Column: Where’s the bigger, hungrier team we were promised?

There was one question on every fan’s mind going into the Sudbury Wolves season, a question everyone hoped wouldn’t become an issue.

However, after the first five games, we got our answer: This team has trouble creating offence.

Simply put, this team just hasn’t found a way to score goals on a consistent basis.

Heading into last night’s game in Sault Ste. Marie, the Wolves had scored just six goals in their first five games. Take away the three goals scored in a win over the Niagara Ice Dogs on opening night, and it’s three goals scored in four games — and two of those games were shutouts.

That just isn’t good enough.

Early in every season, most teams have growing pains and for the Wolves it’s no exception. There has been plenty of turn over from last year and some time will be needed to adjust to new teammates and new line combinations.

Often a good offence depends on the creativity of the players, but with so much focus on systems, some get so caught up in running the system, creativity can suffer.

That doesn’t have to be the case as long as the players remember they have responsibilities in both ends of the rink.

But what makes the Wolves early struggles even harder to figure out is that it’s not the young players who haven’t keeping up their end of the bargain.

Yes, there are rookie mistakes being made; that’s to be expected, but it seems more often than not, newby mistakes are not the reason for the lack of offence.

A lot of the problem has to be put squarely on the shoulders of the veterans. The production isn’t coming from the players everyone thought would give the team its scoring punch.

Nathan Pancel, who scored 42 goals last season, not only hasn’t scored a single goal as of this writing, he hasn’t even registered a point.

Jacob Harris — the defensive specialist expected to contribute more to the offence this year — went pointless in the three games he’s played, again as of this writing.

Another player who was expected to step-up was Danny Desrochers, but here again we see the same issue. Desrochers was still looking for his first point of the season after Sunday’s loss to North Bay.

While it’s not fair to single out just three players, I bet all three would be the first to agree they have to take some of the responsibility.

Some say the return of Nick Baptiste, who continues to rehab a shoulder injury, will be the answer. There is no doubt he will give the team a much needed offensive boost, but it’s wrong to expect one player will be the answer. While he will likely make everyone around him better, it has to be a collective effort of the whole team.

It’s well known chemistry doesn’t happen overnight and it certainly can’t be forced. It’s up to the coaching staff and the players to continue working at it.

That means hammering away at the basics, day after day in practice, hoping that work will pay off.

The good news is the team has improved its defensive play. Once the offence gets on track, there will be plenty of season left.

Stew Kernan is the radio and television voice of the Sudbury Wolves, and the News Director at KiSS 105.3 and Q92.