VHLM Playoff Preview

[Matt_O 896]

It's that time of year again, as five VHLM teams will take to the ice for the playoffs. Last year, the second placed Saskatoon Wild made quick work of the cinderella story Ottawa Lynx, who shocked the VHL world by defeating the first placed Yukon Rush in seven games. This year, we see the Yukon Rush heading to the golf course early, as they finished last this year. The defending champion Saskatoon Wild will get another shot at defending their title, but this year it won't be easy. They will have to go through the Oslo Storm in the first round, who massively underachieved this year. They ended up dealing many of their top guys to the three top teams (Halifax, Las Vegas and Ottawa) for picks. However, the Storm still have some solid players, including Matthew Kai and Donat Szita. They also have Sven Hitz but he is only out there to lay people out. They also have Divaani Sohva in net, who is pretty solid. 

 

The Wild are fairly lackluster this year, as they traded away most of their picks from last years draft in an attempt at a championship run (which was successful). They are left with Valeri Morozov as their top guy, and Titus Stone as their top defenseman. This years Saskatoon team is not good, to put it bluntly. This upcoming draft they have a couple first round picks, so next year the Wild will more than likely be better than what they were this year. This Oslo Storm vs Saskatoon Wild playoff matchup is fairly interesting, but if I had to pick a team I say the Wild take game one, but the Storm win games 2 and 3 and win the wild card matchup, and they will get to play Las Vegas in the second round.

 

Now on to the 2v3 series, where the Halifax 21st, with Diljodh, Nathan Mackinnon, and Bolt Vanderhuge, will take on the Ottawa Lynx with Carles Puigdemont and Gritty. Halifax has more high end talent than Ottawa, as there fourth highest scorer (Nathan Mackinnon) has 89 points, which is the same as Ottawas highest scorer, Carles Puigdemont. Halifax also has great depth, with Anton Edvin (78 points) and defenseman Elasmobranch Fish (70 points) leading the charge of secondary scoring. Winger Nikita Flipachyev and defenseman Bald Buy also had notable campaigns for the 21st. While on the Ottawa side of things, the defense core of Brady Stropko Jr, Dallas Jones and Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen is one of the best in the VHLM, and they are also complimented by Evgeni Komarov, who apparently set a new record for most penalty minutes in one season with a whopping 219 penalty minutes. The offense is a well rounded group of guys, with Puigdemont and Gritty as the top two scorers, and guys like Kyson Blake and Shawn Mendes lead the second wave of scoring. Unfortunately for Ottawa, Halifax has better top end scoring as well as better depth when it comes to the offense. But when it comes to defense, I think Ottawa has Halifax beat. With the exception of Bolt Vanderhuge on Halifax, Ottawa has better defenseman when you look at guys and compare them. The key matchup for this series will be the goaltenders: Tyler Smith vs JB Rift. They both had very similar stats, and in the end, I think whichever goalie can play better will give their team the win. While JB Rift is a great goaltender, I'll take Halifax in a hard fought seven games.

 

If we look back at my VHLM season preview, I predicted that the Oslo Storm would finish first in the league, and Las Vegas would be second and they would meet in the finals. Unfortunately for Oslo, they underachieved and dealt many of their skilled players. Now they come into this series against a Las Vegas team that is dripping with talent. Their offense consists of guys like Nathan N (113 points), Matthew Materazo (90 points), Connor McDavid (94 points), and Curtis Gary (86 points). They also have depth peices in Chance Matthews and Orion Slade, who both had more than 50 points this season. Lets not forget Dan Baillie, who had 91 points this year. Rocky LaGaraza and Josh Harris round out the final core pieces of this stacked Las Vegas offense, as the two third liners had 43 and 34 points respectively. And not only are the Aces going to score on you, they have the ability to shut other teams down. The three notable names on the blue line are Eric Parker (102 points), Mitch Matthews (54 points) and Jaggar Philliefan (68 points). They also have an elite two man rotation in net, with Kevin Weekes and Joe Nixon, who have nine shutouts combined and a 2.23 GAA. I see Las Vegas taking this series in five games, they are just so good this year. Better luck next year Oslo.

 

Now, my finals prediction: Halifax vs Las Vegas. This truly should be an incredible series. Unlike last years matchup between the Lynx and the Wild, this one will likely go six or seven games, and will almost certainly not be a sweep. Diljodh and Nathan N were the two highest scorers in the league, while Bolt Vanderhuge and Eric Parker were the two highest scoring defenseman by far, as they both finished with 102 points, 32 points ahead of third place Elasmobranch Fish, who is on Halifax. The Las Vegas defense has the firepower to match the Halifax blue line in terms of scoring chances and points, and the defenses look very similar, as the Halifax 21st top 4 had only six more points than the Las Vegas Aces top 4 did through out the season. This is likely going to be high scoring series though, as the two teams combined had 12 players hit 72 points or more this season. Both defenses are capable of scoring as well, and in the end it could come down to which depth players can step up in the right moments, and which goalie can play better. I would say Chance Matthews, Orion Slade and Rocky LaGarza could seriously be the driving force behind between a strong Halifax team. While on the Halifax side of things, newcomer Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Nikita Flipachyev and Viktor Koslov could be a big factor for the 21st, as those are their primary depth forwards. This will be a great series, and I think Las Vegas will win it in six games. (definitely not biased at all)

 

If there are any mistakes tell me and I'll fix it, this took some time and I may have put in a wrong stat or misspelled words

 

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Claiming week ending on 2/10 and 2/17

 

 

 

 

Edited February 4, 2019 by Matt_O

[Matt_O 896]

Second claim for week ending on 2/17