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karlssens · 12-16-2019, 04:40 PM

It's been quite some time since I whipped up one of these articles, but with the office about to enter full holiday mode I find myself with a lot of free time as of late and figure I'd earn some SHL scratch. As I've done in the past I look at five things such as team performance, individual performance or even specific games that really jump out to me as excellent and put them in the Up category. Then I'll look at five things that aren't so great or perhaps down right terrible and put them in the Down category.

1. The New Orleans Specters
With a record of 26-6-2 and 54 points the Specters are tearing up the entire league in S51. If they can maintain putting up dubs at this torrid rate they're on pace to finish the season in the neighborhood of 79 points, which would be the most since the Edmonton Blizzard finished with 85 back in S45. Fun fact, several of the S51 Specters were on that team including Joe Kurczewski, DeMaricus Smyth, Piotr Czerkawski, Aleister Cain and the recently retired Oisin Fletcher so they're no strangers to this territory. They also lead the league in goals for, power play production, fewest shots against, second fewest goals against and second most shots on goal. This New Orleans based squad is on a mission in S51, look out.

2. Star Power
As of the most recent sim, the veteran and sandwich artisan Tommy Salami continues to prove just how clutch he is. In a win against the Texas Renegades he earned his fifth 1st star honor of the season. He is one of just three skaters to have been named 1st star five times along with Daniel Smeb of the Chicago Syndicate and Lil Manius of the previously mentioned New Orleans Specters. What separates Tony from the rest of the group is he has also received 2nd star honors three times and 3rd star honors twice. He is one of the big reasons the Edmonton Blizzard find themselves sitting comfortably in second place in the western conference.

3. Line Dominance
The top 5 forwards in terms of production thus far are currently from three teams. Nicholas Williams and DeMaricus Smyth sit at 1 and 4 respectively and both play for the New Orleans Specters. In fact if you bump this to the top 6 forwards their 3rd and final linemate Piotr Czerkawski joins them at 6. Next there is Ola Wagstrom and Anders Christiansen at 2 and 5 respectively and they both play for the New England Wolfpack. Their current linemate Boris Poroshenko is in for an uptick in production if he can stay with the lethal duo moving forward. Last, but certainly not least, is the outlier, Mikhail Lokitonov of the Toronto North Stars. The reigning MVP he's surprising no one with yet another dominant performance. Unfortunately his linemates aren't quite as productive this time around, but there's still some season left to go.

4. Blue Line Production
There are currently four defenseman on pace to achieve at least 50 points season and several more just outside a point per game pace that could slip in. Tor Tuck of the Edmonton Blizzard is currently amidst a small resurgence and is on pace to post career highs in production as he sits with 39 points in just 34 games. Texas Renegades Harvey Danger isn't far behind either with 36 points in just as many games. A well known top 4 defender for some time this has been a tremendous breakout season for the veteran blue liner. Tig Murphy of the Hamilton Steelhawks and Corey Kennedy of the Chicago Syndicate round out the group with 34 and 33 points respectively. Murphy put the league on notice last season with a dominant 50 point performance, meanwhile this would be a huge coming out party for the young Kennedy who already eclipsed his career high of 29 points he posted last season.

5. Rookie Rewind
After a whirlwind season that saw Mika Kandinsky put up an insane 62 points in his rookie season (honorable mention to Austin Roenick putting up 43 points as well) we were left to wonder the next time we'd see a rookie put up similar numbers. Well it didn't take long as Hamilton Steelhawk's Hugh Jazz is flirting with point per game totals in S51 with 31 points in his first 33 contests. I think it's safe to say he won't come close to touching the record setting 62 points Kandinsky put up in S50, but anytime a fresh faced player can make the jump to the SHL and have such an incredible impact on their team in just their first season is incredible.

1. The New England Wolfpack
After a dominant performance in S49 that saw the Wolfpack lead the east with 70 points and earn a trip all the way to the Challenge Cup finals, they stumbled in S50 and failed to crack playoffs. While many predicted them to bounce back in S51 amidst a competitive eastern conference they've struggled significantly through 34 games posting an eastern conference worst 14-16-4 record for 32 points. The bright spot? They are just 4 points back of the final playoff spot. The even brighter spot? They're also 4 points back of 3rd in the east. The east is still wide open and a hot streak in these final 16 games will the difference maker if S50 was the start of a trend in New England or a minor speed bump. They have two very successful pieces in Wagstrom and Christiansen as previously mentioned, but it's a significant drop off after that as the next highest scorer has just 24 points, 14 less than Christiansen and 16 less than Wagstrom. The depth is there, the Wolfpack just need to find a way to resuscitate it.

2. The San Francisco Pride
Similar to the previously mentioned Wolfpack, the San Francisco Pride were extremely dominant and have struggled so far in S51. The reigning President Trophy winner from S50, they currently sit second last in the west with a lowly record of 12-19-3 for 27 points. Again much like the Wolfpack their season is far from over as they sit just 3 points back of the final playoff spot currently held by the Minnesota Chiefs. While the west may not be as wide open as the east, there is still plenty of play in the standings outside of the Specters and Blizzard (and arguably the Dragons). One area they seem to really struggle is the discrepancy in +/- among their forwards. While only 1 forward has a rating of even or higher, Reaper and Knurtsson lead the bunch with a dismal -20 and -21 respectively.

3. Trending Down
Having been sitting comfortably in a playoff spot for some time, the Los Angeles Panthers have struggled mightily as of late with a record of 3-7 over their last 10. To add insult to injury they've been outscored by a margin of 39-29, the widest margin over that time frame. Currently holding the top wild card seed in the west they still have plenty of time to rite the ship and hold off the teams below them, but they'll need to act quickly. With 16 games remaining they've seen their lead reduced to just 3 points over the 6th place Winnipeg Jets and as I already highlighted earlier there is a strong playoff contender in San Francisco looking to jump back in the top 5.

4. Feeling Blue
After a dominant season that saw the Tampa Bay Barracuda netminder go 27-11-5 and secure the McBride award for top goaltender in S50, Benjamin Blue has been downright average in S51. After 33 games he has a record of 17-14-2, an ugly 3.09 goal against average and an even worse 0.899 save percentage. It's a significant step back from where he was this time last season, but fortunately it hasn't cost his team too much as they still are very much in the race for a post-season appearance sitting in 4th in the east currently. He still has some time to retool his game and hopefully recapture the magic he had in S50, but it will be tough as there are only 17 games remaining and the backup has yet to make a start. They'll need him to bounce back if they have any hope of returning the the finals again in S51.

5. Lucky Duck
With a record of 19-14-1 the West Kendall Platoon find themselves in 2nd place in the east and 3 points ahead of the 5th place Buffalo Stampede. Despite having what is currently the second best record in the east, their underlying numbers are ugly and I'd be curious to see if they can continue on this luck spree for the final 16 games of the season. Scoring 83 goals, they have the lowest combined goal total in the league, and while they are strong defensively (100 goal against is the 4th lowest in the league and 2nd lowest in the east) it's not enough to make up for their league worst -17 goal differential. If they don't start scoring more goals here soon I wouldn't be surprised to see them on the outside looking in come game 50.

Thanks for reading and happy holidays!

***DrunkenTeddy*** · 12-16-2019, 05:37 PM

Good read, I like the format Smile

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*slothfacekilla* · 12-16-2019, 06:31 PM

Enjoyed the read, like Teddy said this is a fun format :D

DeletedAtUserRequest · 12-17-2019, 03:19 PM

im glad there back!

+1

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***bluesfan55*** · 12-18-2019, 07:33 AM

happy holidays karl

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