PR - Misconducts

Misconducts Have Wild Offseason

To say this offseason has been wild for the Miami Misconducts just might be an understatement. The offseason began with trades for forwards Matt Ellison and Mike Peca before the draft. They went into the draft with two first round picks and ended up trading back into the first round. All three of those players , forwards Andy Sackrison and Brent Gwidt and defenseman Cody Wiild, all are expected to play key roles for the team this season. But those moves all seem normal as to what has taken place in south Florida the past 3 weeks. The team seemed to mortage the future of the organization when it traded three future first round picks to land star forward Jonas Johansson. The trade left the Misconducts without a first round pick for the next four years. However, everything changed once free agency got into full swing. Johansson , a restricted free agent, landed a 10 million dollar offer thus forcing the team to look for a trading partner. They found one in the Pontiacs and quietly shipped Johansson to them before the ink was even dry on his 10 million dollar offer. In return they picked up D Jeff May, D Sandis Ozolinsh, LW Benoit Pouliot, and former Misconducts goalie Marty Turco. Turco was with the team when the reached the finals a few years ago. The move to pick up Turco seemed odd as Carey Price has the number one goalie spot locked up for the foreseeable future. The Misconducts also sent a few minor leaguers and a pick to Pontiacs and also received a future 1st and 2nd round pick.

With the money freed up for moving Johansson, the Misconducts turned to the free agency market with a little more than 20 million dollars to spend. They through out multimillion dollar deals to numerous high priced free agents such as Alexei Yashin, Peter Bondra, Eric Lindros, Mike Modano, Roman Hamrlik, and were even thought to be interested in players such as Rob Blake, Jeremy Roenick, Jaromir Jagr, and Ziggy Palffy. However when the dust was clear, the Misconducts were only able to sign a backup goalie for their farm team, the Phoenix Felony. This left the Misconducts with quit a few holes to fill, so once again they turned to the trade market dealing away Turco, Ladislav Nagy, Carlo Colaiacovo, Shawn Belle, Aaron Rome, Chad Denny, and Sergei Anshakov. Joining the Misconducts were a slew of picks and prospects as well as C Vladimir Zharkov, D Richard Matvichuk, LW Vladimir Orszagh, LW Riku Hahl, and previous free agent target Alexei Yashin. All five of those players are expected to be key players for the team this season. By the time the Misconducts were done wheeling and dealing they have set themselves up nicely for the future with what should be a very solid minor league team this season as well as 23 total draft picks in the next three years.

Season Preview : Goalies

We'll begin our look at the Misconducts with where the franchise starts here in Miami. And that is between the pipes. Since the Misconducts used their top selection a year ago on Carey Price, they have made him the face of the franchise. He will be their number on assest this year and the team will only go as far as he can take them . He will ge the majority of the playing time with only an occassional appearance by backup goalie Mika Noronen. The farm team will be lead by underacheiving Daren Machesney , who was once a top prospect in this organization but looks like nothing more than a career minor leaguer. Also playing for the Felony will be the Misconducts only free agent signing Michael Garnett.

Pro Grade : B-

Farm Grade: D

Overall Grade: B

Season Preview : Defense

What was once the strongest position on the team, maybe now be the weakest position on the team. Gone are several defenders who were expect to play big roles for the team this season in Belle,Denny, Rome, and Colaiacovo. However Belle and Rome did combine for over 400 penalty minutes last season. Which was the main reason for the departure of the pair, Denny and Colaiacovo were both moved because the team need to address their lack of quality forwards for the pro team. The defense this season will consist of Boris Valabik, Ben Ulmer, Richard Matvichuk, Jeff May, Sandis Ozolinsh , and first round pick Cody Wild. All the defensemen are solid in their own end. Ozolinsh and Matvichuk are the veteran leaders of this group and will be a positive enfluence on the younger -players like Wild and May. The best way to describe this defense is adaquet. They don't do anything spectacular, but the do many of the same things right. The farm defense could end being one of the best in the minors this season. They will be lead Robby Blaze and Chris Frank. Also featured on the blueline for the Felony will be Joe Ryan, Anton Babchuk, and Kyle Henegan.

Pro Grade : C+

Farm Grade: B+

Overall : C

Season Preview : Offense

The main reason the Misconducts were one of the worst teams in the league last season had to do with their lack of goal scoring. They hope this year that won't be the case. Andy Sackrison selected 2nd OV in the draft is slated to start on the first line alongside Eric Nystrom and Alexei Yashin. Nystrom is happy about the talent level with which is playing to start the year. He says he will miss playing alongside his good friend Sergei Anshakov but believes that this line has the potential to put up a lot of points. Like the first line, the second will also feature a rookie, C Brent Gwidt. Gwidt was one of the top 5 players on the Misconducts draft board and they were just thrilled to be able to trade back into the first round to land him. He will be flanked by two offseason acquistions in Matt Ellison and Vladimir Orszagh. The other lines for the season look like this C Mike Peca, LW Riku Hahl, RW Niklas Hagman and C Vladimir Zharkov, LW Benoit Pouliot, and RW Devin Setoguchi. While the team has no one line that stands out they do have four solid lines that can score. Will that be enough to get the job done ? The orginazition is split about 50 50 on this one. The one thing everyone in the orginazition can agree upon is that this might just be the best group of forwards to ever play for the Felony. Headlined by guys like Ben Maxwell, Vladamir Ulianov, Patrick O'Sullivan, and Rob Globke who all saw consider time in the pros last year. None of them had any real success last year but that was due to the fact that they were rushed in playing. Joining them will be draftees Tony Romano, Devin Didiomete, and Lukas Zeliska. As well as recent pick up Evgeni Malkin.

Pro Grade : B+

Farm Grade : A-

Overall Grade : B-

Predictions

This season will basically come down to how Carey Price and the three rookies perform. The defense is average at best, the offense could be good, the goaltending . . .. well that comes down to Price. The team is betting that a lot on him improving greatly upon his numbers of 17-29-9 3.38 GAA with a .881 save percentage. Can Price improve on those numbers ? More than likely yes for several reasons. The first reason being the team in front of him has improve a lot in this past year. Guys who were playing on the 2nd and 3rd lines last year for the team are now starting out in the minors. Guys who were first liners are now fourth liners and as a whole the team has gotten better controlling the puck and defensively in the offense season. Also don't forget the fact that the Misconducts have traded some of their more penalized players from last year. Last year alone Anshankov, Belle, Rome, and free agent departure Jason Smith combined for a total of 733 penalty minutes. Some fear the team has lost a lot of toughness this offseason but Wild and Valabik should more than make up for it. This team could be on the verge of something big in a few seasons considering most of their core players are under the age of 23 and the fact that they have an astonishing 23 draft picks over the next 3 seasons, including 8 2nd round picks. But this season could another tough one in Miami. However the east is wide open and pretty much any of 5 or 6 teams could be fighting for the last few spots. With a little bit of luck and good seasons from the rookies this team could finish as high as 5 or 6 in the conference. However I foresee the Misconducts hitting some rough streches where the young guys can't seem to hit the net . . and heaven forebids if they loss Price at some point of the season. So I am going to go on the conservative side and say that Misconducts will finish in the 9th spot in the conference and miss out on the playoffs once again.