Sheffield Steelers confident return of Patrick Watling is one worth waiting for

The roster spot opened up following the sacking of Canadian forward Cliff Pu - who pleaded guilty to two counts of assault by beating on the same woman during a Sheffield Magistrates’ Court hearing on Monday - has been quickly filled by the former Steelers’ forward, who had a key role in the team’s 2023-24 Elite League grand slam campaign.

But his arrival back in South Yorkshire will not be in time for him to take to the ice for either road trip the Steelers face this weekend, Saturday night in South Wales against Cardiff Devils and Sunday at Coventry Blaze.

That suggests Watling is being lined up to start his second spell at the club in the Boxing Day clash at home against current Elite League leaders, Nottingham Panthers, which is expected to be a 9,000-plus sellout.

Regardless of when Watling does hit the ice though, Steelers’ head coach Aaron Fox is genuinely excited to have him back on his bench.

“When things transpired the way they did last week and I started to explore the market, he was always a name I had in the back of my head,” said Fox, of Watling, who scored 49 goals and 93 assists in 134 games for the Steelers between 2023-25.

“He’s a versatile player that brings pace and skill and creativity to the group. He’s still at a good age and he’s twitchy, so I’m not overly-worried about the need for two weeks of ice for him to get into shape.

“He’s just a very, very good player where you know what you’re getting and when he’s on his A-game, he is as good as anybody else who has been in this league over the last two years or so.

“Also, he was pretty banged up with the amount of games that we played over those two years, so the extra time off he’s had here probably did him the world of good and he’ll come in fresh and healthy too.”

Saturday’s trip to second-placed Cardiff is the first of six games in 13 days for the Steelers, Paul Thompson’s team once place above courtesy of a four-point weekend which was rounded off by a 7-0 win at Dundee Stars. That was the Devils’ fourth straight win, while they have not lost in regulation since their previous visit to Tayside on November 15.

"They play good hockey and are not easy to play against,” added Fox.

"They do a lot of the little things right – they’ll play heavy, they get inside and consistency is what sets teams apart and whether they are going to be there at the end of the year, so it’s another good test for us

“But I feel like if we play like we played the first half of the Glasgow game the other night (Steelers won 4-0), we’re as good as anyone in the league and it should be a good game.”