S71 Future Watch: EU Conference

[Patrik Tallinder 1,087]

 

Welcome back to Future Watch, where we analyse the prospect pools of each VHL team! Last week, we covered the North American Conference. This week, we shift our focus to the European Conference. Without further ado, let’s get to it.

 

 

MALMO NIGHTHAWKS | 6th in EU | 9th Overall

Top Prospect: Gary Neal - S71 2nd Round (21)

 

Unlike North America, every European team has more than one significant prospect. Even the group I have ranked as the weakest in the conference still has three active prospects with VHL upside, which you can never complain about. Malmo’s group is headlined by Gary Neal, a winger who put up an impressive 116 points for Saskatoon this season. Although he does have the occasional hiccup, he earns around 10 TPE most weeks. His 191 TPE suggests that there’s still some work needed to be VHL ready, but he is definitely on track to being a solid player for the Nighthawks. 

 

After tearing up the VHLM in Ottawa this season, Adam Syreck also projects to be a good player for Malmo. His 181 points were second in the league, behind only his teammate, Richard Penisson. Syreck has had some issues with activity lately, but hopefully, with two straight weeks of 7 TPE, he has put those days behind him. Another prospect who has recently put their inactivity behind them is Domonique Williams, acquired this season through trade with Riga. Williams had previously signed with the Reign as an undrafted prospect and immediately went from inactive to a potential VHL player. While his TPE earning has seen some peaks and valleys recently, I think that overall he’s still a pretty exciting prospect.

 

 

PRAGUE PHANTOMS | 5th in EU | 8th Overall

Top Prospect: Woody McPine - S71 3rd Round (35)

 

Like Seattle, Prague didn’t really have anything before the S71 Draft. But they left that draft with two players that would soon prove to be the best possible picks at their respective slots. Goaltender Woody McPine heard his name called in the third round and immediately went to work. His progression has seen him go from a mediocre prospect who would take a few seasons to be ready for the big league, to a potential VHL starter. His TPE earning has been tremendous for quite a while now, and he could find himself as Prague’s backup as soon as next season, with Wahl retiring this offseason. The team’s other pick in the S71 Draft was Jack John, who is steadily earning 6 TPE every week and adding onto an extremely balanced build. His scoring does stand out though, easily being his most prevalent asset. John will take some time to develop but could end up a Phantom if he stays consistent over time.
 

 

MOSCOW MENACE | 4th in EU | 7th Overall

Top Prospect: Aleelee Kiak - S70 2nd Round (15)

 

The reigning champions of the VHL, the Moscow Menace, currently have a great team. But their recent success hasn’t had a negative effect on their prospect pool, which is by no means shallow. Up front they have Aleelee Kiak, who is already VHL ready with 281 TPE. The winger’s season included an outstanding 120 points and 59 goals, which were among the league’s elite. Kiak should be a pretty nice piece for the club moving forward.

 

With back to back picks in the S71 Draft, Moscow selected two defensemen by the names of Gavin Harris and Jason Goeson. The former of the two has struggled with inconsistency lately but displayed a lot of promise not too long ago. He put up a solid 49 points this season, as well as some good defensive numbers. He will need at least one more season of development, but if Harris can get back to the consistency he had before, he could be a vital part of that blueline. Moving on, we have Goeson, who has had an interesting season. Despite showing plenty of growth in his game, his stats took a bit of a dip in comparison to the season prior. In the long run, Goeson could definitely end up as the best of the bunch if he remains on his current trajectory, in which he earns 10-12 TPE a week.

 

 

RIGA REIGN | 3rd in EU | 5th Overall

Top Prospect: Pengu - S71 1st Round (10)

 

Riga’s group is a deep one that contains five active prospects. Nicolas Fomba, a goalie prospect drafted in the third round of the S69 Draft, prepares to take on the backup role for the Reign next season. His save percentage in the VHLM has risen every season since S68, leading up to this season’s 0.900 save percentage. Fomba has been earning around 8-12 TPE per week for over a month now, but even before that his TPE earning wasn’t too bad.

 

Fomba is one of four active third-round picks in Riga’s prospect pool. Two of them, Cassius Gardner and Rich Dickbutt McFudderdudder, were selected in the S71 Draft, seven spots apart. Although Gardner had a brief period of inactivity, he is back to form now and earns at least 8 TPE a week. After putting up 0 points in S70, Gardner had a terrific breakout season with 63 points in 72 games this time around. McFudderdudder has put up great numbers all around for Ottawa this season, more than doubling most of last season’s stats. His TPE earning has been fairly inconsistent lately, but if he can get back to earning roughly 8 TPE per week again, he will be one to watch for sure. The last third-round pick is one who was picked in the S70 Draft. Canadian centre JaredN, or Jared Newman, has progressed steadily so far in his career, increasing his point totals every season with San Diego. His TPE earning ranges from 4 to 10 TPE a week, and if he can get it consistently closer to 10, he could end up in Riga as early as next season.

 

Lastly, we have the team’s top prospect, Pengu. The former first-round pick is now VHL ready and looks to be one of Riga’s core pieces for the future. He regularly earns 14+ TPE a week, though he did have an off week just a couple weeks ago. His 73 assists this season ranked top 10 in the VHLM, and they were accompanied by a really nice total of 44 goals as well. Pengu leads the way for this group, and the others provide depth at each position.

 

 

HELSINKI TITANS | 2nd in EU | 4th Overall

Top Prospect: Vladimir Shaposhnikov - S70 2nd Round (20)

 

Moving on to Helsinki, this team has an unbelievable amount of depth too, but in a very peculiar way. Their prospects generally haven’t been the most active, but are either VHL ready or really close. A perfect example of this would be Joakim Sakic, who sits at 252 TPE, but only earns 2 TPE a week, joined by an occasional 6. Sakic will be ready to make an impact right away, but likely doesn’t have too much upside because he is already in his fourth season since being drafted, and doesn’t have many more seasons to develop before regression hits. Despite this, he will still be a good depth piece for the Titans in the near future.

 

Another player in that same category is forward Jack Russell, who has 248 TPE. Like Sakic, he will play next season and provide immediate depth up front for the big club. Russell earns 6 TPE every week or two and had career highs in points, goals and assists this season. The security of knowing two of their less active prospects will be VHL players is a luxury no other team has.

 

Helsinki really has two wildcards in their system, being Hex Valentine and Ike Bennett. Bennett was a pretty highly regarded prospect and still is, but his activity has really dropped as of late. Being at 242 TPE already, he could be a scary good prospect if he picks it back up. He broke 50 goals and 100 points this season and already has 8 points in the playoffs as well. Also at play here is Hex Valentine, who would be considered a wildcard because of the fact that he has come back this week after a long stretch of inactivity. His 11 TPE this week does inspire a lot of confidence, but only time will tell if he can keep this going. If so, this team has a very enticing goalie prospect on their hands.

 

Now, we move on to the cream of the crop. Selected fourteenth overall in last offseason’s draft, Bob Helminen seems to be on track to make his VHL debut next season, with 220 TPE. He cracked 100 points as well and looks to be a really good prospect for the team in the future. The team’s top prospect, in my opinion, Vladimir Shaposhnikov, went from claiming 6 TPE a week to exceeding that each and every week for two months now. At 260 TPE, he’s ready for the big league, and with over 50 goals in S71, he will provide some quality scoring depth.

 

 

HC DAVOS DYNAMO | 1st in EU | 1st Overall

Top Prospect: Alex Bridges - S70 2nd Round (19)

 

And finally, here we have it: the best prospect pool in the VHL, belonging to Davos. It’s truly remarkable how many elite prospects find themselves in this group, and it took me some time to really decide who the top prospect would be here. I went with Alex Bridges, because of his great forum activity, willingness to pursue jobs and the fact that he has the most TPE here. He definitely seems like one who will have a long, successful career. In terms of earning TPE, he commonly earns around 12 per week and takes advantage of uncapped opportunities as well. Bridges is coming off of a monster VHLM season, in which he put up 135 points and 234 hits.

 

Another prospect fresh off of a fantastic VHLM season is Joakim Bruden, who may have just had a Benoit Devereux Trophy calibre performance in S71. With the combination of Bruden’s 310 TPE and Bridges’ 325 TPE, Davos has two prospects who are not only VHL ready, but who are primed to be quality players as soon as they enter the league. Other than one week in March, he has regularly earned 8-12 TPE per week, and occasionally more. There’s definitely potential for a VHL starter here.

 

Selected with the very next pick after Bruden, was Vin Calia. Calia was a bit of a wildcard in the draft because of how late he joined, but he has panned out in what Davos must’ve considered the ideal scenario when they drafted him. Even having a great deal of ground to make up on all the prospects selected around him, he has already passed a lot of them and is quickly catching up to others. He was top five in points in the regular season and is currently leading the playoffs in points. When everything is all said and done, Calia could easily end up as the best player to come out of this group.

 

Two of the prospects here were undoubtedly steals at their draft slots, and they would be Nikita Kulikovich and Big Chungus. Kulikovich was arguably the top defenseman in the minors this season, and could quite possibly be on Davos in S72. He earns a baseline of 6 TPE a week, but he also takes part in some uncapped opportunities. Chungus was picked in the VHL’s most recent draft and has rapidly surpassed many of those selected above him. Like seemingly every Davos prospect, he also had a tremendous season, with a league-wide third-ranked 143 points. He was also one of only two players to finish with at least a goal per game average in S71. Earning 10-12 TPE a week, he will be a great piece for the Dynamo for now and the future.

 

While they may not have been the steals that the prior two were, there are two more really solid third-round picks here. S70 draftee Jack Feriancek is just about ready to join the big club and almost tripled his previous career-high in points this season with Minnesota. He earns around 8-10 TPE per week as well. Mickey Dickson is another third-round pick who is the definition of consistent. Looking at his weekly TPE earning, it’s tens across the board. He’s still got some work ahead of him before he graduates from the VHLM since he does have just 187 TPE at the moment. Producing at almost a point per game this season, Dickson will soon be an impact player for Davos.

 

There are another pair of players who have been a bit on and off with their activity lately, being King Kruul and Gino Alkamino. Kruul often earns 8 TPE a week, but also tends to miss a fair amount of weeks entirely. Consistency will be key moving forward for him. Alkamino took a massive step forward in terms of his stats this season, but his tendency to go inactive for weeks at a time is a bit concerning. When he is active, he earns 6+ TPE, which is serviceable. Both of these guys could become quality players down the road if they become more consistent.

 

Undrafted S71 prospect Trey Nets was signed by Davos this season and has shown some VHL upside, though it has mainly come in flashes. His numbers in the VHLM took a hit this season, but he could easily bounce back if he keeps progressing. Lastly, we have Brenden Rose. Rose claims practice facility each week, and sometimes he earns some capped TPE to go with it. To date, he hasn’t shown too much upside, but could quickly turn it around if he starts earning more capped TPE on a weekly basis.

 

 

Well, that’s it for this season’s edition of Future Watch! I can’t wait to see these prospects become the next wave of VHL players, and play out their careers. Good luck to all of them!

To follow these prospects for yourself, consider keeping up with the VHLM Weekly Review, written by VSN’s @Mr_Hatter! He, along with the rest of our team, is constantly putting out great content that any member could enjoy. Here’s some of our most recent work:

| Talents Behind The Trophies | VHL Weekly | VSN Radio | VHLM Weekly |

 

Players mentioined: @LittleRiDog @Spade18 @HearnNation67 @GoadenGoalie35 @Grant @BigIrish @Legend0985 @Gscx420 @quanack @DrHexDex @Caboose30 @Bob Helminen @ng1291 @efiug @jhatty8 @Weretarantula @jared @Pengu @Alex Bridges @PadStack @VinCal @Lockdown Defense @Ferda @Jackie4967 @Brewins15 @LefLop @ChaceT @KillaScrilla @btown03

 

[Victor 11,009]

@Grant and @Legend0985 hype

[Ricer13 2,823]

Lots of talented Rush players will be making an impact soon! Exciting to see

[McWolf 3,116]

Davos adding 3 capped guys to the prospect list in the draft. They might be good soon.

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

2 hours ago, Patrik Tallinder said:

To follow these prospects for yourself, consider keeping up with the VHLM Weekly Review, written by VSN’s @Mr_Hatter! He, along with the rest of our team, is constantly putting out great content that any member could enjoy.

 

Cheers man   As long as I actually am staying up to date on putting the content out haha

[Victor 11,009]

38 minutes ago, McWolf said:

Davos adding 3 capped guys to the prospect list in the draft. They might be good soon.

not sure they qualify as prospects then  

[McWolf 3,116]

25 minutes ago, Victor said:

not sure they qualify as prospects then  

True. But this exceptionnal prospect pool + the draftees are gonna be good soon.

[LittleRiDog 17]

Nice I got mentioned, ngl I've never looked at a sim but apparently I'm good

[FrostBeard 2,061]

7 hours ago, LittleRiDog said:

Nice I got mentioned, ngl I've never looked at a sim but apparently I'm good

You are a beast. Malmo will be super happy to have you around!

[KillaScrilla 8]

I just seen this and thank you. I took a break with my dad passing but am back to keep going so watch out for Trey.