The Minnesota Storm look GOOD

[AJW 2,155]

Since I have been covering VSN writing for the VHLM this season, I have been able to keep up with the teams even though my player is not in the M. It is really fun to be up to date with both leagues and one team recently has caught my eye, the Minnesota Storm. All season long through my power rankings Minnesota has been stuck at 3rd behind Ottawa and Yukon but I believe that could change very soon. Don't get me wrong, Ottawa and Yukon are both very strong teams but I believe @Laine has made some really good moves over the past two weeks and built his squad to be scary good.

 

First of all, before getting to the players, this is how Minnesota matches up against all teams in the VHLM: 

 

	Halifax	Houston	Las Vegas	Mexico City	Miami	Minnesota	Mississauga	Ottawa	Philadelphia	San Diego	Saskatoon	Yukon
Minnesota	6 - 0 - 1	3 - 0 - 0	3 - 1 - 1	2 - 2 - 0	4 - 0 - 0		4 - 0 - 0	2 - 3 - 1	4 - 2 - 1	2 - 0 - 0	4 - 0 - 0	0 - 2 - 1

 

As you can see Minnesota has been successful against all teams in the league except for Ottawa and Yukon, the two top teams. BUT, those two teams haven't been improving their roster like the Storm have lately.

 

Adds and Drops this season:

 

Minnesota	Yukon	Ottawa
Adds	Drops
(D) Jyuunya P.O. Desu - TPA: 200	(G) Wiley Blanchette - TPA: 83
(G) Pekka Grubauer - TPA: 200	(LW) Oskar Kiprusoff - TPA: 99
(RW) Nils Godlander - TPA: 200	(D) cube whale - TPA: 136
(LW) James G. Dropper - TPA: 200
(RW) Zakary Delisle - TPA: 193
(D Nikita Eklund - TPA: 156

 

 

The Storm acquired FOUR maxed out players ranging almost all positions. They did give up goaltender Wiley Blanchette but in return grabbed Pekka Grubauer @Tendy from the Aces who has been playing unbelievably good. While in Las Vegas, Grubauer lead the league in SV% and sat in the top 3 for GAA. As well, they added three extremely strong wingers in Nils Godlander @Moon_50 and James Glove Dropper @Jamomayo from Houston, and Zakary Delisle @Zakary Delisle from Philadelphia. Godlander and Dropper both had 93 and 94 points with Houston and Delisle had just over a point per game with Philadelphia. Lastly, the Storm also solved the puzzle of their blue line with adding defenceman Jyuunya Pureya Oneri Desu @Guriinwoodo from San Diego. Desu puts up more than a point per game with the Storm as they have already played 19 games with the squad. Desu and Grubauer were huge pickups as the Storm has weak defence and had a very underdeveloped goaltender. These five players will make an extremely massive impact and help lead Minnesota to a deep playoff run guaranteed. 

 

Another stat I wanted to add is the average TPA between the top three teams; Minnesota, Ottawa, and Yukon: 

 

	AVG TPA FWD	AVG TPA DEF	GOALIE TPA
Minnesota	165.8	125	200
Ottawa	137.2	143	200
Yukon	144.4	169.4	95

 

 

Looking at the averages of forwards Minnesota wins by a mile, and it is not because they only have a couple forwards on their roster, they have 10. If you take away their weakest forward, TPA = 68, the average of their nine best forwards jumps to 176.6. That is insane as the top three forward lines will have majority of playing time anyways. Now if you look at the average defensive TPA that is where the storm rank last, but in my opinion this does not matter. With such strong depth from up front and having the best goaltender in the league with Grubauer, the defence should barely have to do their jobs as you have a brick wall between the pipes and a top 9 forward squad who can all score. 

 

I really do believe Minnesota is a team to watch out for and Yukon and Ottawa should be ready for a very competitive series when they meet up with the Storm in the playoffs.

Edited October 18, 2021 by ajwllmsn

[Moon 575]

Go Storm Go!!! Love the article!

One thing, you made me use light mode Smh...

[AJW 2,155]

1 minute ago, Moon_50 said:

Go Storm Go!!! Love the article!

One thing, you made me use light mode Smh...

Haha my bad