A Season In Review (Helsinki Titans)

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(Titans players after their Game 6 OT loss to Moscow)

 

And with that, the Helsinki Titans playoff run is over in an abrupt and heartbreaking fashion. For the players, it's time to rest and prepare for next year, but for me, the grind continues. On a lighter note though, this season did have a lot of highs as well, and on that topic of discussion we have a lot to talk about. To wrap up the season, let's review the entire year, all the trades, contracts, records, and post-season disappointment and all, everything. This is an entire season in review after all, so we gotta get into the nitty-gritty for this one.

 

Trades: 

The Titans made a couple of off-season moves before the year started in FA as well as in the trading market. Four trades in total were made in the off-season, with one coming later towards the first couple games of the season. The first of these were acquiring Aston Martin, Hans Gruber and a S71 fourth round pick for a S70 second and S71 third. While Hans Gruber never really did anything for Helsinki, (or for any other team for that matter.) the real prize was in Aston Martin. Aston would end up going on an absolute tear this year, shattering his previously career high in points with a very solid 73 points in 72 games. That on top of him only playing on the second line definitely has him as a legit 2C, but whether he resigns with Helsinki is a whole other question. The second trade involved acquiring rookie Joakim Sakic & a second rounder in S70 for Dan Wilinsky. This trade is okay if you look at it from a "preparing for the future" or "salary dump" point of view. Joakim Sakic looks to be a career welfare getter, but he did just come off a 132 point season with Ottawa in the VHLM, so maybe he'll turn some heads should he make it to the VHL. Dan Wilinsky on the other hand is a grizzled veteran of the league and is looking to get his second Continental Cup before Old Father Time catches up to him. Third trade was a decent roster player swap, with Brian Strong and a S71 coming to Helsinki, while Jordan Tonn and a fourth in S71 got shipped off to Toronto. Honestly not much can be said other than this was just a good deal for both teams, and no one really lost. Fourth trade was a biggy as only 4 days after trading for him, Hans Gruber (as well as a S69 second which became Markus Nygren) got sent off to New York for Nethila Dissanayake, a S69 third rounder (which became Gary Tarantino) and a S71 fourth. To not call Helsinki the winner of this trade would be criminal. Hans Gruber went on to score a WHOPPING 9 points in 72 games. I wish that was an exaggeration. Little can be said other than that's just a rough trade for New York. We'll see how they manage that contract as he's still signed for 3 more years. Last of these trades involved getting Ben Hafkey, a S70 second & fourth from Vancouver for ACL TEAR. It's also very hard to say that Helsinki didn't win this trade. Even though ACL TEAR and the Wolves are moving onto the second round, ACL has more or less hit a brick wall on his development, and even looks to not be signing with any VHL team after this season. Ben Hafkey has matched his production and is still signed through next year, with rumors he'll be swapping to center should Aston Martin not resign. This would be a steal for Helsinki already, but on top of that they got a free second and fourth to go along with it, so they'll take that every day of the week and twice of Tuesday.

 

Contracts:

This shouldn't nearly be as long as the trade sections, but there are still some interesting points to make out of the contracts handed out this last off-season. A grand total of 9 players signed this year, so let's rapid fire through them and get to the post-season section of the article. Julian Borwinn was signed through S70, and this looks to be his last chance at a Cup consider his inevitable retirement at the conclusion of his contract. Coming off a 93 point season this year and leading the VHL in points, one can only hope he has a chance to lift the Cup once again. Virgil Ligriv, the future of Helsinki's goaltending was signed into S72, and as previously mentioned in articles before looks to take over Alexander Pepper's starter role, though living up to the player Pepper has become for Helsinki will be hard. It's safe to say he'll be a good player nonetheless. Jesse Nyman looks unfortunately to be a career VHLM'er, so a contract through S71 is more or less just there to hold onto his rights in case he decides to play in the pros, but don't hold your breath. Jesse Wilson is another case of veteran signing into his retirement in hopes of winning one last cup. With him announcing his retirement at the conclusion of his contract, fingers crossed on this guys getting a solid chance at glory. Gary Tarantino was also signed, and coming off a Bronze medal with Team USA in the WJC, and over a point per game production in the VHLM so far, he's looking to become a very solid player for Helsinki. Daldo, Erik Summers & Jack Russel all signed identical contracts and are the future of Helsinki. With all of them finding regular and post-season success, the future looks bright for the Titans.

 

Regular Season:

Not much can be said about the strong regular season Helsinki put together other than it was full of narratives. Whether it be Alexander Pepper becoming the winningest goalie in Titans history, the emergence of players like Aston Martin, Guillaume Fontenette or Ben Hafkey, or anything else, the Titans had a very good regular season. Tons of winning streaks and strong production by veterans and youth alike had this team finishing third in the league, second among European teams. Expectations were varying depending on who you asked, but the narratives certainly became the main topic of discussion for this team at the conclusion of the year. To start, Alexander Pepper having the most wins in Titan history is huge, and has been covered before. To oversimplify, expect to see his name and jersey number retired and forever in the rafters at the conclusion of his career. With that, Virgil Ligriv had an amazing start to his VHL career with a 7-1 record, .936 sv% and only 1.62 GAA. If this isn't a glimpse of what's to come, I don't know what is. On top of that, the previously mentioned production of Aston Martin surprised many, but with his future in question, we'll stop beating the dead horse that is bringing it up again. Guillaume Fontenette becoming a solid point producer as defenseman this early in his career is going to help pick up where Sidney Crosby and company left off. Ben Hafkey is just getting started too, and if he switches to center watch out for a similar point production explosion like Martin had this year.

 

Playoffs & The Future

Unfortunately, the adrenaline of momentum would wear off as Helsinki came into the playoffs against the underdog Moscow Menace. They would live up to their name as they took Helsinki to six, beating them in OT and securing their spot to the second round. Offensive inconsistency would prove to be their undoing as in multiple games got held to only one or fewer goals despite Moscow coming into the playoffs with the most goals against among playoff teams, and Helsinki having the fourth most goals for in the league. Little can be said other than this loss shocked Titans Nation and put a strain on the morale of older players, who may exercise options to go onto contenders should Helsinki enter a rebuild this year. Personally, I think the time of Helsinki making deep playoff runs is nearing a temporary end as veterans will only be declining from here on out, and the youth isn't ready to take over the positions the legends have settled themselves into over the years. That's why I suggested a retool for a strong push this off-season, because I doubt many players want to actually leave the team that's given them the opportunities Helsinki has given them, not to mention they're still a strong team at it's core. I do believe though that this team is in excellent hands, both managerially and on the ice, and whether the answers come now or later, this team is going to come back strong and hungry for a title, for themselves and all of Titans Nation that's been wanting more success from this very good team. Let's Go Titans!

 

For Titans Nation, reporting from Helsinki, this is Marcus Svedberg.

 

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1,511 words, claiming for next three weeks.

Edited December 31, 2019 by McLovin

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