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Rtpc31 · 07-16-2024, 10:35 AM

As the Seattle Argonauts look to turn the corner on their rebuild, their vast collection of high end prospects have begun to develop and graduate. This past season saw the fruits of the labor with the rookie trifecta of Will Tomlander, Shadow Fenix, and Squidwardo Tentacles showing a glimpse of the bright future in Seattle. Next season, the Argos will welcome in at least four more rookies with the graduation of Olivija Agate, Pinli Switchbang, Jean-Jacques Francois Jacques-Jean, and James Madison from juniors to the SHL. Let’s take a look at how these prospects have fared over their junior careers and check in with prospects further down the line.

Olivija Agate: RD: Carolina Kraken: S75 (@jacobcarson877)
Junior Stats: 264GP, 49G, 121A, 170P

The Latvian born defender ends her illustrious junior career with yet another season of stellar top pair play for the Carolina Kraken. Agate finished the season ranking top ten in nearly every offensive category among defenders in the SMJHL including goals, assists, points, and shots on goal. Despite her obvious offensive acumen, Olivija has been no slouch on the defensive end either tallying over 100 hits and blocked shots as well as 75 takeaways which ranks top 15 in the league. She’s been heavily relied upon during her entire time in Carolina playing over 21 minutes per game every season and manning the top power play and penalty kill units. She’ll likely immediately step into a similar prominent role when she joins the Kraken who will be without top pair mainstay Landon Fischermann who enters retirement after the S77 season. Seattle fans should get used to the name Agate on the blueline because she will likely be the face of the Argos’ defense core for many seasons to come.

Pinli Switchbang: C: Colorado Raptors: S75 (@leviadan)
Junior Stats: 264GP, 129G, 137A, 266P

The diminutive Finn completes their impressive junior career with another dynamic offensive season for the Colorado Raptors to finish just over 1 point per game over the course of their junior career. Playing on one of the most productive lines in the SMJHL, Switchbang banged in 39 goals which ranked tied for sixth in the league as well as 39 assists for a total of 75 points. This marks the fourth consecutive season north of 25 goals for Pinli who has shown the ability to score in all situations including a league leading 8 shorthanded goals this season. Opponents should also be careful not to underestimate the 5’0” frame because Switchbang is still willing to throw the body around with 136 hits over the course of the season. Pinli will immediately step into a top six role in Seattle who will welcome another young dynamic forward piece to their young core. Pinli Switchbang should be on everyone’s watchlist for rookie of the year as they begin their Argonauts career.

Jean-Jacques Francois Jacques-Jean: LW: Maine Timber: S75 (@r0tzbua)
Junior Stats: 264GP, 104G, 206A, 310P

Playing on the most productive line in the SMJHL, Jacques-Jean had yet another dynamite season alongside the Lavoie duo. He was certainly no passenger on that line tallying up 62 assists and 94 points which were good for second and fourth best in the league, respectively. Along with being a top notch playmaker, he was all over his opponents’ zone putting up a league sixth best 266 shots on goal and managed to net 32 goals of his own as the Timber ran through the competition like a buzzsaw this season. The hulking 6’5” French Canadian winger closes his junior career at nearly a 1.2 point per game pace and three consecutive seasons with over 50 assists. He, too, will surely jump into Seattle’s top six forward group as an adept playmaker and point producer to add to the Argos’ impressive up and coming core. He is another player to look for as a strong potential candidate for rookie of the year.

James Madison: LW: St Louis Scarecrows: S75 (@Waldo)
Junior Stats: 264GP, 93G, 96A, 189P

Wrapping up his junior career, Madison has shown steady improvement each season even on a team that has been at or near the bottom of the standings during his entire tenure in St. Louis. Madison finished the season with a team leading 32 goals with 30 of them coming at even strength which ranks him 5th in the entire league in that category. He has proven time and time again to be one of the most efficient shooters in the league hovering at right around a 20% shooting percentage over the past two seasons. It will be interesting to see if he can carry over that sharp shooting to the SHL where he could provide a steady source of even strength depth scoring.

Stavros Kondos: C: Regina Elk: S76 (@Ohtaay)
Junior Stats: 198GP, 68G, 84A, 152P

After being selected sixth overall in the S76 draft, Kondos has done everything to justify his stock as a top junior prospect. Coming off a strong 30 goal season in his sophomore SMJHL stint, Stavros followed it up with another strong season totalling 27 goals, 36 assists, and 63 points while playing second line minutes and substantial power play time for Regina. He is developing the traits of a volume shooting power forward with a league second highest shot total of 293 while also ranking ninth in hits with 152. Moving forward, he hopes to increase his shooting percentage from 9.2% closer to the 14% he displayed the season prior. Regardless, Kondos’ production is a near sure fire bet to explode for his final junior season as the Regina Elk graduate their top four point producers from the S77 season and Stavros takes the reins of the top line for his fourth and final junior season.

Caper Poirot: LW: San Diego Tidal:S76 (@JellyRamp)
Junior Stats: 198GP, 48G, 80A, 128P

One of the bright spots during a tough season for the San Diego Tidal has been Nunavut native, Caper Poirot. He finished the season second on his team in scoring with 27 goals, 28 assists, and 55 points while playing on the first line and top power play unit on the last place Tidal. This is a 17 point improvement over his sophomore season helped in no small part by a 16.6% shooting percentage. However, if he can sustain that level of efficiency, Poirot should be able to even further eclipse this season’s production as his very young expansion Tidal teammates mature and develop alongside him. San Diego is expected to return the entirety of their top six forward group, so experience and chemistry should show that the team along with Caper have nowhere to go but up next season.

Kristians Mikelis: LD: Maine Timber: S76 (@FnoRespect)
Junior Stats: 169GP, 28G, 79A, 109P

Mikelis had his coming out party this season whilst playing top pair defense minutes for the dominant Maine Timber in the SMJHL. His 58 points led all defensemen by a 7 point margin while also leading the league with 42 assists among blueliners. Not only was he the primary puck mover and facilitator on an offensive juggernaut, but he created his own offense with 16 goals on a truly astounding 249 shots on goal which ranks not only first among his defender counterparts, but puts him just outside the top ten volume shooters in the entire league regardless of position. While the offensive counting statistics jump off the page, his defensive game is equally as strong. He ended the season with 78 takeaways which was top 10 in the league and a CF% north of 61%. He seems capable of doing it all and will be a critical piece on the rebuilt Seattle blueline after one more season playing big minutes for the Timber.

Roquefort Cotswald: LD: Detroit Falcons: S77 (@roquefort)
Junior Stats: 132 GP, 10G, 37A, 47P

The tiny 5’0” defenseman is coming off his first season of playing top pair minutes for a very defensively stingy Detroit Falcons squad who averaged only 2.88 goals against per game this past season. His 4 goals, 22 assists, and 26 points do not leap off the page, but Cotswald proved himself very capable of taking on the SMJHL’s best competition in only his second year of juniors. He will likely be looking to round out the offensive side of his game over the next 2 seasons as he will be more and more relied upon on special teams and in critical situations for the Falcons. Despite his miniscule size, Cotswald is still showing that he is not afraid to sacrifice the body with 99 blocked shots and 80 hits. Opponents must beware of underestimating the tenacity of this mighty defender in a small package.

AT-AT Wollker: LD: Great Falls Grizzlies: S77 (@Muerto)
Junior Stats: 132GP, 10G, 38A, 48P

The massive 6’6” Icelandic defender is coming off of a sophomore season that saw improvement in almost every metric compared to his rookie junior season. His role was certainly elevated to top pair minute muncher averaging over 23 minutes per game and Wollker played the part well for the Grizzlies. His 206 blocked shots led his team and ranked fifth in the entire league to go along with his 80 hits and 46 takeaways. However, AT-AT is proving that he is not just a defensive one trick pony. His 6 goals, 23 assists, and 29 points are all improvements on his rookie season. He is also showing the ability to quarterback a power play unit from the point with 5 of his goals coming on the man advantage.To continue to improve, however, Walker will need to stay out of his own penalty box and rein in some of the aggressive play as his 65 penalty minutes were sixth most in the league.

Theo Kane: LW: Detroit Falcons: S77 (@NONAME)
Junior Stats: 132GP, 34G, 59A, 94P

One of the players with biggest leaps in production between their first and second seasons was British Columbia native, Theo Kane. While playing on Detroit’s top line, Kane was able to cross the 20 goal mark with 21 goals and fell just short of completing a 60 point season with 58. The biggest evolution in his game appears to be a penchant for playmaking as he upped his assist total from 22 to 27 between his rookie and sophomore seasons with 14 of those assists coming on Detroit’s stellar power play. With linemate, Teemu Salami, graduating to the SHL this offseason, expect to see another level to Kane’s play as he and Brayden Point build on the chemistry that they built last season and look to become one of the most dominant lines in the SMJHL.

Jefferson Steelflex: LW: Anchorage Armada: S77 (@Steelflex)
Junior Stats: 132 GP, 34G, 44A, 78P

After a strong 20 goal rookie season, Steelflex struggled to replicate his success during his second season in juniors. Much of that can be attributed to the fact that the Anchorage Armada did not have the season that they had hoped for, finishing in the bottom three of the standings and the league lowest goals per game total at 2.88. Nonetheless, Jefferson managed to put the puck in the net 13 times adding on 26 assists to equal his rookie point total of 39. He will have an opportunity to take reins on a turnaround season for himself and the Armada next season who will be losing two of their top three scorers to the SHL. All eyes will be on Steelflex to put this season behind him and help lead Anchorage out of the SMJHL basement.

Gina Pinard: LW: San Diego Tidal: S77 (@JURT)
Junior Stats: 49G, 80A, 129P

After a tremendous rookie season which saw Pinard net 25 goals and 67 points for the expansion San Diego Tidal, the expectations were sky high for the young Finn to improve on those numbers in her second season. While a cursory glance reveals that her sophomore numbers were similar to those from her rookie season, it must be noted that she continued this pace on a far worse team. Her 24 goals, 38 assists, and 62 points led the team in all offensive categories even on a team with a league worst -135 goal differential. Once again, Pinard did a lot of her damage on the man advantage with 22 of her points coming on the power play. As with teammate Caper Poirot, patience will be the key as much of this very young Tidal team will be returning with more experience and chemistry. Surely, we have not seen the peak of Pinard’s ability yet.

Bishop Van Apeldoorn: G: Ottawa Highlanders: S77 (@CybershadeEDM)
Junior Stats: 77GP, 37-31-4, 3.38 GAA, 0.897 Sv%, 4 SO

Van Apeldoorn just completed his first regular season as the bonafide starter in net for the Ottawa Highlanders and did not disappoint. He carried the bulk of the workload appearing in all but 8 games for the Highlanders this season. Despite shouldering such a burden, Bishop’s 30 wins were good for fourth in the league and his fifth best 20.79 Goals Saved Above Average were a huge factor in Ottawa’s somewhat unexpected success this season. His 4 shutouts also show his ability to steal the game for his team. He should carry the crease for the Highlanders for a couple more seasons, and, if this season was any indication, he may set the bar high for all time goaltender statistics for future stoppers of the young franchise.

Inactive (but not forgotten):

Chuff D’Lee: RD: Colorado Raptors: S76
Junior Stats: 198GP, 17G, 84A, 101P

In summary, it’s clear that while there is much work to do to turn the Argonauts’ ship around, there is help on the way. Along with these prospects, Seattle has another lottery pick coming this offseason, so the work of building the future is not done, but the foundation looks solid at this point in the rebuild.

2303 words

Ohtaay · 07-16-2024, 10:44 AM

Great article as always!

Lets go Argos!

Argonauts

***luke*** · 07-16-2024, 03:02 PM

They got plenty of talent, hopefully with enough patience can bring it together

jacobcarson877 · 07-16-2024, 03:38 PM

well worth the price of switching to light mode for a second!

So excited to get the gang all together, join up with the big 74 class as well, and really show the league how well we've drafted and developed!

***kahri*** · 07-16-2024, 04:42 PM

just here to say…i love rence

*leviadan* · 07-16-2024, 04:52 PM

we're gonna be damn good

*NONAME* · 07-17-2024, 09:30 AM

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