Who do you want to re-sign next season?

[Chris]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

A thread like this has already been locked I think, but this one isn't and probably won't be, unless one of the other mods does it.

It's got nothing to do with censorship, if we lock it people will have a moan at us for locking another thread, if we don't lock it people will have a moan at us.

Seems easier to just leave it alone and hope no one else responds and it drops off the first page until after the playoffs.

 

[jodysstillagirlsname]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

A thread like this has already been locked I think, but this one isn't and probably won't be, unless one of the other mods does it.

It's got nothing to do with censorship, if we lock it people will have a moan at us for locking another thread, if we don't lock it people will have a moan at us.

Seems easier to just leave it alone and hope no one else responds and it drops off the first page until after the playoffs.

So true Chris, I think self moderation is best until the season ends, but then it will be 'don't post negatives as it will prevent players signing' I can appreciate people don't want individuals to be criticised, the players are part of a depleted roster, maybe the club's management fault, maybe not. But they need the fans to give them every chance to compete in what is going to be an uphill battle for a trophy and no less than they deserve for their efforts against adversity

 

[noodlesboy]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

I may have sent this a bit askew with a post, but I'd like to bring this back on topic if I can.

Firstly I'm super happy that faulkner and batch have committed for next season. Mac from what I understand is very vocal in the dressing room and has the attitude you'd expect for a devils player, just gutting his season was ended too soon. Batch has come on so much since last season, scoring and stepping up to fight. Think he has suddenly realised he's pretty big and can be a very intimidating to other teams. Keep on progressing I say!

I'd love to see blight back for sure, loved his speed and agility! Ben I'd like to see back too, he does have his points to work on, like his one-on-one, but the energy and effort he has put in has been great. Hitting Olson who's must be a good foot if not more taller than him! Fair play!

Also the Smiths I'd like to see back, piggott, Marsh, gimblett and Quiney.

 

[jodysstillagirlsname]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

Ben I'd like to see back too, he does have his points to work on, like his one-on-one, but the energy and effort he has put in has been great. Hitting Olson who's must be a good foot if not more taller than him! Fair play!y.

Never mind Olsen the way he hit Lepine last week was great

 

[noodlesboy]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

Ben I'd like to see back too, he does have his points to work on, like his one-on-one, but the energy and effort he has put in has been great. Hitting Olson who's must be a good foot if not more taller than him! Fair play!y.

Never mind Olsen the way he hit Lepine last week was great

Yeah and that! He just seems to think "well if the big guys need some spurring on to hit then why not..." and gives it some welly. Must be a bit of a shock to lepine or Olson when someone of bens height hits them!

 

[darran]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

the only imports i would keep next season would be blight , marsh , faulkner and g . lets have a clear out fresh new blood needed

 

[schulersagoodun]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

Imports:- 1. Macrae
2. Faulkner
3. Birbraer

Brits:- 1. Mark Richardson
2. Ben Davies
3. Josh Batch
4. Luke Piggott

 

[Dai Vader]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

Can't we all wait until after tomorrows game/playoffs before stating which players to stay gas etc, it won't help our cause.

 

[Sheincar]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

Imports:- 1. Macrae
2. Faulkner
3. Birbraer

Brits:- 1. Mark Richardson
2. Ben Davies
3. Josh Batch
4. Luke Piggott

Blight get 1 +4 tonight & is not wanted back

 

[Skippy]

Re: Who do you want to resign next season?

Will unlock after the season.

 

[jimmy snels]

On top of the players already signed I would keep :
Davies (great season-final product improving)
Richardson (still the best Dman from UK)
Piggot (who id assume would stay as his day job is in Cardiff)
Blight (really stDistributioner for us)
And possibly stuuuu if he fancies it

I know max is on this building corse so he'll end up staying but Im starting to think it might be a season too many for us. There's hardly any 'boom boom' left in his body

Smiths ~ both have commitments in the area but again im not sure having these guys offers enough physical play to warrant keeping them with an aging G and Richardson who is small also. I think the D corpse needs better balance. Mark smith does block lots of shots so if I were to pick one id take him

Marsh- brought in as our physical D man. Was on the ice when falks got injured and did nothing, story of the season. If I am to have a very defence minded big D man he needs to at least skate over when theres handbags! Distribution erratic at best

Gimblett- not sure we were ever really see the best of him because he was restricted by the injury crisis. Would take him back on third line but I suspect he'll go back to north America

Net minding - on their day osaer and whitley have both been excellent. .those days aren't consistent enough for me though.

As a whole we need to change the balance of the team. Put a physical player with each line, with genuine goal threats from the other's. Also someone to help run the pp which I don't care what the stats guys say is terrible in comparison to the panthers, belfast or Coventry. Weller bossed that, id love to see him back there again

 

[ASHIPP]

The entire Brit corps, senior and young players need to be re - signed. Not only have they been the backbone of this team in terms of energy and execution of play but its easy to see that they WANT to play for the team and eachother. Some great partnerships developing e.g. Ben and CJ.

For me, the two vital import signatures are Stuuu and Blighty. These guys have been consistent week in week out and have lead by example. Incredibly skilled.

G can build a team around those players, making changes and adding new players as he has already acknowleged needs to happen to compete in our conference.

 

[TheStub]

Stuuuu and Blight should both be targets.

Max everyday of the week. He's settled and will probably be cheap - we'd not get the quality he brings at the price he probably costs.

The Smiths are both great positional D. Back them up with physical guys. Local ties should get us home town discount and open up some more cash.

I don't understand "physical" being the number one asset for every player. Give me a solid core who can step around the hit and distribute the puck. Then get those minor role players in.

 

[noodlesboy]

Blight for sure!
Ben for sure!
And id like to see whitley back too, he may have been a little inconsistent however has kept us in the game.

 

[Finny]

As others have said, I would like all the brits to re-sign as they have all impressed me. Although I think Richie is already signed up for another year, I'd like to the club to confirm this like they did with Batch. I'm sure some will moan about it, but it would be a good news story for the start of the off-season to re-sign someone who for me is the best british player in the league.

With regards to the imports:

MacRae. The heartbeat of the team and on the road to becoming an all-time Devils legend. IIRC he was close to not returning last summer and I got the feeling that this was to be his final season, but I would do everything possible to get him back again.

Blight. Though he didn't score the number of goals I was expecting I was impressed by his all-round play. For a guy who is not the biggest he is also not afraid to throw his weight around whilst also showing some great bits of skill to open up the opposition D. I get the feeling there is still more for him to show us though and perhaps without the pressure of Uni he will score even more next season.

Maxi. It's been another tough season for him due to injury and suspension but when he is on his game he is still breathless. I would however be tempted to take him off the top line to take the pressure off him.

Gimblett. Has really impressed me this season whilst managing to go around and not really draw attention to himself. He's not the out and out tough guy some want but as a #2 guy who can also score goals he'd be ideal. However, from his blog I get the feeling he might not be back.

Mark Smith. Put his body on the line time and time again and I doubt there are many players out there who work harder than him.

Undecided:
Kenton Smith. Didn't seem to start the season at his usual level but did improve as the year went on. Whilst I wouldn't be unhappy to see Kenton return (especially if he is cheaper due to his wedding) I wonder whether we need to look at a bigger defence and Kenton might be the guy to miss out.

Non-returnees.
Whitley. Though he was as good a pick-up at the time of the season as we could have hoped for, I'd be disappointed if he returned next season. I was surprised he described himself as a netminder who wasn't good at reaction saves and relied on getting his angles correct, as I actually thought it was the other way around. He made some brilliant diving saves but did seem to get beat by long range shots quite often and his rebound control wasn't the best.

Marsh. When he was good he was very good but there were also times when he scared the hell out of me bringing the puck out from behind the net. Perhaps due to the Uni course his mind was else where and he might be better when that is finished, but I found him too inconsistent and as I mentioned before I'd like to see us go for a bigger, nasty defence this coming season.

 

[jimmy snels]

Stuuuu and Blight should both be targets.

Max everyday of the week. He's settled and will probably be cheap - we'd not get the quality he brings at the price he probably costs.

The Smiths are both great positional D. Back them up with physical guys. Local ties should get us home town discount and open up some more cash.

I don't understand "physical" being the number one asset for every player. Give me a solid core who can step around the hit and distribute the puck. Then get those minor role players in.

max has been more than injury prone to go with his ability to go missing from games at will. his best days are behind him. as stated if he's cheaper and on a lower line maybe.

smiths are ok, not exceptional. its not an obsesion with phsical. its the fact we are completly light weight. the D this year had one player over 6 ft. richardson is an offensive D, better than both smiths so id replace atleast one with a bigger, more solid player. someone who doesnt let the handbags in front of the net minder happen everytime and someone who would without question hold dirty play accountable. for me its about balance and our team has been unbalanced for 2 seasons. the only time we've looked classy was when biz was here playing D with deeds as our #2 guy. no coincidence.

If we go with the same team (which appears to be the constant theme every off season on here ....) why would we expect a different result?

 

[Burgy]

Chris Blight - Yes
Stuart MacRae - No
Max Birbraer - No
Mark Richardson - No
Gerad Adams - Only as coach not player coach
Jesse Gimblett - No
Chris Jones - Yes
Ben Davies - Yes
Tyson Marsh - No
Luke Piggott - Yes
Adam Harding - Yes
Rupert Quiney - Yes
Joe Myers - Yes
Phil Hill - No
Chris Jones - Yes
Kenton Smith - No
Mark Smith - No
Chris Whitley - No

 

[osh]

Blight - yes as I feel his relationship with Faulkner is a good one and feel he would have scored more on a settled line.
Macrae - yes, but only if he decides to announce his return and not very late as last season.
Birbraer - yes, for various reasons. An injury free Max is still a very good player, his decision making on ice regarding 'hits' needs to be improved on, definitely another season in him.
Gimblett, - no. Would hope for a Michel type of player ( the old Michel )
Marsh - yes, worried me with some of his distribution from the back, but if playing alongside a good stay at home tough D man who can handle himself, he 'd do for me.
The Smiths - one needs to go. I feel if we are to bring in another no nonsense D man who can look after the physical side of things ( which we didn't have this season ) then one of the Smiths would have to go, just not sure who ( depends if we do actually sign a D man as described)
Whitely - no. Have been afraid ever since his signing was announced. At times, you could have put a 56 pound sack of spuds on the line and we would have conceded less goals. Too many rebounds, too many soft goals from acute angles, not for me I'm afraid despite him making some great saves at times ( but that's what they're supposed to do isn't it ? )

On top of those already signed, I would retain as many Brits as possible, they've been a huge asset this season. If rumour is correct and Myers returns to his roots, we could be offensively very strong next season. I would prefer to see Gerad concentrate solely on coaching and that would mean we could bring in 5 new imports, can't see it happening somehow, but that's my wish.

I think we will end up bringing in no more than 2 imports to replace 2 we've already got and of course we need to have an 11th import next season.

 

[Tyke Devil]

Chris Blight - Yes
Stuart MacRae - No
Max Birbraer - No
Mark Richardson - No
Gerad Adams - Only as coach not player coach
Jesse Gimblett - No
Chris Jones - Yes
Ben Davies - Yes
Tyson Marsh - No
Luke Piggott - Yes
Adam Harding - Yes
Rupert Quiney - Yes
Joe Myers - Yes
Phil Hill - No
Chris Jones - Yes
Kenton Smith - No
Mark Smith - No
Chris Whitley - No

So pretty much wave goodbye to the majority of our established imports?

No Macrae, No Birbraer, No "Smiths"?

Clearly you were impressed by the Brits this year....especially the young 'uns. I tend to agree on this but would prefer the option of keeping some of them on a 2-way with the NIHL team.

Maybe not Quiney. Think he has progressed massively in the last 3 or 4 months. Much more confident on the puck and started to use his size well. He stood out like a sore thumb in the NIHL game last weekend.

I'm torn on Harding. Not sure.

Ben Davies should be a shoe in for next year.

Why no Mark Richardson? I honestly can't think of another EIHL team that would not have him in their side as a British D-Man.

So difficult to judge individual performances after this season. Had we had a full roster for more than 2 or 3 weeks then it would be so much easier I guess.

And this thread just shows how hard it is for our recruitment team in the close season.

 

[Wannabe2]

How anyone wouldnt want Macrae and Richardson to return, must be off there rocker, Macrae leads by example and is a class act, and Ritchie if i was the guvner would be on a 10 yr contract , this lad is a import quality D Man.