Alex 3,248 Posted May 7, 2023 Share Posted May 7, 2023 (edited) Hey everyone, with the Season 88 regular season coming to a close this week, and the playoff pictures starting to take place there is some key races that deserve a closer look. Today we will take a deep dive into the standings in each conference with special attention to the wildcard seeds. We will also be taking a look into the strength of each teams remaining schedule, by using the average number of points of the teams they play to close out the season. North American Conference: Most of the standings in the North American Conference have been stationary for some time now we could see some movement in the coming days. Below are our predictions for how the North American conference could finish the season, along with a potential MVP pick from each team. Team Projected Finish Record Strength of Schedule MVP Rank on Paper (based off of TPE) Seattle Bears 1st 40-16-7 69.3 – 10th Xavier Booberry @CowboyinAmerica 2nd (5th) Chicago Phoenix 2nd 38-18-6 71.7 – 3rd Ryan Vidot @Enorama 4th (9th) Calgary Wranglers 3rd 34-23-6 69.8 – 9th Landon Wolanin @jacobcarson877 1st (3rd) Vancouver Wolves 4th 30-25-8 71.1 – 6th Henry Eagles @Greg_Di 5th (12th) Los Angeles Stars 5th 33-26-4 75.1 – 1st Sirdsvaldis Miglaskems @FrostBeard 3rd (8th) New York Americans 6th 27-29-7 64.1 – 13th Augustus Kennedy @InstantRockstar 6th (13th) Toronto Legion 7th 18-36-8 71.4 – 5th Mac Atlas @v.2 7th (15th) D.C. Dragons 8th 16-40-6 64.7 – 12th Bubbles Utonium @fishy 8th (16th) The Race for 1st in the North American Conference is pretty tight right now with only 5 points separating Seattle and Chicago, however Chicago has a much more difficult schedule down the stretch and have 6 backup starts remaining. With that being said Seattle and Chicago do play each other twice down the stretch and if Chicago can take those 4 points it would greatly improve their chances. Additionally, we can essentially lock Calgary into the third seed as they are currently 4 points up on Los Angeles and 6 points up on Vancouver with an easier schedule and having completed all their backup starts. The wildcard race is where things get really interesting in the North American Conference as Los Angeles not only has the toughest schedule in the entire league, Los Angeles also has 5 backup starts left which should really hurt not only their chances at 3rd, but potentially their playoff chances if New York can go on a run. Although Vancouver currently sits in 5th, they should be reasonably safe and could potentially challenge for 3rd, but scheduling could present a slight issue there. Just on the outside looking in is New York, who are currently 7 points behind Vancouver and 9 behind Los Angeles with only 9 games remaining a piece. With that being said New York does have a slightly favourable schedule with 3 games against D.C. who is dealing with some pressure from Toronto for the number 1 lottery odds. There is a slight chance we could see New York end their playoff draught with a bit of luck. Key Games: Games 548, & 557 – Seattle vs. Chicago Games 529, 544, & 556 – Calgary vs. Vancouver Game 535 – Los Angeles vs. Vancouver European Conference The European wildcard race is just as exciting as it was last season, with all of Moscow, Helsinki, Riga, and Warsaw currently in a heated battle that should only get closer as the season comes to an end. Team Projected Finish Record Strength of Schedule MVP Rank on Paper (based off of TPE) Prague Phantoms 1st 43-15-3 70.9 (7th) Nico Pearce @Spartan 3rd (4th) HC Davos Dynamo 2nd 35-21-6 60.6 (15th) Jake Thunder @Thunder 2nd (2nd) London United 3rd 32-21-8 67.6 (11th) Igor Molotov @Dom 4th (6th) Moscow Menace 4th 33-25-4 71.5 (4th) Ronan Lavelle @Arce 1st (1st) Riga Reign 5th 31-27-5 60.8 (14th) The Frenchman @OrbitingDeath 6th (10th) Warsaw Predators 6th 29-26-6 69.8 (8th) Brendan Marner @MetalToday 5th (7th) Helsinki Titans 7th 32-27-4 74.8 (2nd) Nils Godlander @Moon 7th (11th) Malmo Nighthawks 8th 27-29-6 57.4 (16th) Boris Tsezar @comrade cat 8th(14th) In direct contrast to the North American Conference, the European Conference is a one horse race at the top as Prague currently has a 13 point lead over Davos with 1 game in hand. There is a slight chance that Davos could catch Prague with the two teams playing each other twice in the next couple of games, and Davos could potentially catch them thanks to schedule differences. But that would be extremely unlikely as 13 points is likely too much to overcome. Moscow’s challenge for 3rd is one that we could see develop in the coming days as Moscow currently trails London by only 2 points and although London does have a game in hand and a favourable schedule when compared directly to Moscow, Moscow is the top team in the VHL on paper and has been trending upwards quickly. Both Moscow and London should make the playoffs, it’s just a question of who will finish 3rd. If Helsinki can bounce back to their early season form we could see them pressure for 4th and/or 3rd as well. The final wildcard spot in the European Conference should be very tightly contested and features the biggest collapse and biggest comeback story of the season as both Helsinki and Riga have had vastly different seasons respectively as Helsinki appeared to be the top team in the EU early on, and Riga was last in the EU at the trade deadline. Currently the two teams are separated by only 1 point with 63 games played a piece. With that being said the two teams aren’t alone as Warsaw is right there 4 points back with 2 games in hand. The final wildcard spot in the conference is 100% up for grabs, and it should be a very exciting finish. Key Games: Games 501, & 506 – Prague vs. Davos Games 502, & 547 – Helsinki vs. Moscow Games 507, 513, 531, & 543 – Riga vs. Warsaw It should be an exciting end to the season, best of luck everyone! Edited May 7, 2023 by Alex MubbleFubbles, Pifferfish, vincentlg2007 and 7 others 7 3 Link to comment https://vhlforum.com/topic/135816-vsn-presents-s88-vhl-playoff-race/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
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