Claimed:Titans Review Thus Far [Final 6/6]

[Tylar 219]

Titans Review Thus Far

 

The Helsinki Titans franchise have had a couple of hard years in the VHL after going into full rebuild mode rebuilding from scratch. When the Titans knew they were going to be acquiring the promising prospect Aleksi Koponen via the GM Rule at some point gave them the signal to start the rebuild. They acquired some already established talent in Pablo Escabar and Wolfgang Strauss for last season who had an amazing seasons on a lonely Titans team that was awful and kept their young prospects down in the VHLM. Those prospects being Aleksi Koponen, Marcel Faux and Theo Matsikas. But the General Manager had a plan. He had stock piled picks and at the end of the lottery he had the two first picks in a great draft. The Titans rebuild was in full effect and that is what General Manager William Shaw wanted and that’s what he got. The rebuild is now pretty much over and it did not last that long with all the talent they have acquired. The Helsinki Titans started from the bottom and now they are here.

The Titans currently sit with a record of 19-4 which leaves them first in the strong European Conference and on top of the entire VHL. The young Titans squad is full of recent draft picks and veterans the General Manager has acquired like Thomas O’Malley, Brady Stropko and Christoph Klose which he acquired via trade this off-season. These veterans are carrying the Titans offensively right now as Thomas O’Malley leads the team in points with 34 and Stropko close behind with 33 points. These veterans allow the young players like Aleksi Koponen and Marcel Faux to play on the second line as they develop.  The Titans have good depth up front which includes Thomas Duddy who plays on the third line who established himself last season as a good VHL player. The Titans depth upfront makes them stronger as they have a young defense and a rookie goaltender.


Leading the way on defense for the Titans is Pablo Escabar who was simply fantastic last season on the blue line for the Titans and first overall pick Phil Hamilton. Although the Titans defense do not have sexy offensive output thus far they are doing just fine defensively. Although most would probably expect high numbers from a first overall pick but Hamilton is doing fine with his 11 points in 34 games. He has a plus/minus rating of 18 and is still adjusting to the VHL game. Escabar is the leading offensive defenseman for the Titans with 16 points. The Titans defense core also added Theo Matsikas who is also a rookie and forward turned defenseman Souryuu Kaminogi. The Titans needed defensemen and Kaminogi was one of the ones who was able to play defense so he is now playing on the blue line.  This rookie defense unit has done a good job thus far protecting rookie goaltender Greg Clegane. Time will tell if maybe the lack of VHL experience of the Titans blue line will come back to bite them.



Goaltending is seen is one of the most important positions in hockey and the Titans certainly have a good one for the future and now. Greg Clegane was the second overall pick in this past draft and is certainly living up to that as of right now. The rookie has a .922 save percentage and a 2.12 goals against average which is currently the best in the league. His 18-4 record is also fairly impressive for a rookie goaltender.

The mixture of youth and veterans on the Helsinki Titans this year gives them an opportunity to go for a run this season and the next few seasons. The Titans are set up for a long time as they begin to climb back up to the top of the VHL for seasons to come. Once these top prospects get into their prime the Titans could be hard to beat. 

[Victor 10,940]

[ChrisF 105]

Content 3/3 - Thoroughly enjoyed reading this. Really like the status of how the Helsinki Titans have turned their franchise around.

 

Grammar 2/2 - The young Titans squad is full of recent draft picks and veterans the General Manager has acquired like Thomas O’Malley, Brady Stropko and Christoph Klose which he acquired via trade this off-season. How it should've been worded: The young Titans squad are full of recent draft picks and veterans. The General Manager has acquired assets like Thomas O'Malley, Brady Stropko and Christoph Klose via trade this off-season. Other than that, everything else was fine.

 

Appearance 1/1 - Not much to say, nicely done.

 

Final 6/6

[Phil 5,119]

I've said it once, I'll say it again: This season, based on my build, was never going to be an individually successful season for Hamilton. 

 

Though it is my hope that starting next season, the VHL will see what type of player they are going to have to be dealing with for the next 7 seasons. 

 

Nice article. Dat Titan love. Well played sir!!

 

[Kesler 1,514]

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