Rave Hopes to Stay, But Will Malmo Run It Back Again?

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Phillip Rave made his VHL debut with Malmo five seasons ago, and for his entire VHL career, all he’s known is winning - at least in the regular season. The Nighthawks haven’t had a season with fewer than 46 wins or 99 points since, and overall, they sport a record of 248-85-27 over those five seasons.

 

Yet, here we stand - with the VHL semifinals underway and the Nighthawks sitting at home, continuing a streak of post-season futility that is rather incredible, albeit for all the wrong reasons. The Nighthawks did manage to win a playoff series this season - a wildcard series win over a Warsaw team that compiled 57 points during the regular season. Despite carrying a points percentage of .726 since Rave’s first VHL game, Malmo’s playoff record is a confoundingly-abysmal 6-20 over those five seasons. 9 of those losses are in overtime, 13 are by one goal, and 19 are by two goals or less. Unfortunately for the Nighthawks, they all count the same. They’ve been close every single time for five straight seasons, but they’re all first-round exits.

 

It’s mainly for that reason that Rave enters the S97 off-season with a little bit of uncertainty over where he’ll be playing next season. Not of his own doing, necessarily - Rave has been consistent that Malmo is where he wants to be. “I’ve said it several times since I’ve got here and nothing’s changed,” he says. “I’ll be a Nighthawk as long as they’ll have me. But it’s gotta make sense for the team, so we’ll see what direction management wants to take this off-season. At some point in the next little while we’re going to sit down and have that conversation and hopefully everything will be resolved.”

 

Franchise defenseman Jacob Stone - who just so happens to be the franchise leader in assists, points, and shots blocked too - has played his last VHL game. A few other key pillars of the team over these last several seasons - Viktor Jensen, Savaisk Tzesar, Ronald Johnson MacWallace III - have just one season left in their careers. Tzesar, Rave, and Vlad Von Carstein are eligible to become Free Agents in the off-season. The opportunity is there for Malmo to go in whatever direction it wants - they certainly have a roster that can, once again, contend for an EU title and see what happens come playoff time. But they’re also approaching a window where it’s feasible to restart, especially given the playoff results that have plagued this core.

 

The Nighthawks did potentially telegraph their intentions at the trade deadline, when they intended to send a massive trade package including Von Carstein, the now-retired forward Isaac Mclflopper, and several draft picks sent to Toronto for a package centred around star forward Harry Callahan, a two-time 50-goal scorer, three-time 100-point scorer, signed through the end of next season. That would indicate a desire to keep the band together for at least one more kick at the can. But the trade ended up vetoed by the league as it would have put Malmo slightly over the salary cap, and it’s unclear how much things may have changed since then.

 

Coming off a career-best 48 goals and 108 points, Rave will surely be a coveted player for next season no matter what happens. It’s yet another pivotal off-season in Malmo, so stay tuned to see what direction the Nighthawks will choose to go in preparation for S97.