Windsor Spitfires 2017-18 Season Thread (Part 1)

[hockeylegend11]

Still trying to make sense of some of the cuts from last night.This team might be the softest that I have seen in a long time but upfront and on the backend.
Most of the players cut last night with the exception of Benwell had a physical nature to their game.I am primarily speaking of Desanctis, Brimmer,DiGuilo,and Loon-Stewardson, the last player who I felt was coming on.
I would have much preferred those above instead of Frasca, D'amico,Mizzi.
No loss in skill level in my opinion,but certainly a tougher lineup to deal with.No doubt in my mind that Frasca and D'amico are ticketed for La Salle when the dust settles, just think they could have been signed later.
Unless the American born forward
turned a contract, Desanctis,I think that was the biggest mistake made, Brimmer should have been signed before Frasca and D'amico, DeGuilo offered some grit and scored throughout the camp,plus size at 6'2-200.
On the back end let's hope that Carrick decides to sign, otherwise I would have kept either Johnston or Trifone, although I was impressed with Erik Yelle despite being only 16, looking forward to seeing him here next season.
Curious what others think.

 

[tomschman]

I don't disagree with these thoughts. Keep in mind if the Spits don't get enough picks to satisfy 2018, 2019 they might have to deal DiPietro. Teams have Windsor over a barrel right now they don't have to move any 2018 or 19 picks they can give Windsor what they deem is fair value. Windsor gave up late picks for Bracco maybe another team is of the opinion these guys like Brown/Vilardi are only worth the same. The next two years are going to be very rough. I would also add this stuff about Purboo being a poor skater we already knew this. He's the perfect type of guy you would cut from this team. He's 18 years old he doesn't skate well enough to kill penalties, he can't play pp because he doesn't have great hockey sense. The biggest way to send a message and show there will be accountability is if Purboo doesn't impress he's cut.

As far as giving up just late picks for Bracco, I as many others believe it was a Bracco for Stanley trade. The ironic thing about Purboo is that he was the best player on the ice last night. However, I don't expect that when he is facing OHL competition.

 

[tomschman]

Don't disagree with your random thoughts, although I'd trade Brown as soon as he's returned. I suspect he would be quite happy to head to a contender. As for Mikey, I'm of the opinion that he won't be able to steal many games on a rookie laden team. Hoping our NHL candidates do well for themselves...but the more that return is better for us.....

As far as trading Brown when he returns, they may be able to get a first round 16yo at the trade deadline. The only 16yo that can be traded are 1st rounders, and they only can be traded for picks until the trade deadline. In that last trade window in early January, they can be traded for players.

 

[tomschman]

I know the Spitfire website has said that there remains 27 players from camp, however based on announced cuts I count only 26.
Goal- Dipietro,Baier,Patton
Defense-Corcoran, McEneny,Staios, Henault,Gauvin,Carrick, Stevenson,Starikov,Nother
Forwards-Larionov,Sirman,Mizzi,Luchuk,Boka, MacDougall,Angle, Purboo, D'amico,Frasca, Kitkevicius, Kozhevnikov, Playfair,Latta

Can't see who I am missing, possibly Davis-Teigen-Katsumi,who I saw yesterday on a cut list but not on today's lists,though he did not play in the Blue and White game.Nother and Dipietro also did not play last night.

Teigan-Katsumi is the missing player. Take him off the roster, I also get 26.

 

[tomschman]

Still trying to make sense of some of the cuts from last night.This team might be the softest that I have seen in a long time but upfront and on the backend.
Most of the players cut last night with the exception of Benwell had a physical nature to their game.I am primarily speaking of Desanctis, Brimmer,DiGuilo,and Loon-Stewardson, the last player who I felt was coming on.
I would have much preferred those above instead of Frasca, D'amico,Mizzi.
No loss in skill level in my opinion,but certainly a tougher lineup to deal with.No doubt in my mind that Frasca and D'amico are ticketed for La Salle when the dust settles, just think they could have been signed later.
Unless the American born forward
turned a contract, Desanctis,I think that was the biggest mistake made, Brimmer should have been signed before Frasca and D'amico, DeGuilo offered some grit and scored throughout the camp,plus size at 6'2-200.
On the back end let's hope that Carrick decides to sign, otherwise I would have kept either Johnston or Trifone, although I was impressed with Erik Yelle despite being only 16, looking forward to seeing him here next season.
Curious what others think.

I tend to agree with your analysis. The only physical player that I saw last night was Gauvin, and his story has been discussed here at length. Maybe we are selling out to "Davie Branch Hockey."

As far as the 16yo signings and non-signings, we don't know what conversations went on. Some players may have chosen to go home rather than sign and play at LaSalle. I spoke with D'Amico's Family on Tuesday and they said that he was all in. He would do anything the Spitfires wanted him to do. So, if when offered a contract, he was going to sign it, even if it meant that he would be at LaSalle this year.

I like what I see from Starikov, but I wonder how he will transition to the North American game. He is tall, but has no meat. I don't see him coming out of the corners with many pucks. I heard the comparisons to Stanley and that he is a better skater, stick handler and has a better shot. Those are all pluses, but Stanley is a beast. Any forward coming in on Stanley knew there was a price to be paid.

 

[Southwest76]

I tend to agree with your analysis. The only physical player that I saw last night was Gauvin, and his story has been discussed here at length. Maybe we are selling out to "Davie Branch Hockey."

As far as the 16yo signings and non-signings, we don't know what conversations went on. Some players may have chosen to go home rather than sign and play at LaSalle. I spoke with D'Amico's Family on Tuesday and they said that he was all in. He would do anything the Spitfires wanted him to do. So, if when offered a contract, he was going to sign it, even if it meant that he would be at LaSalle this year.

I like what I see from Starikov, but I wonder how he will transition to the North American game. He is tall, but has no meat. I don't see him coming out of the corners with many pucks. I heard the comparisons to Stanley and that he is a better skater, stick handler and has a better shot. Those are all pluses, but Stanley is a beast. Any forward coming in on Stanley knew there was a price to be paid.

My understanding is that LaSalle only has 1 16 year old card left. Maybe that will be D'Amico

 

[windsor7]

From what I gathered we current have the following remaining in camp:

Forwards (16):
Logan Brown, Gabriel Vilardi, Aaron Luchuk, Luke Kutkevicius, Luke Boka, Kirill Kozhevnikov, Matthew MacDougall, Cole Purboo, Tyler Angle, Chris Playfair, William Sirman, Igor Larionov, Louis Latta, Jordan Frasca, Daniel D’Amico, Joesph Mizzi

Defense (9):
Tyler Nother, Austin McEneny, Conor Corcoran, Nathan Staios, Hunter Carrick, Lev Starikov, Thomas Stevenson, Louka Henault, Nick Gauvin

Goalies (3):
Mike DiPietro, Brock Baier, Lucas Patton

Cut thus far are (25):
William Brown, Erik Yelle, Joey Trifone, Gianluca Pizzuto, Matthew O’Brien, Josh Barraclough, Jeff Taylor, Michael Andrews, Braeden Agresti, Michael Aloise, Markus Paterson, Liam Markhauser, Austin Brimmer, Hayden Johnston, Brock Grandbois, Quintin Loon- Stewardson, Kyle West, Patrick O’Leary, Evan Benwell, Vincent Desanctis, Jack Bowler, Matteo DiGiulio, Kory Silverio, Stefan Dobrich, Davis-Teigen-Katsumi

My guess at the roster (players interchangeable):
Gabriel Vilardi, Logan Brown, Luke Boka
Matthew MacDougall, Aaron Luchuk, Kirill Kozhevnikov
Igor Larionov, Luke Kutkevicius, Cole Purboo
Chris Playfair, Tyler Angle, William Sirman
Louis Latta

Austin McEneny, Conor Corcoran,
Nathan Staios, Tyler Nother
Lev Starikov, Thomas Stevenson
Hunter Carrick

Mikey DiPietro
Brock Baier

If that is the players left at camp, where is all the scoring going to come from this year?

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I tend to agree with your analysis. The only physical player that I saw last night was Gauvin, and his story has been discussed here at length. Maybe we are selling out to "Davie Branch Hockey."

As far as the 16yo signings and non-signings, we don't know what conversations went on. Some players may have chosen to go home rather than sign and play at LaSalle. I spoke with D'Amico's Family on Tuesday and they said that he was all in. He would do anything the Spitfires wanted him to do. So, if when offered a contract, he was going to sign it, even if it meant that he would be at LaSalle this year.

I like what I see from Starikov, but I wonder how he will transition to the North American game. He is tall, but has no meat. I don't see him coming out of the corners with many pucks. I heard the comparisons to Stanley and that he is a better skater, stick handler and has a better shot. Those are all pluses, but Stanley is a beast. Any forward coming in on Stanley knew there was a price to be paid.

The interesting part about the imports is that the team should be real bad this year therefore probably having a top import pick in 2018. In essence these guys will be playing for a job for next year. Hopefully both of them perform well and you can leverage them into a trade to acquire more assets. Otherwise one of them will be going home and replaced by a top import pick.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

If that is the players left at camp, where is all the scoring going to come from this year?

They won't be scoring much this year. Hope Vilardi can come back and play push play and be dominant. Hope Logan Brown is focused. Luchuk will probably be consistent get 20-25 goals. After that it's going to be real rough.

 

[stips]

""My guess at the roster (players interchangeable):
Gabriel Vilardi, Logan Brown, Luke Boka
Matthew MacDougall, Aaron Luchuk, Kirill Kozhevnikov
Igor Larionov, Luke Kutkevicius, Cole Purboo
Chris Playfair, Tyler Angle, William Sirman
Louis Latta

Austin McEneny, Conor Corcoran,
Nathan Staios, Tyler Nother
Lev Starikov, Thomas Stevenson
Hunter Carrick

Mikey DiPietro
Brock Baier"" -Quote from Windsor 7

I would put Latta well ahead of both Playfair and Angle, as they can not score. As well, they are not physical enough forth line. Their best asset is their skating ability.

Boka cannot be on the first line as he has trouble scoring, or even hitting the net on the few shots he takes.(Third line at best!)

This season will be interesting. The Spits will have to be extra hard working, and a quick transition team, to be successful. I like what the coaches have done so far, and trust them to have this team well prepared.

 

[punch1943]

""My guess at the roster (players interchangeable):
Gabriel Vilardi, Logan Brown, Luke Boka
Matthew MacDougall, Aaron Luchuk, Kirill Kozhevnikov
Igor Larionov, Luke Kutkevicius, Cole Purboo
Chris Playfair, Tyler Angle, William Sirman
Louis Latta

Austin McEneny, Conor Corcoran,
Nathan Staios, Tyler Nother
Lev Starikov, Thomas Stevenson
Hunter Carrick

Mikey DiPietro
Brock Baier"" -Quote from Windsor 7

I would put Latta well ahead of both Playfair and Angle, as they can not score. As well, they are not physical enough forth line. Their best asset is their skating ability.

Boka cannot be on the first line as he has trouble scoring, or even hitting the net on the few shots he takes.(Third line at best!)

This season will be interesting. The Spits will have to be extra hard working, and a quick transition team, to be successful. I like what the coaches have done so far, and trust them to have this team well prepared.

Nick Guavin unless there's a deal

 

[hockeylegend11]

Tyler Nother (ill) and Connor Carrick ? not at practice today.
There were 3 Goalies,7D and 14 forwards present.

 

[stips]

Nick Guavin unless there's a deal

Sorry, I missed Gauvin. I would play him ahead of Stevenson.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

Stips I am not sure Latta can score, he didn't do much of it in Sarnia.

 

[OHLTG]

How much ice did Latta get in Sarnia? I'm not sold on him making the club, but if he just needed time, I'll give benefit of the doubt. I'd take him over Mizzi right now.

The biggest "hmmm" I heard at camp was "who's going to score?" We lose a ton of scoring and you didn't get the feeling there was one kid who was ready to break out.

I wouldn't be against Boka on a top two line. He had 13/15/28 totals last year and looked very comfortable with the top guys. He's earned the chance.

 

[punch1943]

Tyler Nother (ill) and Connor Carrick ? not at practice today.
There were 3 Goalies,7D and 14 forwards present.

If Carrick is hesitant about playing with the Spits what could the holdup be? They can't send him to the Vipers. Perhaps he wants to play elsewhere in the OHL.
If he doesn't stay perhaps they could bring back Trifone. Sounded if he would have stayed.

 

[OHLTG]

Why would Carrick not want to be here?

 

[massey]

How much ice did Latta get in Sarnia? I'm not sold on him making the club, but if he just needed time, I'll give benefit of the doubt. I'd take him over Mizzi right now.

The biggest "hmmm" I heard at camp was "who's going to score?" We lose a ton of scoring and you didn't get the feeling there was one kid who was ready to break out.

I wouldn't be against Boka on a top two line. He had 13/15/28 totals last year and looked very comfortable with the top guys. He's earned the chance.

Latta got enough ice time at the start of the year to prove himself. He didn't perform and his ice time was reduced. He didn't get much ice time at the end but that was based on his performance IMO. I wouldn't depend on him putting the puck in the net.He should use his size more. He was a total disappointment last year in my eyes

 

[RayzorIsDull]

How much ice did Latta get in Sarnia? I'm not sold on him making the club, but if he just needed time, I'll give benefit of the doubt. I'd take him over Mizzi right now.

The biggest "hmmm" I heard at camp was "who's going to score?" We lose a ton of scoring and you didn't get the feeling there was one kid who was ready to break out.

I wouldn't be against Boka on a top two line. He had 13/15/28 totals last year and looked very comfortable with the top guys. He's earned the chance.

I love how you will give him the benefit of the doubt, not surprising though. The best part about sports in general is that players are giving the opportunity to have success. Sarnia wasn't a good team last year and Latta was outplayed by younger forwards. If Latta actually produced I am sure Sarnia wouldn't have put him on waivers.

Ruzicka
McGregor
Josling
Hinz

The only way I would ever consider taking on a 19 year old free agent is if I thought he had the opportunity to be an OA the next year. If Latta was ever an OA the organization is in a lot of trouble.

 

[punch1943]

Why would Carrick not want to be here?

Do you have a few hours?
Perhaps he wants to play where his brother played. Perhaps he decided playing closer to home was more to his liking. Perhaps his agent/advisor or parents wanted to change his direction but if he didn't practice today its too big a coincidence to ignore.

 

[OHLTG]

I love how you will give him the benefit of the doubt, not surprising though. The best part about sports in general is that players are giving the opportunity to have success. Sarnia wasn't a good team last year and Latta was outplayed by younger forwards. If Latta actually produced I am sure Sarnia wouldn't have put him on waivers.

I know, it's strange that I don't assume, right? I asked a question - did he not get enough playing time, thus lower production, or did he just not produce in ample playing time? If it's the former, then benefit of the doubt is justified. A "let's see what he can do" type thing. If he did get playing time, but couldn't put up the points, then that's a different ball game.

Punch - I've got all eve Regardless of what happened, I'm sure we'll hear about it soon enough. It sounded like he was happy to be here at the start, though.

 

[hockeylegend11]

Spits

Do you have a few hours?
Perhaps he wants to play where his brother played. Perhaps he decided playing closer to home was more to his liking. Perhaps his agent/advisor or parents wanted to change his direction but if he didn't practice today its too big a coincidence to ignore.

Well he can't play where his brother played seeing that Plymouth is no longer in the league.
I just think that he wanted to think things over,he seemed excited about coming here when his rights were traded for.
He knows he is giving up college options if he signs,his parents to my knowledge were not here,he was billeting with folks I know, guess we will have to see how things play out.

 

[RayzorIsDull]

I know, it's strange that I don't assume, right? I asked a question - did he not get enough playing time, thus lower production, or did he just not produce in ample playing time? If it's the former, then benefit of the doubt is justified. A "let's see what he can do" type thing. If he did get playing time, but couldn't put up the points, then that's a different ball game.

Punch - I've got all eve Regardless of what happened, I'm sure we'll hear about it soon enough. It sounded like he was happy to be here at the start, though.

Who's assuming anything? It's matter of fact Latta didn't do anything last year and was outplayed by younger guys. A Sarnia fan above even confirms as much. Of course ignore what other people say and continue to be set in your ways that's what you do.

 

[OHLTG]

Who's assuming anything? It's matter of fact Latta didn't do anything last year and was outplayed by younger guys. A Sarnia fan above even confirms as much. Of course ignore what other people say and continue to be set in your ways that's what you do.

You brought up his production originally. I asked what caused it. The Sarnia fan answered. You said it wasn't surprising I gave Latta the benefit of the doubt, so I explained why I did. If Latta was given time to produce, and failed, then it's a simple answer...

 

[stips]

Stips I am not sure Latta can score, he didn't do much of it in Sarnia.

Sarnia never played him for various reasons. I think he will surprise many this year.