92 problems, contract ain't one.

[jRuutu 2,374]

 

Good day to you! I'm here today to announce that for the upcoming season I will have 92 in skating, scoring, and passing. The decision to try something like that came when I and my agent were discussing about my future after the general manager of Seattle Bears sent my agent a friendly e-mail with a title: ''Teach him to score or he is off the team''. Something along those lines, I did not ask about the details. We both agreed that the best thing would be to focus on scoring during this off-season. I must admit that everything else being at 92 is purely a coincidence after depreciation took my innocence, I'm officially an old man now.

 

Despite the depreciation playing a part, focusing on scoring this heavily and leaving everything else to 92 is a risky move on my part. The VHL purists have traditionally pushed for a sizeable gap between scoring and passing, some have also questioned whether skating should be taken into consideration when figuring out the optimal training plans. That is where the risks come from, I could look rather foolish if this season is not a good one on an individual level. I'm not the best player in VHL, but certainly among the players who many expect to be a difference-maker offensively purely because of the TPE total I have managed to collect.

 

 

When I think about the upcoming season, I'm excited. I have an interesting build going on that could very well be a proper bust, but it could also very well translate into me being a real tank who does everything well. In the past, I have been more of a playmaking power forward, but now I have almost elite level scoring skill. I don't know what kind of numbers I can realistically expect, but point per game and well over 200 hits should be a ''easy'' goal to reach. If I'm completely honest, point per game is not going to be enough. I need to be a leading player this season especially. The pressure is there, but I don't mind - I'm ready.

 

Another exciting and interesting point is to see how Seattle as a team plays. As those who have been following the off-season transactions know, there have been quite a few trades and Seattle has been a player in that action. Multiple players from last years team have been traded from Seattle, those players were veteran players with a lot of experience and skill, but in return, we have young and talented players to take their spots in the lineup.

 

Goes without saying that it takes some time to get on the same page and the younger players need to keep on working hard in practice, but when I look at the roster we have now, I see nice things. Playoffs should be a reality and that is all you can ask for in today's VHL. As we saw during last year in the playoffs, anything can happen. The best team does not automatically win.