CowboyinAmerica

Wranglers Americans Meute Vikings

3-2 Vikings

Good stuff. Would also note that Key Perought is probably seen as Seattle's goalie of the future too, and have a few (O'Tarth, Bushito's new guy) recently made in upcoming drafts as well.

First goalie, eh? Good luck with the frustration.

3-2 Wild

Storm Storm Wild

I'm already excited for the next World Cup. This U.S. team's got talent for days.

But rises again, Gower and mediocrer.

Christ, I feel like we've lost 37 games in OT this season

VHL Windows of Contention: North America With all due respect to Calgary and Davos, it sure seems like this year’s VHL title is going to be a four horse race. And as we approach the playoffs, and especially the conference finals, I know I’m going to be excited to see whether Quebec, New York, Helsinki or Stockholm end up on top, much like last year. But that doesn’t mean that there’s not hope for the future among VHL franchises. Every single team (I think) has some semblance of a long-term plan, a time period they’re looking to compete for championships with their current core. For some teams, that’s close in. For other teams, it could be seasons away. I don’t claim to know what all the GMs are thinking; I’m only an outside observer. But while trades and other big moves can shake things up, here’s one neutral person’s look at the windows of contention for the current cores of each team, starting this week with North America. Calgary Wranglers: Season 57-59 Naturally, I start with probably the single hardest team to pin down in the entire VHL. The Wranglers made some trades to contend for the playoffs this season, but that’s only a function of not holding their own first round pick – Calgary was still attempting to unload Gowecny at the trade deadline. With Leblanc, Savard, Snow and Scheel in particular all hitting their primes around the same time, with presumably a top pick in Season 57 following a down next year added to a new GM player, Calgary could be in line for contention as early as two seasons from now. But the lingering question over all of this: Will Jacob still be around? He’s been patient so far, but it’s instructive that he only signed a two year extension in the offseason as compared to the lifetime deal he was originally offered. If Jacob doesn’t see growth to his satisfaction, Calgary may be left without a goalie right as those prospects get up to form. New York Americans: Season 55 The New York franchise and GM has not been shy about extending windows of opportunity a year or two longer than normal, but in this case, I’m not sure that they should. Unassisted and Holik retire after this season; Digital, Maxwell and Ravenwing are all within the next two and are facing severe depreciation. Sharpe and Shankly are about to receive salary increases, a severe one in Sharpe’s case, and the Americans’ pick will likely fall seventh or later this year in a draft that might not be as strong as originally thought. The time to blow it up may be this offseason. That all begs the question for me: Was signing Holik to a two-year deal a mistake? I understand the wish to get the best goalie in the league, but having a cap hit for two goalies (Threencarnacion not withstanding) is a tough pill to swallow when you’re up against the cap and need to go for it all right now. The Americans also showed that they could get it done with Power in net, as evidenced in Season 53. Holik and Power are nice; having, say, Gowecny and Lahey (or Doughty/Dotran) to fill out lines with the cap room created by not having both would be nicer. Quebec City Meute: Season 55-57 The cap’s about to get interesting in Quebec. Gaudette, Muller and Locke all move from rookie to prime contracts next season, and all three are likely to move up a salary bracket or two as well. Add to that an expected substantial increase to Apollo Skye’s original $3 million contract, and the Meute will have a lot of money tied up in a few players. But here’s the thing: The Meute can absolutely afford to have that money tied up. Quebec’s GM was smart, having Komarov (retirement) and AK47 (free agency) come off the books this offseason, while von Hohenzollern and Petenis move to veteran salaries at the same time. And when Fook Yu moves to a prime salary before Season 57, Titan Kronos will be coming off the books as well. I wouldn’t say that Quebec will have much room to operate, but I would still call them presumptive favorites in North America over the next two seasons, at least until depreciation really kicks in for players like Skye and Jokinen. Seattle Bears: Season 58-60 The Bears seem to have gone two for three in this past year’s draft in the 7, 8 and 9 slots. Luckily for them though, the two players that have stuck play the two more important positions: winger Xavier Laflamme and goalie Key Perought. Added to defenseman Alexei Federov and forthcoming center Mattias Forsberg, the Bears have a solid core that only needs one or two more pieces to develop into a future contender. That’s why, out of all the teams in this year’s lottery, the Bears might be the ones chewing their fingernails the hardest. The other teams can either be flexible given their current talent (Toronto) or are early enough in rebuilding to pivot (Riga, Cologne). But while a defenseman like Ay Ay Ron might be a good replacement for the seems-to-be-a-bust Raven, landing Gabriel McAllister might accelerate this timeline to Season 57 – or even sooner, depending on New York and Calgary’s plans. Toronto Legion: Season 56-59 The next two years could be the Quebec and Toronto show in North America. The Legion aren’t quite there this season, but they should be by next year with another year of growth for all its young players. Reinholdt, Boeser, Sokolov, Lane and Ironside form a core that other teams are jealous of, and Toronto will add another lottery pick this year – Jigglejawns has to be enticing if the team doesn’t move up in the lottery. And given current TPE levels, it will be a few seasons until it runs into cap issues. Because of that cap room, I expect this to be a big offseason for Toronto, one that will determine whether the team truly can compete for a title next season. The big name I’d have my eye on is Xander Finn, a pending free agent from Stockholm whose agent already has strong ties to both Reinholdt and Lane. This would also be a reasonable landing spot for many of New York’s older players if the team does indeed go into a rebuild.

75 inches, eh?

I clearly need to put more Trust in The Process. My next player: Markelle Fultz, hockey star.

Keep on rolling, that goal and assist.

I feel like you don't call yourself Pleasant Camp unless you're overcompensating or really trying to hide something.

I've long been a VHLM loyalist, but I'm starting to come around to the line of thinking. There are easy ways to make up the TPE if you want, it's the playing time and (in a perfect world) the dedicated GMs that can help new guys get acclimated - a VHL GM probably isn't going to take the same time and care to ensure activity.

1 and 3, not bad. Those Scandinavian World Cup teams in the '30s were ridiculous.

Anything can happen in a 7 game series, and we've played Oslo close so far.

Midseason VHLM Awards Predictions A little bit over halfway through the VHLM season, the playoff picture has already come into focus. It’s clear that the Oslo Storm are likely to be the one seed, the Wild and Lynx will face off in the semi-finals, and the Aces and Rush will face off in the Wild Card for the right to face the Storm. While things can certainly change over the next 30 games, it would take a massive shift in the standings or a major trade to shake it up now. What’s more interesting, though, is some of the individual races. Oslo Storm players dominate the league leaderboards, in part because the team as a whole is so strong. Will one of them be able to break out and win MVP, or will voters award a player like Apollo Oho or Gabriel McAllister who has been the primary goal-scorer for their team? Can anybody catch Key Perought for top goalie? And will the top defenseman be a scorer like Raven or Ron or a defensive monster like Gloop? Here’s our best guess how some of those awards will go, along with short explanations for each one. Regular Season MVP, Most Points, Most Goals – Mattias Forsberg, Oslo Storm The Oslo Storm first line is absolutely deadly; alongside Forsberg, Quill and Laflamme are also among the top four goal scorers in the entire VHLM. However, with his league-leading 39 goals and third-place 46 assists, I believe Forsberg has set himself apart just enough to win the MVP. Especially on a team where goalie play has been spotty, the Storm has needed offense to rocket to the top of the league, and I believe there’s a valid argument that the MVP should be the best player on the best team. While naturally I would like to make an argument for Saskatoon’s Gabriel McAllister—he has double the goals of any other player on the second-place team, after all—a lot will depend on whether he can pick it up even further in the final stretch of the season. If McAllister can make up the six goal difference and beat Forsberg by the end of the season, even if he’s on the second-place team, the narrative might be too strong to deny. Top Defenseman, Most Assists – Nicodemus Raven, Oslo Storm This isn’t one I would have predicted before the season, but Raven has shown to be much more of a facilitator than anybody would have thought. His 58 assists just barely outpace teammate (and fellow Bears prospect) Xavier Laflamme for tops in the VHLM, and his 68 total points are 16 ahead of his next closest defenseman competitor. I’m not too worried about only having 10 goals on the season, especially when you take into account that he’s top ten in both hits and shots blocked as well with his high defense rating. Ay Ay Ron of Saskatoon may be the only person that challenges Raven here, given that he leads all defensemen with 15 goals. However, I wouldn’t put him as close to Raven currently as, say, McAllister is to Forsberg. Ron would need to turn on the goal scoring jets in particular and be a true second option for the Wild to be considered here; being outscored by Charles Murphy doesn’t look too good when your primary pitch is being a better goal scoring option. Top Goalie – Key Perought, Ottawa Lynx This one isn’t really even worth discussing – nobody’s going to catch Perought’s .903 save percentage over the final 30 games, especially when his closest competition, Saskatoon’s Brienne O’Tarth, is sitting at .877. The real question here is whether Perought is worth an MVP look, taking a team that has nobody above 16 goals in 42 games at third in the standings. I would argue no, that .903 is a bit too low and that certain offensive players have been a bit too good. But if Perought goes on a tear over the latter part of the season, and particularly adds to that 8 shutout total, I can’t say I’d be surprised to see him in the conversation. Two-Way Forward – Daring Do, Saskatoon Wild This isn’t an award to forget, particularly because this year it could present an interesting quandary: Do you reward individual stats or total team success with the two-way forward award? If it’s the former, then Apollo Aho is the clear choice. Among physical forwards, Aho stands apart; he’s fifth in the league in goals and sixth in the league in points, while simultaneously sitting eighth total and third among forwards with 117 hits. The downside, of course, is that this hasn’t really helped his team win games, since the Rush are last in the VHLM. I would argue, though, that the voters may take into account team success here, particularly if nobody from the second-place Wild is winning any other regular season awards. First place among forwards in hits is Daring Do of the Wild, with 131. While his goals (15) and total points (30) are nowhere near Aho’s level, being a first line player on a Wild squad with all sorts of different scoring options plays a big role there. There also may be a bit of projection in this selection as well, as Do has worked hard in practice over the season and figures to continue to improve as we get near the end of the season.

3-2 Dynamo

Vikings Dynamo Titans Americans

Lol, 8 shots for Vegas. But a win's a win, I'll take it.

O'Tarth turning it on!

Beautiful all around. Spread out scoring too!

3-2 Oslo

Storm Lynx Wild