Owen Sound Attack 2024-25 Season Thread, Part II

[KFawcett]

Yep that type of player at junior level obviously doesn’t mean anything about the next step but I could see him being a 25-35G and 50-65pt guy for you guys this coming year along with his 75-100pims

Yep I'm not worried about the next level so much as I am about replacing the grit we lost with the Hookey graduation. While Hooks had more size if JT can achieve those #s that goes a long way.

 

[Stellar29]

Several teams in the western conference appear to be setting their rosters up for 2026-27 when the OHL will have two representatives in the Memorial Cup.
With George among 7-‘06s and 2-OAs all selected by round 3 of the OHL priority draft on the roster already, DeGray might be planning to give his team a shot this coming season.

The Attack roster is set up for the 26/27 season with the exception of losing George at the conclusion of the 25/26 season. The 08s on the roster look like the bus drivers with the 07s hopefully being a good mix of supporting cast members and what should be a decent group of OAs if they have Bedkowski, Wray and now Therrien.

I think the right move would be to move George to get pieces/picks to support the 26/27 roster but I think it's tough to pass up the opportunity to take a shot with George on the roster in 25/26. He'd have to carry them through the playoffs I think but I wouldn't bet against him. I think they'll be patient on any decisions around George. We still have the import draft and maybe they get a difference maker like Sykora that changes the outlook a bit. Some things go their way and all of a sudden the roster looks a whole lot better than it does today.

I wouldn't read too much into the 05/06 age players on the roster currently. I think that some of those bodies won't be on the roster at the end of training camp.

 

[Stellar29]

Yep I'm not worried about the next level so much as I am about replacing the grit we lost with the Hookey graduation. While Hooks had more size if JT can achieve those #s that goes a long way.

In my opinion, it's a modest price that raises the floor of the top 6 with a guy who at the very least can provide some consistent secondary scoring that we lacked this past season. If it turns into a two year add with Therrien back as an OA then to me, this is a homerun.

 

[Millpond]

The Attack roster is set up for the 26/27 season with the exception of losing George at the conclusion of the 25/26 season. The 08s on the roster look like the bus drivers with the 07s hopefully being a good mix of supporting cast members and what should be a decent group of OAs if they have Bedkowski, Wray and now Therrien.

I think the right move would be to move George to get pieces/picks to support the 26/27 roster but I think it's tough to pass up the opportunity to take a shot with George on the roster in 25/26. He'd have to carry them through the playoffs I think but I wouldn't bet against him. I think they'll be patient on any decisions around George. We still have the import draft and maybe they get a difference maker like Sykora that changes the outlook a bit. Some things go their way and all of a sudden the roster looks a whole lot better than it does today.

I wouldn't read too much into the 05/06 age players on the roster currently. I think that some of those bodies won't be on the roster at the end of training camp.

Here's another reason to keep 32 here-
So no one else in the league has him on their roster .



Are there skaters available who would make the Attack a better team WITHOUT Carter in net ?

 

[dirty12]

The Attack roster is set up for the 26/27 season with the exception of losing George at the conclusion of the 25/26 season. The 08s on the roster look like the bus drivers with the 07s hopefully being a good mix of supporting cast members and what should be a decent group of OAs if they have Bedkowski, Wray and now Therrien.

I think the right move would be to move George to get pieces/picks to support the 26/27 roster but I think it's tough to pass up the opportunity to take a shot with George on the roster in 25/26. He'd have to carry them through the playoffs I think but I wouldn't bet against him. I think they'll be patient on any decisions around George. We still have the import draft and maybe they get a difference maker like Sykora that changes the outlook a bit. Some things go their way and all of a sudden the roster looks a whole lot better than it does today.

I wouldn't read too much into the 05/06 age players on the roster currently. I think that some of those bodies won't be on the roster at the end of training camp.

The competitive landscape will be considered too. I think Flint, Guelph, Kitchener, Sarnia, SSM might be ahead of OS for 2026-27. But as you stated, a couple of good additions via import draft or trade can change the outlook for any of those teams and OS. Owen Sound is right now one of the older teams in the conference, so I am not anticipating any sort of sell; unless a couple of western conference teams are literally all-in, and the attack fall short of expectations.

 

[Stellar29]

Here's another reason to keep 32 here-
So no one else in the league has him on their roster .



Are there skaters available who would make the Attack a better team WITHOUT Carter in net ?

To be fair, we're not talking about playing 6 on 5 with no goalie in the net lol. How significant is the drop off to Koprowski/Bennett is the question to ask. Do any potential returning skaters in trade make up the gap between moving George and playing Koprowski/Bennett in net is the real question. The answer, maybe? This year, the team should be better overall and likely not ask as much out of their goalie to win games.

To your other point though, I'd rather him on our roster than run the risk of going up against him in the playoffs. If the Attack brass thinks we have an opportunity this year then no way do you take that risk in my opinion. If there's one guy you circle on the roster that can be a major difference maker in crucial games it's Carter George.

 

[Stellar29]

The competitive landscape will be considered too. I think Flint, Guelph, Kitchener, Sarnia, SSM might be ahead of OS for 2026-27. But as you stated, a couple of good additions via import draft or trade can change the outlook for any of those teams and OS. Owen Sound is right now one of the older teams in the conference, so I am not anticipating any sort of sell; unless a couple of western conference teams are literally all-in, and the attack fall short of expectations.

I'm not personally all that interested in the competitive landscape compared to when the roster projects to open its competitive window. I think you plan around when your roster projects to hit it's best rather than well, the conference looks weaker in this particular season so maybe I accelerate and buy or I kick the can down the road and sell off to adjust my window to what may be a weaker/easier path. I think teams get in trouble trying to do that. To me, play your strongest hand and the chips fall where they may. Looking objectively at the Attack roster, their strength is in the 08 crop of players and that would be my focus. I'd be trying to give them the best chance to win in their 18 and 19 year old seasons.

 

[hockeyisbest]

Still haven't seen a report on Bleicher in German hockey news as to where he's going to end up, but as a National Team regular I'm sure lots of pro clubs will be interested even on a development contract.

This has got to be the biggest area in need of improvement from management - imports ought to be upgrades and the good teams make use of those slots. The team has had one (!!) import in the last five seasons play multiple years in Owen Sound in Petrovsky.

And looking at the last decade it's pretty bleak:
- Bleicher and Varosyan both lasted a season, both looked like OHLers to me but fell out of favour.
- Matejicek turned into a decent OHLer but it wasn't in Owen Sound;
- Schweingruber lasted until Christmas and was a non-factor;
- Petrovsky a pretty close to a star level player and NHL draft pick, even if he stagnated, he was excellent value;
- Machacek arguably overperformed given his first season but still was decent, not great (also drafted that season was Julian Straub, from Bleicher's EV Fuessen, who reported but didn't make the team);
- Manuel Alberg lasted a season and was a non-factor;
- Vasili Filyayev, and someone can correct me if I'm wrong, actually showed up to camp but was nowhere near good enough;
- Maxim Sushko was terrific, turned into an NHL prospect and was great all three seasons in Owen Sound;
- 2015 no selection was made as the team had two star imports in Sharipzyanov and Palmu (and were part of the last era where this team was anything like a real contender).

So a lot of room for improvement!



Maybe I'm on the -too skeptical- side of the team's import strategy (basically throw darts at the board and bet on talent), but have a hard time seeing there being enough good players available to integrate three foreign kids all at once. Doesn't seem like the team has the resources to fully support these kids (given they struggled, and got lucky, to find Varosyan a Russian speaking billet, as just one example).

If I'm the team, definitely try and make the best two picks you can, and then shoot for the stars on a high end kid that isn't coming in the hopes that maybe an NHL team sends them down the line with the new era CHL. Maybe target two kids from the same country so that they aren't linguistically isolated.

As we've been speculating since Sykora was picked at the draft, his USHL team has two high end import eligible 2008 birthdays that would absolutely play on this roster. If they can get Murnieks and he reports, that would be a dream scenario I think and anything else, even just a roster player from pick 2, would be gravy.

OHL stands for Ontario hockey league, letting three imports come in takes three positions away from Canadian kids

 

[KFawcett]

I'm not personally all that interested in the competitive landscape compared to when the roster projects to open its competitive window. I think you plan around when your roster projects to hit it's best rather than well, the conference looks weaker in this particular season so maybe I accelerate and buy or I kick the can down the road and sell off to adjust my window to what may be a weaker/easier path. I think teams get in trouble trying to do that. To me, play your strongest hand and the chips fall where they may. Looking objectively at the Attack roster, their strength is in the 08 crop of players and that would be my focus. I'd be trying to give them the best chance to win in their 18 and 19 year old seasons.

I agree you build for your best year and don't worry about everyone else. If we sold off when other teams project strength we would always sell. London would go staight to the cup with no challenge lol.

 

[DCruickshank]

OHL stands for Ontario hockey league, letting three imports come in takes three positions away from Canadian kids

What about American kids?? And American teams for that matter.....