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joslaker · 03-29-2019, 10:48 AM

To say that Vancouver Whalers co Gm's Luke and Glyc had an easy year would be a vast understatement. Facing a heavily depleted roster, and facing their usual high expectations, the 2 bosses knew that they were in for a tough challenge. In fact, this season has been so tough that Luke lost what little hair he had left, while Glyc drank a 12 pack of diet coke every day. However, looking back on it all, the 2 GM's have realized that all of their pain and suffering were worth it. A strong draft, with an excellent crop of active rookies paired with successful veterans lead to a team looking for success both now and in the future.

It all started for the 2 back during the prospect showcase. Their minds were as blank as their draft boards, unable to begin to think of where to begin their rebuild. They decided to begin with defence Jax Duggan, taking him with the 7th overall pick in the draft. Duggan put up steady defensive stats during the showcase, and contributed on offence, and fit perfectly into their blueprint of top pairing defence-men. Next, the Whalers had back-to-back picks, 16 and 17. With 16, they took Sami Raanta, the speedy forward with a knack for scoring. He transitioned well onto the pro team, putting up 11 points in 50 games. Next, came possibly the steal of the draft. With the 17th overall pick, the Whalers selected Cullen Gray. The small forward had been overlooked by other teams due to his small size. However, Luke and Glyc knew that they would have to make some bold moves in order to expedite their rebuild. So they took a chance on Gray, and boy did it pay off. 4th in the league for points among left wings, first in rookie scoring (ahead of second place by 5 points). He also ate up a ton of minutes and only took 1 penalty. Not bad for a rookie. 27th overall the guys took Joe Ackryod. He was a steady defence-men on the back end, playing 3rd pairing minutes, before getting promoted to the 2nd pairing, where he was able to transition into a more offensive oriented role. Aaron Wilson was taken in the 4th round, and put up 16 points while playing over 18 minutes per game. Other rookies included Theo Morgan, Igor Volkov, Dale Miller and Aleister Crowley. All of these kids clocked valuable minutes, that will be very important for their growth, especially considering the Vancouver is looking at a cup run next year.

So while Luke and Glyc did a fantastic job drafting rookies, they also took a cold, calculated approach to make sure that their new batch of rookies would fit in with their established veteran players. When asked about how they evaluated the chemistry that certain players would have with each other, Luke was quoted as saying "It was all blind f****** luck" while Glyc said "Luke's a madman. Who the hell drafts like this." In the end, Luke told us he "just has to trust his gut" And in the end, his gut was right. When taking a closer look at the Whalers lineup, one can see the Lukes gut intuition was right. Gray was able to slot in on the first line with Borromini Cannellini and Petr Mikulak, to form one of the deadliest lines of the season. First round pick Duggan was a natural fit on the top pairing with the responsible Bernik Vrzala. Sami Raanta and Theo Morgan were 2 rookies that formed the second line, and Joe Ackryod was able to matriculate his way up the line up to the second pairing.

In the end, as this season comes to a close for the Whalers, Glyc and Luke have now had a chance to breathe and look back at their world wind year. Luke says that he is looking forward to starting everything up again in a couple weeks. Glyc on the other hand has decided that they both need to spend some time with their respective families, and recuperate from the long season. So while Luke continues with his hair loss treatments and Glyc attempts to kick is diet coke addiction, they both know it was all worth it to set their team up for the bright future ahead!

And if you've made it this far you've probably discovered that I'm a shameless kiss-ass who just wants brownie points with my GM's!

GO WHALERS Whalers

780 words (I think)

***luke*** · 03-29-2019, 11:24 AM

good article man

ArGarBarGar · 03-29-2019, 11:46 AM

S47 is our year, please

Alonzo Garbanzo Final Tallies (Among Defensemen):
2nd in Goals (208), All-Time Assists Leader (765)*, All-Time Points Leader (973), 3rd in Hits (2587), All-Time Blocked Shots Leader (1882)*
*All-Time Leader Among All Skaters
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