06-29-2022, 11:22 PM(This post was last modified: 07-01-2022, 10:03 AM by Opera_Phantom. Edited 3 times in total.)
Being a Canadian myself, I feel it was only right to cover one of the more historic Canadian SHL teams. Back in my day the Edmonton Comets we’re a powerhouse that was not to be taken lightly. While I personally love the “blizzard” rebrand, it has been a while since I checked in on them, so here we go!
The Edmonton Blizzard have been a bottom 10 team since season 62. Every dynasty comes to an end and Edmonton is currently in the rebuilding process since the fall from Grace that they achieved in S61. In season 65 we see Edmonton finishing in 14th place in the entire league, along with a minus thirty six goal differential. Ironically that was the second best goalie differential for a team in the negatives, so I guess that’s a small win.
Nampo Kampainen and Markus The Tater Jager would lead the offence with Kampo having the 10th most assists in the league and Tater averaging over a point per game! You would think with these two superstars leading the offence this team might have a fighting chance in the playoffs? Unfortunately that would not be the case the defence on this team was god awful.
Looking at the defensive side of Edmonton, you know it’s going to get ugly when one of your player has 67 points… but somehow finishes the season with a plus minus rating of -1! But wait, it doesn’t stop there. Star defender Schloz had a very impressive 49 point campaign for a defencemen, but somehow finished with a plus minus rating of -30!?!? What’s even more sad is that there were players on this roster who had an even worse rating than -30….
Building off the the defence, If we break down the goaltending it basically was a 60/40 split between the starter and the backup. Both goalies finished with a 0.905 save percentage and about a 3.69 goals against average. Some would consider this combination of number slightly below average, but it could have been worse.
Going into the playoffs, it was going to take a miracle for Edmonton to beat the Chicago syndicate who are the Cup favorites. And I guess god didn’t answer anyones prayers as Chicago would go the sweep Edmonton in the first round. Schloz was nowhere to be seen as he finished with a -4 and zero points. Tater had 4 points, but Kappo only had two points and a -6. The goaltending was slightly worse as the starting goalie had a 4+ goals against average, but managed to keep his save percentage around the regular season starlike (0.901). For a superstar team like Chicago, these average performances were not going to cut it.
What can we expect out of Edmonton is S66? Well the rebuild continues as the relatively young core (minus veteran Kaapo Kampainen) continues to improve. The real question mark will be how quickly can prospect goalie Justin Time develop into an SHL starter and lead his team in the crease as it is clear Edmonton will not win a cup with the goaltending they had in S65. We also saw breaking news tonight as Edmonton traded up in the draft from 10th overall to now the number 5 slot! It is clear that they mean business this off-season and was to finish acquiring the missing puzzle pieces of this rebuild as quickly as possible.
Good luck to them in S66
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First ever Yukon Malamute draft pick (1st overall S65)
“The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. ... There are neither beginnings nor endings to the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.”
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