Fox Recruitment Analysis

[SteelerBlade]

A longer piece for if you have a few spare minutes.

Below are all imports Fox has signed for us excluding those extended from the Thompson/Barasso season 18/19 and those added directly from EIHL rivals. This builds an idea of how Fox recruits and where his contacts lie and ultimately how our 22/23 roster will look.

The two Asia League additions both had extensive European careers and Fox had recruited Lemtyugov previously.

Netminders:
Tomáš Duba - Asia League
Pavel Kantor - Czech Extraliga
Jeremy Brodeur - Erste Liga
John Muse - Danish MetalLigaen
Barry Brust - Slovakian Extraliga
Rok Stojanovič - French Ligue Magnus

D:
James Bettauer - DEL
Aaron Brocklehurst - ICEHL
Josef Hrabal - Czech Chance Liga
Mikko Kuukka - Finnish Liiga
Jonas Liwing - Swedish Allsvenskan
Marek Trončinský (RIP) - Czech Extraliga
Jérémy Beaudry - Danish MetalLigaen
Adrian Saxrud-Danielsen - ICEHL
Kevin Schulze - Norwegian Eliteserien
Antonín Bořuta - ICEHL
Keaton Ellerby - Erste Liga
Daine Todd - DEL

Forwards:
Michael Davies - ICEHL
Janne Kolehmainen - Finnish Liiga
Nikolai Lemtyugov - Asia League
Eric Meland - ICEHL
Martin St. Pierre - KHL
Lucas Sändstrom - Swedish Allsvenskan
Marc-Olivier Vallerand - AlpsHL
Josef Mikyska - Czech Extraliga
Sondre Olden - Norwegian Eliteserien
Nico Feldner - ICEHL
Justin Hodgman - Erste Liga
Martin Látal - Czech Extraliga
Vojtěch Polák - Erste Liga
Matias Sointu - Swiss Second League
Tomasso Traversa - ICEHL
Evan Mosey - German DEL2
Travis Oleksuk - ICEHL

Note the lack of North American recruitment, 100% of Fox’s 35 additions in this case are from leagues outside of NA. Of those, 54.29% are European nationals whilst 45.71% hail from North America. However, 100% of our mid-season additions are European nationals meaning our initial roster signings in this are 60.87% North American which is perhaps more representative of what we’ll see opening night. In fact, 52.63% of all our Europeans were mid-season additions.

[SteelerBlade]

Fox has recruited from 15 European leagues plus the Asia League. 2 of these league have only been sourced from for the EliteSeries (Danish MetalLigaen & Norwegian Eliteserien), Norway had shut down and provided many EliteSeries imports league-wide. A breakdown below:

8 - ICEHL
4 - Czech Extraliga
3 - Erste Liga
2 - Norweigan Eliteserien
2 - Swedish Allsvenskan
2 - Asia League
2 - Finnish Liiga
2 - DEL
2 - Danish MetalLigaen
1 - Swiss Second League
1 - Alps HL
1 - KHL
1 - Czech Chance Liga
1 - Slovakian Extraliga
1 - French Ligue Magnus
1 - DEL2

[SteelerBlade]

Fox has added players from 8 European nations alongside the 2 traditional North American powerhouses. 5 of the nations (Russia, Norway, Slovenia, Austria & Italy) we’d never had represent us before. A breakdown below:

10 - Canada
8 - Czech Republic
6 - America
3 - Finland
2 - Norway
2 - Sweden
1 - Slovenia
1 - Austria
1 - Italy
1 - Russia

[SteelerBlade]

A large majority are 30+ so it will come as no surprise to learn that our squad has been the oldest in both league campaigns as well as the EliteSeries under Fox.

Fox is on record stating his style relies on speed and skill, especially around the wingers having strong footspeed in wide areas. He then adds slightly more size at centre before more again on D. He also enjoys “swing guys” such as Eric Meland, James Bettauer & Evan Mosey. An active D in offensive areas is a hallmark of his setup, its common to see D jumping into the play and pinching hard.

The biggest man he’s added is 6”5” 216lb Keaton Ellerby whilst the smallest is 5”7” 165lb Tomasso Traversa. The lineups don’t tend to be overly physical, perhaps reflective of his playing career that was spent overwhelmingly in Europe as a highly skilled centre iceman. Although, he does enjoy “rink rats” such as Marc-Olivier Vallerand, Anthony DeLuca & Brendan Connolly. We received 14 fighting majors in 21/22 leagueplay according to hockeyfights.com. We received 4 DOPS punishments too.

Into the offseason, the deteriorating security situation in Ukraine at the hands of the Russian Federation (with aid from Belarus) will lead to the reluctance of import players to sign in the KHL. Especially as Jokerit & Dinamo Riga have pulled out.

This will lead to a trickle down effect. Those high-end imports looking to Europe will be drawn to the riches and lifestyle of the Swiss National League. Therefore those imports of a level to previously head to Switzerland will instead look to the likes of the Finnish Liiga or Swedish Hockey League, etc. This effect will carry on down the levels in Europe. Some AHL players may put-off moves to Europe as opportunities for the correct renumeration will be less.

In terms of the Steelers and wider EIHL, this is likely to mean a higher quality of import may become available, and as they’re likely to hold out to later in the off-season, there could be some good value to be had for those prepared to wait the market out.

[Jayboy]

A great breakdown of Fox's recruitment, it highlights one of the fans major concerns for me and thats the lack of youth and a severe lack of the Sheffield Steelers long held policy of controlled aggression and grit mixed in with the skill and speed. To me that is one of Aaron's major flaws, that he doesn't see the need to stick to our DNA and prefers his own style above others, I was rather hoping he had learnt a few lessons about this league by now... Belfast has the balance about right and Manchester has it to much the other way. I would like a small sample of what swatch of the fighting spirit Manchester have with a rather large carbon copy of Belfast team. Hockey teams in Sheffield have never been as soft has they have been over recent years.. if Aaron doesn't learn this I dont see him lasting his full 3 year contract...

[smbmetal]

An excellent breakdown and not detail I would have been able to find out. It makes interesting reading. I wonder how other the other big teams recruitment stacks up and which leagues those players have come from?

I really hope important lessons have been learned as we've gone backwards from winning the CC.

[Ron 25]

That's an amazing piece of work Steelerblade. It clarifies, to me, where our problems lay. Keefe knows all about the EIHL, and recruits accordingly - much can be learnt from him.

[SteelerBlade]

An excellent breakdown and not detail I would have been able to find out. It makes interesting reading. I wonder how other the other big teams recruitment stacks up and which leagues those players have come from?

I really hope important lessons have been learned as we've gone backwards from winning the CC.

Approximately 60% of Belfast’s imports had European experience compared to our 100%.

Cardiff come in at around 62%.

[smbmetal]

An excellent breakdown and not detail I would have been able to find out. It makes interesting reading. I wonder how other the other big teams recruitment stacks up and which leagues those players have come from?

I really hope important lessons have been learned as we've gone backwards from winning the CC.

Approximately 60% of Belfast’s imports had European experience compared to our 100%.

Cardiff come in at around 62%.

Very interesting that. Wonder if Fox will look at changing his recruitment strategy a little for next season. Belfast will have a European competition to factor in next season, not something they’ve had to think about this season unlike us and Cardiff.

[steeler pete]

Would be worth bearing in mind whether building for European games or not when looking at next season’s recruitment. It could make a difference.