Disappointing Finish
Such a disappointing end to this season. I don't really know what to say. For everyone's health cancelling the playoffs was likely inevitable, I just wish it could have happened in a season the Tigers didn't have a legitimate title shot.
The unknown of what could have happened is almost worst than if they were to have lost in 4 straight. It's for the best and one-day hockey will be back, but damn is it ever disappointing.
Back In November
Back in November, the Tigers were playing such good hockey that I thought they had a legitimate chance at winning the East.
My opinions however definitely wavered through the season. They could score goals, but they were also giving up 3 goals a game.
A month after their big trade I felt they had a good team, but it wasn't quite championship material. They weren't playing championship hockey..... More on this down below......
Made Some Moves
Willie Desjardins' first season back saw him make a bundle of solid hockey moves bringing in-depth and experience. Looking not only for this season but the next couple seasons.
Tigers made a big splash in the Trade Market giving up a 1st round pick, conditional 5th, Trevor Longo and Tyler Preziuso, for Dylan Plouffe, Lukas Svejkovsky and two 3rd round picks.
If you count total playing years, the Tigers got younger by a year. They traded away a 20 and 19 and received a 20 and 18 in return.
Svejkosvky could very well put up a ppg season next year and likely will be here as a 20. If that story comes true the Tigers gain 2 years of a ppg player. Yes, they loose an almost guaranteed player with their first-round pick, but they have an opportunity to make that up with 2 3rds coming back.
The Tigers also acquired some depth in Nick Perna, and important and underrated pickup in Cyle McNabb.
My True Thoughts on the Big Trade
I never expected Longo to get dealt. I'll admit straight up after a month I still wasn't sure if I liked the deal. The Tigers hadn't regained their form from November and it felt like to me they were giving up more goals against. There were some early defensive gaffes by the new defenceman and he took some time to fit in. He slowly won me over though especially later in the season when I started seeing his influence in other defencemen on the team.
Something Changed With the Tigers
Maybe it was an easier schedule followed by ample practice time, but over the course of 2 weeks, my opinion of them, the big trade, and their season drastically improved.
They made Calgary looks like a non-playoff team. Edmonton gave them a good matchup but the Tigers held an edge through the majority of the game.
They showed flashes of this back in November and now that the season was coming to a close this championship flash was back. I was extremely excited for this upcoming playoffs as they were starting to peak at the right time.
Defensive players such as Cole Clayton and Parker Gavlas were turning into monsters with an added ability to join the rush and create offence. This gave them some newfound confidence on the back-end to escape from high traffic situations. It was like they both flipped a switch in their games.
The forwards went from out of sync to completely in-sync and Mads found the old form that got him drafted in the first round of the NHL Entry Draft. There is probably more to it than that, but they were playing like they were ready for the playoffs.
What Could Have Happened?
We will never know for sure, but IMO when they played as a team for a full 60 minutes they were the best team in the East. The question is if they could have sustained their aggressive attack and stayed healthy for the duration of the playoffs.
Epic Playoffs
There was a high potential for epic playoff matchups. What if they were able to beat their rival Lethbridge, the Top Contender in Edmonton, last years memorial cup representative PA, and what if they were to have found a WHL Championship matchup against Kamloops? The Team that former longtime coach Sean Clouston was hired onto and found early success with. Maybe they would have dropped 4 straight games to Lethbridge, who knows?
We will never know and this season is going to Irk me for a long time.
Shout out to the Overage players (Hamblin, Gavlas, Plouffe) who had their season unexpectedly cut short, as well as some of the 19's who may not be back due to overage restrictions.
It's Been Fun
Having said that, it's time for this blog to largely say goodbye. It's been an amazing 12 years hosting Tiger Content. The sole reason I started this blog was that back in the day the odd Newspaper article wasn't enough for me. Every day I checked the standings and the box-scores and I wanted more. The world and social media have sure changed things.
For those of you who enjoyed reading this blog, I thank you for sticking around. It is kinda cool to have created something with over 1.2 million views in 12 years, in a city with a population of 60K. We've even had players and scouts comment on here directly.
I've been burned out for some time now as you can tell by only a couple posts this season.
I'm still considering making 1 post a year for pre-season predictions right before training camp but I haven't truly decided on it yet.
If someone wishes to create a new fan forum on whatever platform feel free to do so, I will help in getting the word out. Thanks again for everyone who ever made positive comments in a respectful manner! I will be shutting comments off in a couple weeks.
Stay Healthy!
-TigerTurf
4 comments:
Didn’t realize it had been twelve years, time flies. Thanks for doing it and take care.
Going to be a much younger team next year, especially the forward group. Hopefully Kemp and Chyzowski come back as overagers which will help immensely. With the year finishing the way it did and his mediocre play for the first few months it will be interesting to see if Ottawa returns Sogaard to junior.
I am still devastated to see this season end this way. Imagine how the players feel, especially the overagers! To not see Mads and Jimmy Hamblin play again is very depressing. It is what it is as they say but I don't have to like it. I will really miss you blog Tiger Turf, I would practically check it every day during the season. I hope you at least put up a few posts and then others can comment from there. Have a great summer everyone, hopefully we won't still be stuck in our homes because if I don't have baseball and golf I will lost my mind for sure!!
Thank you for doing this blog Tiger Turf! I'll miss the information, insights and debates!
I watched the 2007 game against Vancouver last week....I have sure spent some time pondering what might've happened this spring...I think there was solid potential for an exciting run into the playoffs and maybe a redo of 2007...who knows.
I hope at some point the Tigers can bring the team back together so the fans and the team can give the departing players the send off they deserve. James Hamblin played his heart out day in and out for this team and appeared at a ton of community events. He will be missed on the team! Great job James! Dylan and Parker...weren't here long but sure enjoyed watching them play!
Best of luck to everyone! Have a great summer and thanks again Tiger Turf!
Thanks everyone!
@longtimefan - Ottawa will have 3 signed goalies and another 2 with contracts expiring including their 39yr old semi-starter in Craig Anderson. They also have another draft pick in the 6th round putting up impressive numbers in the QMJHL (Kevin Mandolese), but isn't signed. Mads is also not signed.
One of the Ottawa blogs and sportsnet think the Sens will go with Nilsson(S) and Hogberg(S) in the NHL, Gustavsson(S) and Daccord(U) in the AHL.
That will leave Sogaard(U) and Mandolese(U) to potentially fight for the ECHL starter rights. However their is another goaltender who Belleville signed that was the ECHL starter last season on a 1 way contract who may or may not be back.
Based on all this I have no idea what they will do it's still too early. I'm 50-50 at this point.
I also think the Tigers retain some good talent in their lineup. in my super brief look at the Central I think Edmonton will be a superpower , but I feel that the Tigers still have a good shot at 2nd.
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@Catfan - I agree, tough to see a season end like that. Thanks for reading almost daily!
I think I will still put up an early season prediction post before training camp because I greatly enjoy doing it.
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@kevin
I'm glad they posted that game on youtube. It was fun to watch! I replayed that part where Brennan Bosch scored like 10 times.
It would be nice to see those players back at some point. I was soo looking forward to potentially watching Parker Gavlas and Brett Kemp compete against Edmonton in the playoffs. That was a match-up I was dieing to see.
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Also thanks to all the Lurkers who also read frequently!
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