Hello! It’s me, hhh81, your friendly neighborhood SMJHL Awards Committee Head. I’m back again with another season’s worth of nominations for the Vyacheslav Onoprienko Trophy. This trophy recognizes the best of the league that few talk about; the unsung heroes. The most underrated players, as nominated by SMJHL GMs and voted on by the SMJHL Awards Committee. Last year, I started my series of highlighting all the nominees, as all these players deserve some of the spotlight (even if only one can win!) With the award show tomorrow, I thought it prudent to get this out to the public!

Anaheim: C Taylor Johansson @Tayjay 
At the outset, Johansson doesn’t jump off the page. His 9-29-38 stat line is pretty strong, and career highs for the third-year pro. He saw a lot of special teams time (mostly on the power play, where he put up 11 power play points on almost 3 minutes per night with the man advantage). His GMs nominated Johansson largely for his defensive play, which they believed “make him worth of a top two way forward award.” This is largely due to leading the league with 36 takeaways and compiling a solid 45 blocked shots. He was also in the upper half of shot suppression amongst Outlaws skaters. Congrats on a strong season, Taylor!

If Anaheim got even league average goaltending this season, I have no doubt Johansson’s numbers would be even more impressive. Unfortunately, they didn’t, as Strom Chamberlain had the league’s worst GSAA among starters while facing the fifth fewest shots against per game among that same group. The 1B option, Separa Borro, faced about 1.5 shots fewer per game (26.23 v. 27.76) and had a slightly better GSAA (-4.493 versus -6.096). Still, bad goaltending sunk the Outlaws.

Anchorage – F Santtu Rasanen @KenitohMenara 
The leading scorer for the Boat Gang, some might be surprised by this nomination. How can your “best” player be underrated? Well, according to the Anchorage GMs, outside of public view KenitohMenara works hard to help mentor and guide new users in the Armada locker room. The points are nice, but “he is far more valuable than the points on the ice” to his teammates and coaches. Great stuff!

Carolina – F Keith Lee @TheDangaZone 
Did you all know @TheDangaZone had a player name change this season? I didn’t until receiving this nomination! The artist formerly known as Velveteen Dream had an outstanding season. Like really, really good. No really, let @Fuzz and I tell you why.

Lee scored 41 points, good for fourth on the high flying Kraken. While linemates Jimmy Wagner and Vitek Vitecek garnered a great deal of praise league wide as offensive forces, Lee was the motor that helped his linemates thrive. Lee’s 97.9 PDO was ranked 14th on his team, while also being in the bottom 20% of the entire SMJHL this season. However, the rest of Lee’s advanced stats are rather impressive (possibly moreso in comparison to his low “puck luck” from PDO): second in the league (behind linemate Wagner) in SF/60 (39.5), third in the league in SA/60 (20.3), led the league with a blistering 65.0 CF% and 65.1 FF%. He also led amongst all players who played 50 games in CF% rel and FF% rel; the only advanced stat he was outside the top 10 league wide in was GA/60 (2.5), but his 4.0 GF/60 still balanced out to him producing a net 1.5 goals per game for the Kraken. He also was one of the top faceoff winners league wide. His nominator didn’t mince words—he believes Lee isn’t just the most underrated player in the league, he believes Lee should be in the discussion for league MVP for his performance in all facets of the game. His contributions this season are the kind that frequently go unrecognized—not a big enough offensive producer to factor into scoring races or MVP usually, missing some key defensive stats to stand out as an obvious nominee for best defensive forward. His GMs wanted to sing his praises as he heads off to the SHL in S55, and I believe they did him justice.

Colorado – LW Carlos Brown @CB2212 
The big-bodied Canadian forward put up a career season in S54, getting career highs in goals (16, tied for team lead), points (28, 3rd), plus/minus (+9, 1st), shots on goal (127, 3rd), minutes per game (18:08, 7th), and hits (109, 4th). He was a fixture on the second power play and penalty kill units, contributing 8 special teams points.
He did this all playing on Colorado’s second line, which was their primary shutdown line and the best shot suppression group in the league. The line of Brown, Jean-Uhtred Ragnarsson-Tremblay, and Chris Cerullo held down three of the top four lowest SA/60 rates in the league, while also all being in the top 25 lowest GA/60. Brown finished the year with 1.9 GA/60, 20.2 SA/60 (2nd), and CF% and FF% above 60% (60.7 CF%, 14th; 61.9 FF%, 12th). The line’s role was to provide some secondary scoring while shutting down the other team’s best players, and Brown did remarkably well in that role.

Detroit – Thor Odinson @feeler  
In his two seasons in the J, Thor Odinson has appeared in 34 games for the Detroit Falcons, compiling a 20-12-1 record with 5 shutouts. Most of those numbers came in his rock solid rookie season, while Detroit was the best team we’ve arguably ever seen in the J. This year, while Thor’s numbers took a step back from leading the league in GAA and second in SV%, he still had the sixth lowest GAA (2.52) and second highest SV% (.919). He had a GSAA of 4.679, bringing his career total GSAA to 10.549.

He’s done all this firmly stuck behind A Jobin for two seasons. As his nominator said, “while this may be a source of frustration for many players, especially a goaltender, Thor has embraced his role on the squad both on and off the ice.” He’s a vocal member of the Detroit locker room, and has embraced a role as great teammate and backup goaltender. Odinson “is always keeping things upbeat in the locker room and bringing his best off the ice even when his player is not in net on the ice. As a result, we've been able to run a light platoon system that allows us to manage the hardest parts of our schedule more easily and ensure that we're always getting quality goaltending.” With Jobin’s call up to the evil Hamilton Steelhawks, it’s finally time for the dawning of the Age of Odinson. SMJHL, look out.

Kelowna – C Ethan Duncan @mastersheep  
With all the hype to Newfoundland and the Four Star Cup finalists, it’s easy to forget Kelowna had a pretty good team this year with one of the more intimidating top lines around. It’s no wonder the Kelowna GMs wanted to recognize their diamond in the rough, Ethan Duncan. Duncan finished fourth on the team in scoring with 32 points while on the second unit. He played in all situations (similar to Brown before him), and was asked to play a more defensive role on the Knights. His nominator believes “he’s a big reason why our goals against average is as low as it is right now and for our league leading penalty kill.” Duncan’s SA/60 rate of 21.5 was good for 7th in the league and he had the 16th best CF% in the league (60.6%). I would be remiss if I didn’t mention mastersheep was a 5th round pick in the S52 SMJHL Draft, cementing him as a great value for the Knights organization.

Maine – Patrick Shepherd @Cobbenstein  
By most semi-objective viewpoints, Maine struggled this season. Despite the team’s difficulties, Patrick Shepherd’s season may provide some hope for the future of the Timber. He led the team in several advanced stats--CF% (43.9), FF% (45.0), GA/60 (1.9)—while also being one of only two players to have a positive +/- (his +10 led the team). Shepherd was tasked with mentoring a few rookie linemates much of the season, letting “his linemates do their job and he would take care of the defense.” Shepherd was second on the team with 31 takeaways (8th highest in the league) and led Timber forwards with 2:47 shorthanded minutes per game (trailed only Colorado’s Simothy Drunkebird for most PK time amongst forwards). Only Valentin Kalashnikov had a stronger TkA/GvA ratio than Shepherd’s 1.24 among Maine skaters. You could say his Maine job was defense, and when coaches asked him to play a role for the young team, he delivered. I expect a big breakout for Shepherd in S55.

Newfoundland – Guy LeGrande @Steve  
On a team as deep as Newfoundland (or Detroit last year), you’re bound to have a few players that go unnoticed. LeGrande fits the bill. He got a late start as an undrafted free agent in S53, but got to work right away and has been a max earner ever since. While on Newfoundland’s third line (playing the sixth fewest minutes on the team), he still put up 38 points in S54 (4th on the team) with minimal power play time. The majority of his special teams minutes came a man down, where he was a fixture on the PK (2:44 minutes per game). If his teammates took a dumb penalty, LeGrande was there to try to bail them out.

His GMs pointed out strong advanced stats (highest GF/60, second lowest SA/60, fifth highest CF% rel and FF% rel) on the team and his consistent graphics output. In short, his nominator felt LeGrande has “a very impressive resume from a player who hasn’t had close to the same opportunities as others who produced similarly.”

St. Louis – Brandt Underton @The_Drizzle  
A late addition through free agency, Underton spent most of the season out of position as a defenseman, before shifting back to forward late in the year. Considering that, his stat line is impressive for any rookie, but especially in his circumstances. 15 points, +6, 78 SOG, 41 hits, and a smattering of special teams play in his almost 16 minutes per game makes a solid year. His nominator cited Underton’s “great humor and optimism” as key parts of his season for the Crows.

Vancouver – Johnny Shuffleboard @mee  
It’s not often a rookie blueliner can step into a role in the top four and not miss a beat, but Shuffleboard did it. Playing an aggressive rushing game on the lower two defensive pairings, Shuffleboard finished second on the team with 21 points while playing a hair under 20 minutes per night (19:57). What set Shuffleboard apart for his GMs was his high levels of activity in the Vancouver locker room, which helped other players to stay active. If Vancouver is going to take a step forward and out of the lower echelons of the SMJHL, Shuffleboard will have to be a big piece. The main strength of the team’s core is their blueline, where Shuffleboard joins Slimey Snail, Lonnie O’Donoghue, and Ryosuke Sato as the strength of this franchise.

From this group, the SMJHL Awards Committee each submitted ballots of our top three. When the votes were tabulated @TheDangaZone, @feeler, and @Steve rose to the top as our finalists for the S54 Onoprienko Trophy.

That’s it! Who will take the crown? Tune in tomorrow as @Inf1d3l hosts the second annual SMJHL Awards Show livestream on Twitch!

Tune in next season where two new combatants join the battle. Who will @Evok  and @Jearim   add to our little annual tradition? I can't wait to find out!

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