Over the offseason the Thunder Bay Walleye faced an amount of changes that could overwhelm even seasoned players: a relocation to a new city, new fans, player call ups, and a crop of new rookies. While hopes are high for the new season, the goal for the team is development of new talent and building a new identity.

Goalie Grant Berd is a key part of this team’s success over the season. Berd is coming off of a solid rookie season, with 2.5 GAA and 31 wins, but struggled slightly in the preseason, allowing 22 goals over seven games.

Crazy Tomato II led the defensive effort in the preseason, but the team will need more to step up as not one player finished with a positive plus/minus. Tomato will be seen as a vet presence on D this year.

On the opposite side of the rink, Thunder Bay rely on younger scoring talent, like Puddles O’Duckling, who lead the team in scoring over the preseason, showing their skills in both scoring and distributing the puck.