Post by xx - Former Calgary Flames on Oct 13, 2020 23:52:30 GMT -5
Season Preview - Sarnia Sting
Over the next few days, I will be scouring through the rosters of the CHL, trying to find strengths and weaknesses of the team, not only for my strategic advantage (which all of you know, I don't use strategy at all), and for anyone who doesn't know some schmoe from Europe. The goal is to have a team done per day, starting on October 10th.
The Team
Forwards
The Sting find themselves with what I believe to be the best four talents you can have in a serpentine style draft. Starting with the top guy, being Pavel Datsyuk, he has such a mind for the game offensively. He can make plays from literally nothing, and send goalies in a tornado with his ability to handle the puck. Mike Ribeiro has that complete career look to him, with him being an offensive marvel early on, and finishing as a reliable utility guy at the end. Brian Gionta is a little man with such a huge heart for the game, you can get a lot out of him. Finally, Alex Tanguay had such an explosive start to his career, and people still remember him as a key piece to any team today. Sarnia really did well in the starts of the draft.
What will be the difficulty is finding the proper line combinations, because there's still some talent on that team. Tyler Arnason has that grit and grind style that can compliment him in any line. Chris Kelly has flashes of brilliance, but has never been able to click all of it together, but you can still rely on him for certain moments of the game. Then you look at guys like Denis Arkhipov, Niko Kapanen, and Dmitry Afanasenkov, who are all speedy European players, but never had their game translate well to the global game. But, with the right players alongside them, the forward core can be definitely menacing to play against.
Defense
This is where a lot of people would probably point and say 'Yep, there's the problem with Sarnia'. Their defense isn't all that impressive looking at first. When you look at a guy like Jordan Leopold, he was never a guy you could lead a defense with. He is a very complimentary number three defender, so he will definitely have to carry the load on the defensive end for Sarnia. A guy like Mike Van Ryn seemed like he would be a guy that could be a future top two defender, but it never came to fruition with him. He did have a late spurt of decency, but again, he was a top four defender at best.
What's going to support the defense is that bottom portion of the defense. Niclas Havelid is a very strong puck stopper, who is proven capable of killing penalties, and preventing potential odd man rushes. Jiri Fischer, if he didn't have that collapse, would have probably had a long career as a reliable defender. Radek Martinek, in my opinion, was grossly underrated in his day. Given some extra time on ice, he can prove to be a puck stopper as well. But, on paper, it's a tough road for the Sting if they want to succeed this season with a very pedestrian defensive core. But, if they get it right, they will surprise us.
Goaltending
The goaltending for the Sting could quite arguably be shaky as well, but just with a few other teams, has the potential to be great. Ilya Bryzgalov was touted early in his professional career as the successor of J.S. Giguere, who in itself was very much a compliment. To be fair, Bryzgalov was a project goalie from very early on, with that 'unlimited potential' sticker placed on him. When he's on, he is certainly on. However, when he has a rough slide, it can be one of the most grueling things to watch as a hockey fan. It all really depends on which Bryzgalov will come and play for Sarnia.
As for the backup, Alex Auld is a very steady option as your number two. He, too, had his flashes of being a consistent starter, but he never did find his consistency. It seemed like for him, he would be the successor to Dan Cloutier, which isn't as great of a name, but he had that potential, but couldn't burden the load. He is very much ideal to be a game-stealing goalie for Sarnia rather than your go-to guy, which might be a good fit for this team.
The 'Real Season' of the Sarnia Sting
The Sting had themselves a pretty decent regular season, with a 32-21-13 record, and finishing 3rd in their division, probably one of the tougher divisions to play in, with Plymouth and London's high octane scoring. Jon Sim was the big name out of this season's Sarnia squad, finishing ninth in league scoring with a 94 point effort. Ivan Novoseltev was no slouch himself with the team, starting his first campaign with the team with 48 points. Most people might not remember Jeff Hereema, but he was behind Sim in the points department, with 72 of his own. Goaltending was led by Patrick DesRochers, who was unfortunately another case of a first round goalie (14th Overall) never finding that hidden potential in him, only ever managing to play in 11 professional games.
The Sting were pummeled by the aformentioned Plymouth squad, and lost to them in the first round in a measly five games, in where they allowed 24 goals, capped off by a 7-1 drubbing in Game 4.
The Cieling
Pavel Datsyuk is a magician on the ice. If this team is going to succeed, it will be on the shoulders of Datsyuk and the rest of the forward core, which can be argued as one of the better cores in the league. They find their scoring touch, and the defense avoids trying to be overzealous, shutting down the opposition at critical moments. Plus, an added goaltending effort by the best versions of Bryzgalov and Auld will help them to a Memorial Cup victory in the first season.
The Floor
The Sting can't score as many as they are allowing, with the defense not stepping up when they can. As much as the offense can produce, the defense, along with the spotty performances of the goalie tandem, can't support the outstanding offense, and they find themselves losing more games than they want to, and they rely on next season's bantam draft to bolster their needs.
The Team
Forwards
The Sting find themselves with what I believe to be the best four talents you can have in a serpentine style draft. Starting with the top guy, being Pavel Datsyuk, he has such a mind for the game offensively. He can make plays from literally nothing, and send goalies in a tornado with his ability to handle the puck. Mike Ribeiro has that complete career look to him, with him being an offensive marvel early on, and finishing as a reliable utility guy at the end. Brian Gionta is a little man with such a huge heart for the game, you can get a lot out of him. Finally, Alex Tanguay had such an explosive start to his career, and people still remember him as a key piece to any team today. Sarnia really did well in the starts of the draft.
What will be the difficulty is finding the proper line combinations, because there's still some talent on that team. Tyler Arnason has that grit and grind style that can compliment him in any line. Chris Kelly has flashes of brilliance, but has never been able to click all of it together, but you can still rely on him for certain moments of the game. Then you look at guys like Denis Arkhipov, Niko Kapanen, and Dmitry Afanasenkov, who are all speedy European players, but never had their game translate well to the global game. But, with the right players alongside them, the forward core can be definitely menacing to play against.
Defense
This is where a lot of people would probably point and say 'Yep, there's the problem with Sarnia'. Their defense isn't all that impressive looking at first. When you look at a guy like Jordan Leopold, he was never a guy you could lead a defense with. He is a very complimentary number three defender, so he will definitely have to carry the load on the defensive end for Sarnia. A guy like Mike Van Ryn seemed like he would be a guy that could be a future top two defender, but it never came to fruition with him. He did have a late spurt of decency, but again, he was a top four defender at best.
What's going to support the defense is that bottom portion of the defense. Niclas Havelid is a very strong puck stopper, who is proven capable of killing penalties, and preventing potential odd man rushes. Jiri Fischer, if he didn't have that collapse, would have probably had a long career as a reliable defender. Radek Martinek, in my opinion, was grossly underrated in his day. Given some extra time on ice, he can prove to be a puck stopper as well. But, on paper, it's a tough road for the Sting if they want to succeed this season with a very pedestrian defensive core. But, if they get it right, they will surprise us.
Goaltending
The goaltending for the Sting could quite arguably be shaky as well, but just with a few other teams, has the potential to be great. Ilya Bryzgalov was touted early in his professional career as the successor of J.S. Giguere, who in itself was very much a compliment. To be fair, Bryzgalov was a project goalie from very early on, with that 'unlimited potential' sticker placed on him. When he's on, he is certainly on. However, when he has a rough slide, it can be one of the most grueling things to watch as a hockey fan. It all really depends on which Bryzgalov will come and play for Sarnia.
As for the backup, Alex Auld is a very steady option as your number two. He, too, had his flashes of being a consistent starter, but he never did find his consistency. It seemed like for him, he would be the successor to Dan Cloutier, which isn't as great of a name, but he had that potential, but couldn't burden the load. He is very much ideal to be a game-stealing goalie for Sarnia rather than your go-to guy, which might be a good fit for this team.
The 'Real Season' of the Sarnia Sting
The Sting had themselves a pretty decent regular season, with a 32-21-13 record, and finishing 3rd in their division, probably one of the tougher divisions to play in, with Plymouth and London's high octane scoring. Jon Sim was the big name out of this season's Sarnia squad, finishing ninth in league scoring with a 94 point effort. Ivan Novoseltev was no slouch himself with the team, starting his first campaign with the team with 48 points. Most people might not remember Jeff Hereema, but he was behind Sim in the points department, with 72 of his own. Goaltending was led by Patrick DesRochers, who was unfortunately another case of a first round goalie (14th Overall) never finding that hidden potential in him, only ever managing to play in 11 professional games.
The Sting were pummeled by the aformentioned Plymouth squad, and lost to them in the first round in a measly five games, in where they allowed 24 goals, capped off by a 7-1 drubbing in Game 4.
The Cieling
Pavel Datsyuk is a magician on the ice. If this team is going to succeed, it will be on the shoulders of Datsyuk and the rest of the forward core, which can be argued as one of the better cores in the league. They find their scoring touch, and the defense avoids trying to be overzealous, shutting down the opposition at critical moments. Plus, an added goaltending effort by the best versions of Bryzgalov and Auld will help them to a Memorial Cup victory in the first season.
The Floor
The Sting can't score as many as they are allowing, with the defense not stepping up when they can. As much as the offense can produce, the defense, along with the spotty performances of the goalie tandem, can't support the outstanding offense, and they find themselves losing more games than they want to, and they rely on next season's bantam draft to bolster their needs.
