Sheffield Steelers Sign - Matt Greenfield- Confirmed

[Doom]

For me it comes down to how many of the risks come off and that is what Fox will ultimately be judged on, because he is the one who knows the style of player he is signing, will have researched why they may have had a poor season or two and whether he believes their style of play will suit his systems and our league.

With the exception of Whistle who is a known quantity, I think all the centres carry a degree of risk.

Connolly - Will be 37 this season and hasn't played for near enough a year. Can we really expect him to be near the form he was pre Covid?

Neumann - Had a very good OHL career and started with promise in his professional career, but last season, his first in Europe, was awful.

Raska - Never played outside his home country and rarely put up big numbers, although generally he's played at a much higher level than our league.

For me all 3 are a risk, but clearly Fox rates them and if his judgement is good then we should have enough in the squad to make a title challenge.

My money is again on Belfast, but I don't see there being much in it between the big 4 and Belfast are going to be very heavily reliant on Conway staying fit and producing again.

I think if Connolly can get close to his form of old, Neumann captures the promise he showed in his early professional career, Raska converts to our league like his Czech colleagues in the past and Ciampini turns out to be the goalscorer we're hoping for, we're in with a very good shout of silverware.

All ifs and buts, but that's all we have until they hit the ice.

Maybe come November I'll be saying 'roll on the cricket season'.

Regards

Doom

[kgw]

This effectively completes our roster and I have to say I'm happy with the business we've done.

As I pointed out on another thread, there are quite a few risky signings, particularly in the forwards, and for me these will be the test of Fox's judgement.

The netminding tandem looks at least the equal of any other in the league and arguably the best.

In defence I like the look of all 3 new guys.

Up front we look to have plenty of depth and variety, with a few question marks over whether some of the players can capture form from the past.

I always like to look at our squad at the start of the season and ask myself if I think they have a realistic chance of winning the league. My response this season is quite definitely a 'yes'.

Now it's time to stop looking at our team on paper and see how they look on the ice.

Regards

Doom

I like the optimism in your post Doom but I don’t agree with the realistic chance this team can win the league answer. I think there’s just too many risky signings like you’ve emphasised and we’re banking on them all paying off, I can’t see that happening and one or two may fall below expectations. To me we look weak again down the middle compared to Belfast and Cardiff, we could of done with our last centre been of the calibre of Hammond as an example, disappointed we lost out on him. we’ve hopefully sorted the goaltending out although I cant seem to warm to Ostlund think it’s the part where he let in 10 goals for 57 shots in his 3 games last term also the lack of shutouts in his senior Career. Goal scoring looks good but I have us down below both Belfast and Nottingham although not by much for the latter and equal to Cardiff. I believe we will be a third or fourth placed team this season.

Of course this is all before a pucks dropped but many made a prediction of Belfast winning the league last season and I’m predicting that outcome again closely followed by Cardiff. Just my opinion and I’m quite often wrong
Can only wait and see.

The man has had a whole career (which is mostly very good) and you're basing your judgment off of 3 games. Don't you think that's a bit unreasonable?

[House_of_Steel]

This effectively completes our roster and I have to say I'm happy with the business we've done.

As I pointed out on another thread, there are quite a few risky signings, particularly in the forwards, and for me these will be the test of Fox's judgement.

The netminding tandem looks at least the equal of any other in the league and arguably the best.

In defence I like the look of all 3 new guys.

Up front we look to have plenty of depth and variety, with a few question marks over whether some of the players can capture form from the past.

I always like to look at our squad at the start of the season and ask myself if I think they have a realistic chance of winning the league. My response this season is quite definitely a 'yes'.

Now it's time to stop looking at our team on paper and see how they look on the ice.

Regards

Doom

I like the optimism in your post Doom but I don’t agree with the realistic chance this team can win the league answer. I think there’s just too many risky signings like you’ve emphasised and we’re banking on them all paying off, I can’t see that happening and one or two may fall below expectations. To me we look weak again down the middle compared to Belfast and Cardiff, we could of done with our last centre been of the calibre of Hammond as an example, disappointed we lost out on him. we’ve hopefully sorted the goaltending out although I cant seem to warm to Ostlund think it’s the part where he let in 10 goals for 57 shots in his 3 games last term also the lack of shutouts in his senior Career. Goal scoring looks good but I have us down below both Belfast and Nottingham although not by much for the latter and equal to Cardiff. I believe we will be a third or fourth placed team this season.

Of course this is all before a pucks dropped but many made a prediction of Belfast winning the league last season and I’m predicting that outcome again closely followed by Cardiff. Just my opinion and I’m quite often wrong
Can only wait and see.

The man has had a whole career (which is mostly very good) and you're basing your judgment off of 3 games. Don't you think that's a bit unreasonable?

No I don’t it’s also based on the 33 games he played before that which were pretty average and the fact he’s had 1 shutout his whole senior career.

[Spoony]

The question we need to be asking is what happens next season. Ostlund has been all over the shop since 2013 and we aren’t exactly known for keeping a hold of goalies.

Well i dont agree it is really!
Ostlund has a 2 years University deal so, next season is all taken care of regarding Ostlund and Greenfield sounds as though he is keen to put in a shift for more than one season.. Stating that he would much rather get into a team that values him and he can work hard to improve his game, rather than me trading around any of the North American leagues... So I wont worry to much about next season when we haven't even started this one yet.

You're probably perfectly correct, I'm just crazy don't pay attention to me