I agree, they look really great on paper but playoffs are measured in skill and heart. Do they have enough heart or did they just traded it away? ...and man oh man they traded away a ton of heart and I don't see much of it on the current roster...esp on forward unit but stay tuned as it will be a fun ride.
Now it has to be noted that Sarnia have basically no picks for next couple of years and about 11 D sitting in the room shooting darts at each other. D need to be moved by Monday in order to have any hope for future years.
Also, Mississauga will be an awesome combo of skill and grit in a year or two. Wow.
I agree & disagree. I would like another power forward who does all the gritty work & can be physical 100%. But I don't think the physical play bothers Vilmanis, Sikic, Filak, Lantz, Burke, Way too much, but outside of Filak those other guys won't go searching for it. While Pastujov doesn't give it back I've loved his board play & strength on the puck. On D they love it with Dillingham, Romeo, Hoover all being tougher guys. I know Del Mastro can be a mean son of a gun so that'll help. Ritchie doesn't get bothered by it & I've liked how Kyrou has handled it. He seems to be fine to take a hit to make a play.
Do think it can get to Voit, Wainwright, Mast & Doucette quite a bit. And even though some of them don't love it they still try to battle thru it I find. Kyrou (from years back) would totally disappear when it got nasty. Don't find this team does that. They actually tend to give it right back. Though a big part of that was Angus & Porter.
While I loved MacDonell's game he did really fall off as of late. If you take out the 4 goal game @ OSH he had 1 goal in his last 20 games. I'm not sure if he was banged up but he didn't seem to have that same burst to his stride or extra bit of nastiness he always played with that made him such a solid player.
Not sure how Del Bel Belluz handles it. From what I've read he's just a really good hockey player you can use in all situations & usually those guys handle it well, but we'll have to see what he's all about first to determine that.
It'll be super interesting to see if they ship out a D. It's a weird spot they're in when it comes to that. Not sure MacDonald would have much value but maybe a lesser team would take him. They love Hoover & he'll be around a few years. I don't think they'd deal Young just for the sake of it. He has good upside & we need bodies next year. Cant deal Fischer so it would only really leave u with Mast or Romeo & would u really trade either? For one I think they LOVE the idea of having E-DM, Romeo & Mast out there late in games up a goal. 3 giants who can just kill plays. Secondly, would they really wanna send either to a fellow contender? Cause a rebuilding team wouldn't want a '03.
