Yellowknife Wraiths

Yellowknife Wraiths
Yellowknife Wraiths
Current season
	Established 2016; First season: 2016; Play in and headquartered in Burial Grounds; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories;
	Yellowknife Wraiths logo
	Logo
League/conference affiliations
	NSFL (2016–present) NSFC (2016 (S1)–present);
	Current uniform
	275px
Team colors	Black, Grey, Cyan
Personnel
General manager	Spike Crown (Bzerkap)
Team history
	Yellowknife Wraiths (2016–present);
Championships
	League championships (1); Ultimus Bowl championships (1); 2023 (S8) (VIII);
	Conference championships (3) NSFC: 2019 (S4), 2020 (S5), 2023 (S8);
	Division championships (3) NSFC: 2019 (S4), 2020 (S5), 2023 (S8);
Playoff appearances (7)
	NSFL: 2016 (S1), 2017 (S2), 2019 (S4), 2020 (S5), 2021 (S6), 2022 (S7), 2023 (S8);
Home fields
	Burial Grounds (2016–present);

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.

History of the Yellowknife Wraiths

The Yellowknife Wraiths were one of the inaugural teams of the National Simulation Football League alongside the Baltimore Hawks, Colorado Yeti, Orange County Otters, Arizona Outlaws and the San Jose Sabercats. Yellowknife begun their franchise being GM'ed by Bubba Nuck Sr. and Tyler Varga Sr. The inaugural S1 Draft brought a number of high quality players up north including Bubba Nuck Jr., Chris Orosz, Josh Garden, Alexandre LeClair, Ricky Maddox, Dirk Cutter, Tyler Varga, Clee Hardrool and Archibald Booter. Heading in to S1 many pundits had Yellowknife tipped to win not only just the NSFC, but the Ultimus too. However the Wraiths would only manage to snag second place in the NSFC with an 8-6 record behind the also 8-6 Colorado Yeti. Yellowknife would then suffer early defeat, falling to the Colorado Yeti in the NSFC Championship 13-6.

S2 brought an increased sense of optimism for the Wraiths, Orosz looked to be developing well now into his second season, Bubba Nuck Jr. had just finished his rookie season with a bang and many had tipped him for MVP in S2, Ricky Maddox was described as the leagues best tight end heading into pre season, Josh Garden, Bailey Cook and Damian West made up one of the leagues top receiving cores. On top of all this the Wraiths secured #1 pick Dermot Lavelle for their new look secondary, combined with Marcus Kane and outspoken linebacker Kevin Cushing. Yellowknife also picked up backup running back Eric Kennedy who they looked to groom for a possible Bubba Nuck Jr. departure according to various media sources. This time however Yellowknife yet again slumped to an 8-6 record , only good enough for 2nd in the NSFC behind the 8-6 Baltimore Hawks. Yellowknife would yet again go on to suffer cold defeat, this time to the Hawks in the NSFC game. 16-14 it ended and Yellowknife began preparations for the long offseason.

S3 began with Orosz reclaiming his spot as #1 QB despite the offseason rumors of a possible trade for OCO's Mike Boss or AZ's King Bronko. S3 saw the addition of the ever controversial Francois Lamoreux on the new look Wraiths offensive line, a draft pick that left fans divided is an understatement. Wraiths receiving core largely looked the same with Josh Garden and Bailey Cook, however Damian West was traded away to the Colorado Yeti. Kevin Cushing switched from a linebacker role to play cornerback alongside Lavelle and Cutter while Marcus Kane dominated the safety position alongside seasoned veteran Alex Hansen. This would also be Spike Crowns first official season in charge of the Wraiths, following the stepping down of longtime GM Bubba Nuck Sr. However the Wraiths would slump to a franchise worst record, 7-7 and failed to reach the playoffs. To worsen situations, cornerback Kevin Cushing had announced his intentions to leave whilst kicker Archibald Booter revealed his retirement plans at the end of the season. As a result Yellowknife were forced to trade for kicker Joseph Lombardi for future's sake.

S4 saw QB Chris Orosz involved in a sign and trade to the San Jose Sabercats, this then led to former offensive lineman Mat Akselsen converting to QB to lead the Wraiths for S4. Eric Kennedy by this stage had surpassed Bubba Nuck Jr. in the running back depth chart and looked to impress for S4. Joseph Askins filled in at TE following Ricky Maddox's move to DE, Josh Garden declined to re-sign with the Wraiths and instead joined current defending champions Arizona Outlaws on a lucrative deal, former QB Ethan Hunt (now Gosh Jarden) signed with the Wraiths to provide depth behind leading WR Bailey Cook. Controversial cornerback Kevin Cushing was traded to the Philadelphia Liberty leaving just Lavelle and Cutter in the cornerback corps. S4 saw Yellowknife's return to the playoffs by virtue of winning the NSFC, this time again with an 8-6 record. The Wraiths then finally succeeded in winning their first ever playoff game, beating the Liberty 26-20 in the NSFC game. They then lost to the Orange County Otters 30-23 in their first ever Ultimus appearance.

S5 was headlined by a trade that saw Phillipe Carter head to Yellowknife after the Las Vegas Legion retirement scandal. He would link up alongside Lavelle at corner with Cutter providing depth. Jayce Tuck was then traded to Yellowknife from Arizona despite an ongoing investigation into possible performance enhancing drugs use. He would later be suspended for all of S5 and would not play another snap until S6. Egor Medved attempted to break into the Yellowknife but only managed to play in 6 games this year, although he did block a punt attempt. S2 #3 overall pick Blaster Blade joined the Wraiths alongside Fuego Wozy being traded from the Yeti to sure up the Wraiths defensive line. Cameron Taylor was also picked up in the S5 Draft. The Wraiths would then go on to establish their greatest season in franchise history, a 10-4 record which took the NSFC 1st seed. The Wraiths easily defeated Baltimore in the NSFC game 37-21, claiming their second NSFC title. However the Orange County Otters again had the Wraiths number, beating them easily 26-15 and securing their second consecutive title.

S6 saw Mat Akselsen at his peak alongside Eric Kennedy at RB. Egor Medved finally broke into the wraiths staring defensive line, Jayce Tuck played his first game in a Yellowknife Wraiths jersey whilst Fuego Wozy returned for a second season. Kicker Forfeit was picked up in the S6 Draft following Joseph Lombardi's trade and retirement soon after. Yellowknife struggled during the regular season and slumped to a 7-6-1 record, good enough for 2nd in the NSFC. They would then suffer their 3rd NSFC title loss, 31-21 to the Philadelphia Liberty thus ending their playoff run.

Eric Kennedy began S7 with a position change from RB to WR with rookie Robby Rainey headlining the running back spot from S7 onwards. Running back turned linebacker Boss Tweed was traded to Yellowknife from Colorado prior to the beginning of S7, he would cement himself in the Yellowknife LB core alongside Luke Tiernan and William Ridley. Arbin Asipi Jr. was also traded to form arguably the strongest Yellowknife team in franchise history. Yellowknife would go on to obtain the best ever NSFL regular season record, an impressive 13-1. Yellowknife shockingly managed to lose in the NSFC game to the Philadelphia Liberty, 40-31. Philadelphia would go on from this shock defeat to become Ultimus Champions defeating the Orange County Otters 28-19 and preventing the Otter's fourpeat.

S8 saw Robby Rainey starting at RB backed up by Borro Gore. Akselsen returned for his 6th consecutive season as Wraiths QB. Glenn McPoyal started at TE with Harris Jr. backing him up. Bailey Cook, Eric Kennedy and Johnny Rocket rounded up the receiving core. Lavelle, Carter and Zhang were cornerbacks, Micah Hendrix was traded from the Philadelphia Liberty to Yellowknife to link up with aging Boss Tweed and rookie Chad Pennington at linebacker. Rookie Zach Skinner linked up with Gustav Rodriguez at defensive tackle with Jayce Tuck and Ricky Maddox filling out either side of the defensive line. Clee Hardrool, Cameron Taylor and Marcus Kane completed the secondary with Forfeit supplying kicking and punting duties yet again. Yellowknife raced to a 11-3 record whilst Baltimore and Philadelphia tied on a 7-7 record for 2nd in the NSFC. Yellowknife dispatched the aging Baltimore side 38-24 to claim yet another NSFC title before facing playoff underdogs New Orleans in the Ultimus final. Yellowknife finally put the curse to bed, defeating the New Orleans Second Line 24-13 to claim their first ever Ultimus title in franchise history.

Logos and uniforms

Season-by-season records

Players of note

Current roster

Yellowknife Wraiths roster

Quarterbacks

10 Maximus Boudreaux

Running backs

34 Money Tolliver

Wide receivers

Tight ends

80 Detective Crashmore TE
80 Anthony Simmons II TE

Offensive linemen

88 J.T Kurbis
91 Johnson Lovehammer

Defensive linemen

Linebackers

Defensive backs

Special teams

11 Zenzeroni Xystarch II K/P

Reserve lists

DSFL Send-downs

Rookies in italics

Roster updated January 24th, 2024
22 Active, 5 Send Downs

→ ASFC rosters → NSFC rosters

ASFC: ARI; NOLA; OCO; SJS; AUS; NYS

NSFC: BAL; COL; PHI; YKW; CHI; BER