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2026/27 Season, first half
The season started with a scare when I got stuck 300k below the salary floor, no AHL shuffling could make a difference, and the owner's budget was maxed out so I couldn't sign a free agent to get over the salary floor either. I thought the dynasty may be stuck permanently and coming to an end. Eventually I discovered that I could turn commissioner mode on and use the editor to increase Anchorage's salary budget by a few million to allow a FA signing. That got me past the "salary floor" popup and move onto the next day. Disaster averted.
That scare was followed by another when Anchorage lost 5 of their first 6 games. I thought maybe too many rookies would mean a serious under-performance, but since then everything has turned around and the Huskies are in the playoff race. It's just past midpoint of the season, January 8th 2027, and Anchorage are 4th in Pacific division with a record of 48 games played, 27 wins, 19 loses, 2 OT loser points for 56 points. That's good enough for the second wildcard spot in the Western Conference, we'd be the very last team to qualify for the playoffs if they started today. It's close though, Edmonton are 1 point behind, Minnesota are 4 behind but with 2 games more to play, plus there are 3 teams only 2 points ahead, so the playoff picture changes day by day, anything could happen.
The Anchorage MVP so far has been new goalie Vitek Vanecek. He was brought in to split the starting spot with Linus Ullmark but he's made the number 1 spot his own, a record of 26-17-2 and a sv% of .921. He's helped make up for the defensemen being shaky, Skjei and Mews should be our top two but Skjei has started to show signs of aging, and Mews has been limited to only 15 games thanks to a torn muscle. He'll be back soon though. The bad news with Skjei's aging is that he's just signed a three year extension to kick in at the end of the season, not the best timing. C Jordan Gavin is leading the team, he's stepped up in his second season with 15 goals and 25 assists for 40 points in 42 games, Vasili Podkolzin second in goals with 14, and the rookies Oskar Vuollet, Emil Hemming and Lucas Karmiris hitting the ground running too. Lucas Karmiris also made history with the first ever Huskies hat-trick, he got 3 in a 5-4 OT win over Chicago on New Years Day 2027.
A suddenly successful team is dragging the fans to the arena too, even with an increase in ticket prices. The team is back to making a profit thanks to all the ticket revenue, they can afford scouts and marketing again.
So all is good with Anchorage Huskies so far, in with a chance of making the playoffs and with the core of the team young and tied up for a few years.
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