Claimed:Olsen's S36 Predictions Ballot

[CowboyinAmerica 2,889]

Editor’s Note: This author had previously written a series concerning Karsten Olsen’s disappearance from the VHL, but he’s bored with that particular subject. So for now, he switches gears.

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Seem like it has been a while since you made season predictions? That’s because it has: The last time most VHL members tried to make predictions for the start of the year, the Willis Tower was the tallest building in America, Rob Ford was just some slightly eccentric Toronto mayor, and the Houston Texans were ready to make a Super Bowl run in the NFL. It’s understandable if most of those casting their VHL prediction brackets have lost a step or two.

 

That’s why we’re here to help. Coming in installments over two weeks, we’ll go over some of the key awards up for grabs this year. But it wouldn’t just be enough for this particular author’s prediction: We’ll give a dark horse as well that not many people are talking about but could easily come from nowhere to win the award.

 

Championship - Continental Cup/ Best Regular Season Record - Victory Cup

 

Our Favorite – Quebec City Meute: A bit of a copout selecting the defending champs to defend their title? Perhaps. But there’s a good reason that I believe the Meute could be the first repeat champs since the Dynamo is S24 and S25. Yes, the Meute may have lost Miles Larsson, but they’re not the only contenders from last season to lose key players, as the Titans lost long-time center Brody Hodgson and defenseman Ryan Sullivan, while the Wranglers have lost literally everybody. Especially when gains from the Valiqs, Wesley Kellinger and Doug Clifford are factored in, I don’t see anyone rising up to challenge them immediately.

 

The Dark Horse – Cologne Express: Cologne, Toronto or Seattle could all be in this spot, but Cologne has one distinct advantage over the other two teams: The European Conference is still significantly weaker than the North American Conference this season. Vasteras and Davos still seem to be a year away, and Riga will be about two or three years before they are a major factor once again. And if Helsinki does indeed lose Odin Tordahl to free agency, Cologne could very well be the favorite heading into the season.

 

North America Conference Champion - Devon Marlow-Marta Trophy

 

Our Favorite – Quebec City Meute: We made the case for Quebec City as Continental Cup winner above, and there’s no reason to believe any differently for the Devon Marlow-Marta Trophy. The play of Skylar Rift should be a major factor in how far Quebec City goes this season, and there’s no reason to believe he’ll be anything short of spectacular.

 

The Dark Horse – Toronto Legion: Especially early in the season, before some of the younger players that litter the league are able to build up more of a TPE base, a high-TPE goalie is one of the best weapons a team can wield. For the Legion, it’s a good thing, then, that Remy LeBeau is the highest-TPE goalie in the conference with the retirement of Alexander Labatte. The lessened TPE-earning abilities of Teemu Lehtinen (assuming he re-signs), Nikita Lebedev and Jamie Shelter may hurt them as teams such as Seattle catch up during the regular season, but they could certainly get out to a large enough lead early for it not to matter later.

 

European Conference Champion - Terence Fong Trophy

 

Our Favorite­ – Helsinki Titans: The argument for the Toronto Legion holds here for the Helsinki Titans, except for one key piece: Tuomas Tukio has had even more VHL success than Remy LeBeau. A strong goalie can make up for a lot of deficiencies, especially defensively where the current Weber/Merritt first line pairing looks a like weaker than the Sullivan and Riopel days of yore. Cologne may be a dark horse for the championship, but much of that is based off the team’s ability to generate TPE throughout the season. The high TPE earners of Osbourne, Tukio and Zhumbayev are already there, and stars shine brightest in the playoffs.

 

The Dark Horse – HC Davos Dynamo: Selecting the European Conference and North American Conference champions is always somewhat of a crapshoot. The selection all depends on who can win in a limited sample size, a seven game series. Well, know which team will be earning a potential boatload of TPE throughout the season? Davos. Brovalenko is already there, but don’t be surprised if Moher, Landry and Bentley each move into the top 5 in TPE at their respective positions as the season moves on. It would be a longshot, but Davos has won on longshots before.

 

MVP - Scotty Campbell Trophy

 

Our Favorite – Kameron Taylor: Some may argue that Taylor should be the S35 MVP, but with Wozniak, Rybak and more now on the sidelines permanently, it should be Taylor’s chance to shine. Taylor’s scoring and skating ability speaks for itself, but the reason I’m most high on him as MVP may not be his individual abilities at all. The development of Reggie Dunlop and David Collier as fellow first-line wingers should provide Taylor more set-up opportunities than some of the other top MVP contenders like Brovalenko or Osbourne (if Tordahl doesn’t re-sign) and allow him to score goals on a whim.

 

The Dark Horse – Wesley Kellinger: Yuri Grigorenko has been the focal point of the Quebec offense for each of the past two seasons, and many will believe that he should continue that role this season. But don’t forget – Grigorenko is also in his seventh season, and regression will begin to hit him much harder this year than in years past. Know who’s still only on the upslope of his career, however? Kellinger. He looks to be moving into the top point-producing position on the best team in the league with A. Valiq also on the downslope of his career, and he has a strong cast around his with the two other Valiqs on the top line as well. After not even making the All-Star Game in S35, this could be the year the former #1 overall selection breaks out.

 

Watch out next week for even more predictions before you file your own ballot!

Edited December 24, 2013 by CowboyinAmerica

[Baozi 1,658]

Nice

[Victor 10,940]

Really concise article, I like it!

Might be one of the hardest seasons to predict in terms of individual awards, with so many past winners retiring.

[Kesler 1,514]

Good article

[Doomsday 4,130]

Content: 3/3 - Good, in-depth look at some topics in the VHL for the upcoming season. Bonus points for the kind words you gave Davos.

 

Grammar: 2/2 - Pretty good with the exception of two incredibly nit-picky things.

 

copout = cop-out

longshot = long shot

 

Appearance: 1/1 - Really think that you could've broken up the wall of text with some pictures, but you used colors well so there. One point!

 

Overall: 6/6 - Boom shaka laka!

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