Helsinki V. Davos Prediction [1/2]

[Tyler 885]

 

Will someone from this series be raising the cup in a few weeks?

 

The VHL playoffs will being shortly with a wild card playoff round between the New York Americans and the Quebec Meute. It goes without saying that the Americans enter the series as heavy favourites and it would be a shock of STHS proportions if Quebec manages to pull it off. As a result I won't spend much time on that series and will instead jump right ahead to the more interesting of the two guaranteed series. Fresh off a loss in the wild card round last year, HC Davos Dynamo are back in a regular post season place this year and will head to Helsinki to take on the Titans. The two teams are pretty evenly matched with Davos looking for their first Continental Cup since Season 38 while Helsinki is just aiming to add to what has become nothing short of a dynasty under Mitch Higgins. 

 

The structure of the two teams is an interesting point of reference to start with. Both teams have six forwards while Davos has four defenseman and the Titans have three. Both have a goalie around the same overall so I think the series really is up in the air.

 

In net, we have Markus King in his final season looking for one last championship to add to his trophy case. He is retiring after this season, which means he is not as good as he was in his prime. Despite that, he remains a 78 overall goalie and gives his team a tiny edge there. Shawn Brodeur has had an eventful career and at one point had real elite potential. Questions are being asked now if he is truly the best goalie Davos can have, but at 77 overall he remains a goalie good enough to win for his team. I give the edge to the Titans in net but it is the slimmest of margins.

 

Talking about the blue line we see that Helsinki is led by one of the best players of his generation Ay Ay Ron. He is more then just an offensive star from the point and is looking to add to his hall of fame career. Peter Quill and Rudolph Schmeckeldorf round out the defense. The two aging players are still decent players but there is an obvious drop off between Ron and his partners. Davos on the other hand is led by the big body bruiser Ko Kane who has become a leader for the young Dynamo team. He may not be Ron's equal at the offensive side of the game, he is probably one of the hardest players in the league to play against and does not give a lot of space for his opponents. The Dynamo added some veteran leadership this season when they traded for two season 54 draftees in Slava Aleksei and Luca Volkov. Aleksei remains a top pairing offensive defender while Volkov is a very good option on the second pairing and penalty kill. Last but not least Adam Warlock is a young player who has a lot of room to grow. For now he is just a second pairing guy the goal is obviously for him to develop in to Kane's partner as early as next season. Despite Helsinki boasting a future hall of famer on the blue line, I think Davos gets the edge here due to the extra depth they have on the blue line.

 

The forwards are another interesting group to look at. Davos is led by Gabriel McCalister who may be the best player in the league on paper and is a surefire MVP candidate for this season. Otherwise they have two Season 59 centreman in Joseph Bassolino and The Charm who lead the first and second line down the middle. Jeff Gow has become a regular 30 goal scorer and a reliable winger for the team despite a slow start to his career. Otherwise depth players like Noel Roux and Otto Axelsson offer a different look and the kind of physical two way play you need to win in this league. The Titans are almost polar opposites in this category because where Davos does well with youth the Titans dominate through experience. Alksei Federov is another MVP candidate in this series and while his career is on the down swing he remains as good as he ever was. Fook Yu is the teams top centre while former Seattle Bear Mattias Forsberg led the team in scoring with almost 120 points. Jack Shepherd led the league in goals and is amazingly almost forgotten about. The Titans have a lot of depth up front and while they may lack a player like McCalister they still can score a lot of goals and should make things difficult for Davos defenseman. I think it is quite clear that the Titans get an edge here due to their depth. Davos will really have to rely on McCalister throughout the series if they want to keep pace with the high flying Titans.

 

The question then becomes who will win? I think this series is really up in the air with both teams having their advantages and disadvantages. Predicting what STHS will do is almost impossible and as a result this is all just guess work and not based on logic. I think the Titans pull it out in six games and while it pains me to suggest as much, I think we're still a year away from where we want to be. I think the key will be the play of McCalister and while it is probably unfair to suggest my teams best player has to be even better, I think he will have to score at least 10 goals if we are to win. I just don't see us having the fire power to match Helsinki unless he has a MVP type of series which everyone knows he is capable of doing. For the Titans, the key will be how Quill and Schmeckeldorf play. If they step up their play it could be a pretty quick series but if they struggle Davos can easily come out on top. 

Edited July 24, 2018 by Tyler

[Tyler 885]

Over 1000 words so using it this week and next

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Davos in 3.

[Ahma 1,467]

DAVOS, BABY!!!!!

[Higgins 3,618]

HELSINKI BECAUSE DAVOS HAS A CHEATER NAMED @Ahma

[Ahma 1,467]

7 hours ago, Higgins said:

HELSINKI BECAUSE DAVOS HAS A CHEATER NAMED @Ahma

nonsense!

[DollarAndADream 3,357]

Review:

Davos, Davos, Davos. Nice to see them win against the Wranglers in the finals. I'm usually a Wranglers supporter, too.