My dream lineup

[hedgehog337 3,480]

Not much intros out there. Just little disclaimer before I'm naming my ''dream'' top 6. All of them but one are basically former Riga players who managed to pop out of the nowhere with the surprisingly good performance while having a low number of TPE. You know, I'm still having fond memories of Krīgars and his out of nowhere HoF performance. There's no doubt I started to like these kind of players and I was always watching them tearing opponents down although they weren't really supposed to do logically. All of them played during my tenure (so from mid S53). 

 

 

F - Codrick Past @Kylrad

 

And I'll start with the most recent player who just retired last season with his career best 88 points. With 460 TPA. Back then it wasn't a low number, but nowadays not having much TPE in competing team most likely gonna give you mid tier numbers at best. Not in Codrick's case for sure. He changed his position to forward once getting traded to Riga, but having 70 skating didn't do him much favors. After a mere 39 point season he followed by another one with the same number. However, he started to show a potential with taking more chances and also updating the skating skill. It resulted in a jump in points production to 68 and then he dropped 20 more in his farewell season despite losing more than 100 TPE in regression. I was a big fan of his playing style - a guy who is gonna shoot the puck every time he finds a chance, even in tough situations. And he for sure delivered in his last season so he finds himself on my list. 

 

F - Ryuu Crimson @SlapshotDragon

 

Now, he wasn't a superstar forward, but dropping 89 points in S65 while still being behind Cast and Edwin was a big deal. However, the reason I put him here is his S63 playoffs showdown. He started it pretty slowly and then a hat trick against Quebec happened. After that, he was just unstoppable. At the end of the playoffs he was the only plus player in Riga and most importantly, he is still the only player in history who won the Kanou trophy in his rookie season. And that's while having EdwinCast in a team plus more big and experienced players. That was a definition of ''out of nowhere'' performance and for that he also will find himself on my list. 

 

F - John Locke @Will

 

There could be a debate that I should've put Krīgars here instead, but at least I updated him. Locke in other case was staying at 440 TPE for a long time cause Draper was basically inactive by that time. So that makes his S57-58 performance even more impressive. There could be another debate about ''out of nowhere'' situation. Before being traded to Riga, Locke was already showing that he is a big thing in Quebec. But I'm not sure everyone expected him to score 131 goals in span of two seasons. That was the case when 40/90 build brought him to the elite level and eventually to hall of fame as well. A combination of his steady low TPE number and his two blow out the water seasons in Riga I'm putting him in this list as well. But hey, I'll also put Krīgars as the honorable mention because why not. 

 

 

D - Alexander Thrower @gregreg

 

Can't even copy paste quotes on this stupid PC, but: 

 

''THROWER??? Inactive Greg is best Greg ever. Gawd lord'' - in courtesy of @Higgins. This was indeed a strange one and player itself was constantly doing out of nowhere things. I believe he never had more than 300 TPE yet he won two indivdual awards, one of them (Beketov) came during his time in Riga. He managed to finish his career with over 1 PPG as well despite puting only 27 points in his last season. He benefited a lot from Locke and Krīgars showdown, but all we are going to remember are stats (91 and 107 points with 95 of them being assists). And his numbers were really on point. He was traded to Riga in right time and he was put in right place in our lineup and for that he ends up on my list.

 

D - Dragon McDragon @JardyB10

 

Speaking about unexpected results, how about Jardy's last player who never had more than early 200's TPE. Like Thrower he was in right place and right time. This time, it was EdwinCast duo that boosted stats in S62 for other as well, incuding McDragon. That 100 point season (90 of them were assists, close to Beketov award) was his peak and he never put up anything similar performance to this. But hey, he also won a championship a season later. But since we're covering up low TPE guys with mind blowing stats, the S62 stats line is the one that will put Dragon into this list. 

 

I'd also put Guntis Petenis here for his S54 play which was pretty unexplainable, but he had 500+ TPE by that time so these two above made the cut before my own guy. 

 

 

G - ...uhmm nobody? eh. Kallis Kriketers (yeah that's me)

 

There was no goalie during my tenure that was performing above their TPE level. Kopralkov...well I didn't remember much, but I think he hadn't blow out of the mind stat number. Markus King performed like he should've been. Aamo sucked most of times. Davison and Eagles were/are solid like they supposed to be. So the reason I put Kallis to this list, making him an exception of that low TPE cut is his S69 performance. Even before that he had a lots of awards and he was considered as one of the best goalies in 60's. However, most of times he was somewhat underwhelming. Before S69 came. Now, it was also a defense first lineup that helped boosting his stats, but he also wasn't choking...before last two games in finals. Anyways, the .931 save percentage, 1.66 GAA and 11 SO was a big deal in the era when nobody (or almost nobody) could came even close to .930 zone. So after 6 seasons of just ok stats this one was a breath of fresh air. And somewhat unexpected. 

 

 

So this is my dream first line and goalie roster. And I somehow managed to get 1000 words on it. Wow lol. 

 

that's it and I'm out. 

 

5/10 - 11/10

12/10 - 18/10

[gregreg 930]

Who is that guy lol 

I remember nothing of that player 

Wait, he won an award? WTF haha

Edited October 11, 2020 by gregreg

[SlapshotWrangler 857]

to this day i still wonder where that version of Ryuu Crimson went