I have to write an article about kit so here it is

<div align="center">MULLER A DIVERSE WEAPON ON EDMONTON BLUE-LINE</div>

The off-season between seasons 22 and 23 of the Simulation Hockey League was an interesting one for fans in both Edmonton and Hamilton, to say the least. Two of the most historic franchises in the history of the league came together to complete a landmark trade that would see both sides swap a couple of cornerstone players and fan favourites.

For the Edmonton Blizzard, the deal meant the departure of beloved Riko Muerto, who had become a leader on the team and someone many thought would become one of the greatest Blizzard of all time. Instead, he would be replaced that off-season by Friedrich Muller, a young defender who had only entered the league in Season 20, but one who was quickly becoming one of the dominant blue-liners in the SHL. A native of Hamburg, Germany – not far from GM Cole Reinhart's hometown of Kiel – it is unsurprising that the management behind the Blizzard had such interest in a kid they had likely followed for so long.

Muerto's contributions to the Hamilton Steelhawks were significant, no doubt, and are certainly worth observing and writing about at length. That, however, is not the purpose of this article. Instead, we look in depth at the Edmonton side of things and consider what Muller has brought to the City of Champions.

Since being drafted 4th overall in the Season 20 SHL Entry Draft, Muller has made a name for himself as one of the premier players in the entire league. Known for his ability to create offense from the point, Muller is a dynamic weapon in the Blizzard arsenal, and one that they know they can use in any situation. Critics of offensively-oriented defencemen like to quip that they are "fourth forwards," and while Muller can certainly look like one when he joins the rush, we must be careful to not overlook his defensive contributions as well.

Perhaps his best attribute is the cannon-like shot that he can unload from anywhere on the ice with deceptive speed. For SHL goaltenders and shot-blockers alike, Muller winding up is as scary a sight as there is to be seen.

With his ability to wire pucks toward the net, Muller opens up a lot of options for the Blizzard offense. It forces opposing players to respect the shot and try to close in on him, leaving openings at other areas of the ice. If they fail to do so, it often opens him up to unload a howitzer. Something that sets Muller apart from other strong-shooting defenceman is his tendency to "shorten the zone", placing himself around the top of the face-off circles, which gives opposing netminders considerably less time to react to the shot – which they probably wouldn't have seen even if he were as far back as the blue-line.

This tendency makes him an offensive force for the Blizzard, who have sometimes been questioned for a lack of high-end scoring despite the talent filling their lineup. Muller has had two seasons of double-digit goals in Edmonton, and while Season 26 saw him only register 5, he offset that with a high number of assists – many of which came from pucks being deflected after being rocketed off of his stick.

His shot is just one aspect of his offense, which has amounted an impressive production of 124 points in 204 games in Edmonton, which translates to roughly 0.61 points per game – a great rate, and one that we only expect to go up as the Blizzard hit their stride and Muller enters the height of his career over the next couple of seasons.

Another area in which Muller is dominant is in his skating and foot-work. Muller is by no means a small player, towering over his smaller competition at 6'3" and weighing a solid 220 pounds. The fact that he can move as quickly as he can is, frankly, terrifying for opponents – opponents who often reconsider rushing down his side of the ice, lest he catch them with his speed and rock them with a thunderous hit (of which he recorded 112 in Season 26 alone).

Muller's quick movement helps him on both ends of the ice, though he makes the best use of it in the offensive zone. Muller is unafraid to join in on the rush, and often switches spots with a forward along the boards in deep. As noted earlier, though, his central tendency is to shorten the zone, which he is able to do very quickly and before defenders can react because of his top-end acceleration. For the German, however, it's not just about speed. He takes pride in his crafty footwork, which allows him to escape tight situations that would otherwise result in a turnover and a chance going the other way.

We have, of course, spent a considerable amount of time discussing the primarily offensive side of Muller's play, which is certainly what he is most known for but does him a disservice in that it somewhat writes off his outstanding efforts in his team's third of the 200 feet.

Muller is as strong a defensive player as any in the league, though perhaps not in the traditional sense. The dynamic defender is not the stereotypical defensive defenseman – the lumbering giant who can barely keep up and just clogs up the lane. That is not what Muller brings to the game, and if that's what you're looking for in a defensive defenseman, then you will need to look elsewhere.

Instead, Muller makes use of the strengths in his game to prevent opposing forwards from ever having a chance to set up a shot attempt, quickly stripping them of the puck and driving possession down to the other end of the rink.

He accomplishes this through superior positioning – always being in the right spot on the ice – as well as through a ridiculously active stick that sees him harass opponents ruthlessly. After acquiring the puck, Muller is able to drive it back up the ice with outstanding efficiency, never spending very much time in his own zone and often carrying the puck out of it all by himself, creating an offensive opportunity for the Blizzard on the counter-attack. This has contributed to Muller posting some terrific possession metrics, making him a darling in the advanced stats community. A Corsi-for Percentage of 55.23%*, the highest on the team, shows that the Blizzard are able to control the flow of the game when Muller is out on the ice, and that he is a central reason for that, driving possession with ease.

No matter which attribute of Muller's you consider to be his best, it is undeniable that he has become a well-rounded player that could go up against anyone in the league in any aspect of his game. A truly diverse player, Muller is a game-changer for the Blizzard and represents the type of player that is not easily found in the sport.

While the Blizzard defence core is incredibly strong, made up of elite players like Chuck Goody and Jackson Rogers-Tanaka, along with young up-and-comers like Clayton Goode and Richard D'Amour who could join that upper echelon of players, Muller is undoubtedly an integral piece to the puzzle. True, any defence that works together as well as the Blizzard's hopes to needs to be greater than the sum of it's parts – but with parts like Muller involved, that sum would be daunting on it's own.



*stat made up

Only of he were alive.

Great article.

Originally posted by JPL@Jan 3 2016, 09:21 PM
Only of he were alive.

Ikr

Affiliate of: