Season 13 Season Preview Part. 1

by James Ashton and Shannon Goodfellow

Updated odds as per Jun 5th for Teams from Article 1

Oromocto 25 : 1

Riverview 17 : 1

Albert County 10.1 

Dorchester 9 : 1

Bathurst 8.2 : 1

Sweet some changes but nobody dropped so it's the same 5, I’m doing this today after Trent blew up his team on Monday and my creative brain was the consistency of rice pudding. I have to get it out before there are any drastic changes.

Moncton Melons 7.9 : 1

I hope you like this theme of teams in the Gretzky Conference having odds in the 7’s. At this point Jack Hughes has become The player of the ODBHL. There was McDavid now it’s Hughes who sets the pace and makes 100 point seasons and back to back MVP’s seem pedestrian. He’s got Kakko as his running mate but this team has made some significant changes.

Lundestrom has been a point per game player for his career and with position flexibility he will create a deadly first line between those two. Alex Turcotte looks to finally find a secure home after bouncing around post Cains River years. 

Gone is Jacob Chyckrun as the pending cap put pressure on the team to trim space and was dealt to Bathurst and in the cousins-Turcotte swap. The other major change is that gone is Blackwood back to Bathurst to try to restore glory to his former team and try to turn it around.

Back is home grown Veini (not even attempting to spell the last name) . While beginning to rescind and gets worse like a cheap Miramichi wine on a Saturday night the team will hope to outscore and run and gun into a playoff run that isn’t out of the question.

Welcome to the toughest division in ODBHL ever.

Miramichi Moose 7.6 : 1  

Here is the team that I know the most about. 

This is hopefully the start of the return of my Moose as playoff contenders.

Additions include: H Sedin, Connor McMichael, D Sedin, Rodiom Amirov , Seth Jarvis, Isaak Rosen, Miro Heiskanen and Igor Shesterkin. Some have come due to the rebuild, some through trades and some through free agency. Until Cossa is ready, upgrading the goalie was needed to open the window. Now with Igor declining in the coming years Cossa should be taking over as the long term answer in goal.

It wasn’t long ago when the Moose had 5 1st rounders for this draft, using that, the salary cap space and patience , we were able to leverage a strong young core that should be ready to contend for many years. 

Cains River Blues 7.6 : 1 (slightly beat Miramichi on cup wins 13.5 Blues 13.4 Moose)

All about consistency here. Zary, Hischer, Monty and a steady defense. The formula works and the team stays consistent and makes calculated moves that improve the team either through the draft , free agency or trades.

As always 1-6 the team has one of the deepest defense cores. The front four has been readjusted with Makar , Hanafin and Lundkvist in their first season with the blues. It helps that day one defenseman has started slowing down and could be a third line pairing starting next year.

The team has excellent depth both on the pro and one legit prospect at every position in Dungarvan as well.  With no outright weakness it makes drafting quite easier when you can have the best player available option at your disposal.

The team will need to sweeten up to the goalies as both Monty and Mads are  in the last year of their contract. With the lack of goalie depth there could be a bidding war that could get out of hand.

South Esk Scotsman  6.8 : 1

Speaking of the deepest defense core. It’s the strength of this team, but don’t call it a mafia. With large trades with Bathurst and Oromocto the landscape of freely skating into the Scotsman end of the ice has drastically changed. 

Reunited from their days in Riverview Segachev and Alexeyev can alter players careers with the amount of violent hits. The second line of Bowen and Risto is no slouch with. Also with the #3 overall pick in the draft Chelios waiting in San Diego like isn’t pleasant for opposing forwards. Allowing 23.1 shots per game is an absurd number as well.

With that kind of defensive help the forward depth has taken a hit as it has the usual top line guys but the third and 4th liners aren't quite as potent due to cap constraints. Rumors out of Conception Bay are that their goalies may or may not have arrest warrants out for them and have chosen to be listed as unknown and wear lucha libra masks under their goalie masks.

The are actual higher end prospects playing for Riders, the team usually skips the draft and sends out assets for proven veterans. So are Chelios, Lundell and Coronato preparing for their future or waiting to see where the next stop. That Chelios guy would look fabulous with antlers. 

And of Course …………

Saint John Kings 6.5 : 1

Lakers 

Yankees

The Machine in Heineken drinking and Magic the gathering 

Saint John Kings

All of the above are teams and people that don’t just rebuild , and settle for satisfactory results, they go for it and if that doesn't work they go even harder the next year. After winning the Season 11 cup after what seemed like every year of me writing this thing as their favored team felt like they would go on a 3-4 year run they did THE thing that happened. It doesn't make sense and there's no likely way to prepare for it if they get beaten in the playoffs somehow.

I would rather write and pose questions and this is the question I have. Unless some has a Jack Hughes like season this is the year we finally see a goalie win the most valuable player. Don’t ask me to explain the math or the formulas. I’m sure Jeff or Shannon could do that , I’d rather be comparing tablet sound and graphics with Jonathan for internet educational tutorials.

Coming back from is the usual suspects from last year's core with the additions of Suddenly a beefer version of Brandt Clarke (still on an entry level contract BTW) , much improved Joel Blomqvist, and the sneaky addition of Oliver Walstrom.  

The forward depth is solid as Gm Kenny runs a solid 9 man forward group as the 4th line guys are mainly there for team insurance reasons and recently veteran Kevin Fiala was spotted eating 3 hot dogs and a beer that was provided by team officials in the Kings 3-1 victory over the rival Melons.

By James Ashton