Portland finished one more time last in their division. They only managed to gain 32 points this season, by the way this means franchise negative record. 7 points below the old record of 39 points from S27 & S26. But let us start with the beginning.
Offseason:
The punishment
As with any other team, also the management of the Admiral was thinking about new signings. Who can make you better, who can plug the holes that you have? After checking out the market some promising candidates were found. Full of energy to drive the team. the Co-GM happened a fatal mistake. The League reached the conclusion that Portland had to be convicted for tampering. And thus they had no other choice than to punish Portland. The following punishment was pronounced. Portland will lose their next three first round draft picks (S28 POR 1st, S29 POR 1st, S30 POR 1st). Buster "Buzz" Killington (Co-GM's player) will miss entire S28, (shortly after that he announced his retirement). Their team budget will decrease for 10mil from 65 to 55 for S28 and last they will be not allowed to sign any active free agents for one full season. Portland's ship was hit hard and now had a huge leak.
Stormy times
Holy shit; that's the death for the expansion team, and some other statements could be read. Portland's management had to react and they did it. Several trades would follow in which all active veterans found new teams. First players who had to go were Portland's top defender Patrick Brumm and S27 first overall draft pick Krysztof Kowalski. This two also took a $3 million cap space for S28 with them to Texas. In exchange Portland got 3 first round picks for S31, S32, S33. Next one was Nikolaus Scholz, the captain of the Admirals was traded to Edmonton. Portland got EDM 10th Overall pick for the S28 draft, their first round pick for S31 and Frederik Zavstrom. For the 3rd trade we didn't have to wait long, only a few hours later Sven Karlsson was sent to the Panthers for a S30 1st round pick (Texas), a S32 2nd round pick (Los Angeles), a S28 22nd overall pick and Carter Rosston. The last one that "really" counts was Pal Vikingstod, he was traded to Minnesota for some more picks in return. (S30 1st Round Pick (MIN), S31 2nd Round Pick (MIN), S33 2nd Round Pick (MIN) and Jonathan Kane. The last trade Portland made was more like - please give us the right to talk with Buster Killington, maybe we could persuade him to come back from retirement. And so the rights were given to Toronto for a S28 3rd Pick (BUF). Thus, the only remaining active veterans were goalie Nikita Nevzorov and defender Hans Ponsen. But Ponsen immediately pronounced that he is going to retire after S28.
Admirals Lost:
Patrick Brumm;
Krysztof Kowalski;
Nikolaus Scholz,
Sven Karlsson;
Pal Vikingstod;
Buster Killington;
For draft day the biggest shock was already processed and Portland's future looked out much better. As already told they had traded for some picks in this draft and they used this picks quit well.
Round 1
1.OV Portland picked - FORFEITED (we recently talked with him, he will come back and win Portland a Challenge Cup :lol: )
10.OV Portland picked (via Edmonton Blizzard) - Kjell Eide - The Prince George Firebirds rookie center had a good SMJHL season.
Round 2
15. OV Portland picked - Rising Hippo - He also had a good season with the Detroit Falcons
22. OV Portland picked (via Los Angeles Panthers, via West Kendall Platoon) - Levi Kubrak - The center from Vancouver had the best stats from all Portland draftees, but he went inactive shortly after the draft.
Round 3
32. OV Portland picked (via Toronto North Stars, via Buffalo Stampede) - Denis Lever - Kelowna's winger was inactive even before the draft started.
The Preseason - or make a virtue of necessity
With trading away a lot of players, many roster spots were empty and so management decided to give some of their prospects the chance to play in the SHL a few years earlier. Therefore they pulled up defender Andris Bukss from Detroit, right wing Alphonse Oduya from Colorado, right wing Riley Mason and left wing Maximilian Wächter from Vancouver and last center Kjell Eide from Price George their top pick from S28 draft. The management had not only decided to give them a chance in the pros, but also top 6 minutes. Everyone had expected that Portland will have no chance and will be cannon fodder. But they were able to convince all of their critic of that it will not be so. Of course, they didn't win many games, but they had shown that they are not helpless.
Season start - or time to test the repaired ship
It was a rough start and seemed that the project would fail. Portland started with a 8 game losing streak. Beating Edmonton in game 9 and Los Angeles in game 10 brought back a little hope for the struggling ship. but then it came back harder and put the Admirals on the sample. An 18 game losing streak isn't a easy situation and could break a team, at this point Portland had 2-26 record. But the teams stands closer together and was able to turn things around. In Game 29 Portland had to travel to Texas and faced the league dominating Renegades. Nikita Nevzorov maybe had his best day in the whole season. He stopped all of the 35 shoots and Portland took home a highly acclaimed 2-0 win. Supported by this victory, they were able to rebalancing their record 11-11 in the last third of the season. What a surprise, in the end they didn't make the playoffs, but they didn't finish last. At this point I want to send a "Thank you" to Buffalo.
Portland stats after the last regular season game 13-31-6, 32 Points, 0,320 win%, 114GF, 178GA. They missed the playoffs by 30 points.
Some stats
Portland's record against the other Teams
Buffalo Stampede 0-1-1 (2GF, 5GA)
Calgary Dragons 1-5-0 (8GF, 19GA)
Edmonton Blizzard 2-4-0 (7GF, 16GA)
Hamilton Steelhawks 0-2-0 (6GF, 13GA)
Los Angeles Panthers 2-4-0 (13GF, 17GA)
Manhattan Rage 1-1-0 (6GF, 8GA)
Minnesota Chiefs 1-1-0 (7GF, 8GA)
New England Wolfpack 0-1-1 (8GF, 11GA)
Seattle Riot 1-5-0 (14GF, 28GA)
Texas Renegades 1-3-2 (14GF, 20GA)
Toronto North Stars 1-1-0 (4GF, 5GA)
West Kendall Platoon 1-1-0 (5GF, 5GA)
Winnipeg Jets 2-2-2 (20GF, 23GA)
Player performance
only the active one
G - Nikita Nevzorov performance +
Nikita is the last active player who remains in the Admirals roster. A good goalie is half the rent. In Portland probably more with so many rookies. Nevzorov knew what lay ahead of him this season. He has done his best and improved his play. First time in 4 years his save percentage was above 0.900, with a 0.911 he finished 7th placed among all other starting goalies. He had to face 1575 shots, no other goalie got more shots than him. Two times in this season nobody was able to beat him, he shutouts the Texas Renegades (2:0) and the Winnipeg Jets (3:0). All in all and compared with the special situation in Portland, Nevzorov did a fantastic job.
D - Andris Bukss performance +
After spending 4 years in the SMJHL, it was time for him to move to the big league. And he was moved into a big role, not only that he get voted to be the team captain, he also had to play big minutes as Portland's only remaining active defender . It was a tough job and not really easy but he developed well. His point output had been good for a rookie. 25 points (3G + 22A) compared with 116 hits and 75 shots blocked he always remained on a top place among the team. His -35 are frightening but not surprising.
C - Kjell Eide performance ++
With only one year experience in the SMJHL, Portland decided that he have to play in the SHL. The young Norwegian did a excellent job. Centering the second line and playing in all special formation are much responsibility for a young man. Eide won the rookie scoring title with 28 points (13G - 15A). He had played 1031 minutes this season that are over 20 min per game, this ranked him second among all forward in Portland. Like all other players in Portland his +/- is negative (-13). He took 1437 face off and won 41,34% of them. That is the worst % of all Portland's centers. He has the potential to be one of Portland's faces and a huge cornerstone for their future.
RW - Riley Mason performance o
He should be sniper for the Portland Admirals, but he never reached the expectations that they put on him. 7 Points aren't that worse for a rookie and is normally a solid first season. On the paper he played in Portland's top line, but it seemed that he never was a part of them. For some reasons his development came to a standstill.
LW - Maximilian Wächter performance +
The Austrian power forward played a solid rookie season. He managed to get 19 points playing alongside Kjell Eide and Thomas Anderson in the second line. His 1041 minutes played put him in first place among the forwards. He also got some ice time in power play (125) and penalty killing (144). Among his 5 goals was no power play goal but one shorthanded goal. His shooting% was terrible, only 4,42% and his hits (87) are quit low for a power forward. If he continues to make such a development as in the last two years, he could become a superstar for Portland.
No more active players left in Portland, so I quit here. I think JP did a great job to lead the team through these stormy times. He made the best of the situation and Portland is now sailing into better times. It was a do or die situation for all the rookies and they all did well. Next year Admiral prospect Rising Hippo will probably join the main squad, he will help that Portland will raise.
Alexander Wachter, RW, S51 Carolina Kraken - Texas Renegades - Winnipeg Aurora Player Page // Update Page
This is great work man. Still hurts to have had to leave the team the way I did, times are dark right now but with the assets you have for the future and guys like you you'll get there eventually!
MP7
1st - S31, 
S28 10th Overall, 
S32 2nd Round Pick,
S30 1st Round Pick,
S28 3rd Round Pick
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