Things Heat Up in the Windy City as Training Camp is Under Way

[fromtheinside 1,289]

For some it may feel like ages, ago , but for the Chicago Phoenix, their conference semi-final loss still feels like an open wound. If there was any solace in their defeat, it was that the Seattle Bears did in fact go on to capture the the league title. So if you are a glass-half-full kind of person, there's a silver lining in knowing that the club lost to the absolute best the league had to offer. And furthermore, the Phoenix had outperformed their expectations by leaps and bounds. The team was coming off of one of the worst seasons in franchise history, but its young crop of rookie talent arrived and delivered a season full of memories and optimism for the future. As a token of the season's success, defenseman Bo Johansson was voted as rookie of the year which is a nice feather in his cap to start his career.

 

Now the focus shifts to this upcoming season, and fans got their first glimpse of club this week when training camp opened. In the offseason, the Phoenix made a seismic acquisition by trading their first round pick in next year's draft to Prague in exchange for veteran winger Big Bob. Bob will bring some much needed depth up front to Chicago's top-six. With this addition, Chicago should be able to roll two legitimately dangerous scoring lines for opposing teams to have to deal with this season. The other area of need was goaltending, as the spot became open this offseason. As of earlier this week though, Chicago and Prague got together once again and Prague secured a Season 86 second round pick in exchange for Red Gaming. Red Gaming should stabilize the team between the pipes for the time being. 

 

The team has looked sharped during their intra-squad scrimmages and drills thus far. The one problem with the great season they had last year was that now their are definitely higher expectations going forward. While the Phoenix are definitely trending upwards and in the right direction, it's important to note that the team is still not fully complete quite yet. The team lacks some depth that is needed to set them apart from the other bottom-to-mid tier teams in the league. While the European Conference still is largely considered the dominant of the two conferences, some teams in North America continue to make strides as well. Both Vancouver and Los Angeles will be better this season as they continue to rebuild after both being dominant teams for quite a long stretch previously. I could see either of them playing the "Chicago" role this season and potentially surprise some people. Meanwhile, the New York Americans continue to make strides to make their team better as well. 

 

We are only about a week and a half out from puck drop on the new season though, so there's still lots of time to get your tickets for the home opener! We are certainly going to be in store for another exciting season of Chicago Phoenix hockey! See you at the arena!