Nottingham Panthers

Jono Bullard from The Cat’s Whiskers previews the 2009/10 season for the Panthers

Panthers enter the new campaign searching for their first title in 54 long years, however this time I believe that coach Corey Neilson has got the tools to finally break the jinx and bring the Monteith Bowl to Nottingham.

Before you send for the men in white coats to have me sectioned let me explain. I look at our roster this season and I see a massive improvement in defence and awesome firepower. The only question mark is over netminder Kevin St. Pierre, but to be fair he is a complete unknown so he could be a complete turkey or hopefully a total success.

The defence has been on the whole retained and while roundly criticised last year it should be pointed out that Panthers had the fourth best defence and the third best goal difference in the league. Corey Neilson is one of the best offensive blue-liners in the league, Nick Toneys was excellent in his first year and I’d expect him to continue in the same vein, Danny Meyers had a poor season by his standards but I expect him to repay the faith that Neilson has shown in him. Stephen Lee has had a year of EPL with Guildford under his belt and I expect him to be a more than able fifth defenceman. The pinnacle of our defence though is new signing Dominic D’Amour, who comes to England from Dayton Bombers in the ECHL after a distinguished career in the North American minor leagues at ECHL & AHL level. This is the guy who should be the lynch pin of our defence, and our success will depend on D’Amour having a stand out season. I firmly believe he will.

Up front the Panthers have gone for total fire power once again with the addition of Cameron Mann, who comes with an NHL pedigree and is widely expected to be one of the leagues top scorers. Sean McAslan returns after a season with Rodovre Mighty Bulls in Denmark, while Kevin Bergin, David Clarke and Bruce Richardson all return, along with the gritty Marc Levers. Martin Gascon replaces the retiring Dan Tessier, and while Tessier leaves huge skates to fill, Neilson has already been waxing lyrical on his new centreman at a recent Montreal tournament. Matt Myers has been replaced by Ross Dalgleish from Edinburgh Capitals, however it cannot be understated how big a loss Myers is, but you cannot begrudge a shot at the ECHL with Bakersfield.

I’ve left one player out, the one who I believe will be our key man this year and that is returning winger Jade Galbraith. It has been an eventful summer for him, but I was pleasantly surprised to find that he had turned up at Neilson’s Orangeville training camp 15 pounds lighter in weight than he finished the season. Later on in the camp Galbraith admitted that he didn’t give 100% to the Panthers last season and that he would put it right in the coming campaign, a startling admission to the fans, but I firmly believe he will put it right and I believe that Galbraith holds the key to our title chances. If he plays like we know he is capable of, the title should be ours for the taking.

Of the other teams, I think a big challenge will come from the Cardiff Devils, who look to have the tools to displace the so-called ‘Big Four’ especially with the signings of Mark Smith, Max Birbraer and the return of their inspirational captain Brad Voth. Belfast Giants once again looked stacked up front, but David Phillips will be a big loss on the blue line and I don’t believe that Stephen Murphy is a netminder that can win them a championship.

Sheffield will be there or thereabouts, but while they have retained a majority of their title winning team, they have lost the architects of their success in Lehman, Munn, Tait and Finnerty and for my money only Munn has been replaced like for like with Bolibruck. I also can’t understand why a defenceman (Sarich) has been moved forward and he’s expected to score 50/60 points! Madness!

Coventry also look like challengers this season with a stacked first line of Calder, Carlson and Greg Chambers as well as the capture of top Brit Greg Owen. Their defence also looks good but suffered a blow with the defection of Ben O’Connor to Edinburgh.

Of the rest Hull look stronger since Sylvain Cloutier became coach and I expect them to be battling for sixth place with the Vipers, who appear to have recruited a far less ‘enforcing’ team this year! The Capitals, while recruiting quality in Allen, Lambert and Fussey, still don’t have a netminder at the time of writing and without such a crucial part of their team I can only predict them to finish eighth at the moment.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s how I see the Elite League finishing this season:

1. Nottingham
2. Cardiff
3. Coventry
4. Sheffield
5. Belfast
6. Hull
7. Newcastle
8. Edinburgh