Around the VHL: February 2nd, 2021

[tcookie 675]

Welcome to Around the VHL - S76 Episode 1 - February 2nd, 2021

 

Greetings, VHL fans! S76 is well underway, and oh how many storylines it has brought with it!

 

First of all, it’s the debut season for one of the - if not the - strongest rookie class the VHL has ever seen. The S75 draft was absolutely loaded with talent, and the top players from the S76 draft class  have added even more talent to the group. Rising to the top of the class so far is Red Lite, the first overall pick from S76, who has 13 goals and 30 points in his first 27 games. Cabe McJake is the rookie leader with 14 goals and is second with 29 points - the S75 7th overall pick is the offensive leader of a Riga squad that features a whopping 11 rookies. Even some later-round gems are getting in on the action, such as Isau Damoose and Domenic Gobeil - both 3rd round picks in the S75 draft, Damoose at 38th overall and Gobeil at 46th. They’ve both seamlessly transitioned to the VHL stage, with 29 points and 28 points, respectively.

 

There’s the story of defenseman Matt Thunder, the 34th overall pick in S74, who spent two seasons in the minors before moving up to play a big role on the Riga blueline. Not only has Thunder put up eye-popping numbers with 21 points and 100 hits in 28 games, he’s tied for the league lead with 4 fights, leads the league with 108 PIM, and was even named Riga’s captain for his leadership contributions on and off the ice. As an aside - when you play Riga, you may want to keep an eye out for the little guys: Thunder is a huge physical presence at just 5’9, 160 pounds and Addison McLaren, who’s not been a big factor offensively, sits second in the league with 135 hits at just 5’7, 175 pounds.

 

Linus Zetterstrom (Riga, 27 points in 28 games), Chicken Wing (New York, 26 points in 27 games), Cowboy Prout (New York, 18 points in 27 games, plus 72 blocked shots), and Scotty Kaberle (Toronto, 18 points in 27 games) are the top rookie defensemen from S75. And while some of S76’s top draft picks not named Red Lite have taken some time to adjust (Kristof Welch has 11 points in 27 games, Tom Eagles has 19 points in 27 games, Battre Sandstrom has 12 points in 27 games, and Hulk Hogan Jr. has 15 points in 27 games), you can bet with their talent they’ll be featuring at both ends of the ice in no time. It’s going to be one heck of a Rookie of the Year race in the VHL this year!

 

Scoring is up around the league this season - after a season in which the league leader mustered 107 points and only three players cracked the 100-point barrier, there are 19 players scoring at 100-point clip so far this go around, and Mikko Lahtinen leads the way. He’s on a ridiculous 69 goal, 144 point pace so far (and he’s got 129 hits to boot). While Lahtinen is the league’s premier player so far, Ola Vikingstad isn’t far behind with 50 points in 28 games (a 128-point pace), Roque Davis is on pace for 105 assists and 123 points from the back end, and Andrew Su is putting up a fine encore to last year’s 106-point effort with 48 points through 27 games (also a 128-point pace). It’s always exciting to see players put up big numbers, so it will be fun to watch down the stretch what the superstars of the VHL are able to accomplish.

 

But the latest emerging storyline in the VHL this season involves the Toronto Legion - a good young team on the rise that had hoped to take a step forward and contend this season. Unforeseen circumstances - in the form of a locker-room blowup - have forced the Legion into a step back, although they’ve managed to do alright for themselves in recouping assets. What seemed like a surprising pair of moves to ship off Leo Strauss (after a 71 point rookie season) and John Merrick (after 191 points over his rookie and sophomore campaigns) has since become very understandable. The Legion managed to pull 1st and 3rd round picks in return for Strauss and a 2nd round pick from Seattle - a step up in value after acquiring him for a 2nd round pick just over a season ago. Defenseman Lester Green and a 2nd round pick are the return for Merrick, and while you’d ideally like a better return for a player of Merrick’s talent, word from the organization would seem to indicate a move had to happen. On the hockey side of things, Merrick will enjoy a fresh start in Los Angeles and provide some much needed star power for the Stars as they look to take the next step as an organization. The Stars and Legion both possess intriguing collections of young talent, so this could be a story that’s only just beginning, and a potential rivalry down the road.

 

Two team performances in particular stand out through the first 27/28 games of the VHL season. On one end of the spectrum, the Vancouver Wolves are dominant with just 3 regulation losses and a 21-3-3 record. Jimmy Spyro has provided great goaltending with a 15-2-2 record and 0.921 SV%, they’ve got defense locked down with a top pairing of Griff Manzer and Micah Adrienne while Gabriel Akerstrom and Robin Galante Nilsson provide depth, and on offense, Andrew Su has established himself as one of the scariest players in the league to defend against, while Kevin King, Onde Sandstrom, and Venus Thightrap have all eclipsed the PPG mark themselves so far. On the opposite end, the defending champions in Malmo are barely holding off rookie-laden Riga for the fifth and final playoff spot in the EU, sporting a very disappointing 10-14-3 record through 27 games. The offense from Chris Hylands and Ray Sheilds has been there (41 and 39 points, respectively), but the rest of the team is having a tough time. In Malmo, the championship hangover is real, and the team is sorely missing the presence of now-retired Condor Adrienne on the back end.

 

After a disappointing S75, the Moscow Menace made some moves over the off-season to firmly establish themselves as a contender. They’ve got a 21-6-1 record so far, but will they be able to hit the payoff for moving all-in? The Menace will be the subject of this edition’s feature story.

 

 

S75 wasn’t supposed to play out this way for the Moscow Menace. With superstar Mikko Lahtinen leading the way, the highly-talented Vin Calia as his right-hand man, the off-season pickup of Roque Davis creating a scary top pairing alongside Alex Letang, and two key veterans (talented two-way centre Nate Telker and possible future Hall-of-Fame netminder Raymond Bernard) entering their final seasons, the Menace possessed legitimate championship aspirations.

 

Unfortunately for them, it didn’t quite work out that way. The Menace surprisingly struggled out of the gate; 5-7-1 through 13 games, and consistently found themselves in a battle for playoff position. While they caught fire down the stretch (8-1-2 in their last 11) and snagged a wildcard playoff spot, they were knocked out in the European Conference Finals by Continental Cup-bound Malmo. With the pending retirements of Bernard and Telker, the Menace had decisions to make. “We were at somewhat of a crossroads after the playoffs,” said Menace GM Victor. “We were clearly a step away from being where we wanted to be, but lacked a bit of depth scoring wise. Then with Telker and Bernard retiring, we needed to either replace them or rebuild. With guys like Lahtinen, Davis, and Letang in their primes, that is the time to strike.”

 

So in the off-season leading up to S76, the Menace revamped their roster. In all, six moves were made, though a couple were of minor nature or simply freeing up roster/cap space for the biggest impact deals. Three key trades shaped the roster the Menace would head into S76 with.

 

There was the surprising move of promising sophomore goaltender Rara Rasputin to Seattle, with Jacob Tonn coming back the other way. Two years older than Rasputin, Tonn appeared on the road to a breakout after posting a career-high .915 SV% with Seattle in S75, while Rasputin, highly-touted though he may be, was a little too inexperienced for the win-now objective in Moscow.

 

The Menace added some quality forwards to their lineup in a trade with London, bringing in Jay Jones and Ryan Schwarz for 1st and 3rd round picks, plus a swap of S77 2nd rounders. Schwarz, a highly-touted S74 player who put up just 56 points in his first two seasons, was a player who looked ready to take the next step. Jones, meanwhile, had just seen his role diminish with London and dropped from a 63-point player to a 33-point player; yet stylistically similar to Telker and a talented, reliable player up front. The acquisitions set Moscow up in a position to have two strong forward lines.

 

The biggest move, though, was bringing in Kris Rice from the Seattle Bears in exchange for Calia and a 2nd round pick. Calia was a good player, a 72-point guy in S75 and with a couple of years left. Rice, however, brought over some real star power; a guy who has previously scored 100 points in his career, a three-time 80-point player in Seattle, and a #2 centre behind Lahtinen that could either take some heat off of Moscow’s franchise player or feast on the easier matchups left behind if an opponent decided to focus their defensive efforts on Lahtinen’s lines.

 

“Rice and Tonn had the unenviable task of replacing two franchise legends in Telker and Bernard. I have to say they have exceeded my expectations and we haven’t lost a beat,” says Victor. “That’s in part thanks to the addition of Jones and Schwarz, they are both upgrades on the forwards we sent out after S75 and it’s good to be able to roll 2 nearly equal lines like we have done in our best seasons. We’re working with Jones and Schwarz to make sure to find the right chemistry to bring the best out of them individually, now that the team is clicking as a whole.”

 

So far, so good for the Menace, who sit tied for second in the VHL and tied for first in the EU with a 21-6-1 record (43 points). Lahtinen is in the midst of an incredible season, with 27 goals, 29 assists, and 129 hits in 28 games. Schwarz, spending most of his time on Lahtinen’s wing, has stepped his game up and is a PPG player with 28 points so far - it’s inevitable he sets a new career high in points well before the season’s halfway point. Rice has been the dynamic addition the team was hoping he would be, centering his own line away from Lahtinen but playing with him on the PP and on pace for 103 points on the year himself. Roque Davis has finally been unleashed upon the VHL - himself just 30 points off his career high 28 games into the season - after seasons of solid, yet somewhat underwhelming play for a player of his natural talent.

 

Tonn has only posted a .908 SV% so far (against .917 for Rasputin), and better things will be expected from him the rest of the way. Nevertheless, it’s clear the Menace have turned themselves into a force to be reckoned with. They will face stiff competition from Warsaw and Helsinki in the European Conference, but it’s safe to say they’re among the league’s elite. However, as their GM points out, the real measure of the success of Moscow’s off-season will be what happens when the Continental Cup is awarded at the end of S76. “I think it’s the best group we’ve had since S70 as far as all around talent goes. So far, we’re right about where I was hoping we would be but it’s all about the next weeks - I have full confidence in the team however.”

 

 

Welcome back to Fantasy Corner! It’s been a fun start to S76, with higher scoring around the league meaning higher scores for your fantasy team! Let’s face it, it’s always fun to see some big numbers go up on the board, even if your opponents are putting them up too. So who’s rising to the top of a high-scoring fantasy season so far? Mikko Lahtinen and Ola Vikingstad have been putting up seasons for the ages, and if you’ve been a consistent believer in Roque Davis, you’re finally reaping those rewards - he’s absolutely going off. Let’s take a look at the top-performing players and group leaders so far…

 

 

 

The numbers once again bear out that 1st overall is the best spot to build a winner from, with 6 out of 19 group leaders coming from the #1 pick, but there are a lot of winners coming from the middle of the draft this season too, with 5 from the #3 spot, 3 from the #4 spot, and 3 from the #5 spot. Lahtinen is fantasy’s best player so far this year - the #2 total scorer in a defense-dominated scoring format, he holds a 14.6 point edge on the second best forward, a 24.2 point lead on the third best forward, and is one of just three forwards in the top-26 in overall scoring. Lahtinen was overwhelmingly drafted at #1 overall in the VHFL this year, and every group leader from the #1 pick used it on him. While Lahtinen features on 7 group-leading teams, Vikingstad (8) and Davis (8) are actually the VHFL leaders in that department - both obviously in the midst of phenomenal fantasy seasons themselves, with Vikingstad the second-best forward and Davis the top player overall.

 

Sorry for not having the ADP and % Drafted available this time around -- will have that ready for next time but didn’t get a chance to go through all the groups yet.

 

While I think everything presented in Fantasy Corner is accurate, this is not to be considered official in the event of any discrepancy between my work and results/updates posted by anyone in charge of the VHFL.

 

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Players Mentioned: @Tate @RedSus @Eynhallow @domg5 @Matt thunder @tcookie @chikn @Ledge_and_Dairy @Prout @fromtheinside @Juice @Acydburn  @Greg_Di @Beaviss @Beketov @Dil @Josh @Da_Berr @gregreg @Smarch @Steve @DarkSpyro @Garsh @Poptart @RomanesEuntDomus @Mason @IamMOOSE @fonziGG @BladeMaiden @Hylands @Zetterberg@VinCal @Ricer13 @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @Telkster @Spartan @Victor @MexicanCow123 @Enorama @TTtheT

[Prout 373]

Thanks for mentioning me in this article! Really good work here! Love the content you’ve been pumping out! Thanks @tcookie!!

[Victor 10,536]

Rasputin one of the league's best, you love to see it. Oh wait I traded him away.

 

Great write-up on Moscow

[Ricer13 2,592]

Amazing write up on Moscow! Thanks for the love on Rice! Hope to do the Menace proud in my final season.

[fromtheinside 1,278]

another great read!

 

I've missed the Fantasy Corner!

And the S75 Draft Class is poppin off!!

[animal74 1,606]

Fantastic write-up @tcookie! Stellar format and content!