Still struggling to decide on your starting line-up for the upcoming season? If so, our FHL UK scouting department has had a look at each team and picked out their potential top scorers, best value pick and the teams overall chances. Just a quick note on the fixtures first…
All GM’s have a tough decision to make at the start of the season as last years treble winners, the Sheffield Steelers, are representing the Elite League in the CHL, so don’t start playing in league/cup games until the 21st September in game week 3. That’s a full two weeks after the majority of teams. The Panthers, Devils and Blaze also have a delayed start and don’t join the game until game week 2.
So, do you pick your team not thinking about the fixtures but knowing only half of them will be playing to begin with? Or do you load up on those teams playing in week one to gather points, but then need to use up valuable transfers to bring in players from other teams?
Lets now look at all the teams. Up first are the Belfast Giants…
Belfast Giants
A third place finish in 2023/24 must go down as a disappointment after being champions the season before. Belfast have decided to go back to what worked well and have brought back two players who took them to that title in 2022/23. Scott Conway and Gabe Bast were arguably the best forward and defenceman respectively that year, and when you add JJ Piccinich (another returnee) and Elijiah Barriga (injury), that is four proven league scorers. Tom McCollum and Jackson Whistle give the Giants a solid duo in goal and bringing back Jeff Baum, Mark Cooper, Ben Lake and Ciaran Long keeps that solid core in place.
In terms of new faces Mike Lee is going to add scoring from defence after scoring at 0.72 points per game in the ECHL and 0.67 in Slovakia. With Bast and Josh Roach that is plenty of options for powerplay time. Pierre-Olivier Morin has spent all his professional career in Europe and has put up impressive numbers in Denmark and Jordan Kawaguchi scored 23 points in the AHL in 2021/22 and has followed that up with nearly a point per game in the ECHL since.
Top Scorer Pick – Scott Conway
Best Value Pick – Kyle Osterberg
Prediction – Fighting for the title
Glasgow Clan
The FHL UK scouting team predicted a solid mid-table finish for Glasgow last season, so a 10th place finish was a big surprise. Injuries to proven scorers Philippe Sanche and Charlie Combs meant they were rarely in the lineup but defensively there were huge problems as they gave up over 30 more goals than the next worst team in the league. Neither import goalies settled at the start of the season and weren’t helped by an ageing defensive group who lost their top scorer mid-season.
The scouting team are quite high on Glasgow again this year after plenty of new signings. Behind the bench Corey Neilson brings plenty of knowledge of the Elite League and of multiple European leagues. He has also brought in a familiar coaching team to give that consistent message to the players. In a change to last year, the huge Landon Bow (6’5″) is the clear number one goalie and has made a brief appearance in the NHL. However Lucas Brine showed last year in Dundee that he can step in if needed.
Defensively Darien Kielb and Steven Siego are going to bring some offence so are priced at 8.0M and 7.5M respectively but Simon Despres comes from Nottingham with one of the most impressive CV’s we have seen in the league with 193 NHL games to his name.
The impressive signings continue at forward with Liam Finlay (9.0M) who scored 33 goals and 70 points two years ago in the ECHL before injuries hit last year. Michell Heard and Devon Sideroff both join with plenty of AHL experience before moving to Europe a few years ago. Rylan Schwartz brings in some experience with this being his 9th season playing in Europe and sound good numbers in the DEL.
Michael Pelech and Gary Haden are both back for another season after leading the scoring for Glasgow last year, so we can expect them to produce at or above the same level again. Cole Ully has joined from Cardiff after scoring nearly a point per game last season after five previous years in the ECHL averaging a point per game.
Top Scorer Pick – Liam Finley
Best Value Pick – Deven Sideroff
Prediction – Above mid-table
Cardiff Devils
Cardiff finished second in the league last year before losing to the Belfast Giants in the playoffs. However they were still 14 points behind the champion Steelers so some changes were required. In a theme consistent across the league they have brought back a former fan favourite and star of the league, Gleason Fournier. He spent four and half years in Cardiff which included a huge 70 point campaign in 2018/19 and led to him being given the highest starting value in FHL UK history the following season at 11M. He’s spent the last few years in Hungary where he has put up good if not spectacular numbers, but he will still be the lead offensive threat on the Cardiff blueline and replace the departed Marcus Crawford.
Up front the majority of the leading scorers have left, just leaving Joey Martin from last year. The pick of the replacements though is Zach O’Brien who has been one of the best players in the ECHL for the last three years having scored 1.3 points per game over that period. Hunter Shinkaruk joins having had NHL experience as well as a number of years in the KHL and DEL. He looks to have settled in quickly as he has also shown great form in preseason. Finally, GB Veteran Brett Perlini returns to the UK to add more scoring depth. The bottom six forwards remain intact and bring a bit of everything to the Cardiff team.
Overall the Devils look solid defensively with the Mac Carruth signing giving them the best goalie duo in the league. There is a good mix of experience and offense on defence with some high powered scoring up front, however with their rivals having kept a lot of familiar faces to the league will Cardiff’s new signings take too long to adjust?
Top Scorer Pick – Zach O’Brien
Best Value Pick – Tyler Busch
Prediction – Solid season but falling short of the title
Coventry Blaze
Coventry were in the scrap for the final few playoff spots all the way until the last weekend of last season. They managed to make it though and gave Belfast a big scare in the first round of the playoffs. However coach Danny Stewart has moved onto Nottingham and former Panthers assistant Kevin Moore moves the other way to take charge with a lack of head coach experience bar one season in the NCAA. He was on the coaching team at Adrian College when Alessio Luciani and Zach Heintz were both on the team so there is some familiarity there. Perhaps having Luciani and Heintz as linemates will mean both exceed their value expectations.
There looks to be a lack of pro experience up front when taking out former Devil Brandon Alderson and Blaze veteran Kim Tallberg, but Chase Gresock had a solid first professional season in the ECHL and Michael Regush spent time in the AHL before taking last year out. Both of these could find themselves amongst the team top scorers. In defence it looks more promising with Terrance Amorosa looking to be a great signing. He has put up better than a point per game in the Alps league, which is a slightly lower level than the Elite League, but before that had scored points in the AHL. Jakob Stridsberg gives them another scoring option having played his professional career in Sweden and Denmark so far.
Overall we can expect Coventry to be in the fight for the last few playoff spots similar to last year but having a coaching change with some inexperienced players might make that fight a step too far.
Top Scorer Pick -Terrance Amorosa
Best Value Pick – Alessio Luciani
Prediction – Fighting for a playoff spot
Dundee Stars
Dundee was another team who were in the mix for the final few playoff spots last year and were competitive against Cardiff in the first round of the playoffs. Head coach Marc LeFebvre looks to have made some good signings to improve the team over last year starting with in goal. After a few issues with import goalie Kevin Carr last year they were reliant on young British goalie Lucas Brine down the stretch. This year they have matched most other teams by having two import goalies with Jarret Fiske coming into his first professional season and then the more experienced Richard Sabol probably making the bulk of starts.
It’s on defence we see the big improvement with Ben O’Connor joining Drydn Dow to give them two experienced powerplay quarterbacks. Add Cole MacDonald to the mix and with his 54 points in the ECHL two years ago and they have plenty of scoring options to go with the more defensively sound Xavier Pouliot and Kyle Pouncy.
Up front Dundee have signed Kameron Kielly who was briefly at Sheffield at the start of last season. He joins Jake Elmer, Craig Garrigan and Brendan Harms who logged good minutes last year. Alex Tonge joins after having a point per game season in the ECHL in 21/22 and then followed that up with a better than a point per game in the DEL2 a year later. The interesting duo though are Brett Gravelle and Keanu Yamamoto who played together for Rapid City the last two years. If they play together that familiarity should mean the exceed their expected values.
Top Scorer Pick – Alex Tonge
Best Value Pick – Brett Gravelle
Prediction – Below mid-table but comfortable play-off spot
Fife Flyers
Fife scraped into the playoffs in 8th place last year so had the tough task of playing Sheffield in the first round. They were led by another strong season from Shane Owen and he is back for his fourth season in a row. The biggest talking point about incoming signings this year is Fife’s raiding of Nomad Astana in Kazakhstan. They have signed four of the Continental Cup champions team from last year with forwards Artur Gatiyatov, Maxim Musorov and Nikolai Shulga joined by defenceman Madi Dikhanbek. The FHL UK scouting department have priced them conservatively while we aren’t sure how many points they will get. They could be really good value if they play on a line together.
Elsewhere Austin Farley joins after splitting last season between Nottingham and Manchester and Johnny Curran spent time at Belfast and Coventry last year. Both should settle in quickly knowing the league well, and the same can be said of Martin Latal who had two solid seasons in Sheffield.
Top Scorer Pick – Phelix Martineau
Best Value Pick – Lucas Chiodo
Prediction – Fighting for a playoff spot
Guildford Flames
Guildford dropped back to mid-table last year after the title push in 2022/23 but look to have recruited well for this season. Top scorer from two years ago was Daniel Tedesco and he is back but priced significantly higher than last time at 9.5M. Another player coming back is Josh Waller who we have picked for a breakout season a few times already, so why not pick him again this year as being great value. Another value pick would be Sean Norris who joins from Belfast and could put up 20-30 points if he gets the ice time. Sticking with the theme of bringing in league experience Guildford have also signed Brett Welychka (21 goals in 35 games for Nottingham), Jake Coughler (0.91 points per game for Cardiff) and Travis Brown (14 points for Belfast last season).
Finishing off their strong forward group of Brett Ferguson, Lewis Hook and Ryan Tait who have all had multiple years of good points production for Guildford. Defensively they may not look at flashy as previous years with Ben O’Connor and Bradley Lalonde having now moved on but they look solid defensively.
Top Scorer Pick – Daniel Tedesco
Best Value Pick – Josh Waller
Prediction – Solid Mid Table Finish
Manchester Storm
Manchester performed above expectations last year to grab a comfortable 4th place in the league before an extremely disappointing play-off loss to Guildford. The major reason for the good season was the performance of Evan Weninger in goal who finished just behind Matt Greenfield in save percentage. He kept them in the game each night, which they needed when they had the lowest scoring offence in the league. He is back along with five of the other defenceman to keep that solid base. Joe Morrow is the standout option for offence having played over 150 NHL games in his career.
As we mentioned scoring was the problem last year but top scorer Tyler Hinam returning is a good start. He is joined by solid two way forwards Cam Critchlow and Stephen Johnson. In terms of new signings there is a mixture of solid forwards but no standouts when looking at their history. This could mean there is value to be had in the Storm forward group with the most likely being Gianluca Esteves who joins after almost being a point per game player in Hungary last year.
Top Scorer Pick – Tyler Hinam
Best Value Pick – Gianluca Esteves
Prediction – Fighting for a playoff spot
Nottingham Panthers
It is understandable why Nottingham finished ninth last season after the sad passing of Adam Johnson. Otto Nieminen and Hugo Roy scored 25 and 24 goals each respectively last year and both have returned for another season. The big news was the return of previous league top scorer Sam Herr who had 59 points 2019/20. His production in the DEL2 has dropped over the last three years though so will he be able to match his scoring from his last season in Nottingham. Elsewhere up front there is a lot of talent which we are valuing around the same price with Matt Alfaro, Tim Doherty, Kristoff Kontos and Reid Stefanson all either 7.5M or 8.0M. One or two of these players will exceed their projected scoring if they can get on a line with Sam Herr.
Defensively only Josh Tetlow returns from last season but there appears to be good scoring options with David Bunz, Matt Spencer and Cooper Zech all having produced for previous teams. In goal an early injury to Hunter Vorva has brought the return of Rok Stojanovic on a short term contract to give Nottingham two import options. Overall we think Nottingham have enough to have a solid season around fourth or fifth in the table with some high end scoring lacking up front.
Top Scorer Pick – Otto Nieminen
Best Value Pick – Logan Nielson
Prediction – Solid Mid Table Finish
Sheffield Steelers
The Steelers decided “if it aint broke don’t fix it” after coasting to a treble last season. They have brought the core back throughout the team with Matt Greenfield back in goal and four out of the six defenceman also deciding to give it another season. Question is for GM’s with so many players back again their values have been adjusted to match their production from last year, so in theory there wont be much value here unless you can find that progressive player. Defensively that could be Dominic Cormier who is just 26 years old and showed he has a lot of offensive upside last year.
Up front the majority of the big scorers are back including top FHL UK Points scorer Mitchell Balmas, who is now only available at 10.5M. Other returnees to hot the 10.0M value this season are Patrick Watling, Daniel Ciampini and Marc-Olivier Vallerand. Of the new signings Daniel Leavens looks to be another quality addition having put up points across Europe over the last few years after having a point per game season in the ECHL. Angelo Micelli joins after six straight years at Bolzano in Italy and put up consistent points each year, so looks to add good depth. Overall the runaway champions from last year have kept most of the team together and added to it as well so must be favourites for the title again.
Top Scorer Pick – Patrick Watling
Best Value Pick – Dominic Cormier
Prediction – Champions
