Note: As author of this piece and creator of these odds, I am admitting to an inherent fault. I am not a member of the awards committee and do not put in a strong review of all possible candidates. I will be leaning more heavily than others toward Rage winners. This is natural and should be expected.
The Aidan Richan Trophy was created back in S10 solely in the favor of an individual who shall not be named. The reasoning being that he wanted his player to win a trophy for a big season, and thus in S10 he created it and awarded it to himself. From that point forward, it has been a hotly contested and highly debated trophy due to the natures of this award. With that in mind and sports betting becoming a more widely accepted practice, I have reviewed what I feel are some of the top contenders for the award this season and placed odds on them. I will be reviewing these contenders from lowest odds to highest.
Moreau is the only goaltending candidate on this list, and his inclusion was debated myself considering the typical disconcern for goaltending in the SHL. However, he did have a spectacular breakout this season and one which should be reviewed. With a percentage point difference in his save percentage, which led the league, to his meteoric rise in Goals Saved Above Average, Moreau more than made a name for himself this season behind a defense that actually worsened from the previous season. He ended up leading the league in both Save Percentage and Goals Saved Above Average, and earned his team eight more wins than the previous season. This kind of jump while playing behind a worse team is unlikely and unheard of, but with his play style fitting the system, Moreau was simply out of this world this season. We will see him again when discussing McBride candidates in the future, however it’s unlikely he finds himself with any hardware. As such, he’s at +1500 in the books, and is a heavy underdog here.
REGINALD MACINTYRE – S41 – DEFENSEMAN (+1100)
S42: 3G-16A-19P, 32 H, 92 SB, 24.79 MPG
S43: 7G-26A-33P, 81 H, 72 SB, 25.55 MPG
Another player type that is overlooked often in the SHL, a defensive defenseman. MacIntyre was the fifth overall pick in the S41 SHL Entry Draft and joined the Rage for his rookie season just one year later in S42 immediately jumping onto the top pairing. He has hunkered down in that role well, and this season saw a massive 14 point increase in scoring while also increasing his hit totals by nearly 50! A stellar defenseman, MacIntyre’s season saw more of a proactive defensive effort now that he’s become more comfortable defending his own zone and meeting attackers at the point of entry to force dump ins. He also developed strong chemistry on the second powerplay unit with James Dekens, helping his case further. However, with this being a strong class of breakout stars and his play style being focused more on his own zone, one could expect MacIntyre to be another of the Rage to be more of an underdog in this way.
The first player to see a significant change in their role in the line-up to come to the list is Janis Doro of the Pride. Doro is an older player, about to enter their first season of regression, who has had an underwhelming career thus far. While largely overlooked, a late breakout is always possible and could be evidence of a late-bloomer. Doro jumped 14 points as well, doubled the hit totals and became a defensive stalwart for a downtrodden Pride who finished last in the league this season. All in all, a player who performed well when given heightened expectations at a time that may not be expected for a player his age. However, in a similar way, the increase wasn’t that great and the player being at an older point could lead voters to trend toward a younger player or one who didn’t see a sudden change on role but simply broke out within that role.
Speaking of players breaking out within their prior roles, the one affectionately called Koda could be a prime candidate if not for the depth of this class. Reid is a defensive star with a strong ability to separate the puck from most puck carriers with an over 30 hit increase while remaining positionally responsible and managing double-digit shot blocks. As a forward, and specifically a wing, this is a surprising role for one to fill and shows the system in place in San Francisco as well as the great skill of the player filling that role. With a 15 point increase, including an 9 goal jump, Dakota Reid is a player who jumps off the page in a lot of ways. However, is still a little behind in the odds simply due to the depth of this class.
For the first time on this list, a player who helped his team to a playoff position this season. Woodcroft was astounding in a lot of ways for Los Angeles, jumping off in his third season on the club. In his rookie season in S41 he had 22 points, and remained steady the following season. However, with this big 14 point jump which included an 8 goal rise and a limited rise in playing time, it can be expected for voters to trend a little more toward him. Voters tend to care more for players on successful and deep teams where opportunity is a bit more scarce, and Woodcroft made the most of those opportunities and became a bonafide star in the process. It is unfortunate that he had what could be considered a more average jump compared to some at the top of this list as he has developed himself a strong niche here.
This is likely to be called biased, and I’m fine with that. Just making the top five on my list is the top center of the Manhattan Rage. In his third season in the SHL he is showing a steady and consistent rise. From S41 where he played on Edmonton and scored just 13 points, he has made his way into the top-10 in league center scoring with a 14 point jump from last season to this season. Considering he was snubbed the prior season on a 21 point rise, this could be more of a make-up season for him as he makes his way into a near point-per-game level of competition while also slightly decreasing his role on the team. Berger became a huge piece in the Rage coming back into a competitive state with the rest of the Eastern non-playoff teams, and while voters aren’t expected to vote for him due to his breaking 30 points last season, it is possible they could find themselves feeling guilty from the season before and giving him a little extra push as well.
A player who had a significant minutes increase, which was largely in joining the penalty killing unit which finished third in the league, and a drop down the lines from first line to second. Reginald Rove debuted in the SHL a season after his draft year in S41 to the tune of 19 points, he had a modest increase the following season. Now in S43 he found himself as a breakout player leading the second unit in Manhattan and playing a more defensive-minded role. With a massive points increase of 19 points over the previous season, this is the largest jump we’ve seen thus far. He still doesn’t quite make the top three with that increase, but could find himself making it into the top three on voters ballots and could manage to take home some hardware soon after his 10 goal jump.
As can be seen quite often in hockey, defensive numbers will decrease as offense increases. This is the case for Kalju, who finds himself with hits and shot blocks decreasing but a stellar 21 point rise from his rookie season to his sophomore campaign. The S40 draft pick took two seasons to make the big leagues, but trained well in that time and immediately stepped into a major role for a Seattle squad in dire need. Kalju now is a major anchor on the blue line for the Riot, and had the type of season that a top-pairing defenseman needs to have. While it could be seen as a natural jump to be made now that Kalju has become accustomed to the SHL game and the speed of play, this is a story that could drive the voters toward Kalju as he was a key component in the unexpected playoff berth of the Riot. Voters tend to vote with their hearts as well, and knowing Kalju’s efforts were such a key component could be enough to swing them his direction.
KYLER GILL – S38 – RIGHT WING (+600)
S42: 12G-9A-21P, 73 H, 16 SB, 17.84 MPG
S43: 23G-19A-42P, 101 H, 11 SB, 22.25 MPG
Similar to Rove prior, Gill found a massive jump in playing time this season but a large part of it was due to a penalty killing role previously not owned. Gill proved to be defensively responsible and played against a higher quality of competition this season. With that in mind, Gill proved to be well-equipped with a huge 11 goal spike and a 21 point rise from the prior season. Meanwhile also becoming more consistent with separating the puck from puckcarriers with a nearly 30 hit increase as well. This is an astounding season for a young man who is at a what could be a career-turning point with San Francisco on a rebuild and looking for stars. Gill has proven to be worth the investment and could be the face of the rebuild during the dark times while they await Leshaun King, Goku Muerto and Luke Thomason.
This could become one of the more polarizing lines set. Currently, Gary Grease is the front-runner for the Aidan Richan Trophy after a meteoric 26 point rise which is unrivaled by his competition. However, his minutes difference is almost entirely in powerplay time where he went from not playing a role at all to having over 100 minutes played and scored 15 points, including 7 of his 8 more goals than the previous season. With Jason Visser playing a key role on that second powerplay unit and being by far the best scorer in the SHL this season, he pulled a lot of attention from Grease and gave incredibly huge opportunity to the player. While Grease did jump on this opportunity, if not for that position he would only have an 11-point increase which is mediocre compared to the others on this list. The question now will be if the voters take the powerplay difference into consideration considering Grease played largely with Visser and his scoring could be a result of the “Visser-Effect” this season dragging up the Winnipeg Jets scoring.
Only time will tell what the voters will decide. On a personal level, my final three in the Aidan Richan voting are Gary Grease, Kyler Gill and Reginald Rove. While I would have Rove as the one taking the trophy on a more personal level, he likely falls into second place with Gill taking home the hardware and Grease coming in at third due to his benefitting from the sudden increase in powerplay time with the most potent scorer in the SHL. Nonetheless, it is a debate to be had which could yield interesting results as the awards committee has a tough decision on their hands and a precedent could be set for this type of award. There are no bad winners here, just tough to swallow pills for the losers who come up just short in a tight race.
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Late night article dump. I'm hoping it can spark some fun and interesting debate about this award since it is one that I feel has a lot of candidates this season and could be very controversial to different teams. I will be tagging a few people who are in this article below to give some exposure and I truly believe you are all fantastic and wonderful people and I wish you all the very best of luck.
An old man's dream ended. A young man's vision of the future opened wide. Young men have visions, old men have dreams. But the place for old men to dream is beside the fire.
I feel like Koda's "breakout" spans over a couple of seasons, tbh. S41 was my first season with double digits in the points column and this season I've more than doubled all of those stats, while also piling on top more hits and more shots.
Really excited to see Reid and Gill have such great seasons, and wow Grease and Rove had a hell of a season themselves. Should be a tight vote for the Richan trophy I'd say.