Analysing the Expansion teams Part 2/2

[Seabass 593]

Analysing  the Expansion Teams Part 2/2

 

In part 1 I analysed the D.C. Dragons roster and offered insight into how the team members have performed so far this season and what roles some members have filled during the season. I also explained where the team was falling short and where I thought the team would go from this point on and as the title suggests, in part 2 I'll be touching the Prague Phantom's roster this go around. 

 

The Prague Phantoms

 

Unlike the Dragons, who I explained two weeks ago were fully embracing the tanking role to improve their draft stock, the Phantoms have instead tried their best to field at least a somewhat competitive team. Notice that I put an emphasis on the word tried because honestly speaking they did not really succeed in doing so. Yes they ended the season with a better record than the abysmal D.C. Dragons (20-48-3) but their record of 23 wins and 40 losses still suggests that they weren't competitive at all this year. It's a shame considering GM,  @diamond_ace tried his best to field a solid squad acquiring the likes of S67 VHLM top scorer, Zeno Miniti @Zeno defenseman Bert Meyers and goaltender Kolur Bjoernsson to fill out his roster from the get go through trades and signed Don Draper @Infernal and Mountain Thunderfist through Free Agency. He even managed to score himself a draft pick and a solid forward in Blake Laughton @Grape after David Wilcox demanded a trade from the team shortly after the New York American drafted his butt buddy, Frederik Elmebeck @Elmebeck.  Unlike the Dragon's where they left potential roster players down in the minors to dominate the VHLM, the Phantoms decided to use the best players they had available and almost iced a all rookie team and even selected a rookie as their 1st team captain in the likes of Erik Draven. Only Draper, Laughton and Thunderfist had previous VHL experience. Alright enough talk, lets take a look at the typical roster the Phantoms iced this season. 

 

1st Offensive Line ----- LW Don Draper ----- C Scott BigShotty ----- RW Willie Dredge

2nd Offensive Line ----- LW Blake Laughton ----- C Zeno Miniti ----- RW Erik Draven

3rd Offensive Line ----- LW Don Draper ----- C Alex Pearson ----- RW Erik Draven

4th Offensive Line ----- LW Blake Laughton ----- C Alex Pearson ----- RW Willie Dredge

 

1st Defensive Pairing

Wolf Stansson Jr. ----- Seabass Perrin

 

2nd Defensive Pairing

Mountain Thunderfist - Gert B Frobe

 

3rd Defensive Pairing

Wolf Stansson Jr.  - Gert B Frobe

 

4th Defensive Pairing

Mountain Thunderfist - Seabass Perrin

 

Starting Goaltender: Bruce Grimaldi

Backup Goaltender: Kolur Bjoernsson

 

Alright we're going to begin analysing the forward group. The forward lines feature veterans Laughton and Draper taking up the right wing slots and  rookies, Willie Dredge and Erik Draven taking up the left wing slots. The top two lines are centered by the likes of Miniti and BigShotty and the bottom two lines is centered by Alex Pearson. In total the Phantoms are icing 7 different forwards so they definitely had more depth up front compared to the Dragon's group of 4 forwards. It made a hell of a difference when it came to team scoring considering the Phantoms netted 55 more goals than the Dragons for a total of 201 goals. Not too bad for a expansion team considering they even scored more goals than the Calgary Wranglers (190) and came close to matching the goal totals of two other VHL teams, the Toronto Legion (206) and HC Davos (205). The Phantoms scoring was more spread out among teammates compared to the Dragons who relied heavily on Mikko Aaltonen for their offense. Only 16 points separate team scoring leader Miniti who lead with 67points to the 7th best point getter in Laughton so this is a squad that scored by committee. Miniti was in my opinion the team's best player this season as not only did he lead his team in points he had the best plus/minus among the forwards as well showing he could play solid hockey in his own end as well. Captain Draven may have had a slow start to the season but something clicked about halfway through the season and he became the team's best offensive threat in the latter half of the year and was catching up the Miniti's point totals and only ended up 4 points shy of tying (63pts). Draper lead the team in total goals with 31 scoring 15% of the teams total goals and two goals  shy of matching the Dragon's leading goal scorer Aaltonen but he also ended the year a team worst -36 so he definitely needs to improve away from the puck if the Phantoms are to get better next year. 

 

Now looking at the Phantoms goal total of 201 you'd probably think the Phantoms were a pretty competitive team this season, but in reality they weren't. They had the offensive, but their defense and goaltending is what let the team down this season. They conceded a league worst 288 goals against! The defense corps' minute leaders are rookies Stansson Jr. and Seabass Perrin who have been stapled together as the teams top line all year long. Maybe a rookie top pairing wasn't the greatest of ideas as they were a combined -64 in the season. Actually the only experienced defender on the team is Thunderfist and he's the only defender to have a plus/minus better than -25 which shows you the value of experience in this league.  Stansson Jr lead all defenders in scoring with 58 points which is probably the only solid point to take from this year's defense squad. That's actually some really good offensive numbers from a rookie defender and he's destined to be one of the league's elite offensive defenseman in the near future and in my opinion the team's biggest need in order to move forward is an experienced defender to play alongside Stansson Jr.  That's not saying Perrin is a bad defender, he did lead the VHL in blocked shots (201) but he doesn't have the puck skills of a top 2 defender. Stansson Jr. will need a partner that's more offensively gifted in order to maximise on his potential.

 

The team's defenders are not the only ones to blame for the poor defensive showing however as goaltending  was poor but not a complete disaster as it was expected. The team started the season with Bjoernsson between the pipes and he was expected to be the team's starter, but rookie goaltender, Bruce Grimaldi quickly won over his head coach's trust. He ended the year with a 22-31-8 record which doesn't seem that bad for a expansion team's starter. But, the team let in almost 4 goals a game with Grimaldi in net as he finished the season with a save percentage of .894% which is a league worst among starters. Grimaldi though is just a rookie and should progress as his career moves on is what team management is banking on. Bjoernsson on the other hand only won one of his games in net and post a save percentage of .902. Let's just hope that the team management's faith in Grimaldi being the goalie of the future is right for the fans' sake. 

 

That just about does it for this segment. I figure both teams should occupy the bottom two positions in the league's standing next season as both team still need a lot more developement out of their young roster before they get even close to competing. I don't see either team moving on from their respective plans to build around their youth and I wouldn't expect on either team to surprise us by mortgaging on their future for more immediate success via trade. Team owners are preaching patience to the city's fans and asking them to have faith in their process in building a solid contending team. 

 

 

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[Seabass 593]

claiming the second half of this PT.