Being left out: The DC Dragons story.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

Last time, I was covering Davos and their struggles. Since that article they went on a nice win streak and despite still being 7th in the EU conference, they seems very close to a playoff spot. Although their offense is still very sus so it's hard to say if they can make another big push.

Anyways, today's subject is going to be a different team. Also from different conference. This team is currently on it's 6th season of contention and I'll have to say that so far this team never delivered. They were always somewhere there, but never at the top. Better than Prague, but never an elite team either. It's a sad moment when their most proudest moment came in S71 when they were oh so close to kick eventual champs Seattle out of the playoffs in the NA conference semis, but lost in 7 games. Since then, they already managed to miss the playoffs once as the contender and collect even more conference semis/wild card round losses. A perfect team for the participation award. ''You tried''.

 

 

 

Yes, I'm talking about the DC Dragons team. I mean, @Enorama can always be proud that his team did better than Prague so far, but should this be the most important achievement for a team in the VHL league? Just being better than their expansion counterpart? I don't think so. I noticed that since S71 they were always having problems with the offense. They were having rather pedestrian performance in the front and that obviously affected their cup chances in a bad way. Not to say this is the only reason of their struggles, their netminder Stone Wolski was having a longterm problem with acclimatizing to the pros. But their offense never could cover this weakness. And that's with DC scoring legends like Aaltonen, Graves and Lesieur. In conclusion, their current contention run is very similar to the Americans. Sometimes close to the ultimate prize, sometimes not really at all. At the end of the day they don't have anything to show for.

 

But let's stop concetrating to the past and let's see how are they doing this season.

 

 

New season, same old shit. Instead of being a legitimate threat they are spending all their time in the wildcard spot. And they couldn't even run away from Toronto, the team that wasn't even supposed to make a playoff push at all. In fairness, they have three games in hand. So let's say they can get some points in these games (likely). Still, only a couple of points ahead of the Legion. Not good enough in my books. Like for fucks sake, they are only 4 points ahead of RIGA! A REBUILDING RIGA. Like, cmon son. Let's try to dig deeper to their problems and see what's up with them.

 

 

Offense. Ok, we don't need to dig anywhere at all. I'm just going to show you one number.

 

 

Do you know what is this? This is how many times they have scored so far. Second worst offense in NA conference, 5th worst in whole league. Enough said. It appears that the newfound bromance between LeFlammant nad Dood (with a solid assistanse from Lesieur) in only enough for being stuck at the wildcard spot. The first line is just not working. Even looking at that lineup before even see them playing makes me sad:

- Benny Graves who clearly need a scoring winger for carrying this team faces the problem of having linemates whose playing style isn't suitable for him.

- An ex defenseman Flowers who never had a money to reroll his TPE to a shoot first winger.

- Jared Willis. Uhmmm.....I mean, his build is pretty weak and is not going to do shit even in an openly tanking team. But damn, 4 points in 40 games is just miserable.

And to think, these players are playing in same line. Perhaps the worst first line in this league so far. I'm wondering if the second line was also having problems with chemistry. Eno would've had no choice but to sell his team in this case. Luckliy, there is some hope...ok, I'm not sure.

 

Defense. I mean, only the second line manages to produce a quality offensive game, but defs aren't helping much in this case. Luciano Valentino was having a blast in S73, but heavy regression and personal life problems made him rather a mid tier blue liner. Yet, he is still leading DC's defs in scoring, although 29 points isn't much to talk about. Ricky Johnson has decided to help Wolski (97 blocks, pretty fine stat imo), but he clearly can't do two things once. Ove Dyrdahl who is mimicking earlier Malmo and Prague by being a goon and Philliefan with...a 79 defensive rating? That's a hard no.

 

Stone Wolski. Can't complain about him. His acclimatization period is over and we can see that he managed to adjust to this league pretty nicely. .925 and 4 shutouts is a fine statline and a huge improvement over his previous efforts. It's a shame that most of the team still isn't producing.

 

 

Now that we covered their current performance, what about their future? And this is where things are becoming even more weird...

 

The NA conference itself is more light work than their European counterparts. Which makes it even better for DC (in theory) that we will likely be witnessing a status quo next season. LA and NY are slowly moving towards competition, but they will not be ready in S76. Toronto seems a better option, but their younger defensemans and forward depth will need some seasoning before becoming a legit contender. Seems like the 7th straight contending season in the books? AHA JOKES. Look at their roster. Their main two D's and Flowers are about to retire following this season. Lesieur is regressing even further with having very little banked TPE. Willis...you know. In conclusion, they do have a good goaltending and the offense might produce a last gasp effort, but this is where all the good is coming to an end. Their D core is just not suited for the big plays yet as both Dyrdahl and Philliefan are just too young. Prospect wise, nothing much either. Couple of welfare members (potential fine depth players) and Osman likely moving into the pro league next season. Do I even need to tell you they will need at least one good defenseman to lead the way? But to make things worse, I'm having a trouble to see a good D market next offseason. At this moment the only name that is popping to my head in Cinnamon Block who may be heading to FA if Prague doesn't deliver. But she may extend again and then what? I'll tell you what. Nothing.

 

In conclusion, DC Dragons is in very middle of the pack situation. They're not being a very scary opponent so far. Their future is very vague as the conference itself isn't packed with contenders, but they may not be good enough to contend either. They do have two first round picks though so Enorama has tools to maneuver in the trade market. Either going all in or laying down for a full blown rebuild. One thing is for sure: he can't do something in between if he doesn't wants to follow the Americans' footsteps. Oh wait, NY actually made the NA finals once and almost sqeaked into the finals there. Your turn, DC?

 

That's it and I'm out.

 

Also, just like New York, the Dragons performance deteriorated after losing to Seattle in conference semis in a 7 game thriller. @Banackock, you sick fuck!

 

7/12 - 13/12

14/12 - 20/12

[Beaviss 4,956]

[Enorama 2,030]

 

[bigAL 2,176]

Wow I’ve never dove that deep into my team but yeah, I see it all now. This season is special because we finally have six forwards but with Willis on the top line, do we really?

[hedgehog337 3,483]

58 minutes ago, bigAL said:

Wow I’ve never dove that deep into my team

 

mfw when I'm paying more attention to other team its players themselves. Well, typing anything for TPE

[bigAL 2,176]

26 minutes ago, hedgehog337 said:

 

mfw when I'm paying more attention to other team its players themselves. Well, typing anything for TPE

I'd rather just chalk it up to SimonT doing his thing haha