Season 38 Approaches

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Season 38 Approaches

As the scheduled preseason games come to a close, the Victory Hockey League’s thirty-eighth season is approaching over the horizon. After a competitive S37 resulted in the Toronto Legion winning it all, Season 38 appears to be just as competitive as before. In the North American Conference, the Legion seem to be maintaining their current team, while two huge moves by New York to sign center Wesley Kellinger and Season 37 MVP Tuomas Tukio in free agency seems to have catapulted them to the top contender spot. The Bears sent Godavari Yumalatopinto to the Wranglers in exchange for three draft picks, one of which was the second overall that was used to select top prospect Bruno Wolf. With the departures of Tukio and Kellinger, the retirements of Yuri Grigorenko and Alexander Valiq, and the announcements that Doug Clifford and Tomas Valiq will be retiring at the end of the season, the Quebec City Meute have been left with very few pieces. General Manager Frank Chadwick appears to be heading up a rebuild by selecting goaltender Brock Waldron sixth overall in the draft and by signing center Aksel Thomassen, who would have been eligible for the Season 39 draft.

Meanwhile in Europe, things seem to be moving forward at a much slower pace. No major transactions were made by teams in the European Conference, save for the swapping of draft picks and Cologne’s trade for GIYGAS. The rebuilding Express and Titans made up for eight of the ten first round picks in the recent draft, and with the selections of Vojczek Svoboda and Don Draper at first and third overall, along with the calling up of prospect Jake Wylde, Helsinki seems to have a very defensive team. Cologne, meanwhile, continues to build an impressive pool of prospects by selecting an incredible 10 players in the Season 38 draft, five of which coming from first round picks. Davos, Vasteras, and Riga all meanwhile seem to be maintaining their current positions with little to no changes.