On that note, I wanted to say thank you to everyone in the OHB community who reached out to me after the pretty massive disappointment I encountered yesterday regarding my meeting with the team that got cancelled. There'll be more on that in the near future ("believe that", as The Critical Drinker would say on YouTube), but for now I just wanted to underline how grateful I am for all the support. I was devastated yesterday but made to feel much better by the wonderful people who contacted me. It means a lot.
Right, back to it - who's this guy? The team have branded him as Mr Top Scoring D-Man in the ICE League 23-24 season. Let's explore the reality behind that statement.
The inevitable Elite Prospects profile is here. What are the takeaways from these last 9 or so seasons?
- That WHL season as Captain for Medicine Hat (an insane name for a team, but I love it) is legitimately impressive. The WHL is no joke as a developmental Canadian league, and his casual +50 is highly commendable.
- After that, he plays 5 years at the University of Alberta, including a pandemic washout. None of these statistically jump out at you, but they show reasonable effectiveness at that level.
- He jumps straight into the ICE League after university, playing only two games in 22-23 and the full 48 in 23-24 with Pioneers Vorarlberg. In that second season with PIV, he was the leading scorer for defenders, as the team trumpeted. We must contextualise this, though - PIV were low down the league, meaning this total inevitably includes the kind of 'garbage time' points (scored when the game is essentially over already and the other team isn't trying as hard). It also includes a -8, which speaks to both PIV's team weakness as well as a potential common drawback to offensive D-men - they give up a lot defensively.
- He translated that flashy season with PIV into trips to two better leagues in 24-25 - first in Germany and secondly in Slovakia. As you can see, he moved to three different clubs in two leagues, which doesn't exactly inspire confidence in his value-for-money, talent or character. I'm not saying he doesn't have any of those three things, just that his performances last season do not look good. We must give him a chance to prove his mettle with us, but he's 29 now and is not some young up-and-comer (as sad as it is for another 29 year old, yours truly, to write that 😆).
Final thoughts, for now
So, not as exciting as first glance. Still, you have to hope under Ben Cooper's guidance that he will accentuate the strengths of his game and minimise the weaknesses. We don't want another Will Cullen-esque disaster, as happened in that same 23-24 season (Cullen was a highly rated North American right shot offensive D who was atrocious in his own zone and ended up leaving early in the season).
Despite the abrupt ending of my potential relationship with the club (it did honestly feel like something akin to a break-up text that I received yesterday, not going to lie), I am categorically not coming out here with an 'axe to grind' (i.e. to speak badly about them and their decisions just to spite them). Like Rob Staton of Seahawks Draft Blog, the man who inspired me to start OHB, I am concerned with the truth first and foremost. The truth requires some critical analysis, and that's what I hope you feel you've been getting throughout the last year.
In that spirit, this feels a bit underwhelming. I was excited to see some news I hadn't heard about, but the reality of the situation is that instead of signing Lalonde and then signing someone even better for the defence, they've signed Lalonde and a bit of a question mark. Possibly a pretty expensive question mark, too.
Are Lalonde and Kirichenko that much of an upgrade over the disappointing Atwal and Ege from last season? As we say in England, the proof will be in the pudding. Let's wait and see. For now, I am confident that Lalonde can provide value even if he is not scoring a lot of points. That's thanks to his immense physicality. I haven't seen Kirichenko play - if he manages to fuel the offensive gear shift that we need, fantastic. We should admit, though, that he may be a Cullen-esque, potentially Mašič-esque liability in defence. Can our defence handle two offensively strong but defensively weak D-men, after it struggled mightily at 5-on-5 with only one of those last year?
Ultimately, I think that after the Bonino signing last season, we could dare to dream that this offseason would be truly transformative. So far, you cannot say that. Meyer and Lalonde are helpful additions with the potential for more, while Kirichenko could turn out to be an offensive wizard for us. Yet, two are ICE League re-treads (or, more positively, ICE League veterans) while Lalonde is someone we already had a trial run with last season. That's not a bad thing, but it's also not truly transformative for this squad. Where is the splash signing that will ignite our chances of real success? Not everything has to be like that, you need good depth - but I am starting to wonder if we will go as hard in the transfer market as I anticipated under Mr Lefebvre's ownership. There's still time. Show us you really mean it with one more scintillating scoring forward (or two), OLL!
OHB's updated defensive outlook
1st pair: Bohinc - Lalonde
2nd pair: Ćosić - Kirichenko
3rd pair: Mašič - Gregorc/Hebar
7th D - Gregorc/Hebar
This gives every pairing a clear offensive prime mover - Lalonde, Kirichenko and Mašič. All the others can still positively contribute in the OZ, too. Although not mega flashy, this unit could work - especially with the new coaching regime to help limit their exposure to high-danger looks for the opposition.
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