Sarnia Sting 2024 25 Season Thread Part Iii

[StingUpdates]

The neutral zone does a livestream every yr during the draft. One of the more respected online scouting services so I always look for their analysis.

They seemed to REALLY like our draft.

They said guys on their team (not sure how many they staff) had Lammens pushing for the #1 spot at times throughout the year. I guess he totally dominated JRC (Warren's team) when they matched up in playoffs. Was the best player on the ice.

For Aucoin they said - "Physically, mentally mature, plays the right way for a young D. Boxes out well, picks up sticks (stick lifts, checks), good gap at the blue line. Continued that he's a kid they see walking right into the OHL & helping the team. No glaring weakness just needs to keep improving and the question then will be how good can he get. He shut down a lot of the top guys in the states."

Jaworksi - They said hes an excellent complimentary winger. Wins battles, makes all those subtle plays that keeps a line going forward/into the Ozone, good in his own end & has skill to him.

Saying they like Sewell might be an understatement - "He's a kid I saw early in the yr & he was very raw, all over the place, positionally, footwork everything & he had some very obvious holes in his game. Then at the OHL Cup I saw a totally different kid. He really improved his feet, he was way better positionally, using his stick better, trusting his feet & body. When you see a kid take that kind of jump in 1 season you circle, highlight him saying woah. If he makes a similar jump in the next yr or two then this kid will be really good & could put himself into some NHL talk. I'd be really excited about where this could be in the coming years"

For Willard they like the upside - said hes inconsistent & he seemed to not have 1 true identity as a player, but he can do a bit of everything. Big at almost 6'3", skates well, moves it well, plays physical. A lot to work with & a lot of versatility to his game

Gullstrand they liked as well saying Sarnia might have some competition for him (USHL), but if he does come to camp don't be surprised if he makes the team. Just a really solid player.

 

[HkyBeegs3]

So, how's everyone feeling about us picking lammens and our overall draft?. I realize it's way too early to tell but based on our needs coming into the draft what would you grade it?

 

[StingUpdates]

So, how's everyone feeling about us picking lammens and our overall draft?. I realize it's way too early to tell but based on our needs coming into the draft what would you grade it?

I always go overboard post drafts so gonna attempt not too here... lol.

Lammens grew on me a lot over the last week. Would've taken Delisle over him, but he wanted to play in OS with his brother. Could've called his bluff, but clearly they didn't wanna risk it.

I think he fits a need & if he hits his potential I think we'll come to be very happy with it as he could mesh perfectly with the guys we have & could be a big time playoff player

Huge fan of what we did rounds 2-5. Aucoin looks & sounds like an absolute stud. 6'4", smooth skating right handed D don't grow on trees, haha. Jaworski looks like a fun player & is gonna come. Sewell might be my favourite pick of the whole draft honestly. 6'6" kid who really started figuring it out in the 2nd half. really high ceiling on the kid.

Willard also sounds like a Dman who with some growth/refinement could become a quality D for us. thought of those 3 panning out is really exciting with their size. talk about a nightmare to go against when they are 17/18/19. 2 of them righties too.

Mid rounds are what they are. Gullstrand sounds fun, but might need convincing. Kamzik is an interesting pick. 08 born & committed. Curios what Seca says on him. Not expecting much from Healy, DeBoer, Dunn, Glavin, Cherniavskii, Scott, Ebersold, Peterson, Tenpenny, but hopefully 1or2 become something

Added some serious size which is big (no pun intended) considering how huge LDN WSR FLT always are. Added some F you attitude which I always love. Added some skill. Completely restocked the D pipeline which is important with Fischer, Young, O'Brien departing after 25-26.

Disappointed not to come away with a goalie of the future though. I would've bet money we'd take on top 4 rounds. Hopefully passing up Reznik 3 times doesn't comeback to burn us lol. If they don't have a trade in place, a signing or plan on taking one in import ill be very surprised & pretty frustrated by not taking one higher.

Overall I give it a B+.

 

[robp1219]

I always go overboard post drafts so gonna attempt not too here... lol.

Lammens grew on me a lot over the last week. Would've taken Delisle over him, but he wanted to play in OS with his brother. Could've called his bluff, but clearly they didn't wanna risk it.

I think he fits a need & if he hits his potential I think we'll come to be very happy with it as he could mesh perfectly with the guys we have & could be a big time playoff player

Huge fan of what we did rounds 2-5. Aucoin looks & sounds like an absolute stud. 6'4", smooth skating right handed D don't grow on trees, haha. Jaworski looks like a fun player & is gonna come. Sewell might be my favourite pick of the whole draft honestly. 6'6" kid who really started figuring it out in the 2nd half. really high ceiling on the kid.

Willard also sounds like a Dman who with some growth/refinement could become a quality D for us. thought of those 3 panning out is really exciting with their size. talk about a nightmare to go against when they are 17/18/19. 2 of them righties too.

Mid rounds are what they are. Gullstrand sounds fun, but might need convincing. Kamzik is an interesting pick. 08 born & committed. Curios what Seca says on him. Not expecting much from Healy, DeBoer, Dunn, Glavin, Cherniavskii, Scott, Ebersold, Peterson, Tenpenny, but hopefully 1or2 become something

Added some serious size which is big (no pun intended) considering how huge LDN WSR FLT always are. Added some F you attitude which I always love. Added some skill. Completely restocked the D pipeline which is important with Fischer, Young, O'Brien departing after 25-26.

Overall I give it a B+.

I’d agree with the rating, mostly because of our need for size and hard working physical players. We can’t get to excited, just need to play the wait and see game and hopefully Legwand, Letang and staff can do a good job developing these kids for once and surprise us and create a more offensively creative team with a much improved powerplay even if that means getting rid of Jeffries which they probably should do, these coaches will be on the shortest of leashes, especially with Letang being on his last year of his contract and the team having more owners which means more money to spend which will easily make these coaches disposable if they can’t perform.

 

[Donnie740]

Willard has played hockey for a grand total of FOUR (4) years. Hopefully there’s no expectation of him playing in the OHL for a couple years.

 

[StingUpdates]

Willard has played hockey for a grand total of FOUR (4) years. Hopefully there’s no expectation of him playing in the OHL for a couple years.

Certainly not expecting him to make it at 16.

Couple years id disagree with tho if u mean not till he's 18/19.. AJ Spellacy didn't pick up hockey until late. Same with David Levin who went 1st overall!

Obviously he isn't on there level, but cases of guys who didn't play a ton before stepping in at 16. Sure there are many more examples like that.

To me it can make the prospect more exciting too. he's showing good things and has so much room to learn and grow. Patience will definitely be key tho.

 

[StingUpdates]

I’d agree with the rating, mostly because of our need for size and hard working physical players. We can’t get to excited, just need to play the wait and see game and hopefully Legwand, Letang and staff can do a good job developing these kids for once and surprise us and create a more offensively creative team with a much improved powerplay even if that means getting rid of Jeffries which they probably should do, these coaches will be on the shortest of leashes, especially with Letang being on his last year of his contract and the team having more owners which means more money to spend which will easily make these coaches disposable if they can’t perform.

Yah not a fan we haven't heard anything about Jeffries being let go... Better hear about it after the ownership stuff.

Hopefully Letang can snap out of the crap he's been under since the LDN loss because before that he was a quality coach at developing D and man could we use that with Aucoin, Sewell being promising young D

Totally agree. If they start poorly I can't imagine they'd stay on. U can't preach urgency, gotta be better etc then underperform again. Esp with new owners.

 

[bridgehockey2]

Saying they like Sewell might be an understatement - "He's a kid I saw early in the yr & he was very raw, all over the place, positionally, footwork everything & he had some very obvious holes in his game. Then at the OHL Cup I saw a totally different kid. He really improved his feet, he was way better positionally, using his stick better, trusting his feet & body. When you see a kid take that kind of jump in 1 season you circle, highlight him saying woah. If he makes a similar jump in the next yr or two then this kid will be really good & could put himself into some NHL talk. I'd be really excited about where this could be in the coming years"

Reminds me of watching Alex Pietrangelo as an IceDog way back when. First year he was huge. The was his only real attribute. Skated like he was in cement. Next year, after a summer in skating school (apparently) he was a force. Still had issues, but positionally excellent. And now? Possibly Canada's best D.

 

[StingUpdates]

Reminds me of watching Alex Pietrangelo as an IceDog way back when. First year he was huge. The was his only real attribute. Skated like he was in cement. Next year, after a summer in skating school (apparently) he was a force. Still had issues, but positionally excellent. And now? Possibly Canada's best D.

If he's 30% of Pietrangelo we will be VERY happy haha. Can only hope he follows that type of trajectory!

 

[StingUpdates]

Post draft mock lineup version 1.0 lol (age above players)

18 - 18 - 18
Brown-Beamish-Karimov

20 - 17 - 18
Wainwright-Edwards-Manza

18 - 17 - 16
Kostuch*-Di Iorio-Lammens

18 - 17 - 17
Luecke-Chamberlain-Simpson

16 - 17 -16
Extra's - Jaworski, Gaughan, Gullstrand?

19 - 20
Fischer-Young

18 - 20
Hurt-O'Brien

16
Aucoin

18 - 18 - 18 - 17 - 16
Barr, Bridgewater, Anderson, Neusteter, Sewell fighting for 6th spot/7th spot.

19
Maillet

17
Grovestine

17
Osipenko

Potentially 2 import spots available.
Seca has said they are gonna add a player or two via USHL so see who/if/when that happens.

 

[StingUpdates]

Post draft mock lineup version 1.0 lol (age above players)

18 - 18 - 18
Brown-Beamish-Karimov

20 - 17 - 18
Wainwright-Edwards-Manza

18 - 17 - 16
Kostuch*-Di Iorio-Lammens

18 - 17 - 17
Luecke-Chamberlain-Simpson

16 - 17 -16
Extra's - Jaworski, Gaughan, Gullstrand?

19 - 20
Fischer-Young

18 - 20
Hurt-O'Brien

16
Aucoin

18 - 18 - 18 - 17 - 16
Barr, Bridgewater, Anderson, Neusteter, Sewell fighting for 6th spot/7th spot.

19
Maillet

17
Grovestine

17
Osipenko

Potentially 2 import spots available.
Seca has said they are gonna add a player or two via USHL so see who/if/when that happens.

Feels impossible but it's still gonna be a somewhat young team lol. Only gonna have 1 singular forward above 18 & that'll be Wainwright. Defence is definitely older & will be the best asset of the team.

Gonna lack that star power when they play top tier teams, but I like the roster on paper. Should be deep up front. Should be able to score consistently. D should be really strong esp if Aucoin comes in as advertised. Goaltending will be a big X factor.

Entire team will be able to return the following season except the 3 OAs (and Fischer) which is really exciting. As we've talked about getting Beamish & Manza to stay an extra yr would be huge. That F unit come 26-27 would be electric.

 

[OSA]

Reminds me of watching Alex Pietrangelo as an IceDog way back when. First year he was huge. The was his only real attribute. Skated like he was in cement. Next year, after a summer in skating school (apparently) he was a force. Still had issues, but positionally excellent. And now? Possibly Canada's best D.

Not really….

Maybe he was only size with skating issues in midget, but Petro was almost a PPG Dman as a 16 year old in the OHL.

 

[robp1219]

Post draft mock lineup version 1.0 lol (age above players)

18 - 18 - 18
Brown-Beamish-Karimov

20 - 17 - 18
Wainwright-Edwards-Manza

18 - 17 - 16
Kostuch*-Di Iorio-Lammens

18 - 17 - 17
Luecke-Chamberlain-Simpson

16 - 17 -16
Extra's - Jaworski, Gaughan, Gullstrand?

19 - 20
Fischer-Young

18 - 20
Hurt-O'Brien

16
Aucoin

18 - 18 - 18 - 17 - 16
Barr, Bridgewater, Anderson, Neusteter, Sewell fighting for 6th spot/7th spot.

19
Maillet

17
Grovestine

17
Osipenko

Potentially 2 import spots available.
Seca has said they are gonna add a player or two via USHL so see who/if/when that happens.

If they keep karimov which they will we can only add one player, the rule change (if approved) won’t happen until next year. From what I’ve heard.

 

[HkyBeegs3]

Letang and Jefferies need to be let go. It's so odd to me that seca, legwand and whomever can't see it. Really hope the new ownership group has different thoughts on it.

 

[HkyBeegs3]

If they keep karimov which they will we can only add one player, the rule change (if approved) won’t happen until next year. From what I’ve heard.

is this Karimovs draft year?

 

[stingwagoner]

Bunch of big D sign maybe that's a hole to fill next year maybe some Trades coming in off season by guys like Fischer and Young?
Clearly isn't next year anymore I'd think Buzz have made some steps towards might be a 5-8 team again.
Like 1st round and Second round fir Stig this year now need to knock the Import draft out of park IMO who scouts over there better put some glasses on.

 

[robp1219]

is this Karimovs draft year?

Ya

 

[davewheeler]

Letang and Jefferies need to be let go. It's so odd to me that seca, legwand and whomever can't see it. Really hope the new ownership group has different thoughts on it.

I feel like at this point they're back... I think it would have happened by now if it was going to. I understand many many head coaching candidates are still coaching teams in playoffs at various levels. But you don't send your head coach out to scout, talk to players, meet the players if you're planning on firing him. I bet Seca talked new ownership into keeping him around ... on a extremely short leash. ... There is another scenario where Buzz ownership did indeed give the impression to people that Letang/Jeffries would be back in hopes to give the illusion all is good then fire them... but I find that hard to believe. Dale Mitchell's Leamington team just got eliminated I think so who knows.... Now that Legwand isn't the main owner I fully believe this is Seca's ship to run... hopefully not into the ground lol

 

[davewheeler]

Post draft mock lineup version 1.0 lol (age above players)

18 - 18 - 18
Brown-Beamish-Karimov

20 - 17 - 18
Wainwright-Edwards-Manza

18 - 17 - 16
Kostuch*-Di Iorio-Lammens

18 - 17 - 17
Luecke-Chamberlain-Simpson

16 - 17 -16
Extra's - Jaworski, Gaughan, Gullstrand?

19 - 20
Fischer-Young

18 - 20
Hurt-O'Brien

16
Aucoin

18 - 18 - 18 - 17 - 16
Barr, Bridgewater, Anderson, Neusteter, Sewell fighting for 6th spot/7th spot.

19
Maillet

17
Grovestine

17
Osipenko

Potentially 2 import spots available.
Seca has said they are gonna add a player or two via USHL so see who/if/when that happens.

I don't hate this lineup... Id say Buzz - if everything goes well- slide into the 5/6 spot... WSR and KIT will be 1-2 no doubt ... followed by likely LDN/ERIE/O.S. The west will be super deep next year...I'd love if just one year Sarnia played better than expected and snuck into a 4 spot and got a series win. I'll have my eye on Brown as usual lol .. it's year 3... draft year ... he should tear it up.. anything below 70 pts will be disappointing.. he simply needs to be a bit above a ppg this coming year...He can't go on these 15 game pointless streaks where he's a ghost. There's no doubt we trade Fischer for a kings ransom that will set us up for two back to back contending years. 2028 our team should look similar to how LDN did this year... Multiple high NHL picks coming back for year 3-4

 

[StingUpdates]

Might come off as entitled, maybe I am lol, but pretty disappointing not one article has been put out on the Sting site, or the observer about day 2 of the draft. No quotes nothing.

Every other team got almost immediate interviews with the GM. Sure we get something tomorrow, but a bit aggravating.

 

[robp1219]

I don't hate this lineup... Id say Buzz - if everything goes well- slide into the 5/6 spot... WSR and KIT will be 1-2 no doubt ... followed by likely LDN/ERIE/O.S. The west will be super deep next year...I'd love if just one year Sarnia played better than expected and snuck into a 4 spot and got a series win. I'll have my eye on Brown as usual lol .. it's year 3... draft year ... he should tear it up.. anything below 70 pts will be disappointing.. he simply needs to be a bit above a ppg this coming year...He can't go on these 15 game pointless streaks where he's a ghost. There's no doubt we trade Fischer for a kings ransom that will set us up for two back to back contending years. 2028 our team should look similar to how LDN did this year... Multiple high NHL picks coming back for year 3-4

I agree with trading Fischer at the deadline. I’d also probably move Young if a team wants him bad enough.

 

[StingUpdates]

I don't hate this lineup... Id say Buzz - if everything goes well- slide into the 5/6 spot... WSR and KIT will be 1-2 no doubt ... followed by likely LDN/ERIE/O.S. The west will be super deep next year...I'd love if just one year Sarnia played better than expected and snuck into a 4 spot and got a series win. I'll have my eye on Brown as usual lol .. it's year 3... draft year ... he should tear it up.. anything below 70 pts will be disappointing.. he simply needs to be a bit above a ppg this coming year...He can't go on these 15 game pointless streaks where he's a ghost. There's no doubt we trade Fischer for a kings ransom that will set us up for two back to back contending years. 2028 our team should look similar to how LDN did this year... Multiple high NHL picks coming back for year 3-4

I think if all goes well they could push for home ice I think, but it's super early to say with certainty. Especially if they do trade Fischer &/or Young. That would obviously set them back pretty hard, but same could be said w/OS & George.

WSR will definitely be #1. By far.

We'll see with KIT. Parsons had an unbelievable season in net & hes gone. Misljevic & Swick are gone (top 2 point getters) & Pridham might be gone (3rd in points). Their top pair is moving on most likely in Andonovski & Chromiak. They also have stated they will try to host the yr after so they will sell off to maximize assets.

LDN should finally take some sorta step back, but I'll never put us ahead of them. ever. lol. So agree there.

Erie is weird. Gonna need a new goalie, again. Schaefer may go #1 OVR so he could definitely make the NHL although my guess is he's back (might take till Christmas tho).. They also lose their #1, #2, #4 point getters.

Soo should be solid, but will lack depth. Flint should be a touch worse than they were this yr id say. SAG entire yr depends on Misa, Parekh, Chernyshov. All 3 could be gone. All 3 could be back. Massive wildcard team.

Lots of time between now & SEP & there's gonna be more player movement than normal with NCAA stuff + imports. So some teams could add substantial talent, or lose it to NCAA.

 

[StingUpdates]

I agree with trading Fischer at the deadline. I’d also probably move Young if a team wants him bad enough.

I'm gonna stay with my original thoughts from a few weeks ago. Wait & see. If they are better than we expect, maybe a 2 yr go for it chance. If they are mid pack, definitely sell not just one, but both.

 

[robp1219]

I'm gonna stay with my original thoughts from a few weeks ago. Wait & see. If they are better than we expect, maybe a 2 yr go for it chance. If they are mid pack, definitely sell not just one, but both.

I feel the way they are set up they could do a 2 year go for it, it won’t be next season tho, it will be the two seasons after next year, and trading one or both of them will help make their teams in those years even better.

 

[davewheeler]

I feel the way they are set up they could do a 2 year go for it, it won’t be next season tho, it will be the two seasons after next year, and trading one or both of them will help make their teams in those years even better.

I hope during those periods the buzz are good enough where they don't need to blow their entire future like we just saw happen... Get a great core and add bits and pieces along the way rather than go for the hero move which never seems to work in this league.