Double Media - Week 1





For the 10 year anniversary of the SHL I have been spending some time taking a look at the history of the site. I did a list of the SHL first overall draft picks and was looking at games played to see who had the longevity to stick with it for the long haul. One name stood out to me, Armin Brovalchuk. I knew nothing about him and thought it would be fun to do some reading up on him. He was 2nd place in most games played by a 1st overall pick. He was selected back in S9 by the Winnipeg Jets GM Leafs4ever. The first thing that stands out to you when you check out his Bojo Box Page is that he played on 13 different teams and when he left the league there was 14 teams total. Thanks to @Tomen who let me know that the only team he missed out on playing with with the Calgary Dragons in his long career. To quote Austin Powers he was the village bicycle! Everybody's had a ride. Here is a list of the teams he was with and when:




@Abdeezy Armin Brovalchuk created his player in S8 on April 25, 2012 and signed a FA deal with Montreal. He was not new to the league and was a past manager of the Montreal Impact in the old NWJHL (SMJHL). He spent S7 in the NWJHL on a player named "Thegreat Deezy" where he won a Four Star Cup. He was more well known at the time for his player Michael Abdalla who was another SHL 1st overall pick back in S4. Abdalla played S4 and S5 with the Vancouver Ice Wolves and S6 and S7 with the Toronto North Stars. He won the S7 Jay McDonald Trophy. Abdalla retired due to a banking scandal/punishment. It seems while he was the GM of the Impact he paid some rookies more than he was supposed to and broke a rule. (there is way more details here but this post is not about past drama that I know nothing about) He ended up getting fired and punished including a temp forum ban and sim suspension. He retired Abdalla which eventually lead to Armin Brovalchuk and his long career.


Armin Brovalchuk was an accident. He was born in Russia to a French Canadian Mother named Marie-Eve Nadeau and a Russian Father named Sander Brotsyuk. They didn't want a kid but loved him anyways. Armin played center and only played 1 season in the NWJHL for the Impact. Brovalchuk stood out right away as different and in his first game on North American ice he had his first point with a beauty assist to Reese King in the 3rd period against the Los Angeles Archangels. He also had 5 shots and got in his first fight as he scrapped with Eric Cole. It took Brovalchuk until his 5th game to score his first goal but he also managed 5 assists across those games. He would go on to lead the team in points with 15 goals and 21 assists. He was 12th overall in the league scoring race.



Leading up to the draft there was a lot of hype that Brovalchuk would go 1st overall to the Winnipeg Jets. @Abdeezy seems to be one of the greatest users to ever join the SHL and people knew it back then. If you check out some of the media he has written it's legendary. I don't know him at all but after looking into him a bit here I hope he comes back one day. Heading into the draft Armin made a list of his top draft destinations and had this to say:

"Armin Brovalchuk is ready to announce where he would like to play the rest of his career once being drafted into the SHL." - Funny looking back now.

Brovalchuk made it clear that he wanted to end up on a team that needed center depth and did not want to play wing. He went on to list the Calgary Dragons as his number 1 preferred team to get drafted by...Also pretty funny looking back now.

Good news for him is he did rank the Jets up at number 3 and he said he was good friends with their legendary number 1 C...Ron Mexico. He liked the team a lot but with Ron there it would be hard for him to get to be the first line center he dreamed of being. The Jets traded to get both the number 1 and number 2 pick this year and they ended up taking:

1. Winnipeg Jets - C Armin Brovalchuk -                              945 GP, 309G, 451A, 760 Points, +89,  485 Hits, 2345 Shots - HOF
2. Winnipeg Jets (via Manhattan Rage) - D Willie Weber - 1015 GP, 188G, 450A, 638 Points, +35, 3169 Hits, 1572 Shots - HOF

So GM Leafs4ever really killed it with these two picks. pretty amazing for Armin and Willie to be drafted back to back. Both players stayed in Winnipeg until S15.


Brovalchuk started strong in his rookie year with the Jets. He was playing number 2 center and finished with 5 goals, 30 assists in 35 games. A really solid playmaker he was nominated for the Jesster award for rookie of the year but didn't win it. The Jets went from 21-20-9 in S8 to 32-14-4 in S9, a huge turn around with their two stud rookies. He stayed with the Jets for 6 full seasons before heading to Toronto. He did have his best statistical season in Winnipeg. With 25 goals and 44 assists in S11 he finished the year with 69 points. He 2nd highest total was 49 in S22 the year he won the cup. Originally it seemed he did want to stay in one place long but then got it in his head to try and tour the league - play for every team. He bounced around like crazy and on his 9th team in S22 he finally won the Challenge Cup. He started the year with the Hamilton Steelhawks and after 35 games they still had a chance to make the playoffs. It wasn't a great chance and the Rage were trying to win it all and wanted Brovalchuk's services. Armin was traded and finished the season with the Rage and went on to the playoffs where he won his first and only cup. The Rage had to battle the LA Panthers all the way until a game 7 but they came out on top.



In the offseason before S27 many thought Brovalchuk would complete the tour and sign with the final team he needed - the Calgary Dragons. Unfortunately he wasn't the player he used to be and at around 600 TPE the Dragons had no spot for him on the roster. They told him no there was no room for him and he understood and signed a final season contract with the Toronto North Stars. When he retired Armin Brovalchuk was top 5 in SHL Scoring History. Only David Winter, Joe McKeil, Taylor McDavid and Chris McZerhl had scored more points in a career. Now he is down to 16th overall after many years but still a great accomplishment. Brovalchuk did state that he figured his tour around the league with hurt his legacy in the long run. He knew that franchise players that stick around tend to leave more of a mark. The user Abdeezy would go on to create another HOF legend after this with goalie Michael McFadden.

I had fun digging through the site to find some information about this ancient legend. It's cool when you start going through old media posts from way back how many interesting things you find. So thanks to the SHL for being around so long and for giving us this bonus cash to look into the history.

Double Media - Week 1