Import Netminders or Additional Skaters?

Thread starter #1
The standard of net minding in the EIHL has improved massively and a number of teams have employed tjhe services of some excellent netties. So therefore is it better to have an additional import skater or an import netminder which currently can make the bigger impact?

This post is not about our current netminders as we know that Ben and Mad dog are pivotal to our success.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
#2
Well you can have a British netminder and be top of the league, or you can have a Import netminder and be top of the league. So it’s obviously about how good the others are.
 

CaldicotDevil

Well-Known Member
#4
Don't really get this question, surely you just go for the better player whether they be British or import.
I think the question is what’s more effective; A better quality import Goalie with a British D/Forward or a British Goalie with a better quality import D/Forward. Personally I rather have Bowns and an import D/Forward. There’s a limited number of quality Brits in the league. Once you have them then you need to build a team round them.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#5
With the league getting better and the demanding and stressful load (CHL, Challenge Cup etc) on just one dominant goaltender, you could make an argument to have both. That's how we rolled in the days of ISL, with Herlofsky and Lyle etc. I quite like the sound of a Bowns/Besko tandem! Yes, you'd lose an import skater but I think we have enough quality and depth to cover that. Murdy barely plays and in my view, should move on for his own development.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
#6
If you had two top class netminders on your roster would one really want to sit out every game? At least with the out players they get a few run outs over a season.
 

august04

Well-Known Member
#7
If you had two top class netminders on your roster would one really want to sit out every game? At least with the out players they get a few run outs over a season.
If they alternated, one would sit out every other game, so each could play every weekend still. As I said, we went with 2 very good goalies in Superleague days, so not as as if we haven’t done it before. It’s tough for one guy to play in virtually every game, especially under the higher pressure of the British league set-up where every league game is crucial.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
#8
I agree we could alternate but if a netminder has had a stormer of a game with plenty of shots on and then a shut out how do you tell him the next game your being dropped to alternate? or the opposite end is if you then alternate and the next netminder has a stinker who gets the blame then?
Its a total minefield.
 
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Thread starter #9
I agree we could alternate but if a netminder has had a stormer of a game with plenty of shots on and then a shut out how do you tell him the next game your being dropped to alternate? or the ooposite end is if you then alternate and the next netminder has a stinker who gets the blame then?
Its a total minefield.
Guildford have two import netminders this season plus how do the NHL rotate their keepers as everyone has an off game! Imagine a team having both the best GB net ties on a rotation, is internal competition a positive way to keep the guys at their best?
 
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august04

Well-Known Member
#10
Guildford have two import netminders this season plus how do the NHL rotate their keepers as everyone has an off game! Imagine a team having both the best GB net ties on a rotation, is internal competition a positive way to keep the guys at their best?
Spot on - we wouldn't be reinventing the wheel as it happens in most top leagues!
 

Finny

Well-Known Member
#11
The difference in the ISL was that there was no import limit. It didn’t really matter if you had an import on the bench, you weren’t missing out on a possible additional import player .
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#15
How about a bowns/killeen combo. Can’t keep expecting bowns to play 80 games a year including GB. Unfortunately lord only ever plays murdy against Edinburgh home
Your making the wild assumption that the club has £££££££££££ kicking around to accommodate yet another import!

Murdy should be playing far more often. I do wonder what his motivation is to hang around each season and play just a handful of games (comfort zone ??). His career is going nowhere fast at present. He should be banging Lordo’s door down and demanding to play more often!
 
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august04

Well-Known Member
#16
The difference in the ISL was that there was no import limit. It didn’t really matter if you had an import on the bench, you weren’t missing out on a possible additional import player .
We have enough strength to accommodate this, with our Brit corp, particularly with Duggan as an U-23. Before we had a spare import, we’d often be missing one import through injury. The loss of one doesn’t have a huge impact when we can still go with 4 lines. Losing an extra import skater hasn’t done Belfast any harm this year has it? 80 odd high pressure games is too much for predominantly one netminder. And I’m sure two potential starters in tandem would push each other on.
 

Kevlar68

Well-Known Member
#17
What if Bowns wants to play every game? As a player you never want to be dropped and if you were feeling the strain a player would say and ask to be dropped for 1 or 2 games to get fitness back. You wouldn't play at the cost of your team losing if you weren't up to it.
 

Kevin roog

Well-Known Member
#18
What’s changed with murdy. Last season lord played him away to mk lightning and Guildford in the challenge cup away games. No way would he play him now. Only Coventry dead rubbber away game
 

Ocko

Well-Known Member
#19
A perfectly valid argument if we could find a Brit from elsewhere good enough to replace one of our imports. If you replace Bowns with an import NM you have to replace an import with a Brit or we go back to 3 lines (which is never going to happen). I can’t think of many Brits who are better than any of our imports, let alone factoring whether we could afford them or whether they’d want to come here.
 
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