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UncleLeosKomrade · 05-07-2018, 09:04 AM

Qualifies for first media bonus

With the Kelowna Knights completing the sweep of the Detroit Falcons to win the Four Star Cup, the 40TH season of the SMJHL has come to an end. We would like to take this opportunity to congratulation the Knights and the city of Kelowna on this championship.

However, with the season complete we now look towards the off-season activities, more specifically the SMJHL draft. This article will take a look at one of the more interesting prospects of the upcoming draft, 6 foot 5 inch, 250 pound defenseman out of Hawaii, Maui.

Maui has just recently declared for the draft about being discovered playing hockey in a remote village of Latvia, where he has been residing. Living most of his life in Hawaii working as a demi-god, Maui took up the game of hockey after deciding to step away from the demi-god and move to a colder climate. Maui was discovered by the same agent that represents Grayson Bailey of the GOMHL, UncleLeo’sKomrade. Maui appears to be a similar type of player as Bailey, build to make hits, block shots, and play a sound defensive game. He is looking to enter the league to make a defensive impact for a SMJHL team with the hopes of getting drafted to the SHL.

We’ll now look at where Maui’s strengths and weaknesses lie in terms of his development as a defensive defenseman and where he could land when the SMJHL draft rolls around.

Strengths
Maui is built like a tank, there is no denying that. Tall and heavy set, Maui has the characteristics of a strong defense man. He demonstrates strong checking ability and he’s strengths throughout the course of his scouting have been his defensive play and his all-around strength. Now one of his more surprising characteristics is his skating ability.
Usually the large, heavy-set players will demonstrate a noticeable struggle when it comes to their skating ability when compared to the players around. However, early scouting reports have starred skating as one of his strengths.

What Maui has shown is that he able to be in the proper position to play the puck defensively, make the right play, and throw the body in the right moments. There is a lot of promise for his defensive game, and he has the potential to develop into an elite defenseman in the coming season.

Off the ice, Maui has the benefit of a strong agent behind him. UncleLeo’sKomrade, although fairly new to the player agent circle, has been able to guide his other client, Grayson Bailey, to a strong start to his career. In only his second season, Grayson Bailey was nominated for the McGerkis Fuddnuddler Award for the top defensive defenseman in the GOMHL. Thus, Maui’s agent’s track record so far demonstrates that he can guide players to be great and this should continue with his newest client.

Weaknesses
While Maui has the potential to be a great defensive defenseman, his main weakness would be his scoring ability. Offensively Maui can make great break out passes, and find the open man, but give him a wide-open net and a ton of time, the puck is usually still going wide. Now while this may be considered a downfall by some, it just speaks to the amount of time and effort that Maui has put into developing his defensive game. Maui is still a developing player also, so the potential is there to improve on his scoring ability, it clearly is not at the forefront of Maui’s style of play.

Potential Landing Spots
Now we will look at three teams that could be potential landing spots for Maui in the upcoming SMJHL draft.

Vancouver Whalers
The Whalers are coming off a disappointing end to the season, missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker. Tied for points with the Colorado Mammoths, Vancouver was pushed out due to their lower win total. Thus, due to their lower finish in the regular season, and a recent trade with Prince George, Vancouver has two top picks and could look to use one on the SHL newcomer, Maui.

At first glance, Vancouver’s season was not that bad. A -2 goal differential, .500 road winning record, and their scoring stats were right in the middle of the pack. However, a closer look would shed some light on the Whaler’s woes. The Whalers were 1 hit away from being the least physical team in the league, and their special teams were terrible. The Whalers were only 16.75% on the powerplay, which works out to 32 times successful out of 191 attempts. Anybody would be able to tell you that is bad. The penalty kill was not any better either. The Whalers finished the season 75.76% on the penalty kill, whoch translates to allowing a powerplay goal 1 every 4 times short. Championships are not won with those stats.

Now, while Maui does not appear to be the biggest offensive threat, his physicality and defensive game play could most definitely assist the Whalers in improve on their penalty kill numbers, and increase the physical aspect of their game play. Thus, Vancouver could be an ideal spot for Maui to be drafted.

Prince George Firebirds
Nobody needs an analyst to know how bad the Firebirds did this season, the numbers are pretty clear. Only 6 wins, outscored by almost 100 goals through the regular season, and both special teams unable to really do anything super productive. The Firebirds’ season was an ugly one to say the least.

However, although they recently traded the second overall pick to the Whalers, Prince George still holds 2 first round picks; and they could be looking to use one on Maui. Prince George, like Vancouver, struggled physically and defensively. The Firebirds only had 1 more hit than the Whalers this season, and allowed 191 goals against, 24 goals clear of the next closest team. Their goal differential was not any better, -92. On the penalty kill, the Firebirds were slightly better than Vancouver at 77.11%. None of these stats scream success.

Again, Prince George is in a similar position as Vancouver, where drafting the likes of Maui could assist in getting their defensive game back on track and thrusting the team back into contention.

Kelowna Knights
The Kelowna Knights may be a shocking team to see on this list. Just coming off a championship season, some will probably be asking, what do they need to improve on? Well the answer is clear, and the solution clearer.

The Knights were offensive juggernauts this past season. 31 wins, 174 goals for, and a powerplay percentage of 27.69; they were good. However, a look at their team stats shows that Kelowna was dead last in both shot blocks and hits. Now this by no means demonstrates that the Knights were bad defensively, because they were not. It just shows an additional area of the game that, if improved upon, could lead the Knights back to the finals again next season.

The clear answer to solving this problem: Maui. At 6’5’’, 250lbs, Maui is built to hit people and get in the way of pucks. Unfortunately, Kelowna does not have a pick until the end of the fourth round so Maui ending up there appears to be a really longshot, but if by some means he is still on board when Kelowna gets called upon, Maui could very well be heading out west.

Final Thoughts
Maui has the potential to be a great player in this league with the right guidance, and the right team around him. He is looking to come in a make a huge difference for a team next season. He will be a defensive stud for years to come and one SMJHL team will lucky enough to watch him pull on their sweater come draft day.

Stay tuned for future updates on the career of the Hawaiian-Latvian giant, Maui.

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