S78 Season Preview: European Conference

[tcookie 927]

Around the VHL - Season 78 Preview Edition - May 20th, 2021

 

In S77, the Warsaw Predators captured the European Conference title and were joined in the top-3 of the overall VHL standings by the Helsinki Titans and London United. Eventually, Helsinki would make it through to the finals before falling to Seattle.

 

It was an off-season of relatively little change in the EU, at least compared to the previous season that had seen teams like Riga, London, and Prague all make big moves to try to vault to contender status while Moscow and Malmo had fire sales of sorts. Only London looks significantly different in terms of the team’s core compared to last season.

 

Today we take a look at the EU Conference teams heading into S78 and their biggest off-season changes, in predicted order of finish.

 

1st - 
Forwards: 771.6 (2nd) // Defense: 640.4 (1st) // Goalie: 586.0 (8th) // Grade: 696.9 (1st)

 

Key Addition: RW Gregg Stallion
The Predators’ biggest splashes in the off-season were cap-related selling moves, but in signing Stallion as a Free Agent, they added a talented scorer who has spent his entire career to this point in Vancouver, coming off a career-high 40-goal, 92-point season. Stallion will be more of a depth player than he usually was in Vancouver this season, but is a nice add to the Warsaw forward group.

 

Key Deletion: D Latrell Mitchell
It was obviously difficult for Warsaw to move Mitchell, who has spent the past 3.5 seasons with the team and became one of the league’s best defensemen. The salary cap necessitated a move and he was sent to New York in exchange for Kaladin Kvothe, 1st, and 3rd round picks as well as an option to swap 2nds in S80. Mitchell will be sorely missed, though the Predators still have a very good blueline.

 

Overview
Warsaw posted the league’s best regular season record last year, and also had the league’s best offense with a league-high 291 goals. With a very similar looking team to last season, there isn’t much reason to think they can’t do something similar this year. Led by Aloe Dear and Dakota Lamb up front, Victor Grachev and Chris Hylands on defense, the Predators have one of the best groups of both forwards and defensemen in the EU. Ajay Krishna has been great the past three seasons, but will need to stave off depreciation this year. That’s their one possible weak spot, but Warsaw will be one of the best teams in the EU again this year.

 

2nd - 
Forwards: 787.3 (1st) // Defense: 557.0 (5th) // Goalie: 699.0 (4th) // Grade: 695.8 (3rd)

 

Key Addition: G Jacob Carson
Carson is only the backup goalie, but there’s not much choice here as the only new face on the pro roster. Carson has actually posted very good numbers over two seasons as a backup with Warsaw, with a career 9-7-2 record and 0.930 SV%.

 

Key Deletion: RW Xavier leFlamant
leFlamant left DC for a year to come to Prague, but after one season in the EU he went back to DC as a Free Agent this off-season. His one year overseas resulted in a bit of a drop-off in production from what he had been putting up in DC, but still a respectable 61 points. Prague does have a very deep forward group, so we’ll see what Robert Bouchard and Dan Baillie can do with the increased opportunity.

 

Overview
They’re a good all-around team, with arguably the best forward unit in the league led by Thomas Landry II and his 200 points over the past 2 seasons. It’s the final season for both Landry and Jim Bob, so Prague will be looking to send them out on top, and they’ve got the lineup to contend. Defensively, they could use one more top pairing defenseman but they do have a deep group there too and Grekkark Gyrfalcon has proven to be a star netminder since arriving in trade from Malmo in S76.

 

3rd -
Forwards: 656.7 (5th) // Defense: 615.4 (2nd) // Goalie: 975.0 (1st) // Grade: 696.0 (2nd)

 

Key Addition: D Micah Adrienne
London saw plenty of big names coming in and out over the past season, and this could easily be General Zod, as well. But Erik Killinger won awards last season, so as the piece coming back in the biggest magnitude trade, Adrienne will be the addition under the biggest magnifying glass. The former 3rd overall pick has been a good-to-great defenseman so far in his VHL career, now London will hope he can take it to yet another level.

 

Key Deletion: D Erik Killinger
The United also lost future Hall of Famer Mikko Lahtinen to retirement and D Kasper Kankkunen in a trade. None of those are fun losses, but the biggest immediate impact will be felt in the loss of the defending Wylde and Labatte Trophy winner, Killinger, who had 86 points, 177 hits, and 182 blocked shots last season.

 

Overview
They lack the elite forward group of Warsaw and Prague, but still have solid talent throughout the lineup with Julian Nousianen, The Terrible Trivium, Kevin King, and Alec Volchenkov. They’ve also got one of the best goalies in the league in Jacob Tonn, a former Shaw Trophy winner. London finished second in the EU with a 45-24-3 record, and despite changes and big losses, they have come out of it in pretty decent shape and figure to be among the European Conference contenders again.

 

4th - 
Forwards: 681.5 (4th) // Defense: 568.9 (4th) // Goalie: 829.0 (2nd) // Grade: 668.6 (4th)

 

Key Addition: D Jan Hlozek
The 8th overall pick in S77 moves up to the VHL this season and may be expected to step right into a top-4 role on a team with serious playoff aspirations. Hlozek posted 63 points in 72 games with Miami last season and while he might have expected more, he is a very highly regarded youngster who Riga is happy to have in the lineup this year.

 

Key Deletion: C Ray Sheilds
Sheilds rode off into the sun a year earlier than some thought, probably partially due to a disappointing S77 campaign in Riga where he only put up 62 points and the team failed to live up to expectations. Prior to that, Shields had reeled off four straight 85+ point seasons. Sheilds was a true star, and someone that Riga will have trouble replacing.

 

Overview
Eager to get last season’s mess behind them, Riga kept together their S75 draft core and have built a good roster once again. It will be up to them to live up to it on paper this time. They have a smaller roster this season than the past two, so there will be more opportunity for players like Justin Lose, Addison McLaren, Cabe McJake, and Isau DaMoose - the Reign are counting on a couple of breakout seasons there. Defensively, they’re similar to Prague with a deep group, just no true superstar, while Calvin Harvey has the talent to be one of the league’s better goalies if he can rebound from a tough S77.

 

5th -
Forwards: 721.7 (3rd) // Defense: 475.4 (7th) // Goalie: 735.0 (3rd) // Grade: 641.8 (5th)

 

Key Addition: D Mikael Keef
Keef joins the team as a Free Agent signing after spending four years with the Los Angeles Stars. Last year was his best, as he had 58 points, 185 hits, and 179 blocked shots (also finishing with a positive +/- rating for the first time). With James Rose and Emi Rune outbound, Keef will need to be a contributor.

 

Key Deletion: C Venus Thightrap
Of the players the Titans lost, the biggest challenge will be replacing Thightrap’s 41 goals and 93 points. There’s a good forward group here nonetheless, but 90 point players don’t grow on trees.

 

Overview
Having developed a reputation as perennial contenders, this year brings some challenges for Helsinki losing Thightrap, Rose, and Rune. That’s a big bite out of a lineup with not much help coming in to replace them, but they’ve still got a very good group of forwards. Valtteri Vaakanainen has consistently been a big-time scorer and will have to lead the way again. We all know what Zamboni Driver can do in net, too, but it will be a matter of how well the defense can hold up especially with the big losses.

 

6th - 
Forwards: 476.1 (8th) // Defense: 590.1 (3rd) // Goalie: 670.0 (5th) // Grade: 546.4 (6th)

 

Key Addition: C Luc Tessier
They also added Rocket, who’s the better player in the immediate future, but this is a rebuilding squad and Tessier, the 4th overall pick in S78, is going to be a huge piece of the team going forward. Coming off a 78 point VHLM campaign, there will be plenty of minutes for him as a rookie in Davos this year.

 

Key Deletion: RW Vlad Imir
There were quite a few faces heading out of Davos in the off-season, though none played particularly huge roles. Imir had spent the previous 3 years with the team, with a career high 17 goals and 37 points coming in S77.

 

Overview
Davos seem to always be rebuilding, and here they are again. It’s not all bleak for their future, though, as they have two elite building blocks in Taro Tsujimoto up front (92 points last season) and Reylynn Reinhart on the blueline (S77 2nd overall pick who had 48 points in her rookie season). They’re adding Tessier and David Tavau, two highly regarded prospects from the S78 draft, and Kunibuni UnGuri is developing as a #1 netminder. There is hope for the future with this team, but it’s unlikely this will be the season they get back to the playoffs.

 

7th - 
Forwards: 488.5 (7th) // Defense: 492.9 (6th) // Goalie: 654.0 (6th) // Grade: 517.5 (7th)

 

Key Addition: LW Muffbeav
Muffbeav instantly becomes the best forward in the Malmo lineup and still has four years left in his VHL career. He’s actually spent most of his career to date as a defenseman, but moving up front will give him a chance to make the most of that 6’5, 215 frame in front of the net. With 71 points last season, Malmo hopes they’ve added a point-per-game or better forward here.

 

Key Deletion: RW Gino DiGiannantonio
For Malmo, the real big deletions came at last season’s trade deadline, so DiGiannantonio’s 35 points is the only real asset of consequence that moved on in the summer.  The loss opens up playing time for Druss Deathwalker, who only had 17 points in his rookie season but had a whopping 317 hits.

 

Overview
Malmo snuck into the playoffs last season despite rebuilding and trading some big names at the trade deadline, so it’s entirely possible they pull off something similar again this year, but on paper they seem to lack enough depth to contend for that 5th spot. This is especially the case if Riga plays more to expectations this time around. Talented youngsters like Brendan Telker and Deathwalker will get the best opportunity of their young careers while Artem Tretiak looks to continue to grow in the starter’s role.

 
8th -
Forwards: 495.7 (6th) // Defense: 348.0 (8th) // Goalie: 610.0 (7th) // Grade: 465.5 (8th)

 

Key Addition: D Hard Markinson
The Menace have plenty of young stars up front, including Duncan Idaho, Paul Atreides, Philip Stein, and The Seabasstard. It’s the blueline that needed addressing, and #2 overall pick Hard Markinson figures to be the main piece in the effort to shore that up. Markinson played on the loaded Mississauga team last year and managed to put up 63 points and 198 hits.

 

Key Deletion: C Chad Magnum
Chad Magnum retired after a solid eight-year VHL career last season, though only the last 27 games of that were spent with Moscow. In 576 games he put up 187 goals, 452 points, and 2542 hits. A grizzled veteran with grit is always welcomed for a rebuilding team, but truthfully, the Menace didn’t have too much in the way of consequential off-season losses.

 

Overview
They’ve got a massive roster that might make playing difficult to find for some players, and they are clearly rebuilding. Relative to the rest of the division, they’re near the bottom in all three position groups. That’s primarily due to inexperience, though, as there are a host of very talented youngsters on this squad. Among the rebuilding squads in the EU, this may be the team set up best for the future with the amount of young talent they have. While they are unlikely to be a factor in the standings this season, it won’t be long.

 

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The ratings here are weighted averages of the top-6 F, top-4 D and starting goalie.

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[McWolf 3,116]

1 hour ago, tcookie said:

Key Deletion: D Erik Killinger

Adrienne and Zod replace Killinger and Kankkunen perfectly, in my opinion. Biggest loss is Lahtinen, with no one brought in to immediately cover his spot. Dude is getting there though.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Jim Bob is an addition, we did not have him last season

[Dom 1,445]

How is Warsaw first in goalie ranking? The goalie position is their weakness for this season imo

[tcookie 927]

 

5 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

Jim Bob is an addition, we did not have him last season

 

Oh good call... missed that one somehow

 

3 hours ago, Domg5 said:

How is Warsaw first in goalie ranking? The goalie position is their weakness for this season imo

 

They're 8th

[Dom 1,445]

Just now, tcookie said:

 

 

Oh good call... missed that one somehow

 

 

They're 8th

Oh my bad, I looked at the defense ranking. Great article by the way

[ThePerfectNut 563]

Excited for the NA

[Bobo 514]

1 hour ago, Jtv123 said:

Excited for the NA