CowboyinAmerica

Heeeey, scoring down the stretch!

Well, do we know whether Ironside will start them all in the playoffs?

Seattle (AP) -- Early on in the season, it looked like the Seattle Bears might be making a playoff run. As the season wore on, though, the players wore out. Now, with five games left, the Seattle Bears look like they’ll be on the outside looking in, barring a minor miracle. For rookie Bears left winger Gabriel McAllister, though, that turn of events isn’t necessarily a bad thing. He told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer recently that although it would have been nice to make the playoffs, he ultimately has a longer-term view. “My ultimate goal is to win championships, not get to the first round and flame out,” McAllister said. “And I’m going to do what it takes to get to that point. If that means we build slowly and have higher draft picks? I don’t necessarily see that as a bad thing.” It also can’t hurt that McAllister has been having his own strong rookie season to fall back on. Through 67 games, he has 39 goals (just outside the league’s top ten) and 39 assists, a total of 78 points. That puts him tied for third among all VHL natural left wingers in points, and crucially, first among all rookies. A Rookie of the Year trophy was something McAllister had his sights on entering the season, but he’s not ready to call the race over. “Guys like Aleksei, Forsberg and Quill have been right with me all season, and that’s not going to change,” McAllister said. “It would be nice if I get the trophy, but I’m more excited that this crew will put up stiff competition for years to come. I like a little challenge, it keeps me engaged.”

Don't Write Calgary Off Yet With only about six games left in the VHL season per team, there aren’t exactly many playoff races to keep tabs on. Sure, the Bears are technically not mathematically eliminated, but making up 7 points in 5 games – and the Wranglers have a game in hand, no less – isn’t something many impartial observers expect them to do. So we’re left looking ahead to the first round of the playoffs, where similarly, not many people are expecting intrigue. The Reign and Dynamo seemed to be a class above the Titans this season, and the Wranglers don’t even have a record above .500 to fall back on in North America. Most observers are expecting an easy walk to a Quebec/Toronto and Riga/Davos semifinals. But should they? A closer look at the stats reveals a few ways that the first round’s playoff underdogs can secure an upset, just by looking at the previous games between the likely opponents this season. This week, I’ll take a look at the Calgary Wranglers and Toronto Legion series, while next week I’ll examine the matchup between Helsinki and whoever their first round opponent will be. 3 Statistical Reasons Could Beat 1. Close and tight: Calgary has gone 3-4 against the Legion this season, with one game left to play against the teams. It looks even worse when you consider that one of those Calgary wins came in OT, while all four of Toronto’s came in regulation. The goal differential, though, tells a different story: Toronto won the goal battle just 13-10 in those seven games. That tells me two things: first, that the teams were roughly even in games against one another. Second, that each of the games were low-scoring and close, which favors the less talented team (Calgary in this case) when one inadvertent bounce of the puck can bring victory. 2. Kill them all: In their games against one another, the Legion has scored just 4 power play goals on 36 power play attempts, a penalty kill conversion rate of 89 percent for Calgary. Looking at the Wranglers’ roster, that’s not too much of a surprise – the team’s strength lies in its defensive core that features S55 first overall pick Felix Savard alongside wily veterans like Titan Kronos and Elijah Dotran. 5-on-5 goals are harder to come by in the postseason in general, which makes converting penalty chances even more crucial. Calgary has the edge there. 3. More penalties please: In speaking of penalties themselves, one thing jumps out to me when examining the Legion’s stats by opponent: They’ve taken just 60 penalty minutes in games against the Wranglers, the least against any single opponent in the league. Meanwhile, the Wranglers have allowed more power plays to Toronto (36, tied with Helsinki) than any other team. There’s no particular reason for that other than good old fashioned randomness; only Sokolov and Aackckqz Ky’s Random.org gods are the only Legion players to have invested anything in Discipline in the practice facility. To me, that screams of regression to the mean, meaning Calgary will have better luck with penalties than in the games that have been nearly even between to the two teams though far.

Eh. At least the offense kept it somewhat close.

Hey, a win! I vaguely remember what those feel like...

Not helping.

I'd be much more interested in Kendrick's thoughts on length of ban over everyone else on either side, tbh.

I'm not sure where you're getting the idea that people were somehow OK with that? Not agreeing with the length of the ban is one thing (if he hadn't already stepped down, I would have argued for a revocation of his GM position at the very least), but I'm pretty sure everyone's in agreement that was some bullshit.

Possible, we'll see. I figure I'll want to write on Seattle and the playoffs if it happens next week too.

Nah, this is where I stop for now. Not enough actives to fill out the third round.

Yeah, fuck all of that shit. That's not OK.

Coming into the season, it didn’t seem like Seattle had a chance at the playoffs. However, the first two-thirds of the season went better than expected for the Bears, and now, with 24 games left, Seattle has its sights squarely on clinching its first playoff berth in years. On Saturday, the Bears traded a Season 57 second round pick – a more valuable selection this year than in others – for goaltender Mist4ke from the Stockholm Vikings. Mist4ke has hopped around a bit in his VHL career, only having spent half a season in Stockholm and splitting time with Threencarnacion in Davos before that. Now, though, he seems to have found a long-term home in Seattle. Rookie left winger Gabriel McAllister could not have been more energized by the move. Already a leading Rookie of the Year candidate with 28 goals and 54 points so far this season, McAllister told reporters after a recent win against Calgary that he expects big things for the rest of the year. “I couldn’t have more faith in Seattle management – what they’ve done since I’ve been brought in has been excellent,” McAllister said. “These Mist4ke and Gloop moves are icing on the cake. Now we’re not just set up for the future, but maybe even to make some noise in the playoffs this year. It’s go time.”

(Because I see you looking at this @Tyler, I figure Sankara is probably the one that can shoot up draft boards the most given your history, but have some of the newer guys up there for now)

Last week, I explored what the first round of the S57 Draft might look like. And in a normal year, that would have been it – very few second rounders actually make a legitimate impact in the pros. This year, though, reminds me a lot of the vaunted S33 Draft that saw stars like Sebastian Ball Jr., Niklas Lindberg and Thomas Landry all go in the second round. There’s that much talent. So here’s a quick rundown of a mock second round, which could feature some of those stars. Even more than the first round, it’s important to note that this is absolutely just me spitballing and shouldn’t be taken as a representation of actual draft stock. For the order, I took the standings as they currently are, though of course it’s subject to change. 11. New York Americans – D Colton Rayne After going offense with its two first round selections, it makes sense to me that New York would turn to the blue line. Ko Kane would be the top defenseman by TPE, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see New York go with the hard-working newcomer in Rayne, who would be ready to move up to the VHL in likely S58. 12. Stockholm Vikings – C Calder O’Callahan You’ll be seeing the Vikings a lot in this second round, where they now own five picks following the Mist4ke trade. The first of those picks is Rayne’s Vegas teammate O’Callahan, a playmaking center that could even slot in on Stockholm’s future first line given that the rest of the offensive cupboard is bare. 13. Cologne Express – RW Matt Denning I thought about putting Michael Roy here, but the smart money is on Molholt not maintaining activity. Instead, Cologne looks to pair first rounder Bennington with a right winger in Denning, who has been steadily working hard for Ottawa since signing with the franchise a month ago. Similar to O’Callahan, he’d instantly be seen as a future first line piece. 14. Quebec City Meute (from Calgary) – D Ko Kane What do you get the team that has everything? Quebec goes into the offseason with a surprising amount of holes, and in this scenario, they addressed the offense in the first round with McQuack. That’s why I think they’d go defense here, and though pairing Kane with McQuack could be explosive, he’s clearly the best player available at this spot. 15. Stockholm Vikings (from Seattle) – RW Oskar Ingolfsson The pick that Stockholm just acquired from Seattle in exchange for Mist4ke, Ingolfsson would give Stockholm another piece on the first line of the future, looking to build up that offense. The question is, is Ingolfsson active? Megster is a VHLM GM, but she also hasn’t updated in two weeks. Vincent Oakhart might also be an option here. 16. Helsinki Titans – D Thomas Sankara With the first of Helsinki’s draft picks this year, defense has to be a high priority with Klingberg retiring and Barnyashev on his last legs. Sankara is mostly a welfare player, but given enough time, he could grow into a solid second defenseman alongside Ay Ay Ron in the Helsinki of the future. 17. Stockholm Vikings (from Toronto) – LW Vincent Oakhart Well, I wrote that Oakhart could be a possibility for Stockholm two picks ago, so it makes sense that they’d double down with him right here. Having been fully active since creating not long ago, Oakhart looks like he could be a steal early on. As a left winger, he also would give Stockholm a full offensive line in this draft alone. 18. Helsinki Titans (from Davos) - RW David Kiaskov Especially after going defense with Sankara, Helsinki can really afford to go best player available at this spot. Kiaskov has the graphic skills to make the VHL by S58, and given the strong leadership and the patience that Helsinki leadership has shown previously, there aren’t many better situations that he could land in. 19. Stockholm Vikings (from Quebec City) – RW Matthew Clyde With so many second round picks and no long-term offensive players on the roster, why not go for broke and get as many lottery tickets as you can? Despite only having been around for three weeks, Clyde has shown a strong graphic ability, and in recent days has shown the ability to max out his points. 20. Stockholm Vikings (from Riga) - C Longrod Von Danglecoch Yes this is a lot of offensive players for one team, but you have to go where the talent is, and I don’t think Stockholm would take a chance on goalies Michael Roy or Devin Fox given its selection of Kensington in the first round. It came down to Von Danglecoch and Shiro here, but the more recent point tasks as compared to welfare wins out, and Stockholm grabs another center.

(Noting trade for @JardyB10 next sim)

Oooh, big win, and 2 goals and an assist in it.

So this is one Mist4ke would have helped :/

Donovan and Forsberg, coming up big!

Close, but even a close win gets it done.

(Pretty sure Boubabi was joking) (Also pretty sure this entire thread is stupid, as is having a pissing contest about who makes the most money when nobody gives a shit)

And if it's after the draft, they stay on Cologne like any other player under contract, but the new GM wouldn't be able to have their own newly created GM player on Cologne until you're moved.

237 Wranglers vs Bears 238 Titans vs Reign 239 Meute vs Express 240 Americans vs HC Dynamo

3-2 Legion

That's getting back to form, love it.