VHL Season Predictions

[badcolethetitan 898]

VHL Season Predictions

 

NA Conference

 

Towards the Bottom: 

 

The bottom three teams in NA seem pretty self explanatory, with these teams in no specific order, just bottom three. LA is currently going through a rebuild, and should see themselves towards the bottom as they continue to load up on young prospects that will eventually lead them to the top of NA. They've got a great prospect pool and for sure a lot of potential in the future, however, as of right now, they aren't going to be very good. The team doesn't have a single player above 700 TPA and they're going to struggle overall. They'll for sure be better than last season, but should still be towards the bottom. Next we have the D.C Dragons, who with an aging core, decided to start their rebuild. They've got some very good young pieces, especially Allard, however, the rebuild has just started and it's going to take some team. They might actually end up being better than LA, but I think LA and DC will be the bottom two teams, with Calgary being just slightly better. The last team here is the Calgary Wranglers, who are in my eyes, slightly better than LA and DC. However, this team is still lacking in some areas, especially after a brutal last season failing to reach the post-season. They've decided to go for a short retool and have some great young pieces that can propel them into the playoffs as soon as next season if done right. However, at this point, I don't see them making too much noise, but out of the three teams here, they have the best chance to surprise and potentially make it into the playoffs.

Wildcard Teams:  

Up next, we have the wildcard teams, which I suspect to be the Chicago Phoenix and the Vancouver Wolves. Both of these teams had busy off-seasons, adding lots of players to help balance their young core, and they're better than the bottom three, but still not good enough to crack the top three. Starting with Chicago, they've got a great young core moving forward and will only continue to improve. Chicago is the team that basically is bridging the gap between the bottom 3 and the rest of the league, as I feel like they are decent, but not up to standards yet with the top tier talent in this league. They are about one more season away from being able to start being able to compete with the best. On the other hand, Vancouver has loaded up this off-season and seem poised to potentially make a run in the post-season. They are as strong as the other three teams, however, I've got them in fourth heading into the season. With very little holes in their lineup, they should make it out of the wildcard matchup against Chicago and give some of the playoff teams a run for their money.

Contenders:   

 

The last category, we have the contenders. I think any three of these teams, and even Vancouver potentially with a lower chance, could make a run and win the cup. Coming in third, I have the Seattle Bears. Instead of going for the rebuild, they decided to speed it up and make a bunch of trades that found themselves going extremely far in the playoffs last season to the finals. This season, they're back and they look like they could potentially do the same. They've got great depth and some fantastic star players and a decent goalie. This team has everything they need to make a run and it's hard to justify getting better than they already are. In second, I have the New York Americans who despite missing a forward currently, should be able to find a way to fill the void, or could just run with five forwards. I'm assuming they're going to fill the void, otherwise I would have them in third, or even potentially fourth. Regardless, NYA is a blend of old veterans with up and coming talent and they should be contending for a championship at this point. Last, in first, I have the Toronto Legion. Toronto is stacked upfront, with multiple players above 1000+ TPA, but with the expense of depth. They probably will have the best first line in their entire league, but will struggle on their second line and with depth. However, I think the first line will prove too much to handle and they'll be able to finish first and potentially winning another cup with their core.

 

EU Conference

 

Towards the Bottom:   
 

Starting at the bottom of EU, we have Prague, Helsinki, and Davos. A lot like NA, Prague and Helsinki should be the two worst teams heading into the season. Starting with Prague, they look like they could be battling it out with LA and DC for the worst team in the league, as they're coming out of a window where they were competing, starting the rebuild. There's not much to say, as they're going to need multiple seasons until they start competing, but they've got young players that will eventually be able to help them out in the future. Moving on to Helsinki, they are slightly better than Prague, but they've got a lot of young players that will start being able to make an impact in a season or two. They're still a bit away from competing, however, they will start competing before Prague will. Up next is actually the first okay team in Davos. Davos on paper is okay, but they don't really have any crazy star players. They've got two decent players, but besides that, they don't have much depth. I would say this team is probably a season away before they start being able to crack the playoffs, but with the right sim luck they could slip into fifth and find themselves a post-season spot ahead of schedule.

 

Wildcard Teams:  
 

In the first wildcard, I have London. Even though I actually think they'll do better than Riga, I'm going to put them here just because of the fact they currently have two defenseman. Now, I believe they'll be able to at minimum get three defenseman, and maybe even a fourth. If they're able to do so, which I could easily see happening, they'll be higher up on this list and probably in the first wildcard spot. The gap between the bottom three and the rest of the teams are pretty big, so I don't really see London sliding backwards at all, especially with their lineup. Moving on to the first wildcard, I have Riga. Riga on paper isn't super crazy, but they've got a decent lineup overall. They are the definition of "above average", but not anything in the "good or great" category. They will be able to contend with teams around them, but against more complete rosters they'll unfortunately fall apart. I could also see London beating them out for the first wildcard and also in the matchup, but they should be a wildcard team unless something crazy happens.

Contenders:

 

The final category for EU and the article, the contenders. Starting off, I have the Warsaw Predators finishing in third place. Warsaw has a good forward core with many stars upfront, but their depth isn't the best. Defensively, they've actually got a pretty solid D core and they arguable have one of the best goalies in the league. They'll be able to contend towards the top and if the cards fall their way, they could find themselves making a deep run in the playoffs. All they really need is for STHS to pick their goalie to get hot and this team could find themselves as a championship team. In second place, I have Malmo. Malmo always seems to overperform and find themselves pretty high up in the standings, at least, for the regular season. In the playoffs, they fail to deliver as they don't have anything to show for it despite having good regular seasons. However, I believe that's just sim luck and they're due for a run in the playoffs this season. They've got a great forward and defensive core, with fantastic depth, however their goaltending isn't the strongest. Electing to go with a stronger team in front though could end up working for them as they'll be one of the most stacked teams heading into the season. They should be able to make a run for a championship this season if the cards fall in the right way. In first place in EU, I have the Moscow Menace. Moscow on paper is stacked with depth, with their worst player on forward being myself with ~730 TPE, even though I have like 60 banked. Defensively, they are lacking a bit as they don't have the best depth, but their forwards should be able to make up for it. They've also got a pretty solid goalie tandem who can steal games. Moscow should be eyeing down at minimum a conference final, but they can easily go win it all. They're praying the Spartan curse doesn't hit them and they can finally win it all.

 

Miscellaneous:

 

I hope you enjoyed reading the article. I didn't put too much analysis into it, but I was thinking later on in the season making a big article with a bunch of analysis. I don't know how much people like seeing a bunch of data, but an older article I made seemed to do pretty well and I might revisit the article now and see how teams are doing. I could also wait a couple more seasons and see how that turned out, as it could be cool to see if I was actually right about teams, or if it was completely wrong! Regardless, thanks for reading and I'm going to be gone the 26th to the 1st as I'm going to the Dominican Republic.

 

1500+ words

[Banackock 7,989]

Enjoy the trip!!

[FrostBeard 2,046]

4 hours ago, badcolethetitan said:

Davos on paper is okay, but they don't really have any crazy star players.

WAAAAAGH, PUNY HUMAN NO UNDERTAND WHAT 'E SAYS! GRIMGOR DA BEST!

[Thunder 1,074]

9 hours ago, badcolethetitan said:

I'm going to be gone the 26th to the 1st as I'm going to the Dominican Republic.

 

Are you going to try to recruit any future VHLers?

[badcolethetitan 898]

7 hours ago, Thunder said:

Are you going to try to recruit any future VHLers?

 

Yep you already know. I'll wear a shirt that says "vhlforum.com"

 

 

[BOOM 8,660]

What the hell? I was promised Cup glory this season. I'm sueing the Titans.