Post by GoVoysGo on Oct 5, 2015 16:00:41 GMT -5
Why You Shouldn't Sleep On Grand Rapids
TFHN - Matt Harkin, Oct. 5
Toronto, ON • The season is just days away from its grand opening, and pundits are calling for a Hamilton MSCF (Max Sky Cup Finals) repeat appearance, facing a new foe in Guelph.
But I'm here to say that you should watch out for the always-competitive Grand Rapids Goats. I mean, sure, they don't really appear all that mighty this season. They lost a lot of the firepower they've sported in all pre-existing seasons. They've wiped their staff. They have a whole new outlook to the league. But they're ready to prove that they shouldn't be counted out just yet.
The balance between prospects, primers, and veterans is good. You will see guys like Henrik Sedin, Joe Thornton, Eric Staal, and Mark Giordano guide the likes of Gabriel Landeskog, Johnny Gaudreau, Teuvo Teravainen, Nikita Kucherov, and Filip Forsberg, helping them ease into a lineup already sporting Steven Stamkos, Taylor Hall, Tyler Seguin, Patrick Kane, and Kris Letang.
Another thought is how position-balanced this team is. As writer Daniel Ronel explained, one of the most important commodities a team can possess is a balance of its positions. At goal, you've got a rock in Ben Bishop and a Chicago-starter in Corey Crawford, with two solid goalies — on risky teams — behind them. Letang, Giordano, Justin Faulk, and Roman Josi solidify the blueline. Kane and Kucherov anchor the right side, opposite to Hall and Gaudreau. Perhaps the squad is a little heavy down the middle; Stamkos, Forsberg, Seguin, and Jonathan Toews make for a crowded centre position, but that leaves them with some pieces to expand other areas.
This leads to perhaps the most hopeful part of Grand Rapids; their new staff. Previously, the all-too-smug Sean Combardi often would make baffling trades, and then gloat to others, thinking he'd gotten the better of a particular deal. He would gain this egocentric persona after picking on newer owners in the early stages of the YGFHL, leading him to believing he actually was a good general manager. Thankfully, he's gone now, and owner Adam Stier has announced that the assistant GM — who has been placed as interim GM — Rob Surray will take over managerial duties permanently. Surray holds a lot of promise, and is itching to make a deal, sources say.
New head coach Cole Tannenville can't wait to lead this franchise. "I see a lot of holes in this team, but it wouldn't be a team if there weren't any. My job is to help the players gel together and fill those holes as a team. I look at what we have and there isn't a doubt in my mind that we can do that."
Tannenville has coached the Kalamazoo Hornets of the EYGFHL (Even Younger Gunz Fantasy Hockey League) — the minor league affiliate to all of YGFHL — for seventeen years, winning the championship in ten of those seasons (including eight in a row), and losing in the Finals in two others. Under him, the Hornets made the playoffs in every season except his first.
Ultimately, one can only grasp at straws when it comes to predicting anything (unless you're this guy), but perhaps another look at the Goats may make you second guess sleeping on them. ∆