Overages for 2024-2025

[Donnie740]

We will definitely see some OA’s swap teams. D’Amato is a pretty decent player but if Oshawa wants to compete, they’d move him and bring in Smith without a doubt since Smith fills a void that D’Amato cannot fill.

I’m the first to acknowledge that Oshawa has a very soft team devoid of any physical presence. In addition to that, their depth is also very thin - - particularly on defense after the misguided fleecing by Owen Sound.

A one-for-one swap of D’Amato for a Connor Punnett type defenceman would help to address the lack of toughness, but it still leaves them with only 4.5 capable defencemen.

Svozil the Euro is still trying to prove that he can be trusted but Rodriguez is unreliable during the regular season and unplayable during the postseason.

As we saw last year, you CANNOT survive in the playoffs with only 2.5 reliable defensive pairings. If there’s an injury, it leaves only four defencemen and they just get worn down logging 25+ mins every game.

Luke Torrance has been a serviceable player for Oshawa and it’s a cute story that he’s a local player, but you cannot keep an injury prone 3rd line plug ahead of a top four defenseman. Having an “A” on his jersey is completely irrelevant - - just as it was last year when long tenured assistant captain Tommy Stewart was traded away for a better OA player.

This should be obvious to anyone assessing the team objectively, but unfortunately pom poms can obscure logical thought.

 

[OMG67]

I’m the first to acknowledge that Oshawa has a very soft team devoid of any physical presence. In addition to that, their depth is also very thin - - particularly on defense after the misguided fleecing by Owen Sound.

A one-for-one swap of D’Amato for a Connor Punnett type defenceman would help to address the lack of toughness, but it still leaves them with only 4.5 capable defencemen.

Svozil the Euro is still trying to prove that he can be trusted but Rodriguez is unreliable during the regular season and unplayable during the postseason.

As we saw last year, you CANNOT survive in the playoffs with only 2.5 reliable defensive pairings. If there’s an injury, it leaves only four defencemen and they just get worn down logging 25+ mins every game.

Luke Torrance has been a serviceable player for Oshawa and it’s a cute story that he’s a local player, but you cannot keep an injury prone 3rd line plug ahead of a top four defenseman. Having an “A” on his jersey is completely irrelevant - - just as it was last year when long tenured assistant captain Tommy Stewart was traded away for a better OA player.

This should be obvious to anyone assessing the team objectively, but unfortunately pom poms can obscure logical thought.

OA spots are required to fill the bigger gaps because it is cheaper. If you need to sacrifice the roster spots currently held by D’Amato and Torrance, then so be it. You cannot look at the Punnet deal last year as a comparable of what you should expect again this year. That was a fortunate one off deal. That is the type of deal you walk into maybe once every ten years. Something fishy happened there. Either Barrie outwaited th market and screwed themselves or Punnet requested to go to Oshawa and only Oshawa. I can tell you that if Boyd knew Punnet would go for what he went for and still paid what he paid for Mayer, he should be fired on the spot. IMO, Punnet was the best available OA D-Man on the market last year without even any question. So, if you are expecting the best available OA D-Man on the market this year again and only pay a marginal roster player and a 4th round pick, you are underestimating how much of a discount you got last year.

If you want a player like Smith, it will cost at minimum a 2nd, 3rd, 4th which is the going rate for solid impactful OAs.

 

[Donnie740]

I agree that neither would net the Wakely return but keep in mind that by the time the playoffs rolled around, Stonehouse was playing with one arm. He had offseason shoulder surgery and is finally set to return this week. I wouldn’t look at his stats for the 2nd half and playoffs last year. The previous playoff he played mostly on a shut down line with Tolnai as the centre. He wasn’t out there on the Powerplay and was mostly used to agitate and shadow other offensive lines. In fairness, that would be his role this coming playoff as well. Agitate and and be the energy guy. Any offence from him int he playoffs is a bonus. Teams aren’t acquiring Stonehouse withthe primary objective to score goals. There are other guys that do that. A team like Brampton doesn’t need scorers. They need some leadership and players with that agitating style because they don’t have any of it outside of Leskovar. I could see them being one of the teams in on Stonehouse because he is the type of player they lack.

If a team wants an energy guy that can score, maybe Van Steensel is a bette option. But, IMO, Stonehouse brings more agitation and in a seven game series, that is the type of player that can swing a series if he can get under the skin of the opposition. Stonehouse can absorb a lot of punishment after the whistle in front of the net. That can wear down the opposition and distract them. He has a face even a mother would punch. Perfect for playoffs.

Stonehouse completely shriveled against Oshawa in the playoffs last year. If you want to blame that because he had a sore arm, how do you explain his no-show in the 2022-23 playoffs?

Unlike many people here, you understand the logic behind opportunity cost when it comes to OA players. So I’m sure you can agree that it makes little to no sense for a championship level team to bring in Stonehouse.

Jake Therrien would be an infinitely better option. He’s undersized like Stonehouse, but he plays a much tougher and nasty game. His offensive game isn’t going to turn heads during the regular season but he’s the type of player who steps up offensively in the playoffs. The benefit of this is that it keeps his affordability more reasonable.

Therrien would be an ideal 3rd line player for a team like Oshawa that’s lacking depth and toughness.