The United Report

[McWolf 3,115]

 

The United Report

 

BY ROGER McWOLF III

AUG 27 2020

 

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Our 13 points in 21 games so far in S74 put us on pace for 44 on the season, which is down from our inaugural season's 48. Not a significant drop, but when you were the 2nd worst team in the league once season, you start saying things like 'There's nowhere to go but up,' until you realize that it's actually possible to do worse than you did the previous year. I think two main reasons can explain this early season dip.

 

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Goaltending is somehow worse than last season.

 

Goaltending in our inaugural season was a major problem. We allowed a league-high 300 goals. We have to go back to the historically bad inaugural season of the Moscow Menace in S65 to find the last time a team allowed more than 300 goals in a single season. It was to be expected, though. Our roster had one active actual defenseman, a couple of inactive forwards turned blueliners - which is still the case this season, I'm sorry Rose - and a circus of old and/or robotic trash in front of the net. Clayton Park, Juan Jaundice and BLEEDING have never been starter-caliber, but they were asked to take on the role following our inability to acquire an actually starting netminder before our first campaign started.

 

Nils Friedriksen, who was acquired from Calgary during the S73 Entry Draft, was supposed to be a short term solution for us but, so far, he's actually been worse than the hot mess that was our netminder situation last season. His save percentage of .894 and his goal against average of 4.21 are not the step up we expected from the team-wide .897 and 4.09 numbers we registered last season. Season is still young however - Nils can still turn it around and win us some games.

 

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A star left - and no one is ready to take his place.

 

We knew what we were getting into when we traded Guy Lesieur away. He was far and away our best player, but he was in the later half of his career. He didn't fit in the franchise's timeline as he was at his peak when we were at our worst - but he would have been an old retiring player when we would be grazing our peak. Left behind is a roster composed entirely of players on rookie contracts. Obviously, none of these youngsters has the skills to directly replace Lesieur. We have a ton of future stars on the roster who will eventually be there though, so it's only a matter of time before scoring is back at a respectable level for the team.

 

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Roger McWolf III

LONDON UNITED GENERAL MANAGER

Edited September 27, 2020 by McWolf