Sheffield Steelers

Richard Craine aka Doom from Steeltalk previews the season for the Steelers

To say the last few months have been difficult for Steelers supporters would be an understatement, for most it has been a horrible time with serious doubts about whether the team would ever make it onto the ice.
The summer started with the news that the operating company had gone into liquidation and this was followed by a walkout of the senior management including the coach. Rumours of unrest amongst the signed players followed, but fortunately for the supporters that doesn’t appear to have materialised into anything more than unrest and as I sit typing this right now the club are nearly ready to go for the new season.
I think much of the credit for keeping all the players together must go to the new coach Ben Simon. This will be Ben’s first professional coaching job and no doubt the learning curve will be steep, but he comes into the league with the most impressive CV of any player and that should (and probably has) given him the immediate respect of all the players.
To date Ben has impressed the fans by saying and doing the right things, I just hope they show patience with him and realise that mistakes will undoubtedly be made by someone who is both new to our league and to the coaching role.
With the return of Steve Munn and Ashley Tait the Steelers now have the majority of the backbone of the team that comfortably won the league two seasons ago.
As for the teams chances this coming season, well despite everything that’s gone on during the summer I genuinely think there is a realistic chance of winning the league title, although if I was a betting man my money would be on the Giants.

The most important position in any team is the netminding and Ervins Mustukovs will occupy that role for the Steelers next season. Although I doubt he’ll have the consistency of Jody Lehman two seasons ago, I do like the look of Mustukovs and believe he will prove to be one of the top three netminders in the league.
His limited time in the ECHL produced a very respectable save percentage of just under 92% and he’s also made a few appearances in the much higher quality KHL.

The defence has a much better look about it with the return of Steve Munn and Rod Sarich. Jerramie Domish is one of the smoothest skating defencemen in the league and his addition to the roster should improve the transitional play, although his points output never seems to match his skating ability which suggests his end product maybe isn’t the best.
Kevin Bolibruck’s CV looks very impressive, but I think most Steelers supporters were a little disappointed by his performances last season. He’s certainly no longer the top quality defenceman that played for the Steelers a few years ago, but he did improve as the season wore on and his experience should invaluable to the squad.
Overall the defence looks second only to Belfast’s, but I do have reservations about the overall age of the players.

The forward line looks less impressive than most of the Steelers main rivals and this is where I think the squad will fall just short.
Legue and Talbot are both capable of 30+ goals but after that there doesn’t look to be enough secondary scoring compared to the other likely title challengers. The return of Ashley Tait should hopefully not only guarantee 20+ goals next season, but also increase the productivity of those around him, especially Rob Dowd who will be hoping to get back to his goal scoring exploits of two seasons ago.
Ben Simon should be one of the best defensive forwards in the league, but his past record doesn’t suggest he’ll be putting up big numbers.
The signing of both Clark and Campbell should add some size and feistiness to the roster, something that was sadly missing from last seasons squad, but neither are likely to score more than 20 goals and I think this will prove to be a problem.
For the Steelers to succeed next season I believe the final import forward will need to be capable of 25+ goals and the likes of Dowd and Phillips will need to increase their productivity to approximately 25 and 20 goals respectively.
I think it’s also worth pointing out that although Ben Simon is the coach, this remains very much a Dave Matsos team and the players who have been signed may not fit in with Ben Simon’s ice hockey philosophy.
If everything clicks then the Steelers can win the league title, but realistically I expect a 4th place finish.

Regards the final league standings, this is how I see them finishing (subject to quite a few signings still to be made): -

1. Belfast Giants
With the roster that has been put together by Doug Christiansen it’s difficult to see beyond Belfast for the title.
All bases seem to have been covered with Christiansen himself being a very fine replacement should the injury curse strike.
Although I don’t believe Murphy is a netminder capable of stealing games on a regular basis, he’s certainly competent and with the roster in front of him I doubt he’ll be needed to steal games all that often.
On paper Belfast look to have the strongest defence in the league. Whereas Coventry and Sheffield each have one outstanding stay at home defenceman in their ranks, Belfast can boast two in the highly impressive looking Seeley and Gleed. Add the more than capable Tim Cook and the high point scoring Jeff Mason into the mix and Belfast look to have one of the most impressive defensive rosters in EIHL history.
It doesn’t get any better for the rest of the league when you start to analyse the Belfast forwards. In Shields they more than likely have the top points scoring British forward in the league and in Hemmingway and Bayrack they have two players who’re both capable of scoring 30+ goals.
Overall I don’t think Belfast quite have the firepower of the Panthers, but they still look to have a very impressive set of forwards and they’ve not compromised their defence to achieve it.
Toughness shouldn’t be an issue with the signing of hard man Mike Hoffman.

2. Coventry Blaze
Last season I thought Coventry over achieved, on paper the defence looked distinctly average and although the forwards looked impressive, I thought Nottingham had significantly more firepower, so why did Coventry win the league? My guess is the Thompson factor. Paul Thompson gets his team to play to his systems and squeezes everything he can out of the squad. This seasons Blaze squad looks to be an upgrade and when you take into account the Thompson factor then they should be there or thereabouts.
Brett Jaegar looks to be a reasonably solid netminder with good stats in both the CHL and ECHL. I doubt he’ll be the best in the league, but he should do a decent job for the Blaze.
The Blaze defence looks to have upgraded on last season. The re-signing of Lee was a big boost; he was one of the top defencemen in the league playing a no nonsense game. Brad Zanon should be able to take over the role from the departed Robinson and Jeff Smith will add both size and toughness to the roster. It goes without saying that Jonathan Weaver will be the top British defenceman.
Once again Coventry has put together a very impressive forward line that should be a match for any other in the league. It’s doubtful that Fulghum will be able to put up similar numbers to last season, but the signing of Fussey is very good business by Thompson and I can see him scoring well over 30 goals. Selmser is an interesting signing, although his better days are now well behind him he should bring some feistiness and toughness to the Blaze forward line. Owen will no doubt continue to impress and will be one of the few British players capable of scoring 30+ goals. Overall I think Blaze can match Belfast in the forwards, but they’ll fall short on the quality and experience of their defencemen.

3. Nottingham Panthers
The Panthers look to have a squad of similar quality to the Blaze, but the reason I’ve put them 3rd is due to the ability of the respective coaches. Thompson has time and time again proved himself to be the best in the league, whilst the jury still remains out on Neilson, though in a number of areas the Panthers look to have the edge over their rivals.
Craig Kowalski is a very good replacement for KSP and will probably be the best netminder in the league.
Goal scoring shouldn’t be an issue for Nottingham; they appear to have more firepower than any other team with the majority of their import forwards being capable of 30+ goals. David Clarke will once again be one of the top scoring British players and Matt Myers should have benefited from his time in North America. With Zion and Neilson likely to be amongst the top scoring defencemen in the league it’s quite clear what the Panthers philosophy will be.
The third area where Nottingham will have the edge is in the depth of their squad. Toughness shouldn’t be an issue with the addition of Alex Penner to the squad; he should be one of the toughest and most entertaining fighters in the league.
Despite all the above advantages over their rivals I still can only see a 3rd place finish for Nottingham, that’s because I believe they have the weakest defence of the likely top 5. Their games should be high scoring and exciting, but as we’ve experienced so often in the past it’s usually a team with a tight defence who win the league.

4. Sheffield Steelers
See above

5. Cardiff Devils
Although this is probably the strongest Devils squad in the EIHL era, I still think they look a little short of winning the top prize.
For my money Lyle is the weakest netminder of those who will be challenging for honours and the forwards look a little short of goals.
Defensively the Smith brothers should be amongst the best in the league and Justin Sawyer will bring size and toughness to the line-up. Mark Richardson should continue to improve in his defensive role after a very impressive season last year.
Of the forwards Scott Matzka is definitely one to watch and in many peoples eyes will be one of the top forwards in the league.
No doubt there will be plenty of huff and puff from the Cardiff forwards with the likes of Finnerty, Michel, Voth and MacRae being a real irritation to the oppositions defence, but apart from Pelle I can’t see who is going to help Matzka out with the goal scoring.
Once again Cardiff will be difficult to beat in the tight confines of their big blue tent, but away from home I can’t see them getting enough wins to take them to that first elusive EIHL title.

6. Braehead Clan
The new boys to the league and I can see a respectable 6th place finish for Bruce Richardson’s boys.
The Clan’s starting netminder will be JF Perras, ask the Coventry supporters and they will tell you this is a bad move on the part of Richardson, but the Edinburgh supporters would probably disagree. My own opinion is a mid table netminder for a mid table team.
In defence Wathier and Bostock appear to be fairly run of the mill players, but Wedderburn comes with an impressive CV which includes nearly 300 games in the AHL. Landry should provide the transition from defence to attack and is likely to be one of the top scoring defencemen in the league.
Former Panther Brendan Cook looks to be the pick of the forwards and should be good for 30 goals. Other players who should be capable of putting up decent numbers are Campbell and Chaumont. The rest of the forwards are unlikely to trouble the scorers too often, although Bernier and Bruce will bring a degree of toughness to the line-up and Richardson will undoubtedly be his irritating self.
Although I’ve predicted a 6th place finish for the Clan, I expect them to finish a distance behind the Devils.

7. Hull Stingrays
It’s a shame the Stingrays had their financial problems, because I really thought they were putting together their best roster in quite a number of years.
Boucher in goal has relatively little professional experience, a theme that will reoccur quite a few times later on in my preview. During his half season in the CHL he performed quite well with a very respectable 92% save record.
Defensively both Mizerek and Read bring plenty of experience to the team, although it’s a shame Burns didn’t return because he really impressed me last season with his physical play.
Defensively Hull are shaping up quite nicely and if they can replace Burns and Suderman with players of similar experience and quality then I suspect Hull will have the best of the rest when it comes to defence.
The Hull forwards were also shaping up nicely until the financial issues meant the loss of the impressive looking Chris Korchinski. Both Kalmikov and Silverthorn should be good for 25+ goals and Cloutier will bring bags of experience to the team. If Hull can replace Korchinski with a player of equal pedigree then I think they could well end up with their highest placed finish in the EIHL era.
Where they finish will ultimately depend on keeping the remainder of the squad in place and bringing in equal replacements for those they’ve lost, but I think it will be a good year for Hull by their own recent standards.

8. Edinburgh Capitals
It’s probably a bit early for predicting where the Capitals will finish with just over half of their imports signed.
Scott Reid comes in with plenty of experience including a few games in the AHL and should be one of the best netminders of the teams likely to be in the lower half of the league table.
I’ve always thought of Kyle Horne as one of the best British defencemen in the league and certainly a good re-signing for the Capitals. There’s not much to go on with Schafer and Madsen so I’ll reserve judgement, but latest signing Perreault certainly adds some size to the line-up,
Of the forwards signed to date only Hutchins and Cingel catch the eye, but as usual I would expect Scott Neil to sign a couple of gems before the season gets underway.

9. Newcastle Vipers
I’m really struggling to find anything positive about this seasons Vipers squad, although I wouldn’t mind some of their players on a triple word score at scrabble.
Effinger in goal looks to be another netminder in the league with very little professional experience.
Defensively the Vipers look quite weak with only Stayzer having much professional experience, although Langdon looks to be a decent capture with two full ECHL seasons behind him.
Of the forwards signed to date none really catch the eye, although there are still two imports to be signed so hopefully at least one of those will be a top end player.
I have to confess the Newcastle roster has crept up on me and on the face of it looks a little disappointing.

10. Dundee Stars
Somebody has to finish bottom and sadly I think it’s going to be the new kids on the block.
In goal Jerad Kaufmann has fairly limited experience although his stats don’t look bad. Definitely a wait and see signing.
Defensively Dundee don’t look too bad, they have plenty of professional experience and some big physical players, although I would imagine only Lomanno will have the mobility required on the larger ice surfaces.
However it’s in the forwards I have the biggest fear for the Stars. Of the players signed to date Brent Hughes is the only one I can see scoring more than 20 goals and that just won’t be enough to remain competitive on a regular basis.
It’s not all doom and gloom though; the fight fans in Dundee should be in for a very entertaining time, because if there’s one area Dundee look to excel it’s in the fighting department. No doubt McMorrow will want to keep his crown as the EIHL heavyweight champ and he should get plenty of support from Makway and Suderman.
At least there’s one thing about Dundee, if they do go down, they’ll go down fighting…. Quite literally!