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Sheffield Steelers: How familiar faces helped Mark Simpson choose an Elite League future

BEFORE agreeing a move to Sheffield Steelers for the 2023-24 season, centre Mark Simpson rightly carried out his own research - enlisting the help of two former team-mates both well-known to the Elite League team’s fans.

Sheffield Steelers: How familiar faces helped Mark Simpson choose an Elite League future

© FRONT AND CENTRE: Mark Simpson - pictured above for Stockton Heat - will get his first taste of UK Elite League hockey with Sheffield Steelers next season.
Goalie Matt Greenfield and defenceman Matt Petgrave were both consulted by Simpson before he made his mind up to continue his European hockey journey in the UK.

Greenfield, who knows Simpson from their time together at Stockton Heat in the AHL in the 2021-22, is already confirmed as returning for a second season at the Utilita Arena after impressing last time out.


© NEW CHALLENGE: Mark Simpson (far right) pictured in action for IceHL team Asiago last season. Picture submitted by Steelers Media.
It remains to be seen whether Petgrave - who played alongside Simpson for the University of New Brunswick in 2016-17 - follows suit.

Either way, what both had to say clearly had a positive influence on the 28-year-old Canadian, who is keen to make his mark when he lands in South Yorkshire in August.

“I’d heard great things about the league, especially about the organisation in Sheffield, in how well they treat their players and it sounded like a great opportunity for me,” said Simpson, who makes the move to the UK after starting last season with KalPa in Finland’s Liiga before switching to Italian outfit Asiago in the IceHL.


© EXCITED: Sheffield Steelers' head coach Aaron Fox is delighted to have landed former AHL centre Mark Simpson. Picture courtesy of Dean Woolley/Steelers Media.
“I hear it is more of a North American style compared to most of the European leagues and I know a couple of guys who have played at Sheffield - Matt Petgrave and Matt Greenfield.

“So I was texting with Matt Greenfield about the team, the city and the league and I heard nothing but great things back.”

Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox added: “He’s a big boy that can skate, competes very hard and I think his speed for his size will cause problems in this league.

“And even if he’s not running huge numbers for us, he’s a guy that winning teams need to have on their team.”

Steelers sign 6.5” centre Mark Simpson

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/1 ... rk-simpson

VIDEO: New Signing Canadian Mark Simpson speaks after joining the Sheffield Steelers

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fwbljq

VIDEO: Sheffield Steelers head coach Aaron Fox speaks after signing 6’5 Canadian centre Mark Simpson…


https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fwbmrv

He'll brings some considerable size and hopefully physicality to the forward lines and I'm always pleased to read a player is strong at faceoffs, because that is so important on special teams.

He's also a good age at 28 and should be around his peak now.

His stats on Elite Prospects don't suggest he'll be a player who puts up too many points. Ignoring the 8 games in Finland where he probably got little ice time on the 4th line, his numbers in Italy are fairly poor. It's a league which is slightly better than ours and he was only 12th top in points on his team with poor +/- numbers.

The fact he played in the AHL suggests somebody must have seen something in him, unless it was due to his size. His numbers in that league are OK for a player who was probably 4th line with limited minutes on the ice.

The season before that he was in the USports league where he was out scored by Stephen Anderson who didn't pull up any trees in Nottingham last season.

He also seems to have had a very short professional career for somebody who is 28 (University studies first?)

To me his numbers suggest a 3rd line player, but I suspect Fox has him penciled in higher than that.

He's certainly an intriguing signing, but I'm still waiting for a signing which makes me think we're getting closer to Belfast.

Regards

Doom

Looks a decent addition, always good to have a mix of players who will all ask the opponents different questions. And at 6”5” but also maintaining good mobility should do just that. Not the most physical player but looks to use his body effectively for possession.

Seems to be a good character, defensively responsible and decent on face-offs which we all know we’ve lacked. Ideally need all your centres to be at least 50% in that area.

Will be deployed on PK with the longer active stick and has played AHL PP minutes also as a large net-front presence. Was signed in Finland based on his AHL performances which is no mean feat.

He’s coming from a higher level in Europe which should stand him in good stead, albeit he was coached by the infamous Tom Barasso in Asiago.

He’s never been a regular goalscorer at pro level by any means, but Fox sounds like he’ll be deploying him on the bottom six so if he does produce good numbers that will be a bonus. Neumann had even worse ICEHL numbers but produced well in our division.

Morpheous wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 21, 2023 6:13 am

Steelers sign 6.5” centre Mark Simpson

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/1 ... rk-simpson

I don't mean to come across as being pedantic but that says to me that this guy is slightly under 7 inches tall.

From Fox's interview it sounds like he will start in bottom 6, which is fair based on CV. I'd say his AHL numbers were not bad considering he was 4th line.

Ultimately, if he comes in as a defensive minded, face off winner for our bottom 6, I'll happily take that

An interesting signing, nice age and size-however comes with caveats that apparently doesn't use his size and physicality enough (according to reports).

So that's half of the forwards announced, interesting to try to guess which line they will fit on.
I wonder how these six will fit into Foxy's stated intention to have a marked differentiation between top and bottom six.

Nathan wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 21, 2023 9:14 am

Morpheous wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 21, 2023 6:13 am

Steelers sign 6.5” centre Mark Simpson

https://www.eliteprospects.com/player/1 ... rk-simpson

I don't mean to come across as being pedantic but that says to me that this guy is slightly under 7 inches tall.

My bad