VHL Magazine 272
Davos GM Change
VHL Magazine Edition 272
REILLY O U T O'MAL L EY ' S PO I NT S S3 W R A N G L ER S DRAFT & MO R E!
Moment of the Week With the surprising and sudden departure of long time Davos Dynamo manager Jack Reilly, there’s a new man at the helm of the perennial European powerhouse. Looking somewhat shocked at his sudden rise, Spencer Flammer(pictured above) has taken the reigns of the swiss club and will attempt to develop his own style and roster as he looks to dethrone the Helsinki Titans in the European Conference. Reilly stepped aside after some offseason controversy with VHL management, that saw him unable to be available for Free Agency negotiations and the S47 Player Draft, and after discussions broke down regarding his tenure, the fan favorite tendered his resignation with immediate effect. Flammers team has gotten off to a terrific start going 11-2-1 to lead the European Conference at this early stage of the season.
Lottery
Credits
9-3-3
Advantage
1.5M - Carried Over
Ahma
Molholt
5-4-5
boom
StevenStamkos91
10 TPE - Carried Over
brovy
Solas
6-0-0 3 TPE - Carried Over
CowboyinAmerica
VHL Magazine 272
Rookie Watch In Season 47, we have many promising rookies. At the moment there are total of 14 rookies playing in their specific teams. Some of them are older rookies who have been playing their career so far in the minors, and now they have been called up or signed to the VHL. Odd thing is, that all those 14 rookies are either forwards (10) or defensemen (4). The current rookie class is one of the better sets in a while. At least compared to last season’s set. Specifically Quebec’s rookies are looking very good. They have three rookies who are all considered top rookies. The first pick of the Season 47 Draft John Sleeman, Tom Lincoln and Season 46 8th overall pick Olivia Diamond. All of those players come from a well-known and great Player Agencies. Lincoln is their future number one center, whereas Sleeman is the #1 future defenseman and Diamond looks like a good pairing with Lincoln. But the Quebec City Meute is not doing so well right now, they are dead last in the standings. All they need is a good prospect goalie and they will be a force in to be reckoned in the future. Tom Lincoln. The Quebec City Meute’s future forward corps cornerstone. He comes from Brovy’s Player Agency, which is has produced players like Sergei Brovalenko and Bruno Wolf. Both of them had great careers in the VHL and they were known for their offense. Lincoln looks to continue and succeed the great careers and fame Wolf and
By Ahma
Brovalenko had, but it will take one or more seasons for Lincoln to break out. His first season haven’t started as he and the Quebec team hoped for. If the whole Quebec team improves, we will see Lincolns numbers go up. He is their number one center and logs up 30 minutes of average ice time per game. More than anyone in the team. He has not been that bad offensively so far, but we all know that he can do better. And wants to do better. In 20 games, Lincoln has 5 goals and 9 assists. But his defensive play has been lackluster. -14 and he is winning faceoffs with under 50 faceoff percentage. But you have to remember, this is his first season. He has many seasons to come and lots of improvement to do. While Lincoln has been at least putting up points, the other three hyped Quebec rookies haven’t been doing any good. The team performance really shows up in the youngins playing. Diamond and Sleeman have compiled 4 more points than Lincoln has himself. Diamond has 8 points and Sleeman 10 points. But Sleeman has decent 30 shot blocks and Diamond is Quebec’s most physical player with 71 hits and only 11 hits taken. They are all rookies, who will only improve and they have many good seasons ahead of them. Quebec has their future set now after coming from a tough rebuild. In the next three seasons, you can expect Quebec to be a top team.
By the Numbers By Advantage
105 Get used to it everyone, but I will be covering Thomas O’Malley’s point total all season. Why? Because, if Thomas O’Malley hits 119 points, he will find himself third all-time behind only Scotty Campbell and Mike Szatkowski. At the moment, O’Malley is only on pace for 106 points which would put him fifth all-time but still allow him to hit 900 points (and also the best point producer
of anyone post season ten. However, he has really stepped up his game after a really difficult opening schedule, so if things keep up, I could see O’Malley picking up his pace well enough to find himself third on the all-time list. As of now, O’Malley finds himself tied for fourth in points but it has been a really tight race outside of Bismarck Koenig’s ridiculous seventy point start.
VHL Magazine 272
“He could very well be the standard by which this next era gets compared to.�
1
7
The amount of points separating the Stockholm Vikings and Davos Dynamo from the third and final playoff spot in the European Conference. The Vikings (20-16-2) have been led by the impressive play of the aforementioned Ariel Weinstein, and the tremendous offensive contributions of Lord Karnage, Jody 3 Moons and Severin von Karma. The Dynamo (20-16-1), on the other hand, are predictably stumbling a bit with a 3-7-0 record in their last ten games. They find themselves middle of the pack offensively and defensively with Sinclair having a decent season and both McJustice and Valmount carrying the load up front. With six games remaining between these two teams, it predictably seems likely that these games will be the ones that determine the final result. The Dynamo have won the first two games and have outscored the Vikings six-to-three, but with the way Davos has played lately, you have to wonder if their confidence is still riding high or if they are coming back to earth.
The number of shutouts that Ariel Weinstein has had this season. He currently sits first in the category, with two more than both Hans Wingate and Blake Campbell. While it has been an up and down start to his career for Weinstein, he seems to have found a really nice spot with the Vikings. His .920 save percentage mixed with his good performance on a mediocre team, likely slots him in the race for the Aidan Shaw Trophy for best goaltender. While he perhaps gets a little overlooked in comparison to some of the top goalies, he very well could be the standard by which this next era gets compared to.
Kesler Unfiltered
DOWN
The Calgary Wranglers. What has happened to the Calgary Wranglers? It seems like old age has finally caught up to the Wranglers. The Wranglers over the past few seasons seemed to have been on a downward spiral. Along the way they have collected older and older players as the seasons went on and now find themselves with a very conf licted roster of players that are good but maybe not quite good enough
By brovy
to make up a cup roster. They still have a relatively young core in Tim TebowGow, Bernie Gow and Francis York Morgan but also have some older add-ons like Marcus Hurley and Jaimie Hill. The team only has 13 wins in just over 30 games, they are below 500 and are in a similar position to Stockholm where there really are no players available that they can go trade for to make their team better. Only one player on the Wranglers is above a
VHL Magazine 272
point per game and that is the face of the franchise in TebowGow. Calgary is not in a very good position right now with the likes of them making the playoffs with this very average roster and also having the inability to improve. UP
The New York Americans. After a very eventful off-season the New York Americans are leading the VHL in points almost half way through the season 47 campaign. New York kept the same core of guys like Delicious, Ruutu, Kyanon and Reencarnacion but added some pieces big and small through free agency and trade. One of the biggest names in the VHL Thomas O’Malley decided to move on from Helsinki fresh after winning back to back cups with them and took his services to the big apple. After Nicolas Caprivi not panning out New York was in desperate need of an elite first line center and O’Malley fell right into their laps for a short term fix down the middle. New York was also criticized for not having any real star talents other than Reencarnacion so they went and got another big name in free agency and Lloyd Light. New York has had a young defensive core over the seasons so bringing in a super star talent like Light who is a veteran that can eat big minutes while the kids grow was a perfect fit for the team. New York has an astounding record with 24 wins and only 5 regulation losses and 2 overtime losses this season in 31 games. New York has scored almost double the amount of goals they have let in, they are outscoring
their opponents by almost a goal and a half. New York is looking like a real good team this season that will be more than likely be heading to the finals. DOWN
The Stockholm Vikings. It seems like the Stockholm Vikings are either trending up or trending down. They are almost up to something. Stockholm hasn’t really done a whole lot other than the massive trade they pulled off where they dealt first overall for goaltender Ariel Weinstein. Stockholm was expecting to be in a playoff spot and be in a much better position especially with their current roster. Notable players such as Jody 3 Moons, Severin Von Karma and Lord Karnage are all the regulars who have been a big part of some of the winning seasons the team has had. But it seems like these guys cannot get it done any more. Stockholm is struggling in the weaker of the two conferences, yet still above 500 the team is sitting on the outside looking in. They are only 5 points out but it is going to be tough to make those points up with the strong play of the star players on the Dynamo. Stockholm has the cap space to bring in some true talents to fill out the roster but it seems as if there are really no players like so available. With the strong draft upcoming some may wonder if the Stockholm Vikings will just take the loss on the season and maybe do something similar to what they did last off-season and move the lottery pick for something that can help them now.
VHLM Spotlight By Christmas
The VHLM is typically a league in which we see teams rise themselves up, contend for one or two years, then fall right back into nothingness for a full rebuild. The Ottawa Lynx are starting to defy that idea this season, currently leading the league with 15 wins and 30 points. We all remember how well the Lynx did last season, dominating their way to the cup, and after that we expected with players heading on out the team would ship off the rest of their roster players and start back from scratch. They say no to that idea. The Lynx are as good as they were last season, with a comfortable lead on the Yukon Rush, and are expected to finish tops in the North American Conference once again. Will they be the surefire contender to win it all? That has yet to be decided, as the Oslo Storm and Bern Royals are both having great seasons behind Ottawa. However, they are in a good spot right now and should be expected to be a favorite going into the playoffs. As for the rest of the North American Conference, the Blades failed to start their rebuild last season, knowing that they would not be able to handle the Lynx and their dominant season. They are now starting their rebuild
this season, with 7 wins and last place in the North American Conference. The Yukon Rush have now taken the Blades place at second, and despite having two games in hand on the Rush cannot currently catch up to the Lynx. The Wild, for their part, are right where they were last season, and with two more games played than the Blades could see themselves on the outside looking in very shortly with only one point ahead of Brampton. The European Conference saw a more traditional transition between powerhouse teams. The Red Wolves were the best team in the European Conference, and were big cup contenders. They failed to reach the top, and now are in a rebuilding phase in S47. Funny enough, all the teams in the European Conference have moved up a spot, with the Red Wolves taking the bottom rung on the ladder as it currently stands. Bern is looking like the current favorite to finish tops in the league, with 13 wins and 27 points. However Oslo is right on their tail, with 11 wins and 24 points, as well as a better goal differential. Depending on what players improve over the season we may see some movement between teams in the standings.
VHL Magazine 272
Bratislava, unfortunately, is looking like they are going to be first-round fodder, as they are a sub-.500 team with 8 wins and 9 losses, but are holding on to that final playoff spot because of the ineptitude of the Red Wolves. Their roster is quite thin at the moment and with only two players actually making big contributions to the team there isn’t much they can do at the moment to rise up in the standings.
This season, all things considered, is starting to show a positive trend in the league. We are seeing a bit more parity between teams, and with the way the last few distribution drafts have ended up the VHLM appears to be making changes for the better. Hopefully that is something we will see 5-10 seasons from now as well, but currently it is a good start.
Transaction Central By StevenStamkos91
ALL-T IM E D R A F T T E AM PART 3
Hello everyone, welcome back to another edition of Insider Trading. This week we will look at the Season 3 draft of the Wranglers! The 1st 2 drafts brought the Wranglers 2 Hall of famers in Scott Boulet and Sterling Labatte, could the Wranglers make it 3 HoF’ers in 3 drafts? Let’s find out. In Season 3, Calgary was gearing up for a run at their 2nd straight Continental Cup so they traded away a few of their picks in the Season 3 draft. In fact they didn’t have a pick in the first 2 rounds and only had 2 3rd round picks. So no they didn’t make draft another hall of famer.
(S1) Scott Boulet - (S1) Brad Janssen - (S3) Edward Holm (S1) Reg Vaillancourt (S2) Edward Eldred (S3) Roger Rainville - (S1) Cody Banks (S2) Sterling Labatte - (S1) Shawn Howard (S1) Lucas Smith - (S2) Tommy Brown (S1) Jeremy Lambourghini (S1) Drew Barclay (S2) Joseph Baker *bold indicates new draftee*
VHL Magazine 272
SEASO N 3 , RO U ND 3 , 19TH OV ER A L L : RI G H T WI NG ED W A R D H OL M
Wait what? Edward Holm is the best RW on the Calgary Wranglers through 3 drafts? Well yes that is correct. He was such a steal in the 3rd round of the Season 3 VHL Entry Draft. Outside of a few players selected in the 1st round, the draft was pretty weak overall. Holm though went out and proved to be one of the best Wranglers of all time. He played in 441 games, he scored 142 goals while assisting on 312 for 454 points. Up to Season 22 he was one of 12 players in Wranglers history to break 400 points. Holm also played
in an impressive 58 playoff games proving his worth by scoring 42 points (16 goals, 26 assists). He was very underrated during his career and is one of the forgotten Wrangler greats. S E AS ON 3 , ROUND 3 , 2 1 S T OVE RAL L : CE NT E R ROGE R RAI NVI L L E
Roger Rainville never ended up playing in the VHL and proved sometimes there are two very different types of late round picks in drafts as we see here. Holm is a very underrated Wrangler while Rainville didn’t even suit up for the franchise.
The Beat By CowboyinAmerica
THE BU TTER F LY E F FE CT
“I gotta be honest with you. I am acquiring first overall but I also have a goalie coming in for the future. He isn’t as good as you but I made a promise to this guy that I’d bring him in a while back because he’s probably my successor as GM. Tbh if that promise was never made, I’d prob be drafting you 1st overall.” - Advantage, April 18, 2015 After trading with the Stockholm Vikings for the first overall selection in the Season 43 draft, the New York Americans selected E’Twaun Delicious. This selection was nowhere near a slam dunk at the time, and it looks even worse in retrospect given three of the four picks directly after him (along with teammate Jorma Ruutu) have passed him in TPE. Delicious is a certified bust, and if the Americans had drafted someone like Faux instead, they would have a much more formidable offensive attack. But it gets worse. The top TPE earner at the time was neither Delicious nor Faux. It was Hans Wingate, a goalie that would slide to number three in the draft to the Calgary Wranglers. Wingate would proceed to be a thorn in the side of the Americans, beating them in the playoffs two years in a row, then producing a trade package (Bernie Gow) that would help beat them a third. With two Shaw trophies, a playoff MVP and a championship in four seasons, Wingate
has become a star in the league. And why did the Americans pass on Wingate, you ask? Because of the aforementioned promise to Jericho, the agent for goaltender Jax Barnstormer. It’s no secret that Advantage likely made this promise because of a personal friendship with Jericho, but in doing so, took a major risk. Already mostly inactive at the time with Stockholm (to the point where the Hall of Fame agent would go 11th in the S42 draft), Barnstormer would soon f lame out after a very short lived stint with the Americans. With his f lame out came the necessity to trade assets for the tumultuous Mikaelson, as well as retire defenseman Benjamin Dupont during the team’s championship run so New York could have a goalie of the future. I’ve been waiting to write this article for a little bit, because I was letting the chips fall where they may. However, with Wingate traded from Calgary, Delicious looking inactive for the immediate future, and Advantage no longer the Americans’ GM, it seems that the ultimate ramifications of the decision are about as solidified as they will ever be. So, it’s a good time to explore what would have happened if New York had taken Wingate No. 1 overall, and not kept the promise to Jericho. It’s probably the most interesting “What if?” so far this VHL decade, and the butterf ly effect is massive.
VHL Magazine 272
1. CALG A RY D O E S N ’T W I N
2 . T HE “DE P T H OVE R AL L”
S44 T ITL E, M AY N E VE R
E RA NE VE R BE GI NS
EVEN M A K ES F INALS
Let history show that in the middle of the S42 season, the goalie that will lead Calgary into the future was... Coca Cola. Yes, at that time Bojo was showing a bit of promise, to the point where GM Austin Gow even told Wingate that he would consider passing on him in the draft. Now, by the time draft day rolled around those feelings had obviously changed, but if Wingate had gone No. 1 overall the team might not have had a choice. Assuming that Calgary gets Delicious at Pick 3 (Faux was always going No. 2), the Wranglers probably would have rolled with Cola as their pick of the future. And boy, that would have been a mess. It’s a reasonable assumption that Calgary may have made a deal for Mikaelson pre-S44 once Seattle started selling off. If not, or if the Meute outbid them, the Wranglers don’t win the S44 championship anyway. It’s also a reasonable assumption that Mikaelson would have retired there too anyway, leaving Calgary S.O.L., possibly needing to trade even more assets for a one year Waldron rental. The free agents that Calgary signs over this period, including Karlsson, Koenig and Wylde, aren’t as likely to go to a team in f lux. Pairing Delicious with the also barely active Hyvarinen with two successive lottery picks that fail, meanwhile, could mean that Calgary blows it up and attempts to go a more “traditional” rebuilding route. And this leaves the door wide open in North America.
It’s become a more common refrain in the VHL over the past two or three seasons that depth trumps top TPE, and with the salary cap not budging, having too many players at a max salary level can actually be a hindrance rather than a boon. This line of thinking seems reasonable, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, it was just about three seasons ago when everybody expected the Quebec City Meute, featuring Mikaelson/Waldron, Wylde, Aksel Thomassen, Bruno Wolf, Travis Boychuk and not much else, to run away with the Cup. When they lost to Seattle in S43, it was seen as a f luke. But then, the Meute ran into the Calgary depth buzzsaw and got destroyed in the S44 conference finals. And suddenly it became a trend, and the depth naysayers opened their eyes. With Wingate on a still-building Americans team though, Quebec (especially if Calgary fails to get a goalie) is far and away the best team in the North American Conference. The Meute likely set up an expansion finals rematch with Cologne of Season 42 two seasons later. The Meute may lose that one too, but the narrative isn’t quite the same losing to a high-TPE team that features O’Malley and Koenig as similar stars. Calgary, meanwhile, can’t quite put the pieces together when searching for depth without a goalie, which shines a negative light on that way of building. And even today, we may see teams trying to build with all superstars (think current Riga trading depth for O’Malley) instead of the well-rounded builds of today.
3. LET TH E A M E RI CANS STEA M RO L L IN G BE GI N
So Quebec probably wins North America in S44. But given a Mikaelson forced trade/retirement, or an impending retirement for Waldron, the Meute probably still rebuild before the start of Season 45. And who does that leave at the top of North America? The Wranglers are having the problems mentioned above, and Seattle and Toronto are just entering rebuilds. In that case... hello there, New York. How nice of you to join us. To be fair, a New York team with Wingate actually wouldn’t look all that dissimilar from the New York teams that actually happened. Wingate would be a decent enough standin for S45 Mikaelson, and Campbell is a decent enough stand-in for S46 and S47 Wingate. However, the North American competition in this alternate
universe is such that it’s reasonable to say the Americans would be the favorites in the conference every year between S45 and... well, that’s a good question. The team still likely has Ruutu, Reencarnacion, Dupont, and Kanyon moving forward. While Wingate was likely to leave Calgary in free agency, he’s not skipping town with a young core like that still around. And even when the team runs into cap hell, it still has room to maneuver. In this alternate universe, it’s likely that New York is the North America favorites for four straight seasons, until Seattle or Toronto can be built enough for a fight. And if that happens, who knows what happens in the Finals? That’s why a single promise between two friends is the most interesting VHL “What if?” to me in a long time. Disagree? I want to hear what you think would have happened in the comments.