Controversial, as I know he is a fan favourite, but I don't think Louis will be a priority signing for the Devils.
I think the pairings Lord will want will be:
Richardson - Hotham replacement
Fournier - Paris replacement
Strachan - Reddick/upgrade
I just don't see how Louis fits in there. We know that the season before last Fournier and Louis played together, however the following summer Lord signed Paris and put him with Fournier. On paper Paris was a huge upgrade on Louis - it just didn't work out that way. So will Lord revert back to that? I doubt it. He seen the need to upgrade last season on that second pairing once before so I imagine will look again for a partner for Fournier.
That leaves the 3rd pairing. Strachan will be his priority, without question. Louis and Strachan just don't go, there is no offense there. If Strachan does come back then Louis doesn't have a space IMO unless as a spare. And I don't think we will carry a spare D because we have Batch.
I think the pairings Lord will want will be:
Richardson - Hotham replacement
Fournier - Paris replacement
Strachan - Reddick/upgrade
I just don't see how Louis fits in there. We know that the season before last Fournier and Louis played together, however the following summer Lord signed Paris and put him with Fournier. On paper Paris was a huge upgrade on Louis - it just didn't work out that way. So will Lord revert back to that? I doubt it. He seen the need to upgrade last season on that second pairing once before so I imagine will look again for a partner for Fournier.
That leaves the 3rd pairing. Strachan will be his priority, without question. Louis and Strachan just don't go, there is no offense there. If Strachan does come back then Louis doesn't have a space IMO unless as a spare. And I don't think we will carry a spare D because we have Batch.
I’m hoping Louis will be back, although I don’t think he had a great year last year, with injuries etc. I think we can forget about Strachan unfortunately and with Hotham and Paris gone, it’s big changes for the D corps. When other teams are getting stronger, particularly the big guns, I think we should be looking at an upgrade on Reddick, especially if we’re without Strachan, as is being strongly rumoured and having lost Hotham, who is irreplaceable really and will be almost impossible to improve upon. Fournier was such an important re-signing, and he may well partner Richardson now to form our no.1 D pairing.
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I still don’t understand the dislike of Reddick on here.
Defensively he was superb in the second half of the season, and when Lord and Todd are praising him I’m pretty sure they’re more knowledgable than everyone on here.
Hockey is a two way sport, you can’t have all your D scoring goals and forechecking beyond the blue line.
Defensively he was superb in the second half of the season, and when Lord and Todd are praising him I’m pretty sure they’re more knowledgable than everyone on here.
Hockey is a two way sport, you can’t have all your D scoring goals and forechecking beyond the blue line.
In fairness, most like him on here now! And I don’t dislike the bloke, don’t know him from adam. I just think we can upgrade on him, that’s my opinion, which is what a forum is all about. Defensively superb, really?! Come on, he was in that line up for his offensive contribution at the back end not his defensive prowess. And I can recall several games when he was the man to suffer (along with Batch), when Lord would shorten his bench when games got tight.
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Big Lou was plagued with injury last year and his usual style and character were diluted because of it. Bring back the same level of snarl and menace that were characteristic of Mark's style in his first season.
The power forward experiment did not really work last year for him. There was virtually universal relief when he was reunited with Fournier - this is a no-brainer defence pairing who understand eachother and perform well together. Hopefully more of the same next season.
With rumours of Strachs not returning and Hoth now gone, Richie's new partner should also be an awesome player.
The power forward experiment did not really work last year for him. There was virtually universal relief when he was reunited with Fournier - this is a no-brainer defence pairing who understand eachother and perform well together. Hopefully more of the same next season.
With rumours of Strachs not returning and Hoth now gone, Richie's new partner should also be an awesome player.
He was absolutely not in the line up for offensive production. Him and Strachs were our closers, their ice time was a lot higher in big games (Panthers etc) or where it was tight and we were in the lead.
He initially tried to play the offensive game, and that was when he wasn’t playing great and found himself facing the door. Strachs came in and between them they were defensively outstanding.
Entitled to your opinion, but to say he was poor defensively is factually incorrect.
He initially tried to play the offensive game, and that was when he wasn’t playing great and found himself facing the door. Strachs came in and between them they were defensively outstanding.
Entitled to your opinion, but to say he was poor defensively is factually incorrect.
Have to disagree with you there, I don’t think he was very good defensively either. To me he was far too weak around the boards and got beat far too easy. Good skater, but was caught out of position far too many times even when we had Strachan. I felt Strachan saved him a lot as well. When you look at his stats he’s a good offensive Defenceman which is why he was paired with Tyson who is primarily a stay at home defensive Defenceman which could allow Reddick to do his offensive duties as well as dropping back to defence. Am I also correct in thinking when Strachan got chucked out of the Steelers game I can’t recall Reddick getting any ice time after that for the rest of the game. For me I have to agree with august04 here.
He was in the line up because of his offensive abilities from the back end. That’s why he was recruited. Strachan compensated for what he lacked in his defensive game which is why he kept his job. Before Strachan arrived, he was constantly out of position, too easily knocked off the puck, poor in the corners and unable to clear the net (not all his fault, he was a small guy invariably up against bigger forwards and his efforts and guts couldn’t be faulted). And I’ve said many times, in fairness to the guy, his game improved when Strachan arrived. But then again, who wouldn’t improve with a guy of that quality playing alongside you. And that pairing weren’t our closers at all, more often than not at the end of a tight game, Lord would go with 4 or 5 D., with Strachan logging the extra minutes.
Hooray!!! A voice of reason for a change. Well said that man.
Criticism of last years coaches player of the year before the season has even started! First time I’ve been on here in months and I read this rubbish. No wonder people give up on the Inferno.
Thank god I don’t sit by you, it would be a long miserable season.
Criticism of last years coaches player of the year before the season has even started! First time I’ve been on here in months and I read this rubbish. No wonder people give up on the Inferno.
Thank god I don’t sit by you, it would be a long miserable season.
This rubbish? This ‘rubbish’ is called an opinion, people have them and it’s the nature of a forum and the reason why you have one. I still don’t think Reddick should’ve been player of the year. Like I said, good player but not quite good enough. As was said multiple times on here last season you don’t have to agree with everything people say and if you don’t like it use the block button on certain individuals or go back to not reading the forum. Simple as that!
No, there’s not a time and a place for an opinion. It’s a forum and the beauty of a forum is that people can share their opinion, however different that may be from yours. You may not want to read it, well there’s a block/ignore button for that. We may see things differently but we’re all entitled to an opinion and we debate those differences here. For me, whether I agree with other posters or not, their opinion is as valid as mine at any time. In fact I quite enjoy reading posts from those whose thoughts differ from mine. They make me think and reflect on how I see things, whether I agree or not.
All you’ve done is attack the poster, and there shouldn’t be a place on the Inferno for that, full stop.
All you’ve done is attack the poster, and there shouldn’t be a place on the Inferno for that, full stop.