Login

***Toast*** · 02-26-2014, 12:50 AM

Minnesota make several announcements prior to pre-season
by Brandon McCann

[Image: murray-tim-05628133.jpg]

GM Kurtis Hunter seen at a press conference making some announcements. Yes, aging is a magical thing in the SHL.

S17 is going to be an important one for the Minnesota franchise. They have struggled over the past few seasons, trying to climb back to the playoffs that they have missed since GM Kurtis Hunter took over. The expansion franchise which was founded in S5 had been a mainstay at the top of the East division and unfortunately, since GM Hunter took over in late S14, things just have not been the same in Minnesota. Hunter rebuilt the team wanting to get them to a new era, and while he has done a proper job of building a solid future for the team, are they ready to make a run right now?

With only a couple days to go until pre-season starts up, the Minnesota Chiefs have officially named their captains for the season. The captaincy was considered up for grabs after GM Hunter shipped former captain Sergei Zherdev to the West Kendall Platoon. With the youth movement in Minnesota, it really was anyoneâ€™s for the taking. The main veteran on the team now is goalie Edwin Ask and unfortunately, he canâ€™t hold the captaincy himself. So it will be up to mostly the rookie crop to step forward and lead this team into the future which weâ€™re very excited for.

Without further ado, here are your captains for the S17 season:

[Image: claude_giroux120411.jpg]

A; Bradley Wingels
Wingels was one of the players who were automatically drafted to the Chiefs last season through the player agent/GM rule. Since arriving at the team Wingels has been one of the best members of the teams in terms of his contributions in the locker room and off the ice. Wingels, through his player agent, has quite the connection to the Minnesota franchise. Wingels will serve as the alternate captain in honour of the future that is working its way up the league with the Chiefs. We fully believe that future players will look up to Wingels and we are proud to have him as one of the three captains of this team. We look forward to a stellar season from him.

[Image: jarome-iginla.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1]

[Image: jarome-iginla.jpg?w=620&h=349&crop=1]

A; Jaâ€™Far Dar
Fortunately for Minnesota, there are a few veterans on the team, and one of them is the ever-consistent Jaâ€™Far Dar. Dar returned to Minnesota through free agency last season and has been quite the addition. He led the team in points last season and hopefully this season he will see even more points. He also is well known throughout the league and is the example that we want to set as a team. Dar has recently picked up his off-ice contributions to the team and to honour him with the A on his jersey this season is the least we could do. Dar will be leading the offense once again in Minnesota, so make sure to take note of him league.

[Image: JamieBennCloseUp.jpg]

C; Tom Sawyer
We are officially crowning one of the youngest captains this league has seen. Since being picked third overall in the S16 Entry Draft, Sawyer has been exactly what we expected of him. The Sawyer name is something of honour with Minnesota and Tom has not let us down by living up to that. In my opinion, his contributions last season to this team are greatly under-looked. He was one of the top rookies overall, being second in scoring for us last season by just one point. He has been great in the locker room and I have no doubts that he is going to make a great captain for seasons to come. He also represents the future of this team as one of the main three drafted last season and weâ€™re looking forward to him setting an example for the rest of the team around the league. All hail Sawyer!

As I said, things are looking up in Minnesota this season. We are going to do our best to secure a playoff spot this time around, and everyone in the locker room is confident that itâ€™s going to happen. With the great leadership throughout the team Iâ€™m more than confident in this squad and look forward to finally taking the ice for pre-season.

There is also one thing that has been in limbo for the past couple of weeks (not really) and that is just who will be taking over as the Co-GM here in Minnesota.

Boon served as a great Hand to the King for the two seasons since GM Hunter took over two seasons, providing guidance to the team and tips on just what could return this team to greatness. He took a step away from the position to lead the next generation of the SHL in the SMJHL as the new co-GM to the Prince George Firebirds. He is still going to be a big part of the team with his player and I will always go to him as one of my advisors. He is one of the most knowledgeable people in the league and that will not change.

Onto who will be the new co-GM in Minnesota. There are many people in this league who would like a shot at managing an SHL team. In Minnesota though, there was no room for error, and thatâ€™s why Minnesota searched for someone with experience throughout the league. That narrowed down the possible candidates to a few people, but luckily for Minnesota one of those considered candidates was a player agent with their client just so continently being in the S17 Draft. Hamilton would try to name him general manager without going through league rules, which was quite funny to be honest, but in the end he would end up in his true home.

[Image: Irvin_Dickinson_James_05.jpg]

The new co-GM of the Minnesota Chiefs is former Chief himself, Saku Perhonen (HabsFanFromOntario). Perhonen was a part of the roster many seasons ago, helping in the effort to make it one of the most prominent teams throughout the league. Now, Perhonen will be assisting GM Hunter with turning the Chiefs into a true contender again. Perhonen has been acting as unofficial general manager since being drafted by the Chiefs and apparently has already proven himself to be more than capable of the position. The tandem of Hunter and Perhonen is expected to lead the Chiefs for seasons to come.

The next season is definitely going to be a big one!

Chiefs