Quebec City Meute

[Victor 10,550]

As it is only their tenth season of existence, it would be understandable if the Quebec City Meute had little history. Yet with five playoff appearances now going on six, including four straight and the Season 35 Continental Cup, the Meute have established themselves as a respectable franchise and easily the most successful VHL expansion team. Naturally, the Season 35 triumph was very influential on the making of this all-time roster, featuring six of the nine cup-winning members, plus the GM. The Quebec City Meute are proud to recognise its first decade in the VHL and hope to participate in many more with matching or superior accomplishments.



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Yuri Grigorenko arrived as a free agent along with Skylar Rift during the Season 33 off-season.  From his first game in Season 34 to his last in Season 37 Grigorenko remained a catalyst for the offense in Quebec. At the time Quebec boasted many two-way forwards in Clifford, Valiq and Kellinger. Grigorenko however was a more pure scorer as he drove the Quebec offense. His 365 points in 288 games for the Meute just furthers that point. He was a leader on and off the ice for the Meute, mentoring the young players such as Doug Clifford and Tomas Valiq. Much like Rift, Grigorenko’s best season came in Season 35 when he put up 113 points in 72 games, good for 50 goals and 63 assists both being career highs. Adding both Grigorenko and Rift in the same off-season turned out to be the perfect storm for Quebec, creating a perfect balance between a strong defense and offense.  That off-season success has extended to new management as well. In the Season 39 off-season now GM Frank Chadwick traded for forward Naomi Young and defenseman Matt Bentley, some could say he is emulating his predecessor. It is still early to tell whether the latter will be as successful as the former.

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The first overall pick of the hyped S33 VHL Entry Draft, Wesley Kellinger may have struggled to live up to such hefty expectations based on career stats and awards, but was nonetheless one of the very top forwards of his generation. For the Quebec City Meute, he was a huge impact player, the essential top line center that any serious cup contender requires. GM Pavel Koradek knew this in S34 and so, having landed a star goaltender (Skylar Rift) and big-name winger (Yuri Grigorenko) in free agency, he shelled out all six of Quebec's picks in the S35 and S36 drafts to land the sophomore Kellinger from Davos. So began a four-year span which would have been superb for any VHL franchise, let alone one which started from scratch in Season 31. It ended after a number of retirements and free agent departures, including that of Kellinger, left the cupboards bare in Season 38, but Kellinger didn't leave before repaying the faith put into him by the great statement of intent which was Quebec's trade for him. There were some initial struggles since Kellinger was after all still young, but thereafter he delivered some team-leading (or close to it) statistics with 100, 99, and 71 points and an elite level 60+% face-off percentage. In his best season until after leaving Quebec, the 100-point Season 35, Kellinger also stepped up in the playoffs with a team-leading 17 points, including a title-clinching hat-trick and assist in a 4-2 victory. Therein lies Wesley Kellinger's impact on the Meute in a nutshell: someone who could lead and make a difference unburdened by the weight of expectations.

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In a straight face-off between Tomas Valiq and Doug Clifford, Doug Clifford earned his way onto the all-time Quebec City Meute top line.

In an off-season where the Meute famously signed two free agents (both on the all-time roster) and gave up two drafts to trade for a center (also on this roster), they also won the S34 draft lottery, the only time they have done so while owning their own pick. It was used on Clifford, another member of an elite player agency on a team featuring many players with well-known agents, who also became and remained the youngest player of Quebec's glory years, thus arguably its lesser known. That is unfortunate for Clifford's career lived and died by the Meute's contending period. Drafted before their first (intentional) playoff appearance, Clifford retired after the end of Quebec's four-season run, of course contributing to the cup win in Season 35 in the process. It is ultimately a shame that Clifford had to retire just as his career was gathering speed, coming off ever-improving offensive totals, approaching the century mark and constantly laying 200+ hits per season. This will be a slot most likely taken up by a player from a future generation on future all-time rosters, but for now Clifford is as deserving to be considered a Quebec legend as any other. Plus, it is only fitting that he would represent GM Frank Chadwick, the Meute's second and to date last GM, on the roster, a significant piece of history and meaning for the franchise.

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No name is more synonymous with the Quebec City Meute than Valiq and no position is more synonymous with the Valiqs than defence. Tomas Valiq was a winger admittedly, but was ultimately the forgotten brother of the trio with the shortest career.

Alexander Valiq was the first ever member to join the Meute with his agent, founding GM Pavel Koradek, and he would follow in his Hall of Fame agent's footsteps. Quebec had to give up a first overall pick in the S31 draft for the second-year defenceman and he definitely proved worthy. Spending the remaining seven seasons of his career with the Meute, Alexander was a lone bright light in the early years of the franchise, putting up 50-goal and 100-point seasons (or close to it) from Season 31 to 33. As the Meute rose to cup contention in Season 34, the eldest Valiq's pace dropped off but he still finished with a VHL record 300 career goals for a defenceman and of course experienced team success on a star-studded roster, claiming the Victory and Continental Cups once and finishing his career with four straight playoff appearances. After just falling short of the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy in his lone season in Riga, individual awards would just slip out of of Alexander's grasp despite being always in the running for the Labatte, but apart from that, it was a career which had everything. It is hardly surprising or coincidental that the end of an era coincided with his retirement in Season 37.

The oldest Valiq blazed the early path for the Meute but they truly became an interesting proposition when top S32 prospect Niklas Valiq forced his way onto the franchise and got his wish by being the team's second overall selection. He debuted in Season 33 and would become Alexander's dependable blue-line partner for the rest of his brother's career, with the two Valiqs often being the only defencemen on the team, including during the Season 35 Continental Cup win. Individual honours bypassed all Valiqs but their individual statistics were still solid and where Niklas lacked in offence (comparably), he made up in physicality, eclipsing 1,000 hits in a career one season shorter than Alexander's. The end of Niklas' career was eerily similar to his brother's, as he became the leader of the Meute amidst retirements and a rebuild, before being shipped off as a rental to the Riga Reign, Alexander Valiq's original team. So came a full cycle on a consistent career and one half of a defensive partnership which will forever be thought of as one much like it will be thought of as a foundation of the Quebec City Meute, a franchise both Valiqs captained.

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The Season 33 off-season brought the Meute the best goalie the franchise had ever seen in Skylar Rift. Skylar signed with the Meute as a free agent during the Season 33 off season, an off-season in which they would also sign forward Yuri Grigorenko. The signing of Rift solidified a position of weakness for Quebec which was lead by VHL journeymen  David Poulin up until that point. Entering Season 34 Rift was not only a number one goalie, he was a goalie capable of carrying a VHL team. With Rift between the pipes Quebec solidified themselves as contenders even with such a young core. Rift would boast over 40 wins in each of his 3 seasons with the Meute, also sporting a stunning .928 save percentage over that period. Skylar Rift’s real claim to fame was his spectacular performance during Season 35. A season in which he not only brought home the Aidan Shaw trophy for top goaltender during the regular season, he also brought home the Daisuke Kanou trophy for playoff MVP. The signing of Rift separated Quebec from Cologne as the best expansion franchise in both team’s early eras.  Skylar Rift’s legacy lives on through to the new era of Meute where young goaltender Brock Waldron is waiting in the wings to take his place in history.

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The Quebec City Meute have had two General Managers and current boss Frank Chadwick, of previous Davos fame, will do well to match the accomplishments of franchise founder Pavel Koradek. In six seasons in charge, Koradek built up one of the VHL's top teams, a cup contender by its fourth season and champion by its fifth. Koradek's management was about being enticing to others and so he brought together the Valiq brothers having had the force of personality to start the movement by bringing in Hall of Famer Alexander Valiq. He was able to land three free agents during his tenure, famously and with a huge impact Skylar Rift and Yuri Grigorenko, but also the under-rated Felix Zamora to fill a roster hole in Season 36. This was done in part due to a willingness to sacrifice assets to gain a reasonable short- to mid-term advantage, as evidenced by the hefty but ultimately worthwhile prices paid for Wesley Kellinger and Miles Larsson, two vital components of the Season 35 Continental Cup victory. Yet while this defined Koradek's tenure and remains the proactive, anti-patient rebuild philosophy of the Meute to this day, perhaps the highlight of his transaction history was a shrewd move for the presumed inactive Roberto Martucci in the very early days of Quebec City's existence. Giving up next to nothing to acquire him, Koradek gained a valuable and cap-friendly member of a future contender and an excellent locker-room member, a perfect example of his GM flexibility and long-term thinking. Without Pavel Koradek at the helm, the Meute would never have been able to make such a seamless transition from expansion franchise to staple of the VHL.

[sterling 1,990]

Pretty good

[Frank 4,777]

Pretty good

 

Fucking amazing more like it. 

[Phil 5,017]

Nice write ups here. Sigs look good too

[Jala 922]

I really like this one, well done!

[Devise 4,475]

Sigs look great, layout looks great. Fantastic job.

 

ALSO DEAR GOD I HAVE A PLAYER FEATURED ON THIS SOMEWHERE! Thank god for expansion franchises with limited history.  

[Kesler 1,514]

Sigs look great, layout looks great. Fantastic job.

 

ALSO DEAR GOD I HAVE A PLAYER FEATURED ON THIS SOMEWHERE! Thank god for expansion franchises with limited history.

We were considering putting Poulin over Rift.

 

And fuck yeah best team PT.

[JardyB10 4,834]

I didn't help so I'm proud of y'all for this one.

[Knight 1,221]

Good stuff boys. Nice write-ups