You are not accurate. A) he didn’t ask to leave and B) he is not living with Emil. C) they weren’t close friends before this year and had only played internationally a few times before
Ottawa 67's 2023-24 Season Thread (Part 3)
- Thread starter SoupNazi
- Start date
So many teams do not concern themselves with a kids potential career or what the player wishes for. Then they whine and complain when players don't want to report to their team. If true much respect to the organization it's an investment in PR for down the road.
I think the bottom line to all this is that
a. the team is not drafting well
b. the team is not aqble to make trades that count (Pinelli)
c. that the present coach has a phobia about letting players develop and play in tough stretches.
d. IF OMG is correct we have exactly 0 centers in our line up 2026/27
Consider that Boyd drafted 2 centers in the first 3 picks of the last draft and a D that would not report.
The coaching staff has determined that neither of the 2 centers who were drafted should be centers, so out of the 4 top draft picks we have had, we have only 1 player who is developing at a reasonable rate, and that is because he is a defenceman, and DC loves defence.
As to the draft , making the playoffs removes us from
A chance to get the top player in the draft
being 3rd in each round
16th in the Euro vs 9 or 10
The biggest thing, though, is that it tells any young forward that they are not going to get ice time to develop or be allowed to commit any offences. That there is no true development for forwads and that the team is in complete disarray with the only plan being to make the playoffs each year no matter what.
From my Kingston experience, this does not work if you are trying to make the fans feel fuzzy and warm about the product. It also does not make players drafted to the team feel a great deal of excitement. Again, this is the Mav school of hockey. How well did it work?
This teamhas some great players that want to play. They have talent that wants to win. They have youth that are good and hustle. BUT they are not interested in developing that.
OSEG will have to examine its actions, or I will start to think it has the same mindset as the Fronts' ownership. Maybe boyd will hire CAPUTI and make it official.
Next year line up according to OMG and what we see
EkBerg Foster Kelly
Whitehead Dever Kingswell
Amidovski Barlas Yanni
Houben Euro maybe ?
Does that look like a team that is developing and retooling?
a. the team is not drafting well
b. the team is not aqble to make trades that count (Pinelli)
c. that the present coach has a phobia about letting players develop and play in tough stretches.
d. IF OMG is correct we have exactly 0 centers in our line up 2026/27
Consider that Boyd drafted 2 centers in the first 3 picks of the last draft and a D that would not report.
The coaching staff has determined that neither of the 2 centers who were drafted should be centers, so out of the 4 top draft picks we have had, we have only 1 player who is developing at a reasonable rate, and that is because he is a defenceman, and DC loves defence.
As to the draft , making the playoffs removes us from
A chance to get the top player in the draft
being 3rd in each round
16th in the Euro vs 9 or 10
The biggest thing, though, is that it tells any young forward that they are not going to get ice time to develop or be allowed to commit any offences. That there is no true development for forwads and that the team is in complete disarray with the only plan being to make the playoffs each year no matter what.
From my Kingston experience, this does not work if you are trying to make the fans feel fuzzy and warm about the product. It also does not make players drafted to the team feel a great deal of excitement. Again, this is the Mav school of hockey. How well did it work?
This teamhas some great players that want to play. They have talent that wants to win. They have youth that are good and hustle. BUT they are not interested in developing that.
OSEG will have to examine its actions, or I will start to think it has the same mindset as the Fronts' ownership. Maybe boyd will hire CAPUTI and make it official.
Next year line up according to OMG and what we see
EkBerg Foster Kelly
Whitehead Dever Kingswell
Amidovski Barlas Yanni
Houben Euro maybe ?
Does that look like a team that is developing and retooling?
Last edited:
I think in that situation, they did the right thing. But, it depends on the situation and the level of sacrifice. For example, you can give Uronen what he wants after you already decided he wasn’t returning. No big deal. The difference may be a 4th round instead of a 3rd round and a 5th round at its absolute max.
But when it came to Pinelli, I think all bets are off. The 67’s gave Pinelli two really solid opportunities at a long playoff run. They expended assets to bulk up two years in a row. When you are at the level of Pinelli, you need to be open to move. IF you sit there wanting the team to acquire elite players when you are in a position to win, as an elite player, you have to be willing to move when your team is weak. You should not be picky-choosy and end up staying. The deal with Barrie was a good deal for Ottawa and for Pinelli. But, he wanted two teams where one didn’t want him and the other didn’t value him high enough to prioritize him over the D-Man acquisition (Gibson). So, the two he preferred to go to essentially didn’t want him enough. You got be mature enough to move to an alternate top contender. You cannot log jam the 67’s after they made moves in the past.
This isn‘T about Pinelli specifically but the reality is the team needs to wield a solid fist when necessary. They can‘t be a pushover all the time. When it is extremely meaningful to their future, they have to push a player out. Keeping Pinelli, and conversely not moving Foster, Dever, and Mayich, was too big of a sacrifice to protect their reputation.
I don’t really have much of an issue with the core of what you are saying but at the same time, the young players have to prove capable. They aren’t capable enough to get premium ice time. You cannot play them above veterans that have busted their asses to get there and then tell them to take a back seat to an inferior rookie. IT doesn’t work that way. That is how you lose the room quickly.
IMO, Boyd stockpiles a lot of very average players and creates log jams that effectively stunt the growth opportunities of younger players. I think that is more of the issue we are seeing rather than poor drafting. We are drafting and getting capable OHL players. The challenge is you can only develop about 4 per year. You cannot have eleven ‘07s and two ‘08s and expect them to all get ice time. It is quite simply not going to happen.
The challenge going forward for this team is their ‘06 crop is awful. Now that Mews is gone, we are left with Marrelli, Brady, and Kelly. I am ignoring Korbler. He won’t return. That is your 19 year old core next year. Pretty awful. Three capable players but none of them are elite. Then the ‘07 group consists of a handful of pretty good players (Whitehead, Ekberg, and Nelson). Jackson, Dietsch, Kingwell, and Yanni may turn it up a bit. I know some have pointed to Houben but let’s be real. He is only getting an opportunity because he is big and Ottawa is not very good. As his peers continue to grow and better quality younger players get inserted, his opportunities will continue to diminish.
In fairness to Boyd, he did roll the dice on some NCAA commit players in the 2022 draft (‘06 draft class) and he picked four goalies. So, really, we needed at least two of those NCAA commit type players to report to ensure we would have a solid ‘06 class. None of them committed and we have a poor drafting class. Oh well. It is what it is. But, that leaves us barren next year.
So, we are going to have to rely a lot on the ‘07 class. If we can insert two young centres to play 3C and 4C as rookies, I think we will be ok. Foster and Dever can be placeholders next year while the other two get their feet wet. The team won’t be a bad team, they just won’t be good. Their back end will be solid. They should hold their own offensively but if they don’t get one or two surprise signings, it may be tough for them to finish much higher than 74 points.
As you said, we agree on most things. My argument is that we have Whitehead, who stats-wise is superior to Barlas at center.
We are going into next year, and if DC gets his way, it will be the 3 OA at center and Whitehead left to rot. Then in 26/27 when this team should have a few solid lines, we will have no centers ready for the second line, let alone the first line. You can not develop a team like that. Whitehead has played 3rd line center all year, and now all of a sudden Barlas (who I would not bring back) is better than him. Fine put Barlas on a line with him but you still have to play Whitehead at center so that he is ready. This all comes down to DC desire to win instead of develop players at this stage.
Rebuilding teams go through this we have seen it before. How do you think Weekes felt getting traded to the 67's. Players kow this is a bad team no one has to tell them and do you really think they feel they have a chance against Brantford.
on a side note, this showed up on my computer
NHL to meet with CHL, other junior leagues
drafting and signing limits
USHL
CHL no expansion
I think there are going to be some changes before the draft that will affect Mews and his decision along with the NCAA and CHL rules
The interesting on point is the 4 years I wonder if they make that deal if that would mean you could get drafted and instead of reporting to the ECHL after you do yor OA year, you culd play CIAU. So a kid could get 2 years university in Canada at the CHL expense then play pro
Last edited:
Who cares about Whitehead? He has not proven to be a centre anyway. If we draft properly over the next two years, you will be saying the younger players are better and Whitehead is in the way at centre (which is likely). Insert Whitehead for Barlas two years from now in this same discussion.
Next year is a development year. Put effort into the centres that are actually centres. Don’t force the issue. Odds are pretty good that Foster and dever will play centre as OA’s. I am not sure Barlas will play centre but if he does it is because no one else is capable and would be playing over their heads. You cannot put guys in bad spots. Sure, Whitehead could play 3C but he will be more effective at 2LW. He is not capable to play 2C IMO.
As of now, the players get 18 months to use their scholarship after their OA year and 30 months if they forego their OA year. So, a kid can play CIAU for 5 semesters after graduating from the OHL as a 19 year old, choose to not play an OA year and still sign a pro contract. And, if they wanted to attend classes in the summer, technically they could attend 7 semesters. That is a 3 year degree.
With respect to changes, there won’t be changes that affect Mews in the short term. There may be some clarifications required if he goes to Michigan with respect to how long the Flames hold his rights but a lot of times those get grandfathered in so it would affect the newly drafted players in 2025 (if they can get the changes into the agreement in time). Mews looks to be mostly a one off. I don’t think there will be any serious discussion that only affects one player. If he walks out on the OHL, he forfeits his Scholarship because he didn’t fulfill his contract. Other than that, I don’t see anything being an issue.
Whhitehead may not be the best, but in 26, who do you have playing center? Consider that Whitehead was a high second rounder and was a productive center. Yes maybe he will be like Cam Tolnai who knows the point is that right now we will have 0 centers on the team that hve had a chance of development and please donot tell me that Boyd is going to make arade and get them when so far he has gotten crap.
How about we get rid of the dinosaur and get a young gun in who can run a bench and develop his players? As I have said before we have a lot of talent but o one to develop it on the offence.
S TO THE NHL TALKS
I think the decison is being made now before the draft so that all will be aware. As to the rules it is either going to be starting today or make it any player that is presently drafted but unsigned.
As to Mews I believe he has an agent that has talked contract with the flames. If that is the case, then Mews can not go to the NCAA, as any athlete with an agent negotiating for him or her is ot allowed.
