Canosa Conference 2017/18 Season Preview

Canosa Conference 2017/18 Season Preview

(Rosters as off August 30th, 2017)

Georgetown Millers

Offense: B
Center position is their strong suit with Backstrom providing the offense while Carter and Fisher providing help on face off and penalty kill.  Lacking a true goal scorer on the wing might be a problem in a long run.

Defense: B+
Josi and Ristolainen on the first pairing can take up big minutes.  Josi is great in any situation.  Not so much to see after that.

Goaltending: B+
Reimer can play most the the season barring injury, hopefully Budaj can perform well as a backup

Hamilton Tigers

Offense: A+
Insanely talented right wingers with recently acquired Patrick Kane, Ho-Sang, Laine, Hossa and Perry.  Can match up with any defense pairing in the league.

Defense: A
Lots of depth and great defensive defensemen.  Expect Karlsson to lead the Defensemen in points this season.

Goaltending: A-
Would be an A if Anderson could play more than 54 games.

Long Island Express

Offense: B
Centers are not so great at defense and faceoff compared to other teams.  The team relies heavily on their first line.

Defense: B
Not enough depth could be a problem down the road.

Goaltending: C+
An off year by Lundqvist could become a disastrous season the the Express

Las Vegas Aces

Offense: B-
Will need Marchessault to have a breakout season for the Aces to be successful

Defense: B
Not many Defensemen that can take big minutes other than Eric Johnson, who is a borderline 1st line Defensemen

Goaltending: C
Need to somehow trade for a better starting goalie,  right now Pickard and his .904 save percentage won’t be able to stop a lot of pucks.

Minnesota Norsemen

Offense: A
Made a lot of off season changes, with addition of Bergeron, Kessel and the up and coming Mitch Marner. The Norsemen have suddenly become one of the favorite to win the Canosa divison.

Defense: B
One aspect the Norsemen need to improve to becoming a true contender.  The recentl addition of Provorov is a great move though.

Goaltending: A
Dubnyk can play every game for the Norsemen, also a great addition in the off season.

Rejkjavik Puffin

Offence: A+
Has the best offence in this league, you know they are for real when Koviu is their 4th line center.  Kucherov and Tanks as 1-2 punch at right wing.  This will be the team to beat in Canosa conference this season.

Defense: A
Again, a very offensive minded setup with Hedman, Ekman-Larsson, Subban, Lindholm all are great powerplay specialists.

Goalie: A
Excellent move by the Puffin acquiring Holtby in the offseason.

Sanibel Islanders

Offense: A-
Whoever has Ovechkin deserves at least an A automatically.  Lots of PK specialists in this league, they won’t get easily score on when short handed.

Defense: B
Could use more depth in Defense, their 3rd line could be unbearable to watch.

Goaltending: B
Miller is probably on his last straw,  need a better starter in order to win games.

Siberia Icecats

Offense: A
Probably the most exciting team to watch this season with the emergence of McDavid and Ehlers, lots of youngsters and depth at every position, this team is going to be great for many years to come.

Defense: A-
Good depth overall, but could use a big name Defensemen in the first line.

Goaltending: A
Murray proves to be the real deal winning 2 cups in the NHL thus making Fleury expendable, but can he help the Icecats to do the same in CCHL?

Springfield Isotopes

Offence: A-
Great depth, could use a true scorer in the LW position.

Defense: B+
Left Defensemen looks good but what about the Right?  Lots of shot blocking defensemen and with Bobrovsky in net, this team will be hard to score against.

Goaltending: A+
Bobrovsky is the best goaltender this season period.

Sunbury Miners

Offence: B+
Good depth but lack a truly competitive 1st line.

Defense: B
Lots of promising youngsters like Nurse, Ekblad , Montour and Larsson, but probably need a few years to reach their potential

Goaltending: B
Grubauer save % is good but can only play one third of the season's games.

Victoria Ronin

Offence: A-
Recently acquired Nugent-Hopkin will help the team in a long run, Benn and Radulov will be the Ronin offensive output for this season.  Mr. Canosa is building a very competitive team that is not afraid of playing physical and fore-checking every night.

Defense: B+
Will be heavily relying on Trouba - which is not good news.

Goaltending: B-
Mason is not the answer for goaltending this season, hopefully Saros will be playing a bigger role in the future.


FINAL STANDING PREDICATION

Rejkjavk Puffin
Siberia Icecats
Hamilton Tigers
Springfield Isotopes
Minnesota Norsemen
Victoria Ronin

Sanibel Islanders
Sunbury Miners
George Town Millers
Long Island Express
Las Vegas Aces


UP NEXT: Corfield Conference Preview

(lightly edited by Bill Corfield)