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Stamkos Is My Dad · 07-16-2024, 06:54 PM

The Season 77 SMJHL Esa Anrikkanen award goes to the top rookie of the season. Typically there is a usual top selection for this award each season. However that is not so clear for Season 77. The Esa Anrikkanen Award comes down to two players, a couple of dinosaurs, in Zeus Storm and Kral King of the Colorado Raptors. Let's take a look at some areas these two raptors excelled on the season to help you decide who should take home this prestigious award.

Zeus Storm

Assists: On the season Zeus Storm tied for the rookie lead in assists with 39 total assists. This is an impressive feat for Storm as he saw most of his time coming on the third line and averaged less than 18 minutes per ice time on the season. On his line were fellow Raptors rookies Eric Fischermann as well as Kral King at times. The all-rookie line was certainly cooking on the ice and it was in large part due to Storm setting them up for fantastic opportunities to put the puck in the net.

Goals: Zeus Storm did not just rack up his points by setting up his teammates but he also finished second among rookies on the season with 21 goals. He finished behind his teammate, and top contender for the award, Kral King. It is rare to see a pair of teammates at the top of the goals scored list but the Raptors had an abundance of talented rookies. Storm certainly showed that he can go put the puck in the net at a high clip and is not just a pure passing center.

Plus/Minus: What may be the most impressive stat for Zeus Storm is his outstanding plus-23 rating for the season. That is an incredibly impressive rating for not only a forward but a forward skating on the third line of a team that barely squeaked into the playoffs and only had a plus-18 goal differential for the season. This stat shows how Zeus made everyone around him better and the Raptors were at their best when he was on the ice.

Points: Finally the big one is the total points scored where Zeus tied with teammate Kral Kring for the rookie lead with 61 total points. While they both did it in the opposite fashion it still shows both were extremely effective on the ice for themself and their teammates.

Kral King

Goals: The big one for Kral King's argument is leading all rookies in goals scored with 29. The Raptors wanted Kral to fly up and down the ice and fire shots on net and he certainly did that. He finished with a solid 15.7 shot percentage on 185 shots. There was no denying that Kral was a threat to score from anywhere and it certainly makes his case for the Top Rookie very strong.

Assists: While he did not rack up a ton of assists he did find his teammates 32 times which was good for 10th among rookies on the season. Despite Kral's main mission of putting pucks on net he was still unselfish enough to pass the puck when the situation called for it and he did it surprisingly well.

Hits: Something that King was willing to do on the season was to go out and hit opponents and provide some grit and edge to the Raptors forwards. He did this 111 times and really helped set the physical tone for the second and third lines. This is something that not a lot of rookie forward are willing to do but he put his body on the line for the team. Doing the small things like this makes a huge difference in the flow of games.

Points: Lastly as already stated Kral tied for the rookie lead in points with his teammates Zeus with 61 points. The difference being Kral did his on the strength of goals and fewer assists but regardless, no matter how you slice it, both the Raptors rookies found a way to get the puck in the net.

Other Impressive Stats

Zeus Storm:
Game Winning Goals - 5
Shot % - 17.9%
Faceoff % - 55.9%
Hits - 67

Kral King:
Game Winning Goals - 3
Power Play Goals - 4
Plus/Minus: Plus-4

*CptSquall* · 07-27-2024, 12:06 PM

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