Wheat Kings - PR

WHEAT KINGS OFF-SEASON PERSPECTIVE

After their spectacular late season collapse and early playoff dismissal by the eventual champions, the Achaeans, the Wheat Kings have a had a lot of things to think about and a lot of time to do it. The two benefits of the season have been that, first, it gave the young team another year to develop, and second, in calamity the various strengths and weaknesses of the team came to the fore. However, Kings GM Tyler Young has pledged that this year he will minimize the trades: "We have a plan to get what we need through the off-season, and then in all likely hood our opening day roster will remain intact throughout the season. Our team is pretty much set now, and if I learned anything this season, it's that if you force a trade you will only be decimated by it."

FORWARDS

A disappointing 2.76 GF after being amoung the league leaders in scoring the previous season, the Wheat Kings will likely be looking to find some help here over the off-season. One lesson learned, perhaps a little too harshly, is that the offence of the Kings is bound and chained to Dimitri Kazionov - when he scores, they do, when he doesn't, they don't: in the first half of the season with the Kings hovering around .700 while Kaz was on track to a record-breaking 68 goal season, in the second half he failed to carry through and only broke the 45 goal mark thanks to a late season surge. The deadline addition of Eric Staal and the development of Masi Marjamaki, Steve Bernier, Eric Fehr, and Josh Hennesy should all help the Kings next year. Niklas Bergfors was the highlight of the season: the 18-year old rookie racked-up 51 points in 64 games, a pace which would have put him second in rookie scoring had he played the whole year, yet after such a season the still quite young
Bergfors may find himself playing next season in the minors.

Likely changes: look for the Kings to try and pick-up one forward. Pavel Bure was not overly impressive in his tenure in Saskatoon and will likely be allowed to depart; the Kings have about 25 million dollars in cap room, so they will likely use that money to pull in a replacement for Bure/Guerin/Tkachuk.

DEFENCE

The Kings defence was somewhat re-shaped for this season - Dan Sprang and Karol Rachunek came in for Kim Johnsson and Martin Skoula. Both of them were solid and improvements over the former two, the real problem came to be with the play of the team's #4 d-man. At the beginning of the season TFHL14 Alka-Seltzer Trophy winner, Slava Suchy, was considered a safe bet and a defensive stalwart, but over the course of the year it became apparent that he was inadequate to play in the team's top 4 and was indeed comprimising the unit as a whole. A desperate search began for a decent fourth d-man, Brian Leetch and then Brian Rafalski were brought in and both were horrible. Matt Jones continued his development, albeit at a slightly slower pace than was hoped, towards becoming a legitimate elite defenceman in this league and an eventual Norris contender. Sprang is an interesting wildcard: he has the talent to wrack-up both points and at the same time prevent them, but only rarely s
howed glimpses of realizing that talent. Rachunek was a revelation with the Kings, arguably their best defenceman this year, he provided one stabilizing element on the back, when it was often in chaos.

Likely changes: If the Kings do anything this off-season, they must acquire a capable defenceman to play in their top four.

GOALTENDING

The Kings had one of the best tandems in the first half, one of the worst in the second half, and the blame for this collapse seems to have fallen on Ilja Bryzgalov. Immediately after the season the talk around Saskatoon was that, being as Bryzgalov was the Kings goalie of the future, Weekes was likely on his way out and the Kings would sign or trade for a veteran goalie. After his playoff showing Weekes earned the respect of the Kings management, which meant that Bryzgalov, whom the Kings paid grossly to bring into the fold, was on his way out. The Wheaties found an oppotunity to bring back long time Wheat King, one-team team MVP, and former Vezina winner, Roberto Luongo in exchange for Bryzgalov, giving the Kings likely their best goaltending tandem ever.

Likely changes: none, now.

PROSPECTS

The Kings have long used their draft picks for trade leverage, which has had the unfortunate effect of preventing them from stocking the cupboard. Despite their trade-induced deprivation, the Kings have had success drafting with what little they have had - their two first rounders, Steve Bernier and Nik Bergfors, are both solid pros and key components of the team even at their young age - a point coupled with the relative youth of their pro roster that relieves the general lack of talent in the system. No player is capable of stepping up now: Byron Bitz needs another year; Drew Stafford, Leo Tjay, Greg Moore, Jamie Howard and Erka Lepannen are more longterm projects.


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TRADE POSSIBILITY

I don't really have a player to use my contract extension on, so if you have a player entering UFA I would be willing to give you some picks or something for him before you loose him. That way you get something instead of nothing.

AND...

Congratulation to Matthew, who has finally claimed the cup after years upon years of careful management and guidance. I should also thank him for winning, since it makes my first round loss to his eventual championship team bearable. The Achaeans were definately a sleeper this year, but a careful perusal of his roster and the little gems here and there shows the careful and quiet work which Matt has done in building his team into a Cup winner. So congrats again, and it looks like the top echelon of the Western Conference continues to get more crowded - sleeper no more.