Steelers signings and departures

[ginger]

His stats certainly suggest defence only.

Based on his +/- I'd guess he's a middle of the road ECHL quality player which is fine for a 7th d.

I wonder what the plan will be when Brine plays in goal. I would guess one of IBN or Steele sitting it out unless we have injuries, which is more than likely.

Regards

Doom

Everyone fit, then suspect Steele sits when Brine starts, which isn't necessarily bad given it's Steele's first full EIHL season (as long as he's getting the reps in when he does play).

But assuming there's no misses in terms of D recruits, it gives a nice option of resting more minor injuries without compromising quality.

Fox's interview suggests he sees some of the other D of capable of playing a forward role if needed. I'd assume this is probably Cormier or Roe. Wouldn't surprise me if in case of an import forward missing, IBN/Whistle move up the lines and a D fills in some of the 4th line shifts.

If no true swing guy was available at the right quality/wage point, then an extra D I think is the way to go, especially given the depth in import forwards and quality of Brit forwards we have.

[MLL79]

I was having a read of The Cage and saw an interesting stat from Bobness on there, who is probably my favourite Panthers forum poster these days.

In periods 1 and 2 combined last season, the Steelers were 25 from 77 (32%) on the powerplay.

In the 3rd period we were 3 from 45 (7%).

That is more than just a statistical anomaly, there's something fundamental behind that.

The only things I can think of are:

- lack of fitness in the 3rd so we're not as mobile on the powerplay.

- when we're ahead in games we ease off the gas and play with less intensity in the 3rd.

- we panic when chasing a game and make bad choices on the powerplay, rushing our set plays rather than taking our time.

It could of course be a mixture of all 3.

Regards

Doom

3 from 45 - crikey! An interesting, scary, and telling statistic.

Wondering what our PK was in similar terms.

[MLL79]

Mixed feelings for me. Of course welcome to Sheffield, but feeling a bit bad for Liam right now tbh

It could have course have the intended effect of pushing for places and keeping everyone up for it… but history would suggest it’s not been great where have this rotation setup, and actually, heads go down.

Hopefully I'm wrong and last year in particular was a one off.

Edit - nice to see we have some size on D on the bench.

[ginger]

Mixed feelings for me. Of course welcome to Sheffield, but feeling a bit bad for Liam right now tbh

It could have course have the intended effect of pushing for places and keeping everyone up for it… but history would suggest it’s not been great where have this rotation setup, and actually, heads go down.

Hopefully I'm wrong and last year in particular was a one off.

Edit - nice to see we have some size on D on the bench.

Greenfield starts, then you're sitting an import forward to play 6 import D. Doubt that happens much assuming no injuries given forward depth is a big reason why we struggled last year

[Doom]

If he doesn't get injured, I'd be surprised if Steele sits out a lot more than 5 games as a healthy scratch.

More telling will be the ice time he gets in games. For Kelly it was around 10 minutes/game, which is low for a regular defenceman, but I don't think Fox fully trusted him.

I suspect the reason for Fox bringing in Steele is because he sees a little more potential. Steele seems to have all the tools, so if he develops as we all hope, I can see him getting a lot more than the 10 minutes/game allocated to Kelly.

Regards

Doom

[steeler pete]

I thought Steele did well at the World Champs where he had to face very good players.