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Newfoundland Berserkers
Obligatory - We know nothing about Hockey and Roster Building in the SMJHL.

We wanted to do some team reviews - looking at the roster and attempting to predict their draft needs.

To start with looking at the potential draft needs of the Newfoundland Berserkers, we are going to begin by looking at their current roster. If it looked as though a player is IA based on their forum activity, We’ve tried to indicate that, along with their TPE. We have also tried to estimate the likelihood of call ups based on a mixture of activity, creation season, and TPE earned.

Current Roster features:
2 Goalies (0 IA)
3 Centers (1 IA)
10 Wingers (1 IA)
6 Defenders (1 IA)

Goalies:

Player Name: Evgeni Petrov
Position: Goalie
Season Created: 59
TPE: 452
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None
Important Stats:
12 wins, 6 losses
403  saves
47 goals against
2.28 goals against average
3 shutouts
0.896 save percentage
61 grade

Discuss: Evgeni Petrov starts the goalie room off right for Newfoundland. He is a pretty steady earner who is young and is going to fill a role on this team for a while. He should hit the juniors cap this season and it will be the perfect time for this team for him to come into form. Their current starter will be aging out after just one more season and it’ll be Petrov’s time to shine. So far he has been fairly decent for a younger player and as he gets more chances in the net, he should overcome his predecessor with relative ease.

Player Name: Hugo Gronroos
Position: Goalie
Season Created: 57
TPE: 575
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Low?
Important Stats:
29 wins, 12 losses
982 saves
101 goals against
2.2 goals against average
5 shutouts
0.907 save percentage
64 grade

Discuss: Hugo Gronroos is active and earning but just barely. Goalie is highly competitive in this league and it can be hard to find a spot because of how incredibly overpopulated this position is across the board. Unfortunately for Gronroos, I do not think he’s earned nearly enough to be even close to a potential call up. This is his last season before he ages out and he has a steady earning young gun nipping at his heels to take his job. S60 will be his last season with the team and he may see an overall drop in numbers due to splitting more and more time with Petrov as the season progresses.

Goalie Outlook: The goalie room for Newfoundland seems fairly solid. They only have two guys on roster, but one is a wily veteran who has been a mainstay with the team for a long a while and the other is an eager young player who is ready to take over. Should this team need some depth with Gronroos on his way out, they might take a look at the goalie position, but for the most part I think they are solid for at least this season and we will likely see this as a spot that the Berserkers pass on in the draft.

Offense:

Player Name: Maxwell King
Position: Left Wing
Season Created: 60
TPE: 254
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None
Season Stats:
5 goals
8 assists
13 points
9 plus/minus
46 shots on goal
10.9% shooting percentage
15 giveaways
5 takeaways
18 blocks
11 hits
54 overall grade
57 offensive grade
50 defensive grade

Discuss: Newfoundland gets off to a hot start in their winger room with Maxwell King stepping into the team. He is a lower earning S60 player who is likely to be with the Berserkers for a long while due to his casual pace and I’m not sure they would have it any other way. His 10.9% shooting percentage is about average and he’ll only improve with that in time. He’ll be one of the better shooters on this team for a long while and I think the Berserkers will be happy to have him for as long as he sticks around.

Player Name: Evil Allbran
Position: Right Wing
Season Created: 60
TPE: 319
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None
Season Stats:
12 goals
7 assists
19 points
15 plus/minus
91 shots on goal
13.2% shooting percentage
32 giveaways
10 takeaways
15 blocks
19 hits
53 overall grade
53 offensive grade
51 defensive grade

Discuss: For our next young winger on this squad, we have Evil Allbran. He is a fair bit higher earning than King and so may be on the team for a shorter time, but his departure is still far off. As a S60 player, the Berserkers do not have to worry about that in the least and they can look forward to building up their roster are him and King. Both of these guys are shooting quite well for being so young and I think you’re looking at the future of Newfoundland when you analyze this player. It certainly makes it easier on the team going into the draft.

Player Name: Samuel Savage
Position: Center
Season Created: 59
TPE: 292
Activity: Inactive
Call Up Risk: None
Season Stats:
1 goals
3 assists
4 points
4 plus/minus
15 shots on goal
6.7% shooting percentage
4 giveaways
2 takeaways
4 blocks
15 hits
54 overall grade
55 offensive grade
51 defensive grade

Discuss: Samuel Savage brings up one of the few black marks on this team. They simply do not have numbers at the center position. When you’re already thin at a spot, the last thing you want to see is one of your few players in that spot go inactive. Unfortunately that hit the Berserkers hard with Savage. As a 59 player, he already has S60 players with better earning than he does which implies he wasn’t a great earner even before his journey to inactivity. Still, sometimes you need a warm body and right now he is filling that particular role fine. His numbers aren’t impressive though and Nerfoundland could potentially use an upgrade here.

Player Name: Robert Black
Position: Center
Season Created: 59
TPE: 404
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None to low
Season Stats:
14 goals
22 assists
36 points
-2 plus/minus
158 shots on goal
8.9% shooting percentage
17 giveaways
22 takeaways
25 blocks
7 hits
65 overall grade
68 offensive grade
58 defensive grade

Discuss: Up next we have the one true bright spot at center for Newfoundland. As a fairly decent earning S59 player, Robert Black gives them a bit of stability for a few seasons. He should hit the juniors cap very early on in the next season and give this team some optimism around a position that is otherwise near barren. Offensively he is one of the best players on the roster with a 68 grade and 38 points scored and could use a little help with his defense, but overall he should be the leading center piece for this team over the next several seasons.

Player Name: Slavakov Vladimirashenko
Position: Right Wing
Season Created: 59
TPE: 480
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None to low
Season Stats:
8 goals
19 assists
27 points
1 plus/minus
109 shots on goal
7.3% shooting percentage
26 giveaways
20 takeaways
38 blocks
100 hits
58 overall grade
60 offensive grade
54 defensive grade

Discuss: With Slavakov Vladimirashenko we have a near max earning young winger who should see a larger role heading into next season now that he is about to hit the cap. Last season he seemed to miss the goal a fair bit and struggled to find passing lanes, but with him finishing up his build there should be a shift in him for the Berserkers and they should see an improvement. He’ll likely be here for another two seasons at least and hopefully Newfoundland can take advantage of his dynamic playmaking ability while he is here and reach the cup with what looks like a fairly stacked roster.

Player Name: Robert E. O. Speedwagon
Position: Left Wing
Season Created: 59
TPE: 476
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None to low
Season Stats:
17 goals
12 assists
29 points
14 plus/minus
140 shots on goal
12.1% shooting percentage
27 giveaways
23 takeaways
75 blocks
35 hits
59 overall grade
61 offensive grade
55 defensive grade

Discuss: To complement their other S59 winger, they have Robert E. O. Speedwagon. Speedwagon is a very high earning young player who is developing into a star for the Berserkers. He seems to be a little bit above average in almost every category and particularly his shooting, blocks, and overall lack of giveaways stand out for a young player like this. He managed to put up a decent 29 points this past season and I think that will only improve as both he and the team around him get better with another season under his belt. I feel the Berserkers can really lean on these two young forwards in the near future.

Player Name: Leon Athanasios
Position: Right Wing
Season Created: 58
TPE: 571
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Low to moderate
Season Stats:
25 goals
32 assists
57 points
39 plus/minus
201 shots on goal
12.4% shooting percentage
25 giveaways
16 takeaways
57 blocks
77 hits
62 overall grade
65 offensive grade
58 defensive grade

Discuss: Luckily for the Berserkers, winger Leon Athanasios has not been earning overwhelmingly well and I think that is enough to keep one of the team’s best scorers around for at least one more season and potentially two. Its great news for Newfoundland because the kind of production that Anthanasios has brought as a capped out winger is invaluable and incredibly hard to replace. He can shoot, he can find passing lanes, and he doesn’t turn things over very often. I think they have a couple more seasons of Leon and I fully expect them to continue to be successful for as long as he’s on the roster.

Player Name: Nike Kickz Jr.
Position: Right Wing
Season Created: 58
TPE: 694
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Moderate
Season Stats:
19 goals
32 assists
51 points
48 plus/minus
155 shots on goal
12.3% shooting percentage
22 giveaways
44 takeaways
78 blocks
72 hits
69 overall grade
69 offensive grade
65 defensive grade

Discuss: When you discuss Nike Kickz Jr., you’re discussing possibly the most promising player on this roster. As a max earning S58 player, he is on that edge where he could actually be facing a call up but I think that may still be a season off. I can not see it being longer than that as Kickz will be edging over 900 TPE at that point and his SHL team will be ready to bring him in. For the Berserkers that means they only have one more season with arguably the best player on this entire roster. Kickz does a little bit of everything for them and no player will be able to take over his production in one season. The Berserkers may look to get his replacement now in preparation for this potentially crippling exit.

Player Name: Jesse Trudeau
Position: Left Wing
Season Created: 58
TPE: 518
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Low to moderate
Season Stats:
18 goals
46 assists
64 points
42 plus/minus
193 shots on goal
9.3% shooting percentage
35 giveaways
28 takeaways
38 blocks
12 hits
69 overall grade
74 offensive grade
61 defensive grade

Discuss: Jesse Trudeau is another player in that weird S58 zone where some of his fellow classmates may be getting called up, but more than likely is still a season or two out. Trudeau’s earning has likely bought Newfoundlandthose extra seasons. They’ll take him for as long as they can get him though as his 74 offensive grade is fairly high and his 64 points would be pretty hard to replace to boot. I do not think the Berserkers need to worry about his departure yet and so can look elsewhere in this coming draft. Always fun when you can almost rely on a returning player.

Player Name: Ric Charlesworth
Position: Center
Season Created: 58
TPE: 425
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Low
Season Stats:
28 goals
23 assists
51 points
17 plus/minus
194 shots on goal
14.4% shooting percentage
26 giveaways
23 takeaways
28 blocks
105 hits
63 overall grade
66 offensive grade
57 defensive grade

Discuss: Ric Charlesworth is part of the fairly thin center group on this team, is getting older, and doesn't seem to be in any hurry to hit the juniors cap. That is overall good news for the Berserkers because their center room is so thin that any warm body is a good body. Charlesworth should fill the role of a warm body for this team perfectly. With his lack of earning, I can not see Charlsworth going anywhere in the next couple of seasons and that should buy Newfoundland some time as they try to rebuild their center corps and look towards this coming draft.

Player Name: Dwayne Gretzky
Position: Left Wing
Season Created: 57
TPE: 863
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Dangerous
Season Stats:
16 goals
32 assists
48 points
12 plus/minus
160 shots on goal
10.0% shooting percentage
29 giveaways
28 takeaways
87 blocks
50 hits
63 overall grade
68 offensive grade
56 defensive grade

Discuss: Dwayne Gretzky is a decent earning S57 winger who could be going up as soon as this season. Whatever the case he ages out after S60 and won’t be on the roster anymore, so this may be a hole that the Berserkers look to fill before it becomes a problem. Fortunately overall, Gretzky seemed to struggle a bit this past season despite being capped and being on the edge of call up. His production was decent, but nothing special or outstanding and if they need to replace it they shouldn’t struggle too heartily with doing so. Either way I imagine they’ll be crossing their fingers to keep him on for another season.

Player Name: Bas O’Bigbers
Position: Left Wing
Season Created: 57
TPE: 879
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Dangerous
Season Stats:
15 goals
34 assists
49 points
17 plus/minus
163 shots on goal
9.2% shooting percentage
36 giveaways
25 takeaways
36 blocks
52 hits
66 overall grade
70 offensive grade
59 defensive grade

Discuss: Bas O’Bigbers is also registered as a dangerous call up potential with his fairly decent earning and his status as a S57 player. He too will be entering his final season with the team should he not get called up and he would create two less maxed out players on this team overall should he depart. I also believe he would be a bit more difficult to replace production wise as his 70 offensive grade is above average and shows that when he is on the ice, he is efficient and deadly. His 17 plus/minus only reinforces that as fact. Again there is a chance that the Berserkers can hold off on replacing him for another season, but they may want to pull the trigger now.

Player Name: Jonas Caspari
Position: Left Wing
Season Created: 56
TPE: 429
Activity: Inactive
Call Up Risk: None
Season Stats:
4 goals
15 assists
19 points
13 plus/minus
55 shots on goal
7.3% shooting percentage
14 giveaways
24 takeaways
61 blocks
64 hits
58 overall grade
54 offensive grade
59 defensive grade

Discuss: Unfortunately for New Zealand, Jonas Caspari has aged out and he will not be able to aid their team any longer going forward. He isn’t a huge loss as he was inactive and not quite maxed out as it was and it seemed that the Berserkers were already preparing for his departure as he had limited minutes in the previous season overall. He should be replaced pretty easily with any player the Berserkers decide to slot in for him. This offense is almost fully active and fairly loaded on wingers, so one less wouldn’t hurt too much regardless.

Offensive Outlook: This team is confusing because they have a very, very thin center room. In fact they do not even have enough active centers to fill a full three lines. Fortunately they seem overloaded with wingers and I imagine they have a few of those guys slot in at center. Against to the unfortunate part though is that they have one winger aging out and two who may be called up this season and at the latest probably next season. The wingers on this team are about to exit in mass and they won’t be able to spread them thin by having them at center as well. I think this team needs to be looking towards the center position in this draft and get some depth there before it is too late and they do not have bodies to fill that roster spot.

Defense:

Player Name: Pasta the Turtle
Position: Right Defense
Season Created: 59
TPE: 509
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None to low
Season Stats:
4 goals
18 assists
22 points
18 plus/minus
78 shots on goal
5.1% shooting percentage
16 giveaways
34 takeaways
73 blocks
116 hits
54 overall grade
50 offensive grade
56 defensive grade

Discuss: Pasta the Turtle gets this defense for the Berserkers started off on a high note as he is a very high earning S59 player that I believe will be the heart of this defense for a couple seasons in the near future. He has some things to still work on in his game, but he has hit the minors cap and is fairly young so Newfoundlandcan rely on him anchoring the defensive side a bit. I think if they could keep him from shooting as often as he does, he’d really excel overall and the fact he has one of the highest plus/minus on the team provides evidence of that potential.

Player Name: Sabarro Torretta
Position: Right Defense
Season Created: 59
TPE: 396
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk:None to low
Season Stats:
7 goals
12 assists
19 points
26 plus/minus
97 shots on goal
7.2% shooting percentage
32 giveaways
24 takeaways
11 blocks
108 hits
53 overall grade
52 offensive grade
52 defensive grade

Discuss: With another S59 defender, we find Sabarro Torretta as a fairly average earner in the class. The lower earning for Sabarro might see him on this roster for a couple extra seasons and the mere prospect of that has to have the GMs of Newfoundland absolutely ecstatic. His 26 plus/minus is outstanding and the guy can still get better as he hasn’t even hit the juniors cap yet due to his earning. In a ton of ways Torretta is the perfect juniors player as he earns just enough to be useful, but not enough to leave as soon as possible and he should be around to lead this defense long term.

Player Name: Aleksandrs Balcers
Position: Left Defense
Season Created: 59
TPE: 503
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: None to low
Season Stats:
12 goals
27 assists
39 points
26 plus/minus
166 shots on goal
7.2% shooting percentage
41 giveaways
23 takeaways
41 blocks
37 hits
69 overall grade
66 offensive grade
70 defensive grade

Discuss: Rounding out the S59 defenders on this team is Aleksandrs Balcers. He is another one who isn’t quite earning max, but he is much closer to average than Toretta. I think this is going to lead to Balcers being on the team for the long haul with Toretta and that is something that offenses in the SHL should be nervous about. He just capped out in the uniors this past season and he already managed to rack up a fair impressive 70 defensive grade. I think he is really going to hit his stride this next season and he’ll make some big plays for this Newfoundland team.

Player Name: Shion Okamoto
Position: Left Defense
Season Created: 58
TPE: 574
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Low to moderate
Season Stats:
10 goals
32 assists
42 points
13 plus/minus
215 shots on goal
4.7% shooting percentage
70 giveaways
34 takeaways
33 blocks
91 hits
63 overall grade
59 offensive grade
67 defensive grade

Discuss: Shion Okamoto is one of the older guys on this defense, but I do not think Newfoundland has to worry about him being called up at all. He hasn’t earned overly well during his time in the league and I think that plays to the benefit of the Berserkers. It allows them to keep their defensive corps together for a little bit longer and allows them to take looking for a defensive replacement slow. I will say that as a capped player for this team, Newfoundland could hope that Okamoto steps up this next season a bit more because while his game is solid, having 70 giveaways for a defenseman seems way too high. He’s the one who is supposed to be getting the takeaways, not the other way around.

Player Name: Billy Brooks
Position: Right Defense
Season Created: 58
TPE: 691
Activity: Active
Call Up Risk: Moderate
Season Stats:
7 goals
18 assists
25 points
32 plus/minus
98 shots on goal
7.1% shooting percentage
20 giveaways
32 takeaways
74 blocks
194 hits
57 overall grade
53 offensive grade
59 defensive grade

Discuss: Billy Brooks is the other S58 player on this roster, but as what appears to be a max earner, I do not think he’s on this roster for long. do not get me wrong, I do not think he’s in imminent threat to be called up this season, but going into next season I do not know that I’d still expect to have him on the roster if I’m Newfoundland. Though he managed to rack up a pretty massive 194 hits this past season, his overall grades weren’t great and he had a pretty pedestrian season all in all. For a player this active though, I know he has to be hoping that he can improve on that and come out swinging for potentially his last season as a Berserker.

Player Name: Bud Weiser
Position: Left Defense
Season Created: 56
TPE: 379
Activity: Inactive
Call Up Risk: None
Season Stats:
None, see no indication of getting a start.

Discuss: Bud Weiser is in a bad spot all around. I’m not sure what happened here for the roster, but with six defensemen you would think they would have three full lines of these guys. Two for each line, two three times is six. Somehow though, Bud didn’t get any stats and as such likely had no minutes. It is very likely they were playing one of their many forwards in Bud’s place, which isn’t optimal. Either way though, Bud has now aged out and he is heading off to the rainbow bridge. He’s played his last minutes on the ice in this league and given his lack of production, I doubt Newfoundland will even notice.

Defensive Outlook: This team actually has a very solid defensive corps that I think will stay consistent for at least two seasons. They have four guys who are fairly young or who aren’t earning great and should be around for the foreseeable future. The problem comes in when you look at one of their defenders aging out and their most promising defender potentially getting called up next season. Ideally I think most teams roster five or six defensemen and Newfoundland is about to fall short of that. They could potentially look to some depth in the draft, but I do not think they are in a hurry to do that.

Overall Outlook: I’m not sure I can say the word center enough times to get the point across. This team needs a center and it needs one just as soon as they can get it. They are painfully thin at the position and only have two actives on the roster at all. Of all the positions, this is the one I think they use their first round selection on. I would say they could make up for the lack of depth with their forwards, but they are losing one forward to an age out and have two more playing in their final season with the team. They may look like a stacked roster now, but things are going to get fairly tight very quickly going into S61. I know that one might be tempted to trade out of this season because they do not really have the spots right this second, but they are going to have room much more rapidly than I think they are prepared for and could be facing a rebuild soon. The only place I see them having long term success is with their core four defenders who should be around for at least two more seasons each, but even then they might need a couple extra defenders to fill out the lines. Using their picks intelligently here could be the difference in staying competitive or taking a huge step back next season.

Prospective Picks:

The only position that Newfoundland really needs is a center. They have one of the later first round picks, and don’t seem to have a history of focusing on just recreates or new users, and therefore some of the players that I am expecting to be there for their pick include Atticus Hale, Ahlo Kysoka, Clifford Wilson. These are all great users who have some steady earning that they could use on the team.

First round pick: Ahlo Kysoka
Second Round Pick: They might attempt to trade out