VSN Presents: S92 VHL Power Rankings (Week 1)

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VHL Power Rankings

 

This season along with the Prediction and weekly review I have decided to take a look at the power ranking of each team, this is outside the standing by looking at how the team is preforming in comparison to the whole league but taking the average of the standings, goals for and goals against to see where the teams stand outside of straight wins and losses. I think I will try to do this in reverse order starting at 16th to keep everyone having to guess who is number one, oh and I am running this weekly so hopefully we see a ton of movement and interest as it should be a good indicator of which team or teams are playing well at the moment. We see how this goes starting this week:

 

 

16th HC Davos Dynamo

Goals For: 16th

Goals Against: 16th

Standings: 16th

Score: 15.67

 

Not complete surprised that HC Davos ends up being in last on the current power ranking when they started the season 0-7, if I am correct. Goaltender Lachlan Summers has struggled to start the season with the team allowing 41 goals in 10 games. Add in the worse offense in the league and you find a team that isn`t going to win many games unless this turns around.

 

 

 

15th Warsaw Predators

Goals For: 13th

Goals Against: 15th

Standings: 15th

Score: 14.00

 

Both goals for and goals against at the bottom of the league is never a good size and usually means you are losing more games than expected. Similar to HC Davos goaltending has been an issue as Clueless Wallob just hasn`t been that good since coming over from Seattle but if he improves so should the teams rankings. It would be hard to see Warsaw staying at 15th for more than few weeks.

 

 

 

14th Seattle Bears

Goals For: 9th

Goals Against: 16th

Standings: 14th

Score: 13.00

 

Rebuilding Seattle Bears have shown that they can score goals but don`t have the ability out score than lack of defense and veteran back-up playing as starter in Justin Lion. The question here I guess would be can they keep scoring pace up for a full season as it is clearly boosting their power ranking this week.

 

 

 

13th   Vancouver Wolves

Goals For: 15th

Goals Against: 11th

Standings: 11th

Score: 12.33

 

Vancouver Wolves are being lead really in the power rankings by Rookie goaltender Dalkr Vidarsson and the fact that they have won more games than expected but with the lack of dragging this team down. It will be interesting to see where they stand next week if Dalkr Vidarsson play falls off or they find a bit more scoring touch.

 

 

 

12th  Toronto Legion

Goals For: 14th

Goals Against: 10th

Standings: 13th

Score: 12.33

 

Actually, tied with Vancouver Wolves so I am giving them the defending Continental Cup bump and have them slotted in 12th. Lack of scoring for a team that should be an offensive powerhouse is a bit concerning but they also had only five forward until the late signing of William Futch as they couldn`t come to agreement with Montgomery Burns and feel a sleep when waivers claims opened on the player as HC Davos and Vancouver placed claims. We will see how much having a full complements of forwards effects Toronto ability to score in the coming weeks.

 

 

 

11th  Riga Reign

Goals For: 8th

Goals Against: 13th

Standings: 12th

Score: 11.00

 

Young team that will improve as the season progresses; has shown ability to score but will need to learn a two-hundred-foot game if they are going to make run at the play-off this season and move up the power ranking board. Riga needs to protect Rookie Goaltender Red Panda until he becomes comfortable in the league.

 

 

 

 10th  D.C. Dragons

Goals For: 12th

Goals Against: 6th

Standings: 10th

Score: 9.33

 

The Dragons have been strong defensively this season but need more offense as a group as this was supposed to be one of the teams’ strengths entering the season. Defense was supposed to be a weakness. So if they can fit the scoring issues they should fly up the standing and the power rankings.

 

 

 

9th  Chicago Phoenix

Goals For: 11th

Goals Against: 4th

Standings: 9th

Score: 8.00

 

Playing a team game when it comes to defense has Chicago higher up the power ranking standings and based on past season this has become sort of the norm or identity of the team. Chicago needs away to find more goals if they are going to move up in the power rankings and few more wins wouldn`t hurt either.

 

 

 

8th  Moscow Menace

Goals For: 4th

Goals Against: 12th

Standings: 6th

Score: 7.33

 

Most likely the most improved team this season as the rebuild period starts to come to a close with more prospects making the jump to their roster this season and it has led to finding a nice scoring touch in the first week of the season but similar to the other rebuilding team; Riga, Moscow also needs to learn how to play team defense and to protect a rookie goaltender.

 

 

 

7th  Prague Phantoms

Goals For: 6th

Goals Against: 7th

Standings: 8th

Score: 7.00

 

For a team that should be at the top or near the top of the European Conference standing; it has been very mid for a team that is one of the most balanced teams in the league. Well, Prague should balance last week by being mid of all categories and find themselves middle of the power rankings. I expect this team to move up in the next few weeks or they could be outside of the play-off looking in again at the start of the play-offs.

 

 

 

6th  Calgary Wranglers

Goals For: 7th

Goals Against: 8th

Standings: 5th

Score: 6.67

 

Have they fixed the scoring issues? Well, early in the season it is improved but will it be enough for Calgary to be consider a true contender by the end of the season? It also seems that while they have improved the offense it has come at the cost of defense? Too many questions around this team but they should still easily make the play-offs, right?

 

 

 

5th  London United

Goals For: 10th

Goals Against: 1st

Standings: 7th

Score: 6.00

 

A team that is expected to be one of the strongest offensively and defensively, not to mention higher up the standings; it is a bit surprising to see the team struggle with scoring. Let me be clear it is secondary scoring as the big three are doing their jobs so far. If they can figure out the secondary scoring than they should become more United and move up the power rankings board.

 

 

 

4th  Malmo Nighthawks

Goals For: 3rd

Goals Against: 9th

Standings: 2nd  

Score: 4.67

 

For a team that is being led by two defenders in scoring means most likely that they are cheating towards the offensive side of the puck more often than they should be. Well, That seems to be the case in Malmo as they are currently struggling with team defense and need to find a way to play a full 200 foot game. If they can fix the defensive aspect of the game, they could be a scary team hunting down the prey.  

 

 

 

3rd  New York Americans

Goals For: 5th

Goals Against: 3rd

Standings: 4th  

Score: 4.00

 

Wow, What a turnaround for the Americans. Top five in the first week in all categories after missing the play-off last season is a huge turn around that I am not sure a ton of people seen coming. Not to mention the fact that the team is currently being led by a Rookie goaltender shows the commitment to playing team defense and scoring opportune goals. I guess the only question is can New York keep this going for the whole of the season?

 

 

 

2nd  Helsinki Titans

Goals For: 2nd

Goals Against: 5th

Standings: 3rd  

Score: 3.33

 

Any concerns of having an offensive drop off with having to replace retired Landon Wolanin has all but been put to bed by the strong play of Rookie Grimgor Ironhide. Only concern might be the fact that the team is leaning too much towards the offensive side rather than plying a solid two-way game. If they can improve their defensive then I can see them possible claiming the top spot next week.

 

 

 

1st Los Angeles Stars

Goals For: 1st

Goals Against: 2nd

Standings: 1st

Score: 1.33

 

Almost perfect week for the Los Angeles stars has them topping the power ranking after the first week and might be very hard to repeat next week but aren`t really showing any real weakness at the moment when defense was supposed to be a bit of concern but as team, they have managed to shut down most of that talk so far. And even if they do start to struggle defensively, they have shown early that they can also out score their defensive woes. I feeling we will see this team near the top in most weeks this season.

 

 

 

Like always concern and comment below what you think of this week’s Power ranking, anything that can be improved or anything you would like to see add in the future. Until next week keep your head up and sticks on the ice!!