Cologne Express: A Crucial Examination

[Bulduray_1 274]

Cologne Express: A Crucial Examination
 

 

Cologne: As of right now, the Cologne Express has had amazing success so far. So far in season 81, the young and talented group sits third overall in the VHLE standings. They’ve topped out at 80 points for the season, beating their Season 80 record (75 points). Not only that, they are only 4 points out of the first overall spot in the VHLE. Cologne will be looking to push for the top spot after their holidays are over. But the real question here is, how did they end up in such a spot anyways? What did the GM @BarzalGoat and Players do to see such success in Cologne?

 

Season 80

 

When Season 80 came to a close, Cologne was in a really tough spot. They had just missed out on the playoffs and finished 5th overall in the league. Cologne had some amazing offensive production with the likes of Nathaniel Minion @Minion (46 G, 56 A, 102 P), Darth Kaprizov @Darth Kaprizov (40 G, 49 A, 89 P) and Gary Tarantino II @Garrett (19 G, 49 A, 68 P) leading the way for the young offense. Although their defense wasn’t elite, it could still get the job done with the physical Zeljko Ranogajec @ColeMrtz who racked up 311 hits and his linemate and Olof Samuelsson @Azlan, who is a defensive playmaker with 15 goals and 68 assists in total. 

 

When the Season 81 VHLE draft came, the management knew they had to push for the playoffs and maybe even for the title of the VHLE Cup. They tried to establish this by bringing in right-winger Maximus Decimus Meridius @Beaviss, who at the time was one of the top players on the draft board. The Express would be bringing in a small but fast kid, listed as 5’11 and 175 pounds with astonishing offensive capabilities. He was known to be an elite skater with an amazing shot when playing for the Yukon Rush. With 47 goals and 43 assists last year playing in the VHLM. Later in the draft, the Express then took a young forward in Alexandre Leduc @Alexandre. Leduc, a young Canadian who was a teammate with Decimus Meridius in Yukon had quickly risen up the draft rankings. Being an amazing goal scorer and a great puck handler, Alexandre Leduc checked off all the boxes for Cologne. Last year with Yukon, Leduc impressed many, with 35 goals and 55 assists. Scouts easily saw the offensive potential the young winger had and Cologne didn’t waste their time to bring in a generational forward to their system.
 

Season 81

 

When Season 81 came around, there were a lot of high expectations for Cologne going into the season. With a disappointing end to Season 80, the players and management of Cologne made sure to not repeat such failure this time around. A last-minute trade came in for the Express before the season started. This trade had Sting Chameleon @Hybrid1486, a defenseman who was known to be an amazing passer, racking up 77 assists last year with the Yukon Rush. Going to the Bratislava Watchmen for Centerman, Pippo Coca @pippo. Coca had shown last year in Season 80 that he could keep up with the big guys of the VHLE. Scoring 20 goals while picking up 54 assists with none other than the Watchmen. It’s safe to assume that Cologne hoped that Coca’s experience as a center would be a valuable asset to the team. 

 

As more games commenced, the Express, although doing margins better than last year, was still looking like a middle-of-the-pack team once again. This didn’t sit too well with the Cologne management, it was either go big or go home for them. No more in between. They addressed this issue and made sure to make a splash in the upcoming weeks…

The Cologne Express finalized a deal for the young rookie sensation in Sergey Preobrazhensky from the Geneva Rush, giving away Pippo Coca and a S82 Second-Round pick. Many VHLE fans were shocked and disappointed to see that Cologne was moving on from Pippo Cola. But we must put ourselves in the management’s shoes, Pippo Cola was clearly not getting it done in Cologne. The management had to act fast before the point of no return. Their replacement was Sergey Preobrazhensky, Sergey had much more offensive capabilities than Pippo. Being a significantly better puck handler with precision shooting accuracy, Sergey was the go-to replacement for Pippo Cola. One of the downsides to Sergey was that it was his first-ever season in the VHLE, the experience that Pippo Cola had was not there. But with Geneva, he was on fire, with 12 goals and 15 assists in just 24 games, he was just too good to pass up.

Sergey Preobrazhensky has done a masterful job after coming from that trade. Although having a slow start with the Express. Sergey seems to have found his footing with his new team, scoring 45 points with the team in 36 games. It’s safe to assume that this trade had done wonders for them, Preobrazhensky added a key part of the puzzle that Cologne was missing. A reliable Centerman. After this trade, this is when the Express saw a slight uptick in winning, and marking the beginning of an era in Cologne.

 

The Cologne Express weren’t done with their trades though, they still had one more thing up their sleeve. A little more than a week after their deal with Preobrazhensky. The Express decided they wanted more offensive firepower and brought in the Japanese, Arthur Kimura @FBR from the Vasteras Iron Eagles while giving Craig Martin @Craig and an S82 4th Round Pick in return. It was Craig Martin’s second season in the VHLE, last year Martin posted 29 goals with 40 goals. Although these stats are nothing mind-boggling. Martin showed that he was an efficient offensive forward for teams. But Arthur Kimura brought more to the table in the eyes of the management. Although last year was an offensively disappointing year for him with only 31 points in 72 games. Kimura already broke his point total with Vasteras this season, with 35 points in 48 games. With such a leap in progress for Kimura, there is no telling what the kid can do, which is one of the likely reasons why Cologne sought to bring in the young forward.
 

There is a very small sample size for Arthur Kimura, playing only 12 games with his new team. But with 4 goals and 6 assists totaling up to 10 points alongside Cologne, it’s safe to say that he’s fitting in well with the organization. The trade for Kimura seemed to be the last piece of the puzzle for Cologne. They’ve bolstered the offense to an elite status, which will very well be a problem for other teams defenses. 
 

So far, Cologne has made massive strides to achieve success this season. The Offense has been revamped with amazing young talent in Maximus Decimus, Leduc, Preobrazhensky and Kimura. My hat goes off to the management that saw the opportunity in this team, and made it one of the most feared teams in the VHLE this season. Watch out for the Cologne Express everyone, this team might just be the real deal…

1195 Words
Claiming: 12/26 and 1/02
 

Edited December 25, 2021 by Bulduray_1

[Darth Kaprizov 98]

Nice write up! Good luck on your playoff run.  Go Express Go!

[BarzalGoat 728]

GO EXPRESS GO

[Bulduray_1 274]

Claiming for this week