoming a liability.

#selltheteam
 

Sam14

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Mar 28, 2018
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I agreed with everything in your post except the last part. Niagara has shown time and again that they are OHL Hockey fans. Do the right things and the STH will return. Do I think Darren DeDobbelaer has the capacity to make these changes? No. This would require a new owner who invested not only in purchasing the team, but also on making it successful in a multi-year scenario. The fans in Niagara are not fickle, they are educated. That's a huge difference. Give them a new take on OHL hockey and they will return faster than they left.
If it didn't cost him anything, I suspect DeDobbelaer would be content to have his title and tinker away at things year after year, like he did in Brantford. The trouble is, the margins in running an OHL team, even cheaply, are extensive. Meaning if sales of tickets, concessions and merchandise don't meet a certain level, it is costing the owner every game. If the conjecture is correct that DeDobbelaer financed a considerable chunk of his investment in the franchise, then in addition to making up income shortfalls, he is also faced with hefty interest payments. Long way of saying, I think there is a breaking point for him where it stops being fun and starts becoming a liability.

#selltheteam
100% agree! Just to clarify my comment regarding "STHs will not return", I meant "never return as long as DD is the owner".

If DD sells the team, I will be the first one calling Elijah to renew my season tickets. I want to be a STH again and more importantly financially support our local junior team.
 

IceDogFan

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Sep 4, 2024
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100% agree! Just to clarify my comment regarding "STHs will not return", I meant "never return as long as DD is the owner".

If DD sells the team, I will be the first one calling Elijah to renew my season tickets. I want to be a STH again and more importantly financially support our local junior team.
I'll be right behind you. As a day 1 season ticket holder who had enough a few years back, I would 100% be back if a new owner with half a clue took over.

If not a new owner maybe a new GM to run the team properly.
He'd have to be willing to open his wallet not just stand back. I can't see him doing either TBH.
 
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dogs777

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Aug 13, 2024
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I don't see him as ready to do either. He won't pay for a GM and he won't stay out of the way.
Even if he was willing to open his pockets to get a GM I don’t think a good GM would come here because DDD wouldn’t truly get out the way
 

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