Claimed: Sit down with Feddy [1/2]

[Banackock 7,673]

Aleksei Federov has been one of Seattle's key players since he was drafted by the organization a few seasons back. At the start of his tenure with the Bears, he was alone in terms of talent and safe to say struggled to perform like so many expected him to do. However, as the years went on, he continued to progress and fortunately for him and the team, the team followed suit adding quite a few weapons of mass destruction (I mean, Seattle is in the USA so it makes sense, right?). Since those days, he's seen bigger and better times climaxing around the point per game range and being a huge force to be reckoned with out on the ice. One concern that may come, despite how great he seems on paper and how strong of a player he truly is, he may have hit his wall when it comes to points. This is our feelings with him remaining as a Bear anyway. We feel as though he would have a much stronger impact elsewhere - and by impact, we mean on himself. He plays a hell of a game in Seattle, however, we feel like he doesn't have enough help on the blue-line and this in fact negatively affects him every single game. Himself and Jokinen this season are carrying such a huge load that it may be too much to do so in the longer stretch of things.

 

Either way, Federov has started the season off on a fairly positive note. He has 13 points in 17 games and 4 of those points were dingers that lit the lamp red. He's also managed over 32 minutes a game which is absolutely crazy and has had a huge impact on the team - even if his offensive numbers don't show it. He logs huge minutes of special teams every single night and plays an all round solid game. For that, and with the help of the rest of the boys, the Bears have gone 14-3-0 on the season to be tied for 1st place in the league right now with 28 points. With us today, we figured we'd get the man himself in to talk a little bit about the season, the Bears, expectations and how he feels he's done this year.

 

The season and how he's done.

I'm a little disappointed with how things have gone this season. I mean, I know I'm only used to about a PPG - I'm not an explosive player per say, more all round built, but I expect more from myself every game, every night. Right now I expected to be at about the 20+ point mark with say 7-9 goals. I'm just not playing how I want to and for the sake of my stats but also the teams, I really feel myself stepping up would bring a much higher caliber Bear team to the table.

 

da Bears

We're running on a high note. Unfortunately, we just lost our league leading 9 or 10 game winning streak, but it is what it is. The streak was great and we had a lot of fun on it and learned a lot of things. We seen huge progression, chemistry and things that we may need to work on against certain teams. It's a learning curve for us - always is, and we have the right guys on the organization to help assist management in making those decisions. GM Campbell has always been great at taking in advice and listening to his players, but this year it's really something else. Last to mention was Fooky and now we're rolling with part of his suggestions and Campbell's and they're working real well together. I would love to see us munch out of good numbers against the Legion, but we've yet to figure them out. There's a lot of good teams out their right now, but we feel unless King stands on his head and plays like a god himself, Legion are the team for us to beat this year. Riga is good, but unless King is great I'm not too sure how "good" they'll be. Again, good team - but King great makes them great. 

 

Expectations

I've mentioned a little bit about this already. For my short term forecast, I expected 20+ points at this point in the season - especially with how our team has been playing. Aside from that and looking more into the longterm, I expect 90+ points and ideally I'd like 30 of those points to be goals. I want to be a goal scoring d-man too, someone who can light the lamp and it a dynamic force of offensive pressure. Again, I will need to step things up heavily but I'm confident it can happen with the right things falling into place.

 

Who has stood out to you?

Maybe at times he struggles, but the first one to mention is V2A. He was drafted by the team and then scooted out in trade for LaFlamme. Somehow, we managed to get him back in Free Agency and he patiently waited for his turn to shine and now he's doing it. Everyone struggles - fuck, look at me, but I think the more he focuses and trains himself, the better he becomes (obviously). More so what I meant is the consistency will flow much longer, stronger and effectively. He's a good goalie, but he's just a slight make off of great and that may be what gives Toronto the little bit of edge they may have on us.

 

Another guy that stood us was newcomer Gretzky. Adding him to the team was a smart move by Campbell and easily was a big factor into the teams early on success. Right now, he's playing at a level which is carrying the offensive load. Yes, there's tons of guys right there behind him, but Gretzky has been on a whole new level for us this season and we really hope he keeps rolling. It's always nice to see a good, hardworking guy get rewarded so strongly and at the end of the day, I'm on of his biggest fans in the locker room. 

 

Lastly, what are you expectations moving forward as a team.

Ultimately, whether you're a rookie, in your prime or about to call it quits, your biggest goal is to win a championships. This season, we're feeling more alive than ever and after missing like we did last season, I think we've come back much more hungry. We want it. It sucked and now that we have a stronger team, things are falling into place for us. I don't feel like we're quite there yet, and that's just being honest with you guys, but we're pretty fucking close. We need to just figure out a couple things and we'll really be a good contender. Either way, we're enjoying the season, having fun with the success we're having and our looking forward to keeping it going.

 

2 weeks of Aleksei Federov (+6)

Dec 24-31 and January 1st to January 7th

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

Review:

Seattle definitely turned a corner in S58 and wow'd everyone. Quite the successful season, cupless or not.