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Sudbury Wolves 2024-25 Season Thread, Part III

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LDN said:
Villeneuve strikes me as a on the line sometimes over it player
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He’ll need to figure it out or it will delay his progression to pro hockey. I get they are kids/young men; however, he needs to mature and be much smarter so he doesn’t hurt the team. By now everyone in the league knows the talent and fearless toughness. He is well defined as a player but now he has to enhance the mental maturity/discipline to become a good pro.
 
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Wolf on a Wire said:
No excuses. We are a better team in second half. Time to come together and establish an identity of a team no one wants to play in the playoffs.
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lots of optimism I see, it will be a true test for the coaching staff.

New additions haven't created winning results so far. I would have like to see the Wolves, at the trade deadline upgrade the goaltending, that would have solved a lot issues. When I heard Bowen was rumoured to have been traded to the Wolves, that would have been a perfect addition. Krawchuk has been good so far this season, but I see lot of the old Krawchuck seeping back into his game.

Mews right now looks like an one dimensional player, last few games better on the defensive side. I would like to see Mews paired with O'Dell. O'Dell plays a sound defensive game and will offset Mews weaknesses.

Roberts tries hard, slow boots, and hockey IQ in the D zone is questionable, losing his mark many times. He needs to relax and let the game come to him.

Ziliotto to early to tell, he plays hard which I like, he has been good on face-off's, I don't mind his game so far.

playing well on the road for the Wolves will help their confidence, I'm hoping we go back to hard working game, prior to the trade deadline.
 
cub said:
lots of optimism I see, it will be a true test for the coaching staff.

New additions haven't created winning results so far. I would have like to see the Wolves, at the trade deadline upgrade the goaltending, that would have solved a lot issues. When I heard Bowen was rumoured to have been traded to the Wolves, that would have been a perfect addition. Krawchuk has been good so far this season, but I see lot of the old Krawchuck seeping back into his game.

Mews right now looks like an one dimensional player, last few games better on the defensive side. I would like to see Mews paired with O'Dell. O'Dell plays a sound defensive game and will offset Mews weaknesses.

Roberts tries hard, slow boots, and hockey IQ in the D zone is questionable, losing his mark many times. He needs to relax and let the game come to him.

Ziliotto to early to tell, he plays hard which I like, he has been good on face-off's, I don't mind his game so far.

playing well on the road for the Wolves will help their confidence, I'm hoping we go back to hard working game, prior to the trade deadline.
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Problem with playing Mews with O'Dell means you look at a defence like this.

McCoy - Deangelis
Mews - O'Dell
Ewels - Roberts
Blonda - Bruce

Potentially, you can't take Roberts out you gave up too much for him.

If you go 7 d then with Clayton you are sitting who Street and Zillioto or Dean?

We know the wolves havent been nearly as good on the road and with 25 games remaining and 13 of those road games every day puts us further behind. Problem is we are as of now 7 points back of a home ice spot.

Brantford obviously closest and we have 3 games remaining again them, if we win them all we a 1 point behind them if we lose them all we are 13 points back with 22 games remain to make up those points. If they went 11-11 we would need to go 19-6.

Niagara is also 7 up on us with 2 games remaing in the season series. If we win both can be 3 points back, lose both we are 11 points back with 23 games to make them up. They have 23 games remaining if they go 12-11 we need to go 16-9.

Kingston is 8 up on us and we have no games left against them. We both have 25 games left, if they win half so go 13-12 we have to go 17-8 to pass them.

Barrie is 9 up on us with 1 games remaining between us could be 7 - 11 point difference depending on who wins. They have 24 games remaining so if they go 12-12 we again need to go 17-8 maybe even 18-7.

None of this takes into account Brampton who is the last week icing their full roster for the first time since October and by the end of the night can be 1 point back of us for 6th.

Barrie and Brantford are head to head, best case there is Barrie wins in Regulation don't want a 3 point game there like Barrie got the other night with Brampton.

It's a steep hill to climb with a tough schedule. The 3 against Brantford, 2 against Niagara, 4 against Brampton and 2 against Oshawa and 1 vs Barrie will determine the season. That's 12 games.
 
This all reflects on Papineau and his history of not knowing how to cross the finishing line. Cold feet at the trade deadline. I like the move for Mews but it ends there.
 
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cub said:
lots of optimism I see, it will be a true test for the coaching staff.

New additions haven't created winning results so far. I would have like to see the Wolves, at the trade deadline upgrade the goaltending, that would have solved a lot issues. When I heard Bowen was rumoured to have been traded to the Wolves, that would have been a perfect addition. Krawchuk has been good so far this season, but I see lot of the old Krawchuck seeping back into his game.

Mews right now looks like an one dimensional player, last few games better on the defensive side. I would like to see Mews paired with O'Dell. O'Dell plays a sound defensive game and will offset Mews weaknesses.

Roberts tries hard, slow boots, and hockey IQ in the D zone is questionable, losing his mark many times. He needs to relax and let the game come to him.

Ziliotto to early to tell, he plays hard which I like, he has been good on face-off's, I don't mind his game so far.

playing well on the road for the Wolves will help their confidence, I'm hoping we go back to hard working game, prior to the trade deadline.
Click to expand...

Upgrading goaltending is like filling a leaking tire hoping that it never goes flat again. you can have Leenders in our net and until we commit to sound defensive hockey in our own net (like 50 minutes last night) you are still gonna give up goals. Goals against has more to do with the players in front of our tenders than the goaltenders themselves.
 
Wolf on a Wire said:
Upgrading goaltending is like filling a leaking tire hoping that it never goes flat again. you can have Leenders in our net and until we commit to sound defensive hockey in our own net (like 50 minutes last night) you are still gonna give up goals. Goals against has more to do with the players in front of our tenders than the goaltenders themselves.
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I disagree a good goalie will keep the team in the game every night, not deflate the team. Yesterday 3rd and 4th goal in the second, a good goalie would have had those. We played a sound defensive game and we gave up 4 goals.

I find most nights we always have the inferior goalie, it would be nice if we can say in confidence we have the better goalie most nights.

Roberts is a bottom 6 pairing for me, unless he proves me otherwise.
 
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cub said:
lots of optimism I see, it will be a true test for the coaching staff.

New additions haven't created winning results so far. I would have like to see the Wolves, at the trade deadline upgrade the goaltending, that would have solved a lot issues. When I heard Bowen was rumoured to have been traded to the Wolves, that would have been a perfect addition. Krawchuk has been good so far this season, but I see lot of the old Krawchuck seeping back into his game.

Mews right now looks like an one dimensional player, last few games better on the defensive side. I would like to see Mews paired with O'Dell. O'Dell plays a sound defensive game and will offset Mews weaknesses.

Roberts tries hard, slow boots, and hockey IQ in the D zone is questionable, losing his mark many times. He needs to relax and let the game come to him.

Ziliotto to early to tell, he plays hard which I like, he has been good on face-off's, I don't mind his game so far.

playing well on the road for the Wolves will help their confidence, I'm hoping we go back to hard working game, prior to the trade deadline.
Click to expand...
I see you guys are getting the Roberts experience.

The good, works his butt off, loves his team mates and will defend them, and (contrary to your thoughts) i think he skates pretty good. He seems like a really great kid.

The bad, his hands are not great, way too emotional (leads to all his bad penalties), and his hockey IQ is not great.

I couldn't believe the return on that trade.
 
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cub said:
I disagree a good goalie will keep the team in the game every night, not deflate the team. Yesterday 3rd and 4th goal in the second, a good goalie would have had those. We played a sound defensive game and we gave up 4 goals.

I find most nights we always have the inferior goalie, it would be nice if we can say in confidence we have the better goalie most nights.

Roberts is a bottom 6 pairing for me, unless he proves me otherwise.
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We can agree to disagree. Chucky played really well and the 3rd and 4th goals (scoring opportunities) shouldn’t have occurred if we had not lost coverage (Delic) and lost puck battles. I get what you’re saying, nice to have a goalie steal a game for you and Chucky has done that. Gotta give up less opportunities in danger zones. IMHO
 
cub said:
I disagree a good goalie will keep the team in the game every night, not deflate the team. Yesterday 3rd and 4th goal in the second, a good goalie would have had those. We played a sound defensive game and we gave up 4 goals.

I find most nights we always have the inferior goalie, it would be nice if we can say in confidence we have the better goalie most nights.

Roberts is a bottom 6 pairing for me, unless he proves me otherwise.
Click to expand...
Ok here we go ..I couldn't agree more.

Krawchuk makes me nervous when pucks come his way. No swagger or something that makes you think "he's got this". You never know that you're getting with him from game to game. I dont trust him. Absolutely his play on those two deflated the team. He's not a clear # 1 in this league. Can't blame him overall , RP gave him the grease and this team continues to have goalie issues. It's been years since had we had a very good goaltender, and we know who that was.

RP fail

Now the D. Our 1 and 2 D might be #1 on this team but hardly a top 1 and 2 paring in in the league. They D played decent last night but when the Mews trade was rumoured I wasnt for it. Wolves needed a couple of lock down dmen that played tough in their own end, clear the net and move pucks. Mews as everyone knows doesn't play good D. RP talked about his offense dynamics for this team which is not what this team needed. Poor choice to get that type of player when you had other needs.
Roberts- works hard but gets beat outside sonetimes. Hes ok. Like last season , wolves give up 2 second round picks for average players. Let's not forget Protz too. That one really sored me. You had good value at that pick and you trade him away. That's highway robbery by the Bulldogs in back to back years. Inexcusable. Why did RP allow this to happen, again.

RP fail

Forwards - I would of liked if they added another scoring forward. I assume he couldn't and went with a signee. I'm not sure if the return of Musty has hurt the team. I think wolves peaked early and now other teams have settled in, got healthy, made trades etc. I would give Coughlan more ice. But egos come into play here. Will they drop Molnar from line one and or drop pharhand from line 2? Sometimes I feel Walton doesn't deserve 2nd line minutes. I'd be curious to see how many goals he has 5 on 5 vs the pp. Molnar has not been a good fit for this team.


Overall I've tried to back RP in his scouting and trades made but I can't anymore. He's had good 1st round pics over the years due to the wolves having poor seasons. Outside of that not so much. Musty, Villeneuve, Byfield being those 1st Rd picks.

Currently, Only Blonda is a RP pick on the backend. All others via trade. None of his draft picks of goaltending has worked out. Few others picked before Gaulton are doing well in the league.

My fear is he's got Dario wrapped around his finger as he trusts RP with his hockey team to a fault. I guess things could change if the wolves get bounced Early and Dario feels enough is enough. RP seems too comfortable in his seat.

I could be eating crow in a few weeks but that's ok if they win, we all win. But, I have my doubts. Let's see if it's the same team that played well against London shows up in the Bay tomorrow afternoon.
 
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I Loveallsports said:
Ok here we go ..I couldn't agree more.

Krawchuk makes me nervous when pucks come his way. No swagger or something that makes you think "he's got this". You never know that you're getting with him from game to game. I dont trust him. Absolutely his play on those two deflated the team. He's not a clear # 1 in this league. Can't blame him overall , RP gave him the grease and this team continues to have goalie issues. It's been years since had we had a very good goaltender, and we know who that was.

RP fail

Now the D. Our 1 and 2 D might be #1 on this team but hardly a top 1 and 2 paring in in the league. They D played decent last night but when the Mews trade was rumoured I wasnt for it. Wolves needed a couple of lock down dmen that played tough in their own end, clear the net and move pucks. Mews as everyone knows doesn't play good D. RP talked about his offense dynamics for this team which is not what this team needed. Poor choice to get that type of player when you had other needs.
Roberts- works hard but gets beat outside most times. Skating is def an issue. And like last season , wolves give up 2 second round picks for average players. Let's not forget Protz too. That one really sored me. You had good value at that pick and you trade him away. That's highway robbery by the Bulldogs in back to back years. Inexcusable. Why did RP allow this to happen, again.

RP fail

Forwards - I would of liked if they added another scoring forward. I assume he couldn't and went with a signee. I'm not sure if the return of Musty has hurt the team. I think wolves peaked early and now other teams have settled in, got healthy, made trades etc. I would give Coughlan more ice. But egos come into play here. Will they drop Molnar from line one and or drop pharhand from line 2? Sometimes I feel Walton doesn't deserve 2nd line minutes. I'd be curious to see how many goals he has 5 on 5 vs the pp. Molnar has not been a good fit for this team.


Overall I've tried to back RP in his scouting and trades made but I can't anymore. He's had good 1st round pics over the years due to the wolves having poor seasons. Outside of that not so much. Musty, Villeneuve, Byfield being those 1st Rd picks.

Currently, Only Blonda is a RP pick on the backend. All others via trade. None of his draft picks of goaltending has worked out. Few others picked before Gaulton are doing well in the league.

My fear is he's got Dario wrapped around his finger as he trusts RP with his hockey team to a fault. I guess things could change if the wolves get bounced Early and Dario feels enough is enough. RP seems too comfortable in his seat.

I could be eating crow in a few weeks but that's ok if they win, we all win. But, I have my doubts. Let's see if it's the same team that played well against London shows up in the Bay tomorrow afternoon.
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The way they played last night, will be the minimum standard for all games moving forward. Grind it out hockey and patiently wait for your OZone opportunities. Goals Against will be the key stat for victories.
 
I Loveallsports said:
Ok here we go ..I couldn't agree more.

Krawchuk makes me nervous when pucks come his way. No swagger or something that makes you think "he's got this". You never know that you're getting with him from game to game. I dont trust him. Absolutely his play on those two deflated the team. He's not a clear # 1 in this league. Can't blame him overall , RP gave him the grease and this team continues to have goalie issues. It's been years since had we had a very good goaltender, and we know who that was.

RP fail

Now the D. Our 1 and 2 D might be #1 on this team but hardly a top 1 and 2 paring in in the league. They D played decent last night but when the Mews trade was rumoured I wasnt for it. Wolves needed a couple of lock down dmen that played tough in their own end, clear the net and move pucks. Mews as everyone knows doesn't play good D. RP talked about his offense dynamics for this team which is not what this team needed. Poor choice to get that type of player when you had other needs.
Roberts- works hard but gets beat outside sonetimes. Hes ok. Like last season , wolves give up 2 second round picks for average players. Let's not forget Protz too. That one really sored me. You had good value at that pick and you trade him away. That's highway robbery by the Bulldogs in back to back years. Inexcusable. Why did RP allow this to happen, again.

RP fail

Forwards - I would of liked if they added another scoring forward. I assume he couldn't and went with a signee. I'm not sure if the return of Musty has hurt the team. I think wolves peaked early and now other teams have settled in, got healthy, made trades etc. I would give Coughlan more ice. But egos come into play here. Will they drop Molnar from line one and or drop pharhand from line 2? Sometimes I feel Walton doesn't deserve 2nd line minutes. I'd be curious to see how many goals he has 5 on 5 vs the pp. Molnar has not been a good fit for this team.


Overall I've tried to back RP in his scouting and trades made but I can't anymore. He's had good 1st round pics over the years due to the wolves having poor seasons. Outside of that not so much. Musty, Villeneuve, Byfield being those 1st Rd picks.

Currently, Only Blonda is a RP pick on the backend. All others via trade. None of his draft picks of goaltending has worked out. Few others picked before Gaulton are doing well in the league.

My fear is he's got Dario wrapped around his finger as he trusts RP with his hockey team to a fault. I guess things could change if the wolves get bounced Early and Dario feels enough is enough. RP seems too comfortable in his seat.

I could be eating crow in a few weeks but that's ok if they win, we all win. But, I have my doubts. Let's see if it's the same team that played well against London shows up in the Bay tomorrow afternoon.
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I agree, if Mews trade would have been Mews plus Marrelli or Mayich that trade would look better, at the end of the day the only difference between the Mews and Roberts trade was Jackson and late round picks. All that to keep Blonda was a 6/7 defensemen? What about keeping the picks and adding some more then giving Blonda the ball to run with on the PP. When DeAngelis leaves and potentially Mews if the NCAA stuff is true he is running it anyways but has only played in a 2D 3F PP formation.

We also needed forward help to lengthen the line up. Drafter after Gaulton were George and McIvor. That said goalies and be a fickle area.

I always felt the team benefited from a somewhat easier 1st half and were in for a tough 2nd half with alot of games against the top teams left. Of our last 25 games 12 of them are against the teams ahead of us plus 4 against a fully healthy Brampton team. If Brampton were to pass us and everything else stayed the same we would have Oshawa 1st round.
 
cub said:
I disagree a good goalie will keep the team in the game every night, not deflate the team. Yesterday 3rd and 4th goal in the second, a good goalie would have had those. We played a sound defensive game and we gave up 4 goals.

I find most nights we always have the inferior goalie, it would be nice if we can say in confidence we have the better goalie most nights.

Roberts is a bottom 6 pairing for me, unless he proves me otherwise.
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He is always reluctant to place any accountability on the tenders, maybe he was one? Well said though Cub, what you said is true and has been for years. There’s no more important position than goaltender to be the equalizer especially against a superior team. I welcome anyone to recall which games our goaltending stole for us this season. Not many.
Also very good posts re Papineau’s moves and the teams’ needs. Been watching from the other side of the world and will be till March. We’ll see how things unfold, remember Peterborough took some time to come together after their moves a few years ago.
 
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Would have to think this is a must game to get back on track,expecting a big game in goal and our big players to play big.
 
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