It’s my Parting Shot for the first of what is likely to be several post-mortems on the Saskatoon Blades’ 2024-25 season until training camp convenes in late August…..
I’ll start by saying that I really should refrain from reading the comments on the W-H-L Talk site and the responses to the team’s posts on Facebook because of all the trolls from outside of the Bridge City Bunch fan base and the casual, fair weather, out-of-touch and no clue, so-called, supporters of the Blue and Gold!
That includes a former bus driver for the team who still has a burr in his saddle for the present ownership group. Hey, they aren’t perfect – and they had a rough start to their stewardship, but they’ve learned their lessons pretty darn well – as six straight playoff appearances would indicate!
That bus driver, along with many other outsiders or so-called fans, keep prattling on about the decision to make the deals they did before the trade deadline. How could you trade away your top players when you were in first place, they say? You ruined the season, you could’ve won the championship, they say!
Let’s say the Blades chose not to jettison Tanner Molendyk, Brandon Lisowsky, Ben Riche, Misha Volotovskii and Lukas Hansen. In all likelihood, they finish first in the East Division and get second seed – and likely hold the 3-1 lead over Edmonton in the opening round that the Oil Kings currently have over Prince Albert. Let’s say they advance and play one of Calgary, Lethbridge or Medicine Hat in the second round. Saskatoon had no high draft picks to trade and were reluctant to deal any of their top, 2007-born prospects to try and improve their team – like the Hitmen, Hurricanes and Tigers all did!
So, the Bridge City Bunch would likely get eliminated in the second round and have no picks in the upcoming Prospects Draft until the fourth round and the possibility of not having a selection until the eighth round in 2026! Remember the five consecutive missed playoff seasons between 2013-14 and 2017-18?! That’s what you were staring at without the deadline deals – would you have been happy and thought about buying tickets?!
Yeah, I didn’t think so!!
By acquiring six younger players and re-stocking the draft pick cabinet with nine higher round selections for the next few years, the Blue and Gold are in a better situation for long-term success. Plus, they made the playoffs when almost no-one had that on their bingo cards before the season started. Sure, the playoff run lasted just four games, but the possibility of being a contender the next two or three seasons, like they were in 2023 and 24, is very, very likely!
Away with you trolls and nay-sayers!!
That’s my Parting Shot. I’m Les Lazaruk…and it turned out nice again!
