I agree that this team should be very fun to watch this year. Good analysis and I like the optimism!!I really do like the makeup of this team. We have a little bit of everything. It's gonna be a really really fast team. Voit, Namestnikov, MacDonell, Wainwright all have wheels for days. Burke's skating looks great, Vilmanis moves very well. Sikic moves quite well for his size. Doucette (if he's on the team) is a strong skater. Filak is a solid skater, Martone moves fairly well for a 16 yr old who's 6'4", McIntyre's skating looks much improved & Lantz looks average at skating. Almost no weak skaters especially up front.
They have guys who are good down low/along the boards in Sikic, Vilmanis, Filak, Martone & Burke. MacDonell & Namestnikov despite lacking size win more battles than they lose & McIntyre could be really strong below the dots with his size, strength & better skating.
Have some good creativity & skill with Voit, Namestnikov, Martone, Wainwright, Lantz & Vilmanis. They should be better at finishing with Vilmanis, Martone added to go with Voit & Burke. Hopefully Namestnikov, Sikic take that next step (look like they will but still tbd) & put up 20-25 apiece. Same with Filak, MacDonell tho maybe not as many with limited PP time/playing 3rd line presumably. Wainwright showed a good scoring touch last yr & looks great so far tho same as 11&19 he won't get a ton of ice time.
On D you have some size with Romeo (6'5"), Mast (6'5") & Dillingham (6'1") & all 3 skate pretty fricken well honestly. Especially Romeo. He showed off some wheels tonight. Mast's stride looks much cleaner, quicker & Dillingham has improved a crazy amount over the years at skating. Daviault, Ritchie both skate well, move it well & probably run the PP units. MacDonald is average at it but as your 6th that's more than fine. Campbell moves really well if he makes it or comes up to play.
Then obviously should be really strong in net with Gaudreau & so far Grover has shown good improvements but we'll need to see it in game action before being 100% confident with him. Should really be a team that can role 4 lines & 3 pairs with no problem. Should be able to play different styles to win which is HUGE come playoffs. But, we'll have to see how it all fits & meshes come the regular season because we all know what happens when there's optimism with this team
Sarnia Sting 2022-23 Season Thread
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StingUpdates
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I agree with most of what u said too. You & I just don't agree on Wainwright haha. Never have. Which is fine we all have our favorites. I always try to be optimistic up until things go south then I become a complete negative Nancy
Should be a good yr hopefully. Maybe just one time they go on a run. Just once. Lol.
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There are a ton of guys going to NHL camps this year, so hopefully that says something about our overall skill level.I agree with most of what u said too. You & I just don't agree on Wainwright haha. Never have. Which is fine we all have our favorites. I always try to be optimistic up until things go south then I become a complete negative Nancy
Should be a good yr hopefully. Maybe just one time they go on a run. Just once. Lol.
StingUpdates
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For me Doucette has earned that 12th spot. Haven't seen anywhere enough from Lalkin or Harper. Degelas needs to up his pace before being a full-time OHLer. William Mitchell hasn't been bad either as a FA. He may get a game vs LDN. Doherty has shown good flashes but I think he'd be better off getting consistent T6 ice time elsewhere for a year.
As for lines I honestly am not sure. I'm open to them trying almost anything. Lineup has a lot of versatility & a lot of guys who can play up&down the lineup in my opinion. If I had to choose id start with:
Burke-Filak-Voit
Vilmanis-Namestnikov-Sikic
Lantz-MacDonell-Martone
Doucette-Wainwright-McIntyre
Mast-Dillingham
Ritchie-Daviault
Romeo-MacDonald
Campbell
Gaudreau
Grover
Might be a surprise to see Filak as 1C but as Spaceman said, he just gets it on the ice. He's smart/responsible/reliable, does so many things well & would create space for Voit & let him just focus on offence. He showed well in the playoffs in this role. I could see him scoring 25 goals. Burke should score 30+ again & I believe Voit will crack 30+.
Line 2 would have some really really good upside. 2 big, strong power forwards on Namestnikov's wing. Good speed, skill, passing ability & Vilmanis as the sniper. All three should score 20+ if not 25+. Could dominate puck possession.
Line 3 would be an x-factor line. Could see it being really solid & contribute a fair bit. Have a passer in Lantz, a shooter in Martone & a pitbull in MacDonell. Martone has shown he's physical too so he, MacDonell may drive teams nuts. But it would be no lock to contribute consistently until we see Lantz, Martone play & how much of a step MacDonell took.
Line 4 would be incredibly fast w/Wainwright, Doucette. McIntyre's skating looks much improved too. You'd hope it could become a line that's very effective forechecking, drawing penalties but can chip in offensively + have McIntyre be a really physical & punishing player.
As for lines I honestly am not sure. I'm open to them trying almost anything. Lineup has a lot of versatility & a lot of guys who can play up&down the lineup in my opinion. If I had to choose id start with:
Burke-Filak-Voit
Vilmanis-Namestnikov-Sikic
Lantz-MacDonell-Martone
Doucette-Wainwright-McIntyre
Mast-Dillingham
Ritchie-Daviault
Romeo-MacDonald
Campbell
Gaudreau
Grover
Might be a surprise to see Filak as 1C but as Spaceman said, he just gets it on the ice. He's smart/responsible/reliable, does so many things well & would create space for Voit & let him just focus on offence. He showed well in the playoffs in this role. I could see him scoring 25 goals. Burke should score 30+ again & I believe Voit will crack 30+.
Line 2 would have some really really good upside. 2 big, strong power forwards on Namestnikov's wing. Good speed, skill, passing ability & Vilmanis as the sniper. All three should score 20+ if not 25+. Could dominate puck possession.
Line 3 would be an x-factor line. Could see it being really solid & contribute a fair bit. Have a passer in Lantz, a shooter in Martone & a pitbull in MacDonell. Martone has shown he's physical too so he, MacDonell may drive teams nuts. But it would be no lock to contribute consistently until we see Lantz, Martone play & how much of a step MacDonell took.
Line 4 would be incredibly fast w/Wainwright, Doucette. McIntyre's skating looks much improved too. You'd hope it could become a line that's very effective forechecking, drawing penalties but can chip in offensively + have McIntyre be a really physical & punishing player.
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StingUpdates
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There can't be many teams worse at keeping there fans in the loop than Sarnia. Never announced cuts after rookie camp, haven't announced any after Friday.
Looking around the league almost every team announced there's. Some even adding where they sent them to play for the yr. Isn't the end of the world it's just a bit annoying as it would be nice to know.
Looking around the league almost every team announced there's. Some even adding where they sent them to play for the yr. Isn't the end of the world it's just a bit annoying as it would be nice to know.
It could be because they need bodies for exhibition games when a lot of guys go to camp. Maybe they want to see how some of the guys look in a real game before deciding. There will be a lot of opportunities for the young guys when everyone is away at camps.
Guys that will be gone:
Vilmais
Lantz
Namestikov
Hill
Burke
Voit
Mast
Romeo
Ritchie
Gaudreau
Team has a chance to watch the players for a bit longer before cuts. I'm just guessing but have no idea.
StingUpdates
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Definitely need a few but I'd imagine they let go a couple guys. Had 36 players in the black&white game. Can't imagine they kept all of them. Hopefully some of the guys don't miss the beginning of the season. Pretty hard schedule out the gate be nice to start strong.
Ferda11
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Justin O’Donnell traded to Barrie for a 15th conditional…..guess it wasn’t Sarnia. Lol
Ferda11
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I put absolutely zero stock into any vets performance at a black and white game. They shouldn’t even be playing in it. Make it an extension of orientation camp and save the uselessness of it for the guys who are already locks. No need for potential injury and their interest in being there is probably quite low.
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Another elite 2nd Round pick lol. We might be better off trading them all than actually using them.
O'Donnell a 2nd rounder with questionable feet.
Mcintyre a 3rd rounder with questionable feet.
Thats 2 high picks that didnt pan out to date and were known to have questionable feet. Hope same thing doesnt happen this year.
Mcintyre a 3rd rounder with questionable feet.
Thats 2 high picks that didnt pan out to date and were known to have questionable feet. Hope same thing doesnt happen this year.
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Last while they've been a solid round 1 team, horrendous in round 2, average in round 3, good in rounds 4-5-6. Not sure what the hell they r looking at in RD2 but be nice if they stopped
O'Donnell actually was a solid skater as a rookie but he tried bulking up a lot during the yr off & he lost all agility, speed. He never had great traits. Skill was mediocre, shot was mediocre, wasn't physical. Just wasn't a good pick.
McIntyre's skating looks much better in camp. He put a lot of work into it & it shows. He's not a burner by any means but his stride is much more fluid, clean than last year. Similar to O'Donnell he doesn't possess a ton of skill or shooting ability. Was a complete project pick & we'll see if he can become a factor on the team.
Burke had skating issues as a youngster & now he's a great skater. Dillingham's skating has improved drastically since his rookie season. Mast like McIntyre has gotten better at it for a big guy so much so he got a contract. Wainwright's skating was good last yr but it's gotten to another level so far in camp. Ryan McGregor, Sean Josling, Brayden Guy, Adam Ruzicka, Theo Calvas all guys recently who improved pretty drastically as skaters over their years. A lot of it falls on the player. U gotta work really really hard at it. Some want too & some don't.
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Ferda11
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Kyrou, McGregor and DeAngelo are the only "successful" 2nd round picks this team has had since 2006. It's pathetic.
StingUpdates
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It's pretty unbelievable. Have had what 5-6-7 GMs in that time & none of them could get it right. Such a big pick that almost always goes to waste for us.
Almost want them to trade them away so we don't gotta be disappointed with the pick lol.
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Finally the roster is put out. Really happy Doucette is getting a chance after his training camp. No surprises elsewhere up front. For me Harper, Lalkin, Doucette & Doherty all battling for 1 spot that's left on F.
On D they keeping the 6 returnees + Campbell. Tad surprised none of the FA D will hang around solely just for when Mast, Romeo, Ritchie are gone & because I thought Talbot, Wright showed some good things. Some extra depth is a bit of a need too on D.
Thought they might give Chartier some pre-season action just to give him a taste but I'd imagine they want Grover being as ready as possible so he'll get a fair bit of playing time vs LDN/WSR.
On D they keeping the 6 returnees + Campbell. Tad surprised none of the FA D will hang around solely just for when Mast, Romeo, Ritchie are gone & because I thought Talbot, Wright showed some good things. Some extra depth is a bit of a need too on D.
Thought they might give Chartier some pre-season action just to give him a taste but I'd imagine they want Grover being as ready as possible so he'll get a fair bit of playing time vs LDN/WSR.
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More than likely Hill. After trading Dann I can't see them trading Burke too. Pretty set down the middle even without Hill.
JAMER
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Happy to see Doucette get an extra look disappointed Degelas didn't make it he was clearly better than Harper and Lalkin also surprised that they didn't keep another Dman considering when are guys go to camp we will only have 4
Also a bit disappointed no Degelas, I get having lalkin but not harper. Degelas definitely needs to work on his skating but he has the hands and size.
Was Doucette a free agent? Where did he play last year?
Was Doucette a free agent? Where did he play last year?
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