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Arkz · 04-19-2021, 01:27 AM

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Hello and welcome to the very first edition of the SJHN Power Rankings for S59! After an exciting playoffs, which saw the Quebec City Citadelles emerge as champions, we turn the page to a new season. Several rosters have gone through some serious upheaval and others are returning virtually the same. Our expert panel of people who happened to be active when I solicited rankings have made their thoughts known and we’ve put together a pre-season Power Ranking for your reading pleasure. The below results are based mostly on TPE and pre-season performance, so there will likely be some massive changes by the time we get to the mid-way point of the season. But it will make for some exciting hockey and I can’t wait to enjoy the season with all of you! So, without further ado, let's get to the rankings.

Stats and rankings set prior to the start of the regular season.

12. Anaheim Outlaws

Shuff: Anaheim looks to be entering a rebuild. John Long Donair, who was a menace on the league for his junior career has moved on to LAP. Along with him, they graduate a few other forwards, and just Kaapo Kampainen remains as a 425 capped center. Ryuuji Kawashima, who will likely play this season on the second line, already has enough TPE to be 425 capped next season which is pretty cool. Selkai Walker and Jack Micro are also S59 top picks in the SHL draft, and they could be part of the next great Anaheim core. Sadly, I don’t expect that to happen this season.

Arkz: Anaheim owns this spot as they are rebuilding and, unfortunately for them, in a tougher conference compared to St. Louis or Maine. Last season, Anaheim had the second-worst goal differential, and their anemic offense was the main reason why. If they are able to find some of the same magic that propelled the team in previous seasons, they may be able to claw their way up the rankings and lap their competition from the Atlantic, but it will be an up-hill battle. In the pre-season, Anaheim was near the bottom of the league in goals scored (tied with Quebec), so it's not looking great right now. They’ll have to hope that their new folks grow quickly.

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11. St. Louis Scarecrows

Shuff: St. Louis actually could have a very solid offense for a team buried here at eleven for the second straight season. With Sharp, Hundertwasser, and Davis at the 425 cap as S58 members, it may not go away too soon either. Fedorov and Dobrovsky will help out for this season, giving the Scarecrows a very solid top six with Lebron Brady, a S59 350 capped winger. The issue is the defense, with no 425 players at all. They have 5 players at S59 or younger, so that could turn into a strength by two seasons from now, but the offense will need to hold out until then. In goal Iorek Byrnison is earning well, and at 350 could have a good season.

Arkz: Another season, another low initial ranking for the Scarecrows. I’m not sure what the equivalent of a glass cannon is in hockey, but that was St. Louis last season. They scored 170 goals in the regular season. By comparison, Anchorage, who made the finals, scored 164. The issue for St. Louis, however, was on the other end. They let up the most goals in the league by far at 254 (Anchorage let up 146) and so if they are able to fix this issue they could be a real threat to the mid-card teams in the league. In pre-season, St. Louis kept up their pace from last season, scoring the second-most goals but also letting in the most as well. This should be another season of the Scarecrows putting up a ton of points, but also not doing much to stem the tide at the back end.

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10. Maine Timber

Shuff: Maine is a lot more well-rounded than St. Louis, which is likely why they are ranked ahead of them. (One ranking has Maine at 11 and STL at 10). With a top line of Dogwood Maple, who is coming off of a 40 point campaign, Johnny Tsunami, who is also coming off of a 40 point campaign, and Walter Burke who had 36 points, a top pair of Puddles O’Duck and Sean Gaetz, with Bigga Foryua in net, they can hang with any team for the first shift. After that, they don’t really have any 350 players (just Miguel Hefeweizen, who had 21 points last season), which shows the lack of depth that Maine has.

Arkz: Well last season could have been better for the Timber, but given the spot they were in, it’s hard to see exactly how. A depleted roster scored the fewest goals in the league and let in a ton, leading to the worst differential in the league last season at -105. As Shuff mentioned, there’s some talented players on the roster, but they still need a few more seasons to really rebuild their depth. However, in the preseason, Maine went undefeated, going a perfect 7-0 with the best differential in the league and the fewest goals allowed. No real idea how this is going to go in the regular season, but most likely they’ll be competing with the Scarecrows for last in the Atlantic. Still, I am intrigued to see where they go from here.

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9. Vancouver Whalers

Shuff: Despite a strong Vancouver bias on the voting panel (⅔ of the voters are Vancouver GMs, Vancouver players, or Vancouver alums within the past three seasons), the Whalers end up at nine. They had settled at eight by the end of last season, but losing Valtterri Kauppinen, KnockedOut byOvechkin, Wile Coyote, and Rikki Petrov from the forward group as well as Zebulon Leavitt and Lonnie O'Donoghue from the backend, the Whalers had a lot of work to do in the offseason. They hope that Alexis St. Michel can pick up some of the slack, he had great numbers as a DFA in S57 but couldn’t repeat that in S58. Drafting 5 forwards and 2 defensemen, headlined by NeverBrokeAgain YoungBoy who had connections to Vancouver, the Whalers have a large class and will need to find playing time for all of them. Austin Smith may be moving back to defense to allow for that. Rookie goalie Olaf Karsikkko may play a large role in the season- the last two Vancouver rookie goalies, Name Redacted and Jon St. Ark made the All-Star game.

Arkz: We enter the third season of Vancouver’s rebuild, and the pieces are starting to come together. This season will probably be another one where Vancouver is a middling team, but the pieces are there for next season to start really competing at the highest levels of the league. Still, the Whalers find themselves in an incredibly tough division and a tough conference overall. I think you can probably pencil the Whalers in for last in the North West, but there’s no reason they can’t compete with Nevada for that middle spot in the conference. The real question will be if the new core of Vancouver, and especially Alexis St. Michel (snubbed for ROTY)l, can pick up the offensive slack from their notable departures.

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8. Nevada Battleborn

Arkz: Generally, I think it’s a struggle to rank Nevada. They’ve got some talent on their team and are coming off a mostly successful S58 in which they finished above Colorado in a tiebreaker. Nevada and Colorado will be dueling again this season for the top spot in the South West, which comes with a first round bye for the playoffs. This team has a few more gaps compared to last season’s squad, but I wouldn’t crown Colorado as the kings of the South West just yet. In pre-season, Nevada was their traditional middle-of-the-road selves, going 4-3 but with a somewhat worrying -7 goal differential. I don’t put too much stock in pre-season (and we’ll get to why in a moment), but it will be interesting to see if Nevada is able to keep up their steadiness in S59.

Shuff: God, I never have any idea where to put Nevada. Semi-concerning: All their top players on offense are gone after this season- Rob Wright, Raivo Heimnen, Chad Danger, Kenji Sugimato are all S57 or S56. They hope Noah Jones III can take a big step forward this season. Add to that they could lose on defense Rude Sniff (S57), Grandmaster Funk (S56), and Bane (S56) along with goaltender CK Supernaw (S56), this team could have some serious holes to fill. A rebuild may be coming, if I’m Nevada I may kickstart it by moving some of those players for assets if the team doesn’t get off to a fast start. If they do though, I’d consider buying. Basically, I’m doing something at the deadline/

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7. Anchorage Armada

Arkz: You would have to go all the way back to S54 to find a time when Anchorage wasn’t first or second in the Pacific (then the West) conference. Kelowna is going to own one of those spots this season, so it will be up to Anchorage to see if they can compete with Colorado for the second spot. Overall, it's hard to find a more successful team than Anchorage in the last five or so seasons. They are coming off back-to-back finals appearances (with one Cup to show for their efforts), but this team is starting to show its age. They’ll have some work to do here if they are going to keep up their current run into the next generation.

Shuff: About time we see Anchorage down here, as Arkz mentioned, they have been hanging much closer to the top than I’d like (them being a Vancouver division rival). They have returned their leading scorer, Paul Binder. David S. Pumpkins (25 points), Pablo Salvatici (40 points), Tokkulu Lakkamaa (38 points) are the other 425 players. Their defense in Bean Beanman, Jean-Locke Zidane and Gregory Goodie can easily all be members next season as well, and first overall pick Jay Sink rounds out the top 4. The biggest issue may be the goaltending, Guy Fieri and Toejam Picker will likely split the time in net, but both are very young.

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6. Carolina Kraken

Arkz: Like Vancouver, Carolina is entering the third year of their rebuild. Last season got a bit ugly at times for the Kraken, and they’ll try to right the ship this year. However, that defense is looking pretty good and they’ve got a very capable top-half of their forward corps, and so the expectation is that the Kraken will return to form. In pre-season, they were fairly impressive, going 6-1 and putting together a positive goal differential of +8. The talent is there for the most part and they’ve got a skilled starting goalie, the excuses are starting to run out for Carolina if they don’t improve in S59.

Shuff: I really like the look of their team. They have 3 425 forwards (Lind, Face, Lilja), one over 350 foward (Hellstrom) and 3 350 capped second year forwards (Blixstrom, Ponaire, Ramza). That’s a top six plus one to be scared of. Their defense is good too, 3 425ers (Olson, Murphenstein and Jimmy) and with 350 capped Granny PanPan, they have a very solid top four. Getting a fifth season from Ragnarsson-Tremblay is big as they develop Osada Tamura in net. Six seems like a good place for them to start, but I could easily see them climbing from here.

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5. Quebec City Citadelles

Arkz: The defending champions this season after finally getting over the Anchorage-sized hump in S58. As expected, this team has lost a lot of their talent but it's not an immediate fall from grace. Still, this ranking feels like a nod of respect for the champions more than a reflection of their potential roster this season. I expect Quebec City to be competing with Carolina, and maybe even Maine in the Atlantic, with Detroit and Newfoundland far out of reach. This team had a rough showing in pre-season, going 1-6 and putting together a -9 goal differential. The hangover will probably be real for Quebec City this season but time comes for us all.

Shuff: The roster is very well set up. They have 5 425 forwards (Davenport, Two, Koskinen, Petrov, and Sombreros) and a 350 (Duffy Jr.) to finish up the top 6. 3 425s on defense (Heikkinen, Cloudera Jr. and Petrov) with a 350 (Kappa). What makes them better than Carolina is the goaltending, with Tyler Ward back for his final season. They will try to develop Dekes and Newman behind him for the future. The defense will get worse next season, losing Heikkinen, Cloudera Jr. and Petrov with just Kappa to graduate to 425 and just two rookies (Gardner and Yankovic) who they hope will hit 350 by then.

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4. Colorado Raptors

Arkz: Now we’re getting into the real contenders for conference and league championship hardware by the end of the season. Colorado’s season in S58 was a bit of a mixed bag. They finished behind Nevada in the tiebreaker and finished the season with a -12 goal differential. Still, they come into this season as the most complete team in the Pacific that doesn’t play in Canada, and so now is their chance to separate themselves from the pack somewhat. It will be interesting to see if they are able to give Kelowna a fight for first in the conference, but if they are they are going to need to forget about their preseason. They went 1-5-1 and had the worst goal differential in the league. All eyes are on Colorado this season, lets see if they can deliver.

Shuff: If it ain’t the cursed Raptors themselves. The one thing that jumps out on this team is the depth. After the 3 425 forwards (Blanchet, Kekalainen and Makinen Jr.), they have 6 forwards (Schweigruber, Diamante, Nishimori, Kekkonen, Nystrom, Sotakov) over 320 tpe. It is hard to defend three lines like that. Defense should be good with Sivart, Shimizu-Okoli and McOooh over 425 and McFife at 350. In net, Yanno Rosejac has been a top goalie his entire juniors career, you gotta think he really wants a cup.

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3. Detroit Falcons

Arkz: It's been a steady improvement for Detroit after they were lost in the wasteland from S54 to S56. Since coming in dead last and only winning 13 games in season 56, the Falcons have come in third in back-to-back seasons in the Atlantic, and with quite a gap behind them. They’ve won the South East division for two seasons in a row as well. With Quebec City taking a big step back this season, the door is open for Detroit to potentially move up to the top of the division. They’ll probably win the South East again, but Detroit should have their eyes set higher. They had a decent tune-up in the pre-season, and the race between them and Newfoundland should be one of the highlights in S59.

Shuff: This is where the teams get too good for me to just list the best players. They have 6 425 forwards and 3 350 forwards. That’s a great three lines right there, go try defending that. On defense, they cross 424 with four defenders, the two rookies on the bottom pair can be sheltered.

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2. Newfoundland Berserkers

Arkz: Speaking of the Berserkers, they are the heir apparent for the top team in the Atlantic this season after the graduations for Quebec City. Last season they finished a point up on Detroit and had a much better goal differential on the season. Newfoundland sports one of the most talented defense corps in the league, and the forwards are going to put up a ton of points on the
year. A match between Newfoundland and Kelowna in the playoffs seems destined, and should be the best hockey we see all season. They’ll have Detroit nipping at their heels all season, but Newfoundland has the talent in the locker room and in the coaching bench to make some noise in the playoffs and compete for a cup.

Shuff: I have no idea what Newfoundland is going to do on defense. Why? They have seven defenders over 350 TPE. That’s an incredible deep and talented group that will be the envy of anyone around the league. But don’t think they have no offense either, with 7 players over 399 TPE. The next three are capped at 350. Yes, their fourth line will have a 350 player on it. And with Hugo Gronross in net, they shouldn’t have issues there. Newfoundland has a great team. Again.

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1. Kelowna Knights

Arkz: Unfortunately for Kelowna, due to the peculiarities in the SMJHL seeding, the Knights faced the Citadelles in the semi-finals and fell to the eventual champions. Still, it was a historic season for the knights, where they put up 109 points and had a +118 differential (the champion Citadelles had 98 points and a +111 differential). Fortunately for the Knights, they get a second crack at the cup with this group. The only team that can really compete with them in terms of roster composition right now is going to be Newfoundland, so while another 109 point season may be difficult, there’s no reason this team can’t lead the Pacific again at the end. The team had a fine pre-season, but nothing impressive in their tune up games. It will be interesting to see if this team is as dominant as last season, or if they’ll show more gaps in their armor early.

Shuff: With some great offensive depth (a top 9 all over 400 TPE?), 4 players on defense at the 425 cap and another over 350, this is a deep and very talented team. I’m not sure they know who the sixth defender is yet though, but that shouldn't be too much of an issue.

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And that’s it! Perhaps unsurprisingly, Kelowna leads this ranking but it will be interesting to see who has the top spot in a few short weeks. I can’t wait to see how this season shapes up and who ends up at the top of the league by the end. There are some interesting stories for each team in the league this year and it will be a joy to watch. As always, if you have questions or comments, please reply below and we’ll do our best to address them. Thanks for reading and best of luck to all the teams this season!

Word Count: 3,344. Split between myself and @mee.