ecn ECN's "VHL Now!" 5th Edition "Can there be more dominance?"

[FrostBeard 2,061]

VHL Now! 5th Edition

 

ECN’s "VHL Now!  is back again this week with a segment called “Can there be more dominance?” in which we will look at the amazing accomplishments by teams and players in VHL this season.

 

Firstly, let's talk about Toronto. Toronto has been on fire since the start of the season as in 26 games played they have achieved amazing 22-2-2 record that puts them 17 points above Calgary Wranglers and Vancouver Wolves who are 2nd and 3rd in North American conference respectively. Interesting that last seasons powerhouse Helsinki is battling against Moscow Menace for the first spot and currently sits with 34 points that is 12 points lower than league-leading Toronto. When we look at Toronto’s success there is a clear way of determining why they are so great – look at the point totals. With a veteran leadership from the amazing Veran Dragomir, who currently sits in first place in points category, with amazing and truly brilliant plays of one of the leading snipers in all VHL this season Rylan Peace they are put on the level of the main contender for Continental Cup. That is not even counting the fact that Toronto has Tzuyu and Oyorra Arroyo who can be considered star players in VHL. With Toronto dominating VHL so heavily, there is a question of whether teams like Helsinki, Moscow, Vancouver and Calgary need to make some trades to improve their rosters by giving away prospects and picks.

 

Helsinki Titans defenceman Sidney Crosby, one of the most interesting players this season that we at ECN overlooked heavily. He has been showing why he truly belongs in Top 3 defenceman talks this season and every year moving forward. Crosby is not only league-leading defenceman, but he is in Top 20 in hits and Top 10 in Shots blocked too. For us, at ECN he is clearly a superstar defenceman that will prove to be a true asset for his Helsinki team in playoffs!

 

Now let us turn to something a bit on the opposite of dominating. Vancouver Wolves has had an interesting season as they have been one of the leading teams offensively and one of the worst in the defensive category. Vancouver Wolves with 75.27% Penalty Kill percentage are dead last in VHL. It is quite interesting as their penalty kill is lead by Rauno Palo and Julius Freeman with Shawn Glade and Jagger Philliefan on the blue line. That penalty kill should be completely destroying opponent chances at scoring on the powerplay, but it seems to be not so. Maybe a trade should be in the consideration as there are quite a few weeker teams that might be interesting in giving away older, more defensively oriented players. We at ECN clearly see both HC Davos Dynamo and Malmo Nighthawks as potential trade partners. Davos player Charlie Paddywagon would be a perfect candidate for the improvement of Vancouver squad as Davos has been struggling this season and looking at their team, it should be clear they are not contenders this season. He is one of the best young defencemen in VHL and will be extremely good for any team that wants to increase their ability to combat high flying offence. Nighthawks player Rusty Shackelford would be another one to look out for as, yes, Nighthawks are a young and promising team, but with how deep the drafts have been last few seasons and considering how many great new defencemen are already in VHLM he could be sent to a contender team for a fairly high price. Rusty would clearly be a very welcome addition to Vancouver or any team in need of a more defensively oriented players.

 

All in all, VHL is full of interesting and neat things you can see on stat sheets and on ice. But that will be it for this weeks VHL Now! ECN is always taking messages and ideas on how to improve our format and our Chief Editor Frostbeard is always online to answer any questions. Be sure to read the next weeks VHL Now! and have fun!

 

Brought to you by Frostbeard Entertainment