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Only about 6 weeks until training camp and the Raiders have signed Moe, Miller and Fonstad and selected Budik, who should report according to the recent Herald article about him.
Now comes the traditional wait for Alan Caldwell to post WHL Team Lists and then we can have a fairly complete picture of who we could see reporting to camp to compete for a roster spot this season.
...barring any pending trades, that is.
-Wapitikev
And my first order of business is to say, unfortunately, that my prediction from July 20th 2014 about the 30-game-legacy-of-slump came true in 2014/15 and the team did not make 70 points and missed the playoffs.
And the rest is history.
This early December slump that lasts for 1/3 of the season (or more) is the single biggest problem plaguing the franchise for the last half-decade.
Certainly, the slump lasted only about 25 games last season, but that is too many to expect a playoff birth without players named Morrissey and Draisaitl.
Habby, Josh and the rest of the boys got themselves up to 0.517 by December 5th, after the team went 0.385 through October. But from the 6th of December to the 7th of February the team was 0.280. Finally in the last 18 games, with Schmidli on the shelf until the last 5 games, the team woke up and started winning again going 0.611 to finish off the season (including an incredible 0.750 for the last 10 games).
So, this coming season, as in the last 5, December will tell the tale.
The team plays their 29th game on December 8th (on the road). If the team goes over 0.500 until game 29 or 30, but takes a nap for the rest of December, then the 1/3 season slump will be underway again and we can kiss the playoffs goodbye unless it is (finally) corrected.
Here's hoping that the players (most of whom are back this fall) developed enough to achieve a pace similar to last season's final 18 games, only over the entire coming season. And, of all the coaches the team has had in over a decade, Habby seems to be the best suited to minimize the team's (now) traditional slump that ended everyone's playoff hopes last year.
In short, I believe the team can do it...I think Marc will have them believing they can as well.
Forewarned is forearmed.
-Wapitikev
Players returning this fall that improved their pts/game throughout last season for the first 29 games, the slump 25 games, and the last 18 games were:
Genarro (broke out of the 1/3 season slump that they were caught in the previous year)
Vanstone (broke out of the 1/3 season slump that they were caught in the previous year)
Riddle
...with honourable mention to Montgomery who fell off by only 0.034pts/gm during the 25 game drought but then tripled his production for the last 18 games.
In addition, Stransky was an extremely steady rookie last year going 0.600, 0.524, and 0.667...while most of the team was slumping Stransk's pace fell by only 3/4 of a point every 10 games from his first 29 game level.
Hard working kids like these are the key to preventing the 1/3 season slump next year.
-Wapitikev
Gardiner(19yo) pts/gm were 152% of the previous season.
Leverton(20yo) pts/gm were 473% of the previous season.
Lees(20yo) pts/gm were 209% of the previous season (190% in PA).
Glover(19yo) pts/gm were 213% of the previous season (192% in PA).
Ghule(18yo) pts/gm were 227% of the previous season.
Gennaro(18yo) pts/gm were 172% of the previous season.
Vanstone(19yo) pts/gm were 195% of the previous season.
Yorke(19yo) pts/gm were 143% of the previous season.
Honorable mention to 6th round draft pick and rookie Sean Montgomery, for a scoring pace after Feb 7th than was 121% of Jake Kryski's during that same span.
What round was Kryski selected in again?
Heh.
-Wapitikev