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The Minnesota Storm look GOOD


AJW

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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 by ajwllmsn
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