This is going to be part media, part getting some things off my chest. This is not meant to be inflammatory, but usually when one says that it ends up being exactly that. It is what it is. It’s also a bit of a ramble... sorry about that.
I think it’s safe to say that Season 48 was a surprise bordering on being an anomaly when it comes to the Barracuda’s success. The S48 playoffs as well as their performance this season make it hard to argue against that statement. The Barracuda won 28 games last season. Three other teams won 29 games or more - West Kendall, Winnipeg and New Orleans. All finished below Tampa Bay in points totals. The deciding factor? Overtime Losses. All three of those aforementioned teams lost 5 or less games in overtime. Tampa made it to overtime and ultimately lost 10 times. Those 5 extra games in which Tampa held on until overtime ended up being the difference between a President’s Trophy winner and *just* a playoff team. This isn’t a call to abolish the extra point from overtime losses, just an interesting fact behind how Tampa won the President’s.
Some other notes:
- Tampa Bay was the league leader in Goals For and Goals For / Against last season. They averaged nearly 4 goals a game and scored 25% more goals than allowed all year. Their Goals Against was just slightly over 3. This tells us that Tampa adopted the “a good Defense is an even better Offense” strategy. It can work with some lineups - I’ve had success using this before - and it definitely worked with the S48 Barracuda.
- Special Teams for Tampa last season was Not. Great. The Powerplay only converted 21% of the time (below average) and the Penalty Kill was second worse in the league at 73.64%. PP + PK was third worst in the league at 94.66% (Rule of thumb is 100% or more is good). This isn’t a strict indicator of a teams success. Case in point - the eventual S48 champs Buffalo had the worst Powerplay in the league at 15.33% and a below average PK at 75.69%. They had the worst PP + PK at 91%.
- Tampa’s Shot For / Against was 11th in the league at 96.31%. Their Shots For was 5th in the league at 32.92% and their Shots Against was the worst in the league with 34.18%. Whenever they weren’t peppering the opposing goaltender with shots, they were relying on Ben Blue to hold the fort. In contrast, Buffalo was near the top in Shots For and Against.
- Tampa was among the most physical teams in the league. They averaged 20.34 hits per game - third most in the league. This may explain the poor PK % - I haven’t looked into this however.
- Tampa’s FO% was just about near the bottom of the league at 47.67%. Faceoffs win championships. I wish I had noticed this sooner and pumped AA’s FO to help mitigate this weakness.
So, we’ve established that Tampa’s performance was unsustainable. That sucks! But it’s true. They are going to be great for a long time with the players coming through the pipeline (shoutout to Manto who’s about to smash the SMJHL SO record), but they aren’t at the championship level yet. On to Andani.
The Specters.
The trade from New Orleans to Tampa wasn’t unexpected, but also wasn’t expected at the time it happened. Let me explain.
Due to New Orleans’ depth, Alex Andani was a third liner in their system. I wasn’t crazy active during my time with the Specters, but still bought into their system with the hopes of winning a championship with the expansion franchise. That didn’t happen, I got busy with real life again, and went inactive. I did make a build change during my time with the Specters, converting Andani to a scorer from a playmaker, which has finally paid off during his time with the Barracuda. But in the Specters system, despite the tests saying that a scoring center would produce, it didn’t happen. This lack of production did affect my activity level with the Specters. Why continue to spend the time on a player that isn’t producing? This was my mind frame at the time. Is it sound? Maybe, maybe not. Anyways. I wish I was able to overlook the lack of playing time and production with New Orleans. I greatly respect Joe K and the way he handled my situation. He could have held onto Andani until I gave up and retired or just reached free agency. He remained in contact throughout my time with New Orleans, encouraged me to continue to improve Andani without demanding an update and counselled me when I was on the brink of retirement. I’m making this sound like a bigger deal than it was, but I really appreciated the thought he put into this game we all play. Much respect.
The trade to Tampa.
During my time with New Orleans, UncleLeo and jcfbey were acquired by Tampa Bay. JSS is someone I have GM’d in the past and got along with well. He’s a solid dude with a good head on his shoulders. He knows what he’s doing. He was well aware of the connection between jcfbey, UncleLeo and myself. Do I think their acquisitions was a ploy to entice me to sign with Tampa? No, because AA is dogshit anyways (lol). I noticed though, and Tampa immediately became a very enticing location to look at once my contract with New Orleans was up. I had done my research on the team, and knew they were hurting up the middle. New Orleans had expendable depth up the middle. A trade between the two could easily be mutually beneficial. But you can see how playing trade matchmaker when your player is in the mix can be seen as tampering. So I continued with Nola.
Then the trade happened. And I don’t know who made it happen. And it doesn’t matter.
Andani immediately because a Top 6 forward with a young Barracuda squad with a chance to shine in a system that was quickly becoming one of the best in the league. Due to all the young active prospects, Andani’s time as the top center on the team would be limited. 1-3 seasons max. And I was perfectly ok with that. Having a chance to finally contribute meaningfully reinvigorated my interest in the league. And boy did Andani contribute. I didn’t expect the production but I’m also not surprised. The build made sense for decent production. I didn’t expect to be near the top of center production for most of Season 48 though. I got to thinking of MVP around the mid-way mark of the season, but ultimately the Most Improved Player award was very much appreciated. Sure I acted a bit cynical in the Awards thread, but can you blame me with the way these things go sometimes? I try not to get my hopes up.
Season 49.
So this season hasn’t been great for me or the Barracuda. The team performance has fallen back to earth, Andani is still producing, but I’m starting to question my spot with the team moving forward. Kholin and Klaus are coming for the 1st line Center position and Andani is slowing down as regression is closing in after the end of next season. Andani’s contract is also coming due at the end of this season. So a decision has to be made: continue with Tampa and fight for a Top 6 role with two players that are all but certain to eclipse Andani or look for opportunity elsewhere? The competitiveness in me wants to fight the Youngbloods off and hold on to the top line role that’s taken 7 seasons to get. But I’m conflicted.
It’s become clear that I don’t get along with some people in the Barracuda locker room. I know, shocker. It’s not all rainbows and lollipops in the sunshine state.
I refer to the PenKnight drama as the catalyst to this unrest between myself and the Barracuda locker room. I ultimately made a false assumption, but there is now a noticeable divide between myself and certain players on the Barracuda when it comes to current events. Take that as you will. Simply put, I cannot see myself with the Barracuda moving forward.
For the sake of not getting banned, or torpedoing what the Barracuda has going for them, I have made the decision to not re-sign with Tampa Bay and enter Free Agency at the conclusion of Season 49.
I’m disappointed it’s gotten to this point. I also know this might hurt my prospects heading into Free Agency for the first time in Andani’s career. But this is best move for myself and Tampa Bay. It’s clear I will not mesh with the team and it’s best to move on before it gets any worse. I am disappointed I am leaving the two people I longed to play with in the SHL, but this is the best move for me. I may retire, I may continue on with Andani... it all depends on how the rest of this season and free agency goes.
Like I said, I wanted to get this off my chest. And it was probably a bit of a ramble. But I’m content with this decision and excited for what the future holds. Both with the Barracuda for the remainder of this season and moving forward.
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