VHL Weekly Review: November 23rd, 2020

[tcookie 897]

 

The Victory Sports Network presents . . . AROUND THE VHL

 

 

We are making our way through the early days of the S75 VHL schedule and we have a tightly-packed league so far! While a few rebuilding teams like the Riga Reign, Los Angeles Stars, and New York Americans have fallen back, it’s only really been the London United and Seattle Bears that have truly started to separate themselves from the pack. 11 of the league’s 16 teams are bunched up within 6 points in the standings, and none of those teams have a double-digit goal differential (either positive or negative) either. If this trend continues, we should have some really exciting battles for playoff spots and playoff positioning later on in the season!

 

An expansion team in S73, the United have back-to-back last place finishes in the EU so far in their VHL tenure, but this off-season signalled a change in direction for London. In a busy off-season all around, the United stepped up to the plate and made a few big acquisitions, bringing Hugh Jass in from the New York Americans in exchange for 2nd and 3rd round picks, while adding two huge names in Chad Magnum and Erik Killinger as part of a deal that involved sending their next three 1st round picks (including #2 overall in S75) to Toronto. Combined with Julian Nousiainen stepping his game up - he’s got 17 points in 12 games after a 53-point rookie campaign - the big name acquisitions have been transformative. London leads the EU with a 9-2-1 record, thanks in no small part due to the contributions of Jass (15 points), Killinger (11 points), and Magnum (tied for the team lead with 6 goals and second in the VHL with 69 hits).

 

Malmo and Moscow, both of whom made the playoffs last year and had hopes to contend in S75, are sitting 6th and 7th in the conference. After the big off-season pickup of Roque Davis, Moscow in particular has been surprising in their early-season struggles; they need more from their entire roster, in particular some scoring that doesn’t come from Davis and reigning MVP Mikko Lahtinen (who hasn't quite been as dominant as last year, but has still been very effective so far). Malmo, meanwhile, has turned it around after an 0-4 start and are back up to a .500 record, hoping to move past this early-season blip.

 

It hasn’t been a banner year for either of the defending finalists, either, with the Vancouver Wolves and Helsinki Titans combining for just 12 wins (6 each) in 25 games between them. Both are battling inconsistency between the pipes so far, with Jimmy Spyro (VAN) at just a .902 SV% and Helsinki’s Zamboni Driver sitting at just .907. Both of these netminders are capable of better, so these two teams hope to have those issues resolved organically.

 

On a more positive note, the Warsaw Predators are making an early season impact on the strength of strong goaltending from Ajay Krishna, a VHL sophomore who’s posting a sparkling .946 SV% through 13 games. Two other VHL sophomores - Dakota Lamb and Aloe Dear - have been huge pieces of the Warsaw offense while defenseman Latrell Mitchell, the 3rd overall pick in S72, looks to be well on his way to a breakout season in his fourth year in the league.

 

And remember the Seattle Bears? They’ve won four of the last seven Continental Cup Championships and their core is getting older (and Hulk Hogan and Berocka Sundqvist have been lost to retirement) but don’t be too quick to call curtains on their VHL reign of terror. They may have lost in the first round last season, but early in S75, the Bears look reinvigorated, out to an NA-leading (and VHL-leading) 11-3-0 start. The Seattle Bears are this edition’s feature story.

 

The Victory Sports Network presents . . . FEATURE STORY

 

It’s the S74 post-season. The Toronto Legion have just dispatched the Seattle Bears in the first round of the playoffs. It was a five game series that wasn’t all that close, with the Legion winning the last two games by a combined score of 10-2. Hulk Hogan and Berocka Sundqvist, two career Bears and members of the legendary S67 Seattle draft haul, had just played their final games in the league. For fans in Seattle, it was a disappointment that they weren’t used to feeling.

 

The Bears had won Continental Cups in S68, S69, S71, and S73. Even when they didn’t win the Cup, they were a dominant team with an elite core that had some years ahead of them. But this time, maybe it wasn’t that way. There was young talent here, to be sure - the likes of Timothy Brown, Isabella Campbell, Jacob Tonn, Randy Marsh. But losing two of the VHL’s best defensemen at the same time was going to be hard to overcome, and star forward Kris Rice wasn’t getting any younger either. They’d likely be a good team going forward, but could they be a true contender, or was the window closing on a VHL dynasty? For the first time in a long time, this was a legitimate question. “I was a bit worried because we had lost two legendary defensemen that are irreplaceable,” says Rice today, looking back on the end of the S74 season. “We have new up and comers that have to fill the void, and those are some big shoes to fill.”

 

Bears management had no intention of going away quietly. The VHL off-season was a frenzy, with the Riga rebuild and a massive trade sending Erik Killinger and Chad Magnum out of Toronto. The Bears were one of many teams to take advantage and bolster their lineup, getting the opportunity to add Kyl Oferson in exchange for Rocket and a couple of picks in the very deep S75 draft.

 

Oferson was a huge pickup for the Bears. A member of the S71 draft class, Oferson has four years left, so he’ll be in his prime for the rest of Kris Rice’s career and still competitive as the younger members of the Bears hit their primes. He’s a big-time scorer coming off of 194 points in the past two seasons with Riga. Added to Rice, the developing Brown and Campbell, and Uhtred and Jim Bob, the Bears suddenly possessed possibly the best forward group in the league. It was a perfect fit on paper, and restored some measure of optimism to the fanbase. According to Rice, it’s proven to be a perfect fit in the room, too: “Kyl has been great. He has played mostly second line minutes but the guy plays as if he is a first liner. He fits so well with the Seattle system and with him in our lineup that really makes us have the best top-6 in the league.”

 

As S75 started, the Bears roared out to a 10-1-0 start, and they now lead the VHL with an 11-3-0 record. When you look back, you might ask yourself why there was ever any doubt. These, after all, are the Seattle Bears.

 

Back to that that top-6: Jim Bob leads the league in scoring with 24 points. Uhtred, Rice, Brown, and Oferson can all be found inside the league’s top-8 scorers, all on pace for 98+ point seasons. Meanwhile, Odin Omdahl has stepped up after years of playing behind Sundqvist and Hogan, establishing himself as a top defenseman with 15 points and a league-high 44 blocked shots. Behind Omdahl, there’s a young, developing defense that Rice says is learning on the fly but has been permitted to make mistakes in the Seattle system. “The moves made by the GM to bolster our forward group allows the young defensemen to develop knowing they have a high flying offense that will be able to outscore their mistakes,” he explains. As a last line of defense, Jacob Tonn sports a .921 SV% so far.

 

When you look back at the Bears’ teams that won those first two Cups back in S68 and S69, you can see there’s been a passing of the torch since then. Yet these Bears - this time defined by a high-octane offense, though there’s talent throughout the lineup - have every bit the look of a championship contender once again here in S75, and they believe it too. “The locker room is excited yet humble,” says Rice. “No one is getting ahead of themselves because at any moment we could hit a cold streak. But what has gotten us most fired up is seeing longtime players like (Timothy) Brown and (Jim) Bob finally break through and start producing like the elite players we knew they would turn out to be.”

 

The Victory Sports Network presents . . . FANTASY CORNER

 

The VHL season is back underway and with it, the VHFL! So let’s talk some fantasy. Participants draft a team of 3 forwards, 2 defensemen, and 1 goalie in an effort to compile the highest-scoring roster over the course of the VHL regular season. The VHFL scoring system is as follows:

 

Goals: 2 // Assists: 1 // Hits: 0.2 // Shot Blocks: 0.8
Wins: 1 // Shutouts: 5 // Saves: 0.07

 

This year we saw 21 VHFL groups, most of which are finished or close to finished at press time. In this week’s Fantasy Corner, we’re taking a look at some guys that seem positioned for a breakout season who could be impact players for your fantasy team if you were able to get them. One clarification: when talking about a player’s average draft position (ADP), they were assigned a draft position of 40 for groups in which they were not selected.

 

Valtteri Vaakanainen - F - Helsinki Titans (14% owned, ADP 37.31)
To date, Vaakanainen has only been picked in 14% of VHL groups with an average draft position (ADP)** of 37.31 (25.67 in groups which he’s been selected). Helsinki went to the finals last year and they should be a competitive team again this year, so Vaakanainen is dropping simply because he has yet to put up massive numbers. But he’s off to a hot start with 10 goals and 17 points in 12 games this season. He may not be highly physical, but he has a little bit more of an edge to him than some other popular picks like Patrik Tallinder, Uhtred, and Kyl Oferson. Putting up 2.7 fantasy points per game so far and generally available in the fifth round in drafts that he even gets picked at all, Vaakanainen is giving a big return on investment for those who pick him.

 

Roque Davis - D - Moscow Menace (100% owned, ADP 8.86)
Roque Davis is a phenomenal defenseman, one of the most talented players in the league, and is now en route to Moscow, a team that should score more than Davos did in prior seasons. That may not have materialized so far in S75, but there’s a lot of hockey left to be played. Last year, Davis ranked as defenseman #12 with 77 points, 241 hits, and 131 blocked shots (252 fantasy points overall), and he should be in position to put up similar defensive numbers while boosting his offensive ones this season. Davis is no sleeper pick, going off the board as defenseman #3 and at an ADP of 8.86, but he seems to be in position to have the best season of his career and be well worth the pick.

 

Chris Hylands - F - Malmo Nighthawks (19% owned, ADP 33.29)
Malmo should be a good team this year, and they’ve got a lot of offensive talent. Hylands is a young player, in his 3rd VHL season, who just posted a 95-point season, has upside to do it again, and does have a bit of a physical side to his game (albeit not to the level of the best fantasy players). The physicality removes some of the risk associated with him, and the fact that he’s playing first-line minutes on a good team, has an elite shot, and has elite positioning as well makes him a candidate to post some really big numbers if Malmo gets rolling. What makes him a possible sleeper is that he’s only been picked in 19% of VHFL groups so far - if you need a forward late in your draft, you could probably do a lot worse.

 

Calvin Harvey - G - Riga Reign (0% owned, ADP n/a)
Harvey was projected to be Helsinki’s backup prior to being traded to Riga, so he’s not being picked in fantasy. However, if you’re in a group that’s still going on and need to pick up a goalie late, you might want to consider him. Riga are a rebuilding team, so they’re not going to win a bunch of games and he’s not going to rack up the shutouts, but Harvey is going to face a lot of rubber and at 0.07 points per save, he could be a sneaky high scorer. Riga’s currently facing 39.8 shots a game, so to run some quick math: if Harvey maintains a save percentage of even .910 facing that much rubber, he’ll pick up 165 points in saves alone over a regular number of starts. Throw in 20-25 wins and a couple shutouts, and now you have numbers comparable to the #2 and #3 goalies in fantasy last year. There’s some risk in this pick, though, as Riga might give Sirkants Klamasteris a higher workload than a usual backup.

 

 

Note: for lack of a better title, at this time, I am going with VHL Weekly Review, but this will probably actually be more of a bi-weekly review.

 

Players Mentioned:  @Corco  @okochastar @Peace @TheFlash @Josh @Beketov @Tape-to-Tape @Mrpenguin30 @DarkSpyro @Hooperorama @dlamb @Renomitsu  @dasboot @Berocka @Ricer13 @Banackock @jRuutu @Nykonax  @a_Ferk @leafsman @zepheter @MexicanCow123 @oilmandan @Jubo07 @Hylands

[Ricer13 2,796]

This is fire!

[a_Ferk 766]

I think this is the first time I've ever been mentioned in one of these. My player is finally doing well.

[fromtheinside 1,290]

This writeup is AMAZING! I especially love the fantasy corner stuff... it's like stuff you would find on a DFS site or a Yahoo fantasy site.... and it's something the league hasn't really had covered either. Great first VSN article, the first of many my friend!!!

[mattyIceman 1,213]

@tcookie25 coming to the party with a BANG

[fonziGG 1,068]

 

great job @tcookie25!

[bigAL 2,176]

Holy shit dude this is amazing. I can't believe the stats you have for fantasy. Keep it up!

[Spence King 387]

just curious Lol idk where to find the data but what percentage of leagues have Elsby ? @Jubo07Vaak is on  cant believe how many people passed on this HOF SNIPER