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TheOPSquid · 08-20-2024, 12:09 PM

What is going on SHL it's Squid here, back again with a new short article. Today we will be taking a look around the league to see what has been happening throughout the first 20-ish games. We will look at who is heating up around the league by looking at, the top performing teams, forwards, defenders and goaltenders.

The Top Team:

San Francisco has been cooking the league right now, firmly in first with 34 points with 17 wins in 19 games. They are sitting 2 points ahead of Los Angeles with 2 games in hand. The Pride are the best team at both ends of the ice right now, leading the league in goals scored with 111, as well as having the fewest goals against with 58. Their line of Scholz - Hargreeves - Webb has been on fire, Hargreeves and Scholz are both sitting within the top 10 in scoring and Hargreeves is chilling with 18 goals in 19 games. However, the entire forward group for San Francisco has hit another level and are currently at a point per game or better. This forward depth has contributed greatly to their success so far. Justin Time is backstopping this team and despite being a couple seasons into regression, is playing phenomenally. Sitting just under a .900 save percentage, Justin Time is continuing his Hall of Fame worthy career with a great season and is sitting at a record of 14-1 currently. Barring a disastrous collapse Justin Time is on pace to put up his 8th consecutive season with 40+ wins. Toasty, Willow Soderberg-Snooks and Sydney Shaw are playing out of their minds from the blueline, putting up points and shutting down the opposition's top players.

The Top Forwards:

Tampa Bay's Johnny Wagner-Svenson has been on fire this season, on pace for a career high in points and assists. With 46 points in just 20 games, Johnny is on pace for an astounding 150 points which would be the highest point total in the past 10 seasons. The scoring will likely regress a bit throughout the season but there is a high chance that Wagner-Svenson will finish with an astounding amount of points. The highest total in the past 10 seasons was Ivan Lacksamus with 142 points in Season 73, it will be cool to see if Wagner-Svenson can break that mark this season. A big reason for Wagner-Svenson's scoring pace is the emergence of his linemates Max Carnage and FITTED *PRIMETIME99* CUDDLES, with Carnage having a career season on pace to shatter their career high of 72 points and FITTED on pace to come close to their career high of 74 points.

Chris Valentine has stepped up for the Texas Renegades this season, putting up over a goal per game with 22 goals in 20 games. Valentine has been great all over the ice, he currently has 18 power play points and averages 5:39 on the power play per game. Valentine has also been good in the defensive end, having a positive giveaway to takeaway ratio with 24 takeaways and 21 giveaways. Valentine has one of the best faceoff percentages in the league with an astounding 59% faceoff win rate out of 442 faceoffs taken. Their top line of William Tree - Valentine - Marton Diehm has been clicking all around and Chris Valentine has been a big driving force on the line.

The Top Defenders:

Naming a Top Defender at this point is always a hot debate, do you value points from the back end? What about defensive stats? What defensive stats matter the most? Are hits a defensive stats? For this I will be looking at a mix of Takeaways, Giveaways, Blocks, Points, SHTOI, and TOI. It isn't an exact science and I'll just be looking through so don't take this as anything more than just a quick look through.

The Panthers defender Elena Maximova has had a solid start to the season so far, being near the top of the pack offensively with 24 points in 21 games, while putting up some solid defensive numbers. Playing close to 3 minutes per game on the penalty kill and roughly 4 minutes on the power play per game, Maximova has put up 64 blocks and only has 1 turnover in those 21 games. Racking up 16 takeaways, Maximova has been able to convert defensive possessions into points and not give the puck away easily.

Jaromir Jagrbomb has been great for Manhattan this season, providing much needed offense from the back end and helping quarterback the power play. Racking up 11 power play points, Jagrbomb is sitting at first in the league in points with 28. Jagrbomb has been solid on the defensive end, playing on the second penalty kill unit and averaging 1 minute on the penalty kill per game. He has 20 takeaways and only 5 giveaways, to go along with 32 blocked shots. Jaromir has been one of the best offensive defenders this season but has been average on the defensive side, with defensive partner Niclas Sundqvist being the shutdown part of the defensive pair.

Top Goaltenders:

Justin Time has been one of the league's top goaltenders this season, but since we have already talked about him earlier while talking about San Francisco, We will look at two other top goaltenders this season.

Grzegorz Brzeczyszczykiewicz is another Los Angeles Panther that has been having a great season, putting up a solid .912 save percentage and 10 wins in 15 games. With a Goals Against Average of 2.80, Grzegorz is currently sitting at a career high in save percentage and goals against average while backstopping one of the best teams in the league.

Casey Fantobens has been cooking in their final SHL season, sitting with 7 wins in 14 games for the Buffalo Stampede. A solid save percentage of .906 puts them tied for second with goaltenders that have 10 or more games played, and a decent goals against average of 3.77. Casey looks to finish their career with a deep run with the Stampede and we will see how the rest of the season goes.

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