Cardiff Devils Confirmed Signings & Departures 2023/24
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
One of the big problems we had last season apart from defence, and apart from puck retention, and apart from coaching... (Well you get the idea, before this becomes "what have the Romans ever done for us?") was our poor performance in the face off circle. For that reason alone I can see us replacing penny. He showed flashes of what he's capable of, but for a centre we need more and we need younger.
Steve was right in saying that big Lou was a favourite of all of the owners. And Sharon's all time favourite. I had a direct conversation with Lou and expressed our appreciation and love for his stalwart presence. He made his teammates play bigger and always had their backs. He loved the Devils as much as we did him. He had big moments in big games and helped us lift a lot of. Silverware.
I think my lasting memory of Blake Thompson will be him falling over like bambi on ice several times trying to join a mele at the end of the game vs Guildford flames. Have to admit I think we certainly had to upgrade on Thompson, too many giveaways and not enough upside to compensate...and if River is a direct replacement we can hope this is definitely an improvement.
This being said I think there is a decent player in there. I remember at the start of the season the consensus was overwhelming positive on Thompson. Sometimes things just don't click and a coach doesn't get the best out of certain players. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a good season with Blaze.
This being said I think there is a decent player in there. I remember at the start of the season the consensus was overwhelming positive on Thompson. Sometimes things just don't click and a coach doesn't get the best out of certain players. I wouldn't be surprised if he had a good season with Blaze.
No surprise here but Crawford goes as well for me. I appreciate why we might, and probably will retain him but as I’ve said many times, in my opinion he was the giveaway king, not Thompson. Crawford might be growing and has time to develop but he can do that elsewhere. We shouldn’t be the club that spends money on someone who isn’t where we need them to be. We just aren’t that club (unless of course they are a Brit then it’s entirely different). Crawford’s points are impressive but I want those spread across our forwards. Plenty of offensive D men out there that can contribute in a more functional way than him. I don’t want to see pointless giveaways, needless icings and petulant penalties. He was on the ice when we conceded some big goals and was responsible very often for OT losses.
An unpopular opinion but nevertheless, defence wins leagues. I want more stability than Crawford.
Thompson was a cheap pick up and did well in patches. Respectfully, he probably performed as expected for his experience and calibre.
An unpopular opinion but nevertheless, defence wins leagues. I want more stability than Crawford.
Thompson was a cheap pick up and did well in patches. Respectfully, he probably performed as expected for his experience and calibre.
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Just want to add some agreement, and some actual stats to this.
Over the entire season, Thompson had 15 games where his +/- was negative, the rest he was either even, or he had a positive +/-, with some games even being +3 on multiple occasions.
For me, it was down to defence pairing, and coaching. Blake Thompson should have come in and been a third pairing d-man at best, and would have been solid back there with a defensively sound partner, like a Lou.
I fully expect Danny Stewart to get much more out of Thompson than Brodie ever did.
Best of luck to him, except against us.
Over the entire season, Thompson had 15 games where his +/- was negative, the rest he was either even, or he had a positive +/-, with some games even being +3 on multiple occasions.
For me, it was down to defence pairing, and coaching. Blake Thompson should have come in and been a third pairing d-man at best, and would have been solid back there with a defensively sound partner, like a Lou.
I fully expect Danny Stewart to get much more out of Thompson than Brodie ever did.
Best of luck to him, except against us.
