Active Nighthawks on the Malmo franchise leaderboards

[scoop 3,255]

Playing in his sixth season with Malmo, Jacob Stone is the longest tenured member of the Nighthawks. At the conclusion of this season, he will be tied for the fourth most regular season games for the franchise as one of only seven who have played six seasons with the team. When he joined, the team was in a rebuild, finding its identity. By the end of Season 89, Yaroslav Trunov, who was drafted in S87, was the only one on the Malmo roster who had played more games with the team than Stone.

 

Trunov last played with the Nighthawks in Season 91, meaning that no one remain from Stone's rookie season. He has, however, had some long-time teammates in Ash Sparks, Viktor Jensen, and Reese McFleury. All three joined the team in Season 89 and have been key members of the current era of the Malmo franchise. Along with Stone, these three players have all been climbing up the Nighthawk leaderboards. This season has been particularly eventful in that regard, and in the coming seasons we could see even more significant strides.

 

Reese McFleury

180 assists (13th; 5th among defenders)

244 points (6th among defenders)

611 shots blocked (7th)

 

Although Stone is the longest tenured player of the Nighthawks, McFleury has been with the organization since he was acquired as a prospect via a trade during Season 87. After getting the call in Season 89, McFleury has come to be one of the most prominent defenders in Malmo history. So far this season, he has jumped from 21st to 13th all time in assists. If he continues his current pace, he will eclipse 200 career assists and end up just short of the top ten, but assuming he plays at least one more season with the Nighthawks, he will likely be seventh overall when his time is done. In terms of points by defenders, he is just 20 from moving into fourth, which will undoubtedly happen this season. He is already in the top ten in shots blocked with 611.

 

Viktor Jensen

109 goals (14th)

196 assists (10th)

305 points (10th)

21 game winning goals (7th)

 

Jensen joined the team as the first overall pick in Season 89, though he did not make an immediate impact, he has been consistently putting up better numbers season after season. This season, he has already passed the 100 goal and 300 point milestone, and he will be reaching 200 assists as well. He began the season outside of the top fifteen in all three categories, and could finish inside the top ten. If he continues at his current production, he should be in the top five by the end of his current contract. The gaps at the top do get larger, and it is hard to project just how high he could climb even if he were to play out his entire career with the team, but it is possible that he passes Condor Adrienne's team record of 598 points.

 

Ash Sparks

281 starts (4th)

160 wins (2nd)

20 shutouts (2nd)

 

Sparks began his career as a backup with the Seattle Bears for two seasons before Malmo traded for him to become their starting goaltender of the future. Now in his fifth season with the team, he has just recently moved into second place in wins despite being only fourth in starts. The current record holder is Artem Tretiak, who had 222 wins over an eight-season career as a Nighthawk. If Malmo can remain a top team in the league, Sparks does have a shot at the record, but there are definitely questions about how he will hold up in Season 94, given his age. The shutout record, 26 by Michael Johnson, is also within reach, though not something that I would bet on.

 

Jacob Stone

86 goals (3rd among defenders)

243 assists (6th; 3rd among defenders)

329 points (9th; 3rd among defenders)

783 hits (10th; 4th among defenders)
882 shots blocked (4th)

 

Stone, who aims to be the first nine-season player for the Nighthawks, is already in many of the top ten lists for the franchise. That gives him three and a half seasons remaining to add to his numbers. He will undoubtedly reach second among defenders in all of goals, assists, points, and hits, with only Adrienne standing between him and the top spot. While the top hits spot is unattainable, third overall is very likely. For goals, he would need 70 more to match Adrienne and potentially reach top five overall. The countdown is 199 to the franchise assists record and 269 for points. The possibility is certainly alive for Stone to achieve these two records, though he could also be competing with Jensen, who will have one more season of eligibility after Stone retires. Stone will inevitably take hold of the shots blocked record, which currently stands at 1197 by Viktor Alexei Kamenov.

Edited April 7 by scoop