<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="2014_0913_Flames_Practice007_std" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/26/2c/article_262c9b2d-bde5-4579-a249-ead62926d87c.jpg" height="367" width="551">
Photo by Clint Trahan 
Patrick 
Sieloff hasn’t had hurdles in his short hockey career, he’s had walls – gigantic 
walls that have impeded his progression and have left many questioning his 
future.
The 
truly disappointing part isn’t what he’s endured the last three years, it’s the 
fact that he has all the parts to the car, but hasn’t had the time to put it 
together yet. I know he’s not the shiny new toy anymore, and heading into the 
upcoming draft he’ll surely fade even farther out of the collective eye, but 
let’s not give up on a kid who hasn’t given up on himself yet.
Let’s 
take a look at Patrick Sieloff’s gravelly path and what we can realistically expect 
from him next season.

<h2>PAST 
EXPECTATIONS</h2>
When 
Sieloff was drafted out of the U.S. National Development program back in 2012, 
there was chatter that Sieloff was a consolation prize for any team who 
couldn’t get their hands on Jacob Trouba. Pundits raved about Sieloff’s 
punishing physicality, which was similar to his defensive partner and close 
friend, Trouba.
The 
Flames took Sieloff in the second round, 42nd overall, and claimed 
it wouldn’t have been a reach to take him with their late first-rounder.
Needless 
to say, Flames fans were pretty excited at this time once they began to delve 
into all the scouting reports on the big, nasty rear-guard. Robyn Regehr was on 
the back-9 of his career at this time and visions of a potential clone entering 
the system made people downright giddy.
So 
fan expectations were unjustly high, but management didn’t help curb those 
expectations either. Feaster, at one point during the 2013-14 training camp, 
said, <a href="http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/10/01/calgary-flames-prospect-patrick-sielhoff-sent-down">“At 
this point we feel that Patrick could be here as a seventh defenseman.”</a> 
Thankfully they didn’t follow through with that and decided to send him to 
Abbotsford.
<h2>THE 
WOES &amp; MALADIES</h2>
For 
a kid who’s built like a Humvee, it’s difficult to fathom just how many unfortunate 
injuries he’s had in his short career. One of the biggest problems is that Humvee 
frame comes with a Humvee style of play and when you play like that, avoiding 
injuries is like avoiding mosquitoes in the Yukon.
It 
all started in his rookie OHL season with the Windsor Spitfires where his 
2012-13 campaign ended early because of a hip injury. That’s 23 games of vital development 
gone.
Then 
in a 2013-14 pre-season game against the Colorado Avalanche, Sieloff suffered a 
broken cheekbone and was forced to wear a shield, but could still play. Ultimately, 
management chose to send to Sieloff to the Abbosford Heat for his first professional 
season. It’s still up for debate whether that was or wasn’t the best decision. 
One may argue that having two short USHL seasons and abbreviated junior career in 
the OHL simply didn’t allow for sufficient ripening. Sieloff could have been sent back to Windsor for 
an overage season, and hindsight being what it is, may have been the more 
prudent decision.
Either 
way, the 20-year-old found himself in the Lower Mainland, playing top-6 minutes 
when just two games into the 2013-14 season he mysteriously disappeared from line-up. 
He wasn’t around the dressing room. He wasn’t in the press box. He had just 
disappeared. It was discovered a short time later that Sieloff had developed a life-threatening 
staph infection that required an intravenous and antibiotics to be hanging off 
of him at all times.
If 
you’ve been keeping count, that’s just under 100 games lost due to injury for 
Sieloff to this point. That’s about a season and a half of crucial junior 
hockey experience for a 20-year-old prospect.
At 
this time you’re looking at an ox of a human being off the ice, but a green 19 
year old in a developmental sense.
All 
of these maladies precede what must have been a frustrating past season for 
Sieloff. We all knew Adirondack’s blue line was going to be as crowded as a 
Madison Avenue elevator last season. Everyone took their turn in the press box, 
but Sieloff seemed to take a lot of turns. You could see the lost time in his 
game this season, which I’m sure was more frustrating for him than anyone else. 
He’d often get beat wide because of lost development on his footwork and would at 
times make questionable decisions.
All 
of this added to time in the press box or, towards the end of the season, an 
experiment playing right wing. Huska’s decision to put Sieloff in a forward 
checking role raised a few eyebrows initially, but hey, let’s face it, he was at 
least playing hockey. Finally. In fact, Sieloff seemed to get that nastiness 
back when he was at forward. He was turning his opponents into advertisements 
on the boards and he got into a number of scraps.
<h2>NEW 
EXPECTATIONS</h2>
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" alt="147167803_std" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/e4/38/article_e4382c89-118a-4d93-811d-e27de0f1e7bc.jpg" height="367" width="562">
Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLI
On 
a brighter note, let’s look to the future. The past is the past and Sieloff isn’t 
a lost project. There’s hope for him yet, but he, management and fans are going 
to have to be patient and let him get caught up with lost time.
I 
think the best place for him to do that is in the ECHL with the Thunder. Next 
season is going to be even more crowded on the blue line and Sieloff may be the 
least ready of the crop. <a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2015/6/4/utilizing-the-adirondack-thunder">In a 
past article</a> I looked at how the Flames will be smart to utilize the ECHL 
this season, especially with the prospect depth they currently have. I 
identified Sieloff as the one player who would be a no-brainer to start there 
next season.
It’s 
not a punishment or capitulant to send him to minor-pro. Numerous prospects 
currently in the system have come out of the ECHL improved such as John Ramage, 
Brett Kulak, Joni Ortio and Turner Elson. Just last season Kulak spent 39 games 
with the Colorado Eagles and came back to the AHL a more steady, heady and 
well-rounded defender. Sieloff can do the same. He has a good head on his 
shoulders. He’s a driven, determined young man who doesn’t act or feel like he’s 
above doing time in Adirondack.
In 
the end, realistically, a successful season for the Ann Arbor native will have 
him start in the ECHL, work his way into a top pairing, dominate the league 
defensively and physically all he wants, then perhaps mid-way through the 
season join the Stockton Heat as an improved player. That’s realistically what 
fans should be hoping for and realistically what is likely to happen.

<img alt="2014_0913_Flames_Practice007_std" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/26/2c/article_262c9b2d-bde5-4579-a249-ead62926d87c.jpg" height="367" width="551">Photo by Clint Trahan Patrick
Sieloff hasn’t had hurdles in his short hockey career, he’s had walls – gigantic
walls that have impeded his progression and have left many questioning his
future.The
truly disappointing part isn’t what he’s endured the last three years, it’s the
fact that he has all the parts to the car, but hasn’t had the time to put it
together yet. I know he’s not the shiny new toy anymore, and heading into the
upcoming draft he’ll surely fade even farther out of the collective eye, but
let’s not give up on a kid who hasn’t given up on himself yet.Let’s
take a look at Patrick Sieloff’s gravelly path and what we can realistically expect
from him next season.<h2>PAST
EXPECTATIONS</h2>When
Sieloff was drafted out of the U.S. National Development program back in 2012,
there was chatter that Sieloff was a consolation prize for any team who
couldn’t get their hands on Jacob Trouba. Pundits raved about Sieloff’s
punishing physicality, which was similar to his defensive partner and close
friend, Trouba.The
Flames took Sieloff in the second round, 42nd overall, and claimed
it wouldn’t have been a reach to take him with their late first-rounder.Needless
to say, Flames fans were pretty excited at this time once they began to delve
into all the scouting reports on the big, nasty rear-guard. Robyn Regehr was on
the back-9 of his career at this time and visions of a potential clone entering
the system made people downright giddy.So
fan expectations were unjustly high, but management didn’t help curb those
expectations either. Feaster, at one point during the 2013-14 training camp,
said, <a href="http://www.calgarysun.com/2013/10/01/calgary-flames-prospect-patrick-sielhoff-sent-down">“At
this point we feel that Patrick could be here as a seventh defenseman.”</a>
Thankfully they didn’t follow through with that and decided to send him to
Abbotsford.<h2>THE
WOES &amp; MALADIES</h2>For
a kid who’s built like a Humvee, it’s difficult to fathom just how many unfortunate
injuries he’s had in his short career. One of the biggest problems is that Humvee
frame comes with a Humvee style of play and when you play like that, avoiding
injuries is like avoiding mosquitoes in the Yukon.It
all started in his rookie OHL season with the Windsor Spitfires where his
2012-13 campaign ended early because of a hip injury. That’s 23 games of vital development
gone.Then
in a 2013-14 pre-season game against the Colorado Avalanche, Sieloff suffered a
broken cheekbone and was forced to wear a shield, but could still play. Ultimately,
management chose to send to Sieloff to the Abbosford Heat for his first professional
season. It’s still up for debate whether that was or wasn’t the best decision.
One may argue that having two short USHL seasons and abbreviated junior career in
the OHL simply didn’t allow for sufficient ripening. Sieloff could have been sent back to Windsor for
an overage season, and hindsight being what it is, may have been the more
prudent decision.Either
way, the 20-year-old found himself in the Lower Mainland, playing top-6 minutes
when just two games into the 2013-14 season he mysteriously disappeared from line-up.
He wasn’t around the dressing room. He wasn’t in the press box. He had just
disappeared. It was discovered a short time later that Sieloff had developed a life-threatening
staph infection that required an intravenous and antibiotics to be hanging off
of him at all times.If
you’ve been keeping count, that’s just under 100 games lost due to injury for
Sieloff to this point. That’s about a season and a half of crucial junior
hockey experience for a 20-year-old prospect.At
this time you’re looking at an ox of a human being off the ice, but a green 19
year old in a developmental sense.All
of these maladies precede what must have been a frustrating past season for
Sieloff. We all knew Adirondack’s blue line was going to be as crowded as a
Madison Avenue elevator last season. Everyone took their turn in the press box,
but Sieloff seemed to take a lot of turns. You could see the lost time in his
game this season, which I’m sure was more frustrating for him than anyone else.
He’d often get beat wide because of lost development on his footwork and would at
times make questionable decisions.All
of this added to time in the press box or, towards the end of the season, an
experiment playing right wing. Huska’s decision to put Sieloff in a forward
checking role raised a few eyebrows initially, but hey, let’s face it, he was at
least playing hockey. Finally. In fact, Sieloff seemed to get that nastiness
back when he was at forward. He was turning his opponents into advertisements
on the boards and he got into a number of scraps.<h2>NEW
EXPECTATIONS</h2><img alt="147167803_std" src="//thenationnetwork.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/images/e4/38/article_e4382c89-118a-4d93-811d-e27de0f1e7bc.jpg" height="367" width="562">Photo by Gregory Shamus/NHLIOn
a brighter note, let’s look to the future. The past is the past and Sieloff isn’t
a lost project. There’s hope for him yet, but he, management and fans are going
to have to be patient and let him get caught up with lost time.I
think the best place for him to do that is in the ECHL with the Thunder. Next
season is going to be even more crowded on the blue line and Sieloff may be the
least ready of the crop. <a href="http://flamesnation.ca/2015/6/4/utilizing-the-adirondack-thunder">In a
past article</a> I looked at how the Flames will be smart to utilize the ECHL
this season, especially with the prospect depth they currently have. I
identified Sieloff as the one player who would be a no-brainer to start there
next season.It’s
not a punishment or capitulant to send him to minor-pro. Numerous prospects
currently in the system have come out of the ECHL improved such as John Ramage,
Brett Kulak, Joni Ortio and Turner Elson. Just last season Kulak spent 39 games
with the Colorado Eagles and came back to the AHL a more steady, heady and
well-rounded defender. Sieloff can do the same. He has a good head on his
shoulders. He’s a driven, determined young man who doesn’t act or feel like he’s
above doing time in Adirondack.In
the end, realistically, a successful season for the Ann Arbor native will have
him start in the ECHL, work his way into a top pairing, dominate the league
defensively and physically all he wants, then perhaps mid-way through the
season join the Stockton Heat as an improved player. That’s realistically what
fans should be hoping for and realistically what is likely to happen.

Realistic Expectations For Patrick Sieloff

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