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Games Played
CHL – 8
League – 26
Challenge Cup – 10
Total Goals: 8 / Total Assists: 8 / Total PIMs: 17
Jono Bullard
Phenomenal in the CHL but for whatever reason just couldn’t reproduce that form in domestic action. It wasn’t due to a lack of effort either but you could see hime getting visibly frustrated as the season went on.
The right decision for both player & club to let him go.
Andy Haywood
Josh Shalla, remember him. Mr Europe, 5 goals and 3 assists in 8 CHL games. What a find this guy was, a goal scoring machine… and then he played in the EIHL. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a drop-in quality by a player in the space of weeks. From riding the highest CHL wave to becoming the first player gassed, and rightly so, after being signed as a goalscorer and only finding the net 3 times in 26 EIHL games.
Left us and went on to score 28 goals and 22 assists in 42 games for Indy Fuel in the ECHL, so he obviously had talent, just a shame he decided to hide it away after we were knocked out of the TV games.
Antoine Marie-Jeanne
Looked like a star in the CHL, looked like an also-ran in the EIHL, wasn’t surprised when he was released. He’s scored goals wherever he’s been so I guess it was a case of the wrong fit for him and the team. Went on to play a starring role with his former team back in the ECHL (28 goals for 50 points in 42 games compared to 3 goals for 5 points in 26 games with us). 2nd only to Raph in the disappointment stakes.
Adam Reddish
Alongside Derlago, Josh Shalla was brought in to be the firepower the club had desperately missed over the last several seasons. The initial signs were extremely promising, and some quality snipes in the CHL suggested he might have been the best thing we’d had since the retirement of DAB. Sadly though, the CHL was a high watermark for Shalla, and domestic performances were lacklustre. The club may have been more sympathetic to his fortunes if he was creating quality chances, but by the time he found himself down on the third line, it was clear things were not clicking for him in Nottingham. Naturally, a return to the ECHL’s Indy Fuel, his former side, led to 28 goals in 42 appearances – suggesting that the chemistry of colleagues and lack of complimenting forwards acted as a barrier to Shalla’s productivity.
Tina Taylor
It was a landmark event when the Panthers released Shalla, it’s not something I can ever remember happening during my time as a fan. We’ve had players leave for new clubs, go home to recover from injury, we’ve even had a player covertly go home and then tell the club they’d left when they arrived back in North America but releasing a player isn’t something that the Panthers do lightly or often.
Shalla was belting in the CHL, what a player, we’d got a genuine gem and it was a joy to watch… and then we weren’t in the CHL, the dream had ended and it was time to go to work on the domestic stage and Shalla got stage fright. The points dried up, December happened and it really felt like a crisis point as fans we were calling for someone to but cut while also believing that it wouldn’t happen.
After I’d got over the shock of us releasing a player, I was simultaneously surprised and not surprised that it was Josh Shalla, the dive in points was startling but I thought his CHL performances might have saved him over others that must have been deftly avoiding the coach’s office.
He can obviously play as demonstrated before he arrived, during the CHL and after he left (You’re welcome Indy Fuel!) but when we needed him to step up to stop our season from falling off a cliff, he didn’t have it.
Most frustrating.