Matt_O

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@Reegs first point!

Helsinki Titans Can: Offense + Goaltending Alexander Pepper is having a career year up to this point, and is arguably the leagues best goalie. They also have a killer trio of Kronos Bailey, Julian Borwinn, and Dan Wilinsky, all of which are in the top 10 for points. Can't: Defense Depth While a top pairing of Wilson and Crosby is fairly nice, the rest of the D leaves some to be desired. While Guillaume Fontenette has a high ceiling, an aging Dan Montgomery and a high floor, low ceiling player in Mitch Matthews could give them some troubles against elite second line players around the EU, and trust me, there are plenty of them. Riga Reign Can: Offense The lineup of Svoboda, Kastelic and HHH is fearsome, even with HHH struggling (as per usual). Elias Dahlberg is also lighting it up on the second line, with 20 goals, good enough for fifth in the league. Can't: Defense They used the S66 and S67 drafts to select high quality defenseman in Hackett and Tate, and traded for Joseph McWolf from the Americans.If Ryan Kastelic didn't switch to center, this wouldn't be an issue for them. That being said, had Kastelic not made the change, their offense could have ended up being incredibly underwhelming. While the future looks bright for their D core, the present doesn't look as fondly (still is solid) Malmo Nighthawks Can: Matt Thompson Thompson has been the driving force behind Malmo's success all year, with the league leading 27 goals. With the exception of Ryan Sullivan Jr. and Matthew Materazo (kind of), most of the heavy lifting has been left to Thompson. He has 12 more goals than the next highest on the team. If Malmo does anything come playoff time, it is probably due to Matt Thompson. Can't: Young defense + young goalie While the defense has been quite solid for Malmo on both the offensive and defensive side of things, the group is likely just too young. Jerry Garcia has quickly emerged as a solid player, but the first overall pick in Condor Adrienne, as well as Hugh Chan and Rusty Shackleford likely won't be enough to stop high powered offenses come playoff time. Goalie Michael Johnson is also playing very well, but his lower TPE totals compared to other goalies may catch up to him in the long run. Moscow Menace Can: Offense I don't know what it is with Moscow, but my god can they put up goals. They sit first place in the league in goals, with Podrick Cast and Randoms leading the way. This is with Jet Jaguar having a disappointing season (so far). Scoring goals is not their weakness. Can't: Goalie They have an inactive Owen May starting most games, and the future seems to lie with Raymond Bernard. Neither goalies have TPE totals that eclipse 500, which could really hurt them come playoff time. They have allowed 105 goals so far, the 4th most in the league, only ahead of the two expansion franchises and New York. This will be a major hurdle for them. HC Davos Dynamo Can: Defense Smitty Werbenjagermanjenson is making his case as the best defenseman in the league, with 45 points in 35 games. They also drafted Charlie Paddywagon in S66, and traded for Shawn Glade and Elasmobranch Fish over the offseason. They have allowed the least amount of goals so far, with only 81 goals against. Elite play from Finn Davidson also helps. Can't: The rest of the conference It seems that Davos will be the poster boy for all the members that think we should still have crossover. While they sit just two points out of a spot, this is just how it seems. Despite having a really solid roster, a roster which would likely finish second in the NA (possibly even first) has to sit home because the EU is just too good. And that is a shame. Prague Phantoms Can: The First Line The top line of Prague has been quite successful in spite of their low TPE totals. Scotty BigShotty, Don Draper and Willie Dredge all sit with more than 25 points, and both BigShotty and Draper are flirting with point per game totals. If they want any shot at the playoffs, it will be through these guys. Can't: Literally everything The team is garbage. They have a bright future for sure, but as of right now, they suck. The first line is not even good, but they are the only bright spot on this team. Bruce Grimaldi has struggled in net during his rookie season, and the entire defense is just plain awful.

He is a fake Matt

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Whats a contender? The Davos story

This is my question as well. How does HHH (S66) have 60 more TPE than me (S64) when I cap out every week and take advantage of basically any uncapped TPE chance I can get. It doesn't make sense

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still don't know why Boris Boris isn't playing but nice win

This article reminded me of doing Mean Absolute Deviation in 6th grade math, and boy was that the worst

855

I have the same problem

Jeff Tates @PotatoKing and Benny Graves @STZ have gotten off to absolutely insane starts, both scoring at rates over two points per game so far. The season is still decently young, but we are nearly halfway through, and they haven't slowed down. Their breakout was when they each dropped 7 points in a 10-3 win against San Diego, where they took the scoring lead for good. Hounds players Balentine Kidd and Jerry Wang have tried to catch up, but Tates and Graves keep putting on distance. Tates, in particular, has really had a spectacular year. 67 points in 29 games; what in the living hell. How is that even possible. He is scoring 2.3 points per game, a mark that would leave him with 166 POINTS at the end of the year. That is absolutely unprecedented in modern day VHLM. Not only that, but both players have a shot at scoring 50 in 50. Both of them. While it is unlikely, they haven't slowed down all season, so why should they now? 174 words

1. I've never seen it, so hell yeah. 2. Totally Graves and Tates. If I had to pick one, it would be Tates. Both guys can hit 50 goals in 50 games. That is absurd! And Tates has a ten point lead on 2.0 ppg. 4. Our lines haven't been updated, so when they are and Boris Boris starts playing and updating, we will improve. Ligriv is the sole reason Minnesota is on top, so when other goalies get signed and reach higher TPE totals, they should struggle a little more. 5. I just watched The Usual Suspects last night, the ending was one of the best twists I have ever seen. The crazy thing is that it had a plot twist at the end, you think it's over, and then BAM, another crazy twist. Won't spoil it. I also saw Se7en a week ago, was pretty good as well. The Shawshank Redemption, which I saw like a month ago, remains my favorite movie ever, it's amazing. The book is really good as well. (Different Seasons by Stephen King) 8. Obviously the good ol Malmo Nighthawks, my squad. 2nd favorite would be Vancouver though, they seem like a fun team. 9. Seattle, but not so secretly. It's just a little fun trash talk between Malmo and Seattle, but it does feel good it see them fall down the standings a little bit. Same with Helsinki, but I don't hate them that much anymore. 10. VHL Legend? I would say Scotty Campbell, but that's too easy. I'm gonna go Markus Strauss. He was a Bear from S17-S22 or so, then went to Davos and won a cup in the Kanou era. When I wrote the year in reviews for VSN a while back, Strauss was one of my favorite players. NHL player would have to be Gretzky of course, or Mike Bossy since I'm an islanders fan.

in my defense me and Tate both said 838 at the same time 840

838

Vancouver New York Helsinki Malmo

Wolves 4-2

it seems that most people's reputation/post ratio is around 3 post: 1 reputation, which is interesting. It's pretty uniform, with some outliers. Article on this incoming? 822

hmm

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I'll apply. I am pretty good with spreadsheets. I have been around a long time, and I would be up for the task as a commissioner.

sorry, I literally hated writing these so I stopped. I'll keep doing them if the public likes them enough though

nice

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