HC Davos Dynamo (4) vs. (1) Malmo Nighthawks - Playoff preview

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

 HC Davos Dynamo (4) vs. (1) Malmo Nighthawks 

At first glance, this series seems like it should go the route of the Nighthawks. However, both teams have been extremely hot as of late and are both entering the postseason playing their best hockey of the season.

 

Offense

Malmo's offense has led the way for them all season, with a league leading 248 goals for during the regular season. Their top forward is offseason FA signing Matt Thompson, who finished with a league leading 60 goals this season, as well as leading the team with 122 points, which also puts him as the leading scorer in the entire league. However he isn't the only stud up front, as the Nighthawks also have Ryan Sullivan Jr (103 points) and Matthew Materazo (62 points) to propel them during their cup run. Their middle forwards in Jack Lynch (53 points) and Trevor van Lagen (54 points) are good enough to provide much needed depth past their top 3.Further down the chart for Malmo things sort of average out, with the S67 first overall pick Phil Marleau (32 points) leading the way for the younger, more depth players on the team. Looking at Davos' forwards, there is much to be desired. Their top forward in Jake Davis (98 points) found himself at fourth overall in scoring in the league, which is great news for Davos. However, outside of Davis, the rest of the forwards haven't been performing as expected. John Madden has a career year, finishing with a personal best of 80 points, and Ryuu Crimson finished with 69 points to round out this first line. Not bad numbers at all, however they really are questioned when facing such an offense-heavy team like Malmo. As for the depth on this team, I must say they may have better depth than Malmo, maybe. Trade deadline acquisition Gritty (53 points) has been paying off in spades for the Dynamo, lighting it up with Katie Warren (56 points) since coming over. Those two have been in sync for a few weeks now and it's scary seeing how fast Warren has improved. Bjorn Scoringsonn (18 points) has half the amount of points than the second to last player on the team (Paddywagon, 36 points) so it's safe to say he hasn't performed as well as he wanted to, but there's still a chance to rebound in the postseason. While Davos does have some nice depth, it's safe to say Malmo has the clear Advantage (hehe) here.

Advantage: Malmo

 

 Defense

As we talked about, offense is kind of Malmo's thing, and it doesn't just stop at the forwards. The team's 4th and 5th place point leaders are both defensemen. Young talent Jerry Garcia (60 points) has been proving himself to be a riser in the league as of late, and his companion was this season's first overall pick Condor Adrienne (56 points) and the two have been on fire lately. Both are proving themselves as top league talent and could find themselves with some hardware soon. On the bottom pairing, Hugh Chan (46 points) and Rusty Shackleford (32 points) have been sorta meh this season, but their numbers aren't terrible. I think the bottom pairing there really needs to step up big time and earn their roles against Davos, who can really bring the heat. On the Dynamo side of things, they are looking fantastic. We talked about how Malmo had the league's best offense and the most goals for, well this might be a shock to you, but Davos actually has the league's best defense, with a league leading 173 goals against this season. All this is due to the work of the fine core they have in Davos. Firstly, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen has proven himself to be the best defenseman in the league this season, scoring 86 points this season, which is good enough for 9th OVERALL in the league. Those are just insane numbers for a defenseman to be putting up. Also picked up at the deadline, Piotr Jerwa (72 points) has been exceeding his expectations so far and is lighting it up with Smitty. Special fact too, Jerwa leads the league in PPG with 17 on the season. They also have nice second pairing support in Elasmobranch Fish (37 points) and Charlie Paddywagon (36 points). While their numbers offensively maybe aren't superstar caliber, it's their defensive play that really solidifies them as great. Both players have eclipsed the 100+ mark in blocked shots, as well as when you take a look at their advanced analytics, their takeaway percentage is out of this world. It's incredibly difficult to score on these guys. Just like how you couldn't overlook Malmo's offense, you CANNOT look past the Davos defense. They are just playing on another level right now and it's tough to beat em.

Advantage: Davos

 

Goaltending

I'm going to make a safe assumption and say that neither team will use their backup in this series, so I'll just be looking at the starters. For Malmo, Michael Johnson had a great season, winning 41 contests in 64 games. He's entering the postseason with a 2.6 GAA and a decent .917 save percentage. While those numbers aren't exactly top of the league, they're pretty respectable. The question is, will that be enough to stop Davos? Speaking of Davos, Finn Davison has had himself the best season of his career. He finished at the top of the league in everything, with an incredible .927 save percentage and a great 2.2 GAA. The real kicker is his shutouts. In a season where we won 37 games, he earned a shutout in 10 of those wins. That's over 25% of his wins coming as a shutout. It's also worth noting that he could be benefitting from his defense being gods, however for the sake of this, you can't ignore those amazing stats

Advantage: Davos

 

Final Thoughts

This is a toss up. This is quite literally when an unstoppable force meets an immovable object. The league's best offense meeting the leagues best defense will be sure to provide some entertainment. The real question is how well the Davos offense with performing against the Malmo defense. I think whoever wins that battle will ultimately win the series

 

Keys to Victory

Davos - Defense needs to play like they did in the regular season and shut down Malmo's offense

Malmo - Need to step up defensively and not allow Davos offense to wake up

 

Predictions

Really too close to call, as it depends on too many variables. No matter the winner, I think it'll either end in 4 or 7.

 

Davos in 7 games

Edited October 18, 2019 by ShawnGlade

[Beaviss 4,956]

3 minutes ago, ShawnGlade said:

 

Keys to Victory

Davos - Must hold down the fort and not let Malmo's offense run up the score. Also, offense needs to wake up

Malmo - Keep Davos offense off the board and find a way to break through their defense and goalie

 

Aint that the keys to winning a hockey game in general?

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

3 minutes ago, Beaviss said:

 

Aint that the keys to winning a hockey game in general?

yeah, but i wanted to emphasize that the real game changer is davos offense vs malmo defense

[Elmebeck 378]

Media Spots?

Edited October 18, 2019 by Elmebeck

[Beketov 8,956]

It’s honestly gonna be a hell of a showdown. Malmo May have the Victory Cup but these two teams aren’t as separated as they appear in paper. I fully expect this will go to at least 6 if not 7 and be ridiculously tight.

 

I have 1.6 PPG in the playoffs so far in my career so hopefully I can keep that kind of pace up and stomp through Davos’ Defense. Gonna be tough though.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

you forgot Malmo's biggest secret weapon. the simmer

@Beketov

[eaglesfan036 4,595]

I dont have good playoff luck against @Beketov lets hope it changes

[Beketov 8,956]

33 minutes ago, TheLastOlympian07 said:

you forgot Malmo's biggest secret weapon. the simmer

@Beketov

 

The question is do I rig a Malmo win for personal gain or a Davos win to avoid suspicion?

[Gustav 6,331]

55 minutes ago, Beketov said:

 

The question is do I rig a Malmo win for personal gain or a Davos win to avoid suspicion?

Either way, you're screwed.

[Beketov 8,956]

5 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

Either way, you're screwed.

Simmer’s curse, I’m always screwed.

[Banackock 7,990]

2 hours ago, Beketov said:

Simmer’s curse, I’m always screwed.

Not if u ask @gorlab

 

huh gor

 

[gorlab 4,321]

I'd be demanding live sims, regardless of work schedule/capability, if I were HC Davos GM. 

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

53 minutes ago, gorlab said:

I'd be demanding live sims, regardless of work schedule/capability, if I were HC Davos GM. 

Obviously I'd greatly prefer it, but i understand if he can't......

 

But plz Bek

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

Why is the policy not to have the other simmer sim if there is a potential conflict of interest? Not that I would really care, I tend to trust people, but it seems like common sense

[Beketov 8,956]

5 hours ago, Mr_Hatter said:

Why is the policy not to have the other simmer sim if there is a potential conflict of interest? Not that I would really care, I tend to trust people, but it seems like common sense

There’s a potential conflict of interest for both of us. I’m in the playoffs with a player, Devise is with a player and a GM. There’s no way to avoid it.

 

Its called trusting your simmers, something most people besides Gorlab are fine with.

[gorlab 4,321]

1 hour ago, Beketov said:

Its called trusting your simmers, something most people besides Gorlab are fine with.

 

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

5 hours ago, Beketov said:

There’s a potential conflict of interest for both of us. I’m in the playoffs with a player, Devise is with a player and a GM. There’s no way to avoid it.

 

Its called trusting your simmers, something most people besides Gorlab are fine with.

Yeah I guess and even if you have "backup simmers" A) that gets complicated, and B) almost anyone who would ever be well-known enough to sim has a player in the VHL and some self interest probably. Oh well. Thanks for all the work you do

[Devise 4,475]

6 hours ago, Beketov said:

There’s a potential conflict of interest for both of us. I’m in the playoffs with a player, Devise is with a player and a GM. There’s no way to avoid it.

 

Its called trusting your simmers, something most people besides Gorlab are fine with.

 

To be fair I did live sim all of last seasons playoffs to avoid issue. 

[Banackock 7,990]

AUALITY MATERIAL SHAWN

 

WELL DONE

 

KEEP IT UP

[eaglesfan036 4,595]

AULITY