OMG67
Registered User
- Sep 1, 2013
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That part that that I have difficulty with in particular is always in some way referring to this team as in the same boat as last year’s. I disagree. The unchanged D is much better if only due to other teams graduating players; and, the goaltending is settled. A couple of impact forwards is all that is needed.
The defence last year was due to overall team defence. No disrespect to the actual defence crew but that is true.
Guelph’s defence crew was far superior to Ottawa’s. It really wasn’t all that close.
To me, guys like Chmelevski trolling the centre ice was a lot more valuable than any of the D-Men with respect to the defence numbers. The sheer amount of defensive zone faceoff wins was glaring. The overall talent and skill of the forward units last year to get pucks out was phenomenal. Guys like Graham Clarke will not help that. He will hurt it. Rossi is solid but he’s not going to help that much either. It will be up to guys like Hoelscher to play the defensive role and that may waste his ability offensively.
Looking at this year, as an unbiased observer, not as a 67’s fan, this is my take if we are considered a contender.
1> Peric would be gone as would Wilson because we need to invest in an OA forward.
2> Bahl is world class and should play upwards of 30 minutes. HE is so good that he can play with a defensive deficient Hoefenmeyer and it wouldn’t hurt the team with Hoef out there 5 on 5. We’d have a world class first pairing. Best in the league? Possibly.
3> Here’s where it starts to get interesting. Hypothetically, Okhotyuk and Rippon. This pairing could go either way. Neither are particularly offensive. Neither are particularly defensive. That can mean #3 guy but it could also mean #5 guy on a Championship roster. If Phillips was the #3 guy on Guelph last year, how does he rank beside these two guys? Not sure anyone could present an argument that either of them are in Phillips category.
4> Belanger was rarely used but impressed when he was used. He got a lot of sheltered minutes when he did get in the lineup. I like him but is he a #5 on a Championship roster? Maybe. We haven’t seen anywhere near enough to make that assertion.
5> When Matier was drafted he was referred to as a project. He really should not be playing as a starter from day one. On aChampionship calibre team, he really should not be playing in the playoffs.
So, we have the first pairing just fine. I’m very comfortable there. I really don’t like the makeup of the 2nd pair. I’d be much more comfortable acquiring an offensive guy to play with one of Rippon or Okhotyuk and then pair Belanger with the other. To me, that would be a Championship calibre defence. That means we are one D-Man short to play in the 3 slot in my opinion.
In my opinion we have 4 top 6 forwards and two 3rd line calibre players for a championship calibre team. We can fill one of the top 6 forward slots with an OA but we require another top 20 league scoring type player. It will be hard to acquire an impact 19 year old winger for draft picks. Make no mistake, if we are unwilling to trade Matier, we have nothing else to trade. Guys like Crete and Yule won’t get that done. We are seriously deficient in available bodies to trade. PEric will be gone and Maggio was already traded. Belanger would be the next guy on the list and he’d be the biggest target after Tolnai. Can this team afford to trade either of those guys? If they can’t, they will have to deal Matier. Draft picks got it done for the most part last year in a buyers market. I doubt it will cut it this year.