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Post by donjohnson on Jul 29, 2024 11:23:29 GMT -5
All indications I've seen so far seem to show that the Spirit are very optimistic about the upcoming season. It's a slippery slope because anything done this year sets us back in future years. Drinkell does a great job and assembled a great team last year but this year could be more challenging for him. I think the hardest move he's made in his time in Saginaw is the Mintuykov trade...there's not a person alive (myself included) that didn't want him to stay in Saginaw but the decision had to be made. There are going to be other roster decisions this year that are going to be really hard as well and I would rather have a consistent team with occasional "up" years than the extreme highs and lows because those down years are just tough to watch. I've been on record that we need to trade Parekh this year for a king's ransom (we'd get it barring injuries) because it would bring back 1 (if not) 2 players that can help us stay consistently in the playoffs and get picks back to work with. I think Ethan Hay has a lot of value in a trade and even Oke could have value to a contending team with his experience as long as we get a journeyman goalie in return. The flip side is we've been able to recruit some of these late-round draft picks to Saginaw and we've had good luck with Imports as well. That is how the London's of the world stay relevant is that they can take a flyer on someone late in the draft and then get them to show up and sign a contract. Just watch, London will quietly trade away some talent this year to restock the cupboard and they'll still be one of the top teams in the league. Regardless, if there's anyone out there who doesn't think Drinkell can keep us rolling through this, I'd be surprised (well, the Facebook group may think otherwise). I'm interested to see what moves he will make this year and how it sets us up for the current season and the future. |
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Post by kingpin794 on Jul 29, 2024 12:25:13 GMT -5
All indications I've seen so far seem to show that the Spirit are very optimistic about the upcoming season. It's a slippery slope because anything done this year sets us back in future years. Drinkell does a great job and assembled a great team last year but this year could be more challenging for him. I think the hardest move he's made in his time in Saginaw is the Mintuykov trade...there's not a person alive (myself included) that didn't want him to stay in Saginaw but the decision had to be made. There are going to be other roster decisions this year that are going to be really hard as well and I would rather have a consistent team with occasional "up" years than the extreme highs and lows because those down years are just tough to watch. I've been on record that we need to trade Parekh this year for a king's ransom (we'd get it barring injuries) because it would bring back 1 (if not) 2 players that can help us stay consistently in the playoffs and get picks back to work with. I think Ethan Hay has a lot of value in a trade and even Oke could have value to a contending team with his experience as long as we get a journeyman goalie in return. The flip side is we've been able to recruit some of these late-round draft picks to Saginaw and we've had good luck with Imports as well. That is how the London's of the world stay relevant is that they can take a flyer on someone late in the draft and then get them to show up and sign a contract. Just watch, London will quietly trade away some talent this year to restock the cupboard and they'll still be one of the top teams in the league. Regardless, if there's anyone out there who doesn't think Drinkell can keep us rolling through this, I'd be surprised (well, the Facebook group may think otherwise). I'm interested to see what moves he will make this year and how it sets us up for the current season and the future. That was basically the era from 2006-2014. I don't want to go back to that. We were totally irrelevant then and merely going through the motions. You go for it when you can. Bottom out and try again a few years down the road. Anyone who tries to always be competitive is never competitive (except London). |
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Post by aj0512 on Jul 29, 2024 13:02:58 GMT -5
To me, right now, I think this season depends on if the two imports show up. If they do, I think Saginaw might be the favorite to win the West Division again. Not sure if they're a league-championship caliber team, though. The cupboard is pretty empty and Drinkell would need to be creative to terms of making some trades. But if anyone can do it, it's him.
I'd have to side with kingpin on this one. I'd rather stomach a really hard 1-1.5 seasons if it puts us on track to one day get back to the Memorial Cup.
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Post by eric8199 on Jul 29, 2024 17:53:14 GMT -5
It's a slippery slope because anything done this year sets us back in future years. Drinkell does a great job and assembled a great team last year but this year could be more challenging for him. I think the hardest move he's made in his time in Saginaw is the Mintuykov trade...there's not a person alive (myself included) that didn't want him to stay in Saginaw but the decision had to be made. There are going to be other roster decisions this year that are going to be really hard as well and I would rather have a consistent team with occasional "up" years than the extreme highs and lows because those down years are just tough to watch. I've been on record that we need to trade Parekh this year for a king's ransom (we'd get it barring injuries) because it would bring back 1 (if not) 2 players that can help us stay consistently in the playoffs and get picks back to work with. I think Ethan Hay has a lot of value in a trade and even Oke could have value to a contending team with his experience as long as we get a journeyman goalie in return. The flip side is we've been able to recruit some of these late-round draft picks to Saginaw and we've had good luck with Imports as well. That is how the London's of the world stay relevant is that they can take a flyer on someone late in the draft and then get them to show up and sign a contract. Just watch, London will quietly trade away some talent this year to restock the cupboard and they'll still be one of the top teams in the league. Regardless, if there's anyone out there who doesn't think Drinkell can keep us rolling through this, I'd be surprised (well, the Facebook group may think otherwise). I'm interested to see what moves he will make this year and how it sets us up for the current season and the future. That was basically the era from 2006-2014. I don't want to go back to that. We were totally irrelevant then and merely going through the motions. You go for it when you can. Bottom out and try again a few years down the road. Anyone who tries to always be competitive is never competitive (except London). I’d rather take a run at a championship every three years than be good enough to lose in the second round every year. Sorry. And our situation now is WAY different than it was in 2004-16. Kids want to play here now. |
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Post by donjohnson on Jul 30, 2024 7:27:15 GMT -5
Sorry, never clicked submit on this yesterday...
We couldn't get anyone to report during that period and we were still trying to establish ourselves as a legit franchise in the league.
That's not the case anymore and the rave reviews that everyone gave of Saginaw hosting the Memorial Cup was the icing on the cake and for the rest of eternity we can market ourselves as winning the Cup which is amazing. I don't think we need to go back to missing the playoffs in the down years...our bad years can be the #6/#7 seed in the playoffs and our good years will be division and conference titles.
I can remember the players we drafted and we were drafting crap in the first round because they would report...Torquato, Crawford, Pachis, Moutrey, Kea, Camara, Addison. Do any of those names strike fear into the opposition? The only guy who was good was Saad and it took us forever to get him here.
I'm not saying I advocate striving for mediocrity, I just think we have the ability to be a solid team every year and you let the assets build up and go for it once every 3-5 years. I don't think we have a total tankathon or bottom of the barrel season just to set ourselves up for the good years. It's the old "reload" vs. "rebuild" mantra and I think with the relationships we've built with agents, I think we can draft some kids late and get them to report in their 17 or 18yo season to supplement what we've got and that puts us way above the 2006-14 seasons.
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Post by kingpin794 on Jul 31, 2024 16:27:35 GMT -5
Trade window opens back up again tomorrow. Will be interesting to see if any deals go down before the weekend.
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Post by aj0512 on Aug 1, 2024 10:09:23 GMT -5
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Post by kingpin794 on Aug 1, 2024 16:29:58 GMT -5
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Post by MidlandSpiritFan on Aug 1, 2024 16:58:44 GMT -5
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Post by kingpin794 on Aug 2, 2024 5:50:39 GMT -5
The KHL is notorious for not giving a crap about developing young players. It's very much a pro league that is attempting to rival the NHL. In that sense, teams are worrying about winning first and player development is way in the back of their minds. Unless you're a super star like Michkov, you're going to be spending a few years working your way up the line up. By the time you're 22-23 you might finally be developed enough to make the jump over to NA. Its a slower burn. Some teams don't want that and get prospects over here ASAP as is the case this time. Will say that Chernyshov did perform well in the MHL (russian juniors). 28 points in 22 games. Competition there is probably something between junior A and CHL hockey. This will be good for him. He has the size, just has to round out his offensive game before he moves to pros full time. Also more good indications that he will in fact be suiting up for Saginaw: sanjosehockeynow.com/san-jose-sharks-igor-chernyshov-saginaw-spirit/ |
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Post by aj0512 on Aug 2, 2024 14:51:44 GMT -5
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Post by donjohnson on Aug 3, 2024 9:47:36 GMT -5
"Bull in a China Shop type of forward" Sounds like we're getting the "Russian Bull 2.0". Should be a great fit for us when we should have plenty of players who can put the puck in the net.
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Post by kingpin794 on Aug 5, 2024 9:45:16 GMT -5
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Post by kingpin794 on Aug 5, 2024 9:52:30 GMT -5
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Post by kingpin794 on Aug 5, 2024 11:59:07 GMT -5
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