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| Photo by Nathan A'Hearn. |
The Charlottetown Islanders may have just enjoyed one of the best seasons in recent memory for the franchise.
A slow start did not derail on their journey to only their second quarter-final playoff appearance in franchise history. The team was almost two different groups from the first half of the season to the second and it was this progression that lead them further than anybody expected with the help of backup Daryl MacCallum who filled in for Mason McDonald when McDonald fell victim to injury in the first round against the Sherbrooke Phoenix. The emergence of Czech Filip Chlapik and progression from Daniel Sprong, Alex Goulet, McDonald along with the solid play of captain Ryan MacKinnon, Ross Johnston, Spenser Cobbold and MacCallum made this a year with good memories and hope for the future.
The Islanders were a scoring threat for a large part of the season, especially with a power play that hovered around the league's best for a long period of time. However, opponents were still able to generate high amounts of offensive chances of their own. In comparison the the previous year, scoring is up significantly on better power play numbers and this team was able to shave shots against from he previous year. Impressive for a team whose defense only composed of MacKinnon and Guillame Rioux-Legault as defenders 19-years of age or older.
Season Stats
(Split into halves)
Splitting this season directly down the middle we can see strides where the Charlottetown Islanders improved into the second round playoff team they came to be. Winning percentage improved from 44 per cent to 58 per cent. Goals for and goals against improved which was helped by superb goaltending and increased offense down the stretch. Note that the Islanders shot on average 1.5 more shots than their opponents during the second half compared to being out-shot 3.2 shots per game in the beginning of the season.
A Tale Of Two Sprongers?
As the Charlottetown Islanders progressed did season, so did its NHL Entry Draft potential first rounder Daniel Sprong. Sprong was quoted by Sonier as "trying to do too much" in the early portion of the season which many others agreed. This had the young man from Amsterdam putting up similar point totals in comparison to his rookie campaign going for 36 points in 34 games. This was in large by part of Sprong getting a little unlucky with his shooting percentages and seeing the same amount of scoring chances (3.88 to 3.85 shots per game) as his rookie campaign. It wasn't until the second half of the season where he started to look like the Sprong that would be the offensive catalyst many projected him to be. Sprong fared much better taking 4.15 shots per game and over 5 shots per game in March to increase his points per game from 1.06 in the first half to 1.53 in the second. Giving him 1.29 for the year and a staggering 2.33 in the March.
Depth
When the Islanders really began to take off was when their team was relatively healthy or able to play in the lineup. McDonald, Johnston and MacKinnon didn't start until late September/October with Johnston having to wait a little longer before taking the ice. Filip Chlapik also missed time at the Czech World Junior Camp and Filip Rydstrom missed extended time as well. This caused a lot of lineup shuffling and prompted Grant Sonier to bring in Quinn O'Brien to help on the bottom-six. Forwards Kameron Kielly, Oliver Cooper, Cobbold, and Bradley Kennedy also provided steady play and offensive output for this club with rookies gaining plenty of QMJHL experience.
Defense
Dexter Weber(39pts) was responsible for a lot of the scoring on the backend along with Ryan MacKinnon(50pts) as Rioux-Legault, Luc Deschenes, Will Thompson and David Henley saw plenty of ice time and signs of improvement, especially on the latter three players given their age.
Goalie
As stellar as MacCallum was during the end of the year, you can not overlook the incredible season that was had by one Mason McDonald. He easily proved why he was the earliest goalie taken in the 2014 NHL Entry Draft by posting his best season to date. He tied the franchise record for wins (28) posted a career numbers in goals against average (3.06) and save percentage (.906) which was seventh and second in the QMJHL respectively. Despite going 5-4-0 in January, he posted goalie numbers of 2.30 goals against average and a .922 save percentage showing what he is capable of on a team that finished ninth. McDonald and MacCallum form a duo that may be one of the best the QMJHL has to offer if Charlottetown continues to improve.
Playoffs edition coming next.
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