Erik Summers

Prague Phantoms receive Matthew Materazo Malmo Nighthawks receive S70 PRG 3rd, S71 PRG 2nd, S72 PRG 3rd Trade Analysis From the expansion team to best team in the regular season in three short years, the meteoric rise of the Malmo Nighthawks may have been too fast. Malmo now finds themselves in cap hell resulting in the loss of a long-time face of the team, Matthew Matarazo. Prague, the newest expansion team, hopes to follow Malmo’s rise to the top and believes Materazo is a key part of that formula. Matarazo is one of ten players on Prague that enter free agency next season, so bringing real success to the Phantoms this season may be crucial to keeping around key pieces of their roster. Malmo seems to be banking on the opposite, but the relevance of Prague 2nd could be potentially useless is they make a deep playoff run. Get to Know the Players Matthew Materazo Drafted 18th overall in S64 by the New York Americans, Matthew Materazo quickly saw himself gobbled up my the Malmo Nighthawks in the expansion draft. Despite often playing second fiddle to teammates like McWolf and Thompson, Materazo produced consistently for the Nighthawks, averaging 64.5 points and, as a competent 200 ft. forward, 32 shots blocked a season. Materazo enters free agency in S71 ahead of his final season and it will be interesting to watch where he chooses to play his final year, as he will likely be able to command a steep price if he desires.

New York Americans receive Joseph McWolf Malmo Nighthawks receive S70 NYA 3rd, S72 NYA 3rd Trade Analysis The New York Americans are the big winners of Malmo’s cap space woes, as the Nighthawks prove unable to free up enough space to pay for one more year of the veteran defenseman Joseph McWolf. That being said, I don’t think Malmo could have gotten any more for the first rights to resign McWolf than from his former team. This is a big return home for McWolf, coming back to play his final season with the team that drafted him. This acquisition seems to suggest that New York will be making a strong championship push this season. However. It is unclear if the Americans will be able to solve their own cap woes and find a way to re-sign another solid defenseman in Kevin Low. If New York loses out on a long term deal with Low in order to bring McWolf back for a single season, they better hope it pays off with a championship now or management will have an angry fanbase on their hands in a couple of seasons. Get to Know the Players Joseph McWolf Drafted 2nd overall in S63 by the New York Americans, Joseph Mcwolf finds himself returning to his original team after three seasons in the European conference. McWolf found much greater playoff success away from the Empire state than he had in his first stint with the Americans, but he is now looking to change that and leave a legacy as a team hero. Having won two Sterling Labatte trophies and an Alexander Valiq, Joseph has shown that he is capable of people one of the best defensemen in the league, but now, the veteran has to prove that he still has the same star-power in his final season.

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Trade Details To: Calgary Jordan Tonn JB Rift To: Toronto Owen May Teemu Lehtinen Jr Roadkill Steve S71 CGY 1st S72 CGY 2nd --------------------- Analysis The addition of Jordan Tonn meets Calgary's biggest need, talented forwards. It is not clear yet whether Tonn will play centre in the bottom six, or if we will see him make the move to wing on one of the top lines. JB Rift is a bit of a step down from Wahl who the Wranglers traded away to Prague recently. However, with one of the stronger blue lines in the league (assuming they spend some of their bountiful draft capital on the third pair of defenders), I don't expect to notice a large up-tick in goal allowed by Calgary this season. Toronto receives the basket of parts in this trade. Things are really being shaken up under the Legion's new GM, Peace, as he tries to rebuild on the fly. The Legion has more cap space than they will be able to use, even being aggressive in free agency, so it is exciting to see what their leadership has planned for the future. It is unclear whether or not they will pursue re-signing Owen May or if his rights will be flipped to yet another team. Teemu Lehtinen Jr and Roadkill Steve have both had marginal to underwhelming careers so far, but Roadkill has yet to play in the VHL, so it is yet to be seen what he can produce in the big leagues. --------------------- Get-to-Know the Players Owen May Drafted 11th overall in S66, that was also the only season May was a full-time starter. Bouncing between starter and backup for Moscow, Owen finally saw the lion's share of the workload this season in Prague. With a career SV% of .907 and a 3.2 GAA, May has never found much success in the VHL, having never played in a playoff game and being frequently benched for other options in net. JB Rift Drafted 22nd overall in S63, Rift has spent his entire career in Toronto so far. Becoming a starter in his second season in the VHL, JB became the king of the first round playoff exit, losing in the first round in three consecutive seasons. With a career SV% of .915 and a 2.69 GAA, Rift should still have at least one good season left in him. With the way things are shaking up in Calgary, I would not be surprised if this season results in one last chance at playoff redemption for Rift. Jordan Tonn Drafted 29th overall in S66, Jordan Tonn was called up the next season by the Helsinki Titans. Despite seeing bottom six level time on ice for most of his career, Tonn's production in the rink has steadily improved. Last season, in Toronto, that improvement culminated in putting up 29 goals, 27 assists, and exceeding a 10% shooting percentage for the first time in the VHL. With a sizable amount of playoff experience, Jordan Tonn brings a much needed perspective to his new team's locker room. Teemu Lehtinen Jr Drafted 7th overall in S68, Teemu Lehtinen Jr is the highest picked played in this trade. However, Lehtinen's production since then has not justified that draft position. This is the type of draft bust Calgary is hoping to avoid in the upcoming draft. Teemu did accompany Calgary on their playoff run in S68, contributing 6 assists in 11 games. If he can continue at his current pace, Lehtinen Jr isn't the worst forward to have on your 4th line. Roadkill Steve Drafted 42th overall in S68, it looks like Roadkill Steve is finally ready to make his way up to the VHL. After spending the last three seasons in San Diego, Toronto will be a significant change of pace. Steve has scored over a hundred points in each of his last two seasons in the VHLM. San Diego has been knocked out in the first round each season Roadkill has played there, so he doesn't have significant big-game experience, but after slowly progressing for so long in the minors, there are glimmers of hope that he may finally be able to make a difference on a VHL roster.

Trade Details To: Prague Brick Wahl To: Calgary Owen May S70 PRG 1st --------------------- Analysis Looking to be the first on the latest expansion teams to make the playoffs, Prague fills a major need with the acquisition of Brick Wahl. With a young, developing blue-line, the Phantoms need a presence in net like Wahl. Now with no first or second-round picks in the upcoming draft, and considering the relatively light S70 draft class, it looks like Prague believe they can put a competitive team on the ice with the pieces they have plus enough cap space to still make big moves in free agency. With a goal-tender with top-five potential, the other challenges Prague faces this off-season seem much more manageable. For Calgary, after a season filled with more drama than the VHL has seen in some time, they suddenly find themselves with three of the first four picks in the draft. This team that, on paper, looked like they should compete last season but instead tanked, might actually reap significant rewards for their actions. Shipping off one of the players most dissatisfied with the team's performance in Wahl, the Wranglers are definitely taking a downgrade in net with the slightly older JB Rift, who they acquired from Toronto. With their abundance of picks, expect Calgary to sure up their blue line and possibly reach for a goalie who could potentially become the starter when Rift retires. --------------------- Get-to-Know the Players Brick Wahl Drafted 12th overall in S64, Brick Wahl has spent his entire career with Calgary up until now. Despite never reaching playoff success, Wahl has consistently been one of the best players on the Wranglers' roster. Sporting a career SV% of .919 and a 2.56 GAA, Brick likely has just two seasons left to win the hardware he's been after for so long. Prague is an interesting choice and a big gamble to make a legacy in the league, but after threatening to retire in Calgary, it isn't clear how many other teams were interested in the ageing star. Owen May Drafted 11th overall in S66, that was also the only season May was a full-time starter. Bouncing between starter and backup for Moscow, Owen finally saw the lion's share of the workload this season in Prague. With a career SV% of .907 and a 3.2 GAA, May has never found much success in the VHL, having never played in a playoff game and being frequently benched for other options in net. VSN Writer Erik Summers

Trade Details To: Toronto Nethila Dissanayake To: Helsinki S72 TOR 3rd --------------------- Analysis With only five players to re-sign and $34,000,000 to spend, expect to see Toronto take on a number of contracts from teams looking to free up cap space. From the Legion's perspective, Nethila Dissanayake is a low-risk/high-upside acquisition. After an inactive S69 due to off the ice issues, Dissanayake is expected to make a strong return in S70. Even if he doesn't pick up his production, he is still a solid bottom-six player. Regardless, with the money Toronto has to spend this season, spending 2.5 million a season for the next two seasons is a small price for the potential payoff. For Helsinki, this appears to be a move intended to free up cap space. That means the Titans may be looking to make moves in the free-agent market this off-season. Otherwise, the future prospect may just be a way to ensure the team is ready to rebuild when the time comes as the Titans' core begins to age. Get-to-Know the Players Nethila Dissanayake Drafted in S66 by Calgary with the 26th overall selection, Nethila Dissanayake was traded to New York to play his first VHL season with the Americans. The Americans scraped the bottom of the league in both S67 and S68, earning more points than only the expansion teams. In the S68 off-season, Nethila was traded again, this time to the Titans in return for Hans Gruber and an exchange of picks. After attending a training camp in Helsinki, when it looked like he may be a promising part of the future for the Titans, Dissanayake had a rather lack-lustre season in S69, seeing a minimal amount of ice-time. With the current state of Toronto's offence, a spot on one of the top lines is definitely available, but it remains to be seen whether or not Nethila will be up to the task of earning it. VSN Writer Erik Summers

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Killing Time At the midway point of the second round of the VHLM playoffs, the Mexico City Kings and the Mississauga Hounds are tied 2-2 in their series. After the first two games, I wrote an article about how Everyone in Mexico City Sucked, however, in the next two games, Mexico City rallied and fixed almost every shortcoming shown in the first two games. In that article, I also highlighted the very few things I thought were going right for the Kings. One of those things was Penalty Killing, and boy has it been good. Through four games, the Kings have been on the PK twenty two times. That is bad. Mexico City needs to play a move disciplined game if they are going to succeed. However, their PK unit has bailed them out big time in this series. The Cartel has given up zero goals while a man down and even scored a shorthanded goal in game two. Summers, Daldo, Dawson and Omdahl lead the team in PK minutes and, despite not always showing up on the points sheet, Mexico City is going to have to give these four a lot of credit if they make it to the finals.

I would like to apply! Especially delving into league history. I love go through the stats.

The Bus is Coming for Everyone in Mexico City The first two semi-final games have been ugly for the Kings and it's hard to know who to blame; not because they've played well and lost, rather, they have sucked at literally every position and its time to throw everyone under the bus! The Offense Thirty three shots. That is how many Mexico City has taken in a hundred and twenty minutes of play in this series. In game two, Cartel forwards put together only seven shots between them. The scoring chances so far have been absolutely abysmal. Jimmy Spyro isn't the greatest goalie that ever lived (yet at least), but the Kings are trying hard to make him look like it. Strangely, there isn't even a specific phase of the game that you can point to as being particularly terrible. Of the three goals scored, one came at even strength, one came on the power play and one even came shorthanded. The Defense You would think, after trashing the offense, that I would praise the defense since they have kept Mississauga to just thirty three shots themselves. However, Mississauga lacks the offensive weapons that Mexico City has, so this shot differential should lean heavily in the Kings favor. On top of that, Cartel defenseman have spent fourteen minutes in the penalty box so far this series. They are going to have to really get themselves under control if they want a chance to move forward. This is especially important for Oskar Langesson. He has established himself as a physical player, but in this series, he has already crossed the line three times. Despite scoring shorthanded, that isn't a the way this team wants to have to score goals. The other major criticism of the defense is that shot-blocking has fallen off a cliff. After being a league leader in shot blocking this season, Erik Summers has only one block this series, and his teammates haven't filled the role in his slump. The Goalie Mexico City made an important late-season move to acquire Stone Wolski when it became apparent that Fomba was not going to be ready to make a playoff push. However, after a fairly successful start to his time with the Cartel, this is the worst Wolski has looked. Stone gave up three goals on just twelve shots in game two. That is a SV% of .750. As I said before, Spyro is a respectable goalie, but when you make him look like a hockey god by comparison, you know you have done something very wrong. High Notes The shorthanded goal was a huge moment for the Cartel. It really looked like they were ready to make a statement and move past the loss in game one. Hopefully, they can bring that type of fire in game three and maintain it for the rest of the series. The penalty kill has been fantastic in general. The Kings have had to kill eleven power plays already and so far, they are perfect. Jaxon Walker has still played extremely well. Despite the other forwards being mostly invisible, he has put up three points in the series and is the only Kings player with positive +/- at this point.

The better team won. You've put together quite the crew there, congrats.

I thought you'd appreciate the trash talk

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VHLM Playoff Predictions With the VHLM playoffs quickly approaching, I'm going to bless you with my predictions. The First Round Saskatoon Vs Yukon - Sadly, for Yukon, I don't think there is an possible result here besides the sweep. They are out-manned at every position, no contest. Mississauga Vs Ottawa - UPSET ALERT!!! This series is a trap. Shawn Glade Jr. and... Wait, who else is on the roster in Ottawa? It doesn't matter. In the ultimate irony, after failing to go deep in the playoffs last season due to their lack of goal tending, Mississauga is going to lose to the team without a goalie. Mexico City Vs San Diego - Four games to one, Mexico City is going to take the series. San Diego was the cartel's personal punching bag all year and that isn't going to stop now. Philadelphia Vs Halifax - Philly is sneaky good. I don't think Halisux stands a chance. If you want to bet on a darkhorse to win it all, bet on the Reapers. The Second Round Saskatoon Vs Philadelphia - I, on the other hand, am not betting on Philly. I expect the Wild to win the series, but don't be surprised when the Reapers push this series to six or seven games. Mexico City Vs Ottawa - Mexico City should be happy that Philadelphia was on the other side of the bracket this season, because they struggled to beat them all season. Luckily, the Lynx don't have nearly as strong of a match-up against the Kings. Expect the Kings to take this in five games again. The Finals Saskatoon vs Mexico City - This is going to be a very close series. Saskatoon is the clear favorite here, but Mexico City has made a huge improvement in net late in the season. At the same time, Saskatoon started to show some cracks. This isn't enough to swing the odds in the King's favor, but I still believe that they have a reasonable chance.

Taking a Back Seat It's been a bumpy year in Mexico City for Erik Summers. Being on a team with a +81 goal differential put sitting at a personal -6 isn't a great look when all of your line mates are well ahead of you in +/-. When he was traded from Houston, Summers was expected to be a leader on the team, but instead he has become something of a liability. Despite seeing a lot of ice time, Summers failed to maintain a point per game pace, falling seven points short. The only area Erik excelled was in shot blocking, ending the regular season tied for seventh overall with a hundred and twenty three. However, as the playoffs approach, it appears that it is time for Summers to take a back seat to his more productive teammates. Odin Omdahl finished tenth in points for the whole league and Alyksander Hunter was also in the top ten among defenseman, combining for over two hundred points. Odin also played one of the most disciplined styles in the league, accounting for only thirty two penalty minutes over the course of the season. Oskar Lagesson, on the other hand, played the opposite side of the spectrum, with a hundred and fifty six penalty minutes and two hundred and sixty two hits. Lagesson combined with his frequent defensive pair, Hunter, to make one of the most physical blue lines in the league, combining for four hundred and thirty eight hits. In the playoffs, I would expect the Hunter/Lagesson line to be broken up in favor of putting Oskar and Odin on a line together and hopefully to avoid too many penalties. This means that Alyksander and Erik will likely see a lot of time on the ice together. This creates an interesting dynamic, as these two players faced each other in the finals of last season's Founder's Cup. These two make up half of the players on Mexico City's roster with final experience, with Milos Slavik having been on the Bulls winning roster and Jaxon Walker playing for the Minnesota Storm team that lost in the finals in S67. That means this roster has a good mix of players who have won it before and know what it takes and those who have been close to tasting it and are that much hungrier for it now. This finals experience is probably Summer's one upside coming into these playoffs. Erik has a lot of experience winning considering his short time in the league. Not only did he lift the Founder's Cup with Houston, but he also just won Gold with Europe in the WJC. Having hardware doesn't make you a better player, but the experience that comes with it isn't without value either. Odin also played in that Gold Medal game for team Asia. Despite only taking home Silver after their impressive round robin run, Odin's WJC experience adds another level of championship conditioning to this team's roster. All in all, Summers will likely have to take a bit more of a back seat than he expect this season for Mexico City to win the cup, but that is a sacrifice he will gladly make to keep his championship streak alive.

Amount: $5.00 Transaction ID: 5039-6016-1946-2731

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