Panthers offseason so far: yay or nay?

The world is slowly returning to normal, as is the EIHL, with signing news rolling in across the country. 

Panthers are up there with the most active in the player market as it stands, at least in terms of signings made public. They have the second most confirmed players for next season after Cardiff, with 13, so there's a lot to assess. 

I always try to be mostly optimistic when it comes to watching the roster come together, because Elite Prospects only tells part of the story. On the flip side though, I can not help but feel a little concerned when comparing the roster to our rivals. 

Take Sheffield for instance. They have retained their 4 top scoring players from 2019/20. Cardiff are continuing to add a range of experience from some of the world's top leagues. As for Belfast, bringing back Beskowarany, Murphy and Raine is outstanding business. 

Of course though, Panthers fans know better than anyone that a players CV can be very misleading. Arguably our best player right now is the returning Mark Matheson, who I would take over any defenceman in the league having doubted him after a poor season in Sheffield. On top of that, how many ex NHLers have flopped here? 

Jeremy Welsh also looks like a solid signing. He was well established in the DEL before putting up good numbers in Poland. In the playoffs, he posted 12 points in 17 games, helping Cracovia to the finals. 

Another player who featured for the same Polish outfit is the 6"8 defenceman Taylor Doherty. A quick YouTube search suggests he's not afraid to drop the gloves. With him and Josh Tetlow on the blueline, our defence looks rather menacing. 

One thing that is promising is that every player on the roster has played with at least one of his teammates in the last two seasons, whether that's at the Panthers or elsewhere. This assures some chemistry from the onset to increase our chances of hitting the ground running, which was a big issue for us in 2019/20. 

Goaltending is an interesting talking point. I personally would have looked for an alternative to Kevin Carr, as I believe you should look for the absolute best for your starting netminder position. Is he as good as a Beskowarany? A Kowalski? A Motte? I am not so sure. 

He is still, however, a more than reliable netminder at this level who has what it takes to backstop us to a championship. I personally think he is a better option than Jackson Whistle, who was being talked about as our potential number one. Whistle has returned to Belfast for what is speculated to be personal reasons, but replacing him with GB under 20's netminder Will Kerlin is potentially good for the long term. 

Kerlin has been retained following the Elite Series, as have top scorers Christophe Boivin and Kevin Domingue. An actual Elite League season will be a step up for the pair, but should they adapt well enough, they could play key offensive roles, not least if Brett Perlini is retained. 

On that front, things are not looking too good. Our British quota is typically announced early on, but Perlini's name is yet to come up. He has been linked with Belfast and Guildford. Should we lose our top scoring Brit to either of those teams, it is nothing short of calamitous on our part. 

You would like to think we are looking to add to our homegrown contingent, as it currently looks at it's weakest in years. It used to have starlets such as David Clarke and Robert Farmer, and now we are losing Robert Lachowicz, Jackson Whistle and potentially Brett Perlini. This would be a massive hit to our depth, particularly if we lose a crucial player in Perlini. 

This certainly puts pressure on Josh Tetlow and Jordan Kelsall to step up. Tetlow is coming off a standout World Championships campaign and I can see this being his breakout EIHL season. Kelsall does not look out of place on the 4th line and will likely improve with age. 

A big positive of the Brit core though is Steve Lee's return. His CV is littered with trophies at the Panthers, and lets not forget him captaining us through that exceptional CHL run. I can imagine both him and excellent Ollie Betteridge being in contention to wear the 'C'. 

Another positive is that over half of our imports signed so far are returnees from 2019/20 or the Elite Series, which is reassuring as a long term core is vital for success. We have typically struggled to retain imports, so this is a sign that times could be changing in that regard. 

As for our remaining signings though, I think it would be naive to not aim for the marquee signings that we are seeing on other rosters. Has that Sam Herr void been filled yet for example? No. 

If we want to be the best, we have to compare to the rest. I do not expect us to be drowning in NHL experience, but look at Wallace did by turning around an initially sub par roster in both 2019/20 and the Elite Series. Give him some established Elite level players and we could be a force to be reckoned with.