Well I figured for my first deep dive why not look into the team that drafted me into the SMJHL. Now just past the halfway point in the season the Whalers sit at 10-19-2 with 22 points. Well behind the top 4 in the West. Looking over the roster it is clear that the main issue is simply that we have a very young team with few players at the cap. We only have three forwards and two defensemen and a goalie that have hit the cap. I don't know exactly how teams are normally setup, but I would assume four lines of forwards and three lines of defensemen. Basically we have one line total at the cap and the rest of the lines are far from it. 

This seems like a good time to break down each position group and what we can expect from them in the future. I broke it down like this. Wings, Centers, Defensemen, and Goalies. I figured there was no point in differentiating left and right wings or defensemen as from what I've been told it is interchangeable.

Wings:
William Hartmann - 776 TPE - S53
Luffy Richard - 349 TPE - S54
Bryce McMahon - 447 TPE - S54
Devin Basher - 435 TPE - S55
Jason Desrouleaux - 394 TPE - S55
KnockedOut ByOvechkin - 244 TPE - S56
Valtterri Kauppinen - 233 TPE - S56
Marklessio Hopscotch - 155 TPE - S56

Of the 8 wings on the roster 5 of them are S55 or younger. Hartmann is the lone S53 player on the roster and with 776 TPE I don't imagine he will be with us much longer, but that's ok as we have a solid group of young players that will continue to gain TPE and get better. This is probably the strongest position group on the roster right now with quite a few players at or near the cap. This team could have almost all capped wings in a couple season if everyone that's on the roster now is still there. 

Centers:
Wile Coyote - 295 TPE - S55
Daniil Nikiforov - 411 TPE - S55
Rikki Petrov - 243 TPE - S56
Dee Centerman IV - 241 TPE - S56

This is a very young group with only players from S55 and S56. If this group continues to gain TPE they will all be maxed out in a couple season and be ready to lead the charge to a hopeful championship. I just want to applaud the drafting of these four players as this is a great core to build a team around. 

Defense:
Slimey Snail - 463 TPE - S54
Ryosuke Sato - 624 TPE - S54
Johnny Shuffleboard - 297 TPE - S55
Lonnie O'Donoghue - 354 TPE - S55
Sarah Burke - 245 TPE - S56
Zebulon Leavitt - 224 TPE - S56

Again a very young group for the Whalers. Two players from each of the last three draft classes makes up this young defense. I hate to sound like a broken record, but if these players continue to earn and hit the cap when they should this team will be fully loaded by season 58. It seems that the drafting strategy here has been to make sure and grab two defensive players in each draft. It seems to have worked so far. 

Goalie:
Name Redacted - 589 TPE - S54
Sergei Potvinov - 290 TPE - S52

This is definitely the most lacking of the position groups for the Whalers. While having a capped out goalie in Redacted is great another goalie that is at or near the cap to share time with Redacted would be ideal. Potvinov is just a stop gap and hopefully the Whalers can get another goalie in the next draft as Redacted won't be on the team forever. 

After looking at the roster breakdown by position group it is clear why this team struggles. This is probably one of if not the youngest team in the league and that's why we struggle, but we are built to continue to get better and our leadership has done a great job to set us up for success in the future. As long as we are patient and willing to keep doing everything we can to earn more TPE we will be a great team soon. While that means we aren't competitive this year I do think this team is built to compete very soon as I mentioned multiple times above. In the next season or two this team will be loaded at all spots and be a force in the SMJHL. As long as everyone stays active and continues to gain TPE I wouldn't be surprised to see the Vancouver Whalers hoisting the championship trophy for the SMJHL in two seasons.

Approved! +5 TPE @ddrector