Signings Thread - All Teams 2022/23
- Thread starter Chris
- Start date
I think you might be underestimating how many goalies of that quality are out there. Mac played majority of his NA games in the ECHL, and he hasn't played in a major European league.
I know CVs aren't everything, but there's literally hundreds of goalies of that quality. Not all would want to come here of course but it shouldn't be difficult for Belfast to find someone the same or even better than Mac.
I know CVs aren't everything, but there's literally hundreds of goalies of that quality. Not all would want to come here of course but it shouldn't be difficult for Belfast to find someone the same or even better than Mac.
How do we feel about Belfast’s recruitment so far? Looks like they’ve still got 4 forwards to announce (Rumours that David Gilbert is one of those and possibly Logan Neilson another) so I’m sure when their group of forwards are confirmed they’ll look strong.
On paper they look weaker at the back than last season for me. “On paper” being the important words there. Surely Beskorowany and Reinhart will be big losses for them
On paper they look weaker at the back than last season for me. “On paper” being the important words there. Surely Beskorowany and Reinhart will be big losses for them
Besko’s replacement is https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/285204/peyton-jones
They’ve also announced Whistle and Conway.
They’ve also announced Whistle and Conway.
I may be out of line or completely wide of the mark, but:
There seems to be an elevation of Carruth since he left the Devils - that whilst everyone seems to agree about his quality (and shortcomings) that he has recently taken on this mantle of being a Championship-winning NM...
EP will show him as a one-and-done for the Devils, a quality NM that left with a playoff title. But that's it. As with any NM at this level there were soft goals, bad nights etc to compare to the shut outs and saves that he had no right to make. (I could have written that last sentence about Ben Bowns)
Stick him in net behind a mediocre defence (or a decent defence and BOC) and over the course of the season he won't be able to deliver a clean sweep by himself. Not really how team sports work.
Don't get me wrong - I would have loved to have kept Mac. But at this rate amongst some fans he will have been canonized by Christmas. Which is not great for a Devil...
There seems to be an elevation of Carruth since he left the Devils - that whilst everyone seems to agree about his quality (and shortcomings) that he has recently taken on this mantle of being a Championship-winning NM...
EP will show him as a one-and-done for the Devils, a quality NM that left with a playoff title. But that's it. As with any NM at this level there were soft goals, bad nights etc to compare to the shut outs and saves that he had no right to make. (I could have written that last sentence about Ben Bowns)
Stick him in net behind a mediocre defence (or a decent defence and BOC) and over the course of the season he won't be able to deliver a clean sweep by himself. Not really how team sports work.
Don't get me wrong - I would have loved to have kept Mac. But at this rate amongst some fans he will have been canonized by Christmas. Which is not great for a Devil...
Add I've said before, I consider carruth to be the second best goalie we've ever had (Herlofsky being the best). His positioning is as good as besky, but with better puck handling and probably poorer attitude. It's true though that there are plenty of really good goalies out there. But for them to come to the eihl they usually either need to be on the tail end of their career (like the stay-puft marshmallow man at Sheffield), or be flawed in some way. Carruth stood on his head for us, but you can only hang a goalie out to dry so many times without paying the price. If the team hadn't carried BOC for so long, may be he would have got a league title.
When the news was leaked that Carruth was joining Herning after a recommendation from DuPont I did wonder if some of our fans might be angry at DuPont for this.
As it turns out, DuPont getting Carruth signed up early in a different league instead of being a target for our rivals has proved a masterstroke. Whilst I agree with Devils86 that his reputation is already being (IMO) over-inflated - looking around the EIHL it looks very likely that Carruth would have been the top netminder in the league next season - at least based on their experience and reputations.
I can't remember so many other EIHL teams taking big gambles on their netminder as clubs are this year.
Peyton Jones in Belfast has the potential to be a very good netminder, but he's very inexperienced.
During his 4 years in the NCAA he set a record for his team for the most wins, but his stats aren't actually that great. Certainly not the best averages in the league.
He's only had two seasons as a pro and not played half the games in those two years -and again his stats aren't that great.
Glasgow, Manchester and Nottingham are all taking gambles on netminders with either little Pro experience or so few games in recent years.
Fife have Shane Owen who is a known quantity and can be good on any given night but the only netminder signing so far that impresses me is McAdam at Guildford. That's the type of signing I was expecting from Belfast.
Coventry, Dundee and Sheffield are all still to sign their netminder. Several Sheffield fans are getting nervous that Brust keeps showing up in the promotional media.......
As it turns out, DuPont getting Carruth signed up early in a different league instead of being a target for our rivals has proved a masterstroke. Whilst I agree with Devils86 that his reputation is already being (IMO) over-inflated - looking around the EIHL it looks very likely that Carruth would have been the top netminder in the league next season - at least based on their experience and reputations.
I can't remember so many other EIHL teams taking big gambles on their netminder as clubs are this year.
Peyton Jones in Belfast has the potential to be a very good netminder, but he's very inexperienced.
During his 4 years in the NCAA he set a record for his team for the most wins, but his stats aren't actually that great. Certainly not the best averages in the league.
He's only had two seasons as a pro and not played half the games in those two years -and again his stats aren't that great.
Glasgow, Manchester and Nottingham are all taking gambles on netminders with either little Pro experience or so few games in recent years.
Fife have Shane Owen who is a known quantity and can be good on any given night but the only netminder signing so far that impresses me is McAdam at Guildford. That's the type of signing I was expecting from Belfast.
Coventry, Dundee and Sheffield are all still to sign their netminder. Several Sheffield fans are getting nervous that Brust keeps showing up in the promotional media.......
It could be that some teams are gambling on deferring resources from netminding to other positions. Perhaps they think that if they can play a trap, or deny attackers position in the slot, they can keep the goals against down. If that's their plan, physicality to get into those high percentage positions becomes critical. I feel that our chances of doing that this season are vastly improved.
