SWINDON, UK – It is a shame to start on a bitter note, but what the heck, it needs to be said because it affects the EPL. Without doubt James Hutchinson is a handy player to have around the blue line. Last season he was the sixth most productive D-man in the EPL, and the forth top Brit, so his credentials speak for themselves. At the beginning of May Hutchinson quit the Phantoms with a view to pursuing his career in the Elite League, and who can blame him? Although at the time no club was mentioned, it was eventually revealed the Braehead Clan in Glasgow, which began life in 2010, had acquired his services. Hutchinson signed a contract and began packing his bags, because after all it isn’t a short trip from Peterborough, but before the ink was dry he was told his already-agreed wage would not be honoured and he would have to play for 75% less. 75% LESS! No wonder he was angry and it is hard to conclude this reduction was not decided before he was signed. Then, to receive a smarmy brush-off that the club wishes him well is just despicable. But what makes this shabby state of affairs worse is a similar thing happened last year. Then, Wildcats’ Sam Bullas and Bison’s Shaun Thompson were both signed by the same club in May only to be dropped in August in favour of so-called ‘local depth’ players. Perhaps unconnected but less than a week before the Bullas-Thompson signings the club announced the resignation of player-coach Adam Calder, who now plays for the Jets, of course, and who despite a decent history had only been in post for two weeks and left the club with no names on the books. The affect on the EPL should be obvious to any player who still believes a contract is binding. While it may be in law, enforcing it and attaining justice is another matter. This isn’t about bashing the Elite League, it is about honour, integrity and truthfulness because the EPL, including players, is not free of similar breaches. Interestingly, Coach Steve Moria at the Bison said this week he thought it a good time for British players because the ‘prices have really escalated.’ So perhaps Hutchinson won’t be so much out of pocket as he feared as it would be a tragedy if he doesn’t accept another offer. There is quite a big discrepancy in the EPL in the number of signings so far with some teams like the Phantoms with sixteen already on their books closely followed by the Steeldogs on fourteen, Bison on thirteen, Bees on twelve while the Tigers bring up the rear on three, although they added Joe Henry this week who it will be remembered lost a chunk of last season with a broken knee. Curiously, though, the Steeldogs are the only team not to have announced the loss a player while elsewhere the income and expenditure columns have some semblance of balanced. While it is a bit early and pointless to start reading too much into all this, everyone, I am sure, will have opinions as to comparative strengths and weaknesses. For me, I will stick to some situations that have a certain tantalising air about them. Firstly, as mentioned last week, there is the evolving Phoenix team with the loss of Curtis Huppe to Guildford and Marcus Kristoffersson who it has finally been announced has gone to Slovakia. While Captain Luke Boothroyd and Players’ Player of the Year D-man Ladislav Harabin re-signed, you can’t help thinking Coach Tony Hand is going to pull something out of the hat in a grand finale. Next there is the line-up of Jaroslav Cesky, Michal Pinc and Nicky Watt at the Wildcats which is going to be something worth watching to see if the new environment adds impetus to a trio that have worked well individually and together. The Steeldogs, while re-signing a wodge of last season’s players also have a healthy looking influx which with Coach Andre Payette’s energetic guidance is looking more favourable than last time out. The Flames look as though they are either spiralling out of control or taking the two points by which they lost the league personally, and seriously aiming to improve on that second place. I wonder which it could be. Either way it includes Slovakian D-man Branislav Kvetan who arrived from France and who Coach Dixon says has a ‘defence first’ mindset. With Chris Allen at the helm in Peterborough the obvious development is he is stamping his own mark on things, so it will be interesting to see how that works out. Allen has already conferred the captaincy on Canadian Jeff Glowa, and arranged for one of last season’s ‘prospect’ players to join the ENL Chieftains in Chelmsford for a year to gain more ice time with a view to returning to the Phantoms in 2012. Shaun Yardley, however, has re-signed for the team for his tenth consecutive season. Similarly, at the Bees where although Coach Cox is no longer a rookie, as he said he ‘inherited’ much of last season’s team and can now do his own thing part of which included the re-signing of forward James Galazzi, who won the Coach’s Player of the Year award last time out, and the departure of Grant Rounding to ENL Wightlink. The Bees also re-signed forward James Galazzi and acquired D-man Andy Munroe from the Jets. Although there appears to be a couple of surprise moves involving the Jets like the recent losses of Slava Koulikov to the Phoenix and release of Slovakian D-man Jan Krajicek, Coach Russell has a strong enough pedigree, particularly when it comes to younger players, so the signing of young international Paul Swindlehurst to the Jets’ blue line is going to be one to watch. There was a flurry of activity at the Bison where British forwards Jacob Heron of the Lightning and Craig Tribe of the Bees both signed on along with D-man Dan Harris who for five seasons has played for The ENL Warriors and last season appeared four time for the EIHL Newcastle. Coach Moria, though, expressed concern over the future of Lithuanian D-man Viktor Kubenko, who it is rumoured is en-route to Elite League Cardiff, and Slovakian Ondrej Lauko. Meanwhile, Moria signed Czech forward Daniel Volrab who is new to British hockey. So that just leaves the Lightning who have lost Finnish forward Andre Smulter to Sweden, but re-signed British D-men Lewis Christie and Ross Green. Leigh Jamieson, on the other hand, who ended last season as the third highest scoring D-man and second in the Brit Top Ten ‘D’ Chart, has been re-signed as a forward. So plenty to watch out for come September. Having started this week’s Roundup on a sour note I end with the surprising news, at least for me, that on Monday the site leapt through the milestone of one thousand hits in a single day from a stunning twenty-one different countries, including India! It is great to see so many people visiting the site which makes it worth all the effort. Thanks to all, and long may the service continue. For more EPL facts and figures, results and news why not try our mailing list by clicking the link on www.iceman-epl.com
Contact the author Bill.Collins@Prohockeynews.com
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