Having been installed as the Excel Hull Stingrays second ever head coach, Sylvain Cloutier's plan for the off-season was quite simple: sign an 18 man squad within a five month time frame.Given that his previous employer in Corpus Christi, TX allowed him just three months in July 08 to acheive that same goal, this task was a cakewalk for the Mont-Laurier, Quebec native, as he accomplished the aim two months early.
The signing of Canadian forward Matt Reynolds completed the Rays squad at 18 players (three lines plus a backup and an extra forward) just over a month before the start of the Elite League season.
In the time since Cloutier's appointment in May, he has been forced to make many difficult choices in building his second squad as coach, the hardest of which will have surely been choosing who to retain from a squad which showed potential in 08/09, but ultimately finished outside of the playoffs for a third successive season.
He ended up signing what looks, at the moment, to be the Rays largest Elite League opening weekend squad, with the second highest amount of new faces and equal greatest number of returnees.
05/06->06/07: 9 new players, 8 re-signings
06/07-> 07/08: 9 new players, 8 re-signings
07/08-> 08/09: 11 new players, 6 re-signings
08/09-> 09/10: 10 new players, 8 re-signings
07/08-> 08/09: 11 new players, 6 re-signings
08/09-> 09/10: 10 new players, 8 re-signings
It is a fact that the team needed changes, but with a returning core of most of last season's best imports (Konstantin Kalmikov, Matt Reynolds, Jeff Glowa and Pavel Gomenyuk), he has opted for the tried and tested method of keeping the core of a squad together in the search for success.
The much maligned Slava Koulikov aside, not many of Cloutier's re-signings would fail to make a fans wish list of returnees from last year.
The only real loss from last season's squad may have been defenceman and fans player of the year, Steve Slonina, who is the kind of puck moving defenceman that the team look to be missing if we ignore Gomenyuk's passed season.
But it is up front, with the addition of Cloutier and new assistant coach Curtis Huppe in place of Jason Kostadine and Jamie Thompson, that the team really seems to have come on.
Assistant Coach Huppe scoring in the Elite League for Belfast against Newcastle (photo- flickr: interdev)
Huppe, a former 30 plus and three time 20 plus EIHL goalscorer, provides the proven sniper that the club have never acquired, even if he may have been disappointing in the CHL, whilst Cloutier adds so much to the team as both player and coach.
One of the Elite League's real leaders last time out, he has two point per game seasons in two Elite League years. How much of an effect will the year out have had on the 35 year old? Time will tell, but his commitment and dedication will never come under scrutiny.
Elsewhere, the teams British depth has thankfully been replenished after a season of neglect, following the departure of Luke Boothroyd, Dave Phillips, James Knight and Stevie Lee last summer.
The addition of James Hutchinson, last season a treble winner in the EPL, Shaun Thompson, who scored 40 Elite League points in 08/09, Craig Mitchell, who is coming off the back of an encouraging rookie season and Matty Davies, who returns to Hull after three promising season's in the EPL, should really help the team with the depth issues they suffered from last year.
They will join a set of Brits (Lee Mitchell, Andrew Jaszcyzk, Lee Esders and Slava Koulikov) who are established and integrated into the Hull setup, and most of whom are coming off positive seasons in Stingrays colours.
With the British and offensive areas of the team having undergone an upgrade of sorts on last season, the lingering question over the squad for the upcoming season remains in the teams defensive end.
Sandahl playing for Troja-Ljungby
Swedish netminder Tommy Sandahl may be coming in from a higher level after outperforming his more experienced counterpart towards the end of last season, and may be following on from Curtis Cruickshank, who, it's fair to say, did not have the best of times in the Stingrays net, but, even at 25 he is relatively inexperienced as a starting netminder and, although he has been given the seal of approval by Cloutier's brother, and former NHL goalie, it is cause for a little concern in Hull, at least until the puck drops against Tilburg.
Ukrainian Gomenyuk is back for his fifth season on the blueline and has been forgiven for a bad 07/08 season after a stunning 42 point season last term. Meanwhile his defensive counterparts from last season (Aaron Wilson, Stuart Kerr, Troy Neumeier and Antti Turunen) have been replaced by a trio of Canadians.
Ryan Jorde is expected to be a tough, uncompromising defenceman, who has dropped the gloves with some of the toughest in the game, whilst Adam Knight is a tough young utility player that will ice as a defenceman for the Rays after a season as forward in the CHL.
Burns (photo: Les Stockton)
Finally, Stephen Burns is a former CHLer that has Kerr and Wilson like stats, but is clearly highly rated within the Stingrays camp. Coach Cloutier handed the Ontario born defenceman a two year contract that will run alongside a degree at Doncaster School of Business and it will be hoped that he fulfills his expected potential in the Elite League.
A lot will be expected of Gomenyuk to reproduce the form and points of last season, and James Hutchinson, also coming off a good season points wise, will be expected to chip in offensively to help the five year defenceman.
Away from Gomenyuk, Cloutier has gone for solidity rather than eye opening ability going forward, but the theory is: with an improved offensive lineup and new ideas going forward, who needs several point scoring defencemen?
With a month until the first puck drops, there is not long to wait to see whether the Rays have improved offensively, whether Sandahl will become the find of the season, or if Slava Koulikov will finally have that outstanding year that he his potential has promised for so long.
The much maligned Slava Koulikov aside, not many of Cloutier's re-signings would fail to make a fans wish list of returnees from last year.
The only real loss from last season's squad may have been defenceman and fans player of the year, Steve Slonina, who is the kind of puck moving defenceman that the team look to be missing if we ignore Gomenyuk's passed season.
But it is up front, with the addition of Cloutier and new assistant coach Curtis Huppe in place of Jason Kostadine and Jamie Thompson, that the team really seems to have come on.
Assistant Coach Huppe scoring in the Elite League for Belfast against Newcastle (photo- flickr: interdev)Huppe, a former 30 plus and three time 20 plus EIHL goalscorer, provides the proven sniper that the club have never acquired, even if he may have been disappointing in the CHL, whilst Cloutier adds so much to the team as both player and coach.
One of the Elite League's real leaders last time out, he has two point per game seasons in two Elite League years. How much of an effect will the year out have had on the 35 year old? Time will tell, but his commitment and dedication will never come under scrutiny.
Elsewhere, the teams British depth has thankfully been replenished after a season of neglect, following the departure of Luke Boothroyd, Dave Phillips, James Knight and Stevie Lee last summer.
The addition of James Hutchinson, last season a treble winner in the EPL, Shaun Thompson, who scored 40 Elite League points in 08/09, Craig Mitchell, who is coming off the back of an encouraging rookie season and Matty Davies, who returns to Hull after three promising season's in the EPL, should really help the team with the depth issues they suffered from last year.
They will join a set of Brits (Lee Mitchell, Andrew Jaszcyzk, Lee Esders and Slava Koulikov) who are established and integrated into the Hull setup, and most of whom are coming off positive seasons in Stingrays colours.
With the British and offensive areas of the team having undergone an upgrade of sorts on last season, the lingering question over the squad for the upcoming season remains in the teams defensive end.
Sandahl playing for Troja-LjungbySwedish netminder Tommy Sandahl may be coming in from a higher level after outperforming his more experienced counterpart towards the end of last season, and may be following on from Curtis Cruickshank, who, it's fair to say, did not have the best of times in the Stingrays net, but, even at 25 he is relatively inexperienced as a starting netminder and, although he has been given the seal of approval by Cloutier's brother, and former NHL goalie, it is cause for a little concern in Hull, at least until the puck drops against Tilburg.
Ukrainian Gomenyuk is back for his fifth season on the blueline and has been forgiven for a bad 07/08 season after a stunning 42 point season last term. Meanwhile his defensive counterparts from last season (Aaron Wilson, Stuart Kerr, Troy Neumeier and Antti Turunen) have been replaced by a trio of Canadians.
Ryan Jorde is expected to be a tough, uncompromising defenceman, who has dropped the gloves with some of the toughest in the game, whilst Adam Knight is a tough young utility player that will ice as a defenceman for the Rays after a season as forward in the CHL.
Burns (photo: Les Stockton)Finally, Stephen Burns is a former CHLer that has Kerr and Wilson like stats, but is clearly highly rated within the Stingrays camp. Coach Cloutier handed the Ontario born defenceman a two year contract that will run alongside a degree at Doncaster School of Business and it will be hoped that he fulfills his expected potential in the Elite League.
A lot will be expected of Gomenyuk to reproduce the form and points of last season, and James Hutchinson, also coming off a good season points wise, will be expected to chip in offensively to help the five year defenceman.
Away from Gomenyuk, Cloutier has gone for solidity rather than eye opening ability going forward, but the theory is: with an improved offensive lineup and new ideas going forward, who needs several point scoring defencemen?
With a month until the first puck drops, there is not long to wait to see whether the Rays have improved offensively, whether Sandahl will become the find of the season, or if Slava Koulikov will finally have that outstanding year that he his potential has promised for so long.
