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Old 05-06-2017, 05:51 PM   #19
Adam B
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Join Date: Dec 2015
Location: A Hockey Rink
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Ferrisrox View Post
I am very curious if anyone else has come across a defensemen named Kim Song-Gun. (He is, for the record, a real guy.)

Song-Gun is the best, and so far in my experience really the only case I've seen for spending any resources scouting non-traditional hockey markets.

His NHL success was, quite frankly, absolutely staggering, but really it's hard to make much sense out of it.

He was signed, by the St. Louis Blues, to a three-year $1,170,000 million per year contract after spending the five previous seasons in North Korean Elite League (interestingly his team is also simply listed as the North Korean Elite League.)

The 29-year old 5'8 defender made the leap to the National Hockey League after a year of huge improvement his final year in Korea. His first four seasons - which started at age 25 - saw him steadily improve going from 27 points to 35 to 38 to 45. Then, after a career-best nine goal season he exploded for 34 goals and 89 points in just 24 games.

He then joined the Blues, and it was at this point that I had my scouts look at him. They said his skating was excellent but strangely had him pegged as a defensive defenseman and despite his gaudy goal totals and assist totals in Korea, made no mention of his offensive prowess. His weaknesses, despite being classified as a defensive defensemen were defense and "poor vision."

I didn't pay much attention to him after as my season got underway but after about 40 games I was surprised to see Ilya Kovalchuk among the league leaders in goals. This was puzzling to me because Kovalchuk's return to the NHL hadn't been great and in his late 30's, he was nearing the end of the line. He had returned with Dallas, managed just 18 goals and was dealt to the Rangers in the off-season. With New York he dropped from the 56 points he put up in Dallas to just 26. As a free agent he signed in Washington and in 82 games scored just 6 goals and 24 points. As a free agent again, I looked at signing him just because he as a name and I thought I could get him dirt cheap but he somehow was demanding a hefty contract still. The Blues signed him and he improbably turned things around at 37 years old. He ended his first season in St. Louis with 29 goals and 59 points. But his second year saw him explode for 41 goals and 91 points. How was this possible? In large part because of Kim Song-Gun.

Song-Gun as a 30-year old first-year NHLer scored 21 goals and led the NHL with 80 assists (so much for poor vision.) In the playoffs, Song-Gun put up another 30 points in 20 playoff games en route to a Stanley Cup title.

In the off-season he captured the Norris Trophy and the Hart Trophy.

Has anybody else had Song-Gun appear in their careers?
Hm, I see him in my current game. Added him to the Shortlist. Something a little weird about sending a Scout to North Korea though...


On that note, if anyone's got something interesting going on and wants to write more about it for the OOTP Blog, let me know!
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