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Old 01-11-2020, 10:58 PM   #3
sajm0n
Minors (Rookie Ball)
 
Join Date: Jul 2014
Posts: 20
Season 2020-2021

Offseason wasnt very eventful, the main goal was to try and sign Ilya Sorokin, in real life hes said (by some) to be the best goalie outside of NHL, but isnt really interested in playing for Islanders or just waiting out to be paid big money later (or both).
Sorokin - ratings

Greiss wasnt going to be extended, it was decided before 2020 playoffs even started. Plan was to have veteran Varlamov as starting goalie and sign Sorokin to be backup. Varlamov and Sorokin are both Russians, so maybe we could have some mentoring going on. There was also Kuznetsov on the team and Komarov could speak russian as well, everything for little Ilya to feel at home.

So i ended up checking up on him every few days to see, if he didnt sign extension with CSKA. So stressful!
At the end he did sign with us, but on 1st o july weird thing happened. He disappeared from my protected list.. If i specifically didnt trace him, i might have even forget i had rights to his contract. He still was restricted free agent, but not on my protected list, weird.

Anyway outside of Greiss only Brassard wasnt coming back for next year (he signed with Boston) and his place took our best prospect - C Oliver Wahlstrom.
Wahlstrom - ratings

There was still one more thing i had to take care of and that was depth charts. On july 1st i didnt have any goalie in Bridgeport and Worcester. I think Worcester was left with 10 players total, Bridgeport had a few more,
so i had to look for some decent players for them. Goalies i found were actually pretty good, the best of them is this 24yo Kaapo Kahkonen (idk how Minnesota would just let him go for free)
Kappa - ratings
Hes got the chance to become backup for Sorokin in future years if he keeps developing (3.5 star potential)

Also draft happened of course and at 1.31 i picked forward Will Cuylle:
Cuylle - ratings
He doesnt look spectacular now, but scouts tell me theres potential. Also his supplementary role is 'franchise player' if that means anything.
The other picks were some solid prospects with a chance to be helpful in the future, but i dont expect to find a superstar there.


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Very rocky start of the season this time:

October: 5-3-2
November: 5-9-1 (4L streak)
December: 7-7-0

Thats 17-19-3 record coming into 2021, so very bad and im looking for scapegoats. Initially i was thinking its a defense problem, we were allowing many shots, Martin, Johnston and especially aging Komarov was playing worse. Also Cizikas got injured (again), thats all defense. But i quickly realised its a goalie problem. Theres no way Varlamov should have this kind of start to the season even with the worst defense in the league Varly (read from bottom to top)
His first over .900 SV% game was in his 10th (!) start and it was on 22th of December... Varly was suppose to be a veteran guiding a rookie, but instead Sorokin was forced to play from the start and whenever possible...What a let down after so good last season...

So...Varlamov was put on the block, as well as Komarov. I briefly looked around for replacements for 3rd/4th line (defensive forward kind of players) and maybe a younger/cheaper goalie, but at the end i decided to just play it out one more week or two.

Near the deadline i was offered a trade for Komarov and got a decent prospect for him. It was sad to see his decline over last few months, he was very good last year, filling holes in 3rd and 4th line, but it was time to move on.
At Varlamov i was just mad though, but nobody seemed to want him in the current form.

Meanwhile Sorokin in 2020: Ilya
He started hot and then had few worse games, but hes a rookie, of course you will be inconsistent at times, cant blame him.

Offence was actually looking better than last year, Lee was getting goal after goal, but cant win many games without a consistently good goalie.

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What happened next you will find out on the next episode (because its 4am and i should get some sleep)
Actually im after Islanders-Boston game, lost 2-3 in overtime (powerplay goal). Man...few questionable decisions by referies in this game, including the penalty call that led to a loss...

Last edited by sajm0n; 01-12-2020 at 12:52 PM.
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