CHL impact on recruitment yet to be discovered – Fox
AARON FOX admits he is excited about the challenge next season’s Champions Hockey League will bring his Sheffield Steelers’ team – but he is unsure what impact participation will have on his summer recruitment.
The Steelers ensured they would be part of what some regard as Europe’s premier club competition in the game after winning their first Elite League regular season title since 2016, part of a memorable 2023-24 grand slam campaign which also saw them add the Challenge Cup and play-off trophies to their silverware haul.
The Steelers have been assigned to Pot D and will find out who their six opponents will be in the CHL ‘regular season’ when the draw takes place during the IIHF World Championships in Prague on May 22.
Steelers’ head coach Fox will be present for the draw and said a number of his grand slam winning roster were looking forward to the opportunity of locking horns with some of Europe’s finest teams.
On the subject of how CHL involvement next season would affect recruitment, Fox said: “This organisation does an unbelievable job of taking care of its guys, at the rink and away from the rink.
“It’s a very good situation for players to come into. Obviously with us playing in the CHL next year, I think some of the guys that are going to be back are very excited.
“I’m honestly not sure whether it will be a selling point to some guys when
I’m recruiting over the summer – but I’ll find that out when I’ m having those kinds of con- versations in the coming weeks and months .”
The Steelers have competed in the CHL twice previously, in 2015-16 and 2016-17, both times under head coach Paul Thompson.
Of the eight games they have played, they have won only once, a 5-2 win over Red Bull Salzburg, with
yet current captain Robert Dowd the team’s leading scorer in the competition with four goals.
Fox has no previous experience of the CHL, but briefly coached in the Eastern European Kontinental Hockey League during his time at Croatia’s Medvescak Zagreb between 2013-18.
“It will be a very difficult challenge, for sure,” added Fox. “I’m looking forward to the draw in a couple of weeks, going to Prague – it will be really nice and exciting to find out which teams we’re going to be up against.
“It will be fun for our fans to be able to go into Europe, too, and it will be good for us to set another goal for ourselves next season.”
While the CHL will present a different challenge for the Steelers in 2024-25, Fox is aware of the difficulty he will face in repeating last season’s domestic success, something Belfast Giants found after winning the grand slam in 2022-23 and going empty-handed 12 months later.
“They lost quite a few pieces from that team and we’ll lose some pieces, too,” added Fox. “But they’ve been a very good team for the last three years in this league and I know that that team is going to reload here this summer and come back ready to compete again and push us.
“Cardiff is going to reload, too. Nothing is going to be easy, we know we can’t take anything for granted.”