The relocation experiment, pt. 2 — Signing a new generation of CT heroes, the lineup, and it’s only preseason
A while back, I laid out a very simple scenario: what if the Florida Panthers packed up and made for Hartford? Would the team be financially successful? I wanted to get as close to a real-life answer as I could, so I turned to the phenomenal hockey simulator Franchise Hockey Manager to see.
As a refresher, here are the parameters for this experiment:
- The Florida Panthers are moved to Hartford, CT and renamed the Whalers. Through some force of will, the new franchise pried the rights to the old name and logo off of Carolina and adopted the old brand.
- As a precondition to the team’s arrival in Hartford, the XL Center is renovated. ~3,000 seats are added, the quality of the arena is improved, and new luxury boxes are added.
- The fan base is dubbed “very loyal” (the same setting as the Winnipeg Jets, which are a similar team to the Whalers) and the market size is set to “average” (same as Columbus, which is a bit smaller by DMA than Hartford).
- No other changes are made to give the franchise an unfair advantage over its competitors.
- The simulation begins in the fall of 2020, in a hypothetical world where COVID didn’t happen, fans are welcome in arenas, and the Whalers now exist (sure sounds incredible.)
It’s now time to step into the shoes of General Manager Joe Average, the lucky son of a gun responsible for making this Whalers team succeed. With a coaching staff of former Whalers (Joel Quenneville as HC, Ulf Samuelsson as assistant) and a talented young core, it’s going to be fun to get this moving.
The first preseason home game of the New Hartford Whalers will be on September 21st, and amazingly enough, the Whalers are scheduled to face the ‘Canes in that game.
We start off with the following lines:
Huberdeau-Barkov-Connolly
Duclair-Acciari-Hornqvist
Vatrano-Wennberg-Hinostroza
Verhaeghe-Marchment-Tippett
I’m leaving this group alone for the time being. Our best offensive prospect is Swedish forward Emil Heineman, who looked solid in the WJC and has a fair amount (3.5 star) of eventual upside. He’s only 18 and still adjusting to the SHL, so I’ll see how he performs there this season and make a decision on signing him later.
Our defensive pairings are solid:
Yandle-Ekblad
Nutivaara-Gudas
Weegar-Stralman
I’m signing Carter Berger and putting him in the minors — again, lots of potential upside. He’s fast, he can contribute at both ends of the rink, and he’s got a great future as an offensive defenseman in the NHL. Not to mention that he’s a UConn kid (the amount of CT / Whaler connections in the Panthers franchise is really uncanny) so the potential to excite the fanbase is there.
In net, it’s Bobrovsky to start. We’ll see how he holds up. I’m inclined to try to move him if I can — that contract ($10m annual cap hit until 2026) is a beast and likely a mistake. Driedger backs him up, but Coach Q is going to go with the hot hand.
The future is now for our goaltending, anyways. Spencer Knight is only a sophomore at Boston College, but with the kind of massive upside he has (FHM rates him as a possible 5-star goaltender) and the fact that once again, he’s a CT guy, we’re going to give him a contract and get him in the system immediately. Amazingly, we hold the rights to both of the starting goalies in the finals at the World Juniors this year, with Devon Levi also available. I’m going to let him develop for a year or so and look to possibly ship him for a couple of draft picks or a depth piece.
The free agent market is bare and I don’t see much need for us to go digging. When waiver season comes around, we might get aggressive.
We receive the first trade offer in new Hartford Whalers history — Edmonton wants to send us Ostap Safin, a decent AHL-level forward, for Mason Marchment. It’s a nope from us. A week or two later, and we get an offer from Winnipeg — poor quality AHLer for Ryan Lomberg. Smashing the nope button on that as well.
The new Whalers’ first ever game in the preseason is on the road in Calgary. It’s a 3–1 loss. Bummer, but it’s only preseason. We don’t really care much. Patric Hornqvist puts in the first goal in franchise history with assists from Verhaeghe and Ekblad. On to the next one. We stop off in Buffalo on the way home for the One that Counts, and it’s another loss — this time 5–4 in a shootout. Among our scorers, it’s good to see Owen Tippett on the board. He’s clearly got a ton of potential and is someone I’m going to be excited to see through this inaugural season.
Carolina, at home, Sept 21. It’s a blowout, sadly, but the fans pack the barn and there’s still plenty of excitement for the regular season. The first win comes on September 23rd in Anaheim on the heels of a four-goal third period. More importantly, I’ve received the development report from Coach Q and the training staff — lots of guys showed massive improvement in the offseason and preseason. Verhaeghe, Driedger, Duclair, Hinostroza Barkov, Weegar, Marchment, Tippett all improved at anywhere from 1–4 ratings. Tippett is especially exciting — he’s faster, tougher, and more willing to take some risks on the ice.
The boys come home for the first Boston game of the new franchise, and it’s a 2–1 win. Huberdeau and Acciari with the goals, and Patrice Bergeron spends a fair amount of time in the box for slashing and tripping. I’m getting the mental picture of Hartford fans jeering him and it’s a wonderful sight.
The preseason is over and, well, we learned what we need to work on. I’ve always been the superstitious type who believes that your regular season performance is roughly inversely related to your preseason performance.
Let’s hope that holds up for our Whalers.
