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***eddiesnothere*** · 01-24-2024, 06:36 AM

Some artificial camera flashes go off before he enters the room, the podium the only part of the room that stands out for now. Out of sight, Izem Abioye, Associate General Manager of the Minnesota Monarchs, straightens his tie and readies for the lights.

He enters the press room and there is an explosion of quiet chatter and flashing, He strains his eyes against the lights for a moment before he finds his visual composure, leans into the podium, and sets his cane aside. There's a water bottle strategically placed already, and he'll need it.

--

"Thank you all for coming here, I appreciate your willingness to hold off on a press conference until some business was carried out, I have a statement to make before we begin with questions."

"I'd like to thank Alexi for his service to this team, and the community of Minneapolis and the state. We were grateful to have him in the years that we did and we wish him well in Los Angeles."

"I want everyone in this room to understand that although this deal hurts us, it does not change our direction. We remain heading up and we remain heading forward. This isn't a setback and it's not an indictment of this franchise's ability to retain talent. We remain committed to putting a great team on the ice, building our way to a champion and a dominant team in this league. We're going to explore every avenue available to this team to get better sooner, to create a winning atmosphere for the kids coming up through our program. We're excited for what the future is going to bring, and I think everyone else in this room will be excited to."

"I'm not afraid of some things, I'm not afraid of admitting that since the 40's this team has not been a winning franchise. We have not been a good representative for the state of Minnesota, and our staff knows that, and they f##### hate that, and they're committed to changing that. The players are hungry and so are we, many of us were former players, we know what this is like, and we want to change it."

"I'm excited to be in this position and I'm confident. And I'd like to get to winning."

"Any questions?"

--

Quote:what do you think you bring to the table that mutedfaith doesnt have -Luke

"Cal is an incredible GM and a great mentor for me, I've been lucky enough to learn from his example in the scouting office as of late, and he's been open in his willingness to give the reins to me when I feel confident in a decision. As for what I think I do better, I have a more worldly view on life and what that means is I can relate to our players that may have different backgrounds, are specialists in their given role. I want to make sure that the team is constructed in a way that doesn't isolate anyone. We've been blessed with a diverse roster, and I think moving forward that will be what I'll be interested in continuing."

(My background isn't in this league, to put it plainly. I've only been an active participant in the forum or the sim for around 2 years, my first time was about 8 months, and then a two-and-a-half year break in between. In that time, I engaged in FHM and sim leagues and got very technical about how a roster should be constructed, what it looks like when a team is well rounded, and how to discern the noise in simulation to create real solutions to the problems we have. As Jack Ryan would put it, I'm just an analyst, but I'm also excited to dive into the responsibilities that come with the terrain.)

Quote:Do you expect Minnesota to ever make it out of the 1st round? -Luke

"Absolutely. We're a good team, and we're only going to get better. You look at some of the teams that made it to the second round this year, that could be us."

(We've been the victims (and I hate to say this because it reeks of excuses) of a really tight division, with us being cursed to play teams that are miles better than us in our own conference. With Winnipeg starting to show age, Chicago looking to rebuild, and New Orleans in the same spot some people think we are, I think we're in a place where the 2nd round should be foreign soil.)

Quote:Who do you blame for the last 30+ seasons of bad luck -luke

"I'm not here to play the blame game, but when you have competing visions of what a winning team looks like in management, you get years of failure, and that's ended for this franchise a while ago."

(When new GMs enter the picture, they often look to rebuild or retool a roster to fit their personal idea of what a successful team looks like. When you go 30 years, through GMs that have applied their ideas, had those ideas run into reality, having them leave, and then new people coming in with new ideas, the team and the roster get caught in this horrible spin cycle. Thankfully, spooked (@spooked shoutout) has left us in good hands with a great building foundation, and Muted and I would be stupid to not continue that vision towards a successful team.)

Quote:When cup? -luke

"Give us ten seasons, let the results speak for us."

(Ditto.)

Quote:What strategies/tactics are you going to do differently to turn the team around? -Australiankek

"I leave a lot of that to Muted, but we will be looking at a few changes in the way the team is structured, we want to be more reliable in all situations, I want this team to be good defensively, so those are the things we'll be looking at."

(As a numbers guy at heart, I'm looking at all the ways the team can be constructed, but also how the tactics can be constructed around the team, and finding a metagame, but you can only game the system so much before you lose the humanity of it, so above all else, my biggest priority is making sure players understand what makes them more effective in the simulation. If I can leave my tenure with a good crop of players having learned more because of me, I'll be very happy.)

Quote:What are your expectations for the next 5 seasons? -Australiankek

"Upward trend, moving forward. Wins."

(Slowly building a roster that can fit the great players we've picked up in past drafts, we're looking at a team that can really grow into something special, and that's what excites me the most, that it's all homegrown, all natural talent, we haven't brought many major acquisitions in to create what we have right now. Will we be more active moving forward? Absolutely.)

Quote:Which player are you building around? (If there is none, who do you expect the most from) -Australiankek

"We've got a great team, is what I'll say. No individual is gonna make this happen for us, but we've got, collectively, some incredible players, Kove we expect big things from, Floursh is stepping up in a big way in our lineup this year, and up front with Knight and Pane, and Newman in net, it's really looking good for us, and again, we have young guys making their way into the roster, it's all about getting better as we go along, and we're gonna be in a great place soon."

(It's less about the players and more about the makeup of sculpting the team around the five guys that are undoubtedly the focal point of our team, getting great middle-bottom six contributors like Hoang and Kim and Zeigler, and on defense with Laroux and Maximova, it's all about pieces slotting in to make us a strong team, and that's not even mentioning the kids. Everyone's important, really.)

Quote:What is your prediction for the future of the Monarchs? -Australiankek

"A great team, one this city can be proud of again. We want to win and we will win."

(I've stated this previously, but the reason the team hasn't succeeded is no team has really been able to get off the ground. I firmly believe where the team is now and where spooked put us is going to end up benefiting this team in the long run. We'll be a great team, and along the way, the best result we can hope for is to erase a team from the annals of the "losing franchise" list forever.)

Quote:And lastly, what phase do you think the team in at the moment? -Australiankek

"The phase where we start winning."

(The old (relatively speaking) and the new, growing into their roles, starting to come into their own, and we'll finally have a great team again. I can't promise immediate success, but progress, definitely.)

--

Silence hits the room again, with the exception of the cameras.

"Gentlemen, thank you."

And with that, Izem leaves the press room.

--

(Thank you so much, and look out in April when my 5-year presser comes)

(This article is ready for grading.)

(Word Count: 1619)

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