Ottawa 67's 2023-24 Off-Season Thread (Part 1)

[Race Dawg]

I think you are partly right, but I also add that Ottawa has a lot to see and do. If you want to see good hockey, most people have it in their area with the CCHL, which is cheaper and easier to get to.

Most Canadien fans are across the river, and they do not and never will spend the money to attend an Ottawa game.

People do not live in the city anymore; they live in the Suburbs. Therefore, for a family to go to a game, Dad has to go home, get the family to drive back into town, and then drive home.

One of the things that is interesting is that you do not from what I have read see the new Sens owner jumping up and down to move to the flats. He is quite happy where he is. The corporate world that supports pro teams is allmost all in the west end.

I dunno I grew up in Nepean. We had no fiscal debt as a small city in the 70's and weren't even part of Ottawa until we amalgated with the Capital and then naturally assumed their debt. Today it's expanded yes but I never had an issue heading to Lansdowne to watch the Riders or 67's as it was fun and exciting.

Montreal fans are annoyingly salty and make it a habit of acting like asses. I would agree most live over on the other side of the river.

Hey I loved having the Sens rink in Kanata. I could leave my place at Woodroffe and Richmond and take the backroads avoiding the snarling Queensway traffic and got there in 20 min.

But sadly people love to bitch and complain in Ottawa about driving. Saying it's too far to drive wha, wha, wha. It's the cost of having an NHL team in your city and your rink is located in a Western suburb. Deal with it and perhaps Andlauer is okay with its location.

I spent many of days driving from my Yonge and Lawrence residence to Streetsville Missy every day (42 kms) in very dense and congested 401 traffic. I won't even get into traffic when I lived in California though lol....

I think you are partly right, but I also add that Ottawa has a lot to see and do. If you want to see good hockey, most people have it in their area with the CCHL, which is cheaper and easier to get to.

Most Canadien fans are across the river, and they do not and never will spend the money to attend an Ottawa game.

People do not live in the city anymore; they live in the Suburbs. Therefore, for a family to go to a game, Dad has to go home, get the family to drive back into town, and then drive home.

One of the things that is interesting is that you do not from what I have read see the new Sens owner jumping up and down to move to the flats. He is quite happy where he is. The corporate world that supports pro teams is allmost all in the west end.

 

[Donnie740]

I spent many of days driving from my Yonge and Lawrence residence…

That’s such a nice area.

 

[NordiquesForeva]

When a team has that many areas of need, it doesn’t make any sense to “go for it” and give away so much future draft capital.

Kingston made the same nonsensical mistake and pissed away everything they got from the Shane Wright trade for Jax Dubois and Rome Schmidt. I knew those moves weren’t going to change the fact that Kingston was nothing more than first round cannon fodder, even though Frontenac fans refused to recognize the reality of how mediocre their team was.

Ottawa gave away a ridiculous amount of draft capital for Mayer, Kressler and Jake Maillet - - a net divestiture of three 2nds, five 3rds and two 5th. Was it worth the cost? It got them into the second round, so they’ll make some money from two extra home games but it was never going to change their fundamental flaw of being a soft and undersized team.

In contrast, Oshawa was much more conservative despite being far better positioned for a playoff run than Ottawa or Kingston.

Oshawa’s biggest weak spot was on defence and getting Punnett for a 3rd and Tommy Steward for Punnett was fantastic value. He’s not as offensively talented as Mayer, but he’s much tougher and physical. More importantly, he didn’t cost nearly as much as Mayer.

I wasn’t sure what to expect from Zach Sandhu, but he’s been a decent 3rd pairing with Bedkowski. Cost a bit more than I would have liked - - a 3rd and a 5th - - but he still has one more year of eligibility which helps his value.

The earlier deal of getting Connor Lockhart for what amounted to a 3rd round pick was an absolute STEAL. Compare that to what Ottawa gave up for Maillet - - a 2nd, two 3rds and a 5th - - and it looks even more lopsided.

Full disclosure - - I was advocating for Oshawa to trade Luke Torrance at the deadline since he won’t have a spot as an OA next year. Even with the east being wide open this year, I know Oshawa will be massive underdogs in a seven game series against London. So it never made sense to give up what Ottawa and Kingston did. But Oshawa is going to make some great money from this playoff run, so the deals were definitely worth it.

I'm convinced that Ottawa's management group will make the necessary moves every year to stay reasonably competitive - i.e., at least a lower-seeded playoff team - but will never truly push their chips all-in, nor strip the team down to its studs and suffer through a losing season or two. I don't think the current management group would contemplate doing what Peterborough did last season for example. Boyd will continuously ice a good/not great team, ensure the 67s are playoff calibre, aim for a 2nd round appearance every couple of years, and keep the draft cupboards reasonably well-stocked. Its highly unlikely imo the 67s will ever truly go "all-in". Boyd will look to build up to 2-year windows. This is the 2nd year of that window, imo.

Ottawa is a bigger city than almost every other CHL town/city. There are many other entertainment and sports options for people here. The PWHL started this season in Ottawa and immediately drew more fans than the 67s and sold out TD Place for at least a few games. The 67s, to my knowledge, haven't sold out since their OHL finals run in 2019. There is professional football, basketball and soccer. There are a multitude of museums for families, good concerts and festivals, etc. There are only so many dollars for families to spend on entertainment.

The 67s want to maintain some market share here and, if you know anything about Ottawa, its that we don't strongly support losing teams. Look at the Redblacks. The quickest way for the 67s to lose fans and market share in a crowded entertainment situation is to do a 2-year rebuild. We'd be looking at 1,000 fans in the arena.

That said, once the new arena is built at Lansdowne in the next 5-6 years I could definitely see the 67s bid (and get) the Memorial Cup. That would lead to a a retool and a build that culminates in that Mem Cup year. What I'm saying is that the motivations of the ownership and management group in Ottawa could be somewhat different than those in other OHL towns/cities.

 

[OMG67]

I'm convinced that Ottawa's management group will make the necessary moves every year to stay reasonably competitive - i.e., at least a lower-seeded playoff team - but will never truly push their chips all-in, nor strip the team down to its studs and suffer through a losing season or two. I don't think the current management group would contemplate doing what Peterborough did last season for example. Boyd will continuously ice a good/not great team, ensure the 67s are playoff calibre, aim for a 2nd round appearance every couple of years, and keep the draft cupboards reasonably well-stocked. Its highly unlikely imo the 67s will ever truly go "all-in". Boyd will look to build up to 2-year windows. This is the 2nd year of that window, imo.

Ottawa is a bigger city than almost every other CHL town/city. There are many other entertainment and sports options for people here. The PWHL started this season in Ottawa and immediately drew more fans than the 67s and sold out TD Place for at least a few games. The 67s, to my knowledge, haven't sold out since their OHL finals run in 2019. There is professional football, basketball and soccer. There are a multitude of museums for families, good concerts and festivals, etc. There are only so many dollars for families to spend on entertainment.

The 67s want to maintain some market share here and, if you know anything about Ottawa, its that we don't strongly support losing teams. Look at the Redblacks. The quickest way for the 67s to lose fans and market share in a crowded entertainment situation is to do a 2-year rebuild. We'd be looking at 1,000 fans in the arena.

That said, once the new arena is built at Lansdowne in the next 5-6 years I could definitely see the 67s bid (and get) the Memorial Cup. That would lead to a a retool and a build that culminates in that Mem Cup year. What I'm saying is that the motivations of the ownership and management group in Ottawa could be somewhat different than those in other OHL towns/cities.

The funny thing regarding the “Go for it” year is they could actually do it and remain competitive (making playoffs). It requires a longer build up but it can happen.

Year One: Draft a defected player - gain draft picks
Year Two: Draft the two 1sts - make a major seller move at the deadline for a current year 1st round pick. Finish lower in the standings (but still in playoffs) and gain a high draft pick
Year Three - Focus on development. Keep players that support development. Make another big seller trade to gain picks. Finish in the bottom half of the standings and gain another decent 1st round pick
Year Four - Your three 1st round picks acquired in Year two and now 18 year old and are supported by the high 17 year old 1st round pick from year three. The team starts to be more highly competitive.
Year Five - Go for it year. You can trade your 1st round pick and some of the acquired draft picks over the leaner years.

I believe we are currently going into Year two of that proposed plan. We have the two 1st round picks. We will likely finish low in the standings this coming year and could trade Pinelli for a 2008 1st round pick. We’d have three ‘08s supported by a high pick ‘09. We will gain some draft capital form trading excess OA’s.

Then next year we do the same as we did back when Brown was the GM. He made some savvy seller moves over the course of a couple years that didn’t overly affect our standing and managed to stockpile picks that were used last season to acquire Mintyukov and Morrison.

So, it could be done without going into a major push season. But, it requires patience and at least 3-4 years of preparation and discipline. Our management team is on safe ground so they aren’t in a situation where they have to save their jobs year after year with performance. If we were to adopt what I laid out, we’d likely finish in and around 7-8 in the conference this season. We’d likely trade Pinelli this year and Mews the following year. We’d be focused on developing the younger players by insulating them with solid veteran players that also ensure we make the playoffs. Our next competitive season would be 2026-27 with the big year being 2027-28.

 

[ecraigs]

Sad to see that Bert O'Brien's wife, Cathy died on April 8, as a result of an earlier fall. I remember sitting in the row in front of her and Mrs. Killer for many years in section 20.

 

[OMG67]

Sad to see that Bert O'Brien's wife, Cathy died on April 8, as a result of an earlier fall. I remember sitting in the row in front of her and Mrs. Killer for many years in section 20.

The lot of them were/are phenomenal humans.

 

[OMG67]

Hilton dressed in place of Kelly tonight. No lines posted yet.

 

[HUSH10]

Kumpulainen is dressing tonight and on the second line in his usual spot

 

[OMG67]

Only line change for Ottawa is Mews with Mayer and Sirman with Smyth. I assume the Sirman/Smyth pair will play a lot less. I imagine where possible DC will roll out the top two pairs every second shift.

 

[Hinterland]

Hilton dressed in place of Kelly tonight. No lines posted yet.

I'm not against Hilton playing because Kelly was very poor but I don't get why Cameron still doesn't wanna play Yanni. The kid played well whenever given a chance. I get that he's young but down 0-3 Cameron has nothing to lose and Gardiner is clearly injured anyway.

 

[AGranderson]

There are possibilities but, as I mentioned on an earlier post, if we get burnt 4 straight by Oshawa and Oshawa returns the core of their roster, we aren’t competing for anything next year. Steelheads will be very solid as well as the Bulldogs. Both have ample draft picks to add at will. Kingston is set up nicely. I really don’t think it is our year next year. If we can’t get it done with this roster, what chance do we have next year graduating some seriously solid players?

In light of that, I feel our focus should not be on icing the best lineup. Our focus should be on pushing assets into he future by being a seller. I see no reason to keep two OA forwards unless one is acquired to play centre.

I don’t see Oshawa being amazingly strong, they are losing some good players. I think they will be good again absolutely. But Ottawa not being able to compete against them with our returning lineup is not believable

Roobroeck (AHL)
Lockhart (age out)
Rolofs (age out)
Punnett (age out)
& if rumours of Ritchie maybe sticking around in Colorado are true

& Oster, D’Amato, Torrance, are not that strong of OA’s

Kingston will not be much better than they were this year, why would you expect them to be? they as well are losing talent with not much new coming in.

Brampton in my eyes is the front runner & team to beat next year.

For Ottawa to be the same team as this year they basically have to replace Kressler & Mayer. Malliet, Sirman, Smyth in my eye is no loss & to be completely honest likely easy enough to add guys to take there spots that are even better, replacing a guy like Kressler & Mayer is easily done with the draft picks acquired for trading Mayich & what’s in the cupboard. I don’t see a complete rebuild next year I think one more year of Ottawa being in the middle of the pack & very competitive is likely to come

 

[OMG67]

I don’t see Oshawa being amazingly strong, they are losing some good players. I think they will be good again absolutely. But Ottawa not being able to compete against them with our returning lineup is not believable

Roobroeck (AHL)
Lockhart (age out)
Rolofs (age out)
Punnett (age out)
& if rumours of Ritchie maybe sticking around in Colorado are true

& Oster, D’Amato, Torrance, are not that strong of OA’s

Kingston will not be much better than they were this year, why would you expect them to be? they as well are losing talent with not much new coming in.

Brampton in my eyes is the front runner & team to beat next year.

For Ottawa to be the same team as this year they basically have to replace Kressler & Mayer. Malliet, Sirman, Smyth in my eye is no loss & to be completely honest likely easy enough to add guys to take there spots that are even better, replacing a guy like Kressler & Mayer is easily done with the draft picks acquired for trading Mayich & what’s in the cupboard. I don’t see a complete rebuild next year I think one more year of Ottawa being in the middle of the pack & very competitive is likely to come

Oster is a strong OA. But, the advantage of returning a strong team and two weak OA’s is those two spots are cheap upgrades.

I have Oshawa in the #3 spot anyway. I don’t feel Ottawa coming back with Gardiner and Dever as the centres is ideal. They need to replenish some picks. Trading Pinelli is almost a must of they are getting an ‘08 1st in return.

I'm not against Hilton playing because Kelly was very poor but I don't get why Cameron still doesn't wanna play Yanni. The kid played well whenever given a chance. I get that he's young but down 0-3 Cameron has nothing to lose and Gardiner is clearly injured anyway.

Swapping out players on the 4th line is meaningless. They shouldn’t even be playing a shift tonight in a do or die scenario unless the score gets out of hand.

 

[AGranderson]

you have 2 right shots on one line . Stonehouse is an RW, and really, to bring him back and then put him on the LW 3ed line on a rebuilding team makes absolutely no sense.

You have left the defence with very little and no leadership with 4 rookies again not sure it makes sense

Barlas has shown that he can play the third line and, based on his progression, will probably be a second-line player next year. Why are you penalizing him for a good year by moving him back to the fourth line, which is usually a development line for rookies?

Also, why do you have 2 LW playing on the line with Amidovski?

If you are rebuilding then you have to look at losing Uronen, Stonehouse or Gerrior.

A rebuilding team needs to develop young talent, not go with the same sad sack under performing players that we have this year.


Also, please do not insult my intelligence and say that we can go for it next year with this team.

Two right shots on one line what day & age does that matter anymore? have you not watched this year it’s been like that most of the season guys playing the off wing, a lot of teams do that now some players are actually more comfortable on their off wing it’s like that in most leagues.

Leadership on D is added at or near the deadline bring in a couple 05’s with trading some younger guys like Kelly & draft pics to do that is easy enough

NHL teams want players playing in the CHL so Uronen not coming back will likely push Vegas to not be interested in him. I think he wants another year in the CHL to prove him self, look at Vinny last year he left the OHL & Montreal wants nothing to do with him anymore not even an invite to there camp this passed season, Uronen coming back & being seen around the rink these playoffs tells me he will be back in Ottawa next season or else he wouldn’t of came back to watch playoffs after his surgery.

Ottawa will be competitive and not completely sell off everything and will be a middle of the pack team next year & not rebuild. You heard it here first

 

[OMG67]

Finishing the middle of the pack is the most useless position to finish in. You likely don’t win in the first round of the playoffs. You don’t sell off any players to push assets forward. You likely need to buy a few players to finish there with no true return on investment. Having the goal of finishing middle of the pack and being somewhat competitive is a loser mentality. You aren’t building towards anything.

 

[Hinterland]

Oster is a strong OA. But, the advantage of returning a strong team and two weak OA’s is those two spots are cheap upgrades.

I have Oshawa in the #3 spot anyway. I don’t feel Ottawa coming back with Gardiner and Dever as the centres is ideal. They need to replenish some picks. Trading Pinelli is almost a must of they are getting an ‘08 1st in return.



Swapping out players on the 4th line is meaningless. They shouldn’t even be playing a shift tonight in a do or die scenario unless the score gets out of hand.

With a better 4th line the 67's could have won game 3. It was the only line without any sort of possession. They were always chasing in the defensive zone, momentum killers. They took a dumb penalty as well. You can't realistically play four straight playoff games with three lines. You can probably win a game or two but at this point that wouldn't help the 67's. So no, the 4th line isn't meaningless. With Yanni in the lineup, the 4th line was a force, playing with lots of energy.

 

[OMG67]

With a better 4th line the 67's could have won game 3. It was the only line without any sort of possession. They were always chasing in the defensive zone, momentum killers. They took a dumb penalty as well. You can't realistically play four straight playoff games with three lines. You can probably win a game or two but at this point that wouldn't help the 67's. So no, the 4th line isn't meaningless. With Yanni in the lineup, the 4th line was a force, playing with lots of energy.

Oshawa is up 3-0 concentrating their offence on two lines and sparingly playing their 4th line. So, I am not too sure your assertion has much merit.

 

[Hinterland]

Oshawa is up 3-0 concentrating their offence on two lines and sparingly playing their 4th line. So, I am not too sure your assertion has much merit.

I'm not convinced their 4th line played any less than the Barlas line. Oshawa is a deep team. Brantford tried to play three, or even just two lines for most of the series and it cost them. They shortened the bench and ran out of steam. Ottawa won because they were the deeper team. Depth matters and icing injured players is stupid when you have good and healthy options.

 

[HockeyPops]

39 seconds in, I've already flipped away from the other two games.

 

[HUSH10]

I don’t see Oshawa being amazingly strong, they are losing some good players. I think they will be good again absolutely. But Ottawa not being able to compete against them with our returning lineup is not believable

Roobroeck (AHL)
Lockhart (age out)
Rolofs (age out)
Punnett (age out)
& if rumours of Ritchie maybe sticking around in Colorado are true

& Oster, D’Amato, Torrance, are not that strong of OA’s

Kingston will not be much better than they were this year, why would you expect them to be? they as well are losing talent with not much new coming in.

Brampton in my eyes is the front runner & team to beat next year.

For Ottawa to be the same team as this year they basically have to replace Kressler & Mayer. Malliet, Sirman, Smyth in my eye is no loss & to be completely honest likely easy enough to add guys to take there spots that are even better, replacing a guy like Kressler & Mayer is easily done with the draft picks acquired for trading Mayich & what’s in the cupboard. I don’t see a complete rebuild next year I think one more year of Ottawa being in the middle of the pack & very competitive is likely to come

Roobroeck isn't even signed. He is very likely back. Ritchie also isn't signed.

Our OAs next year will be Oster, Roobroeck and Torrence/D'Amato

 

[Hinterland]

Lol. Epic piece of acting by Roobroeck there, fully deserving of an oscar. Did incredibly well to look disinterested in that fight for as long as possible and only started throwing punches himself when he was sure Hilton would get the instigator. Very veteran move there doing everything in his own power to make it clear to the refs who instigated that fight.

 

[OMG67]

I'm not convinced their 4th line played any less than the Barlas line. Oshawa is a deep team. Brantford tried to play three, or even just two lines for most of the series and it cost them. They shortened the bench and ran out of steam. Ottawa won because they were the deeper team. Depth matters and icing injured players is stupid when you have good and healthy options.

@ScoutLife4 can you add the TOI stat line for Delisle, Graham, and Franssen for this series, more specifically game 3?

 

[mianjo]

1-1 after 1


SHOTS ON GOAL

Teams	1st	Total
OSH	7	7
OTT	9	9

GOAL
#6 Thomas Sirman (2) scores. Assists: #23 Will Gerrior, #29 Cooper Foster POWER PLAY
1st 13:01

 

[Donnie740]

I don’t see Oshawa being amazingly strong, they are losing some good players. I think they will be good again absolutely. But Ottawa not being able to compete against them with our returning lineup is not believable

Roobroeck (AHL)
Lockhart (age out)
Rolofs (age out)
Punnett (age out)
& if rumours of Ritchie maybe sticking around in Colorado are true

& Oster, D’Amato, Torrance, are not that strong of OA’s

Kingston will not be much better than they were this year, why would you expect them to be? they as well are losing talent with not much new coming in.

Brampton in my eyes is the front runner & team to beat next year.

For Ottawa to be the same team as this year they basically have to replace Kressler & Mayer. Malliet, Sirman, Smyth in my eye is no loss & to be completely honest likely easy enough to add guys to take there spots that are even better, replacing a guy like Kressler & Mayer is easily done with the draft picks acquired for trading Mayich & what’s in the cupboard. I don’t see a complete rebuild next year I think one more year of Ottawa being in the middle of the pack & very competitive is likely to come

Roobroeck hasn’t signed an ELC yet, so it’s a pretty big leap to proclaim he’ll be in the AHL next year. He certainly didn’t dominate the league this year. More than likely he’ll be back in Oshawa next year as an OA.

Jake Oster is one of the best goalies in the league and he’ll be a phenomenal OA next year.

D’Amato is a dependable top 4 defenseman and a mainstay on the power play. He’s a solid choice as the third OA.

Biggest concern for Oshawa next year will be if Ritchie returns or makes the team in Colorado. He missed a big chunk of the season recovering from shoulder surgery but once he got healthy he’s been dominating the league. Colorado may send him back for one more year to show that he can dominate for a full season.

Agree 100% that Mississauga/Brampton will be a strong team next year. I expect Porter Martone to be a Top 10 - - if not a Top 5 - - draft pick. I still can’t believe Sarnia traded him away.

 

[Donnie740]

@ScoutLife4 can you add the TOI stat line for Delisle, Graham, and Franssen for this series, more specifically game 3?

Oshawa’s 4th line gets a regular shift in the 1st period, less time in the 2nd period and then doesn’t see the ice in the 3rd period.

Unless it’s a blow out like Game 2 - - pretty sure the 4th line never came off the ice for the last 3mins of the game.

 

[mianjo]

1-2

1-3

1-4 after 2

SHOTS ON GOAL

Teams	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
OSH	7	14	0	21
OTT	9	14	0	23