Rumours & Offseason Nonsense 2019/20

SteveKing

Well-Known Member
#41
Thanks Glynn. I felt awful about not being there. Too many business trips as well as my youngest going to the Canadian national championships for Midget AAA hockey in Ontario this weekend made it too tough. Also, the boys have a bit of a losing streak with us in attendance so I (meaning my superstitious wife) figured we should build up a few wins during the CHL and regular season before we come for another big game!
 

jimmy snels

Well-Known Member
#42
Lord is still young as a coach and learning on the job. I'm of the view he found this season the most difficult by some margin but he's come through it richer from the experience.

He's been unbelievable for us and he's a natural leader, you can see that - if he gets approached from a team in a bigger league nobody will stand in his way. I think he'll be with us a couple more years yet though (thankfully).

genuine question here, do you feel our roster was on less money than the rest of the big teams and he's exceeded expectations? i kinda think looking at it we would always be there or there abouts. we signed a hell of a lot of AHL experienced guys where as a number of the other clubs ECHL was their kinda level if we're honest. the coaching/ leading side for me comes from how we turn around poor periods. how we close out games. our style and brand of hockey. at times this year we seemed a tad one dimensional and lacking a plan B. that might be a recruitment thing but again that falls lord's way. im genuinely not sure lordo has exceeded expectations yet to shout how he's ready to move on seems a tad premature from others. im glad we're settled and he's here dont get me wrong. im just not of the opinion lordo has made himself this prize cow quite yet
 

Devils86

Well-Known Member
#44
I know all the guys will be saying the same thing (either out of politeness or instruction) but a lot of them seem to want to stay into next year. Some obvious fixtures are pretty much nailed on it seems.

“Be a couple weeks before they know anything for sure” is the recurring message - might just be a fob off to me!

Even if some people don’t rate individuals on the ice, they are all gentlemen off it to the last guy, and a credit to the organisation.
 

matbur

Well-Known Member
#45
genuine question here, do you feel our roster was on less money than the rest of the big teams and he's exceeded expectations? ...
It's a fair question and without knowing anything about our budget, I would hazard a guess that's it definitely competitive within our own league. That said, it would be pretty easy to hand pick players looking at their CVs and AHL experience etc... What Lord has done well, is recruit players and got them to buy into what the team wants to achieve. Look at some other EIHL teams and it's fair to say that some imports arrive looking to wind things down and pick up a wage. Fournier's recent comments were interesting (back from the awards night?); he mentioned along the lines of coming here and pretty much winding his career down with a view of retiring sooner rather than later. Instead, he rediscovered his game, started enjoying his hockey again and his career is on a upward trajectory again - Fournier has clearly been fantastic but it's Lord who's got him going again, it's down to good management. Quite a few of the team have been around for a few years now, they wouldn't be here that long if the management wasn't right.

Brand of hockey, everyone will have their own ideas but for whatever reason, players at his disposal/personal preference, Lord plays a certain way but it is backed up by trophies.

Game management, probably was the determining factor that saw us narrowly miss out on the league title, and it'll be interesting to see how that's addressed moving forward and that is, for me, the biggest challenge facing Lord for next season.

Sorry if was is a bit long winded, but in short I don't think any team can win consistently on budget alone and his record speaks for itself.

Any professional sport is a competitive industry, and if our name keeps popping up as being successful, it'll be a matter of time before some other owner or GM takes note of Lord.
 

JT666

Active Member
#46
Another perspective on the toughness debate, maybe players decide to stay longer, or prolong their careers, because they aren't expected to go out and get battered around every night. Although most of us love a fight, or crave big hits every shift, physically it can't be great for your body in the long term. Maybe the promise of the Devils playing a more skilled game attracts more players than it puts off?

Saying that, Stephen Dixon in particular clearly didn't get the above memo! Haha. He'd be near the very top of my list of re-signings, brilliant player.
 

Foxy

Well-Known Member
#47
Thanks Glynn. I felt awful about not being there. Too many business trips as well as my youngest going to the Canadian national championships for Midget AAA hockey in Ontario this weekend made it too tough. Also, the boys have a bit of a losing streak with us in attendance so I (meaning my superstitious wife) figured we should build up a few wins during the CHL and regular season before we come for another big game!
LOL i did make that observation after the last Dundee away game when Brian came over...... you know we love you all really:)
 

hip check

Well-Known Member
#48
Another perspective on the toughness debate, maybe players decide to stay longer, or prolong their careers, because they aren't expected to go out and get battered around every night. Although most of us love a fight, or crave big hits every shift, physically it can't be great for your body in the long term. Maybe the promise of the Devils playing a more skilled game attracts more players than it puts off?

Saying that, Stephen Dixon in particular clearly didn't get the above memo! Haha. He'd be near the very top of my list of re-signings, brilliant player.
You can be tough without being violent (unless there is a need for it), someone like Craig Weller wouldn't need to fight he would have total respect from opponents who would know not to mess with the guy, this is one element we were short on last season imo.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#49
genuine question here, do you feel our roster was on less money than the rest of the big teams and he's exceeded expectations? i kinda think looking at it we would always be there or there abouts. we signed a hell of a lot of AHL experienced guys where as a number of the other clubs ECHL was their kinda level if we're honest. the coaching/ leading side for me comes from how we turn around poor periods. how we close out games. our style and brand of hockey. at times this year we seemed a tad one dimensional and lacking a plan B. that might be a recruitment thing but again that falls lord's way. im genuinely not sure lordo has exceeded expectations yet to shout how he's ready to move on seems a tad premature from others. im glad we're settled and he's here dont get me wrong. im just not of the opinion lordo has made himself this prize cow quite yet
Personally no l don’t feel our rosterwas on less money than the rest of the big teams and he’s exceeded expectations. The recruitment at Sheffield and Notthingham has been average to poor, I’d place fault on that at budget level, not poor recruitment.
Lords coaching has more of a motivational approach than strategic planning, he appears to struggle at times. I’d also suggest with some players he’s tried to change their game, to the dissatisfaction of a few.
I’m not convinced Lord would sit comfortably within an organisation that demanded a results or leave type of situation with a tight budget. The Devils organisation has given Lord the resources to get results, frankly it’d be a very poor coach that didn’t get results at Cardiff.
It’s an ideal fit, everyone in Cardiff loves the Lord. How long for depends on the rest, if the league remains a two or three horse race yr on yr, Lords quids in, if not, if it really does come down to it...........
 

Rich Best

Well-Known Member
#51
Personally no l don’t feel our rosterwas on less money than the rest of the big teams and he’s exceeded expectations. The recruitment at Sheffield and Notthingham has been average to poor, I’d place fault on that at budget level, not poor recruitment.
Lords coaching has more of a motivational approach than strategic planning, he appears to struggle at times. I’d also suggest with some players he’s tried to change their game, to the dissatisfaction of a few.
I’m not convinced Lord would sit comfortably within an organisation that demanded a results or leave type of situation with a tight budget. The Devils organisation has given Lord the resources to get results, frankly it’d be a very poor coach that didn’t get results at Cardiff.
It’s an ideal fit, everyone in Cardiff loves the Lord. How long for depends on the rest, if the league remains a two or three horse race yr on yr, Lords quids in, if not, if it really does come down to it...........
"I’m not convinced Lord would sit comfortably within an organisation that demanded a results or leave type of situation"

You don't think the Devil's are an organisation that demands results / trophies? I disagree. Right from the top I believe we are. Todd (for example) would simply not accept an empty trophy cabinet. Winning is absolutely entwined in the culture of the Devil's organisation now, and whoever is coach is under pressure to bring trophies (but is of course supported to do so).
 
#54
Is this lad the son of Kevin Conway, he was a superb hockey player who came over from Canada and played for Basingstoke.
Certainly is Glyn, and has the Perlini bloodline in him aswell so not a bad tutorship to have.

I was just looking at Kevin Conways points in some of the leagues he played. Crazy when you look back on it. Those cricket score games were long and often very very one way but wow were they entertaining. That said, it’s good to see no team has to have that constant embarrassment week in week out anymore, to be a supporter or keeper for one of them teams must have been testing on reflection.
 

Mazzoak

Well-Known Member
#56
You don't think the Devil's are an organisation that demands results / trophies? I disagree. Right from the top I believe we are. Todd (for example) would simply not accept an empty trophy cabinet. Winning is absolutely entwined in the culture of the Devil's organisation now, and whoever is coach is under pressure to bring trophies (but is of course supported to do so).
It’s all relative, but no l don’t think the Devils are trophy hunters at all costs. In my opinion fan attendance is the no 1 priority. I don’t know if that’s motivated by greed or good business sense, I suspect a bit of both, not that that’s a bad thing.

If we hadn’t won anything this yr and came in third in the league 10 points below 2nd, do you think Todd would have sacked Lord. Not a chance, the only way Lord is out is if it became so dire that attendance levels dropped regularly, we are years away from that scenario as other clubs are not keeping up, Cardiff and Belfast compete for top honours, the rest compete amongst themselves.
 

terry hunt

Well-Known Member
#57
Is this lad the son of Kevin Conway, he was a superb hockey player who came over from Canada and played for Basingstoke.
He played with legends such as Merv Priest,Strachan,Burnicle amongst others.Not forgetting one of our old favourites Norm Pinnington of "he wears a pineapple on his ed" fame.
 

BostonBart22

Well-Known Member
#58
He played with legends such as Merv Priest,Strachan,Burnicle amongst others.Not forgetting one of our old favourites Norm Pinnington of "he wears a pineapple on his ed" fame.
yes a hard nut stormin norman wouldnt back down from anyone for a little guy he took on some of the biggest including grant slater panthers i think it was, what a scrap, also remember a durham game which ended up in a mass brawl and am sure it was abandoned with norman and weaver handcuffed and taken away in a police van , think our old friend ross lambert and 3 others followed in another police vehicle...god those were the days...
 
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