Renomitsu's Articles

[Renomitsu 934]

This one's not done yet - will need to add in a little more formatting and pretty stuff in the coming 12 hours or so.

 

 

 

 

Settling In After the S45 Dispersal Draft – North America

 

The completion of the VHLM’s most recent Dispersal Draft – as well as the promotion of a variety of aspiring minor leaguers to the pro leagues – leaves the VHLM in disarray, particularly with the changes in management for a handful of the minor league’s teams. The overwhelming amount of turnover in the league from season-to-season frequently leaves general managers scrambling for something resembling normalcy, even if it’s characterized by chaos. The quality of the VHLM’s teams is often intimately tied to the number of picks available to a team in the draft, which vary wildly from year-to-year (based on in-season trading or prospects not making it to the VHL) – so let’s get ourselves acquainted with the new feel of the North American Conference.

 

Brampton Blades

Major Losses

With the most recent offseason, the Blades took a tremendous hit to their offense by losing their top three forwards. The loss of first-overall draft pick Zach Parechkin (LW), a tremendous 140+ TPE talent, is enough to cripple most VHLM offenses outright. To lose him to the European Conference’s Bern Royals is quite the wake-up call, even if every GM in their right mind anticipated the pick. The young Canadian had a well-rounded game that featured scoring and on-puck abilities that could give some professionals a run for their money – and he still has another year on the minor league ice!

Thankfully, although the Blades did technically lose Maxime Deschamps (C ) and winger Lee “Faker” Sang-Hyeok (LW) to the VHL draft, they’ll be able to cultivate their other two young forwards for the time being. While skilled, Deschamps and Lee have yet to be called up by the Bears and Americans, respectively, and will hopefully be able to depart some wisdom to the newly-drafted and claimed players of the Blades in the weeks to come.

 

Forwards – B+

The Blades find themselves fortunate to have retained Deschamps (73 TPE) and Lee (46 TPE), two forwards taken in the early rounds of the VHL Draft – and they’ll be present to both provide guidance and develop into the forwards the professional teams need them to be.

Another VHL draftee in Azhor Ahai (LW, 12 TPE) will also be joining the Blades for the foreseeable future, as the Stockholm Vikings are unlikely to call him up in the first half of the season. Although he has shown glimpses of promise on the offensive end, he still requires a significant amount of refinement if he is to amount to anything in the majors. Furthermore, Season 44 VHL draftee Jefferson Jackson (C, 67 TPE) cements himself as a mainstay on the Blades’ roster while under the Meute’s watchful eye – he, Deschamps, and Lee will serve as anchors for an offense that is otherwise unremarkable.

 

Defensemen & Goalies – B/C

Brampton Blades GM Kel used the team’s first-round draft pick to pick up Saul Hackett (D, 84 TPE), a promising young Canadian defender with a lot to prove to the league; Hackett seemed pleased to return to the Blades after a few weeks on the roster last season. Although he wasn’t the first defenseman taken – that honor belongs to the Red Wolves’ Arcturus Mengsk – the young defender is certain to return the show of loyalty in kind as time goes by. Also taken by the Blades was Zach Voss (D, 0 TPE), a raw talent from the States that has reportedly put in a lot of work over the past several days to prove himself worthy of the fourth-round pick the Blades used on him. He’s shown to have tremendous upside, demonstrating a passion for the league in the past couple of weeks that is sure to shoot him up the draft boards as the season progresses.

In spite of their excellent first-line strength, the Blades may struggle a bit with depth, as Voss and Hackett are the only two defenders to have improved significantly since their entry into the VHL – questions simply must be raised about defenders Mikael Lagerkvist, Dennis Saad, and Daryn Petersenn. Goalie is also a tremendous concern for the Blades, who may use Corey Marino (G, 0 TPE) as a warm body to fill the net while they search for waivers or free agents to fill the gap.

 

The Front Office

Draft – A

Free Agency – B+

Development – A

General Manager Kel, as previously mentioned, drafted a couple of early strong picks in Hackett and Deschamps, and many pundits expressed that the Dispersal Draft would be his first true test as a VHLM GM. He had a strong showing on the first of the month, picking up talent while still demonstrating excellent loyalty to former Brampton players.

The brand-new GM has also made his first move in free agency, reaching out to Season 42 defender Ken Anderson (91 TPE) in an attempt to bring both talent and depth to the defensive end of his team. A closer look into FA talks, however, also shows that Kel has been active in recruiting the hotly-contested Coca Cola (G, 172 TPE).

All things considered, tfong’s replacement has done an excellent job easing into the position of Brampton GM; with a solid draft granting him retention of multiple actives in Deschamps, Lee, and Hackett in spite of a dearth of picks, Kel’s actions suggest continued promise for the Blades.

 

Ottawa Lynx

 

Major Losses

The Ottawa Lynx were essentially a gutted team in Season 44, with a mere six non-default players on their squad – none of which were Season 45 Dispersal Draftees. However, they did lose Teuvo Rinne (G) in round three of the VHL draft; as their only remotely active defensive player in S44, the Lynx are hoping Rinne does not get the call-up any time soon. Forward Kewl Runnins (LW) was also lost to inactivity/free agency.

 

Forwards – C

After their first-round pick, the Lynx used three of their remaining four selections to pick up a handful of forwards to provide their team some depth. The first one picked, Ethan Henderson (RW, 57 TPE), was also selected by Helsinki in the Entry Draft, but is likely to stay in the minors for at least a few more weeks as he polishes his game. He’s proven to be a well-rounded forward with both passing and scoring abilities, but the remainder of his game leaves something to be desired.

Selected a little later were Thomas Andersson (LW, 24 TPE) and Aidan Rozel (C, 0 TPE), two S46 Entry Draft prospects. While Rozel has a little bit of catching up to do, Andersson has made small strides in his offensive game since joining the league early last month; these two young forwards should provide some semblance of depth on the Ottawa lines, but it’s a hard drop-off after that.

 

Defensemen & Goalies – C-/B

The Lynx did an acceptable job recruiting defensemen in the Dispersal Draft, picking up Lucas Zhukenov (D, 86 TPE) and Geoff Reid (27 TPE). Ottawa used their first-rounder on Zhukenov, a strong borderline prospect picked up by Stockholm in the entry draft. He’s something of an offensive defenseman, focusing more on moving the puck up the ice than stopping an attack on his own goal. The Russian-American defender has shown flashes of brilliance on the ice, and with enough effort may be able to hop on to the Vikings’ roster late in the season.

From the looks of it, the acquisition of Reid seems like an effort to provide depth to the Lynx’s defense – although he has limited potential for development, the third-round draftee has on-and-off desire to play the game. They’ll also have journeyman Xavier Kirkland (8 TPE), an S44 Entry Draftee, to help provide guidance to the younger players, but it’s unlikely he will make much of a splash himself this season. As stated previously, goalie Teuvo Rinne (69 TPE) is going to be a centerpiece for the Lynx going forward, as the only strictly-defensive player on the roster. Rinne’s development is going to be paramount in the success of this rebuilding squad.

 

The Front Office

Draft – C

Free Agency – F

Development - D

Well, it’s hard to say exactly what’s going on in Ottawa – primarily because it doesn’t seem like anything is going on. The entirety of the team’s draft picks were automatically selected, no free agents or waivers have been claimed, and the team sits at the top of the Priority List but hasn’t made their intentions clear yet. The Lynx may have been rebuilding, but it takes a lot of time and effort to make a successful team after the limp effort Ottawa gave last season. Once a few more public moves are made, we’ll be able to more fairly rate his potential for success.

 

Saskatoon Wild

 

Major Losses

The Saskatoon Wild are coming off of a championship season after triumphing over Oslo just two weeks ago – and as such, a mass exodus of talent was certain to follow. The Wild amassed an unmatched pool of talent in Season 44, with four players above 200 TPE in Marcel Faux (LW, to Helsinki), Max Mølholt (RW, to Toronto), Ariel Weinstein (G, to Quebec) and Biggu Kyanon (D, to New York). In essence, they finished the cultivation of four talents on the brink of becoming major professional talents, but managed to develop them in the minors all season.

These three were not the end of the Wild’s depth, however – Sean Blacker (to Bern), Ethan Henderson, Travis Willcox (FA), and Stabby McFullO’Schmidt (FA) were all above 70 TPE last season, and provided the perfect storm for the Wild’s championship season.

 

Forwards – B-

In the draft, the Wild used every single one of their picks on forwards: Jonathan Killeen (C, 0 TPE), Kenny Keely (LW, 0 TPE), Matty Gatsby (RW, 12 TPE) and Niels Skovgaard (RW, 0 TPE) were each selected as the last picks of the second through fifth rounds. Interestingly, Killeen, Keeley, and Skovgaard are each S46 prospects, while Gatsby is a S45 draftee that was selected by Davos – but more relevantly, these four forwards are incredibly raw and entirely undeveloped talents. This provides an interesting contrast from the Wild’s forwards last season, which included the majority of the top talents in North America (excluding Parechkin), and an interesting strategy from Saskatoon’s GM.

That being said, these four youngsters are hardly the only forwards on the team – they’re accompanied by talented journeymen R Truth (RW, 85 TPE) and Casper Solomon (RW, 72 TPE), who have been kept in the minors for one and two extra seasons, respectively. Solomon is unlikely to break into the VHL, as it seems as though he’s hit his ceiling – but they should provide valuable insight into the VHLM for their juniors. On the other hand, Truth has experienced a recent resurgence that could push him to a mid-season call up to Toronto.

 

Defensemen & Goalies – B+/F

While they lack depth, the Wild have two of the top VHLM defenders that have strangely never made it into the professional league in MC Hammer (D, 197 TPE) and Erik Hedman (D, 122 TPE). Although they were drafted by Riga and Stockholm (respectively), Hammer and Hedman have taken the minors by storm as the league’s best journeyman duo time and time again. The former of the two is an excellent full-rink player, capable of scoring and defending the best the minors have to offer, while the latter is something of a hybrid defender that focuses on distributing and stopping the puck equally. The Wild lack depth, however, relying on Davos-drafted Benjamin Bellamont (D, 0 TPE) as their only other non-default defenseman.

Saskatoon will also be working without a human goalie in Ariel Weinstein’s stead, which is a tremendous hit to their defense.

 

The Front Office

Draft: C+

Free Agency: A

Development: A+

Saskatoon’s GM has done a brilliant job maintaining talent and sending the best of the best up to the VHL, at least in the last season or so. The “major losses” section indicated above ought to be a knock against their current talent, but is definitely a testament to the front office’s shrewdness and ability to take on talented players.

In Free Agency, Tylar has used priority on Marcus Muller (RW, 84 TPE), a German winger with excellent puck movement and scoring aptitudes. However, the manager has been quite conservative on the trading front as of recent: he has not made a trade offer since the two he made in the S43 offseason. While his team may not be the front-runner for the championship for the second straight season, it’s expected that he will continue to cultivate strong talent in Saskatoon.

 

Yukon Rush

 

Major Losses

Well, first things first – Phil Hamilton (D), Greg Clegane (G) and Aleksi Koponen (C ), the first and second overall picks and a GM player respectively, are gone from the Rush, and aren’t returning. These three players made up the bulk of the Rush’s talent, and the loss of Josh Mercia (LW) to free agency and Bitch Higgins (C ) to Moscow don’t make things any better. The Rush will be reeling over the loss of their three best forwards, as well as one of the VHL’s preeminent young talents from the Entry Draft. This team was in the middle of the pack with 14 human players, but they possessed the three best players to leave the VHL by TPE. With all of these players gone, who are Yukon left with?

 

Forwards – D-

The Rush’s draft pool was anemic – there’s no way around it. They had two picks, one in the fourth round and another in the fifth, and they were able to obtain Lars Siktanc (LW, 14 TPE) and Brandon Lapham Jr. (RW, 0 TPE) in the waning parts of the draft. Unfortunately for the Rush, these two players don’t have terribly much upside – as indicated by their selection spot in the draft – and the Rush don’t gain much value for their picks.

Yukon has neither depth nor talent at any of the three forward positions – at least for the moment. Ash Stevens (RW) is the last remaining human forward on the team, with just 6 TPE to his name and little to no hope of improving. With a feeble offense, can the Rush achieve double-digits in the win column, let alone a playoff berth?

 

Defensemen & Goalies – A-/F

In spite of all of their losses, the Rush remain remarkably solid on defense. They have Marquis Hyvarinen (113 TPE) and Bubba Nuck (142 TPE) as their mainstays on defense, although they’ve been selected by Stockholm and Seattle, respectively. If they’re not called up (which isn’t out of the question), these two should perform as a stalwart pair of defenders to keep the Rush’s season afloat.

Last but not least is S44 prospect Archie Wagner (69 TPE), a Davos draftee and capable defender that is unlikely to be called up. Although he won’t have a human partner on the other half of his line, Wagner will probably be able to hold off many of the VHLM’s offensives until the latter parts of the season. With no new talent, however, the defense is doomed if call-ups take away Hyvarinen or Nuck.

Unfortunately, there’s no goalkeeper to speak of here – Clegane was far and away the best the VHLM had to offer, but he’s gone.

 

The Front Office

Draft – N/A

Free Agency – C

Development – A

Yukon is in a strange spot as a VHLM team – they’ve done a brilliant job cultivating last season’s talent, but there is a lot to be desired in Season 45. Certainly, it’s not fair to criticize Munk’s ability to develop players based on his current team given last season’s immense success – but he’ll have to do quite a lot to make the Rush a contender. He’s reached out to a free agent or two, but hasn’t made any signings as of yet, and with a paltry two draft picks, it’s virtually impossible to make a clear decision on the Dispersal Draft.

Edited September 7, 2015 by Renomitsu

[Renomitsu 934]

Settling In After the S45 Dispersal Draft - Europe

 

Bern Royals

Major Losses

The Royals were a team of just a hanful of mostly-inactives in Season 44, with just 5 non-default players. Only two of these players really accrued meaningful TPE – among them Michael Burch (D, 50 TPE at draft time) and keeper Ryan Price (G, 108 TPE). Burch was dispersed to the Watchmen, but Price still remains on the roster – the promising young goalie wasn’t called up by the Bears at the start of the new season. As a Season 45 draftee, Price remains one of the better goalies available in the VHLM, something that the widely-talented Royals roster can use en-route to a projected championship appearance.

 

Forwards – A+ (talent)/A- (depth)

Bern had a league-high nine selections in the dispersal draft, and with a pool of nineteen draftees with 50+ TPE, the Royals’ seven picks in the first three rounds played an important part in establishing their excellent roster.  Leading the way is none other than the first-overall Zach Parechkin (LW, 157 TPE), a winger with pro-level scoring, handling, and passing capabilities that is sure to be at the top of VHL teams’ draft boards at the end of this season. The forward, who played a short stint for the Brampton Blades last season, looks to be a star complemented by linemates Sean Blacker (C, 89 TPE) and Jordan Maverick (LW, 89 TPE). With these three players, Bern is seemingly guaranteed to hold the best single line of forwards in the VHLM for the entire season – but their depth doesn’t stop there.

 

The Royals managed to pick up Kol Mikaelson (C, 91 TPE) and Mathieu Baptiste (C, 75 TPE) – two centers with tremendous upside. Mikaelson, part of a strong legacy of VHL players, has shown up particularly strong in the past couple of weeks; he has posted dozens of points in gains since his entry into the VHLM. Even the first seven picks didn’t end Bern’s talent acquisition – they also managed to land Jayden Fasth (RW, 25 TPE), something of an unknown quantity that has put in some work since the start of the season.

 

Defenders & Goalies – B (def.)/A (goal)

The aforementioned Ryan Price will do wonders for a goalie-deficient minor league; however, with the Seattle Bears lacking a keeper entirely at present, don’t be surprised if Price is called up mid-season. In the meantime, he’ll do an excellent job shutting down teams, particularly behind defenders Jeff Hamilton (107 TPE) and Benjamin Tumack (52 TPE). As with Mikaelson, Jeff is the next in a line of top-tier prospects from the same family, with sibling Phil Hamilton going first overall in the Season 45 Entry Draft – how fitting, then, that these two players are on the Royals!

 

Bern is fortunate to also possess one of the best second-line defensive talents in Jon Panik (40 TPE). While his actual defending may need some work, Panik is an excellent skater and passer, two qualities that will propel his team’s simply massive offensive efforts to the next level. While he still needs a bit of work to reach the first line in a stacked VHLM team, Panik has a chance at being taken in the first two rounds of the S46 Entry Draft if he maintains his work ethic.

 

The Front Office

Draft – A

Free Agency - A

Development - B

Well, you can’t deny that GM Vince Wong (STZ) has done work in the offseason. The Royals were a dud last season, with a miserable 8 wins to their name; it was clear that Bern was in a hard rebuilding mode, and sacrificed their roster to build a championship-tier team in Season 45. To put it simply, Wong’s draft this season seemed immaculate – they managed to retain the best goalie (by a long shot), pick up five (yes, five) starter-level talents in the first two rounds, and a line-and-a-half of strong defensemen, all of whom have strong draft stock. They managed to pick up Mikaelson, whose newly-refined game has shot him up most (very early) draft boards, and avoid a couple of trap picks along the way. While they didn’t manage to select prospect Arcturus Mengsk, who wasn’t even on the draft list mere hours before the event itself, Wong has a lot to be proud of.

 

The only real knock on STZ to this point in time could’ve been FA acquisition and waivers – and while he hasn’t been terribly active on the FA market, Wong acquired Jeff Hamilton through waivers. With a staggering 107 TPE, Hamilton is ostensibly the best pickup via waivers thus far (and maybe the season as a whole). With a further pickup of Alessandro Hedfors, an unknown defender, the Royals have cemented their first two lines with human players.

 

There are two ways to assess Bern’s development: firstly, what have they done to produce VHL talent in the last season? Otherwise, what talent will they cultivate this season? These two lines of reasoning are why it’s difficult to assign a single letter to Bern’s development rating; the stark dichotomy generated by this season and last are hard to average out. Season 44 was a failure; season 45 is, by all standards thus far, a massive success. Ryan Price was their only S45 Entry draftee of any consequence, and he’s still on the team. However, with Parechkin, Blacker, Maverick, Baptiste, and Hamilton all on the roster for Season 45, Bern’s sitting pretty.

 

Bratislava Watchmen

 

Major Losses

At the end of Season 45, the Watchmen nearly had an entire team full of human players, with seventeen on their roster. More impressively, a tremendous number of these players were actually passable VHLM players: Hudson Backenbauer (D, 101 TPE), Simon Valmount (RW, 175 TPE), Alexander Davidson (C, 147 TPE), and Arcturus Mengsk (D, 173 TPE) all had significant clout, with another half-dozen in the double-digits for TPE. Of the four listed above, however, the Watchmen only retained Davidson, a S44 VHL Entry draftee who was picked up by the New York Americans. The loss of Mengsk and former captain Valmount will sting a lot – one can argue that the Watchmen were hurt the most by the S44 Offseason.

 

Forwards – B (talent)/D (depth)

With a paltry three picks in the entire VHLM Dispersal Draft, Bratislava isn’t left with much; that being said, keeping Alexander Davidson for another season was a boon for the team. He won’t have much help over the course of the season, however, as teammates Screw Mark, Doug Glatt, and Manhole Siegfried have yet to post any meaningful practice numbers. The Watchmen will have a complete first line, but there isn’t much depth to speak of on this team.

 

Defenders & Goalies – D+ (def.)/C+ (goal)

While the Watchmen were able to acquire one of two goalies in the VHLM Dispersal in Filip Lundqvist (G, 19 TPE), he hasn’t shown much to prove his worth as an active player. It’ll be nice to have a warm body in goal, but the Watchmen shouldn’t hold their breath in hopes he’ll be a star.

Outside of Lundqvist, the Watchmen have Michael Burch (D, 51 TPE) and Marlon Duke (D, 0 TPE) to fill up their first defensive line. Burch was drafted by Toronto in Season 45, and while his talent level is acceptable for the VHLM, don’t expect him to get a call-up this season.

 

The Front Office

Draft – C+

Free Agency – F

Development – C+

Banackock has his work cut out for him. While he did what he could with the three late draft picks allotted to him, the players Bratislava picked up in the draft have a lot of room for improvement, and not a lot of motivation to go with it. Picking up Michael Burch with a round-three pick was a solid selection, as there were very few active players actually left at that point in the draft.

 

As far as free agency and waiver claims are concerned, Bratislava is unfortunately a lot like Ottawa – nothing is really going on. The Watchmen have yet to try to claim any players, and have been entirely silent in regards to the FA pool. It’s unclear if this is because Bratislava’s spot on the priority list is low or the GM simply isn’t active, but little attempt has been made thus far, and it’s a bit scary to be saying that about a front office.

 

As far as development is concerned, Bratislava did a decent job putting together a team of draftees last season. Mengsk is a bona fide VHLM star and Muller will be an excellent winger for the Red Wolves – and while that may seem like both a pro and con for the Watchmen, it’s a testament to their talent at the end of last season nonetheless. That being said, the Watchmen did host a lot of inactives on their team last season, and Season 45 doesn’t look very good for their development prognoses.

 

Moscow Red Wolves

 

Major Losses

The Red Wolves came out as one of the two obvious winners of the S45 Dispersal Draft, with eight picks in the first three rounds. To accomplish this, however, their Season 44 campaign (17W 53L) was nearly as awful as Bern’s was. They had seven human players on their team, and four of them were honest-to-goodness duds. The other three – Jace Hines (RW, 112 TPE), Lenny Face (G, 65 TPE), and Super Cock (LW, 31 TPE) – were solid draftees, and Hines (SEA) and Face (NYA) were both retained.

 

Forwards – A- (talent)/A+ (depth)

A first glance at Moscow’s roster tells you a lot about their team – they have a lot of human players, and well over half are forwards. Their top offensive players are likely Bitch Higgins (C, 70 TPE) and Shawn Muller (RW, 97 TPE) – but it’s important to note that they have a lot of middle-of-the-road talent to back those two up. Among them are Pete Stockton (RW, 64 TPE), Bobby Boucher (C, 56 TPE) Lucas Galeano (RW, 51 TPE), and Lucas Villa (LW, 36 TPE) – and even beyond that, they have another two human players. They may not have obvious stars like Parechkin on their team, but they have depth in spades.

 

Defenders & Goalies – A (def.)/B (goal)

The Moscow Red Wolves had the biggest steal of the draft in Arcturus Mengsk, a 173 TPE monster topping the charts for draftable defenders. While he’s a Season 45 prospect, his value as the fifth pick in the draft probably made the Moscow front office breathe easy, knowing he’ll be the most skilled defender in the league for at least the first half of the season. Beyond Mengsk, the Red Wolves also have World B. Free (88 TPE), Tanner Hayes (66 TPE), and Pierre-Luc Lefrançois (0 TPE) holding up the defensive end of the ice – ostensibly one of the better defensive sets in the VHLM. Mengsk by himself is good enough for most VHLM lines, but Mengsk and Free should develop into a duo that can compete with the likes of mainstays MC Hammer and Erik Hedman.

 

Moscow’s also fortunate to retain goalie Lenny Face (65 TPE), a solid VHLM keeper that leaves them in pretty good shape in spite of an anemic goalie dispersal class. Lenny has an excellent reaction time and solid dexterity in the net; while it’s unlikely that the 41-year-old goalie will be moving up to the VHL in his career, the Russians are happy to have him.

 

The Front Office

Draft – A+

Free Agency – A

Development – B+

Shawn Howard (StevenStamkos91) prepared for this season beautifully – and although he didn’t get the first couple of picks in the early rounds, he still made out like a bandit after the Dispersal Draft had finished. Picking Mengsk at fifth gave him the highest-value selection in the draft, and supplementing the team with Higgins, Muller, and Free further established the notion of his draft savvy. The Red Wolves are a very, very deep team in a league that doesn’t have that many players – and as a result, Howard should be commended.

 

In free agency, the Red Wolves acquired Travis Willcox (RW, 114 TPE), an old-but-good VHLM forward who was drafted in Season 42. StevenStamkos91 has also done a decent job pitching to players like Coca Cola (even if he didn’t join), and earned players like Pete Stockton and Leandre St. Pierre through waivers. The good starting priority certainly made things a bit easier for the Moscow front office, but the important part is that Howard is acquiring players in a variety of ways, showcasing his command of the team in the process.

 

Like Vince Wong, Shawn Howard takes a pretty big hit in the development category for sacrificing last season’s team to produce an excellent one this season. However, the sheer number of promising young talents prepping for the S46 Entry Draft from Moscow is simply staggering, possibly outdoing even Bern in this aspect. The European Conference championship may indeed be a more competitive series than the VHLM finals, provided the stacked talent on Bern and Moscow, and fans will wait eagerly for their first playoff matchup.

 

Oslo Storm

Major Losses

The Oslo Storm were among the most competitive teams in the VHLM last season, and their roster showed it: 19 human players, including Sandro Clegane (G, 200 TPE), Maxime Perron (C, 166 TPE), Le’Sean Coutzen (C, 172 TPE), Wesley Babiy (C, 100 TPE), Giovanni Reuel (RW, 162 TPE), Evgeny Nezhmetdinov (RW, 128 TPE), and Ken Anderson (91 TPE). If that seems like a long list of names, don’t forget that the Oslo Storm had another dozen players with significant TPE. Astoundingly, the Storm managed to keep Clegane, Babiy, and Reuel, three prospects from S45 or S44 – it’s strange to see Clegane on a minor league roster at all, while Babiy and Reuel are really on the cusp of making a professional team.

 

Yes, a team like the Storm are going to lose a LOT of players to dispersal, inactivity, or the entry draft – but they’ve managed to keep a lot of their core roster intact.

 

Forwards – A (talent)/B (depth)

The forwards for the Storm are very top-heavy – the previously-mentioned Wesley Babiy and Giovanni Reuel are the clear and obvious leaders for the team, with Super Cock nearly 100 TPE behind Babiy. The Storm retain a few low-TPE journeymen in Matej Kriz (LW, 30 TPE) and Kane Hamilton (LW, 14 TPE) rounding out the forwards with any TPE. Oslo has a few other relative unknowns occupying their third offensive line in Stumppell Aurinkoinen Jr. (RW, 0 TPE), Freddy Schultz (RW, 0 TPE), and Kype Keenan (LW, 0 TPE); they’re unlikely to make much noise this season.

 

Unfortunately, it seems as though the Storm don’t have many S46 forwards worth talking about, buy Babiy and Reuel should make their offense competitive, even in the stacked European Conference.

 

Defenders & Goalies – B+ (def.)/A++ (goal)

Unfortunately for the Storm, the team only has two defensemen on its roster – Supa Hot Fire (61 TPE) and Olivia Diamond (66 TPE). While Fire is coming into his third season in the VHLM, Diamond was a surprising pickup that has paid off beautifully for the Storm – with 66 TPE to her name just a week and a half after declaring for the minor leagues, she’s one of the most promising defenders for the VHL Entry Draft, even if it’s quite some time away. There’s not much to say as far as depth is concerned for the Storm, but their most recent acquisition has a lot of upside.

 

The A++ isn’t a mistake: if he stays in the minors, goalie Sandro Clegane will be the best in the league, bar none. He was drafted fourth overall in the Entry Draft, and would have no reason to stay in the minors if he wasn’t behind Brock Waldron – but because the Express don’t have any reason to bring Clegane up until next season, they probably won’t. Sibling Greg Clegane was taken second overall by the Titans, and it’s pretty clear that the Cleganes will be household names in the VHL after their careers get underway.

 

The Front Office

Draft – C+

Free Agency – A

Development – A+

 

Most people won’t expect it, but the Oslo front office will be happy to show they’re competitive in a conference with the utterly stacked Royals and Red Wolves. It’s true: the Storm’s draft was miserable, but they had three picks, like the Watchmen, all in the late rounds. What’s worse, their higher placement made their picks even later than Bratislava’s, but they still came out with a still-developing forward in Super Cock. Did they get a lot of talent with their draft? No, but you can’t knock Oslo’s GM too much for that.

 

Mhnk (or so he now calls himself) hasn’t been terribly active in waivers, but he did manage to pick up Olivia Diamond, one of the best acquisitions all off-season. He’s also found a top-tier replacement for Sandro Clegane once he inevitably leaves for the VHL in Coca Cola (G, 172 TPE);  with this, Oslo possesses the a monopoly on the top goalies in the minors.

 

The Storm’s GM has been on top of his game – he has an ultra-competitive team a season after producing a Cup finalist. He’s kept Reuel, Babiy, and Clegane – the latter of which will probably be a starter in the VHL soon enough – and has a shining young talent in Diamond. His other S46 prospects have yet to show their promise, but with his most recent dispersal and entry draft classes, Mhnk is probably feeling pretty good about his work as a GM.

[Renomitsu 934]

A Leap of Faith – VHLM Waiver Claims

 

Imagine this: It’s draft day. The lights on-stage are incredibly bright, lighting up the faces of VHLM Commissioners Menk and Smarch as they call out names, one at a time. Families, friends, and fans overjoyed or outraged at particular selections, with some draft stocks falling like rocks and others soaring to greatness. Championship-worthy teams are constructed – almost in slow motion – as you begin to sweat in anticipation of your own pick, a culmination of all of the hours you’ve put in on the ice, day in and day out. You remember, if only briefly, the praise and criticism from your coach building you up to make you a better skater or goalie, and suddenly your name is called.

 

Unbridled excitement – you can’t believe you were taken so early! Your friends and family hug you, the crowd’s cheering on the announcement of your name, and you put on a jersey that you’ll soon personalize as your own. The lights, you realize, are even brighter than anticipated, and the crowd’s drowned out as you think about what your future’s like with your new franchise. One thing’s for sure, though: you’re happy.

 

Now imagine you don’t get a chance for that. You never even get a chance to even show people what you’re like before you’re tossed into VHL Entry Draft boards with the same guys that have tested the ice you’re skating on for dozens of games. As far as the GMs are concerned, you’re nobody. They’ve never seen you or heard your name, and all they have to go off is an eye test that will determine your future. There’s no minor league game tape showing what you’re capable of.

 

General Managers like known quantities. They like hockey players that have proven they’re capable of making it in the big leagues before they’re actually in the big leagues. When it comes to waiver claims, though, it’s impossible for them to know undrafted players as well as the big names. A few players on VHLM teams right now are excelling in spite of their unknown status. In order to get that chance, however, the higher-ups needed to use valuable waiver priority: their GMs had to take a leap of faith.

 

RW LeAndre St. Pierre

VHLM Team: Moscow Red Wolves

Time of Winning Claim: 12:20 AM EST, September 6, 2015

TPE On Claim: 13

Current TPE: 60

 

Bringing the waiver claims to the forefront is LeAndre St. Pierre, a resilient young forward hailing from Versailles, France who was claimed only two weeks ago. Even while sitting on a stacked Red Wolves roster, St. Pierre has managed to earn himself a position on Moscow’s second line and first powerplay line as a left wing. Among all waiver claims, LeAndre is one of a few taken from the lower level of waivers.

 

Averaging about twelve minutes a game, St. Pierre has exceptionally limited playing time in order to make room for forwards like Shawn Muller (18.15 min./gm.) and Jace Hines (21.60 min./gm.). In spite of his lack of time on the ice, St. Pierre has racked up a massive +12 differential and 30 hits. His shooting could use some work (5.56% scoring), but pundits expect his skills to sharpen as he gets more time with the team. He has been part of Moscow’s cruelly efficient offense – the team has a league-second 4.70 goals per game, as well as the league’s best goals for/goals against ratio (2.76 to 1), as well as an astounding 41.60 shots per game.

 

D Olivia Diamond

VHLM Team: Oslo Storm

Time of Winning Claim: 9:36 PM EST, September 5, 2015

TPE On Claim: 61

Current TPE: 85

 

If you haven’t heard about the VHLM’s newest defensive sensation, you might be living under a rock – the kiwi comes into the VHLM fresh off of a single season with the University of Southern California with a plenty of hype behind her. A multi-sport athlete and stalwart defender in high school, Diamond established herself as a force to be reckoned with as soon as she declared for the S46 Entry Draft. Having just completed her first year of college, some experts assumed that Diamond would let her name get out even more in the following three years – but others weren’t surprised that she declared; some scouts were already vaguely familiar with Diamond, in spite of her foreign nationality and lack of game tape.

 

As part of one of the three teams atop the European Conference, namely the Storm, Diamond has quickly established herself as an excellent passer and defender on Oslo’s second line. As a player with plenty of finesse, Diamond actually sits fourth on the team for points with 10 assists and a team-fourth +12 when she’s on the ice. She sees plenty of play time – actually the third most at about 26 minutes a game – and has landed a solid 37 hits in her twenty games.

 

Diamond thrives in clutch situations and powerplays, scoring 6 of her 12 points when there’s a man advantage on the ice. Better yet, she’s managed a game-tying goal, and has earned the second star twice in her tenure with the Storm. With the Storm sitting at number one in goals against per game (1.6), scouts are sure to have changed their draft boards up a bit.

 

G Chris Fekete

VHLM Team: Brampton Blades

Time of Winning Claim: 11:23 PM EST, September 12, 2015

TPE On Claim: 0

Current TPE: 21

 

Fekete is something of a rarity among VHLM teams this season: a brand-new Season 46 Entry Draft goalie. Although the league has plenty of veterans hanging around – Sandro Clegane, Coca Cola, and Ryan Price all come to mind – it was excruciatingly difficult to find a bright new talent at goalkeeper. A total unknown from Burnaby, BC, Fekete is a raw talent in the purest sense of the word, but he’s also arguably the Blades’ most significant asset because of his position and practice time.

 

Brampton is in a strange position twenty games into the season: they’re an arguable second in the North American Conference, and largely overshadowed by teams like the Saskatoon Wild and the European Big Three. The Blades’ offensive production is lacking in spite of their excellent fundamentals, and they’ve been blown out by the European teams before, so Fekete has his work cut out for him – but he’s done well thus far.

 

In spite of having no time to adjust to the league, Fekete has managed an 82.8 save percentage, and has allowed a league-fifth 2.91 goals per game – a mark that puts him above the likes of Ottawa’s Teuvo Rinne and nearly a full goal per game better than former Brampton keeper Lundqvist. Importantly, Fekete has been excellent in-between games, putting in plenty of practice time and taking on a position as a media grader when he’s not playing under the lights.

[Renomitsu 934]

Last, But Not Necessarily Least – The VHLM’s Top 10 Late Draftees

 

Everyone looks forward to the first few picks in a draft, whether that’s the VHLM’s re-distribution of talent or the VHL’s newest batch of superstars. Frequently, an ailing franchise will pick up a pick or two early on in the first round, hoping to select the single player that can carry their franchise in their first season or two of rebuilding. The second round often serves to supplement a star player, or provide sufficiently skilled first-liners to push a team over the edge they need to become a true championship contender.

 

After that, the third and later rounds of the VHL Entry Draft can either serve as prospect acquisition, where a player that doesn’t quite make the cut is found and cultivated for another season, or (particularly in the fourth and later rounds) picks to fill out the draft board. In the VHLM Dispersal Draft, however, a team’s goal can be quite a bit different. Some Dispersal Drafts don’t even have a fourth round – a couple don’t even finish their second or third rounds – and talent is quite scarce past the middle of the second round. By the end of the third, even most of the inactives have been selected and are worth less than some mid-season players that have a strong hockey pedigree (i.e. recreates), so players in the third round are often considered lost causes.

 

Every once in a while, however, a diamond in the rough (not you, Olivia – or, okay, maybe you, Olivia) flies completely below the radar, and a future VHL first-liner, or even a Hall of Famer, can be found in the “garbage time” picks of the VHLM Dispersal Draft. Here are the top ten third-round (or later) picks that turned into VHL starters and superstars.

 

#1 D - Mitch Higgins (OTT & SEA)

Season 22 Dispersal Draft, Round 3

Final TPE: 1,010

Notable Achievements: S42 Hall of Fame Inductee, 2x Victory Cup (S27-28), S28 Continental Cup, S28 Grimm Jonsson Trophy, S23 Sakic Trophy, S23 Prime Minister’s Cup, S23 Founder’s Cup, S24 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy

 

For anyone who’s been following the VHL for the past couple decades knows who Mitch Higgins is, no questions asked. The VHLM’s MVP Trophy is named after Mitch, and more importantly, he’s one of only two players on this list to make the Hall of Fame. Managed by Higgins, Mitch Higgins is a Halifax native that came into the VHLM as an unknown quantity – hence his position as a third-round draft pick in the Season 22 Dispersal Draft. Bern had traded away each of its picks at the start of each draft round – to Vasteras, Brampton, and Ottawa in the first, second, and third rounds, respectively. Ottawa, who had just come off a championship season, possessed very few picks in the draft – in fact, they only had three picks in the third round, and their very first was Higgins.

 

As will be highlighted with a few other players, roster turnover in the VHLM is comprehensive almost every season – many players worth their weight move on to the VHL, a couple stay for a development season in the minors, and others fade into inactivity, sitting on a roster until their player rights aren’t owned by a particular team. In his first season, Higgins managed 78 points in 72 games – a remarkable outing for a third-rounder, but not quite indicative of his undeniable star quality. He would remain on the Ice Dogs’ roster for another season, developing explosively en route to a 132 point, +55 season in which he earned the Sakic and Borque trophies, as well as the Founder’s Cup.

 

In the following several seasons, Higgins’s incredible, but unrefined play on the ice would be masked by average teams in Riga and Seattle after being traded away from the Helsinki Titans. Seasons 24 and 25 brought Higgins negative +/- values, approximately a single point per game, and very few chances for game winning goals, but what defines Higgins as a HoF player is the back five seasons of his career. He has a trophy case that would make even most first-round draftees jealous – two Victory Cups, two Devon Marlow-Marta Trophies, a Grimm Jonsson Trophy, and a Continental Cup, all with Seattle. His stat lines at the end of his career are, frankly, staggering for a third-round VHLM Dispersal Draftee. He finished with 503 games played, exactly 600 points, a +126, nearly 1,500 hits, and over 750 shots blocked. Even as a defenseman, he could hit goals in the clutch, managing 19 game-winning goals in the regular season.

 

Part of what has defined Higgins’ career is his unwavering loyalty to Seattle, the team that took a chance and traded for him before his career ever got going, as well as his adaptation to the role of an underdog at nearly every point in his career. He may have been passed repeatedly in his career, but he rewarded those who put their faith in a no-name Halifax boy, time and time again.

 

#2 C – Niklas Lindberg (BRT & TOR/RIG)

Season 32 Dispersal Draft, Round 3

Final TPE: 1,125

Notable Achievements: S41 Hall of Fame Inductee, 3x Devon-Marlow Marta Trophy (S36-38), 2x Continental Cup (S37, S40), S33 Founder’s Cup, S34 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, S40 Terrence Fong, Kevin Brooks, Mike Szatkowski, and Brett Slobodzian Trophies

 

The second member of our list, naturally, is the only other Hall of Fame inductee in Niklas Lindberg. Although he was inducted into the Hall of Fame a season before Higgins, Lindberg actually began his career about ten seasons later – but he has all of the accolades and a once-in-a-generation kind of season as his last. A Swedish forward, Lindberg was drafted in the third and second rounds of the VHLM Dispersal and VHL Entry Drafts, respectively, but would go on to become one of the most prolific scorers in the history of the VHL.

 

Lindberg was drafted twenty-sixth overall by the Watchmen, but was quickly traded to the Storm and managed just 27 points in his one year in the minors. This may have negatively impacted his draft stock, leading to his drop into the second round, but he was in good company – Toronto drafted Odin Tordahl, a higher-profile player who would also go on into the hall of fame, at third overall. Lindberg fell into the second of three categories of VHLM prospects – he, in spite of the success to come, wasn’t good enough to make a VHL roster in his first season. Instead, in his second season in the minors, he managed a championship with the Bratislava Watchmen while managing 126 points and a Playoff MVP.

 

Now, there’s a very simple way to describe Lindberg’s career – he was your guy if you needed pure, unadulterated offensive output. In all of his seasons in the VHL, he never had a negative +/-: in fact, he managed a mind-boggling +292 regular season plus-minus for his career while earning nearly a point and a half per game (504 games, 717 points). He laid out over 1,200 hits, an incredible 51 game-winning goals (that’s more than one every ten games!) and perhaps most importantly, a +18 over his career in the playoffs. He may have won a Boulet Trophy in his second-to-last season, but his season-defining numbers gave him ownership of nearly a half-dozen trophies in Season 40, the last one of his career.

 

He was inducted with fellow Legion draftee Odin Tordahl shortly thereafter.

 

#3 C – Jody 3 Moons (BER & NYA/STO)

Season 39 Dispersal Draft, Round 3

Current TPE: 769

Notable Achievements: S41 Continental Cup, 2x Victory Cup (S41, S43), S40 Founder’s Cup

 

This decision may come as controversial to some – as it’s hard to call someone a “best of all-time” anything if their career isn’t over, let alone only five seasons in – but it’s a decision many, including myself, will stand by. Jody 3 Moons is the best active player to be dispersed in the third round of the VHLM draft, bar none. He’s one of the only active players on this list, and he’s by far the highest – for good reason. In a period where “TPE inflation” is a phrase thrown around more frequently than may would like, Jody’s a guy that fits the bill: he has a completely insane 769 TPE only four seasons into his VHL career. He has put more time on the practice ice than many VHL players do in their career in half the time.

 

His dedication to the game, to the delight of gorlab, has been rewarded in the utmost. First looking at his statistics from his complete seasons: 247 assists, 401 points, +167, and 34 game-winning goals are just a few of his highlights from the regular season. He’s also managed 38 points in 43 playoff games – but more importantly, he already has a championship and two Victory Cups under his belt.

 

Let me re-iterate: 3 Moons’s career is just getting underway, and he’s already got four cups under his belt (one VHLM, three VHL). He was passed from the Americans to the Vikings in Season 42, but he hasn’t missed a beat – he’s one of the best at winning face-offs, and although the Vikings are last place in the European Conference (limiting his statistical output), Stockholm is still over .500, thanks to 3 Moons and Lloyd Light. Be warned, Higgins and Lindberg – 3 Moons still has plenty of upside and is coming for you.

 

#4 G – Claudio Martucci (BER & DAV/HEL/CAL)

S22 Dispersal Draft, Round 3

Final TPE: 732

Notable Achievements: S27 Continental Cup, S25 Victory Cup, S27 Daisuke Kanou Trophy, S23 Benoit Devereux Trophy, 3x European All-Star (S25-27), S25 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy

 

In close contention with Joey Clarence for the number four spot on the list is Claudio Martucci, a player with a slightly longer career, but also more development in the VHLM under the Bern Royals. Clarence was a beneficiary of slightly more successful teams, and also received less recognition than Clarence in the form of a Daisuke Kanou Trophy and two Continental Cups. A look into the numbers, however, suggests that while Clarence had an incredible career, it falls just barely short of Martucci’s.

 

Martucci had 138 wins in 226 VHL games – a 61% win rate – as well as 21 career shut-outs, and league-tops save percentages in a couple of seasons, as highlighted by his 93.0% save percentage in Season 27 with the Titans. However, Clarence faced 6,983 shots against in his four seasons while Martucci faced 6,496 in his three and a half. In general, in spite of Martucci’s superior TPE total, the players surrounding the Italian goalie weren’t quite as good for most of his career. He managed very, very similar career save percentages in spite of a very poor showing in Season 24 with Davos.

 

In the one season Martucci had a top-tier supporting cast – Season 27 with the Titans – his team managed a 50-12-2 regular season record as well as a 7-2-2 record in the playoffs. His Goals Against Average may have been slightly worse than some of his contemporaries, but his skill cannot be denied: Martucci was one of the best goalies of his time.

 

#5 G - Joey Clarence (SEA/CAL/NYA)

Season 17 Dispersal Draft, Round 3

Final TPE: 641

Notable Achievements: S23 Continental Cup S21 Jose Bautista Trophy, S20-24 NA All-Star

Our second goalie on the list and another old-school name, Joey Clarence is probably a name mostly lost to history – in fact, it was quite a trial to even find his career stats. A Season 17 Dispersal draftee, Clarence, was a goalie that excelled at all aspects of his game – incredible hand speed, excellent agility, top-notch rebound control – he seemed to have it all. Most teams had actually passed up on Clarence in the Dispersal Draft – in fact, four teams literally passed on taking any pick at all before Clarence was taken at twenty-first overall by the Brampton Battalion.

 

While his one main knock is his lack of hardware in his trophy case, Clarence was an excellent goalie from a strict numerical standpoint. In his career, he was 165-66-23, a 65% winning record – and he had an impeccable 92.1% save percentage to back it up. With the Wranglers, Clarence managed ten shutouts in Season 23-24. And no, that’s not a joke – he managed a shutout nearly once every six games in that season – and managed 18 First Stars, 27 Second Stars, and 18 Third Stars in the regular season over the course of his career. More impressively, Clarence managed five playoff shutouts in his career, as well as a ridiculous 92.8% save percentage in the playoffs.

 

Clarence has some accolades to his name – four All-Star Games and a Most Improved Player Award in particular – but in his career, it seemed as though he was always overshadowed by goalies like Zach Voss and Aidan Shaw. A tragic story, Clarence seemed to have made a name for himself in the VHL during his career, but won’t be remembered as the incredible story his numbers can only begin to tell.

 

#6 LW – Nikolai Lebedev (OTT & NYA/TOR/SEA)

Season 23 Dispersal, Round 3

Final TPE: 550

Notable Achievements: 2x Continental Cup (S27-28), S28 Brett Slobodzian Trophy, S28 Mike Szatkowski Trophy, S28 Kevin Brooks Trophy, S28 Dustin Funk Trophy, 4x All-Star (S26, S28, S29-30)

 

Nikolai Lebedev’s career is something of an anomaly in the grand scheme of things: he was tossed around between VHL and VHLM teams early on, seeing time with the Lynx, Americans, Blades and Legion in his first two seasons. He was one of the only players on this list to spend approximately two full seasons on a minor league team. In contrast, however, the latter six seasons of his career showcased Lebedev in the playoffs and led to two Continental Cups; Season 28 in particular netted Lebedev five different trophies to call his own.

 

In spite of his two seasons in the minor leagues, Lebedev’s professional career started slowly. He managed 74 points in his first full professional season with Seattle, the team he would remain with for nearly all of the meaningful seasons of his major league career. After his opening season (S26), Lebedev would have a tremendously successful set of seasons – with the worst of those seasons resulting in a +27 in the twilight of the Russian’s career. In all, he posted a +278 plus-minus in his career, with 319 goals and 335 assists in 506 games. It was clear that Lebedev was far from a physical defender, but his best defensive season by far came in S30, when he landed 226 hits and spent 89 minutes in the penalty box. As stated previously, his best season by a long shot was Season 28, where he earned the Most Outstanding Player, Top Scorer, Top Goal-Scorer, and the Most Improved Player trophies all in a single go.

 

#7 RW – Smooth Jive (OSL & RIG/HEL/TOR)

Season 29 Dispersal, Round 3

Final TPE: 688

Notable Achievements: S34 Continental Cup, 3x Victory Cup (S33-34, S36), S30 Vladimir Boomchenko Trophy

 

Finnish winger Smooth Jive spent two seasons in the VHLM, where he dominated the competition with the Storm and Outlaws before moving on with the Titans and Legion. He managed a +112 in Season 31 with the Outlaws, a mark largely decided by his ridiculous 179 points in 72 games. Far and away, Jive’s defining characteristic was his nose for the net, as 9.2% of his shots over his pro career managed to net his team a goal. He managed 441 points in 360 games, and an excellent +169 pro plus-minus in five seasons.

 

Unfortunately, Jive was subject to a number of team changes in his seven seasons with the league, never staying with a given team for more than three seasons (as he didn’t play any games for Helsinki in Season 31). His point output was always above average, but it’s worth noting that Jive never managed to make it into the all-star game, a strike against his legacy that slid him down this list significantly.

 

#8 RW – David Collier (YUK & COL)

Season 32 Dispersal, Round 3

Final TPE: 684

Notable Achievements: S37 Dustin Funk Trophy, 2x All-Star (S37, S39)

 

David Collier was a former assistant captain of the Express, playing for Cologne from Seasons 35-39. As right wings go, Collier was an excellent scorer, passer, and skater, but his major league career didn’t really start until Season 35, when he first played with the Express. He was an important starter for the Express, particularly in Seasons 38-39, when he averaged well over a point per game, (61 points in S37, 99 points in S38, and 85 points in S39) – prior to that, in spite of his minutes, Collier had never really gotten off the ground.

 

Collier peaked in S37, when he received the Most Improved Player award (Dustin Funk Trophy) as well as his first of two All-Star selections – quite a feat for the third-round draft pick. Even though it was one of his rougher seasons for his plus-minus (+3), he managed to create goals on 9.5% of his shots, generated 99 points, and had 10 game-winning goals in that single season.

 

#9 D – Malcolm Spud (BER & NYA/RIG/COL)

Season 30 Dispersal, Round 3

Final TPE: 704

Notable Achievements: 2x Continental Cup (S32-33), 4x All-Star (S35-38), S30 Ryan Sullivan Trophy

 

The second-to-last entry on our list is only our second defenseman thus far – Malcolm Spud. Spud was a defenseman who had a fair bit of longevity in the VHL, playing 72 games in seven seasons for the Americans, the Reign, the Express, and a return campaign with the Reign. His +/- actually stared off fairly strong, as he posted a +40 with the Americans before falling to a -1 with the Reign the following season.

 

Not known for his scoring capabilities (as he was an average shooter and passer at best), Spud was instead known as a hard hitter who spent plenty of minutes in the penalty box. He managed 1,114 hits and 962 shot blocks in his seven pro seasons, but also spent over twelve hours total in the penalty box (741 minutes in all). In the grand scheme of things, he managed 66 total first through third stars in his 504 pro games, and also played in seventy-six playoff games (one of the highest totals on this list). In the playoffs, he also posted plenty of penalty minutes, but more relevantly, he won the Continental Cup twice, with two different teams (New York and Riga).

 

#10 G – Ma’a Nonu (RIG)

Season 15 Dispersal, Round 2 (Pick 11/15)

Final TPE: 493

Notable Achievements: S16 Skylar Rift Trophy, S16 Benoit Devereux Trophy, 5x All-Star (S17-21)

 

Rounding out our list is also one of the earliest entries: Ma’a Nonu. The goalie, like Joey Clarence, also has issues with data surrounding his career with only three seasons on record (from S21-23); the rest appear to be lost to history.

 

Even in the latter part of his career, Nonu played admirably for the Reign, with a 91.4 save percentage in both Seasons 21 and 22 in spite of facing over 1,900 shots per season. He was consistent in spite of his team’s massive change in W/L record, going from 43-16-3 in Season 21 to 24-37-3 in Season 22. He was extraordinarily consistent in his last three seasons, managing 3 shut-outs and a 90+% save percentage in those three seasons – and these weren’t even the best of his career.

 

Nonu is one of the only players on this list to hoist the Skylar Rift (Playoff MVP) and Benoit Devereux (best goalie) trophies, indicative of his dominance coming out of the VHLM. His consistent place on the All-Star team during his prime, from Seasons 17-21, shows that he nearly always outperformed many of his contemporaries. Were there more comprehensive statistics on his career, Nonu could have very easily been higher on this list – but with the little information available on him, that can’t be the case.

Edited September 28, 2015 by Renomitsu

[Renomitsu 934]

Providing Context: Draft Stock

 

At its core, the minor leagues have always been a platform for incoming major league talent to prove their worth; player turnover is incredibly high in the VHLM, and as a consequence, it’s often difficult to judge a General Manager’s worth to a team, as minor league teams can fluctuate wildly in talent from season to season. Equally as frequently, a perfectly good talent can feel “wasted” on a tanking VHLM team because they happen to be the wrong pick at the wrong time.

 

It’s worth noting that this happens to a very limited extent in the VHL – part of being an astute VHL GM is understanding when all of your individual pieces come together to produce a championship-worthy roster. But for players who might only get one shot at the minors to show off their worth, being on the right team producing the right numbers may mean the difference between going in the first round or in garbage time. Take, for example, Sir William Covington III, who publicly expressed his displeasure at being in Bratislava; he’s an unfortunate victim of circumstance who might not have the statistical production to gain the attention of scouts at the end of the season.

 

Fortunately, the Scouting Center rankings tend to rank players based on their raw talent, a quantifiable value that often accurately predicts future success for VHL Entry Draftees. On the other hand, trained points can only tell you so much, especially in as volatile a time as a minor leaguer’s first whole (or partial) season.

 

The League's Fastest Risers

The Scouting Center has followed twenty-five different players from the start of the season, but their list has since swelled to thirty-six as mid-season declares made their intentions apparent. With another seven to eight seasons left in many of these players’ careers, their change in TPE since the start of the season is a solid metric to determine their worth in the draft. While all signs point to Bern’s star winger Zach Parechkin being drafted as the first overall pick, and he’s certainly improving in leaps and bounds, there are some brand-new players that have (at least temporarily) higher per-week TPE gains.

 

A few numbers have been crunched, and after taking out new players’ Rookie Profiles, Biographies, and Training Camps (to measure the weekly gains instead of one-time gains), we’ve determined the fastest-improving players. Let’s highlight a few of the up-and-coming draftees:

 

G Cooper Supernaw, Saskatoon Wild

Total TPE & Change/Wk: 45 / 27

 

Keeper Cooper Supernaw is the new hotness in the VHL, and for good reason – he’s gotten off to a blazing-fast start, with twenty-seven points per SC week he’s been present in the league. Certainly, a small portion of this number can be attributed to the small sample size and doubled media spot scores, but Supernaw looks impressive, even with these factors ignored.

 

While “Superman” hasn’t had terribly much time to develop into a top-flight goalie from an objective perspective, scouts simply must be impressed with how much he has improved since his entry. He has usurped Saskatoon’s former computer starter, and has gradually crept up to the default goalie in statistics: a solid 2.35 GAA, an 87.1% save percentage, and a couple of shut-outs with twenty-seven games under his belt. He’s produced two first star-worthy performances since, outdoing SSK G1 in spite of its 7-game advantage. Fortunately, Supernaw joined a (relatively) surging Saskatoon, and the results seem to facilitate Supernaw’s continued improvement. Even outer space doesn’t seem like a boundary that can hold Supernaw’s upside, and GMs ought to be keeping tabs on the goalie as the weeks go by.

 

D Jeff Hamilton, Bern Royals

Total TPE & Change/Wk: 139 / 16

 

Did you think Brampton rookie Saul Hackett would be the defender on this list? Think again. Although his change per week isn’t quite as explosive as Supernaw’s, Hamilton has one specific advantage over the goalie: consistency. Hamilton, week-in and week-out, has the highest average change of any player that’s been on more than one scouting combine. Part of this is to be expected, as Hamilton is the next in what seems to be a dynasty of excellent VHL players after sibling Phil.

 

On Bern, Jeff’s been putting up incredible numbers: a +59, 76 assists (T-2nd among VHLM players), and 1.15 points/minute (6th among VHLM players), scoring numbers that put him in the top percentage of all players, let alone defensemen in the minors. He trails only Parechkin for points on his team, and his plus/minus is likely the envy of most other draftees in the league. Impressively, he plays the greatest number of minutes per game of any VHLM player at 30.31, a testament to his endurance and raw hockey talent.

 

Bern is arguably the only team that could readily take a series against the European-tops Moscow Red Wolves – they’re within five points of the European top spot, while Oslo sits sixteen points back. In fact, Bern is the only team with a positive win/loss ratio against Moscow (5W-4L), and this lead can be attributed to Bern’s potent offensive output from every skater on the rink, including Hamilton.

 

RW Pete Stockton, Moscow Red Wolves

Total TPE & Change/Wk: 121 / 15

 

It’s always a good sign for a draft class to see players of three different positions at the top of a positive list. While some drafts have a logjam at defenseman or forward, causing many players to experience a precipitous drop in expected draft position, GMs might be a little freer to draft by need instead of by raw talent.

 

Stockton rounds out our top improvers, and is our forward selection. Joining the league starting with the second Scouting Center rankings, he has already proven himself as a potent scorer on a team full of talented players. Moscow has eight players in the top twenty-five for points – and the fact that a relatively new talent like Stockton can hit #24 while on a team that spreads the love so much is impressive, if nothing else.

 

Independent of whether Stockton wins any hardware at the end of the season, his draft stock should be skyrocketing; he may not be at the 200 TPE mark like Zach Parechkin, but he’ll maintain the 80 TPE difference if he keeps up his practice time – making him a potential steal in the S46 Entry Draft, although we’ll have to see if he keeps up the pace in the next few weeks. He may even move up a spot or two on the SC Rankings by the end of the season – making him all that much more valuable. 

Edited October 15, 2015 by Renomitsu