Donuts head to the Finals!!!

As the Wisborg Donuts now approach the finals for the first time, it is fair to make a new blog post. Both occurrences are just about as rare. Here is a look back on how to build a Donut. It is a popular belief that the Donuts are all about Swedes and all about homegrown draftees. We will look into this for the 20 players that were on the ice in this playoffs so far, and probably will stay there, if healthy and available.

So are they all Swedes in the current line up?
Not so, it more of a Swedish-Canadian mix. But it is a dominance among those 20 players, as 9 of them are from Sweden and "only" 7 from Canada. The remaining 4 are from USA, Germany and Czech republic. So the team is not entirely made from Swedes, in fact, more correct to say about half the players are Swedes. But that is an over representation so it is fair to say there is a preference.

So they are all from own draft picks?
So in the same 20 players it turns out only 6 are are drafted from the own picks. But I guess that would be a pretty high number compared to other CCHL clubs who usually are more traders. Those draft picks are spread out from 2009-2014. It takes time to grow homegrown as the last of the own picks is now 5 years away, but that sounds like a pretty normal learning curve in the NHL. Four of the twenty are drafted in other draft forms, 3 from the UFA draft and all of the from the year 2017 and the last one is from waiver draft 2018, Patrik Berglund. A fun fact is that one is drafted all the way from the Contraction draft in 2009, Ryan McDonut, the captain.

So half of the 20 players are traded into the club at some point or another between the years 2013-2018. The year 2013 was big year for the Donut fans as that is when the biggest trade in Donut history took place as Ovechkin and Datsyuk was moved to the then contending and now defunct Karlstad team. Actually 3 players involved in the trade are among those 20 players still in the club while it is not the prize of the trade, Yakupov who never developed as a no 1 pick should. But Josh Bailey, Elias Lindholm and Oscar Klefbom were all part of the trade that moved Ovie off the Donuts, and he is currently a Horseman! So the trade wasn't such a disaster after all since 3 players are on the squad today.

How long do the Donuts keep their players?
Well they are not all from own draft picks as shown, but the team keeps faith in their players and tend to keep the m for a long while. Lehner and McDonut was owned by Donuts already 2009, that is 10 years ago. Five players are acquired in 2013 and another 5 from 2017, by different methods as 2013 was the year of the big trade while 2017 was the big year for the UFA market splash. For the 20 players the average time they have belonged to the club is more than 5 years. So it is fair to say, all player will get there chances with the club before moving on.

So who do Donuts trade with?
Ten players have arrived to Donuts via trades as noted above, any trends in trading partners.
Well, 3 players have been traded from Dayton as the latest was Hagg at start of current season. Three also come from defunct Karlstad all involved in the same and mentioned above Ovechkin trade. Of the four trades remaining two has actually come from Minnesota as both Jaden Schwartz and Filip Forsberg has come from Minnesota in 2013 and 2014. So there is some more fuel for the Championship teams.

So to sum it up, yes most are Swedish players but not exclusively. Half of the players are from trades but they are kept on the team for a long time. To finish it off, anyone recall that the team was named Helsingborg Donuts prior to 2006? Best wishes to Minnesota and remember there is no shame in second place. :-)

Fort Erie Season Ends....

The Fort Erie Falcons returned this morning for locker clean out day after suffering a 5-0 defeat in the CCHL's Corfield Conference final. 

For the Falcons, this playoff run was rather surprising given their up-and-down regular season that saw them just squeak into the league's second season. 

Despite the loss, the team knows that there are great things ahead given the high end young players in the organization. 

"It's never fun to go home early but we had a good run.  We are a young team and we can use this to come back hungrier next season.  Our top 9 forward group looks incredible next year with Stromer being ready to step into the lineup," said Mitch Marner. 

The Falcons look set for next season with both John Gibson and Darcy Kuemper set to battle it out in goal.  The pair comprise perhaps the most economical duo in the league given the are set to make just 4.8 million dollars between them and are looking to cash in on their next contract. 

Despite the team being poised for success, General Manager Matt Young knows he must address the defence if a championship is going to be in their future. 

"We know we need to address our defence.  We probably put Sami (Vatanen) in an unfair spot this season playing on our top pair with Slavin.  I'd love to upgrade at defence this offseason and get a top two defender to eat some minutes." 

Sources around the team continue to indicate that Patrik Laine has not rescinded his trade request to this point and could be the main player leaving in order to obtain a top pair defender.  While everyone hates giving up a perennial 40 goal scorer, it's something that could definitely happen to address the need. 

I am certain it will be an interesting few months for the Falcons as the offseason takes place.

Millers season review (and mini-preview)

The Millers season ended with an embarrassing 7-2 loss on home ice to Hamilton. GEO was done after 6 games, losing all 3 in the 2nd round in Alltech Arena.

Georgetown went into the season expecting to compete for a Canosa Conference playoff spot in the 4 to 6 range, but ultimately ended up in the #3 slot, defeating Long Island in the 1st round before bowing out to Hamilton. The club finished 5th overall in the CCHL,so it is reasonable to say expectations were exceeded.

As expected, Braydon Schenn, Brock Boeser and Teuvo Teravainen carried the offense. Roman Josi and Dmitri Orlov were a solid 1st D pairing, and James Reimer was statistically a top 10 goalie. Radek Faksa established himself as a solid middle 6 Center and Brett Pesce came into his own as a shutdown Dman.

A couple of new faces the team brought in during the pre-season did not not work out and  were eventually traded way. Chief among those was D Jeff Petry, Petry had 5 points and a horrendous -13 in 16 contests before being benched and ultimately traded to Dayton (and DAY later moved him to Siberia). Derek Ryan spent 18 games in Kentucky before being shipped to Victoria. Among the newcomers who lasted the season, Jay Beagle was in and out of the lineup all season and was not the PK asset the team needed him to be; Zach Parise played more (70 games) and scored less (21-23-44) than expected and was a 3rd liner throughout the stretch run and the playoffs. Luca Sbisa faired well in his 50 games but was inconsistent and eventually benched in the playoffs. Cody Eakin did not do much in 25 games but is expected to be re-signed as an RFA. Tobias Rieder got into 15 games and his contract will not be renewed. Ryan Miller ended up with a .906 save %, which would have been 7th in the league if he'd had enough games to qualify.

Several players were brought in during the season. The biggest names were Jakub Voracek and Dougie Hamilton, who provided some much needed offensive thump. Carl Hagelin was a great pickup, scoring 15 points in 29 games. Charlie Coyle was okay, not scoring as much as needed and not really finding his niche until being placed on the 3rd line - when acquired the club had hopes he could play a top 6 role. Matt Nieto was relatively inconsequential, not appearing at all in the playoffs. Troy Stecher did a fine job on the 3rd defensive pairing, alternating with Ben Chiarot. Brandon Dubinsky did wonders for the PK, and chipped in some surprising offense especially in the playoffs. Christian Fischer had a look as a bottom 6 and 2nd PP winger and did well enough to stay in the playoff lineup. Mattias Janmark filled in as needed but never showed the offense expected. Jordan Martinook was signed off the UFA scrap-heap early in the season and surprisingly carved out a role on the 4th line and PK.

Looking ahead, the Millers have 5 UFAs, including #1 G Reimer and top 9 forward Parise. Also unrestricted are Dubinsky, Hagelin, and Andrew Cogliano. Only Parise has a reasonable chance to be re-signed and it's unclear if the club wants to pay him over $14 million, even for 1 year.

RFAs include Chiarot, Jason Dickison, Eakin, Faksa, Hamilton, Janmark, Roman Josi, Brett Kulak, Pesce, and Sbisa. All but Sbisa have a reasonable chance to return.

Dickinson, Kulak, and Marcus Nutivaara were all acquired but never appeared during the season. It's conceivable Kulak and "Nuti" compete with Stecher and Chiarot (if re-signed) for 3rd pairing roles, and Dickinson could be on the 4th line and PK.

Incoming rookies include G Jordan Binnington, who is expected to start all 45 games he is eligible to play. Peter Cehlarik will be a reserve winger; Max Jones will likely spend the season in the minors with an eye towards a bigger role in 20-21; and Jesperi Kotkaniemi will play somewhere from the 2nd to the 4th line as the club looks to integrate last year's #1 draft pick.

GEO finished the season with a $93,000,000 payroll and will likely look to stay in that range next season, The club will most likely post a modest loss for the season, but has a pretty strong balance sheet overall.

Sudbury Miners – 2018/19 Season in Review

CANADIAN PRESS (Sudbury, ON)

The 2018/19 season began with no unreal expectations.  General Manager Terry James talked about his idea that a lot of his young prospects would gain another year of valuable experience, and there would be a few bumps and bruises along the way.



            But something happened this year in the Nickel City.  Some of the youth performed better than expected.  They also received career season from a number of players on the roster and there is no reason to believe that there will be a drop-off.  There were a few savvy trades that paid immediate dividends.  When it was all said and done, the Miners would finish the season 7th overall and clinch the franchise’s first playoff birth, versus Springfield.


          Despite the playoff loss in 5 games, the Miners season of growth could be considered a reasonable success.   Armed with 11 first round picks in this years CCHL Entry Draft, the outlook for the Miners is bright.

Here is the Good, the Bad and the Ugly for the 2018/19 edition of the Sudbury Miners.

THE GOOD         

Playoffs?!?  Yes, Playoffs!
It was supposed to be another year of growth in Sudbury.  A .500 team given where the team finished last year was a very optimistic, but realistic goal.   As the season wore on, the talk of playoffs grew louder and louder and the young team responded.  Instead of buckling under the pressure, the Miners responded to finish the season 7th overall and clinch the first playoff berth in franchise history.

 Vincent Trocheck

The Miners top scorer was simply brilliant this year and was their team MVP most nights.  He finished with 94 points (good for 11th overall), and was one of two Miner players (Sam Reinhart being the other) to break the 30 goal barrier.   Barring any unforeseen injury, there is no reason to expect a drop off next year.  He is the real deal.

THE BAD 

Defensive Coverage

This was a problem for the Miners for most of the season.  The defense was young, and many of the problems in their own zone were covered up by the solid play of goaltender Freddie Andersen.  But, as Springfield showed in the playoffs, this group just is not seasoned enough.  Experience and continued development should eventually make this a strength of this team.

THE UGLY

Shots Against

The Miners were in the bottom third of the CCHL for Shots Against, and it is a dangerous recipe to rely on your goaltender to bail you out all the time.  The great teams do not do this.   If Sudbury wants to go from good to great, they will need this young defense core to do a better job of limiting shots against.

Power Play

While better than last year, the Miners finished the season with the power play at 20.7%, good for only 13th overall.   Compare that to top-ranked Reykjavik, which ran at 25.9%.   If the team was struggling defensively or trailing in a game,  they needed the power play to capitalize on chances to stay in games.   Simply put, this did not happen often enough, especially in the playoffs.

Despite bowing out early in the playoffs, this season showed unexpected growth and great promise for the future.   Patience is a word being thrown around in Sudbury.  Patience to let the youth continue to develop and to resist the urge to make a huge move will dictate if they continue to trend upwards.   The could be the start of an interesting time in Sudbury.

Laine on his way out of Fort Erie?

Fort Erie Sun Times
Fort Erie, ON
April 8, 2019

Story by:  Bob Puckit


The Fort Erie Falcons return home having accomplished their goal of having split the first two games on Capeside ice.

The Falcons did not want to find themselves in a situation similar to that of round one where they returned home down a pair of games, and having to win four out of the next five games to win the series.  While the team did it, they knew that they would be asking for a miracle to do it against the conference’s best club in the Loons.

Of course, the return doesn’t come without some sort of controversy as Patrik Laine voiced his displeasure of being a healthy scratch for game 7 and the first two contests in Capeside.

“Listen I don’t know why I’m here if I’m not going to play.  I can score a lot of goals playing with these guys but not from the press box.  I’m better than this and I’m not sure why they traded for me earlier this year if they won’t play me,” said Laine to the media. 

Instantly we knew that wouldn’t sit well with Fort Erie GM Matt Young and we had a chance to ask him about his young winger’s comments.

“Listen, he’s a goal scorer and he’s been snake bitten since he’s been here.  If he’s not scoring, his game is a lot less useful than Beauvillier or Copp because they won’t cheat to create offence.  They focus on playing a 200 foot game at this time of year and our coach is taking the safe approach.  It may not be as dynamic but it’s safe hockey and you need to be safe at this time of year,” said Young.

When asked about the possibility of trading Laine, Young didn’t mince words either.

“We don’t want anyone here that doesn’t want to be here.  Listen the reality is that we have Mitch (Marner), Chucky (Tkachuk), Aho, Stromer, DeBrincat, Zach (Werenski) and Dunner that are all going to need to get paid.  I think we’re legitimately looking at near double digits in the millions for them and Patrik will surely have a monster year next year in order to get his money too.  We can’t afford 6 of those guys and be competitive so somebody will likely have to go, we’re aware of that fact.  Unfortunately, he may make that decision easy for us.” 

While the CCHL trading season won’t begin until after the playoffs, the early word on the mean streets of Fort Erie is that Young would like a solid top pairing defender for Laine.

“There will be a number of teams looking to cut cost.  They can add a 40 goal scorer, perhaps the most gifted young scorer in the league for a top pairing defenceman that’s in his prime.  Our payroll is small next year so salary isn’t an issue for the right player,” quipped Young. 

Game three goes tonight in Fort Erie and early indications are that Laine will not dress yet again only adding fuel to the fire that his days in Fort Erie are almost finished.

Springfield up 2 in the Neighbour Series

Game 2 is in the books and Springfield won 3-1, this puts the Isotopes up 2-0 as the series moves to Sudbury.  Patric Hornqvist was the games first star with 2 points, once again Sergei Bobrovsky was standing on his head and was the games second star stopping 29 of 30 shots and Nicklas Backstrom was the games third star with the game winning goal. Now for what you have been waiting for:

The Isotopes are one step closer to bringing clarity to this obviously complicated situation but are still only half way and the last two games are harder to win than the first two.

It appears though that the Sudbury Miners have already given up. “I’ve never been so happy to be down 0-2 in a series”, Sudbury GM Terry was quoted as saying.  If the GM has quit it is a message that does not seem to have been passed to his team, as the Miners have played two very good games so far.  In fact the Miners have outshot the Isotopes in both games.

“If Terry is happy not to be winning, then why are they even out there trying? I have to assume that he is lying, he wants to win this, maybe even more than me”, said Isotopes GM Aaron Stacey, “We are giving our all out there, just look at Hubby (Jonathan Huberdeau who was injured blocking a shot in the first period), I expect that Sudbury will be doing the same.”

Game 3 is tonight and there are some line changes expected for tonight’s game, as the injury to Huberdeau has allowed for former captain Brendan Gallagher to be brought into the lineup. Team leader (tied) in points, Colton Sceviour is being moved up to the 3rd line.

Hopefully the team can keep the run going and wrap up this series early.



Springfield Times

Springfield takes an early lead in the ‘Neighbours Series’

In a score that didn’t reflect the stats, Springfield won the first game of their series against Sudbury Miners, with a final score of 4-1.

Things did not start off on the right foot for the Isotopes as just over two minutes into the game J.T. Compher of the Miners rifled a shot past Bobrovsky after ‘Bob’ made back-to-back-to-back saves. “Bobrosvky can be counted to make saves for us but he can’t be expected to clear the puck as well”, said Isotopes GM Aaron Stacey, “The Miners were all over us early in the game, I am just glad we were able to fight back and we have Bobrovsky to thank for that.”

It is true, not long after the Miners goal Springfield replied with a powerplay goal (which should be shocking to any Springfield fan given the teams special teams record) while Simmons served a delay of game penalty.  The game stayed deadlocked until nearly the 15 minute mark of the second period where Jared Spurgeon put the Isotopes up and they never looked back.

P.K. Subban had two points and was the first star, Bobrovsky stopped 34 of 35 shots was the second star, and Darren Archibald with goal (he had six all season) and a +3 rating was the games third star.

On a more important note, Stacey is now one game up in the ‘Neighbours Series’.

There are no changes expected in the lineup for Springfield in game 2, and now the series is moving to daily games which could make this writer a bit fatigued hopefully it doesn’t end up impacting the team’s (and this writer’s) nap times.

Springfield Times