Seattle Battle Cats - NHL18 32nd Expansion Team Franchise

[SeattleBattleCat]

AHL - Burnaby Aces 2022/23 Season Review

Overall Record 40-34-8 - Finished 7th in AHL North Division.

No Playoffs for Burnaby this year. After 2 ultra competitive years near the top end of the competition, the Aces faultered and finished 7th (although with a winning record).

League Standings:





Player Stats:



Goalies:


The AHL Playoffs Begin:

[SeattleBattleCat]

Stanley Cup Playoffs - Round 1

Game 1 - WIN 3 @ SEA 4 OTW
Game 2 -WIN 3 @ SEA 2 2OTL
Game 3 - SEA 4 @ WIN 5 L (I played)
Game 4 - SEA 2 @ WIN 4 L
Game 5 - WIN 3 @ SEA 9 W (I played)
Game 6 - SEA 4 @ WIN 5 OTL

Seattle knocked out of Playoffs by Winnipeg 4 - 2.

A first round exit to a team who has had our number before. Frustrating....

Wrap up:
A disappointing series especially with a home ice advantage. 3 of the 6 games went into OT and could have fallen either way.

Game 1:

Great 1st win @ home in OT

Game 2:

a grueling Double OT loss



Game 3:
FINAL SCORE - SEA 4 @ WIN 5

Played this game, scored the 1st goal however Winnipeg got the next 2 and every time we drew even the Jets would get another nearly instantly. Also lost Sebastian Aho to injury in this match.

Game 4:

Winnipeg won convincingly.



Game 5:



I played and it was a complete turn around as to how the Jets behaved in game 3. 9 goals found the back of the net and 2 players, James Van Riemsdyk & Nick Suzuki scored hat-tricks. Also Neil Yip and Samuel Bucek were both given Game Misconducts which meant we face an extreme amount of time on the PK.

Game 6:

All came down to this. Winnipeg scored the first 3 before Scherbak found the net just before end of the first. The Cats then scored the next 2 to tie it up at the end of the 2nd period. Start of the 3rd the Jets scored again and it looked over from there until Zetterberg found the net with 6 seconds left in regulation time. The game went to overtime and unfortunately the Cats couldn't cause the upset and the Jets scored, finishing the Cats season early.

Again, very disappointed to be exiting so early this season however the Battle Cats will hopefully come back refreshed and stronger again in Season 2023/24.

Next Series:
Dallas Play Winnipeg
Calgary Play Vancouver
New York Islanders Play Carolina (At least Burakovsky's still playing lol)
Toronto Play Montreal

Player Playoff Stats:
Not enough of the players we rely on played well in this series. A huge stand out however was veteran Center Henrik Zetterberg, who at 42 had 5 goals, 3 assists in the 6 games and all but carried the team on his back during game 6. In what is likely his last season, he did us proud.



Goalie Playoff Stats:


Injuries:
Game 1 - Nick Suzuki - mild concussion - missed 1game
Game 3 - Sebastian Aho - Sprained Ankle - missed rest of series
Game 4 - Teemu Pulkkinen - Elbow Injiry - missed 2 games

[SeattleBattleCat]

THE STANLEY CUP FINAL

The 2 finalists are:

Vancouver Canucks vs Carolina Hurricanes.


This is the 1st season in 6 years that the Western Conference finalist is not from the Central division.

[SeattleBattleCat]

And The Stanley Cup Goes To:

Vancouver Canucks!



...And in the AHL:
Manitoba Moose Win!


Stay Tuned For the 2023 NHL Player Draft

[SeattleBattleCat]

NHL AWARDS NIGHT

And The Winners are....

Spoiler

And of Course, this years Stanley Cup Champions:

[SeattleBattleCat]

Player Retirements


Martin Hanzal Calls it a Day

Veteran Center & Captain, Martin Hanzal has elected to forego his $3.05M 1 year contract and retire at age 36.


Hanzal leaves the Battle Cats, having served as the Franchise's only Captain over its very short 6 year existence and holds an impressive portfolio, being a Conn Smythe Trophy winner and winning the Stanley Cup twice - A dream many players do not get achieve once yet alone twice.

Overall in his NHL Career, Hanzal played 16 seasons, 1108 games, scored 278 goals and notched 485 assists, totalling 763 points.

In his 6 seasons with Seattle, Hanzal played 480 games, with 157 goals 280 assists totalling 437 points. Over half of his career points came with the Battle Cats

Hanzal's leadership will be missed & now the focus moves to naming a new Captain of the Seattle Battle Cats.

The only other player to leave the Battle Cats Franchise is long term AHL Burnaby Aces Left Winger, Eric Tangradi.

Other Notable Player Retirements Around the League:

[SeattleBattleCat]

2023 NHL Player Draft

A big day of action during the 2023 NHL Player Draft.
The emphasis for the Seattle Battle Cats was turned towards finding a high level potential Right Wing forward.

SAMUEL BUCEK TRADED TO BUFFALO

BUF Trades pick 23 & 55 to SEA for LW Samuel Bucek 24yrs 83ovr High Top6F Power Forward.

Mid-way through the 1st round of the draft, Seattle accepted the above deal from Buffalo. Bucek who was Seattles' no.11 pick in the 2017 Draft was slightly under performing in the years following an outstanding rookie season in 2018/19. 2 picks for Bucek was more than fair.

2023 Player Draft Results:

1st Round Pick#9 RW Eric Cleary 18yrs Low Elite 65ovr Sniper
1st 23 LW Jose Horton 19yrs Med Top6F 69ovr 2 way Fwd
2nd 54 RW Yuri Kapitanov 17yrs Med Top9F Sniper
2nd 55 LW Dean McKinnon 20yrs Med Top6F 2way Fwd (Later traded to Edmonton)
3rd 86 C Kenny Pecker 20yrs Med Top6F 2way fwd
4th 110 LW Calvin Bentley 20yrs Med Top9F Sniper
5th 150 G Kristian Martensson 17yrs Med Fringe Starter Hybrid
6th 175 LW Terry Schumacher 19yrs Low Top9F 61ovr 2 way Fwd
7th D Jorgen Engqvist 20yrs Low Top4D 61ovr 2wayD

Oilers & Cats Come to Terms on 2nd Round Player Swap late in draft.

Seattle Trades LW Dean McKinnon (2023 pick 55, 68ovr Med Top6F) & D Chris Kwong (2021 pick 19 Med Top6D) to Edmonton for RW Sebastian Heinrich (2023 pick 53, 81ovr Med Top6F).

Seattle could not resist trying for this trade. Heinrich is an NHL ready Right Winger which will hopefully make a good linemate for 2nd year Centre Neil Yip. Although Edmonton will have to put McKinnon through a year or 2 of AHL experience, they still got a reasonable deal with Kwong thrown in.

Other Trades:

Seattle Accepts offer from Nashville to trade 2023 SEA 4th Round pick 118 and 2023 SEA 6th round pick for 2023 NSH 4th Round pick 110. (Honestly I read this trade backwards, I thought I was going to get 2 picks for my 1. Must have been half asleep or something. Jokes on me haha)

Seas Trades C J Eminger (70ovr Low Top6F) to Det for 2023 6th Round Pick & 2024 3rd round Pick. (After the Nashville trade debacle, I still wanted a 6th round pick. Turned into a bust but still got a 3rd round for next year up my sleeve.

Draft Day Wrap up:

In what was a much weaker draft this season compared to the prior year, the Cats fared quite well, picking up Eric Cleary (RW Low Elite) at pick #9 (Acquired from NJ @ start of last season), then trading Bucek for effectively what turned out to 2 Medium Top6F's, the latter of the 2 then being traded to Edmonton for Heinrich.

The Cats move onto re-signing tomorrow, however not too many blockbuster signings required. Management is possibly still not happy with the lineup on the top 6 right wing and there could be a move away from Seattle for a d-man or 2 in store. Also not predicting any blockbuster moves in Free Agency this season also however that does depend on what is on the market out there.

Stay tuned!

All the Trading action from the 2023 Draft:

[SeattleBattleCat]

2023 - Re-sign Phase

Player Re- Signed:
D Griffin Reinhart - 29yrs 80ovr Top6D DefD - Signed 2yrs @ $4.07M

1 Player was all that was required to re-sign from the list. Reinhart wanted about 1M more than I was really prepared to to pay, however with Hanzal retiring and the below delisted players freeing up cap, it became an easy decision to pay what he thought he was worth for 2 years.

Players Released:
RW Teemu Pulkkinen 31yrs 75ovr Exact Bottom6F - Salary amount & Ice time
LW Kenny Agostino 31yrs 75ovr Exact AHL TOP6F - Did not want extension
RW Pontus Alberg 28yrs 80ovr Exact Top9F - Ice Time
LW Adam Helewka 28yrs 78ovr Exact Bottom6F - Did not want extension
D Matt Brassard 24yrs 70ovr Med 7thD - De-listed

Did try to re-sign Pulkkinen and Alberg. Pulkkinen wanted a 1way contract however I was only prepared to offer a 2way contract. Alberg asked for 1.61M which I did offer however he cited the reason for leaving was there were too many players in his position trying for ice time. He was probably correct, although a permanent roster spot with the Battle Cats was on offer. Sad to see Agostino go for the 2nd time, however the Captain of the Burnaby Aces from last season did not wish to extend.

All Rookie signings were held off until the 1st day of free agency.