The new faces in Riga

[Cxsquared 455]

In season 69, Riga led the European conference in points and managed to make it to the Continental Cup finals. With such an impressive performance. Many are wondering if Riga can pull it off again and make it back to the Continental Cup finals. It seems like Riga isn't going all-in just yet, but they've made some big moves in the off-season. Riga has also pulled up a promising VHLM player. Today I'm going to take a look at the new players arriving in Riga for season 70. We'll see who is going to make the biggest impact and who will hopefully make an impact in the long term.

 

Aston Martin | @Sullvino | C | 556 TPE

 

Aston Martin came to Riga through a trade with Helsinki. Martin is a quick skating forward. It seems that Martin will probably become a depth center for Riga and will hopefully stay with Riga for a good number of seasons. They don't seem to be growing, but hopefully they can continue to put up decent numbers these season and more seasons to come.

 

 ACL TEAR | @Quik | RW | 597 TPE 

 

TEAR comes to Riga from Vancouver. Another player who doesn't seem to be growing but has potential to shore up forward depth for at least a season or two. ACL TEAR seems to be more defensively minded which will prove useful for the Riga penalty kill. If a miracle happens we might even see some growth out of ACL TEAR, but at this point it's highly unlikely to happen. One can hope though.

 

 Finn Davison | @Poptart | G | 1196 TPE

 

Probably the most interesting player acquired through a trade this off-season and easily the biggest star coming to Riga. Finn comes to Riga from Moscow after having a decent season with a 0.919 sv%. Davison currently has a contract of 5 million this season which matches Riga's current goaltender Kallis Kriketers. Riga doesn't have the cap space for two goalies of this capability so it's going to be a battle to see who wins the starting spot. This situation is made even more interesting considering Kriketers just came off an amazing season with Riga. It's clear both goalies won't last long in Riga but it's currently unclear who will ultimately stay.

 

Patrik Tallinder | @Patrik Tallinder | LW | 417 TPE

 

The lone rookie on the list. Last season Tallinder helped lead the Mississauga Hounds to the VHLM finals and put up a massive 127 points in the regular season. This was actually Tallinder's second season with the Hounds. In their first season, Tallinder played with current Riga defenseman Guy Sasakamoose. Hopefully we'll see the two rekindle some of their previous teamwork. To me, Tallinder has the biggest chance at becoming the next Riga star. I'd put my money on Patrik Tallinder picking up a Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy for rookie of the season.

 

Ultimately the season 70 Riga team won't be quite as strong as season 69 considering they lost both Elias Dahlberg and Rauno Palo. While the team lacks star power, they have plenty of young prospects who could lead the team in the future.