Ottawa 67s 2024-25 Season Thread, Part II

[Larionov]

Serious question - how many more games will this team win before the end of the season? I figure four, maybe five. They are light on size, heart and goaltending - rough combination.

 

[Hinterland]

Serious question - how many more games will this team win before the end of the season? I figure four, maybe five. They are light on size, heart and goaltending - rough combination.

They can win a lot of them if they're healthy and getting competent goaltending. Problem is that goaltending has been mostly underwhelming this season and they also seem to have lots of injuries and sicknesses. Probably also helped by the coach always riding the same guys but it's definitely a fact that depth has suffered because they kept on trading guys away with no bodies coming back.

 

[OMG67]

Why does anyone really care about success this season? The best situation is for Ottawa to narrowly miss the playoffs, remain somewhat evertaining and win the draft lottery and pick 1st in the Priority Selection draft, the U-8 Draft and 2nd in the Import Draft. THAT result would be something special that could help truly kickstart a rebuild. The last 1st overall pick was Konecny and before that it was McCauley. This team has not picked 1st very often. Now that you don’t have to suck balls to pick first, it gives teams like Ottawa who are not in the worst possible situation, an opportunity to get a little luck and back into an elite player to focus and build around.

If this team makes the playoffs and the Western teams continue to suck as well as the league expands by two teams, Ottawa could pick around 9th. We wouldn’t likely get a bonafide player to build around. We picked Amidovski this year at 11. Getting a 1st or 2nd overall pick would be like a lightning rod for hope in the future.

 

[OMG67]

While I am on that topic, I think it it’s important to add that from a futures perspective, I think the 67’s have a lot of middle of the roster type players. That presents as some decent depth. I think Nelson is a stellar 17 year old goalie that they can build around as the team matures. Theya re missing the elite scoring. I don’t think they have any younger players that present as goal scorers outside of Ekberg and maybe Amidovski if he develops into more of a power winger. Adding another highly picked Import and top 4 draft pick woudl go a long way towards solidifying the top half of the roster. Eshkawkogan looks to be pretty elite from the right side of a top pairing. Jackson and Dietsch will be solid stay at home types on the left side.

If someone like Yanni can fill the skates of a player like Gerrior in a support role, that would help.

I think there is a lot to look forward to PROVIDED we miss the playoffs and get our grubby little hands on the top end prospects early. If we don’t, we look to have a middling team that will be somewhat competitive but the ceiling is likely 4-5 seed type team when it matures.

 

[NoQuit67s]

Any word yet on the Foster injury?

Shoulder injury, out at least 4 weeks.
Asked him myself tonight.

 

[OMG67]

Shoulder injury, out at least 4 weeks.
Asked him myself tonight.

Thanks for the update. That is a good update. Four weeks isn’t great but it is a hell of a lot better than twelve! Four is managable.

 

[AGranderson]

9,37,18. Going to miss sometime as well

 

[Hinterland]

Thanks for the update. That is a good update. Four weeks isn’t great but it is a hell of a lot better than twelve! Four is managable.

Agreed.

It just absolutely sucks that Ekberg is probably gonna be out again, too. Foster missing time would have been his chance to finally lock down 1C...which should have been his spot for a while already. Frustrating. And friggen Ty Henry got a laughable 2' for his dirty hit. What the heck.

Maybe they'll at least give Amidovski a look at Center.

 

[yacky]

Agreed.

It just absolutely sucks that Ekberg is probably gonna be out again, too. Foster missing time would have been his chance to finally lock down 1C...which should have been his spot for a while already. Frustrating. And friggen Ty Henry got a laughable 2' for his dirty hit. What the heck.

Maybe they'll at least give Amidovski a look at Center.

Ty Henry also took out 15 Romani broken collarbone and 13 Pazi cracked collar bone in 1 game on Oct 11th. Dirty player

 

[Hinterland]

Ty Henry also took out 15 Romani broken collarbone and 13 Pazi cracked collar bone in 1 game on Oct 11th. Dirty player

He apologized immediately so I'm not sure if he's dirty or just dumb...but certainly some of his actions are dirty. You can't hit a player into the boards from right behind...let alone a player without possession chasing the puck.

 

[sirius67fan]

I kept a close eye on Jackson and he looks likea good add. Definitly top 4 going forward. Strikes me more as a defensive type. Wonder if he showed some offensive upside in Sudbury?

9,37,18. Going to miss sometime as well

Dam they'll be short of bodies big time, I might get called up.! Were Barlas/Dever injured yesterday?

 

[sirius67fan]

While I am on that topic, I think it it’s important to add that from a futures perspective, I think the 67’s have a lot of middle of the roster type players. That presents as some decent depth. I think Nelson is a stellar 17 year old goalie that they can build around as the team matures. Theya re missing the elite scoring. I don’t think they have any younger players that present as goal scorers outside of Ekberg and maybe Amidovski if he develops into more of a power winger. Adding another highly picked Import and top 4 draft pick woudl go a long way towards solidifying the top half of the roster. Eshkawkogan looks to be pretty elite from the right side of a top pairing. Jackson and Dietsch will be solid stay at home types on the left side.

If someone like Yanni can fill the skates of a player like Gerrior in a support role, that would help.

I think there is a lot to look forward to PROVIDED we miss the playoffs and get our grubby little hands on the top end prospects early. If we don’t, we look to have a middling team that will be somewhat competitive but the ceiling is likely 4-5 seed type team when it matures.

In respect to Yanni you must see something I don't. More on a Kelly development arc than Gerrior imo. Feisty and good effort but I question his offensive upside.

 

[Vector Calculus]

9,37,18. Going to miss sometime as well

What happened with Dever and Barlas? I think they both finished the game. Do we know what Houben’s injury is?

They leaned very heavily last night on both Dever and Barlas at centre with Foster out…is Whitehead just going to play 30 minutes a game with makeshift centres behind him? They haven’t seemed serious about Amidovski getting any ice on the wing let alone at centre.

 

[OMG67]

I kept a close eye on Jackson and he looks likea good add. Definitly top 4 going forward. Strikes me more as a defensive type. Wonder if he showed some offensive upside in Sudbury?


Dam they'll be short of bodies big time, I might get called up.! Were Barlas/Dever injured yesterday?

I think him and Dietsch are very similar in many respects. The same sort of D-Man as Mayich around the same age. With maturity, they may both be able to develop some offence as OA’s. Both should end up relatively responsible defensively from the left side. Unfortunatley, defensively responsible LH D-Men aren’t really very valuable. Dietsch at least has some good size.

Eshkawkogan is the 3rd pice of that puzzle but we don’t have the 4th piece to fill out that top 4 of the future. That’s where the NCAA commits hopefully come in. Either that or an Import. The 2024 OHL draft was weak on D-Men at the top end and the 2025 draft apparently is very similar in that respect which is why I was hoping Boyd were to manage to pry Blonda away from Sudbury, even if it meant both Pinelli and Mews going there.

 

[Larionov]

The 2024 OHL draft was weak on D-Men at the top end and the 2025 draft apparently is very similar in that respect which is why I was hoping Boyd were to manage to pry Blonda away from Sudbury, even if it meant both Pinelli and Mews going there.

You have to assume that Pinelli clearly expressed his desire to finish his junior career here, and explicitly declined the opportunity to go to a contender. The club decided to respect his wishes, which makes sense - when a kid wants to stay with your program at a time when so many others are bailing, it would be a terrible look to lean on him to accept a trade for a handful of magic beans in return. But man, does it ever sting to trade the 18 year old but keep the 19 year old...