Claimed: Inside Davos's Slow Start

[CowboyinAmerica 2,911]

 

What's with the Dynamo? 

A slow start may have some fans worried, but the schedule gets easier from here.

 

Almost a quarter of the way through the VHL season, we’ve seen Season 55 go mostly to form. The Meute, Titans and Vikings are really good, the Bears and Express are really bad, and the Legion and Wranglers are having a fun fight for the final North American playoff spot, with both teams doing perhaps a bit better than expected.

 

The final playoff spot in Europe, though, has been where all eyes have been so far this season. Right now, Davos is there, as expected. But, that’s a recent development, and before last night’s OT win against Riga, the Dynamo were actually out of the playoffs, sitting with the third-worst record in the league, only one point ahead of Seattle.

 

For many, Davos was the scrappy underdog pick, perhaps expected to make noise in a conference where some thought Helsinki overachieved and Stockholm continues to get older. Why is this team sitting with only 9 points through 15 games? Here are three stats that tell the story:

 

1. The Rookie Blues

 

Take a look down preseason predictions, and you’ll see two names come up over and over: Rusty Trombone and Takashi Fujimoto. And this isn’t exactly a surprise, given how they performed for the dominant Las Vegas Aces that won the VHLM championship last year, with both on the shortlist of top two-way forwards in the league. With both wingers entering the season right around 300 TPE, a lot of people expected a leap.

 

So far though, it just hasn’t happened. With only 5 goals and 3 assists to his name so far, Trombone sits a mere tied for eighth in total rookie points, behind such luminaries as Lyle Smallwood and JourneyMan. With only 4 goals and 1 assist, meanwhile, Fujimoto doesn’t even make the top ten. A lot of Davos’ projected success was on how these rookies played, but so far, they only serve as a cautionary tale from those who might expect too much, too early from new players.

 

2. You Don’t Have to Turn on the Red Light

 

But it’s not just Trombone and Fujimoto who are having trouble putting the puck in the net; in a sad state of affairs, Trombone is actually the team’s leading goal scorer with 5. As a whole, Davos has only scored 25 goals in 15 games, ahead of only Cologne (21) and Seattle (24) to this point. Part of that issue is scoring being down across the board in recent VHL days, but when your supposed playoff competition in Helsinki and Stockholm has double your goal total, that’s not a good.

 

The issue is, outside of the rookies, I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Shawn Gretzky was supposed to be the do-everything center for the team, but that only includes scoring on occasion – his Scoring rating is only an 80. Both Dotran and Pablo are pass-first defensemen, as is winger Ted Doughty. And nobody else on the team is quite developed enough to be a true difference maker. If the rookies weren’t going to turn it on in the early going, Davos never really had the depth for a second option.

 

3. … but Sunny Skies are Ahead

 

One thing that’s important to remember, though, is that the VHL doesn’t play a uniform schedule. Sure, it will ultimately be balanced, with each team playing every other 8 times over the course of the season, but it doesn’t start that way. That’s how you get an early season where Davos plays Helsinki a ridiculous 8 times in its first 15 games, while playing the Vikings and Americans 2 times a piece as well and the Meute once. The Dynamo acquitted themselves halfway decently as well, going 1-6-1 against Helsinki and beating the Americans once as well.

 

For those of you not counting, though, that means Davos has played the bottom five teams in the league exactly twice – wins over Calgary and Riga (in OT). As more of those bottom-feeder games begin to populate the schedule, I’d expect the points to follow in short order and Davos to make a run up the standings. While Riga has played tough so far, they’ve only played 7 of their 16 games against the top flight teams, and a rapidly improving Davos squad will be tough to beat as well.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Davos isn't just ready for either Helsinki and Stockholm yet, but they're a playoff team anyway. They should be a thing starting from S56.

 

11 minutes ago, CowboyinAmerica said:

Davos never really had the depth for a second option.

 

cause this team is full of depth, no superstar player there.

[Smarch 3,194]

I enjoy the ms but not what it's about 

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

2 hours ago, hedgehog337 said:

Davos isn't just ready for either Helsinki and Stockholm yet, but they're a playoff team anyway. They should be a thing starting from S56.

 

 

cause this team is full of depth, no superstar player there.

no superstar yet. Gretz will be ready as the season goes on and ready for a bigger breakout season next year

[Higgins 3,618]

Playing the tits 8 times :-0