Claimed:Riga: The hero team the VHL deserves

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Riga: The hero team the VHL deserves 

 

 

 

Written by Toast
RIGA,LATVIA — S52 is set to have one of the greatest battles between two teams, and it is all because of free agency.

When news broke that the ‘Helsinki Trio’ player agents all signed their players up to compete with the Wranglers for S52, the league was shocked. The Wranglers have struggled for a few seasons looking to get back to the top of the North American conference, and with the Legion reeling after their three-peat, the free agents saw that there was chance there.

Joining Velvet, Koponen, and Unassisted, Kohler also signed up and immediately turned Calgary into the most fearsome team in the league with many left wondering if it was even worth the time to try competing with the roster they have set to take the ice.

Calgary can’t have everyone though. The Riga Reign realized this and made sure touch base with as many of the free agents as they could. Things really seemed to take a turn for the team when they made a trade to bring on Roberts and Clegane. Soon after, Shawn Muller signed a one-year deal with Riga, joining up with his teammates.

Muller was just the first as Covington was soon to follow and was capped off with Jeff Hamilton. With a bunch of new faces signing up, Riga seems like a legitimate threat to take on Calgary for the Continental Cup this season.

The only issue with these signings and acquisitions is the one-year deals that Riga handed out. With contracts expiring for Maverick, Kronos, Maximoff, and Kopralkov already… adding on another five contracts that expire after this season will mean that GM Steve Smeall will be hard at work all season trying to keep his players on board.

What Riga will need to focus on primarily is taking Europe. With Davos backing down, and Stockholm still rebuilding, the European conference seems to be down to a couple teams now. One is the Cologne Express, who after losing Kohler, will be looking to find a way to challenge for the Championship once again. Helsinki poses another threat, but after kissing out on key free agents, it appears the team will have a rough go of things in S51. This leaves Riga with prime opportunity to take the league by storm.

The Reign will have a fearsome offense featuring some of the brightest and youngest talent in the VHL, but the defense will be left for Hamilton and Kronos to handle assuming that the team cannot find a cheap depth piece to help take some of the load off the team. Of course, this is because of Riga having two starting-caliber goalies hoarding some of the cap.

Riga has the pieces to be the revolution against Calgary, but it’s the small things that may hold them back. Of course, this won’t keep the team from doing whatever they can to get the advantage over the Wranglers. 

The VHL is need of a team to stand up to the evil that has risen in Calgary, and Riga is the team for the entire league to get behind. 

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Riga gonna Rig

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