Yellowknife Wraiths
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| Yellowknife Wraiths | |||
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 Current season | |||
First season: 2016 Play in and headquartered in Burial Grounds Yellowknife, Northwest Territories | |||
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| League/conference affiliations | |||
Current uniform
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| Team colors | Black, Grey, Cyan | ||
| Personnel | |||
| General manager | Don Gruden (Daybe) | ||
| Team history | |||
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| Championships | |||
| League championships (1) | |||
| Conference championships (3) | |||
| Division championships (3) | |||
| Playoff appearances (7) | |||
| Home fields | |||
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The Yellowknife Wraiths are a professional American football franchise based in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories. The Wraiths currently compete in the National Simulation Football League (NSFL) as a member club of the league's National Simulation Football Conference (NSFC) which currently only has one division. The franchise was established in 2016 (S1) as one of the six original teams. They have an intense rivalry with the Baltimore Hawks and Philadelphia Liberty. The Wraiths have won the NSFC championship three times and won their first Ultimus in 2023 (S8), beating the New Orleans Second Line in Ultimus Bowl VIII.
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History of the Yellowknife Wraiths
The Yellowknife Wraiths were one of the inaugural teams of the National Simulation Football League, managed by Bubba Nuck Sr. and Tyler Varga Sr. The inaugural draft brought a number of high-quality players to Yellowknife, including Bubba Nuck Jr., Chris Orosz, Josh Garden, Alexandre LeClair, and Ricky Maddox, among others. Heading into 2016 (S1) season, the Wraiths were tipped to win not just their conference, but also the Ultimus. However, the Wraiths would only manage second place in the NSFC with an 8-6 record, before losing the conference championship game 13-6 to the Colorado Yeti. 2017 (S2) brought an increased sense of optimism for the Wraiths, as they secured Dermot Lavelle with the number one pick in the 2017 ISFL Draft (S2), combined with Marcus Kane and outspoken linebacker Kevin Cushing. However, they again slumped to an 8-6 record, and lost a second straight conference championship game, this time 16-14 against the Baltimore Hawks.
Spike Crown took charge of the team following the stepping down of longtime general manager Bubba Nuck Sr. in 2018 (S3), and the team underwent several changes. Most notably, the addition of the controversial Francois Lamoreux divided opinions. The Wraiths would slump to a franchise-worst 7-7 record and failed to reach the playoffs. This was followed, in 2019 (S4), by the trade of Chris Orosz, leading to Mat Akselsen converting to quarterback. Star receiver Josh Garden declined to re-sign with the Wraiths and instead joined defending champions Arizona on a lucrative deal, while controversial cornerback Kevin Cushing was traded to the Philadelphia Liberty. Despite all that, Yellowknife returned to the playoffs after finishing atop the NSFC, with an 8-6 record. A 26-20 win over the Liberty in the conference championship saw Yellowknife make Ultimus Bowl IV – the first time they played in an Ultimus Bowl – where the Orange County Otters beat them 30-23.
Phillipe Carter arrived in Yellowknife after the Las Vegas Legion retirement scandal in 2020 (S5), along with Jayce Tuck – the latter despite an ongoing investigation into possible performance enhancing drugs use. Tuck would later be suspended for a year and did not take his first snap for the Wraiths until 2021 (S6). Former third overall draft pick Blaster Blade joined the Wraiths alongside Fuego Wozy to shore up the Wraiths defensive line, as Yellowknife notched a franchise-best regular season record of 10-4. A win over Baltimore in the conference championship saw a return to the Ultimus Bowl for Ultimus Bowl V, however, the Otters would again beat them, this time 26-15. Mat Akselsen hit his peak in 2021 (S6) with Eric Kennedy at runningback, but Yellowknife struggled during the regular season and slumped to a 7-6-1 record, losing 31-21 to the Philadelphia Liberty in the conference championship.
Rookie runningback Robby Rainey arrived in 2022 (S7), while linebacker Boss Tweed, and defensive tackle Arbin Asipi Jr. also landed in Yellowknife to form arguably the strongest Wraiths team in franchise history. An NSFL best regular season record of 13-1 followed, before a shock 40-31 defeat in the conference championships at the hands of the Philadelphia Liberty. 2023 (S8) saw the arrival of Micah Hendrix to add to an already impressive linebacker corps, and Yellowknife ended the season with an 11-3 record, before beating an aging Baltimore Hawks side 38-24 in the conference championship. Ultimus Bowl VIII saw Yellowknife finally break their curse, beating the New Orleans Second Line 24-13 to claim their first NSFL Championship.
Following their Ultimas victory, the Wraiths would almost immediately take huge blows to their defense as Philippe Carter retired, they traded Markus Kane, and Jayce Tuck would be poached in free agency. The Wraiths would improve their offense, but still would be facing an uphill battle with the loss of two of their best defensive backs. Yellowknife would go out and win three of their four preseason games and appear to pick up where they left off, however, they would drop the first three games of the regular season. The Wraiths would then win three straight, but that'd be how the entire season went as they were rather streaky and couldn't put together a consistent team week in an week out. Ultimately their record would reflect that as they went 7-7 and they'd fail to make the playoffs.
After the disappointing 2024 (S9) season the Wraiths knew they had to shake things up a bit and did so by trading away aging quarterback Mat Akselsen, who had made his intentions of retiring known, to the San Jose Sabercats for Brad Pennington. To go along with that they had another of their defensive backs, this time Hardrool, leave the league. In his place the Wraiths were now going with young rookie and Brad's brother, Thad Pennington. They would also add Tegan Atwell at wide receiver to help boost an already explosive offense. Despite all the changes and shakeup in culture, the Wraiths would once again begin the year dropping 3 straight games and be just as streaky as they were the previous season. They'd improve their record to 8-6, but most attribute that to the fact that the Philadelphia Liberty went full tank mode and gave up easy wins. The Wraiths would finish in the third spot in the NSFC and fail to make the playoffs.
Coming off of an 8-6 record and one game out of the playoffs to end the 2025 (S10) season, many considered the Wraiths to be a dark horse team for the playoffs in 2026 (S11). Despite losing the likes of Tegan Atwell, Robby Rainey, Eric Kennedy, and Boss Tweed, the Wraiths had a good crop of rookies coming in that had everyone excited. Yellowknife would sputter out of the gate losing their first two games, but would rattle off three straight wins and look have turned the corner. That wouldn't be the case though as the Wraiths would drop the next five games and eight of their final nine to finish with a 4-10 record and end with the second overall pick as a consolation prize to the playoffs.
As the Wraiths continued to dip for two straight seasons, the signs were clear that change was needed. New management would take over the Wraiths and their first order of business was to trade away Antonio Summer and draft pick compensation to the Baltimore Hawks in order to get their new franchise quarterback, Ryan Applehort. With that move, Brad Pennington was out of sorts as to where he would play, but eventually agreed to give it a go as a wide receiver. Now without a first round pick the Wraiths had to wait until the second to make their first move and in the new Wraiths era, Dick Wizardry would become their first draftee. In a shocking move, the new Wraiths management also broke up the Penningtons as they traded away Chad and Thad to San Jose, securing future draft picks. With all the movement and looking towards the future, everyone could see that it was going to be a rough year in Yellowknife. The Wraiths would win only one game in the preseason and then only win three times that many in the regular season as their downward plummet continued as they finish 3-11.
Season-by-season records
Players and Personnel
Current roster
Yellowknife Wraiths roster
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| Quarterbacks
Running backs Wide receivers Tight ends
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Offensive linemen
Defensive linemen
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Linebackers
Defensive backs
Special teams
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Reserve lists
DSFL Send-downs
Rookies in italics
Roster updated January 24th, 2024 | ||||||
Current staff
Yellowknife Wraiths staff
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References
