Alex

Welcome to VSN’s VHL playoff preview and predictions, in this article we’ll break down each series and discuss what players could be key to turning the tide of the series and potentially pulling off an upset. This was truly an incredible season and we could be in for a few upsets in the playoffs. While you’re here be sure to check out some of the other recent VSN articles, also sorry about the delay, I'm coming off a crazy busy weekend. S95 VHLE Playoff Preview | Sjin's Locomotive - The Cologne Express Conference Semi-Finals Vancouver (2) vs. Chicago (3) This series presents two very different stories, Vancouver stormed back after their usual slow start, whereas Chicago has been great and consistent all season. Both teams do have fairly strong rosters, but with Vancouver having a significant edge in almost every position this will be a uphill battle for Chicago with the series essentially being on the shoulders of Ryan Artyomov as they will be tasked with shutting down Vancouver’s high powered offense. We have Vancouver edging out Chicago here. Prediction: Vancouver in 6 VSN vote: VAN 8, CHI 2 Toronto (1) vs. Seattle (4) If there’s an upset in any series it will be here, Seattle was dominant in the season series, winning 4 of the 5 matchups, largely thanks to Giorgiy Costanzov who will be a massive X-factor in this series. Toronto’s playoff hopes will depend on their old core of forwards, namely Mac Atlas, and Jimi Jaks who will need to elevate their game once again. We’ve got Seattle pulling off the upset in a very tight North American Conference. Prediction: Seattle in 6 VSN vote: TOR 3, SEA 7 Malmo (2) vs. Riga (3) Malmo and Riga have gone toe to toe all season, in the regular season Riga took a slight edge winning 3 of the 5 games. With that being said every game was very close except for one game where Malmo was just dominant. This series could very well just be how well Malmo’s defense and Jacob Stone can shut down Riga’s offense led by Axle Gunner. This series should by all means be a close one that could really go either way, but we’ve got Riga coming out on top. Prediction: Riga in 7 VSN vote: MAL 4, RIG 6 Moscow (1) vs. Davos (4) This series should be the most one-sided series on paper, with Moscow having a significant edge with both their forwards and defensemen. For Davos this series will likely be dependent on Grimgor Ironhide, Antonia Bucatini, and most importantly Aleksanteri Kaskiniemi-Kekkonen who will need to stand on their head to give Davos a chance against the defending champions. Without much more to say, there’s no reason why Jarmo Ruutu and company will not win this series. Davos may steal a game or two, but this should be all Moscow. Prediction: Moscow in 6 VSN vote: MOS 8, DAV 2 Conference Finals Vancouver (2) vs. Seattle (4) This is possibly the most interesting series of these playoffs, Vancouver won the season series 4-2 and while most games were fairly close, Vancouver does have a significant advantage going into this series. Long-time Wolves skater Liv Slater is primed for an offensive show and this series could very well be it as they look to take advantage of Seattle’s defense. For Seattle this series will be dependent on just that, as they’ll be looking towards Mina to help shutdown Vancouver. We’ve got Vancouver taking this one in a close series. Prediction: Vancouver in 6 VSN vote: VAN 7, SEA 4 Moscow (1) vs. Riga (3) It seems like the whole season in the European conference has been coming to this point as Riga and Moscow go head-to-head. Moscow won the regular season (4-2) and will be looking to do the same thing here. This series could really go one of two ways, either a defensive showdown, or just a pure offensive battle, really just depending on Red Panda and Olober Syko as they’ll both be tasked with keeping their team in it. We’ve got Moscow replicating their regular season success and ending the Reign. Prediction: Moscow in 7 VSN vote: MOS 6, RIG 5 Continental Cup Finals Moscow (1) vs. Vancouver (2) Do you ever get Deja Vu? Because we have just that, and Moscow and Vancouver meet yet again. With Moscow finally getting over the hump last season they come into this series with a different outlook. In the regular season both teams took 2 games, on paper these two teams are extremely alike, and realistically it’s hard to differentiate the two teams, but Vancouver comes in with a slight edge with both their forwards and defensemen which may just be too much for Moscow thanks to their superior depth. This could be a close one, that could really go either way. We’ve got Vancouver bringing the Continental Cup home yet again. Prediction: Vancouver in 6 VSN vote: MOS 4, VAN 8 Thank you to everyone for reading and best of luck to each and every team in the playoffs! If you have any predictions of your own feel free to post them in the comments.

Thanks for the kind words! To be blunt the entire expectation for this season was to make the playoffs. It’s good to see the team moving in the right direction, should be an interesting series against Moscow!

DAVID

1. 100% @OrbitingDeath ! 2. I've always enjoyed reading @Gaikoku-hito's work 3. That every year Buffalo sabres fans enter the season with hope, although for some reason that hope is starting to fade. 1. Which VHL team do you think is poised best to pull of an upset? 2. How would you rate your players season on a scale from 1-10? 3. What's a bold prediction you have for the upcoming NHL season?

Hi everyone, I decided to take a week off of VSN with playoffs being right around the corner. For those of you who have been following the power rankings, I’ll include a abbreviated version at the end. Going to just be reviewing my players seasons so far today and maybe talking a bit about Davos. Skor McFleury Starting off with my previous player that is still in the VHL, they’ve had a bit of a down season compared to previous ones as they currently have 13 goals and 79 points so far this season, largely in part due to a absolutely abysmal shooting percentage. They currently sit 5th in defensemen points, but any chance at an award or all-VHL team nomination is slim to none. With that being said they have still had a very successful career with 6 individual awards, and 1 Victory and Continental Cup! Milestone wise, this season was a big one as they did get their 700th point and notably are now Top 5 in all-time defensemen points, and in an article by Advantage, he pointed out that McFleury is the 2nd player ever and 1st since S28 to have 700+ points, 1000+ shots blocked, and 1000+ hits. So, all in all it’s been a successful career and one that I can be really proud of. I guess following the playoffs I get to wait and see if they get in the Hall of Fame, and then shortly after where they’ll fall on the Top 100 players list, if VSN makes one in season 100! Deadpanda In stark contrast to McFleury, Deadpanda has had a extremely successful season, as they currently lead the VHLM in SV% (0.925), GAA (1.74), wins (48), and are 2nd in shutouts with 9! Currently Vegas is 1st in the league, but with 3 games left only need 1 point to clinch the spot. I’m not going to say much about awards, because if I do Simon will make my player let in 6 goals in all the remaining games, but there’s certainly hope for both top goalie and even maybe MVP honours. HC Davos Dynamo Davos is currently just wrapping up our most successful season since we won the S91 Victory Cup, as the rebuild is over! We’ve just cliched the 4th spot in the European Conference and are currently 6th in the league! This season’s success has really been a team effort, as both lines have been clicking lately. In particular though Grimgor Ironhide, Antonia Bucatini, and the teams captain David Jokinen stand out all producing at well above a point per game pace! It’s also worth noting that both Felicia Hardy, and Aleksanteri Kaskiniemi-Kekkonen have had great rookie seasons and are near the top of the league in rookie scoring and save percentage respectively. We’ve certainly got some hope going into the playoffs, as we do feel like there’s a chance, we could beat anyone, however we will have to get past the Warsaw Predators in the first round, who despite some regular season struggles are a very strong team on paper. Should be interesting to watch to say the least. Current VHL Power Rankings: North American Conference: 1. Vancouver Wolves 2. Toronto Legion 3. Chicago Phoenix 4. Seattle Bears 5. Calgary Wranglers 6. New York Americans 7. Los Angeles Stars 8. D.C. Dragons European Conference 1. Moscow Menace 2. Riga Reign 3. Malmo Nighthawks 4. HC Davos Dynamo 5. Warsaw Predators 6. Helsinki Titans 7. London United 8. Prague Phantoms

whoa now, we led a couple really good teams to a first round exit lol

So what I’m reading is Davos is winning the cup!

Not going to lie when I saw I was pinged I was expecting it to be in reference to when I was him AGM lol

The main reason all of the prospects listed were traded was simply that the Davos roster just didn’t have space for them moving forwards, we have a good rotation of young talent coming up that will fill gaps left by retiring players, and it would provide the players with a better opportunity. We also still have a bunch of early picks coming up that will further supplement the current core. I really don’t understand your rating here…

1 more point

1. I really like the trade, makes us better now and helps set up the roster really well for the future! 2. Pretty good, looks like we're set up for a 1st round matchup against Warsaw. 3. I have at times, but I usually just try to switch things up, hence why I did a trade tree this week since I've always enjoyed them. 4. Given that my player is a goalie that's good news, however, they are only 200 TPA lol 5. Would be great if questions had an assigned difficulty that could be coordinated with how long you've been here, longer = harder. 8. yes and no, based off the cubic rule of food it's a taco

Shit, realized I posted this in the wrong area, sorry updaters. I am just leaving it here to not be annoying, but this is a normal graphic.

Legend: Yellow = played games then traded Purple = Appears elsewhere on trade tree Red = Went IA/Retired before playing any games Blue = Current Prospect Green = Currently on Roster Found this very interesting since the main outcome of the initial trade is both Kaleeb and I getting our starting goalies of the future in Lovestrom and A K-K.

@STZ thank you for the trade talks! @TheNeonShaman and @Seabass, thank you both for your time in davos! Best of luck with New York! @qripll, welcome to davos! Let’s go!

Just saw this now, really neat read @Advantage! I do think Malmö’s situation is very interesting, there’s more than likely a rebuild around the corner with an aging roster. I’m actually very interested to see when the trigger gets pulled on something like that, since there is a few young pieces that could be built around, but the lack of prospects and picks likely makes the future direction fairly clear.

@Ricer13 Hi everyone! Welcome to week 2 of this season's VHL Power rankings! We've had some big moves since the last edition so let's jump right in! North American Conference 1 - Seattle Bears (+3) Record – 24-9-3 Current place in Standings – 1st Standout Player – Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish Seattle has been great so far this season and look to be the favourites to finish at the top of the North American Conference. There really isn’t any cause for concern in Seattle, we can expect them to be in the market for a defensemen in the coming days, keep an eye out for a potential trade between them and Prague. 2 - Vancouver Wolves (+4) Record – 21-14-1 Current place in Standings – 4th Standout Player – Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy Following their usual slow start to the season, Vancouver has been red hot and quickly climbing the standings recently. In large part due to their entire roster just firing on all cylinders, much like Seattle they are only running 3 defensemen right now, so they will certainly be looking for a fourth moving forwards. 3 - Toronto Legion (-1) Record – 22-11-3 Current place in Standings – 3rd Standout Player – Harry Callahan @dstevensonjr It’s Toronto’s final season of their competitive window, and with the only concern for them being goaltending at this moment we can expect them to be trying to trade for any improvement in goal as they are currently running a bottom 3 starting goalie in the league. 4 - Chicago Phoenix (-1) Record – 24-10-2 Current place in Standings – 2nd Standout Player – Ryan Artyomov @Enorama Chicago has been exceeding expectations so far this season, in part due to potential league MVP Ryan Artyomov who has been spectacular so far, having gone 7-3-0 in their last 10, Chicago seems to still be trending in the right direction. 5 - New York Americans (-4) Record – 19-16-2 Current place in Standings – 6th Standout Player – W. WWWWWWWWWWWW @rory New York’s season has been lack-luster at best. TPE wise they are the top team in the league, so currently being 6th in the conference isn’t good news for a team that should be in the middle of their window. With that being said they have had a tougher schedule to start the season, and their 2nd half should bring better results that should help them creep into the playoffs where anything can happen 6 - Calgary Wranglers (-1) Record – 18-13-6 Current place in Standings – 5th Standout Player – Catia Goncalves @cLoWn Calgary is a team where it’s difficult to place in the conference. On paper their roster is well off the contending teams in the conference, but they have been performing well. The main issue is that they have the lowest TPE goalie in the league by a considerable margin and their SV% has been reflecting that. Going forward we can likely expect Calgary to start selling players to capitalize on the current market. 7 - Los Angeles Stars (=) Record – 12-20-4 Current place in Standings – 7th Standout Player – Wally Lose @youloser1337 Los Angeles is moving in the right direction, they have all the necessary pieces in place, it’s just a matter of waiting now. Not really much to add, we could see some veteran players moved out for picks. 8 - D.C. Dragons (=) Record – 6-27-3 Current place in Standings – 8th Standout Player – Herald Benson @Benson The battle for 1st overall has been interesting, with D.C. and Prague currently tied at the bottom of the standings. Herald Benson has been the sole bright spot this season for D.C. in what has been and will continue to be an extremely long season. European Conference 1 - Moscow Menace (=) Record – 26-9-2 Current place in Standings – 2nd Standout Player – David Rashford @Knight Despite retooling during the offseason, Moscow is currently set to win this season’s Victory cup should things continue the way that they are trending! Going forward we can expect Moscow not to really do much roster wise, while they do have 1 million dollars in cap space, things seem to be going well, and there really isn’t a reason to do anything. What we can expect from Moscow is for them to pull away from the European Conference. 2 - Malmo Nighthawks (+3) Record – 25-8-4 Current place in Standings – 3rd Standout Player – Karl Herzlich @LastGoon007 It’s safe to say that Malmo’s goaltending question marks have been answered as Karl Herzlich has been given the opportunity and completely ran away with the starters job over the rookie backup. Malmo is comfortably in that 2nd/3rd spot in the conference, but a recent statement 8-1 win over Riga made it clear that they are the 2nd best team in the conference. 3 - Riga Reign (-1) Record – 27-8-1 Current place in Standings – 1st Standout Player – Shubham Anand @Will3 Riga has had a strong season so far, but with their star players underperforming there is room for improvement. Currently Riga can look ahead to a eventual playoff matchup with Malmo in the first round. There is some cap space available for any improvements to the roster which could be needed for them to challenge Moscow. 4 - HC Davos Dynamo (-1) Record – 20-12-5 Current place in Standings – 4th Standout Player – Grimgor Ironhide @FrostBeard Davos has taken a step forward this season and found themselves comfortably 4th in the conference in part due to the recent increase in offensive production and some great goaltending. Davos will likely continue to improve as the season progresses and seem to be progressing well in their first season in contention for the playoffs in some time. 5 - Warsaw Predators (=) Record – 20-14-1 Current place in Standings – 5th Standout Player – King Kisslinger @Kisslinger Warsaw’s season has been interesting to say the least. While they do have top end talent in goal and up front, the lack of depth and no top end defensemen seem to be really hurting their chances. With this potentially being it for Warsaw, we can maybe expect some aggressive moves as the trade deadline approaches. 6 - Helsinki Titans (=) Record – 9-21-6 Current place in Standings – 7th Standout Player – Isaac Mcflopper @sportexperts show With the European Conference playoff teams essentially already decided, Helsinki finds themselves on the outside looking in. With that being said they do have a young core that is improving well, and they could just be looking to play spoiler down the stretch. 7 - London United (=) Record – 12-22-3 Current place in Standings – 6th Standout Player – Moritz Stauffer @GoodLeftUndone London’s rebuild is in full swing, London could be looking to trade away some veteran players down the stretch to make space for their early draft picks in the coming seasons. 8 - Prague Phantoms (=) Record – 6-27-3 Current place in Standings – 8th Standout Player – Lazlo Holmes @Gustav Prague’s season has been a long one. The only real bright spot has been Lazlo Holmes who just may be leading the ROTY race at this point in time. Prague will likely be moving a few players towards the deadline as they are in full-rebuild mode.

Thank you for the reminder that Davos won the draft! Jk, great read Sadie!

@MubbleFubbles skipped, but not really

F - Toby Kadachi @rory

Hi everyone, welcome to the first of many VHL Power Rankings for this season. I'll be slightly merging the preview with this one since last week got away from me a bit. So if you have any ideas for future editions please let me know. NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE 1st - New York Americans Record - 4-2-0 Current Place in Standings - 3rd Projected Finish - 1st Forward Rank - 10th Defense Rank - 1st Goaltending Rank - 3rd Overall - 1st Standout Player - WWWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWW @rory New York is off to a solid start this season and have a fairly solid roster. Offense could prove to be an issue, but with a great defense and goaltending there really isn’t cause for concern. New York is the top team in the conference by a considerable gap. 2nd - Toronto Legion Record - 3-2-1 Current Place in Standings - 4th Projected Finish - 3rd Forward Rank - 5th Defense Rank - 3rd Goaltending Rank - 12th Overall - 5th Standout Player - Jimi Jaks @ke1vi Toronto’s window has essentially come to an end, and while they will more than likely make the playoffs, they could struggle against teams with good goaltending as they will be needing to simply outscore their problems this season. 3rd - Chicago Phoenix Record - 5-1-1 Current Place in Standings - 1st Projected Finish - 5th Forward Rank - 9th Defense Rank - 5th Goaltending Rank - 6th Overall - 8th Standout Player - Spanish Moon Moth @Renomitsu Chicago has a very well-rounded roster, while they do lack a truly elite player, their roster as a whole looks very strong and the early season results seem to agree. 4th - Seattle Bears Record - 3-3-0 Current Place in Standings - 5th Projected Finish - 4th Forward Rank - 3rd Defense Rank - 9th Goaltending Rank - 7th Overall - 7th Standout Player - Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish With Chicago, Seattle is reasonably well rounded and will more than likely challenge for the top spot in the conference. As the season progresses Seattle will likely slowly climb the standings. 5th - Calgary Wranglers Record - 4-2-1 Current Place in Standings - 2nd Projected Finish - 6th Forward Rank - 6th Defense Rank - 7th Goaltending Rank - 16th Overall - 10th Standout Player - Adi Dassler @BOOM Calgary is very much in a similar boat to Toronto for this season, while their roster is fairly solid in terms of skaters, Calgary has the league’s worst goaltending. If Calgary is looking to actually compete this season a trade will have to be made for a true starting goalie. 6th - Vancouver Wolves Record - 1-5-0 Current Place in Standings - 8th Projected Finish - 2nd Forward Rank - 2nd Defense Rank - 8th Goaltending Rank - 4th Overall - 4th Standout Player - Owen Lazaro @traphag Vancouver has become notorious for having a slow start to the season, for that reason patience likely pays off here. Their roster is solid and should bounce back in a hurry. 7th - Los Angeles Stars Record - 2-4-0 Current Place in Standings - 6th Projected Finish - 7th Forward Rank - 13th Defense Rank - 13th Goaltending Rank - 13th Overall - 14th Standout Player - Roger Eagles @Greg_Di The rebuild continues in Los Angeles, and with a plethora of young players, everything is going to plan here. 8th - D.C. Dragons Record - 1-4-1 Current Place in Standings - 7th Projected Finish - 8th Forward Rank - 16th Defense Rank - 16th Goaltending Rank - 10th Overall - 16th Standout Player - Herald Benson @Benson Not really much to talk about here, a few young players are making an impact, but it will be a long season in DC. EUROPEAN CONFERENCE 1st - Moscow Menace Record - 5-2-0 Current Place in Standings - 2nd Projected Finish - 1st Forward Rank - 4th Defense Rank - 4th Goaltending Rank - 1st Overall - 2nd Standout Player - David Rashford @Knight It’s undeniable that Moscow got worse over the offseason due to a cap crunch, but the sheer amount of assets they got for players that they couldn’t keep will mean that they’ll be great for some time to come. This season, Moscow enters as the Continental Cup favourites and has shown that early on. 2nd - Riga Reign Record - 5-1-0 Current Place in Standings - 1st Projected Finish - 2nd Forward Rank - 8th Defense Rank - 2nd Goaltending Rank - 5th Overall - 3rd Standout Player - Shubham Anand @Will3 Riga is solid again this season and could very well surprise some people this season. Their offense has broken out so far this season and there is really no reason for any concern, other than Skor McFleury’s abysmal start. 3rd - HC Davos Dynamo Record - 4-1-2 Current Place in Standings - 3rd Projected Finish - 5th Forward Rank - 11th Defense Rank - 6th Goaltending Rank - 9th Overall - 11th Standout Player - Antonia Bucatini @CowboyinAmerica Davos continues to progress and should improve quickly over the course of the season. With that being said, there’s a good chance that they will slip to 4th or 5th by the playoffs, given the gap to other playoff contenders. 4th - Malmo Nighthawks Record - 3-2-1 Current Place in Standings - 5th Projected Finish - 3rd Forward Rank - 1st Defense Rank - 10th Goaltending Rank - 8th Overall - 6th Standout Player - Karl Herzlich @LastGoon007 To be blunt Malmo is a very interesting team this season, for many seasons they were a top defensive team which helped everyone find more success throughout the lineup and minimized scoring chances against. While they do still have a top defenseman, there is considerable concern as their shots against have skyrocketed compared to previous seasons. We will likely see a trade to improve the blue line in short order. 5th - Warsaw Predators Record - 2-3-0 Current Place in Standings - 7th Projected Finish - 4th Forward Rank - 7th Defense Rank - 12th Goaltending Rank - 2nd Overall - 9th Standout Player - Thor Reingaard @N0HBDY Warsaw’s goal scoring has just got off to a slow start, this should balance out with time. But when you consider the weight, this puts on Merome Dilson there is some reason for concern. We can expect Warsaw to make it back towards a playoff spot and they should be considered a playoff lock. 6th - Helsinki Titans Record - 4-2-0 Current Place in Standings - 4th Projected Finish - 6th Forward Rank - 12th Defense Rank - 15th Goaltending Rank - 14th Overall - 12th Standout Player - THE MIGHTY ICE WIZARD @Royski Unlike the North American Conference, the EU has 3 teams that are a step below everyone else. The rebuild in Helsinki seems to be going well, but with a few veteran assets they should be able to sell and improve their draft stock. 7th - London United Record - 3-3-0 Current Place in Standings - 6th Projected Finish - 7th Forward Rank - 14th Defense Rank - 11th Goaltending Rank - 11th (pending trade that will occur today) Overall - 13th Standout Player - None It’s going to be a long season in London, but they do stand to reap the rewards of teams that need to improve their rosters. 8th - Prague Phantoms Record - 0-4-1 Current Place in Standings - 8th Projected Finish - 8th Forward Rank - 15th Defense Rank - 14th Goaltending Rank - 15th Overall - 15th Standout Player - Lazlo Holmes @Gustav Prague is also in for a long season, but with a few bright spots, namely Holmes who is off to a great start to their career and is the early favourite for top rookie honours. 1301 words (2 weeks)

but I like the chaos it creates... JK, doing it now, was just finishing an article

G - Giorgiy Costanzov @wcats

F - Joshua Schwarzer @rory

@leandrofg skipped @wcats

LACHLAN SUMMERS JERSEY RETIREMENTS?! @kirbithan "With the 12th overall pick of the S86 VHL Entry Draft HC Davos Dynamo selects from the San Diego Marlins, Lachlan Summers" when those words were said almost 10 seasons ago, very few could have imagined what would come out of the pick, after all Summers had been an average goalie in the VHLM. However, after the draft Summers progression would soar to new heights, they would go onto post a 0.922 SV% and 2.74 GAA in the VHLE. In S87 they would be called up to serve as Hall of famer Xavier Booberry's backup. Summers would pick up a few tricks over that season as a backup, that would really shine when they burst on the scene in S88, posting a 0.32 SV%, 2.30 GAA, and winning the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy as the VHL's top rookie, and helped Davos on a lengthy playoff run. The following season, Summers great play would continue, and in the playoffs they would excel, as they had a 0.937 SV% and would post a record of 12-4-0 on route to a Continental Cup Championship. Over the course of the next two seasons, Summers would be the most successful goalie in the VHL winning 2 Victory cups and the Greg Clegane, Aidan Shaw, and Brett Slobodzian Trophies in S90. Over the course of 6 seasons with Davos Summers posted a record of 201-97-29 (6th most wins in franchise history), and a 0.930 SV% (2nd), and a 2.46 GAA (7th) and a playoff record of 26-15-6 (2nd most wins), a 0.922 SV%, and a 2.89 GAA. It is with great pleasure that I get to announce that Lachlan Summers' Jersey has been retired to be hung in the rafters in Davos for the seasons to come!