CowboyinAmerica

The options may be running out for Minot Gladiators goaltender Hans Wingate as he looks towards the VHL. Yesterday, the Calgary Wranglers traded for Oslo goalie Coca Cola, and he may be up in the VHL next year. Riga may very well be focused on a GM goalie in the S44 class. Stockholm has enough goalies to play with a full squad of netminders. Barring a surprise free agency move, Seattle has Mikaelson set in stone. But one team with a potential lottery pick (based on the current standings) hasn't been much talked about in terms of the draft, partially because they haven’t had a high selection in one for a couple of seasons: What about the Toronto Legion? Management expected the Legion to be a playoff team before the season started, but this year so far hasn’t exactly turned out as planned. Be it a tough early schedule, the young players not progressing as hoped, or the loss of Devin Sundberg, Toronto currently sits with 30 points, last in the North American Conference. Seattle has struggled recently after a hot start, but even so, it may be tough for Toronto to claw its way back into the playoff picture without some serious help. Luckily, however, the team does hold its own pick, unlike fellow disappointments in Cologne and Davos. So, what could they do with it if they managed to win the lottery with their 25 percent odds? To me, it’s an intriguing question for three main reasons: 1. A hole in goal Fedir Okranitz is alive, at least. His brief stay on the practice ice, moving up to 267 TPE in the wee hours of Monday morning, proves that much at least. Still, for a former fifth overall pick who was at least supposed to keep first selection Niklas Mikaelson in relatively close range, his incremental growth has to be a letdown. His production, meanwhile, hasn’t been much better – with a .907 save percentage, Okranitz tops only rookie Callum Sinclair, and the faceless CAL G1 (aka not the Hall of Famer) and RIG G, in the category. His 2.44 goals against average only looks solid by virtue of facing the second-least shots in the league. Would Wingate be much better? Probably not immediately. In his first season, Toronto would likely expect similar numbers to Okranitz’s Season 42 figures, which could be a deadly sum for a team already straddling the border of playoff contention. However, Wingate presents a higher upside for the season; he could certainly flame out, but he also presents a higher chance of improving more steadily as the season goes on, especially as it becomes closer to playoff time. 2. Is that what they want? Whether the Legion draft Hans Wingate could be decided by a Season 40 defenseman. Sound unreasonable? It may not be. One of the three franchise cornerstones from Season 40, along with Sachimo Zoidberg and Tyler Cote, Jerrick Poole is currently not under contract for Season 43, and he has already made clear that he is at least thinking about testing the free agent waters. Regardless of what happens with Toronto the rest of this season or in the draft lottery, that fact should scare Legion fans. But if the team does somehow end up with the first overall pick, the intrigue ratchets up to 11. What would Toronto do if Poole decided to leave pre-draft? A player such as Wingate may help; a player such as Francis York Morgan may be a suitable replacement in time. However, three star players does not a championship team make. It’s entirely conceivable, in that instance, that Toronto would proceed to blow things up and get back assets while they still have players to trade. In that case, Wingate may not end up with one of the expected teams at all. If Toronto did decide to trade the first pick, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see a team with prime players but an aging goaltender, such as New York or Cologne, make a play. 3. Playing the cap If Toronto did decide to go after Wingate, however, the move would make sense in one underrated way: the salary cap. As already explained, Zoidberg, Cote and Poole will be entering their fourth seasons in the league. That means that, by virtue of prime contracts, Toronto is about to be hit hard if it keeps all three. Assuming Zoidberg and Cote each hit 600 TPE by the start of next season, each of those three players will receive $4.5 million minimum for the next three seasons. Couple that with an expected hold on Fjorsstrom and Wahl, plus others, and Toronto could be in cap trouble quickly. Having a rookie goaltender, though, starts to alleviate some of those worries. The entirety of the three stars’ time on prime contracts, Hans Wingate will still be on a rookie deal. Wingate will not begin to be paid heavily until Season 46 – when the Toronto Trio are entering their seventh seasons in the league and are moving into prime deals. Investing now in a younger goalie (Barnstormer or Rengel if not Wingate) could be one way to circumvent that issue. Don't be sad. There may be hope coming!

Mom didn't like sports, so I picked teams/players that I liked at the time. That's about the only way to become a Cowboys/Braves/Jazz fan (never really paid much attention to hockey when younger but caught Blackhawks fever after moving to Chicago). By the time my uncle/cousins figured out what happened, it was too late. Say what you want, but I've stuck with them through the good and bad.

As a Cowboys fan who grew up in Eagles country, my Twitter and Facebook feeds are just about the best thing ever right now.

Don't worry, Braves will race you to the bottom. And you can console yourself with... Sam Bradford?

Stroman was my single favorite player I watched on Cape Cod during my two summers there. Really feeling for Jays fans, was super excited for him.

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Hans Wingate voted for secession, FWIW.

Might as well grade this now. Content: 3/3 - You did some research, I guess. And people seem to like it so... Grammar: 2/2 - Just one small thing was apart of the = was a part of the Presentation: 1/1 - Nailed it. Total: 6/6

Excellent article. I'm actually surprised that there are so many considering that the once-every-three-years schedule now means most guys only get 2-3 shots at each World Cups and Super Cups.

Content: 3/3 - Liked the breakdown of how the season is going so far. Quebec certainly has a number of weapons, and I figure that you guys have to be the favorites as of right now. Grammar: 2/2 - Just small stuff. One team that many didn't think were going to do this well at this point are = One team... was... is more easier = just plain "easier" is correct Presentation: 1/1 - Good by me. Total: 6/6

OhOKfineIseehowitis. I hope Cologne would be happy to get me in the second round...

Content: 3/3 - Gotta love giving back to the fans. I enjoyed the article, thought it was a good concept. Grammar: 2/2 - The main thing I noticed was some oddness with quotation marks. There doesn't need to be a space after the mark to start a quote, but there does after the mark to end a quote. (And all punctuation should be inside the quotation mark.) better, it was = better; it was (a few of these, just try to avoid run-on sentences) all the question = all the questions a outdoor = an outdoor there favorite players = their favorite players Presentation: 1/1 - Good by me, even if the font changes kind of confused me. Total: 6/6

I'm just waiting for you to win the lottery with either your own or Davos' pick. It's bound to happen. All the goalies to Stockholm!

I feel like goalies will be fine. The three S36 goalies will retire in the next season or two, then Olynick (S37) and Waldron (S38) soon. Then, the only fully active goalies for the five classes between S39 and S43 are Mikaelsson, Sinclair, Campbell and myself - then Kyle, Jericho and maybe Mook as part-time/welfare guys. There's gonna be space for everyone, barring hardcore GM recreation at the position.

It's simmed at the same time Jardy/Higgins does the VHL games. The simmer will typically do 3-4 sim days per one real life day per this schedule. Gotta refresh for any page you've previously visited.

Don't worry guys, just about ready for the game to start! Give me one second...