Wolves vs. Bears series preview

[VattghernCZ 970]

 

The pack from Vancouver has clawed their way to the top early and managed to hold onto it throughout the season without chipping a fang, finishing with Victory Cup winning record. While Vancouver players were licking their wounds, Seattle's pawth to the postseason lead through the Chicago territory. They showed their thick fur and wrestled Chicago into submission in 5 games.

I'll stop with the puns, I promise. It's becoming unbearable.

Seattle made some major trade deadline acquisitions, and with a strong finish to the season it will be interesting to see how will they compare with championship caliber Vancouver roster. Let's briefly compare these teams in different areas of the game.

Goaltending

While Dusty Wilson has been very reliable tending the Bears' goal for the last 4 seasons, Brandt Fuhr on the opposite side is one of the elite goaltenders in the league. Their career save percentage might be close, but this season Fuhr has clearly been playing better with .931 SV% compared do Wilson's still great .921 SV%. But the biggest difference between them is in the postseason, where unlike Fuhr, Wilson doesn't have a great track record of providing game-breaking performance. Despide being hot in the recent wild card games. My money is on Fuhr to be the better netminder in this series.

Defense

Despite only having 3 defensemen on their roster, the Bears are the team with fewest shots against (2408, 33.4 per game). Well, they had 4 defensemen for a bit before switching Tavish DeGroot to play forward. The fact they have also logged the fewest blocked shots of any team (671, 9.3 per game) on top of that is a clear indication their defence is based on puck possession and not allowing the opposition to get to shooting position. Ryuji Sakamoto, Alessandro Nano and rookie Elias Lampi are all defenders who pride themselves in their puck moving ability. Sakamoto is one of the best skaters in the league lethal in transition, and Nano has fantastic vision and decision making making him a proficient powerplay quarterback.

Vancouver doesn't look too shabby defensively either. They're a top-5 team in shots against (2496, 34.7 per game) with middle of the pack shots blocked (744, 10.3 per game). They're allowing the opponents to get more looks on the net, but the difference is small enough for thwir slightly superior goaltending to neutralize. The clear cut no.1 player on the Wolves' blue line is their captain Pierre Emile Bouchard, the author of last season's Continental Cup winning goal and arguably the best all-round blueliner of this series. He shares the ice with Tater Tottingham, a young offensively talented defender whom the Wolves acquired before the deadline to round out their defensive core. Their second pairing consists of Jimmy MacElroy and rookie Jens Lekman, two shutdown defenders who bring quite some physicality.

Offense

The Wolves are one of the more actively ahooting teams in the league, testing the opposing goalies' attention 2929 times (40.7 shots per game). What's remarkable is their ability to get to more dangerous areas, leading to them being the highest scoring team with 250 goals (3.47 per game) despite being outside the top 3 in shot volume. That's impressive efficiency. The leading goals and points scorer is Nezuko, an undersized winger who's been signed in free agency to try to replace Alexandre Leduc's production - succesfully I'd say. Centering their first line is Dogwood Maple, a dynamic up-and-coming forward with high-end offensive IQ. On his wings are Svatopluk Puk, a fantastic playmaker from Slovakia, and Henry Eagles, another youngster with great size and big shot. Second line of Nezuko and rookie undersized two-way forward Wann Kerr, who started his VHL career with 20-goal season, is centered by veteran Swiss Army Knife forward Sergey Preobrazhensky, an experienced leader who I believe can be a difference maker in the postseason. Many of the Wolves' players have set new career highs this season, and every forward apart from Wann Kerr scored over a point per game.

The Bears' offensive stats are a bit misleading. They were not great offensively to start off the season, but thanks to their additions before the trade deadline, they are arguably the most improved team. Overall, they've generated below-average 2330 shots on goal (32.4 per game) and scored below-average 179 goals (2.49 per game), actually making their goal differential negative (-28) - given how great their defensive game has been, it only accentuate how much they struggled offensively early on. Leading the team in goals and points is Vasile Lamb, a high scoring power forward acquired from DC Dragons. The top scoring forward who spent the whole season with the Bears is brother Hulk Hogan 2, a tough SOB centering the first line, who's steadily been one of the elite well rounded players for what seems to be forever. On his wings are Yaroslav Bogatyrev, a towering 2nd-year player with strong fundamentals and superstar potential who's been struggling to find his game so far, and Tavish DeGroot, a star two-way defenseman acquired from Riga who's been tasked to switch position and provide some spark to the anemic Seattle offense. Playing with Vasile Lamb on thr second line are one of the top S87 rookies Randy Bobandy, and Chip Stone, a creative dangler that's fun to watch. Rookie passer Left Alone takes Stone's spot during Lamb's line sevond rotations. While 5 Wolves' corwards scored over 72 points, only 2 Bears' forwards managed to reach the point-per-game plateau - Vasile Lamb and Tavish DeGroot, both players who started the season on other teams.

Special teams

Combined, the Wolves are a bit better team in man advantage situation. Their powerplay is league leading at 20.76% conversion rate, but their penalty kill is below average at 80.28% success.

For Seattle, special teams are nothing to write home about. Both their powerplay (17.42%) and penalty kill (81.16%) are slightly below league average. The powerplay results are probably not surprising to anyone, but considering how stout their defense is, the lack of penalty kill success is unexpected.

Final thoughts

My player is in Vancouver, so I might be biased, but I can't see the a little bit stingier Seattle defense overcoming the massive advantage in firepower Vancouver has. I think it will be a bit closer than the standings would suggest, maybe taking 6 games, but I believe the Wolves will show why they're the favorites entering the series.

Spoiler

Word count: 1000+

Mentioned players: @AJW@DoktorFunk@Hogan@okochastar@rory @dlamb@Bojovnik@leafsman@Pifferfish@der meister@dustywilson22 @Otaznik@Baozi@dogwoodmaple@Greg_Di@Bulduray_1@Xflexz@Trunkxolotl@Bobcat@Gaikoku-hito

 

[AJW 2,156]

Good luck this series!!

[Gaikoku-hito 2,070]

1 hour ago, VattghernCZ said:

I believe the Wolves will show why they're the favorites entering the series.

Nah, We are not favorites as everyone is expecting an upset as the Bears loaded up at the deadline and are a much better team. They are  favored in the series even though they are coming in as the wildcard; much like we were last season as we entered the play-offs hot and went onto win the cup.

 

Few hours and we will see what happens.

[der meister 3,182]

I picked the Wolves to sweep Seattle

[dustywilson22 133]

I'm a be petty. Dusty's track record has exceeded expectations eh? @VattghernCZ

[VattghernCZ 970]

4 hours ago, dustywilson22 said:

I'm a be petty. Dusty's track record has exceeded expectations eh? @VattghernCZ

 

This whole thing aged like milk

[Banackock 8,040]

3 hours ago, VattghernCZ said:

 

This whole thing aged like milk

What kind of milk?   

[VattghernCZ 970]

23 minutes ago, Banackock said:

What kind of milk?   

Stop! I'm already dead!

[Daniel Janser 2,159]

2 hours ago, Banackock said:

What kind of milk?   

Bearmilk?

 

[VattghernCZ 970]

Claim 2/2 for week ending 3/19