If we get a season 21/22

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #41
It’s a head versus heart thing sometimes,my heart obviously says Oct/Nov could be workable though cautiously, then my head says maybe I am jumping the gun with the new year maybe a target. Trouble is it’s all guesswork, as who really knows, answer no one. I think around about June/July we will have a better idea to those questions, it’s in the hand of the gods unfortunately, All we can say is that it’s going to be one hell of a time when we are able to return, that day will be so unbelievably precious, not just for the hockey, but being able to see so many amazing friends will most certainly be a joyous day for sure. We most certainly will get there it’s just when, in the meantime take good care all, stay safe, keep the faith, and remember good things come to those who wait.
 

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#42
Difficult to see that after vaccinating everyone, hopefully in August, what more can be done? A vaccinated public and a good system of testing, or tracking, depends which route the government goes down, has to be enough. If it isn't, then there will be no full stadiums or concerts or indoor events for a decade or more.
 

rocketbob

Well-Known Member
#43
Difficult to see that after vaccinating everyone, hopefully in August, what more can be done? A vaccinated public and a good system of testing, or tracking, depends which route the government goes down, has to be enough. If it isn't, then there will be no full stadiums or concerts or indoor events for a decade or more.
There has to be a route out of this as New Zealand has had rock concerts and full attendance outdoor sporting events already. If nothing else, testing and vaccination technology will advance even more over time. Hopefully once the global numbers go down over time and with vaccination the capacity for mutations and fresh variants of Covid will be reduced to some extent.
 

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#44
New Zealand for the past 9 months though have been in a completely different position. They have had no Covid in the population, and so carrying out these events have been risk free. It will however be interesting to see how they deal with opening their borders to the Covid world.
Here, and for most of the world, covid is endemic and is not going anywhere. We need to come up with a system that will enable us to live with it. Vaccination is a huge part of that, but not enough on it's own. Hopefully this summer will be the time where a system will be worked out to let events run here, be it a vaccine passport type system, or rapid testing or whatever.

Even though NZ have been living normally, they have still been having to scan in to every pub, restaurant, event they have been going to. An effective system like that for us could be the ticket back to hockey.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#45
Sept/Oct is a long time away. The entire population will be vaccinated by then so I’m looking positively at next season. Cases will also reduce in the summer so we could be in a good position come the autumn. I can also see advances in rapid testing with times being reduced to minutes. That would really help us for crowd driven venues. Turn up, test, prove result then in you go. Not sure anything else can be done apart form maybe the standard hand sanitising stations. Can’t stay closed for ever when we’ve utilised all the tools available.

The only spanner in the works could be variants that negate the vaccines useless/very ineffective. In that case, we’d be back to square one god forbid!
 

rocketbob

Well-Known Member
#46
Sept/Oct is a long time away. The entire population will be vaccinated by then so I’m looking positively at next season. Cases will also reduce in the summer so we could be in a good position come the autumn. I can also see advances in rapid testing with times being reduced to minutes. That would really help us for crowd driven venues. Turn up, test, prove result then in you go. Not sure anything else can be done apart form maybe the standard hand sanitising stations. Can’t stay closed for ever when we’ve utilised all the tools available.

The only spanner in the works could be variants that negate the vaccines useless/very ineffective. In that case, we’d be back to square one god forbid!
I am hoping that we get to lower levels during the summer and the £1,000 per day consultants manage to get our track and trace system up to standard pushing us closer to the South Korean or NZ standards. Wishful thinking maybe.
Also, regarding the variants, there is vaccine development work ongoing targeting one of the more stable parts of the virus (i.e. less prone to mutation). If successful this will give us a bigger stick to hit the virus with for a longer period. I definitely think that we will need to be taking more than the current round of vaccines to get completely out of this but whether levels become low enough and management of mini outbreaks continues to be effective then risk levels may get to a low enough point were almost everyone will both feel and be safe watching hockey indoors.
 

BostonBart22

Well-Known Member
#47
New Zealand for the past 9 months though have been in a completely different position. They have had no Covid in the population, and so carrying out these events have been risk free. It will however be interesting to see how they deal with opening their borders to the Covid world.
Here, and for most of the world, covid is endemic and is not going anywhere. We need to come up with a system that will enable us to live with it. Vaccination is a huge part of that, but not enough on it's own. Hopefully this summer will be the time where a system will be worked out to let events run here, be it a vaccine passport type system, or rapid testing or whatever.

Even though NZ have been living normally, they have still been having to scan in to every pub, restaurant, event they have been going to. An effective system like that for us could be the ticket back to hockey.
NZ when alerted back feb/march last year stopped travel in and out of country, correct me if wrong , pretty sure 24 deaths in their first lockdown, since then they have been on top of it, only last week someone was tested positive and straight away PM called for a mini lockdown for 3 days, all done and dusted now opened back up today, that was the difference between 2 prime ministers and timing.
 
#48
Circling back to @Wannabe2's point at the start of this thread in how the Devils may look when hockey returns - I remember Skalde saying in an interview he wants to play a quicker, more skill-based system with his team and seemed a tad dismissive of the physical side of things (though not completely dismissive, I must say).

I've never watched one of his teams play before, but how could this impact who returns and who Skalde recruits? Would you rather a sort of rebuild or try and keep some familiar faces to try and ease him into t?
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #49
Well seeing as Riley, Pope, Benny, Masi, Linglet, Morrison, McNamee, look like retirees, Reddick, McMonagle look like not returning, also maybe Bownsy that’s 10 to replace already. Think all the Brits will return, so I think defo,s are maybe Martin, Louis, Haddad, with possibly, hopefully, Dixon, Fournier,Mosey, and Jardine. So possibly 50% + to replace, so a big job ahead as with most teams, providing of course we are safe and able to move forward. As for Skalde recruits we are very lucky here to have someone like Todd who knows the league inside out to bounce ideas off, and hopefully this partnership will prove as successful as the last one. So that’s my take on this, look forward to reading others opinions. Stay Safe All.
 

ASHIPP

Well-Known Member
#50
Well seeing as Riley, Pope, Benny, Masi, Linglet, Morrison, McNamee, look like retirees, Reddick, McMonagle look like not returning, also maybe Bownsy that’s 10 to replace already. Think all the Brits will return, so I think defo,s are maybe Martin, Louis, Haddad, with possibly, hopefully, Dixon, Fournier,Mosey, and Jardine. So possibly 50% + to replace, so a big job ahead as with most teams, providing of course we are safe and able to move forward. As for Skalde recruits we are very lucky here to have someone like Todd who knows the league inside out to bounce ideas off, and hopefully this partnership will prove as successful as the last one. So that’s my take on this, look forward to reading others opinions. Stay Safe All.
Nothing nurtures loyalty more than reward and feeling valued. Very clever of Lord to appoint Captaincy and Alternate Captaincy at Swamp Rabbits to Haddad and Jardine.
I don't doubt the original idea was to offer them opportunities when they needed to play meaningful hockey when UK went to lockdown...but Lord also wanted and needed experienced players to help consistency and stability on his own team. Now, with reward for performance, and if they have enjoyed their time in S Carolina, it makes their decision to stay there a little bit easier.

Our best shot at import players returning to the Devils.. Mark Louis (whose partner lives here) and possibly GOAT if he wants to because he IS the Cardiff Devils. Hopefully all our current British players and Evan (Mosey) do return as they are a keystone element of the Team.

Apart from that, it looks like it's going to be a reset in style and personnel under our new coach. Exciting times.
 
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moggy#9

Well-Known Member
#51
Circling back to @Wannabe2's point at the start of this thread in how the Devils may look when hockey returns - I remember Skalde saying in an interview he wants to play a quicker, more skill-based system with his team and seemed a tad dismissive of the physical side of things (though not completely dismissive, I must say).

I've never watched one of his teams play before, but how could this impact who returns and who Skalde recruits? Would you rather a sort of rebuild or try and keep some familiar faces to try and ease him into t?
I think there's going to be a bit of a learning curve for the new coach while he learns about the league. This is where Todd and, hopefully, the core players will help. While I think a skill based approach would be fun to watch, there'd be a risk of some teams trying to bully us. No doubt there'd also be an element of fans complaining that the hockey was boring (I sometimes wonder if they'd only be happy if we signed ogie Oglethorpe). Personally I think that the key to success in our league is tactical flexibility, and of course that depends on recruitment.
 

Wannabe2

Well-Known Member
Thread starter #52
Myself I reckon Todd knows what Cardiff is all about, we have been a skilled team for many seasons now, but with some toughness thrown in, Louis, Faryna, Riley, Batch, Hedden, Hotham, Lord, Marsh, Voth,all guys that can look after themselves, but very good players also. We all realise the days of fights fights fights have gone even though when a fight breaks out, no one falls asleep or leaves the building. Our team now will always be based on skill/ speed, but most certainly not be a team that could be bullied, Todd wouldn’t have that at Belfast, and most certainly wouldn’t have it at Cardiff, it’s a balancing game now, and I can see our great success carrying on. Stay Safe All.
 

KaneDevils

Well-Known Member
#53
Quite honestly , hand on heart, i think there will be a 21/22 season. In fact, ill put money on it. Albeit, a small amount.

Think the brits will be back, agree with ocko in regards to bowns, although jardine at 27 making the AHL im not so sure about, but dont think he will return, nor do i believe haddad or fournier will either.

As has been said, and its spot on, those wanting to return may differ to who the new coach wants to return. Although youd have to be clinically insane not to want Haddad, Martin, fournier etc back.

Guess time will eventually tell. Everything crossed for "next season".
 

osh

Well-Known Member
#54
Can see a new broom sweeping clean when it comes to recruiting players for a hopeful 21/22 season. The only way I see many of our players back on the ice in Cardiff will be for testimonial games !
 

moggy#9

Well-Known Member
#55
Quite honestly , hand on heart, i think there will be a 21/22 season. In fact, ill put money on it. Albeit, a small amount.

Think the brits will be back, agree with ocko in regards to bowns, although jardine at 27 making the AHL im not so sure about, but dont think he will return, nor do i believe haddad or fournier will either.

As has been said, and its spot on, those wanting to return may differ to who the new coach wants to return. Although youd have to be clinically insane not to want Haddad, Martin, fournier etc back.

Guess time will eventually tell. Everything crossed for "next season".
I can see Haddad being back simply because, from what I hear, it's a better life for players than the minor leagues (particularly in terms of travel), and no matter how well he plays I wonder how much his age counts against him in terms of getting called up to the next level. Further however, I fear, is lost to us. I hope jardine is back, but I wouldn't be surprised if he stays the other side of the pond.
 

Devil94

Well-Known Member
#56
As a new coach to the league, I suspect he will want as many old faces back as he can. Starting to coach in a new league, especially one as unique as ours, is tough enough as it is, without having a whole new team to do it with. I would imagine retaining players who have been very successful for the club and the league would be his top priority.
 

august04 2.0

Well-Known Member
#57
Skalde has stated that he wants to play a fast paced, skilled game. While I’d love to see a few returnees (and an element of toughness retained) our team was ageing and I believe it’s the right time for a re-set and for the new coach to bring in some new blood. I‘m sure he’s going to be allowed to recruit the players that he wants and I’m looking forward to seeing a faster style of play next season. If we have a season that is....trying to be positive but its difficult at times!
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#58
One further consideration .... it’s possible we may be operating under a smaller budget when we restart. We’ve already lost our headline sponsor with no replacement yet announced. It’s also possible some of the secondary sponsors might have struggled throughout Covid so no guarantees they’ll all be back.

The upshot being we might have to cut our cloth accordingly which could have a bearing on Coach Skalde’s plans.

I’d like to see us pick up a few younger players from the NCAA. Morgan was a great pick up for Belfast last season.
 
#59
I can see Haddad being back simply because, from what I hear, it's a better life for players than the minor leagues (particularly in terms of travel), and no matter how well he plays I wonder how much his age counts against him in terms of getting called up to the next level. Further however, I fear, is lost to us. I hope jardine is back, but I wouldn't be surprised if he stays the other side of the pond.
Hard to see how ECHL opportunities would be more enticing than a Devils return for guys like Haddad who are settled in Cardiff. I remember Todd saying when he was a guest on Dundee's podcast that players over here earn more than they do in the ECHL so there'd have to be other factors for sure. Plus, there'll be a fresher feel around the Devils when hockey's back so I can see the core guys wanting to be a part of that.

I'd be shocked to see Marty anywhere other than Cardiff unless bigger leagues come knocking. I thought he was already confirmed to be back next year when we announced he was going (but I could be wrong).

As for Jards, I really hope he comes back. I can see him being a star for us for years and I just love his attitude.

Though, I think Todd earned a lot of that from the guys who resigned and managed to find opportunities outside the UK. Those players might appreciate that and want to return the favour.
 

kingmo19.1

Well-Known Member
#60
A little bit of clarity today from Boris, but obviously dependent on how things pan out over time :-

Step three will happen no earlier than 17 May
  • Outdoors most social contact rules lifted, up to limit of 30 people
  • Mixing indoors allowed for two households, but rule-of-six for indoor hospitality and elsewhere
  • Cinemas, soft play centres, museums, rest of accommodation sector, hotels, indoor exercise classes return
  • Performances and sporting events resume - larger performances with venues 1,000+ or half full will be allowed indoors and outdoors 4,000 capacity or half full (whichever lowest)
  • In very largest outdoor seated venues such as football stadiums up to 10,000 people allowed to attend (or 1/4 full whichever is lowest)
 
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