Ottawa 67s 2024-25 Season Thread, Part III

[OMG67]

It may have been previously mentioned but is Amidovski missing from the lineup due to an injury?

Yes. I can’t remember what the injury is but he is out for a bit. Nothing major as far as I am aware.

 

[sirius67fan]

Yes. I can’t remember what the injury is but he is out for a bit. Nothing major as far as I am aware.

Knee

 

[sirius67fan]

Let’s take a look at next year. We have so many eligible ‘07s now that are either full card players or affiliates. Obviously there won’t be enough room for all of them, especially with so many left shots but I will try to anchor to 100% on roster guys and debate the potential on roster guys.

Ekberg - Foster(OA) -
Barlas(OA) - Dever(OA) - Kelly
Amidovski - Whitehead -

This is what I have as the mostly guaranteed forwards. In addition to those forwards, they also have:
‘06
Souliere

‘07s
Bowes
Kingwell
Yanni
Houben

‘08s
Perrier - NOTE: I believe he’s been injured since around late October. Not sure of his status.
Krawczyk(unsigned)
Vandenberg(unsigned and committed to Providence for 2027-28)

Marrelli -
Jackson - Eshkawkogan
Dietsch - Brady

I’m not sure how that depth chart on the right slide will shape up so I am leaving it as is being lined up right now.

‘07s
Avila
White

‘08s
Bonomo
Conor Dervin(unsigned)
Barnett(unsigned - USNTDP) **NOTE: we also drafted his older brother Asher Barnett (D - ‘07 - Committed to Michigan for 2026-27). They both play USNTDP

Nelson

We have some other goalies but I really don’t think any of them factor in right now.

1> As is typical for the past few seasons, we are short down the middle. I think we are somewhat forced to maintain Dever and Foster at centre but having two OA’s doesn’t help if next year is another development season. I think we need to find another centre somehow (maybe Ekberg shifts there) and roll Dever over to the right side on line one.
2> That first D-Pairing is light on the right side. Theoretically, Eshkawkogan can play 1st pair but I am not sure Brady ont he 2nd pair makes a lot of sense.
3> We do have an Import slot available. I think maybe looking at that RD slot makes a lot of sense. Either that or centre. But, going after a 17 year old likely won’t solve either of those needs. The player will likely be underdeveloped as a 17 year old to play those types of minutes.
4> We should get a high pick. I’m obviously advocating for missing the playoffs and hopefully we get a higher impact player in the top 3. But, I think if I am dropping $$$, I’d say they likely finish 8th. It will be close but that’s the way I am leaning. That gives us the 5th or 6th pick the way things are shaping up now. Doesn’t look like there will be expansion for next season.
5> We are short a backup but maybe we can nail one down in the 1st round of the U-18 draft? Or, maybe we get a nice surprise coming out of camp?
6> The OA situation is interesting. I am hoping Dever ends up on RW. I’m not sure I keep Barlas. Not because I don’t like the player. More so that we have a lot of younger LW and maybe Barlas is redundant. Handing his spot to a younger player like Amidovski, Souliere or Yanni may make more sense.
7> I really don’t know where Houben fits in. He may be the big wild card next season. His sating is improving but he is not a centre. HE needs to patrol the boards with more authority. That is the element that he and his size are missing. He needs a mean streak and I fear he doesn’t have that in him. He mostly plays like he is 5’10”.

Barring surprise USNTPD signings, pretty underwhelming lineup!

 

[sirius67fan]

I think we could also debate keeping Horner over Barlas as the 3rd OA. Barlas will provide a little more offence. He is feisty, but I don't think he intimidates anyone physically. On the other hand, Horner has the flexibility to fill in as a defensemen when needed, and is one of the few players on this team that provides a physical presence and consistently delivers hard hits (not to mention some protective services when some teams start taking liberties).

I think Houben can assure himself a spot on the team by working really hard in the off-season and gaining strength and continuing to work on his skating. Right now he is a pretty skinny tall kid. His destiny is in his own hands.

Hopefully we see what White can do pretty soon and have a better idea about him.

I 100% agree that we should be bringing in another import.
But somehow, in the back of my mind I feel that Korbler may stay... I get the feeling someone may have made some kind of commitment to the player for some unknown reason none of us can explain. Let's hope they make the right decision here...

I think the 5 returning D group is pretty solid. Agree that getting a RD should be a priority 1A (along with a centre) through the draft or the import slot. BTW, I don't think it has been mentioned yet, but Jackson has been a pleasant surprise that makes the Mews deal look better than previously thought (in my mind).

I think we need to let both Barlas and Horner go and uprade the OA slot. That and getting a good import would help make the lineup passable, got I hope you're wrong and they do move on from Korbler. To think I actually advocated they keep him over Uronen

 

[Fawlty]

Knee

Thanks.

 

[OMG67]

Barring surprise USNTPD signings, pretty underwhelming lineup!

It’s not horrible. It is workable. If they add a 1st pairing RHD to play with Marrelli (someone like Mayich), then the back end will be fine depending on the quality of the backup goalie.

Nelson has improved this year. He lets in some easy goals but he is young for a goalie int he OHL. Not many 17 year olds capable of holding down the fort. His positioning needs a little bit of work but he has significantly reduced his movement in net which allows him to remain competitive in net on rebounds and deflections. The more he works on his angles and depth inand out of net, the better he will be and the less number of squeaky goals will be scored.

We have too many of the same type of player, wingers with energy and not a lot of scoring touch. This will obviously need to be addressed in round one and the Import draft. Those two players should be able to contribute, if not next year then the year after. Ekberg will also start to ramp it up as an 18 year old next year. We won’t score a lot but we should be competitive on the defensive side.

 

[AGranderson]

View attachment 969674
Looks like Dever is back, but playing the wing; we had heard it was an arm injury so maybe they are sheltering him from draws. Ekberg on the top line. Körbler playing on the 4th line is the lowest we’ve ever seen. My kids like to joke that he has gotten preferential treatment all year because he is the coach’s son…guess that shine is finally wearing.

Houben still at centre. He played about a billion minutes last game and looked pretty decent I thought. Will be interesting to see how he looks today (not that he will get a ton of help from Yanni and Kelly). Nelson starts tonight and maybe he gets 2 of 3 this weekend.

Don’t see Dever on that lineup.
Dever, Foster, Whitehead, Amidovski all out injured all 4 are week to week

 

[beastintheeast]

It’s not horrible. It is workable. If they add a 1st pairing RHD to play with Marrelli (someone like Mayich), then the back end will be fine depending on the quality of the backup goalie.

Nelson has improved this year. He lets in some easy goals but he is young for a goalie int he OHL. Not many 17 year olds capable of holding down the fort. His positioning needs a little bit of work but he has significantly reduced his movement in net which allows him to remain competitive in net on rebounds and deflections. The more he works on his angles and depth inand out of net, the better he will be and the less number of squeaky goals will be scored.

We have too many of the same type of player, wingers with energy and not a lot of scoring touch. This will obviously need to be addressed in round one and the Import draft. Those two players should be able to contribute, if not next year then the year after. Ekberg will also start to ramp it up as an 18 year old next year. We won’t score a lot but we should be competitive on the defensive side.

Is low scoring not what DC wants, I am looking at stats and really donot see a heavy offensive team. Sorry to bring WJC up but when you look at the plaeyrs that we had lack of scoring should not hbe been an issue.

DC like players to be defensive. That is ok but I think we need to find out what kids like Whitehead can do on the offensive side of things.

I would love a game where it did nto matter and let these guys show what they can do onfeensively.

Don’t see Dever on that lineup.
Dever, Foster, Whitehead, Amidovski all out injured all 4 are week to week

OUCH but then again it may be a good thing if it gets us intothe bottom 4

 

[OMG67]

Is low scoring not what DC wants, I am looking at stats and really donot see a heavy offensive team. Sorry to bring WJC up but when you look at the plaeyrs that we had lack of scoring should not hbe been an issue.

DC like players to be defensive. That is ok but I think we need to find out what kids like Whitehead can do on the offensive side of things.

I would love a game where it did nto matter and let these guys show what they can do onfeensively.



OUCH but then again it may be a good thing if it gets us intothe bottom 4

I don’t think Cameron’s goal is to not score goals. His primary goal is to prevent goals. That is fine. There is absolutely nothing wrong with that. But, you sometimes skew things so dramatically that it is hard to take you seriously. OBVIOUSLY, he wants his teams to score. But, he wants them to do it while ensuring they aren’t giving up endless scoring opportunities to the other team. I’m sure if his teams scored 300 goals, he’d be happy but not if they gave up 280 while doing it. I don’t think any coach would want that.

In 2022-23 they scored 286 goals while giving up only 171. Last year the scored 253 while giving up 228. Had they only given up 171 again, they likely would have been at or near the top of the league again. This year they are on pace to barely eclipse 200 goals and will give up around 280. So, they aren’t playing stellar goal prevention either. If they were on pace to only give up 200 goals, maybe your stance would have some merit but a bad team is a bad team.

They don’t have the horses this year. So be it. We can mostly all agree that DC is not the ideal coach for this team now. His reputation is tarnished for a few reasons, one of which is how he handled Team Canada. But, there is no sense in continuing to pile on. It is not like the guy is a clown. He is a respectable guy and a lot of the players like him. Piling on constantly isn’t going to solve anything at this point. It is beating a dead horse.

When the season is over, the organization will do their annual evaluation and I hope after they complete the evaluation, they decide that a coaching change would be a good thing. I think they need some fresh air and a fresh perspective. But, that doesn’t mean Cameron should be continually shit on.

We lack centre depth and have lacked centre depth for quite a few years. It is what we have acquired in each of the last two deadlines and lack it again this year for a third year in a row. That needs to be addressed better at the draft table. But, sometimes you cannot draft big AND draft a centre with the same 1st round pick. So, it is what it is. Hopefully with an early pick they can nail down a bigger centre in the next draft. It would help.

 

[beastintheeast]

I actually think we may be onthe righttrack at center now IF they stay with whitehead and amidovski as centers. Foster dever 1st line Whitehead 2nd line and Amidovski 3rd make sense to me

I think we have a truckloadof defence is they pan out

Where we are lacking is in RW and goal scoring neither of which yo can draft right away.

I am hoping that whitehead and Yanni surprise us next year. We have not had that player that came through since Pineli

 

[OMG67]

Amidovski hasn’t played one shift at centre so I don’t see him as a centre currently. Same goes for Ekberg.

Whitwhead is fine but he’s small and although he has improved, the wingers are mostly energy guys so it is tough for the centres when they aren’t paired up with quality finishers. It makes it even more difficult to evaluate the younger centres.