Pre-season Analysis of the Anaheim Outlaws Defence Squad:

The Anaheim Outlaws are faced with an almost entire rookie rebuild with their defence squad for season 58.  The veterans have moved on and the young guns are being thrust into the limelight with huge expectations.  While a certain amount of experience is lacking for the young team, the new players are making up for it with enthusiasm.  Three of the four top defence lines are rookies and are gung-ho about increasing the number of dubs in Anaheim as the season starts.

The top pairing is Sekai Wollker and AJ Tirrell.  Sekai is showing some signs of being quite the physical player, racking up seventeen penalty minutes so far.  Lots of hits, lots of physical play as Wollker surprisingly tries to fill the role of the team’s enforcer.  While unable to actually tally any points, Sekai impressed the coaches with thirteen shots on goal in his first foray into the world of junior hockey.  One of these days those shots are going to start going in and Anaheim will rejoice.  Until that day, Sekai just needs to build some chemistry with his line-mate AJ Tirrell and keep getting better.

AJ Tirrell has been a presence in his first games in juniors as well.  Jumping right into the lineup and making an offensive presence known with two assists in the seven games played so far attracting the attention of his new coaches.  He’s showing to be a well-rounded player, throwing some hits, blocking some shots and also gaining chemistry with line-mate Wollker.  These two are only going to get better and better as the season goes on.  The hope of Anaheim becoming competitive will rely on this defensive pair to step up to new levels.

The second line consists of Arturs Tumovs, The Latvian Flash, and Brantford Baines who is a quiet member of the Outlaws.  Arturs is only one of a few defensemen to score a goal so far and is attempting for more with a very decent ten shots on goal in the preseason. He’s also throwing some weight around getting hits and blocking shots.  Arturs will be a significant part of the defence core moving forward.  Brantford Baines has added a goal and an assist and despite the -five rating, keeps trucking along blocking as many shots as he can. 

The third line for Anaheim shows the painful part of a rebuild.  Julian Cunnnigham and Anna Maier have slowed down in their training and likely won’t improve drastically anytime soon.  Anaheim just needs them to show up and not get scored on, which admittedly has been difficult in the preseason.  Anna Maier did contribute a goal but production does not equal consumption at this point. The experienced ranks of the opposition have taken advantage of these two and plugged away at their inexperience. 

The top two lines will need to amp up hard to improve to allow Anaheim to become a cup contender.  It might not happen this season... but success for the Anaheim Outlaw’s future is looking inevitable with the strong rookie core that has been added this season.  The rookies all seem to be hard-working team players and though the dawn of The Outlaws was foggy, the dusk will be clear.  The road is lit and the journey will be fun.

Approved! +5 TPE @Gaia Mormont