more ramblings about some VHL teams

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Fucking flu. At least a medical leave from it.

 

 

TWO LOTTO PICKS WOOHOO

 

To my delight, Chicago did manage to avoid the choke and jumped over LA with their extra games. Which means I will get two lotto picks instead of one. I think this was a fair result. It was obvious LA was never ready for the playoff action and also Chicago did beat Seattle in wildcard series. With more offensive firepower the Stars can make it to the post season in the future. And according to my mind, up to 2 NA teams may go to the rebuild so making the big dance may even be easier than they've thought.

 

 

Dead end?

 

Speaking of which, Seattle is the first one. This lineup could do so much, but the late season form showed everything. They peaked early in the season and there was nowhere to go anymore. The 5 forward setup never helped the cause either. And now when 2 out of five forwards already announcing their retirement plus Ori/Godlander being potential free agents. Unless Bana manages to activate his ''fleece other GM's'' card, it makes more sense to blow it up. 5 firsts in the next two drafts plus bunch of second and thirds. The rebuild shouldn't be painfuly long in this case.

Now onto another one. Rather sad ending for Toronto who is about to face lots of problems this offseason. Having a frustrating season is one thing. The other one is not having a future at all. Most of their lineup consists of S81 or older player and pretty much everyone are either inactive or clickers. It is apparent that Matty and Doom alone aren't going to solve this problem. But it was Busser's abrupt retirement that put the final nail in their coffin. Now their offense have absolutely 0 future. Just oldies who are about to regress as well. Moreso, the defense which is...not so young anymore. You know what's even worse. NO ONE is a shooter, just whole lotta passing. I mean, maybe someone had to realize going with heavy pass first or 40/40 setup isn't going to help their cause at all? It's STHS for fucks sake, it has a hard boner on scoring builds. Been known since forever. Back to their future though. I don't think they have anything left. They do have their own first (so TOP 6 obviously) and it does make sense to try to get more assets for their older players. They can keep Sakamoto, he is fairly young and I sense he can survive the rebuild. Other ones can go imo. Anyways, only Doom will answer the question about the future. The only thing we can do is sit and watch their next moves.

 

 

15 minutes of fame is over?

 

Malmo lost their wildcard series to Davos. Honestly, this team is another interesting one to talk about. All of them trades and FA signings and all they got is wildcard series loss. But honestly, it's their future at forward position that makes me worry. Just look at their current lineup:

 

Bogdan Trunov - retiring

Donny Carter - retiring following next season

Jakub Brozik and Bob Chicoine - low TPE inactives

Noodles Marconi - young, but inactive

Cobalt Burns - young, not inactive, but not really being impressive at TPE earning. Both of them are second liners at best for now.

 

Side note: they managed to draft couple of members who were part of S74-75 Riga draft class. Matt Thunder, Ledge and Eynhallow. But wait, that's not over. Donny Carter was Riga draftee in S79 and was directly suggested to me by Ledge. You thought this was it? Their AGM Spaz just finished his goalie Tobias Reinhart, the lifer Riga goalie since S81.

 

Anyways, back to their forward core. This whole list leaves us to Igor Molotov, the only player with the good TPE earning rate. I think you get where I'm going with this. Only Molotov? NOT ENOUGH! Yes, they do have Adolfsen coming up next season. However, he is not exactly superstar level player and who knows if he will manage to reach that status in his career. So what's next? Molotov clearly needs a worthy help to make a good one two punch. And I think there might be some solutiuon to this....

 

 

No way out for Perry?

 

....because I really have no idea if Prague really need to hold on Perry Laperriere. Their rebuilding timeline clearly started later than Perry got drafted. In S84 to be exact. And while Kaleeb's player being a good player, but does it really makes sense for him to wait for Prague finally finishing rebuild right before he regresses? I think Acyd may be better off from getting more future or younger assets instead of holding onto a player who is already on prime contract.

So yeah, I'm not going to be really surprised if we're about to see the offseason deal between Prague and Malmo. The latter clearly need more offensive firepower which is not old as well. Seems a good fit to me.

 

 

I guess that'd really it. As of now, there is no other team that raises lots of questions. Though I do wonder how is defensive lineup of Moscow going to look like next season Markinson and Nylen gone and Remy is inactive plus on regression. AK is actually the only bright spot in their blue line lineup. Is he going to be ready to take the #1 D role or Spartan will have to find a way to bring an older Markinson type of a def? Stay tuned this offseason, what more can I say.

 

 

I need to reach that 1000 word count so let me make a quick prediction for the playoffs.

 

CGY vs CHI - Calgary in 6

VAN vs DC - Vancouver in 6

WAR vs DAV - Warsaw in 5

MOS vs LON - Moscow in 7

 

CGY vs VAN - Vancouver in 6

WAR vs MOS - Warsaw in 7

 

WAR vs VAN - Warsaw in 7

 

I'm out there being high on the defending champs. But hey having only 3 defs is better than only 5 forwards. Smart moment.

 

 

That's it and I'm out.

[frescoelmo 1,282]

3 hours ago, hedgehog337 said:

 ''fleece other GM's'' card

 

you mean pledgeship?

[hedgehog337 3,483]

w2