The worst feeling is when you’ve reached the end of your window without a ring to show for it. This happens plenty of times in sports. For years you’re great, but every playoff run ends in failure. And thus, you have to commit to a rebuild, hoping that this next core can get over the top.
This was the Montreal Patriotes experience in the early 70s. From S69 to S72, the Pats were legit contenders in the Eastern Conference, winning a pair of division titles. Twice, they won 50 games. But they just could never get over the hump. Their best playoff run remains their S67 conference final run, a surprise run after a fairly average season.
Three of those runs in the 69-72 timespan ended the same way - second round defeats to the mighty New England Wolfpack, who have gone on to win 3 Cups in the last decade and cemented themselves as the marquee team of this era. The fourth was a first round sweep in S71 at the hands of the Buffalo Stampede, as the playoff format led to two top-5 teams meeting in the first round.
That era is long gone. The next few seasons saw them sell off and bottom out. And by bottom out, we mean BOTTOM OUT. The team won 1 single game in S75, a 2-1 pipping of an Argonauts side that was also bottoming out.
How much better off are the Pats for these tankathon seasons? Let’s take a quick look at the S74-S77 drafts and see.
Immediately we see a pretty solid haul with 3 top-15 picks, all of whom are max earning. (I can’t give them too much credit for Banes, who was a GM pick.) However, their top pick - Peanut - currently sits outside the class’s top 15 for TPE, and Karlsson is also underperforming in that regard. But in a deep draft, does that really matter that much? It’s a solid start to a rebuild project.
S75
Round 1, Pick 1: Demir Bellona Round 1, Pick 19: Song Ju-gong Round 2, Pick 21: Charlie Slurpe Round 3, Pick 41: Journey Man
What this class may have lacked in volume, it has more than made up for it in terms of value. Song is the top earner in the class and just finished off a dazzling J career, and looks to be one of the best upcoming goalies in the SHL. Bellona sits 6th, and both their non-firsts have TPE totals that would put them in the first round in a redraft.
S76
Round 1, Pick 1: Jamie Fraser Round 1, Pick 8: Jim Wieners Round 1, Pick 12: Deth Klaw Round 2, Pick 21: Jack Booth Round 2, Pick 33: Chopper Donquixote Round 3, Pick 41: Joe Degen Round 4, Pick 61: Juice Williams Round 5, Pick 81: Connor McDusty After Everyone Passed: Daquavion Davis II, Kris, Simon Wymann, joe biggs, TJ Longpre, Mason Chernezky
This one has a ton of volume as well, with Wieners taking top spot of the class’s TPE rankings and Klaw also outperforming his spot. Fraser is underperforming in the TPE rankings, but is still max earning and is a strong cultural asset to have. Booth isn’t quite max earning, and much of the rest of this class is just bodies that have since gone IA. But four very strong picks lead the way here.
S77
Round 1, Pick 2: Swedish Chef Round 2, Pick 22: Raw Cheese McPickle Round 3, Pick 42: Cadmael Ixazaluoh Round 4, Pick 62: Kobe frobe Round 5, Pick 82: Cain Pooyak After Everyone Passed: Arseniy Vitaliy
The last draft we’re looking at for this look, and while Chef is only 5th in the TPE rankings for his draft class, he’s a max earner and great cultural asset. Meanwhile, Ixazaluoh has been a pleasant surprise, drastically overperforming his draft position. McPickle has underperformed, but still earns well.
Overall
Montreal’s bottoming out has resulted in an incredible pool of young talent. And this doesn’t even include trading for S73’s first overall pick, Xavier Beausoliel. There’s a very strong mix of proven recreates, active first gens, and positional depth. Can it result in the title they couldn’t claim last window? We’ll see.
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