Sarnia Sting 2024 - 25 Season Thread, Part I

[davewheeler]

Not game or team related, but hope @davewheeler is doing good! Been a staple on the Sting page since before I even got on here. Been awhile since he posted or did anything. Probably just got tired of all my takes, haha, but hope all is good

Appreciate it updates... everything is good ... I never get tired of your takes if anything it's you who should be tired of mine lol .... for whatever reason I had issues logging on but It seems the issue is resolved.. That was me who reached out to you on twitter to see if you were having the same problem ....Anyways im just gonna spitball my thoughts on the first 20 or so games... Edwards is a stud sheesh. he's going to start rocketing up the 2026 NHL mock drafts... I have always said the OHL is far superior to the NCAA if you wanna go to the show... He'd by playing 1 or 2 years in like Cedar Rapids if he went the NCAA route.... theres no doubt NHL scouts are allover him.... Same with Di Lorio, he has been solid too... TBH Brown has been a ghost.. very disappointed in his play.. seems soft and uninvolved most the time. Same with Kostuch. The power play is simply embarrassing .. 10 percent is a joke.. we need some better coaching if you ask me because the power play has been bad for a long time.....I feel like this year is going to be a repeat of last year... great start and then a slide. I wouldn't be shocked if we missed the playoffs.... Overall thoughts on the O... Unreal Kitchener is where they are after trading Rehkopf and just as unreal that Brampton is in the basement with their team ... Of course LDN gets Haultenen back lol... They most likely will win the O rather easily... Still some big pieces that can be moved like Musty but I think LDN has this locked up.... LDN, on paper, may have one of the best CHL teams ever... Sam Dickinson is simply an unreal player...I wonder when the last time a D man won mvp. Him being like the 5th defence man taken in the NHL Draft was baffling to me. LDN has like 3-4 maybe 5 guys who shouldn't be playing in the O but it is what it is.

 

[StingUpdates]

Something needs to change fast. IMO they need to make a coaching change or some sorta trade just something. Because IMO this team tends to wait to long to make changes when they need to.

I'm not fully on the fire Letang bus, but I am getting close. I've said this since Hatcher was coach I do not understand their approach with assistant coaches. Hiring guys with 0 coaching experience is asking for it. Maybe you get a hidden gem, but maybe you also hire someone who has no idea what they are doing & while we have 0 clue the inner workings or the behind the scenes stuff I do not see what either assistant brings to this club.

Jeffrey especially was an awful hire. Sullivan stepped down which sucked, but why would u go hire someone who JUST retired when your other assistant has 1 year of coaching experience? He runs the PP I believe & well... That speaks for itself. Haley meanwhile I cant imagine has a great mind for how & what to teach Dmen when he was a 4th line grinder.

Could be them being cheap, but that hasn't been an issue for Legwand so far & even if it is you could find guys with some experience who wouldn't cost much more if any.

Whoever makes that call has done a disservice to this team & it also makes Letang's job harder if his assistants are clueless.

 

[StingUpdates]

Appreciate it updates... everything is good ... I never get tired of your takes if anything it's you who should be tired of mine lol .... for whatever reason I had issues logging on but It seems the issue is resolved.. That was me who reached out to you on twitter to see if you were having the same problem ....Anyways im just gonna spitball my thoughts on the first 20 or so games... Edwards is a stud sheesh. he's going to start rocketing up the 2026 NHL mock drafts... I have always said the OHL is far superior to the NCAA if you wanna go to the show... He'd by playing 1 or 2 years in like Cedar Rapids if he went the NCAA route.... theres no doubt NHL scouts are allover him.... Same with Di Lorio, he has been solid too... TBH Brown has been a ghost.. very disappointed in his play.. seems soft and uninvolved most the time. Same with Kostuch. The power play is simply embarrassing .. 10 percent is a joke.. we need some better coaching if you ask me because the power play has been bad for a long time.....I feel like this year is going to be a repeat of last year... great start and then a slide. I wouldn't be shocked if we missed the playoffs.... Overall thoughts on the O... Unreal Kitchener is where they are after trading Rehkopf and just as unreal that Brampton is in the basement with their team ... Of course LDN gets Haultenen back lol... They most likely will win the O rather easily... Still some big pieces that can be moved like Musty but I think LDN has this locked up.... LDN, on paper, may have one of the best CHL teams ever... Sam Dickinson is simply an unreal player...I wonder when the last time a D man won mvp. Him being like the 5th defence man taken in the NHL Draft was baffling to me. LDN has like 3-4 maybe 5 guys who shouldn't be playing in the O but it is what it is.

Great to hear from ya again. Ahh I remember that. Can't say I've ever had that issue so couldnt help you out unfortunately. Well you've been iffy on Letang maybe before anyone else & it looks like you may have been spot on! Haha. Agree with your thoughts.

For me Brown looks to have focused on the wrong things in training/on ice training. Obviously the goal is always to get stronger, but for me he should've went home wanting to improve his quickness, speed & shot. He seems to have really went all out for playing down low, being strong on the puck etc & that wasn't his game at all last year. What made him a good rookie was a lot of way we've seen with Edwards. Being in the right spots, finishing his looks, being out front, supporting his line mates well. Now he tries to play like a power forward & he isn't that.

Kitchener is a prime example of great coaching. Ahokas isn't long for this league. Tomorrow is gonna be an absolute slaughter. Brampton is really puzzling. I also had a good chuckle at LDN getting him back. They are a tier, if not 2 ahed of anyone else in the west.

 

[davewheeler]

Great to hear from ya again. Ahh I remember that. Can't say I've ever had that issue so couldnt help you out unfortunately. Well you've been iffy on Letang maybe before anyone else & it looks like you may have been spot on! Haha. Agree with your thoughts.

For me Brown looks to have focused on the wrong things in training/on ice training. Obviously the goal is always to get stronger, but for me he should've went home wanting to improve his quickness, speed & shot. He seems to have really went all out for playing down low, being strong on the puck etc & that wasn't his game at all last year. What made him a good rookie was a lot of way we've seen with Edwards. Being in the right spots, finishing his looks, being out front, supporting his line mates well. Now he tries to play like a power forward & he isn't that.

Kitchener is a prime example of great coaching. Ahokas isn't long for this league. Brampton is really puzzling. I also had a good chuckle at LDN getting him back. They are a tier, if not 2 ahed of anyone else in the west.

I've been reading past posts catching up and I do sense a souring on Letang and the staff in general ...In his defence, Letang isn't getting anything out of his assistants. But then again Letang doesn't seem to use common sense a lot of the time. I just feel like his style of coaching doesn't align with todays game and he refuses to change.... I remember way back when Sarnia hired Letang... the name Cam Abbott was floating around too ... a Sarnia kid who was having success in Europe. Anyways, he's now the coach of Chicago in the AHL. No doubt he will be in the NHL soon. I would love to see Legwand get back behind the bench but I won't hold my breathe.

 

[stingwagoner]

Special teams coach is a joke
Whoever coaches that should be fired.
How long before there are changes.
Letang needs to go team has same identity as their head coach Letang is a soft player and now we have become a soft not finish checks type of team. We are in tough now to make the playoffs.
Going to be sime trades now.
Johnston -what in league.
Hood for wainwright only Plus player on this team should tell you something. The true captain of this team.
Brown wainwright need to get back together and Johnston needs to go. Hate his compete just not good.

 

[JAMER]

I'm not fully on the fire Letang bus, but I am getting close. I've said this since Hatcher was coach I do not understand their approach with assistant coaches. Hiring guys with 0 coaching experience is asking for it. Maybe you get a hidden gem, but maybe you also hire someone who has no idea what they are doing & while we have 0 clue the inner workings or the behind the scenes stuff I do not see what either assistant brings to this club.

Jeffrey especially was an awful hire. Sullivan stepped down which sucked, but why would u go hire someone who JUST retired when your other assistant has 1 year of coaching experience? He runs the PP I believe & well... That speaks for itself. Haley meanwhile I cant imagine has a great mind for how & what to teach Dmen when he was a 4th line grinder.

Could be them being cheap, but that hasn't been an issue for Legwand so far & even if it is you could find guys with some experience who wouldn't cost much more if any.

Whoever makes that call has done a disservice to this team & it also makes Letang's job harder if his assistants are clueless.

I'm not nessasarily saying they need to fire Letang. But i do think there needs to be a change in the coaching staff. IMO if this staff is still together next year we will not be a contender.

 

[frontsfan67]

Appreciate it updates... everything is good ... I never get tired of your takes if anything it's you who should be tired of mine lol .... for whatever reason I had issues logging on but It seems the issue is resolved.. That was me who reached out to you on twitter to see if you were having the same problem ....Anyways im just gonna spitball my thoughts on the first 20 or so games... Edwards is a stud sheesh. he's going to start rocketing up the 2026 NHL mock drafts... I have always said the OHL is far superior to the NCAA if you wanna go to the show... He'd by playing 1 or 2 years in like Cedar Rapids if he went the NCAA route.... theres no doubt NHL scouts are allover him.... Same with Di Lorio, he has been solid too... TBH Brown has been a ghost.. very disappointed in his play.. seems soft and uninvolved most the time. Same with Kostuch. The power play is simply embarrassing .. 10 percent is a joke.. we need some better coaching if you ask me because the power play has been bad for a long time.....I feel like this year is going to be a repeat of last year... great start and then a slide. I wouldn't be shocked if we missed the playoffs.... Overall thoughts on the O... Unreal Kitchener is where they are after trading Rehkopf and just as unreal that Brampton is in the basement with their team ... Of course LDN gets Haultenen back lol... They most likely will win the O rather easily... Still some big pieces that can be moved like Musty but I think LDN has this locked up.... LDN, on paper, may have one of the best CHL teams ever... Sam Dickinson is simply an unreal player...I wonder when the last time a D man won mvp. Him being like the 5th defence man taken in the NHL Draft was baffling to me. LDN has like 3-4 maybe 5 guys who shouldn't be playing in the O but it is what it is.

Spot on. All of it.
Yeah I had London winning OHL before haltunnen and Montgomery were added and maybe they make another move at some point. They are absolutely LOADED. And the west is weak this year- they should steamroll their way to the finals and the teams in the east will be all beat up from dogging it out against eachother we could see a repeat of last years finals (sweep)

I predicted in pre season barrie and London with London winning and I am sticking to that prediction.

Can’t wait to see all your young guys play in kingston. Going to have a hell of a team in a year or two.

 

[StingUpdates]

No way around it they are getting smoked today by Kitchener. Two teams going in the opposite directions right now & heavily. But I need to see some pride, some snarl. Make them earn their goals. Make them earn a win. Can not let what happened in Saginaw become something we see again & again.

With the 3 fight rule you don't see it often, but man Franceschetti, Moses or Andersen dropping the gloves early on could be a nice way to set the tone & get the crowd going.

Hopefully first home game in awhile gives them a boost & maybe they can start on time although I doubt it. Let's also hope the reffing is better than yesterday where there was 22 fricken penalties. Don't need a 3 hour game lol.

 

[SarniaStingFan]

The road trip from hell has ended. Here the final stats from it.

Record: 1-7
Outscored 41-19

Shots For/Game: 27.4
Shots Against/Game: 37.4

PP: 2/35 (5.7%)
PK: 32/44 (72.7%)

I knew it would be bad but this was unacceptable even with all the absences. Felt really bad for Maillet tonight. He rushed off the ice at the end of the first two periods. Can't say I blame him either. The defence in front of him was nowhere to be found.

I'm struggling to find any glimmer of hope with this team. They've given up a league-worst 91 goals and have the second worst goal differential (only ahead of PBO). It could be so much worse if not for our goalies. Really wonder what the fan turnout will be in his upcoming stretch. They built up some goodwill with the deep playoff run two years ago but all of that will be gone if they don't make the playoffs again this season. Not expecting a win tomorrow but they need to play a semi-competitive game