9. One Step Closer

As much as I would like to say Montreal is the most likely of the teams who have not won during the FHM era to get over the line, I think the most likely candidate is probably going to be the Tampa Bay Barracuda in my mind. I don't know what it is about them, but I think they're very close to getting there with the pieces that they have and they are maybe an addition or two plus a couple seasons of growth from being able to be considered one of the very best teams in the league. Some players like Johnny Wagner-Svensson and Benson Fiorentini are stars already, and they have some great young talent like Dag-Otto Bjorntast who is one of the brightest young talents in the league at this moment in time. I think with the base that they've got another round of prospects being called up and maybe a big name addition in free agency or via the trade market could be enough to really get them the rest of the way. Like I said, my heart would love to believe that Montreal are next up but I think we are still a fair few seasons away, while the Barracuda are one of those franchises that really don't need to do too much to get themselves their first cup in the FHM era.



11. One Season Closer to Retirement

I think the message coming from this season is that it was okay. I had higher hopes on an individual basis for Emil; given that there was not much likelihood for success on a team level, I hoped that his achievements as a player would go some way to making up for that, with my main goal for him to be a point per game player as a sophomore in the SHL. Sadly, he fell a long way short of this, posting 19 goals and 31 assists for a total of 50 points. Hitting 50 points in his second season isn't a bad total, but it's not quite the level of success I was dreaming of and so we're just going to have to hope for a better return next season. The likelihood is that he should be able to post a better points total given the TPE gains and improvements in his teammates, but the SHL is certainly not a league of guarantees. I still don't think Montreal are quite ready to really compete for a playoff spot, so it's likely that success will be focused on an individual basis for at least this season, but who knows, maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised! The Patriotes are calling up a load of great rookies from their prospect pool, so it could certainly be the case that we're able to improve on what we did in the last couple of seasons and find ourselves with a spot in the postseason.


8/8