I think the important thing is to fix what hasn’t worked this season and look where players fall into the game plan to improve these. Not just go about things in a trigger happy fashion.
Issues have been inconsistency, lack of secondary scoring, lack of defensive zone responsibility, lack of ability to play in traffic areas, mental weakness in adversity, low % special teams, lack of game changing league leading presence.
Now I’d asses most players as if they contributed significantly to these issues and if so it’s then about confidence if they can step up and improve or if they will rinse and repeat in which case you look to upgrade.
Also a few players will need to give a home town discount if they want to continue so their financial hit isn’t too restrictive on the roster and be prepared to move down the line up else they will need to be moved on also unfortunately.
Personal opinion is you keep:
Bownsey - assigned as number 2 in tandem with associated discount
Crawford - Risk and Reward player. Still improving though.
Thompson - I’m moving Louis on and I think Thompson would be a good no 5 D man. I like him but would like him to play a bit nastier and with more of a chip on his shoulder physically.
Ritchie - Solid as a rock again. Slowly moving down the pairings with age but still the best British defensive D man
Batch - Not his best season but not sure it was so bad you see him out. Question where Batchy is concerned is if you are going for a 4-2 Import/Brit split or 5/1. If Batchy is happy to be a utility guy then he’s a must keep.
Martin - Still got the 200 ft game and compete level of a champ. However his offensive execution wasn’t quite as clinical as before. I’m keeping Joey but considering he moved down one line to the 2nd.
Coughler - Really like Coughler. Brings the compete level and identity of a Devil playing a direct style. Again however he’s my third line centre.
Brandt - Does exactly what it says on the tin. Character, passion, determination. Glue guy. Sets a culture. Can be a game changer. Only getting better also.
Waller - Great player and brings a speed to the break out hard to compensate for. His finishing has also improved. Just needs to be prepared to use his speed to go into traffic and not play so peripheral and he will scare D men if he goes at them aggressively.
Davies - Classic 4th line centre. You can’t ask for much more other than maybe a bit more scoring. Great PK player also.
Duggan - I want to see Duggy establish his style as a player. He tries to be a complete player but sometimes that appears to introduce doubt. Would just like to see him do things with more authority but again hugely valuable on 4th line.
The only two I’m then on the fence with is Cox and Sanford. If they want to stay then they need to do so on the second line. They are very good and play well together but also do exactly that and sometimes just play together ignoring others on the ice. They also kind of epitomise the teams inconsistency where they can score in bunches and then go missing.
The huge challenge is managing the budget as Belfast can clearly beat everyone in league financially so you need a lot of players to buy in with their contracts which in the EIHL is very hard. And even harder with a major roster overhaul.
