Claimed: VHLM Midseason Award Predictions

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Midseason VHLM Awards Predictions

 

A little bit over halfway through the VHLM season, the playoff picture has already come into focus. It’s clear that the Oslo Storm are likely to be the one seed, the Wild and Lynx will face off in the semi-finals, and the Aces and Rush will face off in the Wild Card for the right to face the Storm. While things can certainly change over the next 30 games, it would take a massive shift in the standings or a major trade to shake it up now.

 

What’s more interesting, though, is some of the individual races. Oslo Storm players dominate the league leaderboards, in part because the team as a whole is so strong. Will one of them be able to break out and win MVP, or will voters award a player like Apollo Oho or Gabriel McAllister who has been the primary goal-scorer for their team? Can anybody catch Key Perought for top goalie? And will the top defenseman be a scorer like Raven or Ron or a defensive monster like Gloop?

 

Here’s our best guess how some of those awards will go, along with short explanations for each one.

 

 Regular Season MVP, Most Points, Most Goals – Mattias Forsberg, Oslo Storm

 

The Oslo Storm first line is absolutely deadly; alongside Forsberg, Quill and Laflamme are also among the top four goal scorers in the entire VHLM. However, with his league-leading 39 goals and third-place 46 assists, I believe Forsberg has set himself apart just enough to win the MVP. Especially on a team where goalie play has been spotty, the Storm has needed offense to rocket to the top of the league, and I believe there’s a valid argument that the MVP should be the best player on the best team.

 

While naturally I would like to make an argument for Saskatoon’s Gabriel McAllister—he has double the goals of any other player on the second-place team, after all—a lot will depend on whether he can pick it up even further in the final stretch of the season. If McAllister can make up the six goal difference and beat Forsberg by the end of the season, even if he’s on the second-place team, the narrative might be too strong to deny.

 

 Top Defenseman, Most Assists – Nicodemus Raven, Oslo Storm

 

This isn’t one I would have predicted before the season, but Raven has shown to be much more of a facilitator than anybody would have thought. His 58 assists just barely outpace teammate (and fellow Bears prospect) Xavier Laflamme for tops in the VHLM, and his 68 total points are 16 ahead of his next closest defenseman competitor. I’m not too worried about only having 10 goals on the season, especially when you take into account that he’s top ten in both hits and shots blocked as well with his high defense rating.

 

Ay Ay Ron of Saskatoon may be the only person that challenges Raven here, given that he leads all defensemen with 15 goals. However, I wouldn’t put him as close to Raven currently as, say, McAllister is to Forsberg. Ron would need to turn on the goal scoring jets in particular and be a true second option for the Wild to be considered here; being outscored by Charles Murphy doesn’t look too good when your primary pitch is being a better goal scoring option.

 

 Top Goalie – Key Perought, Ottawa Lynx

 

This one isn’t really even worth discussing – nobody’s going to catch Perought’s .903 save percentage over the final 30 games, especially when his closest competition, Saskatoon’s Brienne O’Tarth, is sitting at .877. The real question here is whether Perought is worth an MVP look, taking a team that has nobody above 16 goals in 42 games at third in the standings. I would argue no, that .903 is a bit too low and that certain offensive players have been a bit too good. But if Perought goes on a tear over the latter part of the season, and particularly adds to that 8 shutout total, I can’t say I’d be surprised to see him in the conversation.

 

 Two-Way Forward – Daring Do, Saskatoon Wild

 

This isn’t an award to forget, particularly because this year it could present an interesting quandary: Do you reward individual stats or total team success with the two-way forward award? If it’s the former, then Apollo Aho is the clear choice. Among physical forwards, Aho stands apart; he’s fifth in the league in goals and sixth in the league in points, while simultaneously sitting eighth total and third among forwards with 117 hits. The downside, of course, is that this hasn’t really helped his team win games, since the Rush are last in the VHLM.

 

I would argue, though, that the voters may take into account team success here, particularly if nobody from the second-place Wild is winning any other regular season awards. First place among forwards in hits is Daring Do of the Wild, with 131. While his goals (15) and total points (30) are nowhere near Aho’s level, being a first line player on a Wild squad with all sorts of different scoring options plays a big role there. There also may be a bit of projection in this selection as well, as Do has worked hard in practice over the season and figures to continue to improve as we get near the end of the season.