Players to Watch: Steel Edition

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The Junior Showcase Tournament is underway! Through the first 2 days of sims, the Steel and Royals look to be the clear favourites this tournament, both teams only dropping one game so far. The Steel dropped their one game in a shootout against the Warriors, and the Royals lost their game in regulation to the Steel.

 

Now that we’re caught up, let’s talk about the Steel in depth. As the General Manager, I’m uniquely qualified to discuss what makes the Steel work so well as a team. So, let’s take a look at 2 of the top players in each area for the Steel!

 

1. Viktor Jensen - Center

 

I can’t talk about the Steel without first talking about captain Viktor Jensen. Through the first 6 games, Jensen holds a hefty statline of 6-9–15. Jensen plays on the first line, the first powerplay unit, and the first penalty killing unit. He’s the type of center that teams want to build their teams around, and getting the first overall pick was a lock to pick Jensen. Jensen is the player I trust to outskill the opponent and decimate defenses, and he’s exemplified that already.

 

2. Shubham Anand - Right Wing

 

Anand was an absolute steal as pick 20. I’m only slightly affected by bias when I say I think he’s the top offensive winger in the tournament. Anand had a 5 point game against Team Clue, and he’s rolling with a statline of 3-9–12 in 6 games. Anand is one of two players I’m double shifting, and I’m yet to see a negative to it. He’s elite offensively, and I have him on the ice for tight defensive games. Anand is a reliable player overall, and he’s only going to go up from here now that he’s capped out on TPE.

 

3. Marty Byrd - Defenseman

 

Forwards are the guys that get a lot of the credit, but no championship team is complete without an elite defenseman. Byrd does a lot of that for the Steel, absolutely laying the body with 15 hits over the last 6 games. He also leads all defensemen in scoring, with a statline of 4-5–9. Byrd is one of our assistant captains, and he’s a great 2-way D with a lot of promise in this tournament. We took Byrd with pick 10, and I suspect a lot of teams will regret letting him fall to the Steel in the draft.

 

4. Reginald the Dodo - Defenseman

 

On the topic of defensemen, how about one of the top 5 defenseman in the whole draft? Reginald was our 11th pick in the draft, and despite not showing out offensively, he’s been integral to the team’s defensive play. Reginald leads our team in shots blocked with 12. Averaging 2 shots blocked per game is likely a reason that we’re able to win the games that come down to the wire, and Reginald’s defensive prowess is what we picked him for.

 

5. Ryan Artyomov - Goaltender

 

We’ve only got one goaltender, unlike most of the other teams, but when it’s Artyomov in net, we don’t need a backup. Artyomov has faced the most shots of any starting goalie with 131, boasting a solid 117 saves. Artyomov has backstopped us to 5 wins, making him the winningest goalie in the tournament so far. Artyomov has the best GAA and SV% of all starters so far, boasting a 2.27 and .893 respectively. Artyomov was a gem to pick up with pick 21.

 

And there you have it, a quick analysis of some of the Steel’s top players on the roster. There are players that weren’t talked about, but the Steel is a deep team with talent in every position waiting in the wings to run the tournament. Go Steel!

 

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