Oshawa Generals 2023-24 Off-Season Thread (Part 1)

[I Loveallsports]

Is this now the Kingston board? Did Rocco move the Gens already?

No kidding

 

[HUSH10]

Is this now the Kingston board? Did Rocco move the Gens already?

I stopped engaging when I noticed it became the Kingston board lol

 

[OMG67]

I stopped engaging when I noticed it became the Kingston board lol

Oshawa fans stopped engaging years ago! Gotta keep this thread alive somehow…..

 

[HUSH10]

Oshawa fans stopped engaging years ago! Gotta keep this thread alive somehow…..

Touche

 

[Donnie740]

Yes. We’ve seen it more heavily in the other two Major Junior leagues. I think some teams have decided that there is no sense doing it half cocked. The team they go into with the following year isn’t all that much different or at least not different enough that it matters.

It is interesting to see Ottawa now do it half hearted twice and not make it out of the 2nd round. I have to think that the management there is questioning themselves. Why bother moving that many assets only to win one round in the playoffs when if they moved 25-30% more assets, they’d likely have had a far better result.

I really think these teams need to run a few case studies to analyze the effects of the different scenarios/strategies. It would help them understand better the whole process and the opportunity costs associated with those potential strategies.

This is a great point, and the “all in” approach really creates a huge opportunity for smart GMs to take advantage of.

Many of these “all in” teams are completely delusional and give away young prospects and picks when realistically they have little to no chance - - case in point, when Mississauga stole Porter Martone AND a 2nd round pick from Sarina for Del Mastro.

The worst examples are teams that are buying inconsequential pieces when they should be selling the few big assets they have - - reference Kingston last year.

 

[OMG67]

This is a great point, and the “all in” approach really creates a huge opportunity for smart GMs to take advantage of.

Many of these “all in” teams are completely delusional and give away young prospects and picks when realistically they have little to no chance - - case in point, when Mississauga stole Porter Martone AND a 2nd round pick from Sarina for Del Mastro.

The worst examples are teams that are buying inconsequential pieces when they should be selling the few big assets they have - - reference Kingston last year.

And that’s why it is mostly a 3-4 year project of accumulating assets. The Petes have four 1st round ‘07s. They picked high this year and will again next draft. That gives them a player foundation to build on. They need to build the picks back over this year and next but they likely will. When those ‘07s are 19, they should be a solid team. Provided they have picks to trade, they can augment however needed.

And, to your example, the flip side is Missy/Brampton is now set up very nicely.

You need step one (sell) before you can go to step two and buy.

 

[Generalsupdates]

Oshawa fans stopped engaging years ago! Gotta keep this thread alive somehow…..

*whispers*

moreso that a certain fanbase just complained so much so all the ones who posted a lot were kicked off and now have little interest in returning. Gens have one of the most active fanbases on twitter and facebook. It's too bad what happened on here, used to be a great place to talk OHL.

Shoutout Duke Guy, Naz, Macker88, Jaycro etc. I assume most of the people here now won't remember them lol

 

[TuckerFan1]

*whispers*

moreso that a certain fanbase just complained so much so all the ones who posted a lot were kicked off and now have little interest in returning. Gens have one of the most active fanbases on twitter and facebook. It's too bad what happened on here, used to be a great place to talk OHL.

Shoutout Duke Guy, Naz, Macker88, Jaycro etc. I assume most of the people here now won't remember them lol

Macker was a great poster. Last I saw he was a scout for the Soo now.

 

[dirty12]

This is a great point, and the “all in” approach really creates a huge opportunity for smart GMs to take advantage of.

I remember a smart GM giving up the rights to a player plus without condition 6-2nds, 3rd, 2-4ths for Tommasino.

Many of these “all in” teams are completely delusional and give away young prospects and picks when realistically they have little to no chance - - case in point, when Mississauga stole Porter Martone AND a 2nd round pick from Sarina for Del Mastro.

Sarnia had a wicked team, and a very realistic chance

The worst examples are teams that are buying inconsequential pieces when they should be selling the few big assets they have - - reference Kingston last year.

 

[Generalsupdates]

Macker was a great poster. Last I saw he was a scout for the Soo now.

Then he went and was the GM for Toronto Patriots of the OJ. Not sure if he still is or not

 

[Donnie740]

And that’s why it is mostly a 3-4 year project of accumulating assets. The Petes have four 1st round ‘07s. They picked high this year and will again next draft. That gives them a player foundation to build on. They need to build the picks back over this year and next but they likely will. When those ‘07s are 19, they should be a solid team. Provided they have picks to trade, they can augment however needed.

And, to your example, the flip side is Missy/Brampton is now set up very nicely.

You need step one (sell) before you can go to step two and buy.

I honestly don’t believe it should take a competent organization that long.

Since this discussion has suddenly turned Kingston centric, let’s use them as an example. In 2022-23 they were God-awful and absolutely hopeless. It’s completely unrealistic to expect a team to go from being that bad to being a “contender” a year later, so in 2023-24 Kingston SHOULD have been selling off every overager they could along with Ludwinski who was extremely unlikely to return.

Stockpiling picks and a couple of good young 17yr olds to pair with all their 19yr olds this year in 2024-25 would have allowed Kingston to actually have a realistic chance at winning something more than just a couple of games in the 1st round of the playoffs this year.

That would have been a two year turnaround if Kingston had any clue of what they were doing.

 

[dirty12]

I honestly don’t believe it should take a competent organization that long.

Since this discussion has suddenly turned Kingston centric, let’s use them as an example. In 2022-23 they were God-awful and absolutely hopeless. It’s completely unrealistic to expect a team to go from being that bad to being a “contender” a year later, so in 2023-24 Kingston SHOULD have been selling off every overager they could along with Ludwinski who was extremely unlikely to return.

Stockpiling picks and a couple of good young 17yr olds to pair with all their 19yr olds this year in 2024-25 would have allowed Kingston to actually have a realistic chance at winning something more than just a couple of games in the 1st round of the playoffs this year.

That would have been a two year turnaround if Kingston had any clue of what they were doing.

Like the Petes the season before attempting to contend and ultimately winning, Kingston needed to get their players some playoff experience last season.
Oshawa went from a 6-7 seed to the top seed with the addition of two OAs. Kingston has room for two OAs. Let's see which players fill those spots.

 

[JTLiger]

RIP to former General Pat Montgomery, shot and killed over the weekend in Oshawa

 

[three dog night]

RIP to former General Pat Montgomery, shot and killed over the weekend in Oshawa

Terrible tragedy

 

[Donnie740]

Considering this is actually an Oshawa discussion thread, let’s move on from the conversation about Kingston’s 100+ years of failure and shift to focusing on the Generals.

There’s been lots of hand wringing about the loss of Rasmus Kumpalainen, but I’m beginning to wonder how much of a “loss” it really is.

Kumpalainen had a nice regular season but his game seemed to regress as the year went on, to the point where he was pretty much invisible in the playoffs.

In the OHL finals, watching Kumpalainen go up against his fellow Finnish countryman Kasper Halttunen was a lopsided mismatch. Halttunen was dominant - - both physically and on the scoreboard - - while Kumpalainen looked lost.

Replacing Kumpalainen with another Finn, Lauri Siniuovouri, isn’t going to be the drop off that some seem to be fearing.

Sinivouri’s game seems closer to Halttunen - - especially in terms of the physical side - - than it is to Kumpalainen.

 

[StingUpdates]

Considering this is actually an Oshawa discussion thread, let’s move on from the conversation about Kingston’s 100+ years of failure and shift to focusing on the Generals.

There’s been lots of hand wringing about the loss of Rasmus Kumpalainen, but I’m beginning to wonder how much of a “loss” it really is.

Kumpalainen had a nice regular season but his game seemed to regress as the year went on, to the point where he was pretty much invisible in the playoffs.

In the OHL finals, watching Kumpalainen go up against his fellow Finnish countryman Kasper Halttunen was a lopsided mismatch. Halttunen was dominant - - both physically and on the scoreboard - - while Kumpalainen looked lost.

Replacing Kumpalainen with another Finn, Lauri Siniuovouri, isn’t going to be the drop off that some seem to be fearing.

Sinivouri’s game seems closer to Halttunen - - especially in terms of the physical side - - than it is to Kumpalainen.

I think that's being a bit optimistic. Kumpalainen was a 2nd round NHL pick. Siniuvouri wasn't even drafted. Kumpalainen had 28G & was pretty much point per game & he spent a fair bit of time centering his own line not with Sennecke/Ritchie. Also if I recall he took a pretty nasty/dirty hit in your Ottawa series & he looked to be hurting really bad. Probably a decent chance he wasn't anywhere near 100% by round 4, especially having to go another 7 vs a tough NB team.

In the same Finnish league Kumpalainen was more productive at every age group especially as a goal scorer than Siniuvouri.

Kumpalainen also won nearly 500 faceoffs at about 50% clip. Siniuovouri seems to mainly be a winger so that'll hurt ur depth down the middle.

Gens always seem to have good imports so I'm sure Siniuvouri is gonna be solid, especially if they throw him aside Sennecke &/or Ritchie who will be 2 of the best 5? 7? OHL players, but it'll likely be a sizeable difference.

 

[Donnie740]

I think that's being a bit optimistic. Kumpalainen was a 2nd round NHL pick. Siniuvouri wasn't even drafted. Kumpalainen had 28G & was pretty much point per game & he spent a fair bit of time centering his own line not with Sennecke/Ritchie. Also if I recall he took a pretty nasty/dirty hit in your Ottawa series & he looked to be hurting really bad. Probably a decent chance he wasn't anywhere near 100% by round 4, especially having to go another 7 vs a tough NB team.

In the same Finnish league Kumpalainen was more productive at every age group especially as a goal scorer than Siniuvouri.

Kumpalainen also won nearly 500 faceoffs at about 50% clip. Siniuovouri seems to mainly be a winger so that'll hurt ur depth down the middle.

Gens always seem to have good imports so I'm sure Siniuvouri is gonna be solid, especially if they throw him aside Sennecke &/or Ritchie who will be 2 of the best 5? 7? OHL players, but it'll likely be a sizeable difference.

I don’t put as much weight as some do on where a player was drafted. The reality is, NHL teams make terrible mistakes - - evidenced by Zayne Parekh going 9th overall

As I mentioned previously, Halttunen was also a 2nd round pick and he was a MUCH better player than Kumpalainen was last year.

I’m not expecting Siniovouri to score 30 goals this year, nor am I expecting him to average a point per game. But I’m pretty certain he’ll be more physical than Kumpalainen and also a harder worker.

 

[OMG67]

I don’t put as much weight as some do on where a player was drafted. The reality is, NHL teams make terrible mistakes - - evidenced by Zayne Parekh going 9th overall

As I mentioned previously, Halttunen was also a 2nd round pick and he was a MUCH better player than Kumpalainen was last year.

I’m not expecting Siniovouri to score 30 goals this year, nor am I expecting him to average a point per game. But I’m pretty certain he’ll be more physical than Kumpalainen and also a harder worker.

One thing is for certain, there is a VAST difference between NHL Prospect and OHL Elite players. You can have elite OHL talent that will never get a sniff of the NHL, draft or otherwise. Players can have a tremendous impact that aren’t drafted because they don’t project as Professionals. That is very common. Anyone utilizing draft position as a differentiator isn’t being genuine. Logan Morrison went undrafted and won an OHL Playoff MVP. If we were to use draft position as the primary factor of expected contributions, Logan Morrison would be a marginal player which he clearly was not.

 

[Donnie740]

One thing is for certain, there is a VAST difference between NHL Prospect and OHL Elite players. You can have elite OHL talent that will never get a sniff of the NHL, draft or otherwise. Players can have a tremendous impact that aren’t drafted because they don’t project as Professionals. That is very common. Anyone utilizing draft position as a differentiator isn’t being genuine. Logan Morrison went undrafted and won an OHL Playoff MVP. If we were to use draft position as the primary factor of expected contributions, Logan Morrison would be a marginal player which he clearly was not.

That’s 1000% correct.

There’s a once-in-a-lifetime talent like Big 88 who could dominate the entire league both physically and in skills as a 17yr old then go on to an NHL hall of fame career.

But for the most part, the best OHL
players take advantage of the “big brother” effect.

Just like a “big brother” 3 or 4 years older who dominates his little brother in their early to mid teens even though in 3 years time the younger brother with be infinitely better that the older brother currently is at this age.

 

[ScoutLife4]

https://x.com/i/web/status/1819372632271208682

Congrats Benny!