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The 2023/24 Elite League (EIHL) season could be one of the most intriguing yet, with several teams heading into the new campaign with a point to prove.
While only a select few teams have a genuine chance of challenging for the title, success can be measured in other ways for others in the EIHL.
With that in mind, we look at four EIHL clubs with a point to prove in 2023/24, starting with one where the pressure to deliver is massive.
Devils Take Big Gamble with Russell
Having won back-to back league championships in 2016/17 and 2017/18, Cardiff Devils have had to rely on play-off successes to satisfy their fans’ thirst for silverware in recent years.
Given the league title matters more than the play-offs in the EIHL, the Devils will be desperate to rectify matters next season.
They have appointed Great Britain head coach Pete Russell to help them achieve their aims, although they may live to regret that decision.
Russell has done a decent enough job with the GB team and in DEL2 in the last few years, but handling the weight of expectation with the Devils will be much tougher.
He will be expected to win trophies galore with the Devils – a feat that will not be easy in the face of stiff competition from Belfast Giants.
Panthers Must Reverse Worrying Slide
The Giants have become the yardstick by which the other big EIHL teams are judged in recent seasons, and several of them are struggling to keep up.
That is undoubtedly the case where Nottingham Panthers is concerned, with their seventh-place finish last season highlighting their rapid decline.
Once rated as one of the teams to beat in the EIHL by leading bookmakers, the Panthers are now merely an afterthought in the outright market to win the title.
The latest online sports betting in Ireland naturally favours the Giants, while the Panthers are ranked as one of the outsiders to challenge for honours.
CEO Omar Pacha has done a dismal job since joining the Panthers from Dundee Stars last year and desperately needs to reverse their worrying slide.
Clan’s ‘New Owners’ Face a Tough Task
Glasgow Clan will head into next season with a major point to prove after a thoroughly embarrassing 2022/23 campaign.
The Braehead-based outfit finished eighth in the EIHL – a disastrous outcome for a club that should be regularly challenging for honours.
A series of questionable decisions by the club’s management have left many fans feeling disillusioned and work must be done to repair the damage.
Supporters will hope Clan’s new owners will help them achieve their aims, but the continued presence of members of the previous regime may scupper their hopes.
Many people think Clan have the potential to be regularly challenging for honours in the EIHL – next season will highlight whether they are tilting at windmills.
Flyers in the Last-Chance Saloon
Fife Flyers are one of the most iconic clubs in UK ice hockey, but their time in the EIHL has been completely underwhelming.
They have never finished higher than sixth in the table and have ended each of the last three campaigns entrenched in the bottom two.
The owners have allowed the club to stagnate, leaving many loyal Flyers fans seeking other things to do with their time each weekend.
The Flyers’ failure to engage properly with a vibrant junior set-up in Kirkcaldy has left the team bereft of any meaningful homegrown talent.
If the club’s owners do not get their act together this summer, they could end up killing professional ice hockey in the region.
