Reflecting on each of the Rookie Crow Seasons

Reflecting on each of the Rookie Crow Seasons - Printable Version

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Reflecting on each of the Rookie Crow Seasons - fishy - 01-14-2020

2280 words; 2x draft media bonus, sorry for the pings lmao

Last season I just did one big post on all of St. Louis, reflecting on everybody's season. However, to get that sweet sweet double media bonus, i'm going to be doing two articles; first, I'll be reflecting on the seasons each remaining active rookie had for St. Louis this past season, as well as looking at what holes they may be looking to fill in the next season. After that, I'll be discussing the remaining Crows, which unfortunately, won't be getting that sweet, sweet double media.

To begin:

Let’s take a deeper look at each of the active, new rookies added to St. Louis this season. Note, pour one out for St. Louis’ first round, 4th overall selection Blake Faux, a PBE GM who got too caught up in trying to achieve the perfect mix of exit velocity and launch angle, and went IA early on in his SHL career. However, St. Louis drafted some serious steals that would likely go earlier than they did if redrafted today, selecting some notable depth pieces for S51 and the future. These players include:

First Round, 4th overall
Blake Faux, D

I thought I’d give my man Blake Faux a shoutout anyways, it’s not easy for teams to recover from missing on such an early pick, and I sure hope he comes back, as he was a pleasure to chat with in the locker room and seemed to enjoy the SHL in the early stages of his career. Blake finished S51 with 163 in TPE. STL misses u Blake, come back to us.

Second Round: 13th overall
Danny Marston, C

Danny Marston was the Crows second round selection of the draft, and is a 6 foot 2 inch, 205 pound playmaking center out of the United States of America. Marston was drafted to add depth to the Crows roster, as a number of their recent forwards had gone inactive. This playmaker was expected to fulfill the third line center role, playing with two other rookies in Mega Tron and Borys Franciszek. Crows brass certainly hopes Marston continues his development, as he looks primed to become another stud forward out of St. Louis, joining the likes of Kandinsky, Muller, Hernadivic, and Ronlain.

Third Round: 23rd overall
Mega Tron, RW

The Crows first of two third round selections went to the young winger out of Austria, Mega Tron. Named after the Decepticon, Meg projects to be a powerful sniping forward, and at 6 foot 4 and 215 pounds, will be able to use his/her size to create loads of space to unleash that shot. Mega will be playing on the third line this season with fellow rookies, and like Marston, projects to be a top 6 forward in the near future.

Third Round: 26th overall
Trey Nets, C

With their second of two third round picks, the Crows added even more forward depth to the lineup, with the acquisition of young USA centreman Trey Nets. I believe Trey Wey slipped to the third round due to his name, as leadership groups around the league were unsure if Mr. Nets was confused and thought the SHL was a basketball league. However, like on the basketball court, Nets is wet from deep, able to pick corners as a sniper with his 6 foot 1, 215 pound frame. Like Tron and Marston, Nets will be incredibly valuable to the Crows moving forward.

Fifth Round: 43rd overall
Borys Franciszek, LW

With their fifth round selection, St. Louis added even more forward depth to their lineup, with the acquisition of the young, bruising power forward Borys Franciszek out of Poland. Borys is a massive 6 foot 6, although is kind of slender at 228 pounds. Borys will be slotted in on the third line to add some muscle to the Crows bottom 6, and is expected to continue to develop as massive body and scoring threat.

Active Rookie Centres

Danny Marston ®
@Capt_Blitzkrieg
Danny was the Crows second round pick, and boy, what a pick he turned out to be. Immediately becoming one of the nicest, most active players in the locker room, Marston has taken to the SHL immensely, engaging with other members on the forums, inquiring about potential jobs, and what not. Marston is likely to be a first round pick in the upcoming SHL draft, and whoever drafts him will have zero regrets. Marston seems to have a long and bright future both on St. Louis, and in the SHL in the future. This season saw Marston serve as an understudy to the Crows two senior citizens on the team, Bruchevski and Mitsuharu, where they taught Marston about the little details he needed to know in order for him to become an elite centreman in this league. Serving as the pivot on St. Louis' all-rookie third line, Marston had himself one solid rookie season. Debuting for St. Louis, Marston put up 12 goals, and 15 assists, good for a respectable 27 points in his debut season. Marston added some valuable depth scoring to St. Louis, while also not being terrible defensively like some rookies are, as evidenced by his -8 and his penalty killing skills, where h played 44 minutes on the PK over the course of the year. Marston is likely to fill in the hole on the Crows top 6 where he'll likely be skating with two 425-capped players, so Marston should expect his numbers to improve next season.
Looking at his playoffs, Marston picked up where he left off in the regular season. This rookie had 7 points in 12 games, great numbers for a third liner, and even saw his AMG go up in the playoffs from the regular season. Marston is a great building block for St. Louis to have, showing the Scarecrows sure know how to develop offensive forwards.

Regular Season Stats:
GP: 50 G: 12 A: 15 P: 27 +/-:-8 Hits:17 Shots:108 Sh%:11.11% Mins: 872 AMG: 17.45 PKM: 44

Playoff Stats
GP: 12 G: 2 A: 5 P: 7 +/-: -4 Hits:2 Shots:20 Sh%:10% Mins: 228 AMG: 19.02 PKM: 10

Trey Nets ®
@KillaScrilla
Trey Nets, the second centre St. Louis took in the S51 SMJHL Draft, their third round stud, is similar to Marston in the way that he's going to be a super important part of the puzzle for St. Louis as they look to reclaim the Four Star Cup that is rightfully theirs. Nets underwent some issues throughout his rookie season, forcing him to go quiet and return to home country for stretches of time while he took care of the really important things that matter. This is allowing Nets to fly under the radar, with not many SHL GMs reaching out to him yet, even as he's a borderline top 20 player according to TPE rankings. Nets was placed as the 4th line center, serving as a pivot between Ronlain and Mitsuharu, showing Nets that his development truly matters to the veteran Crows. Although not getting much ice time, Nets helped alleviate some pressure facing St. Louis by contributing all over the ice. This young, underrated player is gonna make a team really happy when they draft him, as he is a great locker room presence, is going to be a high-earner now that he's back playing hockey again, and is always willing to learn more about hockey, the SHL, and just how everyone is doing in general. In his rookie season, Nets may have only managed 4 points, 2 goals and 2 assists, but anyone that faced the adversity he did in his rookie season, and is still active in this league, is someone that is going to prove his worth to St. Louis and whatever SHL team drafts him sooner rather than later. All in all, Nets will likely be manning the 3C role for St. Louis, likely with Mega Tron and Borys Franciszek, two other members of his draft class, on his wings, in what should be a super-powered third line for St. Louis. Nets had a solid debut season, and should do much better in his second season in St. Louis.

Regular Season Stats:
GP: 50 G: 2 A: 2 P: 4 +/-:7 Hits:9 Shots:16 Sh%:12.5% Mins: 323 AMG: 6.45

Playoff Stats:
GP: 12 G: 0 A: 1 P: 1 +/-:2 Hits:5 Shots:8 Sh%:0% Mins: 86 AMG: 7.20

Active Rookie Wingers

Mega Tron ®
@jakub
Making up one of the other parts of a valuable third line that punched above their weight scoring-wise in both the regular season and playoffs, is the one and only, Mega Tron. Meg, also known as Jakub. Meg is recreate from the old days of the site, having been an active to inactive member over the course of I believe the last 7 or so years. Meg has been a source of excitement and energy in the St. Louis discord, injecting some unpredictability and buzz into a locker room not seen before. Meg is a super friendly, super-talkative person, always willing to discuss the good ol days of the SHL with other ancient souls like TML and JoeK, how TPE and CW can be too much work sometime, or her passion for cold drinks during the dark winter months (srsly, wtf). On the ice, Meg had a stellar offensive rookie season, managing to score 14 goals, and assist on another 14, good for 28 points. This led all Scarecrow rookies in points. Meg was more of an offensive, powerplay threat as well, managing to put up 7 points on the powerplay. Depending on attrition over the offseason, Meg could see a jump into the top 6 along with Marston, however, it is likely she sees time on the third again with fellow sophomores Trey Nets and Borys Franciszek. Meg should see her numbers improve, especially defensively, as she continues to develop into the all-universe shooter her namesake was. Meg continued her strong rookie season with a strong playoff debut, helping St. Louis advance to Game 7 of the Semi-Finals with a solid 5 goals, 5 assists, 10 points in 12 games. Meg was stronger defensively, only being a -3, and was insane in the clutch, with two GWGs.

Regular Season Stats:
GP: 50 G: 14 A: 14 P: 28 +/-:-11 Hits:15 Shots:137 Sh%:10.22% Mins: 830 AMG: 16.6

Playoff Stats:
GP: 12 G: 5 A: 5 P: 10 +/-:-3 Hits:7 Shots:44 Sh%:11.36% Mins: 220 AMG: 18.30

Borys Franciszek ®
@eddiesnothere
The final active rookie is my boy Borys, of the Franciszek clan, with 19 brothers that were all somehow eligible for this draft at the exact same time? It seems as though Borys is the lone Franciszek to not get homesick and return to Poland or wherever they're from, as the rest have all become M.I.A. Borys seemed to continue on the annual Scarecrow tradition of at least one rookie having rough debut seasons, following in the steps of alternate captain Dangelchek, longtime veteran Noah Gallagher, and others. Although he is quiet in the discord LR, surely because his brothers have left him alone in a foreign country, Borys has proven to be a third-round steal in a non-reddit draft, as his activity on the site and presence in the discord every now and then are a welcome addition to St. Louis. Borys put up a goal and an assist in his rookie season as he got used to playing in North America with linemates Meg and Marston, and should see these totals rise drastically as he continues to get more comfortable in the foreign place that is St. Louis. Marston was quiet again in the playoffs, as he wasn't able to get on the scoresheet. However, the physical game Borys plays with creates more room for Marston and Meg, allowing them to do their damage offensively.

Regular Season Stats:
GP: 50 G: 1 A: 1 P: 2 +/-:-9 Hits:107 Shots:22 Sh%:4.55% Mins: 795 AMG: 15.89

Playoff Stats:
GP: 12 G: 0 A: 0 P: 0 +/-:-2 Hits:23 Shots:10 Sh%:0% Mins: 188 AMG: 15.66

S52 SMJHL Draft

As you guys may have noticed, there's a gaping hole missing from those listed above, and that is young, active defencemen. St. Louis hoped they had solved that problem with the drafting of multiple defencemen in the previous draft, specifically Blake Faux at 4th overall. His inactivity however shows that St. Louis continues to have holes on the defense, which is where I believe they will focus in this upcoming draft.

However, St. Louis also has an aging veteran core, with four of their core players, Yamamoto Mitsuharu @TML99, James Ronlain @Rankle, Sasha Dangelchek @acdangel, and Aron Hernadivic, being at risk of call-up this offseason, and into next offseason, as they will have run out of years in the SMJHL without having to go through waivers. This means that STL GMs may also look into drafting some more forwards for depth purposes, as they could lose each of these players to call-ups. Rising rookies/soon to be sophomores talked about will help patch these holes, but too much depth is never a bad thing.

Lastly, starting goalie Elizabeth Doyle, @Evok, will be approaching the 425 cap this season, and should she continue to develop, Buffalo could possibly call her up early, due to current Stampede starting goalie soon to be undergoing regression that might make their young A-level prospect enticing to bring in and compete for the starting role. This might mean St. Louis also looks for a young goalie to develop behind Evok.

All in all, these young rookies should help bring St. Louis forward again in the standings, allowing them to challenge for the 4 Star Cup in the upcoming season.

RE: Reflecting on each of the Rookie Crow Seasons - _Blitz_ - 01-14-2020

Such kind words from our Captain. Thanks, Fish. I'll try to keep it up.

I swear, though, the only reason Meg and I got so many points is because Borys would hit people as soon as they'd look at us funny.

RE: Reflecting on each of the Rookie Crow Seasons - Vik - 01-14-2020

I love the way you described my presence in the locker room lmao, also I just want you to know I’ve drank hot tea 4 days in a row now but only because I’m sick. Cold drinks only!!!

RE: Reflecting on each of the Rookie Crow Seasons - Vik - 01-14-2020

Also an aside, Trey needs more ice time!!! Come hop on mine and Borys line next season we’ll be looking hot babe!