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spooked · 09-30-2020, 10:55 PM

Since the season began a few short days ago there has been one team in the SMJHL which stands out among all others. That teams is the Detroit Falcons. They stand out for a number of reasons, mainly, being dead last in the standings with only 2 points of a possible 14, which is a 14.3 points percentage... more than 10% worse than the next worst team. But that is not where the pain is worst for the team. They have had one of the worst starts to a season I may have ever seen in the goals category. With 1 win in 6 games, Detroit obviously will have not scored more than they have been scored on, but the rate at which they are both failing to get the puck in the net and also letting it into their own is much much worst than any other team right now.

They have some friends at the bottom of the standings in Quebec City, and St. Louis, who are having their own issues, but neither are being outscored at nearly the same rate. It is no where close. Detroit has managed to get scored on a whopping 31 times in just 7 games. That is good for an average goals against of 4.43. In the goals for stat-line it gets worse, not better. They have only managed 6 goals through 7 games. The only team in the league to average less than a goal a game, playing in a league where the next WORST is at a minimum of 2 per game on average. An average Detroit game is lost 1-4.

But why? Why have they got off to such a slow start this season?

One thing in the struggling teams favor is they have managed to get two of their backup goalie games in early, which went alright, in fact that includes one of the games Detroit scraped by for a win, taking a 4-3 shootout victory over the cavalier Anaheim Outlaws. Ironically, Daedalus James' pair of goals in that one game would still be enough to lead the Falcons in goals currently, as the issue for the team so far came right off the back of that win. The Falcons went three games straight without scoring a single goal, losing 0-5, 0-4, and 0-4 to a mix of Anchorage and Colorado. Their most recent pair of games weren't shutouts, but Detroit only managed a-goal-a-piece in a loss against Nevada and another loss against Anchorage.

We can see a trend here, Detroit has played Anchorage and Colorado twice, making 4 of their 7 games to date either against one of the most talented defensive teams in the league or against the hottest team in the league. Will this problem last for the rest of the season? Let's take a quick look at their developing players to make a guess:

Lost in Expansion Draft
9. Battleborn - From Falcons - James Kimanje - VRTX L4S3R - 415 from S55

S55 Draft
6: Detroit Falcons (via ANC) - Evangelos Giannopoulos - JSS - T9th in class - 395(capped) - good pick
11: Detroit Falcons (via ANA) - Yngve Simonsson - JumpierPegasus - T9th in class - 395(capped) - good pick
34: Detroit Falcons (via CAR) - Daedalus James - littleb - 53rd in class - 294 - below average pick
35: Detroit Falcons (via NLB) - Oliver Setzinger - EricC11 - 76th in class - 182 - bad pick
57: Detroit Falcons (via ANA) - Valtteri Aalto - drodger91 - 62nd in class - 236 - average pick
63: Detroit Falcons - Andrew Iannou - Andynoog - 84th in class (last) - 155 - RIP pick

S56 Draft
3: Detroit Falcons - Jonathan Granstrom - Halkohol - T1st in class - 231 - good pick
22: "Anchorage Armada" - Wen Batters - Waters - 10th in class - 216 - great pick
27: Detroit Falcons (via Citadelles) - Thomas Duddy - Duddy - 36th in class - 176 - below average pick, high risk
34: Detroit Falcons (via Armada via Citadelles) - Tyler Burnett - DatSmolBoi - T42nd in class - 171 - below average pick, high risk

What does all this tell us? Well, Detroit may have a potential drafting issue that will have them struggle the next couple of seasons... they were unlucky on a few deep picks in season 55 which hurts their talent pool right now but did well in S56 to grab Waters. Losing Kimanje in the Expansion Draft was a bit of a hit for them, as he is a nearly capped out forward who has put up 3 goals so far in Nevada and is on point-per-game pace. Thankfully, Detroit has managed to pick up a trio of guys in free agency who could all help them out later in the season, supporting the couple of guys they will have coming up from their work during the draft. But it is still too early to say how any of their recently acquired players will end up being. They will also be forced to likely pickup a goalie in the coming drafts as well, as their current number 2 is struggling, which does not help matters for them in terms of future development in the long term.

Additionally, a lot of their picks this season, including the ones who are not panning out as of now, were acquired using other assets, namely future picks (80% of the picks I listed here weren't their own), which could further punish the Falcons in the coming seasons as they will have a complicated path to success. I think Detroit will likely improve from where they are right now as the season progresses, especially as they have a lot of games to play against some weaker opponents, but it is certainly not pretty right now, and those games cannot be fun to play either. But the coming seasons for the Falcons may not be a great time either depending on how their management navigate their current situation. I can only hope the best for the players in Detroit, but man, must be rough getting slapped around game after game when the season just kicked off. All the best boys and hope the early season pain is some good karma for you. Maybe start practicing Buddhism, I don't know.

950~ Words.

APPROVED +5 TPE @spooked