Claimed:Season 36 Award Predictions Part II

[RomanesEuntDomus 442]

Season 36 Award Predictions Part II

 

[Disclaimer/Note to the grader: Technically this is my Media Spot for next week. Victor allowed me to post it early because it should promote discussion and because the actual awards could already be handed out by the time I got to post it next week. So please don't grade this until next week so I don't have an unfair advantage over everyone else who writes an MS.]

 

This is Part II of my Award Predictions Article. It is a mixture of what I think will happen and how I would vote, I look at five nominees for each award (three for some) and then discuss how I think the voting will go and who will/should be the winner in my opinion. Obviously this is only my opinion so if you have a different one, feel free to share it in the comments so we can get some discussion going . This part features the Stolzschweiger (Top Rookie), Shaw (Top Goalie), Labatte (Top Defenseman) and Campbell (Regular Season MVP) Trophies, part I with the rest of the Awards can be found here: Part I of my article can be found here: http://vhlsim.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/5404-season-36-award-predictions-part-i/

 

Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy
Awarded to the player deemed to be the top rookie in the VHL

Robert Gow III (RIG) – 74 Points, 75 Hits, 73 Shot Blocks

Conner Low (NYA) – 83 Points, 288 Hits, 178 Shot Blocks

Brennan McQueen (RIG) – 63 Points, 371 Hits, 92 Shot Blocks

Xin Xie Xiao (NYA) – 72 Points, 366 Hits, 30 Shot Blocks

Brick Wahl (NYA) – 91.1% Save-Pct, 3.23 GAA, 2 SO

 

The Verdict: This should be a rather easy one even though we had a good class of rookies this season. Brennan McQueen and Xin Xie Xiao should be nominees for the Boulet in their first year in the league, goalie Brick Wahl was a big reason for the unexpected success the New York Americans had this season and Robert Gow III scored over a point per game on a very young Riga Reign squad. But this award can only go to Conner Low of the New York Americans. The rookie blueliner played an absolutely phenomenal season and should have a realistic chance at winning the Labatte Trophy for best Defenseman. He combined great offensive ability with very good defensive awareness and was both one of the league’s best hitters and shot blockers. Low led all rookies with 83 points, which is also good for third among defensemen and there is no doubt that he will end up winning the Stolzschweiger Trophy!

Aidan Shaw Trophy
Awarded to the player deemed to be the top goalie in the VHL

Eggly Bagelface (VAS) – 92.8% Save-Pct, 2.18 GAA, 8 SO

Remy LeBeau (TOR) – 93.0% Save-Pct, 1.80 GAA, 8 SO

Skylar Rift (QUE) – 92.9% Save-Pct, 1.85 GAA, 13 SO

 

The Verdict: The Shaw race this season could end up being more interesting than a lot of people seem to think! For many members Remy LeBeau is already the winner, but I don’t think the decision will be that easy for the voting committee. First of all, let’s keep in mind that this is a regular season award. Even if LeBeau outplays his competition in the playoffs, this should have no impact on the Shaw voting. And the regular season stats for these goalies have been incredibly close. While LeBeau leads the league in both Save Percentage and Goals Against Average, the gap between him and Skylar Rift is tiny, only 0.01% and 0.05 GA respectively. Rift on the other hand has both more wins and more shutouts – based on the stats alone this race is too close to call. I still expect LeBeau to end up on top because he was more important for his team’s success than Rift was for Quebec’s but this one could go either way. Don’t count out Eggly Bagelface though. His stats are almost as good as LeBeau’s and Rift’s and he put them up on a much worse team that he carried all by himself for a big part of the season. The fact that Vasteras missed the playoffs probably put Bagelface out of the race, so this will be decided between LeBeau and Rift. If the Iron Eagles hadn’t choked towards the end of the season though, this could have been Bagelface’s award to lose!

Sterling Labatte Trophy
Awarded to the player deemed to be the top defenseman in the VHL

 

Nikita Lebedev (TOR) – 80 Points, 140 Hits, 131 Shot Blocks

Conner Low (NYA) – 83 Points, 288 Hits, 178 Shot Blocks

Malcom Spud (COL) – 89 Points, 198 Hits, 129 Shot Blocks

Alexander Valiq (QUE) – 95 Points, 202 Hits, 119 Shot Blocks

Willie Weber (HEL) – 80 Points, 207 Hits, 125 Shot Blocks

 

 

The Verdict: A very close race awaits us in the Top-Defenseman category. There are five players nominated but this is actually just a race between three guys: Alexander Valiq, Malcom Spud and Conner Low. Valiq and Spud are a little more offensive minded, while Low concentrates a bit more on the defensive side of the game, although he is still a very good scorer. Valiq is probably the most obvious choice, as he led all defensemen with 95 points, but Spud (89 points) and Low (83) aren’t that far behind. What makes Conner Low’s performance even more impressive is that he is, like mentioned before, a rookie that just played his first season in the VHL. And even without that rookie-bonus: In my opinion Conner Low should win the Labatte Trophy! His point totals were a bit lower than those of Valiq and Spud, but he was the far better player in his own end, clearly beating them in both hits and shot blocks. He is among the league leaders in both categories and there hasn’t been a more well rounded defenseman this past seasons – which is why I think that Conner Low should win the Labatte!

Scotty Campbell Trophy
Awarded to the player deemed the most valuable player during the regular season

Remy LeBeau (TOR) – 93.0% Save-Pct, 1.80 GAA, 8 SO

Conner Low (NYA) – 83 Points, 288 Hits, 178 Shot Blocks

Ethan Osborne (HEL) – 135 Points, 80 Hits, 81 Shot Blocks

Kameron Taylor (COL) – 123 Points, 162 Hits, 27 Shot Blocks

Anatoli Zhumbayev (TOR) – 124 Points, 264 Hits, 46 Shot Blocks

 

The verdict: The three top scorers, the best defenseman and the best goalie. Seems kind of unoriginal? Maybe, but this is how I see it. There is no way Osborne, Taylor or Zhumbayev don’t get nominated for the Campell Trophy so this leaves only two spots, that I decided to fill with the best player from each of the other positions, although Odin Tordahl as another Forward could have made it in just as well. The goalie race was incredible close this season but Remy LeBeau might have been the most valuable player there has been to a team this season. Or was it Kameron Taylor, who carried a rebuilding Cologne Express squad, with no other forward over a point per game, into the playoffs? Rookie sensation Connor Low, the league’s best defenseman, only has an outside shot at the Campbell Trophy but at least deserves a nomination. And the big question regarding the two best scorers of this past season, Ethan Osborne and Anatoli Zhumbayev, is: How much did they feed off each other? Does one of them deserve the MVP award if there were to players on the team that were that close in terms of quality and production? My prediction: Remy LeBeau wins the Scotty Campbell Trophy.

[Smarch 2,943]

Thank you for the kind words sir, good read overall as well!

[Higgins 3,617]

I don't agree with your MVP selection. In previous seasons I thought LeBeau was the MVP just because Toronto wasn't that good of a team aside from the goalie.

 

Now I look at Toronto. 7 players over 500 TPE and 2 at 400 TPE. 6 players at over a point per game and 1 that is only two points off at 70 points. 5 of those players have over 80 and Kjellberg with almost 100 points.

 

That is a ton of depth and scoring which wasn't the case for Toronto in the past. An equal case could be made for Rift as MVP if you want to include LeBeau since both were fairly equal in stats and played on really good teams.

[Higgins 3,617]

Now I think Osborne should win MVP. Helsinki had one of the shallowest line ups in the entire league.

 

Three active forwards, Osborne, Zhumbayev and Young in only her 2nd season wasn't really an impact player yet. The other forwards were fully depreciated and inactive and one of them didn't even have 140 TPE to begin with.

 

On defense Helsinki had Weber who was basically the whole D core with 450 TPE because the other defenseman was Brandon Merritt, fully depreciated with 175 TPE and a call up Owens with 135 TPE. In nets was Tukio with >1000 TPE, but Tukio had his worst season statistically since his rookie season.

 

It's no secret this team had to rely on scoring to win games. Osborne was the biggest factor in this with 65 goals and 70 assists for 135 points. No offense to AZ, he knows I love him, but without Osborne I don't see him having the season he did.

[Victor 10,536]

I am no fan of the top scorer winning MVP if they lead by a good margin but have high scoring teammates. But Baldwin, Wozniak, Chershenko have done it in the past three seasons, so it's only fair Osborne isn't discriminated. LeBeau had better claims in the past but missed the playoffs/got Wozniaked.

[NotAVHLM-GM 1,858]

Thanks for the Scotty Campbell nomination though, it's one award I would be love getting. Like Higgins posted out I should maybe have won this already in previous seasons on a less stacked Toronto team.

 

Keep in mind with voting though that coming into this season hardly anyone would have guessed Toronto as the winner of the Victory Cup, so I still might have contributed to that

[RomanesEuntDomus 442]

 

I don't agree with your MVP selection. In previous seasons I thought LeBeau was the MVP just because Toronto wasn't that good of a team aside from the goalie.

 

Now I look at Toronto. 7 players over 500 TPE and 2 at 400 TPE. 6 players at over a point per game and 1 that is only two points off at 70 points. 5 of those players have over 80 and Kjellberg with almost 100 points.

 

That is a ton of depth and scoring which wasn't the case for Toronto in the past. An equal case could be made for Rift as MVP if you want to include LeBeau since both were fairly equal in stats and played on really good teams.

 

I meant it more like I predict LeBeau to be the winner, not that I necessary think that he should win it. It is a wide open race imho and I'm not even sure who I would vote for if I had a vote - but I would certainly be fine with Osborne winning it. The way I looked at it is this though: LeBeau was the only real superstar on a team that was very balanced, but other than him didn't have any players with high TPE. You are right though that he probably should've had a stronger claim to the trophy in past season than he had this year.

 

You already mentioned the lack of depth on Helsinki, but I'm not sure that this is actually an argument for Osborne. On deep balanced teams, ice-time is spread out more evenly and it gets harder for a player to really dominate scoring. But with Osborne and Zhumbayev basically having to run your Offense alone (with some help from Young and Weber), it isn't really surprising that he gets a ton of points. He is the go-to player and has an awesome linemate in Zhumbayev, something that Taylor for example didn't have and neither did LeBeau, even though he is a goalie.

 

I honestly wouldn't know who to vote for at the moment, it probably could be anyone except Low, who deserves the nomination but isn't in contention to win it yet.

[Baozi 1,635]

Nice

[Higgins 3,617]

I meant it more like I predict LeBeau to be the winner, not that I necessary think that he should win it. It is a wide open race imho and I'm not even sure who I would vote for if I had a vote - but I would certainly be fine with Osborne winning it. The way I looked at it is this though: LeBeau was the only real superstar on a team that was very balanced, but other than him didn't have any players with high TPE. You are right though that he probably should've had a stronger claim to the trophy in past season than he had this year.

 

You already mentioned the lack of depth on Helsinki, but I'm not sure that this is actually an argument for Osborne. On deep balanced teams, ice-time is spread out more evenly and it gets harder for a player to really dominate scoring. But with Osborne and Zhumbayev basically having to run your Offense alone (with some help from Young and Weber), it isn't really surprising that he gets a ton of points. He is the go-to player and has an awesome linemate in Zhumbayev, something that Taylor for example didn't have and neither did LeBeau, even though he is a goalie.

 

I honestly wouldn't know who to vote for at the moment, it probably could be anyone except Low, who deserves the nomination but isn't in contention to win it yet.

 

The argument that has been used against Helsinki players in the past is that our team was stacked and balanced so no one was really a "MVP" despite great individual stats. Toronto had a really good team this season and I think they fall into that category now.

 

Most players get the same amount of ice time in this league ~25-30 minutes so it's not like Osborne could play 60 minutes (I wish!) because we have less depth or anything

[Devise 4,475]

MVP candidates are Taylor, Ethan, Rift and Remy imo. Despite the stats of Zhumbayev I say it goes to Ethan. He made that team. The reason both Rift and Remy belong on that ballot is because their teams both did so well this season and it can be directly linked to how both of them played. Rarely did either of their teams ever win a game when either didn't play good. Thankfully for both teams they both played good quite often. But they only have an argument to be on the ballot. Helsinki isn't even a playoff team without Ethan. 

[Advantage 2,769]

Yeah gotta agree.  If Wozniak puts up 120 points last season, LeBeau would already have a Campbell in his pocket.  Unfortunately, Woz put up one of the best offensive performances in over the last twenty seasons.  This year, I think it is Osborne's to lose.

[Guest]

Not going to really touch on the past stuff, just really going to say my two bits. I don't expect to win but from my thoughts on what MVP means, Cologne would've finished 4th and out of the playoffs.

 

That being said I'm happy with the other candidates.

[philthethrill81 134]

Shouldn't +/- be taken into account for defenseman? As good as Low looks defensively, he was only a +11, which is lower then both me (+44) and Valiq (+37.)

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

A bump so it doesn't get lost in the shuffle.

[Baozi 1,635]

Shouldn't +/- be taken into account for defenseman? As good as Low looks defensively, he was only a +11, which is lower then both me (+44) and Valiq (+37.)

It does but you have to take into account how strong Quebec was compared to New York. It's +11 on a non playoff team with negative score difference.

[Guest Svoboda_3]

Content: 3/3

1,192 words. We got a look at four awards, the nominees and who you thought would win. This was not only extensive, but it consisted of some solid writing, good thought process and a nice depiction of your take. For me who has been away from the league, this was a nice educational Media Spot in that I could see how each player did and what the consensus is around the league.

Grammar: 2/2

Very well done.

 

best Defenseman = Best Defenseman

well rounded = well-rounded

Appearance: 1/1

All the components needed to spruce this up! Although that one Lidstrom picture is massive.

Overall: 6/6

[Smarch 2,943]

Claimed