kutarna Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 I haven't really been following the Hitmen much this season and so until today when I checked the standings, I didn't realize they had dropped so much. They sit LAST in the WHL with 1 game remaining (and 9 points back of the next team). WHL 2010-2011 Standings What changed so dramatically from last season? They were the top regular season team and captured the playoff title too (Ed Chynoweth Cup?) before taking a run at the Memorial Cup (knocked out in the semi-finals). WHL 2009-2010 Standings This is about as bad a downturn a team could take. Has an NHL team ever gone from President's Trophy and Stanley Cup down to the basement in 1 season? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
altemo13 Posted March 20, 2011 Report Share Posted March 20, 2011 well, they lost 4 of their 5 best scorers and a really good goaltender. Surely hard to compensate such losses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C_worthy Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 I haven't really been following the Hitmen much this season and so until today when I checked the standings, I didn't realize they had dropped so much. They sit LAST in the WHL with 1 game remaining (and 9 points back of the next team). WHL 2010-2011 Standings What changed so dramatically from last season? They were the top regular season team and captured the playoff title too (Ed Chynoweth Cup?) before taking a run at the Memorial Cup (knocked out in the semi-finals). WHL 2009-2010 Standings This is about as bad a downturn a team could take. Has an NHL team ever gone from President's Trophy and Stanley Cup down to the basement in 1 season? You can't make that comparison - in junior, they constantly lose their best players, in the pros, the best players can stay together for years Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlereddevil Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 Well considering they lost players like Brandon Kozun, Martin Jones, yeah I would say its pretty tough to make up for the loss of those two. Don't worry, all junior teams have their cycles. In a couple of years, the Hitmen will be strong again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cross16 Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 The Hitmen have "suppose" to be rebuildling in just about each of the last 2 or 3 seasons. It finally caught up to them. When you go through 2 good runs in successive years you sell off alot of assets to try and make it work. The Hitmen did, and their depth this year wasn't there to account for the loss of Stone, Jones, and Kozun. Plus, the overagers that they kept, Fiddler and Foucault, really struggled without the support. Kissio always seems to find a way. Its very difficult to be a top notch junior team as they have been for very long without having to rebuild. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
senor_incendiarse Posted March 21, 2011 Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 To make the playoffs for 14 straight seasons in junior hockey is definitely an impressive feat. To be honest I barely followed the team this year, you can call me a bandwagon Hitmen fan and I wouldn't care. I actually think it could work out better for them, they get the top European draft pick and top bantam pick, plus they were a pretty young team with many 16-17 year olds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kutarna Posted March 21, 2011 Author Report Share Posted March 21, 2011 To make the playoffs for 14 straight seasons in junior hockey is definitely an impressive feat. To be honest I barely followed the team this year, you can call me a bandwagon Hitmen fan and I wouldn't care. I actually think it could work out better for them, they get the top European draft pick and top bantam pick, plus they were a pretty young team with many 16-17 year olds. Ever since I moved to Vancouver, I've been out of the Hitmen loop. I just checked recently because I know the family of one of the defensemen (Peter Kosterman), wanted to see how he's doing. So basic answer; turn-over. I can see it, makes sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Baalzamon Posted March 30, 2011 Report Share Posted March 30, 2011 some of their other losses were less obvious, but nearly as important Tyler Shattock, Joel Broda, Giffen Nyren Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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