Pressure on Malmo to make the playoffs next season

[scoop 3,447]

The Malmo Nighthawks improved upon their Season 88 performance to finish just eight points shy of a playoff berth this season. While they did not come into the season with expectations of making the playoffs, toward the end of the season that it looked like a possibility. They had a relatively easy schedule down the stretch, but they were unable to take advantage of the several games they had against the Helsinki Titans and London United, leaving them on the outside once again. There is not an immense amount of disappointment, given the expectations, and it is now time to start looking toward next season.

 

The Nighthawk franchise has now missed the playoffs in five of the last seven seasons; this is after having made the playoffs in 12 of their first 17 seasons. They have never missed the playoffs in three consecutive seasons, a fate that they will look to avoid next season. Given that the team has neither their first nor their second round pick in the Season 91 VHL Draft, there will be no consolation for missing the playoffs next year. If their pick were to be a lottery selection in what is shaping up to be a very good draft, it would make their trading of the pick look worse. That adds some extra pressure for the team to do well, especially since it is the rival Moscow Menace that hold their first round pick.

 

So, can Malmo at least make the playoffs next season? Most of their roster from this season will be returning, with the biggest potential loss being Malum Maellard, a trade deadline acquisition who has a player option for next season. They do have two forward slots on the roster that they will be looking to fill, and I would expect the team's top priority in the off-season to be targeting the best free agent forwards available. If the best they can do is replace Ivan Retoslav and Hasbullah Magomedov with similarly skilled players, could we expect a Malmo squad that is essentially last season's team to do any better? They will be a little bit older, and with little depreciation facing the team overall, but what will the rest of the conference look like?

 

For Malmo to make the playoffs, obviously they will need to be better than three other teams. The most obvious one is the Warsaw Predators. While the Nighthawks barely finished above them in the standings this season, the Predators only have one player signed for next season. Even if they were to re-sign the others on their roster, they are losing five players to retirement, and several others are depreciating heavily. While that is the only team that I can identify as definitely finishing outside of the playoffs, I do think Malmo can compete with several others. The HC Davos Dynamo are losing their two best forwards to retirement, and their next best two are being hit by heavy depreciation. The Moscow Menace, who wound up winning the Victory Cup, have a lot of players who are upcoming free agents, so it's hard to tell what will happen with them. London looks like they will mostly be the same team next year, so a similar race could ensue between the two teams. Helsinki finished as the worst team in the league last season, but with four total first round picks in the next two drafts, they have the assets to bolster their roster if they want to, so we can't say Malmo will for sure finish ahead of them. Warsaw, Davos, Helsinki, London, and Moscow. That's five teams that I could realistically see finishing below Malmo. At this point in time, if I had to guess, I would say that the three teams missing the playoffs in Europe next season are Warsaw, Davos, and Helsinki. Helsinki is the biggest question mark for me, and the fourth and fifth seeds could come down to a tight race between the Nighthawks, United, and Titans.

[Spartan 4,531]

Miss the playoffs please and thank you