Hello it’s me the werewolf anon I am back !! I have spent a long car ride with my dad thinking about werewolves mmmm
I actually was thinking about it like a highly studied phenomenon in hockey. It’s just one of those statistics the commentators say that we’re like how and why do you know this. Why do we care that both these goalies are from Kansas? I guess we do though. But fr sports writers have a lot of opinions on the great highs and lows of wolves being paired in hockey.
I think some of the great pairs that then suffered horrific separations are def wolves. 1988, 1634, TZJD! In the latter case it’s actually so horrible they get reunited. Danny Brier *knows* what separating bonded pairs does.
In that same vein, it’s known that with body language and instincts and scent two wolves can actually work incredibly well together! It’s just the whole. You know. Separation at any point in time. And being really close with your teammates but maybe not *that* close.
I think the closest thing to a pack before the whole SJS of it all was definitely like 2008 Pittsburgh crew. Full of young guys. Lots of them wolves. SidCros horrifically put off and not okay by flowers departure. But yeah, I almost talked about Pittsburgh and their mini-pack of the core 4 + probably Max Talbot in the 2009 Stanley cup era in my original post. Rusty certainly made Sid reshape into more of a momma bear type back in 2016. Sud and the Kids my beloved. SidCros horrifically protective of Ben Kindle. YES.
But yeah it’s kinda known it CAN be great. But it can also tear your team apart. And some guys are REALLY weirded out by the whole wolf thing. So maybe only a few wolves on any given team. And pretty spread apart in age. If two bonded wolves have a falling out it’s done terrible things to teams. Similarly having your best player really only care about one guy on your team is not good. Players have been drafted as enforcers and have bonded with a 3rd line right winger and will only defend for him.
SJS are rebuilding. Management saw the good that can come out of having wolves on your team and thought.. huh. Well no one’s ever tried it. Definitely some sort of experiment. It may not be of great concern to the players themselves who might actually get horrifically ripped away from the pack SJ is basically building for them. But it’s fine.
Yeah they’re puppies to the whole crew. Asky and younger I think are called pups regularly. Still smell like pups still wrestle like pups.
The whole switching up buddies of it all, it’s really quite good. It’s definitely something that Were vets took onto themselves to get the kids properly socialized. They don’t need a Mike Richard’s + Jeff Carter situation. Stop trying to meld into each others skin it doesn’t work like that! Misa stop using Sam as a chew toy. Graf you’re sat in the back of the plane stop growling at everyone who passes you to go to the bathroom. We won’t get you while you’re sleeping promise. There are some behaviors they just can’t get out of the kids, they’re trying their hardest.
Yeah Sidney Crosby is really not normal about the pup who came up from Cole Harbor and is now beating him for one of the best hockey players in the world. Trying to get Nate out of Sids aight during the 2016 and 2017 cup parties ended up with a lot of growling.
He’s not really sure what San Jose is planning for all these pups on the team. He’s noticing a pattern of call ups as well. He’s narrowing his eyes. He sees the GMs game.
Meanwhile the Baby Sharks are like NO WAY YOURE A WEREWOLF TOO THATS SO COOL WANT TO PLAY WITH US
All the wolves in the league are kinda narrowing their eyes at the whole SJ situation. They see a situation brewing. It’ll either be the best thing that’s ever happened to wolves in the NHL, or the worst. And they’re not quite sure they want to see the outcome either way.
Hello again werewolf anon!! Fancy seeing you here on the puppy blog
I LOVE nonsensical statistics. I think they would be totally overused in any werewolf AU variant. This is why willmack and samisa and all the baby sharks are so easily sensationalized. What if they get separated in a trade? What if one goes down in a fight or gets an injury? How would the other begin to cope?? Sheng Peng (non wolf) is completely oblivious to the annoyance rolling off Toff when he asks these 'pressing questions' and gets the most generic hockey answer™ possible of "uh yeah. we have a good group. These young guys play well. we know our game."
Misa is allowed to chew on Sam you see, it's mutually beneficial for uh, rookie bonding. With some restrictions. Toff just doesn't want to see them do that on the plane, or in the locker room, or on his couch. Especially not after what Will and Macklin did on the plane last time they had a red eye back home. Baby shark pairs are not allowed to sit in their own row unsupervised, even Graf.
Firm believer than Nick Leddy is weirded out by the wolf thing. He'd never say anything or like, make it a big deal in the locker room. Something about these young guys rolling around and talking about scents and biting each other is just... weird. But he keeps his mouth shut to keep playing with the sharks for now. It's better that he minds his own business and doesn't question the goalie tandem... wrestling? Whatever they're doing.
Little known fact, but goalie masks were actually updated league wide to accommodate the growing number of werewolves in the game. The angular cage design prevents them from slobbering all over his face on the ice after a win. The dangler is an unspoken requirement for new members of the pack, to prevent unwanted bites before everyone's scents mesh. That's part of what makes every goalie trade a little bitter sweet, if not outright tragic. Something about a wolf psyche isn't made to handle the daily message of "your job is to protect this guy" only to have him ripped away.
Enforcers are my favorite little niche esp in this context!! Reavo can't pick a favorite rookie (it's definitely macklin) He has to defend them all equally, with the grace of a big horned sheep. If you asked me, which you indirectly did, Barclay bonded with Reavo playing for the rangers, and basically brought him back to san jose. This has been a total non issue. Until someone just had to bring up his injury and possible retirement in front of Goody in what should've been a generic post game interview. Now there's all kinds of questions rolling around GMMG's head like, if Reaves does retire do they have to keep him around the rink for Goodrow? No one would mind that, but do they have to pay him for it? It's not like he can ask anyone to give feedback on his little pavlovian daycare.
The baby sharks (again read: macklin) now have this idea in their heads that they can run around collecting wolf mentors. Macklin desperately wants to bring them all back home with him. McDavid all but accepted after the olympics, "if not for his pack in Edmonton." Okay, sure, fine. MacKinnon was like, actively dying on the bench a little so there wasn't a good time to ask him about it. Sidcros was one, nursing his own injury and two, super weird about Nate being sick so that's it's own thing.
The newfound side effect is every wolf in the league communicating a stark "I want to go there" or "never in a million years am I getting traded to them" to their agent this offseason. That puts out little red flags across the country that Grier has quite a few dog shaped eggs in one basket... What's up with that? Tune in next season to find out if he actually answers a question about what he's planning with all these wolf boys
If anyone wants to send me info on 1988, 1634, TZJD, Crosby's early years, their own most tragic goalie trades, etc. I will happily do some assigned reading for world building!! Lmk what's up with all of those guys. I love the lore, even when it hurts
