Season in Review: The Knights Templar

The Knights Templar entered the season with a chip on their shoulders. The previous season saw them undergo a collapse of Biblical proportions falling from near contention to last place in a matter of weeks. Receiveing the Herbivore was only made worse by knowing how it had been "won". Still, entering this season there was hope - if for no other reason then they couldn't possibly be that bad again. Indeed, on the final week of the season the Knights had the second best week in the pool and managed to move up to 5th spot. A respectable finish but only a taste of what the team hopes the future holds.

FPs: The Knights Templar started and finished with two of the more uninspired FPs available. On right wing they have Milan Hejduk (70pts) and on left wing they have Markus Naslund (60pts). Both are capable of so much more but the question is how much longer will they be given an opportunity to show it?

Draft: The Omnivore baseline rates the Knights Templar as the 7th best team coming out of the draft at approximately the same 951pts they would finish the season with. The Knights' first four selections were lw D.Sedin (84pts), rw M.St.Louis (102pts), c S.Gomez (60pts) and g J.Theodore (21.56pts). While the first two selections were very strong, S.Gomez was selected with the hope of a bit more production and J.Theodore was a disaster in net.

Sedin was a selection that was much ridiculed at the time however in hindsight, Sedin's point-a-game pace was the most by any available left winger. Before settling on Daniel Sedin, the Knights Templar would make four attempts to poach RFAs on other teams: Spezza, Zetterberg, Gaborik and Cheechoo - ironically only Spezza's 87pts were more than the 84 that D.Sedin finally earned. Indeed, the Knights would probably have been worse off had they been successful in almost all of their attempted poaches. In all the Knights Templar would make 8 attmepts to poach another team's RFAs, being successful on two occasions: B.Rolston (64pts) in the 5th round and C.Campoli (14pts) in the 12th round. The Knights would also match bids on three of their RFAs.

Moving Forward: The true test of any team is whether they can improve. Clearly this past season was preferable to the one that came before but many of the same concerns continue to plauge it. A weak defense, only the Severed Heads and Edge got less points from their blue-liners, is one concern. Their first three drafted defensemen were Berard (3pts), Ohlund (31pts)and M.A.Bergeron (46pts) so problems were to be expected but the sacrifice on defense, a trade-off many teams feel they need to make, was not balanced out by exceptional production at another position. The Knights had a sold 221pts on left wing, thanks in large part to D.Sedin and prospect T.Vanek, but that was the most points they got at any position.

It is also fair to ask whether the Knights have been too cautious on the trade front. To succeed in the FunHL you do not have to be constantly making deals, indeed the Shadowmen have shown the limits of "fighting the future" with excessive trading but you do need to be proactive in improving your team. Trading entails taking risks and if you continue to hold out for the obvious "win" on the trade front, then you are likely too close to the trade deadline to change the outcome in a significant way. You don't need to make a lot of trades, see the Personal Vendetta and their success for evidence of this, but you do need to identify your strenghts and weaknesses and then go out and find a way to improve your team. The Knights have shown that they are able to do this but they need to do more if they are to excell past mere mediocrity.

FPs: As noted above, the Knights Templar have two of the league's most uninspiring FPs. Naslund and Hejduk were only able to outscore the current FP pairs of the Shadowmen and the Personal Vendetta and both teams were dealing with FPs who missed considerable stretches of time with injuries in Jovonovski and Forsberg, respectively. The left-right combination that seemed so potent only a few years ago has not aged/developed as expected. There is certainly an arguement to replace one, if not both, of these FPs in the near future and fate has intervened to give the Knights their best opportunity in years to do just that. The FunHL Slot Selection Lottery has vaulted the Knights Templar into the cat-bird's seat for the Entry Draft and with the first-overall selection the crop of available potential FP-replacements include, among others, V.Lecavalier (108pts) and J.Spezza (87pts prorated to 106pts). With the first pick the options are many and the real issue may be choosing which player makes the most sense to select. Its always difficult to replace an FP but there is no better opportunity to do so then when you have the first overall pick.

One of the difficulties in making the switch comes when one feels that they are giving up on a quality FP for a chance at an exceptional one. Here, again, fate may have interevened. Several other teams are looking at replacing their current FPs but are not blessed with as favourable draft position. With S.Niedermayer's impending retirement, a trade of either Naslund or Hejduk to the Wolves may give some return to the Knights before selecting their replacement. While the arguement exists that both FPs need to be replaced, one of those potential replacements may be already be under contract...

Prospects: Tomas Vanek (84pts), the newest $50 million man, is clearly getting paid FP money in the "real" world and is showing FP ability at only 23 years of age. Vanek is only a P3 so he doesn't need to be promoted for two more years but it is reassuring to know that he is available when the time comes. What may be even more promising for the Knights is that Vanek may not even be the best prospect on the team - that honour, arguably, belongs to A.Radulov (37pts) who was a bright spot during the Predator's aborted playoff-run last season. He will only get more ice-time as the next season gets underway and shows no lack of confidence in whether or not it is deserved - it is. I'd like to try and convince Mike that Radulov will not be that good, but his talent is simply unmissable. He will be be an elite level forward before his prospect status runs out.

P.O'Sullivan (19pts) and S.Weber (40pts) are not FP calibre but they both can make important contributions, particularly Weber who is already able to take a regular roster spot. S.Upshall (16 pts) should earn a second look now that he has been traded to the Flyers. G.Latendresse (29pts) will get every chance to show that he belongs with the Habs but my suspicion is that he will not shine - but I have been wrong (many times) before. N.Kronwall (22pts) seems incapable of putting an injury-free season together and as a p4 he will not likely remain with the Knights. P3 goaltender H.Toivonen (-3.43pts) did not grab the reins when given the chance and with Fernandez and Rask in the system, Toivonen's days as the Bruins goalie of the future would seem to have passed.

Prospect picks: The Knights Templar are unchanged as far as prospect picks go for the 2007 Prospect Draft. Selecting 8th, the Knights ought to be able to get a solid prospect, though its likely they would not be able to make a significant contribution for a couple of years. One option to consider might be goaltending prospect C.Price in Montreal. If still available, he is the premier goaltending prospect out there and is already demonstrating that the AHL is his plaything. He will be a good one and goaltending was a sore point for the Knights last season.

RFAs: The cream of the Knights Templar RFA crop are H.Sedin (81pts) and D.Langkow (77pts) at center. Either one would be very reasonable to match, for reasons expanded upon below I would be reluctant to match on both unless you are willing to forego striving for an elite level center.

Among B.Clark (39pts), J.Modry (18pts), A.Aucoin (16pts) and F.Beauchemin (28pts) on defense there ought to be two players who may be able to contribute from the back-end. My choices would be Aucoin and Beauchemin but it really is a guessing game. Beauchemin has shown himself capable of filling in as a more offensive option when injuries to C.Pronger forced the role upon him and while 49PIM is a modest number, Beauchemin always seems to threaten to explode for more.

While Ribeiro (59pts) has some value at center as a fourth-line injury replacement, if he ends up on the Knights' roster to start the season along with both Sedin and Langkow - there are some serious deficiencies in terms of elite level pivots that will need to be addressed. Finally, Neil (28pts + 44.25pts TG) provides one element that is always sought after - toughness. I personally prefer to have my toughness as a bonus from a player whose primary contribution is pts or, barring that, from a defensemen so that the hit in terms of point production is not so great but at the end of the day points are points, however they are come by, and a good goon like Neil can generate them in bunches.

Overall: The Knights Templar have always been a team that threatens to enter the elite but never quite gets there. Their highest finish was third, accomplished in 2000 and 2002, but there were always factors holding them back from entering the upper echelon of FunHL teams. That may all be about to change. Vanek and Radulov are salavatingly good prospects and with a chance to replace one of their current FPs with the player of their choice in this season's Entry Draft, the Knights Templar have been afforded a unique opportunity that they will not want to squander. If GM Getta continues to build up the foundation, the future of this team is very bright indeed.