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+---- Thread: (Graded) Deep Dive #2 - A look at NBB (/showthread.php?tid=109483)
(Graded) Deep Dive #2 - A look at NBB - canes2112 - 08-25-2020
The Nevada Battleborn have just completed their first ever season in the SMJHL as one of the newest expansion teams. Unfortunately, they finished dead last in the league only earning 24 points, 10 behind the next lowest team. Obviously this is not the ideal way to start the season but it should be expected from an expansion team. Additionally, the Battleborn scored the least goals and allowed the most. Their two top point getters only amassed 25 points throughout the season. I won’t spend too much time dwelling on this season as any expansion team would be hard pressed to find great success in their inaugural season, so let’s look at the future.
Nevada has a total of 13 S56 players on the team currently. This group is highlighted by Schimo Zoidberg III with 274 TPE currently. Despite his -39 rating, he produced 19 points, good for 5th on the team. This is particularly impressive for a rookie defenseman. He is a part of 7 S56 players above 250 TPE, which bodes incredibly well for the future. If none of these players are called up early, their third seasons could all be massive once unlocking the 425 TPE build. I would not be surprised if the Battleborn would contend for the title that season and several beyond that. Goalie Phillip Weaver seems poised to be the starter for future seasons and was in net for 8 of the team’s 10 wins. Nearly all of the S56 players appear to be earning TPE at a great rate, which is a good sign for the future foundation of the team.
In the upcoming SMJHL draft, the Battleborn could draft in a few different directions. They will lose almost no players to call up so they could potentially package some of their lower picks to move up in the draft to grab higher ranked players. Center is a position that Nevada could target early in the draft as two of the older players on the roster are centers and some depth behind Raivo Helminen would greatly help the team in the coming seasons. Another position they could potentially covet would be Left Wing as most other positions seem to have decent depth.
One of the potential challenges an expansion team may face could be the loss of many players at once. There are still several seasons where moves could be made but this factor should be in the back of the GM’s head. Perhaps some transactions of similar players at different stages in their career would help offset a large group of players being called up one season and layer the call ups.
I think a realistic goal for the Battleborn next season would be to outperform the Quebec City Citadelles. The other expansion team had the better performance this season but a case could be made the S56 class of Nevada has gained more TPE than Quebec City with QCC only having 4 players above the 250 TPE mark compared to the 7 of Nevada. Within the division, Anaheim and Colorado had middling seasons and could be weaker in the future so a stretch goal for the upcoming season could be to not place last in the division. Either way Nevada have an exciting future ahead of them.
Approved! +5 TPE @canes2112