Season 57 Toronto Legion Outlook [1/2]

[Devise 4,475]

The Narrative: Season 56 was the first step out of rebuild and into the competitive atmosphere for the Toronto Legion. The team, under the guidance of up and coming Travis Boychuk began working on a new core of players over the course of the last several seasons. The strategy of course was to invest in a solid core, and then build outward from there. After some key trades and filling up some holes, the Legion had a very impressive Season 56. The Legion found themselves 2nd in the North American conference behind a very strong Quebec City Meute team. While Quebec standing atop of the NA was a foregone conclusion after a massive rebuild and shake up of the conference, the battle for second wasn't always a clear picture. Both the Calgary Wranglers and the Toronto Legion were coming out of rebuild around the same time, and it was Toronto taking the best of it for much of the regular season, ultimately finishing 20 points ahead of the Wranglers. 

 

Newcomer Xander Finn was the most notable performer on the roster, he lead the team in points with 109, and defender Roman Sokolov also had a real breakthrough season with 94 points. However the playoffs left a sour taste in the Legions mouth, as they were ousted in the first round by the Calgary Wranglers in six games. One has to figure that this loss may stay with the Legion as Season 57 approaches. Beginning to push the narrative into the direction of an all time great team, has to be the number one priority for a up and coming Legion team poised and ready to take the step into contender status. Here is the Season 57 outlook for the Toronto Legion. 

 

Coming In: RW - Sami Zayn (TPE: 402), LW - Luigi De Rossi (TPE: 241), LW - Phil Bennington (TPE: 118)

Going Out: RW - AK47 (TPE: 353), LW - Ted Doughty (TPE: 387), D - Jean-Claude Girard (TPE: 106)

 

The Analysis: The Legion had a mostly quiet off-season, deciding not to make any big splashes with their first round draft pick, and instead opting to draft young winger Phil Bennington. Bennington comes from one of the most well respected and accomplished player agencies in the league. Adding more sugar to that cupcake is the fact that the Phil player agency has a great relationship with GM Travis Boychuk, and reports are that in the long term the Legion could expect a long term commitment with Bennington. While TPE wise the talented young winger is still blossoming, he'll look to join the Legion in Season 58. 

 

Deciding not to pay the hefty price tags to get some more seasoned players in the big HC Davos Dynamo rebuild meant that Boychuk and the Legion had to be quiet, but ready to strike when the opportunity arose. Especially in free agency. Thankfully for Legionites around the greater Toronto area that is exactly what happened a few days after free agency opened up. The Legion were able to completely shore up the forward holes brought on by retirement, and with Bennington staying down they really needed those two forward slots. More than that, the Legion wanted an upgrade over AK47. Management recognized that the strong core of talented forwards they have are more of a get it done by committee as opposed to any one individual star. Another equally talented compliment was required, and playmaking Sami Zayn was acquired in free agency. While De Rossi is a downgrade to Ted Doughty for the second line, the Legion know they have solid depth coming in the wings with Bennington. All in all it was a solid bit of work in the off-season for a Legion team that knows it needs to make the next step. 

 

Season 57 Projected Line Up

 

Verner Reinholdt (TPE: 393) - Bo Boeser (TPE: 447) - Sami Zayn (TPE: 402)

Luigi De Rossi (TPE: 241) - Xander Finn (TPE: 390) - Daring Do (TPE: 253) 

 

Roman Sokolov (TPE: 451) - Dexter Lane (TPE: 308)

Aackckqz Ky (TPE: 270)

 

Torstein Ironside (TPE: 572)

 

The Strengths: The biggest strength for the Season 57 Toronto Legion team has to be in net. Torstein Ironside is ready to start competing for Aidan Shaw trophies. He's just entering his prime, and he is ready to take the next step and begin performing at his peak. Provided he can elevate his game as expected, the teams entire performance could see a spike. Another underrated strength of the Legion team is not just depth, but depth with chemistry. This is a team that even when one individual may not shine so bright a lot of the players get involved and contribute. This also allows them to be flexible in line up. Having Boeser, and Finn down the middle gives the team a great one two punch at center. Both players have a history of making the players around them better. Another aspect of line up flexibility comes with the addition of Sami Zayn. The Legion could try to overload a stronger first line, or put one of Zayn or Reinholdt on the second line to have an effective one two punch on both lines. Lastly, Roman Sokolov had over 90 points as a defender last season. Nearing 500 TPE, with a relatively youth stacked defense VHL, Sokolov now sits among the top four defenders. His offensive prowess is just another aspect that allows the Legion to score and put up points by committee. 

 

The Weaknesses: Keeping goals out is going to come down to Ironside and some clutch play by basically two players. Ky is more acceptable on the VHL level as a fourth defender, and given that the Legion upgraded up front they have to run with three defenders for now. While Sokolov and Lane are an acceptable first pairing, the rest of the defensive work is going to have to come by solid contributions from the forward core, and Ironside keeping the gates closed. Another big weakness for the Legion is the quality of depth. While they did upgrade up front, De Rosi and Do are more fill in options and are likely to be carried by the place of a solid depth piece like Xander Finn. A big concern of this club will be on the penalty kill, as the harder minutes would begin to wear out a thinned out defensive core. Ironside is especially going to have to come up big in short handed situations for this team to keep pucks out of the net on the special teams. 

 

The X-Factor: Power play. How many goals this team puts up, and how well they do against the better teams in the league could very well come down to the power play. The Legion should have the depth and strength in net to be able to fare pretty well while the play remains 5 on 5. But with a potential weak penalty kill, ensuring you have a strong power play could be the difference between winning or losing, what is likely to be some close games against the leagues upper tier. But with a top power play unit that features a healthy dose of skilled playmakers and goalscorers, names like Roman Sokolov, Verner Reinholdt, Bo Boeser and Sami Zayn should be able to do damage with the extra man. Look for Toronto to have one of the top 4 power plays in the league in Season 57. 

 

Players to Watch

 

Torstein Ironside: He'll be on the ballot for the Aidan Shaw at the end of Season 57. That is a bold prediction, especially when notable goalies can have slump seasons as 56 proved. But Ironside has the hours in, he has a good enough team in front of him that this is a player that could not only push the pace as it relates to the Shaw, but even MVP and Slobo as well. Expect him to finish with a .925 save percentage or better, he could even push .930 if things go his way. 

 

Roman Sokolov: With the Legion expected to have a top power play in Season 57, Roman Sokolov figures to be a big part of that. Sokolov had 9 power play goals and 30 power play points quarterbacking the 5th best power play in the league last season. With the PP stats of all involved expected to grow given the overall improvement of this clubs most notable players, expect Sokolov to be one of the best overall point producers on the power play in Season 57. He'll look to pot 40 points on the power play on way to another season in which he should get consideration for the Labatte. Don't be shocked if he even hits 50 points on the power play. He had 9 goals on the power play last season, and that number should also improve with the addition of another strong playmaker in Sami Zayn. He could challenge for the top in power play goals in Season 57 as well. 

 

Bo Boeser: While players like Sokolov and Ironside are sure fire picks to see not only improvements, but a continuation of them entering their prime in Season 57, there is a question mark around Boeser that makes him an intriguing player to watch in Season 57. With the addition of Sami Zayn, Boeser has more options when it comes to putting points up on the board. And while he didn't have a bad Season 56, with only 81 points the question regarding the elite status of Boeser still has yet to be answered. This is a forward who has shown the skills and capabilities to hit 100 points or better, and in Season 57 he'll have every opportunity to do so. A much improved and deadly Toronto power play could also see more points for Boeser, and ultimately allow him to begin pushing his way through the ranks and beginning to solidify his own legacy as a top center in the league. 

 

 

 

The Outlook

 

Many might peg Season 57 as another year to wait for Toronto. Under normal circumstances, with an old school VHL landscape I'd have to agree, that this is a team still stuck between second and third place in the NA with longshot playoff hopes. However this isn't the old VHL landscape. Depth is the name of the game, and in multiple instances up and coming teams have shown the capacity with the right make up to explode onto the scene with some early success. While the Legion may not be heavy favorite heading into Season 57, they also present a very strong underdog case for both the season and the playoffs. This is a team with a goalie that could take an entire series away from any team in this league. It's a team with enough combined offensive firepower, and enough depth to challenge and beat any other team. The landscape of the VHL in the modern day see's far more subtle changes, with each team choosing to invest in a specific core set of players. How the depth builds around that core, whether that means number of players, quality of players, or even investing in a specific position more over the other, changes from team to team. The Legion have an underrated amount of riches at the forward position, with 4 notable players who can perform. 3 of which are still absolutely improving, and should improve at a pace to begin competing with the leagues best. How well the Legion are able to compete with the best is going to be the question mark. 

 

In terms of expected performance, this is a team that can challenge for the top spot in the conference. The Legion should be able to handle the clubs stuck in rebuild no problem, but it is the crucial games against Quebec, Calgary, Helsinki and Riga that will determine a lot of their overall regular season success. Another match up to watch for them is against the Seattle Bears, who much like the Legion last season are beginning to burst their way out of rebuild after a few solid drafts and some of their own improvements in the off-season. We could very well see a three way battle for relevancy in the NA conference, with Quebec likely being the only solid lock. However Toronto looks to be a bit further along than both Seattle and Calgary, and if I was a betting man I'd say Seattle probably sits out of the playoffs for another year due simply to the strength in net. Calgary, Quebec and Toronto have a edge over Seattle in that regard. 

 

The one thing the Legion do have is cap space. With 3.75 million in free space heading into the season and one notable hole in their roster, Boychuk could look to try to add a defender during the season or at the trade deadline. The Legion have enough space to add a notable name too, so be on the look out as the teams biggest hole on defense could very easily be addressed by adding another good name on the blue line. Regardless if that happens,  the outlook is positive in Season 57 and going forward for Toronto. While they may not be a lock, the addition of a fourth defender would likely make them that as it relates to qualifying for the playoffs in Season 57. 

 

 

*Words 2235* *For Verner Reinholdt*

*Using for the PT weeks of (Oct 2nd-8th, Oct 9th-15th, Oct 16th-22nd, Oct 23rd-29th)

 

 

 

 

 

 

[hedgehog337 3,480]

REVIEW:

 

Toronto got only better with Guntis Petenis imo, he is making Ironside's job easier. And also you predicted the right reason why Seattle is out of competition - mist4ke is too mediocre for contending. Would be interesting to see how many seasons Toronto will hang btw, cause for now I think this team might only make to two seasons as some player's development stalled out. But hey, it's Dollar job to figure it out.

 

@Devise