I am a rookie this season and was curious how us rookies impact teams. In this deep dive I am going to look at two teams from the east that picked up the same number of rookies this season but are having different results. The teams I will be comparing are the Newfoundland Berserkers and Maine Timber. Starting with the Newfoundland Berserkers, who are sitting comfortably in the top half of their conference with 50 points. The berserkers picked up 8 rookies this season and seem to be finding success with their roster. Maine on the other hand also picked up 8 rookies but is sitting at the bottom of their conference with only 18 points. This difference isn’t all in the rookies but these rookies make up almost half of these rosters. 


The Berserkers 8 rookies are:


Samuel Savage - Center -  Samuel was a late pickup for the berserkers and has only played in 16 games. He has no goals but does have 3 assists to his name. In his 16 games he has only taken 11 shots on goal. He currently sits at 196 TPE


Robert Black - Center - Robert has been in all 41 games the berserkers played. With 7 goals and 9 assists he is tied for 2nd in points among the berserker rookies. He has made 54 shots on goal. He currently sits at 227 TPE


Slavakov Vladimirashenko - Right Wing - Slavakov has played in all 41 games the berserkers have played. Slavakov has 3 goals and 9 assists. He has only taken 35 shots on goal which speaks to his accuracy. He currently sits at 230 TPE


Pasta the Turtle - Right Defense - Pasta has played in all 41 games the berserkers have played. Pasta has 1 goal and 3 assists. Pasta has 48 shots on goal so he is less about accuracy and more about sending the puck at the net as often as possible. Pasta has an impressive 78 hits and 39 blocked shots making him the most aggressive of the rookies for the berserkers. Pasta has 251 TPE


Sabarro Torretta - Right Defense - Sabarro has played in all 41 games the berserkers have played. Sabarro has 4 goals and 10 assists. Sabarro has taken 63 shots on goal which is pretty good for a defensemen. Sabarro is also the second most physical rookie with 56 hits. Sabarro has 218 TPE


Aleksandrs Balcers - Left Defense - Aleksandrs has played in all 41 games the berserkers have played. Aleksandrs has 8 goals and 11 assists making him the point leader for the berserkers rookies. Aleksandrs has taken 98 shots on goal making him the shooting leader of the rookies as well. Aleksandrs has 272 TPE


Robert E. O. Speedwagon - Left Wing - Robert has played in all 41 games the berserkers have played. Robert has 3 goals and 13 assists tying him with Robert black for second most points. Robert also has the second most blocked shots with 31. Robert has taken 53 shots on goal. Robert has 262 TPE


Evgeni Petrov - Goalie - Evgeni has played in 14 games for the berserkers as goalie. Evgeni has had 289 shots against him and made 262 saves. He has had 27 goals against him and an average goals against rating of 1.92. He has had 4 shutouts. He currently has 251 TPE


Now let's look at the Timber Rookies:


Edward Stewart - Center - Edward has played in all 42 games this season. He has 1 goal and 3 assists. He has only taken 11 shots on goal. Edward has 155 TPE


Julian Kazarine - Right Wing - Julian has played in all 42 games this season. He has 5 goals and 6 assists. He has taken 52 shots on goal giving him the highest shooting percent of the rookies from Timber. Julian has 248 TPE


Latavuis Jackson - Right Defense - Latavuis has played in all 42 games this season. He has 1 goal and 5 assists. Latavuis has only taken 36 shots on goal. He has 57 hits, the second most of the timber rookies. Latavuis has 174 TPE


Maxime Allard - Center - Maxime has played in all 42 games this season. Maxime has 3 goals and 9 assists giving him the second highest points of the Timber rookies. Maxime has taken 44 shots on goal. Maxime has 218 TPE


Miguel Hefeweizen - Center - Miguel has played in all 42 games this season. He has 4 goals and 7 assists. He has taken 45 shots on goal with the second highest shooting percent of the Timber rookies. Miguel has 255 TPE


Shaq O’Neal - Right Wing - Shaq has played in all 42 games this season. He has 3 goals and 6 assists. He has taken 37 shots on goal. Shaq has 191 TPE


Janne Virtanen - Right Defense - Janne has played in all 42 games this season. Janne has 3 goals and 10 assists leading the Timber rookies in points. Janne also leads the Timber rookies in shots on goal at 61. Janne leads all the rookies on this list for blocked shots at 87. Janne has 231 TPE


Bloody Oath - Goalie - Bloody has played in 14 games as the Timber goalie. Bloody has had 458 shots against him and 418 saves. He has had 40 goals against him and an average goals against rating of 3.97. He has had 1 shutout. He currently has 228 TPE



Evaluation 


Looking at these numbers the Berserker rookies are clearly out performing the Timber rookies. While other players on the team influence some of this performance the real gap is in TPE
Just looking at skaters the Berserkers average 236.5 TPE per player while Timber average 210.29 TPE per player. The Berserkers have 26 more TPE per player on average and that translates to more stats and better game performance. Its unfortunate that Timber drafted a rookie that hasn’t been active and is still sitting at the starting 155 TPE. Meanwhile, the Berserkers mid-season pickup already has 196 TPE and has only played 16 games. This extra TPE can be linked to the Berserkers rookies having more points per player and more shots on goal than the Timber rookies. 


Now looking at the Goalies, there is a difference again in TPE but it's only 23 and while stats help that isn’t a game breaking difference. The stat that stood out to me was in 14 games Bloody Oath had 458 shots against him while Evgeni Petrov only had 289. Even with Bloody saving 156 more shots than Evgeni, because there were so many more shots against blood still had 40 goals against him. 13 more than Evgeni’s 27. 


The Berserker rookies are doing more for their team on average than the Timber rookies. They're getting more points and allowing less goals. Well done Berserkers, you won the draft in this case. 

Approved! +5 TPE @taterswc