January 31, 2012
Pucks From The Past
Saskatoon Westerns, 1997-98

by Iain Fyffe

Fictional Saskatoon GM Ardal Ekrub begins the 1997 offseason with a very bold move. Over the past few years, he's been able to draft several of the best goaltending prospects available, according to his Project-a-Tron objective draft rating system. From 1994 to 1996, Ekrub has nabbed Jose Theodore, Martin Biron, and Mathieu Garon respectively, each time the best goaltender available. This has, of course, resulted in a surplus of netminders on his Reserve List. Ekrub hates nothing more than a wasted resource, and so cannot simply let these prospects sit in the minor leagues long term. He has to clear some space, at either the NHL level or in the AHL.

Taking into account the return available for each possible move, he decides to trade Felix Potvin, his starting goaltender since the 1992-93 season, and winner of three Stanley Cups. He does this to move Potvin before he begins a natural decline in performance due to age, which results in a player earning too much for what he contributes to the team. If he were to wait and Potvin's decline were to begin, this would impact his trade value as well. So although it might be an unpopular move with many fans, Ekrub must keep the team's interests in mind. He is comfortable with backup Stephane Fiset stepping in as the starter for at least a couple of seasons, while the younger netminders get a little professional experience.

So Potvin is packaged with Martin Straka and David Vyborny and sent to Vancouver for the first round (10th overall) and fifth round (119th overall) picks in 1997, and their second round pick in 1998. Ekrub does not get to use his own draft picks in the top 10, due to his team's consistent success, so obtaining such an early pick in another incentive to trade his starter. He then sends Boris Mironov, Dmitri Yushkevich, and Jan Caloun to Edmonton for their first round pick (14th overall), giving him three picks in the first 22. It's an embarrassment of riches for someone used to picking 25th or so.

Top 30 Players Available at 1997 Entry Draft

Rank	Player			Pos	League	PGVT+	Drafted
1	Thornton, Joe		F	OHL	19.7	1
2	Jokinen, Olli		F	Fin	13.5	3
3	Marleau, Patrick	F	WHL	13.4	2
4	Hossa, Marian		F	Svk	12.5	12
5	Samsonov, Sergei	F	IHL	12.0	8
6	Boynton, Nick		D	OHL	9.7	9
7	Lyashenko, Roman	F	Rus	9.4	52
8	Cleary, Daniel		F	OHL	9.1	13
9	Holmqvist, Mikael	F	Swe	8.4	18
10	York, Mike		F	CCHA	8.3	136
11	Luongo, Roberto		G	QMJHL	8.2	4
12	Mara, Paul		D	OHL	7.7	7
13	Butsayev, Yuri		F	Rus	7.7	49
14	Bicek, Jiri		F	Cze	7.6	131
15	Tkaczuk, Daniel		F	OHL	7.5	6
16	Afinogenov, Maxim	F	Rus	7.3	69
17	Huselius, Kristian	F	Swe	7.1	47
18	Kapanen, Niko		F	Fin	7.1	-
19	Lindsay, Evan		G	WHL	7.0	32
20	Dome, Robert		F	IHL	6.5	17
21	Sidyakin, Andrei	F	Rus	6.4	202
22	Somervuori, Eero	F	Fin	6.4	170
23	Ference, Andrew		D	WHL	6.3	208
24	St. Croix, Chris	D	WHL	6.2	92
25	Kariya, Steve		F	HE	6.2	-
26	Henry, Burke		D	WHL	5.7	73
27	Campbell, Brian		D	OHL	5.7	156
28	Tselios, Nikos		D	OHL	5.7	22
29	Dovigi, Patrick		G	OHL	5.5	41
30	Sarno, Peter		F	OHL	5.2	141

Ekrub uses his acquired picks to nab two highly-rated European forwards in Marian Hossa and Roman Lyashenko. It's just like old times, really, with a majority of the team's picks being used for cross-Atlantic players.

For several years, Ekrub has been giving defenseman a 15% increase to their adjusted projected peak GVT (PGVT+), in order to counter the fact that other NHL teams had for years done a much better job at drafting the best blueline prospects than other positions. Looking at the results of the 1996 and 1997 drafts, this no longer seems to be the case, as several of the better prospects have been available late in the draft. As such, the fictional GM decides this adjustment is no longer needed, at least for the foreseeable future.

Saskatoon Westerns 1997 Entry Draft Picks

Pick	Player			Pos	League	PGVT+
10	Hossa, Marian		LW	Svk	12.5
14	Lyashenko, Roman	C	Rus	9.4
22	York, Mike		C	CCHA	8.3
49	Butsayev, Yuri		LW	Rus	7.7
76	Bicek, Jiri		LW	Svk	7.6
102	Ference, Andrew		D	WHL	6.3
119	Kapanen, Niko		C	Fin	7.1
130	Campbell, Brian		D	OHL	5.7
157	Sidyakin, Andrei	RW	Rus	6.4
186	Kariya, Steve		LW	HE	6.2
213	Markov, Andrei		D	Rus	5.1
242	Whitecotton, Dustin	C	CCHA	4.9

By trading players for draft picks, Ekrub obviates the need for the massive cuts he has had to make in past years just to keep the team's Reserve List under the legal limits. As such he releases only Marc Bouchard, Xavier Delisle, Blair Manning, Jason Firth, and Roman Horak.

Saskatoon Westerns 1997-98 Reserve List

Pos	Name			Age	Acquired
G	Biron, Martin (k)	20	Draft, 1995 (15)
G	Fiset, Stephane (k)	27	Draft, 1988 (24)
G	Garon, Mathieu (k)	19	Draft, 1996 (36)
G	Henry, Frederic (k)	20	Draft, 1995 (162)
G	Theodore, Jose (k)	21	Draft, 1994 (26)
G	Wilkinson, Derek (k)	23	Draft, 1992 (119)
D	Boyle, Dan		21	Draft, 1995 (216)
D	Brown, Jeff (k)		31	Draft, 1984 (30)
D	Campbell, Brian		18	Draft, 1997 (130)
D	Clark, Brett (k)	20	Draft, 1996 (77)
D	Corvo, Joe		20	Draft, 1996 (49)
D	Dahl, Kevin (k)		28	Trade, 1991
D	Ference, Andrew		18	Draft, 1997 (102)
D	Guren, Miloslav (k)	20	Draft, 1995 (52)
D	Julien, Stephane (k)	23	Draft, 1992 (239)
D	Kaberle, Frantisek (k)	23	Draft, 1992 (191)
D	Keller, Aaron (k)	22	Draft, 1993 (155)
D	Markov, Andrei		18	Draft, 1997 (213)
D	Musial, David		21	Draft, 1995 (56)
D	Numminen, Teppo (k)	29	Draft, 1986 (15)
D	Salo, Sami (k)		23	Draft, 1993 (51)
D	Smith, Ryan (k)		23	Draft, 1992 (143)
D	Snell, Chris (k)	26	Draft, 1990 (249)
D	Van Impe, Darren (k)	24	Draft, 1991 (104)
D	Zhitnik, Alexei (k)	24	Draft, 1991 (65)
D	Zidlicky, Marek (k)	20	Draft, 1995 (108)
D	Zubov, Sergei (k)	26	Draft, 1990 (81)
C	Bowler, Bill (k)	22	Draft, 1993 (285)
C	Briere, Daniel (k)	19	Draft, 1996 (23)
C	Brylin, Sergei (k)	23	Draft, 1992 (30)
C	Kapanen, Niko		19	Draft, 1997 (119)
C	Lapointe, Claude (k)	28	Draft, 1988 (229)
C	Larouche, Steve (k)	26	Draft, 1989 (40)
C	Lyashenko, Roman	18	Draft, 1997 (14)
C	Malov, Roman		19	Draft, 1996 (186)
C	Marchant, Todd (k)	24	Draft, 1992 (215)
C	McLean, Brett (k)	19	Draft, 1996 (159)
C	Nieuwendyk, Joe (k)	31	Draft, 1985 (9)
C	Norris, Warren (k)	22	Draft, 1994 (104)
C	Perreault, Yanic (k)	26	Draft, 1990 (102)
C	Perrin, Eric (k)	22	Draft, 1994 (78)
C	Robinson, Todd (k)	19	Draft, 1996 (105)
C	Savard, Marc (k)	20	Draft, 1995 (27)
C	York, Mike		19	Draft, 1997 (22)
C	Whitecotton, Dustin	18	Draft, 1997 (242)
C	Zhamnov, Alexei (k)	26	Draft, 1990 (60)
LW	Bicek, Jiri		18	Draft, 1997 (76)
LW	Butsayev, Yuri		18	Draft, 1997 (49)
LW	Demitra, Pavol (k)	23	Draft, 1993 (77)
LW	Hossa, Marian		18	Draft, 1997 (12)
LW	Kallio, Tommi		20	Draft, 1995 (72)
LW	Kariya, Steve		19	Draft, 1997 (186)
LW	Kozlov, Vyacheslav (k)	25	Draft, 1990 (18)
LW	Kratna, Ondrej		20	Draft, 1996 (132)
LW	Miettinen, Tommi	21	Draft, 1994 (182)
LW	Mikhailov, Egor		19	Draft, 1996 (212)
LW	Recchi, Mark (k)	29	Draft, 1987 (142)
LW	Shalamai, Sergei	21	Draft, 1994 (130)
LW	Soderberg, Anders	21	Draft, 1995 (135)
LW	Whitney, Ray (k)	25	Draft, 1991 (21)
RW	Bednar, Jaroslav	20	Draft, 1995 (80)
RW	Blazek, Tomas		22	Draft, 1993 (129)
RW	Brousseau, Paul (k)	24	Draft, 1992 (23)
RW	Cherbaev, Alexander	24	Draft, 1991 (109)
RW	Dackell, Andreas (k)	24	Draft, 1992 (167)
RW	Fleury, Theoren (k)	29	Draft, 1986 (204)
RW	Gendron, Martin (k)	23	Draft, 1992 (71)
RW	Hassinen, Jani		22	Draft, 1994 (234)
RW	Kapanen, Sami (k)	24	Draft, 1992 (46)
RW	Lehtinen, Jere (k)	24	Draft, 1991 (131)
RW	Petrov, Oleg (k)	26	Draft, 1990 (57)
RW	Prochazka, Martin	25	Draft, 1990 (144)
RW	St. Louis, Martin (k)	22	Draft, 1994 (52)
RW	Sidyakin, Andrei	18	Draft, 1997 (157)
RW	Tuomainen, Marko	25	Draft, 1991 (175)
RW	Varvio, Jarkko (k)	25	Draft, 1991 (153)
RW	Vasiljevs, Herbert	21	Draft, 1995 (189)
RW	Vujtek, Vladimir (k)	25	Draft, 1990 (207)

Players on Reserve List (Maximum 80): 78
Players Under Contract (Maximum 50): 49

The Westerns return to dominance in the 1997-98 season, topping the league with 114 points and 278 goals scored, fully 10% more than the next-highest-scoring team. The team's on-ice leadership really comes through: captain Joe Nieuwendyk and alternates Teppo Numminen and Mark Recchi all contribute at least 16.7 GVT to the team's credit, and Sergei Zubov also puts in an outstanding season.

New starter Stephane Fiset is fairly solid, but is a far cry from the performances of the departed Felix Potvin in recent years. Young Jose Theodore serves as backup for much of the season, and outperforms Fiset to a small degree.

Saskatoon Westerns 1997-98 NHL Season Results

GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts	Finish
82	51	19	12	278	196	114	1st place, Central; 1st overall

Player			Num	Age	Pos	GP	OGVT	DGVT	GVT
Nieuwendyk, Joe (C)	25	31	C	73	17.0	3.5	20.5
Zubov, Sergei		46	26	D	73	11.5	7.4	18.9
Numminen, Teppo (A)	27	29	D	82	11.0	7.7	18.7
Recchi, Mark (A)	8	29	RW	82	13.3	3.4	16.7
Fleury, Theoren		14	29	RW	82	12.1	3.6	15.7
Demitra, Pavol		38	23	LW	61	10.6	2.9	13.5
Whitney, Ray		13	25	LW	77	11.3	1.7	13.0
Lehtinen, Jere		20	24	RW	72	5.4	5.7	11.1
Zhamnov, Alexei		23	26	C	70	5.7	4.8	10.5
Zhitnik, Alexei		44	24	D	78	6.5	3.5	10.0
Kapanen, Sami		42	24	RW	81	6.8	2.6	9.4
Fiset, Stephane		35	27	G	52	0.0	9.0	9.0
Perreault, Yanic	49	26	C	79	5.8	2.7	8.5
Marchant, Todd		39	24	LW	76	3.9	4.5	8.4
Kozlov, Vyacheslav	16	25	LW	80	6.2	2.0	8.2
Brown, Jeff		28	31	D	60	2.5	3.2	5.7
Theodore, Jose		33	21	G	26	0.0	5.6	5.6
Lapointe, Claude	17	28	C	78	0.1	2.8	2.9
Zidlicky, Marek		3	20	D	55	0.7	1.4	2.1
Van Impe, Darren	48	24	D	69	0.6	1.5	2.1
Brylin, Sergei		47	23	C	18	1.0	0.7	1.7
Dackell, Andreas	12	24	RW	19	0.0	0.9	0.9
Guren, Miloslav		19	20	D	8	0.4	0.1	0.5
Biron, Martin		43	20	G	4	0.0	0.3	0.3
St. Louis, Martin	15	22	RW	12	0.3	0.0	0.3
Perrin, Eric		10	22	C	12	0.1	0.0	0.1
Salo, Sami		5	23	D	51	-0.6	0.7	0.1
Briere, Daniel		18	19	RW	1	0.0	0.0	0.0
Brousseau, Paul		37	24	LW	11	-0.3	0.3	0.0
Dahl, Kevin		4	28	D	16	-0.7	0.3	-0.4
Total						82	131.2	82.8	214.0

We're now in the RTSS era of NHL stats, which gives us some more number to play with. The Westerns have two centers in the lineup, Joe Nieuwendyk and Yanic Perreault, who are among the very best at winning faceoffs since that statistic has been tracked. The team's faceoff totals are presented below; due to the contributions of these two players, Saskatoon is among the league's best on a percentage basis. We will be examining this year-by-year, to see if there might be more than just luck involved at landing two such good faceoff men as this. Perhaps high skill players (which is what you'll draft using the objective draft ranking that Ekrub uses) will tend to be good at faceoffs as well. After all, quick hands help both in scoring and in winning draws.

Saskatoon Westerns 1997-98 Faceoff Stats

Player			Pos	GP	FO	FOW	FOL	FO%
Nieuwendyk, Joe		C	73	1349	802	547	59.4
Perreault, Yanic	C	79	1234	682	552	55.3
Lapointe, Claude	C	78	989	502	487	50.8
Zhamnov, Alexei		C	70	803	390	413	48.6
Fleury, Theoren		RW	82	310	166	144	53.5
Marchant, Todd		LW	76	220	109	111	49.5
Demitra, Pavol		LW	61	177	80	97	45.2
Whitney, Ray		LW	77	145	72	73	49.7
Recchi, Mark		RW	82	66	28	38	42.4
Brylin, Sergei		C	18	42	19	23	45.2
Kapanen, Sami		RW	81	42	18	24	42.9
Kozlov, Vyacheslav	LW	80	22	8	14	36.4
Lehtinen, Jere		RW	72	6	1	5	16.7
Dackell, Andreas	RW	19	1	0	1	0.0
Total				80	5406	2877	2529	53.2

Playoffs, First Round

Saskatoon starts its fourth attempt at a title defense with a five-game victory over the San Jose Sharks (0-2, 3-1, 2-0, 2-1, 4-2). The Westerns score only 11 goals, but San Jose manages just six in response.

Playoffs, Second Round

With a sweep of the Edmonton Oilers in the second round (4-1, 1-0, 5-3, 2-1), the Westerns seem to be on a roll with an 8-1 record in the playoffs so far. A second consecutive Stanley Cup is looking more and more likely.

Playoffs, Third Round

The Dallas Stars put up a game fight in the third round, pushing Saskatoon to a seventh game. The Westerns are used to winning Game Sevens, though, and a one-goal victory eliminates the Stars (5-2, 3-1, 1-2, 6-2, 4-5, 0-1, 3-2).

Playoffs, Final Round

For the first time, the Westerns actually have a chance to repeat as Stanley Cup champions. But also for the first time, they lose a Stanley Cup Final series. After going up two games to one (3-2, 1-4, 6-2) against the Washington Capitals, the series becomes a low-scoring, tight-checking affair. The Capitals win the final three games by scores of 2-1, 2-0, and 2-1. Fans looking to blame the departure of Potvin for the team's loss can't overcome the exceptional performance turned in by Stephane Fiset, who allows more than two goals in a game only three times during the playoffs and makes a strong case for the Conn Smythe Trophy, which instead goes to his counterpart Olaf Kolzig.

Saskatoon Westerns Season Results Through 1997-98

Season		GP	W	L	T	GF	GA	Pts	Pct
1983-84		80	32	39	9	314	324	73	.456
1984-85		80	34	36	10	311	313	78	.488
1985-86		80	40	32	8	321	309	88	.550
1986-87		80	40	32	8	328	297	88	.550
1987-88		80	41	31	8	345	307	90	.563
1988-89		80	45	26	9	365	297	99	.619
1989-90		80	45	27	8	344	277	98	.613
1990-91		80	47	23	10	341	257	104	.650
1991-92		80	45	25	10	339	269	100	.625
1992-93		84	53	23	8	382	268	115	.685
1993-94		84	53	21	10	360	253	116	.690
1994-95		48	34	9	5	185	124	71	.740
1995-96		82	47	26	9	315	250	103	.628
1996-97		82	42	29	11	268	229	95	.579
1997-98		82	51	19	12	278	196	114	.695
Total		1100	607	369	124	4528	3451	1337	.608