I am BACK with my first media spot in about a month after claiming that god awful and inaccurate mock draft for soooo long. It feels good to finally get back to writing. I've missed it. So of course, what I'm going to do is try to write another 2,000 word long one that I can claim for another month. It's lazy and not lazy at the same time. Either way, it's usually a lot of fun and it's great for getting to know the community better.
For this article, I needed something that had a lot of detail so I could write a mega-article without stretching it out. So I took inspiration from @tcookie's new 'around the VHL' VSN feature, which described this seasons' rookie class as "one of the - if not the - strongest rookie class the VHL has ever seen", which is high praise for sure. But looking at some of the potential Stolzschweiger winners, it doesn't seem too far off. Well, enough of this introduction. Let's get into some of these incredible freshmen.
Red Lite, RW @Tate
Obviously, the first player you think of when the S76 Stolzschweiger frontrunner comes to mind is Lite, who has had a fantastic rookie season so far. While being a part of the basement-dwelling Americans, Lite is among a talented but young and inexperienced group of players who have a high ability to score but a hindered ability to defend. Lite, as well as teammates Rhynex Entertainment, Gary Rush, Brian Strong Jr., and others, get a lot more ice time than some of the younger players on contending teams. Lite himself uses this to his advantage, popping off with 17 goals and 39 points in his 34 games this season. He has a build to die for, he is mind-blowingly efficient in the offensive zone, and he even manages to have a positive plus/minus on one of the worst teams in the league. He presents a strong case, that's for sure.
Dominic Gobeil, LW @domg5
Well, this has been a pleasant surprise, especially for the Phantoms. Gobeil was drafted in the 3rd round, 46th overall, in the S75 draft. The third round! Needless to say, he's opened up plenty of eyes with his performance this season up to date. Unlike Lite's situation in the Big Apple, Gobeil finds himself on a Phantoms team that has a decent amount of offensive talent, a young but effective D core, and a solid tandem in nets. They're a playoff fringe team, meaning Gobeil should hypothetically not get ideal ice time. But the red-hot freshman has pushed his way up the ranks in Prague with 13 goals and 40 points in the 34 games he's played. Any rookies surpassing point per game in the VHL is impressive, so a player being on pace for more than 84 points is amazing. If he keeps this up, it should be almost a no-brainer who takes home the award.
Cabe McJake, C @RedSus
Finishing off the point per game freshmen is none other than Cabe McJake himself. We all know first gens tend to be risky picks high in the draft, but this little gamble has been paying off in spades for the Reign so far. However, that same Riga team has had some struggles this season, although it's quite easy to come to the conclusion that the Reign are actually doing surprisingly well despite their apparent lack of veteran presence on the team save for a select few. They have an astonishing 11 rookies on their roster this season, and their top six scorers are all newcomers as well. But it also means lots of ice time for these lucky players. McJake, not at all unlike Lite, has made use of his extra minutes. 16 goals and 37 points in 34 games, as well as the personal triumph of winning his first fight, McJake is riding a massive high right now. His chances skyrocket if the Reign can steal a playoff spot.
Linus Zetterstrom, D @Ledge_and_Dairy
Sigh. I guess I have to talk about my own player for a bit. Zetterstrom has been doing good, much better than I expected, thus far. I have this joke with myself that my goal in the VHLM when Linus was with the Aces was to get at the point per game mark, and I was about 30 points off. Yet here he is, putting up 33 points in 34 games in the actual VHL, where it matters. I can give credit to my enormous amounts of ice time for the points and the blocked shots, and rest of the stuff comes with that, too. It's the same idea for Cabe that if the Reign manage to sneak into the playoffs, Zetterstrom has a better chance at taking home a trophy. But honestly, I don't see him having any legit shot at the award. There are better rookies right now. So, I guess all I can do is to keep on grinding and hoping.
Isau DaMoose, C @Eynhallow
Wrapping up our 3 Reign players in a row is Isau DaMoose, who had one of the hottest starts a rookie can have. He was on top of the rookie leaderboard for the first ten or so games of the season before Lite and eventually Gobeil took the throne. Nevertheless, DaMoose is still a top offensive threat on a weaker Riga squad. His 13 goals and 31 points put him only 3 point off point per game, and his 60 hits are respectable. I think, just for me, it's been fun to watch DaMoose start from being a welfare guy and slowly moving his way on up to becoming the max earner he is now. He was also a later pick, drafted 38th overall in the 3rd round. Another interesting part of DaMoose's development was his meager 50 points in the M last season, which obviously contributed to the surprise surrounding his rebirth in Riga. Of course, ice time had a lot to do with it as well. But I think if DaMoose can catch a few more hot streaks, the Stolzschweiger wouldn't be a far cry.
Chicken Wing, D @chikn
When I was picking Team Europe for the World Juniors last season, I slept on Chicken Wing. And guess what happened? In Team World's first game against Team Europe, Wing had 4 points in World's win. So I've learned my lesson about sleeping on him ever again. This season, Wing is the top rookie defenceman without question in my mind. The Americans, as has been put prior to this, are one of, if not the, least competitive teams in the league this season. They have a high-powered offense but a weak defense, and Wing finds himself with a burden on his back no freshman should have. However, he has proved that he can perform under pressure. 26 assists and 31 points in 34 games is in a high tier for defencemen, and the 89 blocked shots are good enough for 4th on the league leaderboard. The positive plus/minus is also insane considering the goal differential the Americans must have.
Dan Dan, RW @MMFLEX
While Dan Dan's points lag behind some of his rookie counterparts, he is also a part of a Helsinki Titans team that is looking for a deep playoff run this season. This means that the big, important minutes are being doled out to the veterans instead of the fresh faces. The reason Dan has put himself on this list is his ability to make do with whatever he gets and still produce a decent amount of points. He has a lighter load on his back than some of the rookies on Riga and New York because of players like Ola Vikingstad, Patrik Laine, and Valtteri Vaakanainen being among the top performers in the league, which in real life is really beneficial for the prospect at hand. If Simon T manages to account for this, Dan has a sneaky advantage over a lot of his competition, who've been tossed into the deep end.
Dolant Fertitta, LW @Dolant
Wow, our fourth Riga player and we're not even at the bottom of the list. Is it just me, or is this rebuild looking really promising? Fertitta was one of their five first round picks in S75, and was the leading scorer of the VHLM last season. He's another example of a player who has greatly appreciated the ice time that comes with being on a non-contending team. His 8 goals are diminutive compared to, say, Lite, but he has proved he's more of a playmaker with 19 assists and 27 points. One of my fondest memories of Fertitta was at the World Juniors this season. I picked him to be one of my top forwards, and he had an acceptable round robin in which Team Europe didn't perform too well. But in the elimination games, he pulled out his clutch with 3 assists and 4 points in the two games we played. His build is really straightforward, and it works pretty well. If he can pick his VHLM firepower back up suddenly, I know he has it in him to have a serious shot at this award
Justin Lose, RW @youloser1337
Aaaaand we have our fifth Riga Reign rookie. I hope I'm not coming across as biased, because although I like the idea of recognizing my players, they also have a hell of a lot of skill. And that brings us to Justin Lose, fresh off a hat trick in the most recent sims. That brings him to 12 goals and 26 points in 34 games, which isn't ideal but again, using that learning to swim metaphor; most of the Reign newbies were chucked into the deep end and expected to excel. And it's not a stretch to say he has. He has well rounded stats, and his build is nearly spotless. He also leads the Reign in game winning goals with 3. In addition to all this hockey related stuff, I'm always seeing youloser being really active in our discord LR. It's great to see as an AGM and it's a great quality for a guy like him to improve this way.
Robert Bouchard, C @Gaikoku-hito
Surprisingly, we have ourselves another Prague product. It seems as though the the holes the Phantoms offense had coming into this season have been comfortably filled by the likes of Gobeil and Robert Bouchard. Bouchard is another VHLM super scorer, racking up 43 goals and 109 points in his final M season with the Philly Reapers. However, the jump to the big leagues might have been a bit of a shock, so his points are fluctuating a bit. But as always with these type of players, we've seen what he can do, so it's only a matter of time before the points start coming in droves. He is a consistent earner, getting that sweet 13 every week, and has his build spread over all the important attributes. I personally think he has a bright future, regardless if he wins this award or not.
Markus Emerson Jr., G @Xflexz
My first goalie of the list! I really don't know anything about goalies, real life or otherwise. But I can recognize talent based on a wide variety of stats, at least to an extent. What I see in Markus Emerson Jr. is an heir apparent to the soon to be retiree and longtime Wolves goaltender Jimmy Spyro who has proved so far this season that he will live up to the challenge. I don't know how goalie builds work, but from what I've heard there are three big important ones and of course the useless ones like leadership. Emerson Jr.'s build must work, though, as his record is 7-1-1. However, he backstops the second best team in the league, so that probably has something to do with it. Nevertheless, if he keeps putting up these stats, he would be the first Stolzschweiger winner since Rayz Funk himself in S67.
Matt thunder, D @Matt thunder
This one could be mistaken as a bias because Matt is my buddy in the LR and he's a fantastic guy. But thunder is no joke. He is also enjoying the heaps of ice time solely from being on Riga, and he has definitely taken advantage of it. His 24 points in 34 games are noticeable, but what really sticks out is his 121 penalty minutes, which are a league lead. He's also a big fighter, and he was the main attraction in the Riga-London bench brawl of a couple sims ago(rumour is he's even teaching teammate Addison McLaren how to fight too!). His 125 hits are also in the higher end of the league, and 62 blocked shots is no easy feat, either. He's also a big part of our discord LR, even though English isn't even his first language!
Honorable Mentions:
Thadius Sales, New York Americans
Cowboy Prout, New York Americans
Scotty Kaberle, Toronto Legion
Addison McLaren, Riga Reign
Tom Eagles, Calgary Wranglers
Word Count: 2174
Claiming for weeks ending 02/07, 02/14, 02/21, 02/28
Edit: These stat lines won't go away. Pretend they don't exist
-Yes they do -Beav
-nvm they do not -Beav
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Review: First of all, formatting is amazing. All the bold and underline and stuff is really good. But the content is top notch too, and giving so much information on some of your past teammates, it's just a fun read. Keep this up man, I'm enjoying em 8.5/10
