VSN Presents: S85 VHL Update #1

[Alex 2,869]

@Moon

 

Hey Everyone, and welcome to the first S85 VHL Preview! This season should be an interesting one with every team in the North American Conference making a cup push, while the majority of teams in the European Conference are in a rebuild or on their way out of one. This season to remove any bias in placement discussion, projected standings were decided by using the average TPE of players by position (assuming a 6-4-1 roster), in the rare event a team has more than 6 forwards the total TPE was divided by the number of forwards. If a team has less than a 6-4-1 lineup the total positional TPE was still divided by 6, or 4 to account for bot use. This season should continue to be a wild one! Best of luck everyone!

 

North American Conference

 

 SEATTLE BEARS #1 

 

VSN Projection: 6th

Forwards: 3rd

Defensemen: 5th

Goaltending: 7th

 

The Seattle Bears are in the middle of an incredible season, while they do only have 5 forwards, we can expect them to trade for another forward around the trade deadline as they have $1.5 mil in cap space. The main reason for their success this season has been the play of Sigard Petrenko @SlapshotBear who has 22 points and AJ Williams @AJW who sits at 12 goals in 17 games played.

 

 D.C. DRAGONS #2 

 

VSN Projection: 2nd
Forwards: 4th

Defensemen: 4th

Goaltending:3rd

 

D.C. has been off to an incredible start to this season and currently have a 11-4-0 record and a big part of that is offseason acquisition Nezuko @Baozi who currently has 26 points in 15 games, 13 of which are goals. Tui Sova @v.2 has continued their spectacular play and looks to finally dethrone Hard Markinson as the league’s top defensemen.

 

 CALGARY WRANGLERS #3 

 

VSN Projection: 4th

Forwards: 1st

Defensemen: 6th 

Goaltending: 5th

 

Calgary has taken another step forward this season and looks to be an early contender this season. Calgary’s success this season is directly related to their offense led by Luc Tessier @KC15, Leandro Goncalves @leandrofg, and Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser all of whom have over 20 points in 15 games.

 

 CHICAGO PHOENIX #4 

 

VSN Projection: 3rd

Forwards: 6th

Defensemen: 3rd

Goaltending: 2nd

 

Offense by committee has been a big thing this season in Chicago, led by Bo Johansson @Shindigs, Chicago’s offense is firing on all cylinders while having the least goals against in the league, in part due to the play of offseason acquisition Cole Pearce @N0HBDY.

 

 NEW YORK AMERICANS #5 

 

VSN Projection: 5th

Forwards: 5th

Defensemen: 2nd

Goaltending: 8th

 

The New York Americans look to be a fringe playoff team this season and the main thing holding them back is the lack of much offensive production with only 33 goals in 16 games. In contrast if New York makes the playoffs, we could potentially see Augustus Kennedy @InstantRockstar winning the MVP award as they currently have a 0.928 SV% and are without a doubt the main reason for New York’s success.

 

 VANCOUVER WOLVES #6 

 

VSN Projection: 1st

Forwards: 2nd

Defensemen: 1st

Goaltending: 4th

 

To say the start of the season has been disappointing in Vancouver would be a huge understatement. Of late they have started to turn it around and now sit with a 7-9-1 record. While it looks like Nico Pearce @Spartan has taken a step back from last season, 21 points in 17 games is a good place to start a run from and we could see them close in on the league leaders in the coming weeks.

 

 LOS ANGELES STARS #7 

 

VSN Projection: 8th

Forwards: 8th

Defensemen: 8th

Goaltending: 6th

 

For Los Angeles this season has turned into another rebuilding season which was expected from the start. The team has a young core with Art Vandelay @Gustav , Callum Murray @Berocka, and Scoish Velociraptor Maloish @youloser1337. Although Los Angeles does not have a first-round pick in the next two drafts, as a result of this we should expect the team to start to sell soon to recover assets.

 

 TORONTO LEGION #8 

 

VSN Projection: 7th

Forwards: 7th

Defensemen: 7th

Goaltending: 1st

 

Toronto is in a weird transition period right now with their young stars starting to pave their way, although with that being said this season has been a massive step back from what was expected as anyone would have picked Toronto to at least be competing for a playoff spot. Similarly to Los Angeles we should expect Toronto to be selling off some of their veteran players in the near future if this season isn’t turned around.

 

European Conference

 

 WARSAW PREDATORS #1 

 

VSN Projection: 3rd

Forwards: 1st

Defensemen: 3rd 

Goaltending: 4th

 

Warsaw has picked up this season right where they left off in the last one and has once again taken the league by storm. A big reason for this has been 3 players; Brendan Marner @MetalToday, Hari Singh Nalwa @Dil, and Wumbo @Fire Fletcher, all of whom have had spectacular individual seasons. In the short term I wouldn’t be surprised if we see Warsaw slow down a bit but it’s safe to say they’ll be in the top 3 all season.

 

 MOSCOW MENACE #2 

 

VSN Projection: 2nd

Forwards: 3rd

Defensemen: 1st

Goaltending: 3rd

 

Moscow has been a perennial favourite to win the cup in recent seasons having made it to the continental cup 4 times in the last 5 seasons and with that being said another Victory cup should be within reach this season for the juggernaut. 

 

 MALMO NIGHTHAWKS #3 

 

VSN Projection: 5th

Forwards: 5th

Defensemen: 5th

Goaltending: 6th

 

Malmo being in third in the EU this season would come as a surprise to most as the team looked as though they were in the midst of a rebuild. Although now Igor Molotov @Dom has put the team on his back this season and sits with 15 goals in 16 games played so far. Additionally the play of Max Torq @Steve has been a great addition to the team.

 

 HELSINKI TITANS #4 

 

VSN Projection: 6th

Forwards: 8th

Defensemen: 8th

Goaltending: 1st

 

Xavier Booberry @CowboyinAmerica. If you told anyone Helsinki would be in the a playoff spot this season after the offseason they had they would be shocked! The play of Booberry is the main reason for their success and if Helsinki hangs on to make the playoffs, Booberry could be the first unanimous MVP we have had in a while.

 

 LONDON UNITED #5 

 

VSN Projection: 4th

Forwards: 4th

Defensemen: 4th

Goaltending: 7th

 

Similarly to Malmo, London is having a surprising season in part due to Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 who has 26 points in 16 games played. We should expect to see London hang around the playoff spots for the foreseeable future given how close the conference is this season.

 

 HC DAVOS DYNAMO #6 

 

VSN Projection: 1st

Forwards: 2nd

Defensemen: 2nd

Goaltending: 2nd

 

It’s been a weird season in Davos where goalscoring just isn’t a thing even though the team has the 5th most shots in the league they have the 4th least goals for and the worst shooting percentage by a considerable margin. Given that shooting percentage is a stat that will eventually balance out for the most part, we should expect Davos to quickly climb the standings in the near future. After starting the season 1-6-0 Davos is back trending in the right direction and has gone 6-2-2 in their last 10 games.

 

 RIGA REIGN #7 

 

VSN Projection: 8th

Forwards: 7th

Defensemen: 7th

Goaltending: 8th

 

After seasons of playing second fiddle to Moscow Riga went full rebuild last offseason, but due to the play of rookie forward Phoebe Bridgers @GrittyIsKing who has 24 points in 17 games played and veteran goaltender Tobais Reinhart @Spaz who has a 0.919 SV% this season.

 

 PRAGUE PHANTOMS #8 

 

VSN Projection: 7th

Forwards: 6th

Defensemen: 6th

Goaltending: 5th

 

Prague is in the middle of their rebuild and do they ever look like they’ll be good in a few seasons with a solid young forward group and stellar goaltending, Prague could certainly be a team to watch in the near future. They are currently 7-8-0 and sit only 3 points back of the final playoff spot in the EU.

[Dil 1,744]

9 minutes ago, Alex said:

 HC DAVOS DYNAMO #6 

 

VSN Projection: 1st

no bias btw

[BOOM 8,401]

No wonder Voss beat you up in todays game.