I didn’t see a lot of Robins, in fact I only seen two games in person and watched a further two online so most of what I hear about Robins is from word of mouth from many friends who continue to go along to games. Most of the opinions are positive with a few citing that his performances fell away every so slightly after a blistering start to the year. But given the Giants injury woos last term, including a few to Robins, and with the amount of extra ice time the top players were required to put in, fatigue might well have been the reason for the dip in his scoring.

He’ll be a welcome addition regardless to a team that is off to a poor start to the season. Going forward the Giants have failed to create enough and losing Awada was one of the reasons. Thornton brought himself back but was rumored to be still injured and so that was never going to work long term, but signing up a player that knows the city, knows the team and who can settle in instantly seems like good business to me.

Robins left the Giants to go (and rightly so) chasing the money in Denmark with the Rodovre Mighty Bulls but no longer had he arrived when his contract was cancelled due to the teams financial problems. Unlike his Giants team-mate from last season and new team-mate at Rodovre Paul Deniset, who was also released, Robins failed to grab another contract (Deniset signed with Aalborg also of Denmark), and now finds himself back where he finished last season.

With the league finally scrapping the whole ‘you must de-register a non-playing import to bring in a replacement and he cannot play again for 6-games’ rule of idiots, the Giants do not have to worry about Thornton stepping back out of the team. Should any other injuries arise he will be the first replacement and can even consider putting himself in for tactical reasons and sitting a fellow import as a ‘healthy scratch’ should the nature of an upcoming game require it.

As much as the Giants could do with Robins immediately, they will have to wait until after this weekends double header with Cardiff due to paper work going through.

People are going to wonder what is wrong; Did we sign injury prone players, is it just severe bad luck or is it the fact that there are so many games with the short benches and players playing big minutes which takes its toll on the body? I tend to wonder if it is the latter because we aren’t the only team in the league having problems with injuries. As import levels go down, the ice time and responsibility on the imports signed goes up.

Andrew Martin is the biggest problem right now. He is one of the most talented players on the team but has spent more time in the proverbial press-box during games than on the ice. WIth the Giants carrying one more import player than allowed but getting away with it thanks to the fact they always have at least one man injured the question has been asked who will be cut, if and when, everyone becomes healthy.

Andrew Martin’s name is at the top of that list more and more. As much as his presence on the ice would be a loss, we’ve been playing without it most of the season anyway. That is all “ifs and buts” however as I am beginning to think we’ll never have a healthy team this season considering we’ve only two months to go. It might be worth the risk of bringing in yet another player on a short term contract while the team are so short because playing with so few players is only going to put more strain on those playing and run the risk of even more injuries.

The team sizes and import levels is something the league should look at in my book for fans to get their money’s worth. I know I wouldn’t be happy forking out money in these difficult financial times to see the Giants play with about 12 players and so out of energy by the half-way mark of the game.

North:
Bobby Robins (Belfast Giants) (C)
Andrew Verner (Newcastle Vipers) (NM)
Rod Sarich (Sheffield Steelers)
Kenton Smith (Manchester Phoenix)
David Phillips (Belfast Giants)
Jez Lundin (Newcastle Vipers)
Kyle Horne (Edinburgh Capitals)
David Beauregard (Manchester Phoenix)
Mark Hurtubise (Edinburgh Capitals)
Paul Deniset (Belfast Giants)
Tony Hand MBE (Manchester Phoenix)
Adam Walker (Manchester Phoenix)
Colin Shields (Belfast Giants)
Ed Courtenay (Newcastle Vipers)
Jonathan Phillips (Sheffield Steelers)

South:
Brad Voth (Cardiff Devils) (C)
Adam Calder (Coventry Blaze) (A)
Kevin Reiter (Basingstoke Bison) (NM)
Corey Neilson (Nottingham Panthers
Tyson Teplitsky (Cardiff Devils)
Jason Stone (Cardiff Devils)
Matt Myers (Nottingham Panthers)
Lee Mitchell (Hull Stingrays)
Jeff Glowa (Hull Stingrays)
Russ Cowley (Coventry Blaze)
Shaun Thompson (Basingstoke Bison)
Phil Hill (Cardiff Devils)
Bruce Richardson (Nottingham Panthers)
Greg Chambers (Basingstoke Bison)
Konstantin Kalmikov (Hull Stingrays)

Both teams have 3 more players to name and another goalie each

He is by for the longest serving captain in team history and should the Giants win silverware this season, especially the playoffs, he will be arguably one of the best. Until now only Paul Kruse has captained the Giants to playoff glory.

Bobby Robins, some peoples tip for the captaincy, was awarded an ‘A’ along with Paul Deniset and Mark Morrison. Mo will wear the other ‘A’ on home games with Deniset wearing it on the road. That should keep everyone happy.