Login

Muerto · 05-25-2021, 05:55 PM

Not Great, Not Terrible - A Career Retrospective

Goku Muerto broke onto the scene in S42, declaring for the SMJHL Draft. He had the benefit of a known name in the SHL, and repped by an agency that had just seen the retirement of a Hall of Fame player. The S43 Draft saw a big influx of players but even in that sea of awesomeness, Goku stood out enough to get selected 5th OV in the SMJHL Draft, to the St. Louis Scarecrows, and then 5th OV again in the SHL Draft to San Francisco.

After 2 seasons in the SMJHL where the Crows were able to advance to the finals, Goku made the jump to a very young and rebuilding Pride team. Probably coincidentally, the season after Goku left to the SHL, the Crows won the next 2 4 Star Cups. The Pride had 3 picks in the top 5 of that draft and were expecting these 3 to be the foundation of the future. But Luke (3rd OV) left to go to MAN and King (1st OV) burned out early. Despite that, SFP still saw great improvements as players drafted later, like Reaper, Brogen, and Moyer all stepped up to show they were just as good, and SFP started to rise and even made the playoffs! However, Goku was the next to fall, as after 5 seasons with SFP, he announced he would be testing FA to get a big paycheck, and SFP didn't have the funds to do that and still keep working to grow their roster. So at the trade deadline of S49, Goku was shipped off to the Winnipeg Jets to finish the season.

Goku's venture into Free Agency was a profitable one as he was able to secure a 2 season, $20 million contract with the Manhattan Rage. Hopes were high but sadly the Rage were unable to advance far in the playoffs in those 2 seasons - when those 2 seasons were up, Goku found himself shipped back to the Winnipeg Jets for picks, and probably coincidentally, the Rage won the Challenge Cup the next season.

Goku has remained on the Winnipeg team since then, posting his best career numbers over those 8 seasons. Winnipeg has undergone a great number of changes in his time there, not least of which was the rebrand to the Aurora, but in all of that Goku had consistently been a decent producer, hitting PPG levels a few times, and his career highlight was scoring the GWG in Game 7 of the Jets playoff series against the Edmonton Blizzard during the great playoff run of Season 57. However, regression has finally become too much to fight and Goku struggled mightily last season, which did not help the playoff hopes for the Aurora. With Winnipeg fully embracing a new youth movement over the last few seasons, it is clear that Muerto's time is drawing to a close, and he recently tweeted that Season 60 would be his last in the SHL. Whether that will be with Winnipeg or whether he will pull a Ray Bourque and ask for a trade to a contender is uncertain, but clearly the time to pass the torch to the next generation is upon him.

He was never an all-star, never won a Cup, won't be considered for Hall of Fame. But he was pretty good in his prime and will retire with over 650 career points in his 17 seasons.

Who will be the next player represented by the Kez Agency? All eyes will be on the SMJHL next season!

(~600 words)