Can Newfoundland repeat? I don't mean in the playoffs, anything can happen there. But this season they were absolutely dominant. +158 goal differential. They did all of that by really spreading around the offense. Two players scored over 30 goals, four other players scored over 20 goals. That means just in their top 6 they amassed 140 goals. Add a little depth scoring and that's an absolutely elite group of offense creators. I think the most impressive part of this is that while Vancouver was a fairly close team to them in terms of the standings and goal differential, they were still over 40 goals off of being even with Newfoundland all while being in the same conference as the two worst teams in the league: Kelowna and Nevada. I'd say that overall Newfoundland had this incredible season all while being in the tougher conference. It'd be interesting to see what their record would have been if they swapped spots with Vancouver.

So we know that Newfoundland had some elite offense, but can they do it again? Well... Yes. Let's look at who was driving the play on their team.

[S58] Right Wing - Leon Athanasios
TPE: 587

[S58] Center - Ric Charlesworth
TPE: 590

[S58] Left Wing - Jesse Trudeau
TPE: 601

[S58] Right Wing - Nike Kickz Jr
TPE: 861

[S58] Left Defense - Shion Okamoto
TPE: 716

[S58] Left Wing - Travis Konecny
TPE: 462

[S59] Right Wing - Slavakov Vladimirashenko
TPE: 647

[S59] Center - Robert Black
TPE: 584

[S59] Right Defense - Sabarro Torretta
TPE: 508

[S59] Left Defense - Aleksandrs Balcers
TPE: 600

[S60] Right Wing - Evil AllBran
TPE: 502

Is there a concern of older players making the jump to the SHL? I think that's the biggest thing to examine here. There are a lot of great players who we can't totally be sure about whether or not they'll be making the jump to the SHL, but we can do our best to project it.

The players in question are:
W - Leon Athanasios - Drafted by Buffalo
C - Ric Charlesworth - Undrafted
W - Jesse Trudeau - Drafted by Toronto
W - Nike Kickz Jr - Drafted by Chicago
D - Shion Okamoto - Undrafted
W - Travis Konecny - Drafted by Minnesota

So we can guarantee that 2 players won't be making the jump. But do Buffalo, Toronto, Chicago and/or Minnesota need a winger?
Buffalo - No, that team is stacked with their worst winger being Chimkin Wing with 1100 TPE.
Toronto - No, again that team is stacked with their worst winger being Ryu Jones at 1500 TPE.
Chicago - No, their worst winger is Nick Connolly with 1500 TPE.
Minnesota - No, this would be the most likely team to call up their player, but Konecny is at lesss than 500 TPE and their worst winger is still at a whopping 850 TPE.

Based on these teams not needing any players from the team, I don't think Newfoundland has to worry about any important players being called up to the SHL.

So yes, Newfoundland can repeat their amazing season. In fact, I wouldn't at all  be surprised if they had an even better season. Their key pieces aren't leaving and their young players grow another season to reach the hard TPE cap for the SMJHL. Sorry to the rest of the league but their reign is going to continue for at least one more season.

Cal Juice
Tomas Zadina
Brady McIntyre

Approved!

+5 TPE @caltroit_red_flames