Claimed:North America: Yukon

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NORTH AMERICAN ANALYSIS: YUKON RUSH

by Thor Ludvigsen, VHL.com

 

After a little over a month of writing these articles on the North American teams and the players they have, we come to the end of our little series with a write-up on the Yukon Rush. Last week, we focused on General Manager Brett Slobodzian's boys up in Saskatoon and came to the conclusion that, on paper, they are absolutely one of the best teams in the VHLM, though they lack a scoring punch. Since the posting of that article, they have acquired career minor leaguer Kez Kincaid in the hopes of him adding some offensive prowess to their lineup. He has played just four games for the Wild thus far, but has six points, showing immediate chemistry with their lineup. Hopefully, it is a sign of things to come, as prior to the deal, the vast majority of their offense came from their defense, which is a little odd. If Kincaid works out, look out for Saskatoon to lift the Founder's Cup this season.

 

Anyways, let us turn our attention to the Yukon Rush now. At 31-6-8, the Rush currently sit in fourth place in the North American Conference, 13 points out of a playoff position. Sadly for them, if they were in the European Conference, they would be in first place by 17 points, but life is simply not fair. On paper, the Rush are not all that talented, but that is likely due to some of the trades they have made this season as they became clear "sellers" due to their conference. Early on in the year, they sent talented wingers Mike McGrattan and Kai Randal to the Moscow Red Wolves for a first round pick in Season 41. With the two of them being in the top three of scoring for Moscow, that is certainly a lot of talent to be sent packing. Then, just a few days ago, they dealt Vincenzo Valentini to the Oslo Storm. While he may be a career minor leaguer, Valentini has 147 points on the year, which makes him the second highest scorer in the entire VHLM behind Tyrone Williams of Brampton. After shipping out three offensive powerhouses, what is left in Yukon? Well, the answer is simply; not much.

 

Forwards

This is an offense that could really use the help of Valentini, Randal, and McGrattan, though General Manager Austin Gow's reasons for shipping them all out makes sense. Yukon is not competing this year, so move out their valuable assets in favor of draft picks that can help you win in the future. Unfortunately, it has left them with basically nothing to write home about on offense. Leading the way on paper is Canadian winger Sachimo Zoidberg. With 75 practice hours, Zoidberg is the most developed forward on the roster by a big margin. A good passer, scorer, and skater, Zoidberg has the potential to have all the tools to become very successful in the VHL and has shown flashes of that this season. In just 31 games this year, he has 66 points, a -5 +/-, 75 hits, and 49 blocked shots. While he was not known as a physical player entering the year, he has certainly not shown any fear over using his 6'2", 195 pound frame to his advantage. As of now right now, however, he is not the leading scorer on this Yukon team. That title goes to Season 40 Draft prospect Alexander Adams. With 99 points under his belt this year, Adams was reaping the benefits of playing alongside Valentini. Though he has a lot of promise for the future, he has just 12 practice hours at the moment, so his point production is far higher than expected. With Valentini out of the picture, look for Adams to slow down a bit.

 

Beyond Zoidberg and Adams, the Rush also have right winger Shadhu Rathod Jr., another Season 40 Draft prospect. With 27 practice hours, he is a little bit ahead of Adams in his development, though he is certainly not as talented at this point. While he does have 81 points this year, a -22 +/- is a glaring weakness to his stat line that raises eyebrows about his defensive skill, or lack thereof. Luckily for him, he is young and has time to correct that area of his game. Another member of this Yukon team is a reason acquisition from the Turku Outlaws; Alistair Graves. Another member of the Season 40 Draft class, Graves had 29 points in 22 games with the Outlaws and is a prospect for the future.

 

 

Defense

 

There is only one defenseman on the entire roster, so our discussion of the Rush defense will be brief. The only defender Yukon has is young Canadian Jaime Hill. A Season 40 Draft prospect, Hill has just four practice hours under his belt, which he has used to work on his defensive skill. He is a newer member of the Rush, having played just 10 games so far, during which he has 10 points, a -8, 39 penalty minutes, 43 hits, and 30 blocked shots. While his physicality is impressive, his defensive skill and temperament could certainly use some improvement. Luckily, he has a lot of time to work on that over the course of his career.

 

Goalie

Yukon is one of the few teams have two goalies on their roster, but sadly for them, neither are very good. Finnish goalie Santeri Heikela leads the way for Yukon, but his measly 10 practice hours are indicative of the lack of talent they have in net. He has been the goalie of choice this year, playing in 55 games and putting together a 31-16-8 record. Thus far, he has a .882 save percentage and a 4.91 goals against average, neither of which are very impressive. Behind him is Cologne Express prospect Andrej Hasek. In his short career, Hasek has shown no desire to improve and as such is barely worth even discussing. He has appeared in just one game this season, coming in for a struggling Heikela and playing 25 minutes, during which he gave up one goal and made 27 saves. While impressive, Hasek has no real future in the league and will likely be cut by Cologne and Yukon once they find somebody better.

 

Overall

Overall, Yukon is a young team. They have a lot of youth in their forward core, which will help them compete down the road. The trade of three of their best players in exchange for picks in the Season 41 VHLM Draft will also help, however, the glaring holes on defense and in net will certainly hinder any hopes of turning things around quickly. While they have a lot of young players up front, they need some major help on the back-end and, ideally, will spend much of the Season 41 Draft correcting that.

 

1,147 words

[Da Trifecta 1,899]

Content: 3/3 This was a really big write up. Yukon has been turning heads. This team could be serious contenders with what is already there.

Grammar: 2/2 Just names but can't dock for those

Appearance: 1/1

 

Final: 6/6

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