Advantage

It's been shitty but hopefully the strats help you two score more...then we have all these solid prospects coming up plus hopefully a FA or two.
 
Still got those S52 picks too which should be nice!  We will be fine.
 
Having a bad run here against teams who have been playing well.

This week is all about the rookies because I frankly do not think they are featured enough in my articles.  Therefore, for good or bad reasons, I want to take a look at three rookies who are making headlines for one reason or another at this current juncture.


 
29 – Lets start with the obvious.  Thor Odinsson is currently leading all rookies with twenty-nine points in twenty-six games.  While he is not the only one to crack the twenty point mark (Gow, Donovan and Axelsson all find themselves with at least twenty), he is the only current rookie to be over a point-per-game.  Additionally, he also has a fantastic seventeen goals so far which puts him on pace for an insane forty-seven goals.  This would be a great total for any forward, much less a rookie on a young team that still needs to develop a lot.  Odinsson isn’t a top ten scorer in the league at the moment, or anything like that, but rather finds himself solidly fifth in goals and fifteenth in points.  If he can keep it up, Odinsson might just run away with the Stolzy this season.


 
2 – That is the amount of rookies who are featured on this years Stockholm Vikings squad.  While that is actually less than the Helsinki Titans and Calgary Wranglers (who have a remarkable eight rookies), it is noteworthy because they are really the two significant talents up front for the Vikings.  Maxwell has recorded thirteen goals and nineteen points while Ravenwing has fourteen assists and seventeen points.  Neither player has probably produced at the level they would like to, but their GM is looking forward to see how they develop.  “To me they are two of the best young players we have in the Victory Hockey League.  This year will be difficult for them due to our rebuild, but I see them persevering and helping others out as we continue to develop our roster.  We have several prospects that we expect to make the jump next year, and these two will be looked at as leaders for them.”  No other player on the Vikings has recorded more than four goals or eight points, so these two really are the life and blood of their offense.


 
0.5 – Sven Wolf is one of the top young rookies in the Victory Hockey League, but has unfortunately also been one of the most disappointing ones in his first season.  Wolf, who is a season fifty prospect, was expected to fill a good role on the Bears and try and benefit from having more developed players like AK47 and Podarok helping him along.  Unfortunately, Sven has recorded just two goals and twelve points in this young season.  While these aren’t awful numbers for a rookie, Wolf was expected to at least hit the 40-50 point mark.  Instead, there are questions about him even cracking thirty, which is concerning.  We believe that Wolf will pick it up and finish in the forty point range, but he needs to get it going to have the rookie season he expects from himself.

Yeah I'm going to do some tinkering here I think...at least with strategies.  4 goals in our last 7 games is terrible even if we were made up of CPU only..

So glad we traded out of S51...that draft is pathetic.
 
 

You will Reuel the day New York!

Congrats, when you do it again I will be there.

I'm Blackout Skin fo-fo-fo-fo LIFE

Not a fan.  Already switched back to Blackout.

Not a fan.  Already switched back to Blackout.

I liked the old VHL look better. Maybe because my soul is dark and full of terrors. But yeah, dark looked better imo

This season is upon us and it is time to look at one team, one skater and one goaltender who are off to tremendous starts to their season.


 
27 - Francis York Morgan is setting a historical pace through the first twelve games of this young season.  The defenseman (yes, believe it or not) has recorded an absolutely ridiculous ten goals and seventeen assists through twelve games.  Additionally, he has twenty-four hits and eighteen blocked shots, and he is doing all of this on a very good HC Davos Dynamo squad.  Those statistics put him fourth in goals, first in assists and first in points among all VHL skaters.  His pace would see him record sixty goals, one-hundred and two assists, one-hundred and forty-four hits and one-hundred and eight blocked shots.  Those offensive statistics would essentially signify that Francis York Morgan has had the greatest offensive season from any defender of all-time.  Will this likely continue to be the case? No, I cannot see it.  Morgan is a fine defender but his pace is not one that he can keep up.  What has likely helped contribute to this great start is playing ten games versus New York, Riga and Calgary.  Three teams who don’t have deep rosters and are not significant threats.  I expect Morgan will be a threat for the Sterling Labatte Trophy, but even then, I could see others catch up once they face some of the weaker teams in the league.


 
9 - Speaking of unexpected starts to the season, the Helsinki Titans are currently off to a tremendous start to their campaign.  They currently hold a record of 9-3-0 and have won against teams including the Seattle Bears, Cologne Express and the Quebec City Meute.  Kendrick Cole has really led the way for the Titans with seventeen points and rookies Thor Odinsson and Shayne Gow have been right there with him, recording sixteen and fourteen respectively.  This is another case where I don’t necessarily see them keeping this pace up.  The Titans are certainly on the rise, but they are not exactly a contender and I definitely think that Cologne, Davos and possibly even Riga will find themselves above the Titans at the end of the season.


 
.938 – Speaking of reasons why Helsinki is having a great season…here might be the number one major factor.  Dmitri Dadonov is off to a blistering start to the year.  Dadonov currently sports a 9-3-0 record with a 2.05 GAA and .938 Save Percentage.  He also has two recorded shutouts, and he has done all this with a defense group that features a rookie and Theo Matsikas.  Neither are number one defenders, and frankly, neither are ideal number one pairing defenders.  Nevertheless, Dadonov has shut down opposing offenses unlike other goalies like Atticus Von Braxton IV and Ariel Weinstein who also both see lots of shots per game.  While this pace isn’t likely to keep up, and could easily drop with the Titans likely to drop, but he definitely could be among the better goaltenders when it comes to the statistical categories.  In fact, I see Dadonov being in the same statistical tier at the end of the year with Wingate, Zhumbayev, the Clegane’s and Weinstein. 

Just draft me advantage, we all know how that turned out last time

Well then it's a no brainer. Plus advantage has a goalie, you have a forward and that's makes me need to be a dman. Two cups incoming 

If all of our prospects (except Pavlik) are VHL-ready next season, we'll have:
 
C Essian Ravenwing
RW Diana Maxwell
LW Jack Kraken
D Nikki Kissanen
D Elijah Dotran
D Misha Tobolsk
G Atticus Von Braxton IV
 
 
Considering six of us will still be on our rookie contracts, we'll have plenty of cap room to add players if we can find any. Probably enough room to actually have a 6/4/1 roster if we can get them to the team. There are actually quite a few good potential free agents next season:
 
C Unassisted (QUE)
D Jeff Hamilton (QUE)
RW Tyson Kohler (COL)
LW Zach Parechkin (TOR)
D World B. Free (TOR)
RW LeAndre St. Pierre (TOR)
D Black Velvet (TOR)
RW Shawn Muller (DAV)
C Sir William Covington III (DAV)
 
 
Obviously we have a bit of a ways to go before we know for sure who will actually be available. I do think that for those who do become free agents, we could be an attractive destination for some of these guys. Plus, it's written in the VHL script that we win in S51; Vasteras won in S1, and not again until S26. S51 is the next scheduled Continental Cup for this team. Somehow it'll happen. It has to.

Anyone that wants to make me a sig should do it. Claude Giroux or Shayne Gostisbehere would be cool options but it's not required!
 
Also, I'll be offline until Tuesday or Wednesday most likely. Going to the middle of southern Missouri (aka nowhere) to go on a float trip with some friends, which should be interesting. I'm about to update my player with all my offseason TPE though, not that anyone cares because I'm tearing it up in the VHLM (hopefully, I haven't looked ).

I figure that's how a lot of the season will go will be you two doing great but probably not winning.

@Advantage not sure if I really like this one, don't feel like ya have to wear it if you're not a fan!
 

Also congrats to our S50 Captains @gorlab @Mr. Power and @.sniffuM!
 
 

Nope you are correct @jack
 
We are doing the other S51 1st for a S53 2nd in off-season @der meister

Part 1 done..time to try and add some guys and spend to the cap so we aren't awful lol.

DELETE THIS

Toast said he'd be fine with S52 1st and S53 2nd for the two 1sts.
 
Given S53 will also have 10 players...and that is the S44 draft crop..that sounds pretty damn good.

I am gonna keep trying to squeeze some out of Toast.
 
Just offered the 2 1sts for a S52 1st, S52 3rd and S53 2nd

I will! Just updated, too.