Claimed: power rankings folks [1/2]

[Tyler 885]

Last season I did a few power rankings and they were some of my longer media spots, so in the interest of writing as many words as I possibly can that no one will actually read, here is a first power ranking of Season 57!

 

 

 

1. Riga Reign

2. Calgary Wranglers

3. Quebec City Meute

4. Helsinki Titans

5. Toronto Legion

6. Seattle Bears

7. New York Americans

8. Cologne Express

9. HC Davos Dynamo

10. Stockholm Vikings

 

 

 

1. Riga is the obvious number one and the far and away favorites to win the whole thing. Riga has an outstanding 35-1-3 record for 73 points, twenty more points than second place Quebec. The team is being led by it's amazing second line with players such as Fredinamijs Krigars and John Locke, once considered depth players at best, both on pace for what appear to be career years. The team has great depth up front and with Season 54 second rounder Slava Aleksei moving to defense this season, the team seems to be willing to do whatever it takes in order to win even at the detriment of their own stats. In net Markus King is having a hall of fame type season with a 35-1-1 record, a .932 save percentage and an amazing 1.4 goals against average. The team is the obvious class of the European Conference and should be the heavy favorites heading in to the playoffs.

 

2. Calgary is a team that still has holes and a lot of time left to fill them. They may be playing a it over their heads so far, but aggressive moves in the off season have let them get to this point. Their GM, tired of mediocrity as well as having to convince some of their players to stick around, traded three first rounders for Shawn Gretzky who is quickly becoming their franchise forward. This player leads the way with 55 points in 38 games, is a plus 28 and is looking to be well worth the price paid. Franchise player Felix Savard is looking like a potential defenseman of the year candidate with a better than point per game stat line while playing solid minutes for the young Wranglers. This might not be Calgary's year, but it is looking like they will be the next powerhouse in the VHL.

 

Calgary is looking like one of the more exciting teams in the league.

 

3. Many people (including me) overrated Quebec heading in to the season. Fresh off a championship they not only rebuilt they seemingly got better in the off season. They are one point ahead of Calgary with 53 points but their goal differential is still behind the Wranglers which puts them behind them in my eyes. I still think Quebec makes it to the finals but it is not as obvious as I had guessed before the season. Lee King Snatch and Diana Maxwell are both looking like solid additions although maybe a little under whelming compared to where expectations were. Quebec is in a position where they have to win now or it may be one of their last chances at it. They aren't getting any younger and their GM is well aware of this. It will be very interesting to see how the team reacts to the pressure that the young teams in their conference are putting on them.

 

4. The Titans are probably Riga's only competition before the finals. They are a good team with a lot of flash, but it seems as if the team is a far cry from where they were when they won back to back championships a few seasons ago. At 51 points they are right in the pack chasing Riga. They are led, as always, by Franchise Cornerstone who has 61 points in 38 games while Rudolph Schmeckeldorf is having another solid season. The big disappointment is the development or  lack of it, of Rudi Ying. A player they traded a first round pick for and only has 24 points in 38 games, and more shockingly, only two goals in that period. Rumors swirled they were trying to move the disgruntled player last season but the price was too high, and it will be interesting to see if they circle back this off season. 

 

5. The Legion made a big move last week adding veteran defenseman Guntis Petenis for a run at the post season. At the time they were behind Seattle, Quebec and Calgary but have since jumped passed the Bears and are sitting in a playoff position. Another young North American team with a solid future ahead for them, the Legion are led by Bo Boeser who has 51 points in 38 games while keeping up a solid plus minus. The team is solid from the net out and if they do make the playoffs will not be an easy tea to beat regardless of who they play. There were some rumors that Roman Sokolov could be on the move but I doubt there's much to that. He may be a veteran player but if the Legion were looking to retool there would have been no reason to trade for Petenis. They paid a small price to add the former defenseman of the year and it should help them keep up with the big boys as the season goes on.

 

the future is bright in Toronto.

 

6. Seattle is another team that made moves to compete this year. They added Peter Quill from Davos for a first round pick and so far it looks like a risky trade. Not that Quill is a bad player at all (in fact I struggled to make the move at first because I did not want to lose another good player) but the draft pick traded, if the Bears miss the playoffs, is going to be a very valuable tool going forward for Davos. It would be a lottery pick giving Davos a 25 percent chance at the top pick in the draft. At the time of writing this, Seattle is only one point back of a playoff spot and, gun to my head, I'd say they make it in. The roster is too good not to so with all due respect to Toronto I think they will likely miss out. The Bears are led by superstar sophomore

Gabriel McAllister who is looking to already be among the leagues best snipers. Peter Quill is looking like a solid complimentary player with 43 points in 38 games, and maybe in retrospect I could have pushed for a better return there. Veteran Fook Yu is having another solid season while goalie mist4ke has had a bit of a slump, but still maintains a .914 save percentage and a 2.49 goals against average this season. Seattle is one of the more interesting teams going forward and it will be very interesting to see what kind of magic is up their sleeve to make the post season this year. 

 

7. The North American Conference this season is pretty remarkable that even the last place team is a solid 40 point team at this stage. New York is 18-15-6 for 42 points. The team is built for the future with rookie sensation Casey Jones looking like a stud and someone you can build your entire team around. Up front Sergei Komarov has 61 points in 39 games and is himself looking to be another rookie sensation. Meanwhile, Takashi Fujimoto is very much a stablizing force up front with 67 points in 39 games and looking like a leader on a young team. Maybe the teams MVP so far has been Ike Arkander though. The goalie has an 18-15-6 record with a .927 save percentage and a 2.57 goals against average. Although it is clear New York won't be making a playoff push, the team is remaining competitive on the backs of their very young players who are laying to their potential so far. 

 

8. Another story of potential is the Cologne Express. Simply due to the limitations of the VHL it becomes obvious the Express are a playoff team even if they probably shouldn't be. The team is 11-25-3 for 25 points but due to their poor conference will easily make the playoffs. Chase Keller is giving the aforementioned Casey Jones a run for his money at the rookie of the year position. Keller has 27 goals, 32 qassists for 59 points while only being a -3 on a poor Express team. If it wasn't obvious before it's blatant now that Keller has real franchise altering potential in Cologne. He is a leader on and off the ice in just his first season in the VHL and will be a mainstay up front for the German team for a long time. The teams other big name rookie is goalie Shawn Brodeur who has an 11-25-3 record so far. He has looked good in big games and has a .913 save percentage and a 3.54 goals against average, although he can hardly be blamed for that. Cologne has two big pieces in a franchise forward and a franchise goalie. The team's rebuild should be quick and painless with some very competent people running things at the top. 

 

The Express have their franchise player.

 

9. It's obviously difficult to look at my own team objectively. Frankly, we have done better than I expected which isn't saying a lot. We've won games I didn't think we had any chance at mostly due to the incredible play of our goalie. Our record is 8-26-5 for 21 points and have flirted with a playoff spot at times, although I think due to our goalies play, @STZ almost deserves a lottery pick from us (New York has Davos' first). Rookie defenseman Ko Kane has been a solid player with 29 points in 39 games as well as 75 penalty minutes, showing that he isn't afraid of defending his teammates. He should continue to develop in to a solid defenseman and be among the better players out of his draft class. Jeff Gow did struggle a bit to begin the year but has turrned it around nicely with 28 points in 39 games, many of those points coming in the last few sims. I have every intention of Gow being a franchise type player and although some teams have already asked about his availability, there is zero intentions or reason to trade him right now. Diego Jokinen has done exactly what was expected of him, solid, stabilizing defense while often playing with CPU players. But the star of the season has been Rhett DeGrath and altough I've had chances to move him out, I don't feel the need to right now. He still has three seasons left and I expect us to be improved pretty drastically by the time those three years are up. My player (Burger King) looks to be at least two years away so DeGrath will get every opportunity to be the starter until he is retired. He has an amazing .935 save percentage and a 2.58 goals against average and, for my money, deserves some MVP consideration.

 

10. Another team built for the future, the Vikings are hoping to get the top pick in the upcoming draft to move forward and forget about this season. With the much anticipated move to Vasteras on hold the team will need to make due in the bigger city for now. Getting Mats Johnsson to return to the league was a solid addition for the Vikings and he should develop in to a draft steal for the team. The player has 17 points in 39 games and as a rookie has been a solid presence for the team. Another rookie on the blueline is Boner who has 14 points but is appearing to be a guy with significant potential to live up to. The franchise has seen better days and it no doubt will in the future as it is in competent hands. 

 

The VHL season is about half way over now and it is clear that there is a massive log jam near the middle of the league. I think Riga is by far the favorite to win, but any of the four North American teams could offer a solid foil to their style of play. Either way, it should be a fun end to the season and an exciting playoff push!

 

[2045 words, for Burger King 4 weeks etc..]

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

good read tyler

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

10 hours ago, Tyler said:

There were some rumors that Roman Sokolov could be on the move but I doubt there's much to that.

 

First I'm hearing of this, haha.

[Tyler 885]

Just now, DollarAndADream said:

First I'm hearing of this, haha.

 

i probably made that up so i could get more words hard to say

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

2 minutes ago, Tyler said:

 

i probably made that up so i could get more words hard to say

Not like it isn't an interesting idea. The rest of the team is younger than him.

[Beketov 9,103]

On 2017-11-02 at 11:00 PM, DollarAndADream said:

Not like it isn't an interesting idea. The rest of the team is younger than him.

Commishes win cups though

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

7 hours ago, Beketov said:

Commishes win cups though

They sure do.

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

Review:

Cool to see these power rankings, knowing how it all ended up at the end of the season. Toronto went up that list quickly.