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Star Hamilton Prospect Gabe Johnson Gives Thoughts on Off-Season
#1

As the puck nears dropping for the opening of S49 in both the SHL and the SMJHL, this off-season has had no shortage of excitement, and no team has generated more off-season excitement than the Hamilton Steelhawks, who made two giant moves this summer, one of which happened very recently.

Interview So Gabe, we'll start with the easy questions. Preseason saw you finish as the Armada's top scorer, with 39 points in 50 games. Do you feel you're ready to break out this season?

GJ: Definitely. I feel like this is my season where I finally break out, and I show Hamilton that I'm a good top-4 option next season. I have to be at my best if I'm gonna win a cup in my last season in Anchorage.

Interview How do you feel about the Armada's cup chances?

GJ: Great. The team is so strong this season, and we have great chemistry on the ice. Anything can happen of course, but I feel like our team got significantly better from last season overall except maybe in nets, because you can't replace [Peter] Larson. I feel very optimistic.

Interview So it's obviously no secret that you'll be going up to the Hamilton Steelhawks, and supposedly you were considering going up this summer, even. How excited are you about playing in the SHL next season?

GJ: Very excited. Hamilton has a great project going right now with so many young guys who are going to be huge for the team.  I think the moves made this summer showed a lot of initiative towards building a great team in a few seasons and I'm looking forward to seeing how that plays out for us.

Interview So one of the big moves Hamilton made this off-season was signing Jax Duggan via the first ever SHL offer sheet signing, giving him 15 million this season. What are your thoughts about this move, which many perceive as being too high a price to pay for him?

GJ: I think that it's a fantastic deal. With this move we pick up a guy who is a perfect fit for our locker room, and also a great defenceman for the future. And lots of people just look at the 15 million and lose their minds, but the actual structure of the contract is the important part. Yeah he's making 15 this season, but he only makes 2 for the other 2 seasons, so the annual value is still just over 6 million, which is perfectly fine. And some people have been saying "why not just sign high-profile free agents with that money instead?" and it's just because we're not a contending team anyway. We weren't going to splurge on big name free agents while in the process of a semi-rebuild, because our team probably wouldn't be good enough regardless. Basically, I don't really care about the fact that that Reddit first we gave up could be a better player than Jax, because with that deal we got a great player and great personality added to the team. Although it's not great that he's a defenceman though because I'm pushed down the depth chart enough as is...

Interview the other gigantic move Hamilton made happened just yesterday, of course, with star young blueliners Anastasia O'Koivu and Nikolai Evans being dealt to Tampa Bay in a blockbuster deal for a bunch of picks and Akashi SixNine. What're your thoughts on that situation?

GJ: This was a very sad situation that I'm honestly disappointed came to this. We all liked both of them in the locker room as both players and people, so it was disappointing to know that they wanted out. I'm not sure about others on the team, but I was totally blind to any discontent from them, so the trade really caught me off guard. That being said, you can hardly complain with the return, which lots of people agree on being an overpay by Tampa. With these picks we get some reddit picks to compensate for not having our own reddit firsts and seconds, and it gives us the opportunity in the draft to pick up a few more solid prospects. In Akashi we also get a phenomenal young player who can easily have as big a career as Evans or O'Koivu, and he's the big piece in this trade for me. It's really sad to lose two players that we banked so much on being the future of the team by taking them first and second overall, but that's the way things go and I'm at least satisfied we made someone pay up big for them. I also wish them the best in Tampa, and don't hold a grudge over this situation.

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Yes, those last two are just my personal thoughts put into an interview format lmao

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Around 800 words, ready for grading

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#2

ahh yes despacito indeed

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#3

08-08-2019, 12:49 PMWannabeFinn Wrote: ahh yes despacito indeed

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#4

:Steelhawks:

Akashi SixNine Jr. Updates

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#5

Calling yourself a star

Literal boomcheck over here

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UsaScarecrowsBlizzardSpecters | [Image: specterspp.png][Image: spectersupdate.png] | TimberArmadaSpectersFinland

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#6

08-08-2019, 02:46 PMSlashACM Wrote: Calling yourself a star

Literal boomcheck over here

I am simply a media company reporting news idk what you mean Ninja

[Image: Gabe-lights.png]
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#7

08-08-2019, 04:27 PMGwdjohnson Wrote:
08-08-2019, 02:46 PMSlashACM Wrote: Calling yourself a star

Literal boomcheck over here

I am simply a media company reporting news idk what you mean  Ninja

Anchorage sucks

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UsaScarecrowsBlizzardSpecters | [Image: specterspp.png][Image: spectersupdate.png] | TimberArmadaSpectersFinland

[Image: cainbanner_35.jpg]
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#8

"star"

[img=0x0]https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/glswenson.gif[/img]
      
[img=0x0]https://sig.grumpybumpers.com/host/agentchadjohnson.gif[/img]
                

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