For virtual leagues like ours, the next couple of days are going to be nervous ones because many prospects are going to turn into players with attributes. In Helsinki, which should get not one, not two, but three young stars, the partying has already begun.
Some players will have great PO ratings. Matthew Barzal scored 85 points for the Islanders as a 20-year-old. In the EURO League, he is Lisbon’s property and we should all be careful not to place any important papers in front of Bryan Camara because he has been drooling a lot lately.
The Websim game guide says players need 35 games to be created in the new player set. Goalies need 15. But in the past, those requirements have been lowered considerably. It all depends on how many new players are going from the NHL to Websim. If the immigration is low, then Websim might take players with only 25 games. Maybe they will push the limit in the other direction, to 40. In Real Evolution, it doesn’t matter at all if a player was rushed into action by his real NHL club because he gets new attributes every season. But in Virtual, players are stuck with their initial attributes forever. For those who have great rookie years, that’s great. Goalie Andrew Hammond, for example, will have glorious careers in virtual leagues (David Bell scooped him up for Milan), but players who have poor first years will never be as good as their Real league selves. Leon Draisaitl scored 70 points the last two seasons in the NHL, but it will take him 5 seasons to match that production with the Dublin Fighting Irish. Nino Niederreiter will be lucky to get on any EURO roster this season. He should be better than that, but 1 point in 55 games in his first year with the New York Islanders killed him in Websim virtual leagues.
Here is a look at what each team can expect when the list is released:
Athens – New GM Stephen R is probably hoping Websim admins don’t have to dip down to 23 games played as a minimum for attributes because defenseman Noah Juulsen is probably better than the stats he earned with Montreal this season (3 pts).
Belfast – No one coming up
Berlin – Alex Debrincat of the Chicago Black Hawks will have nice attributes with his 52-point, nearly 15-minutes-per-game season, and at just 5-7, he should make a good Smurf.
Bern – The Swiss city is giddy about being able to see native son Nico Hischier in action next season. The center tallied 52 points and was a +10 for the New Jersey Devils this season. He could be the star GM Paja Jansson hoped for when he drafted Hischier second overall last year.
Bratislava – GM Chuck Massaro really hopes Brendan Guhle gets another chance to make his Websim first impression. He thinks Guhle’s 18-game (5 points) audition for Buffalo was far below what Guhle can do.
Copenhagen – Offensive defenseman Thomas Chabot played a lot in Ottawa and he will have a very nice career in the EURO thanks to his 25 points-in-63 games season. But Montreal might have rushed center Jacob De La Rose a bit. He is 22 years old and his first year wasn’t great. He will have low Stamina ratings and his other numbers shouldn’t wow anyone, although the Swede has good size.
Dublin – The Fighting Irish have lots of prospects but one of the best of them might not develop that way if Websim dips to 21 games played as the minimum for attributes. Dylan Strome will likely do better next year with the Arizona Coyotes than the 12:27 TOI and 9 points he produced in 21 games this year. On the other hand, Pierre-Luc Dubois is ready to go. He is 19 years old, big and strong, and he scored 20 goals and 48 points for Columbus in 82 games. Another Dublin prospect forward who should receive his attributes is Russian Nikolay Goldobin, 22, who projects to a mid-range player with his 14 points and -14 rating in 38 games.
Edinburgh – Nolan Patrick played from Day 1 with the Flyers and he gets attributes right away. Edinburgh might wish Philly waited a year to play him. He produced 30 points and didn’t play a ton of minutes, but his youthful age will add many points in the PO department. The same goes for fellow Capital forward Jesse Puljujarvi of the Edmonton Oilers. His numbers will be slightly below Patrick’s. Joe Morrow has been floating around the system for a long time, but at age 25, he will get some decent attributes, thanks to his 56-game season in Winnipeg. He seems like a solid, two-way player with a limited ceiling.
Geneva – No one coming up
Gothenberg – No one coming up
Helsinki – There is lots and lots of good, young help on the way to Finland. Kyle Connor scored 31 goals for Winnipeg, got off 192 shots and played a lot of minutes. That’s the kind of Virtual Evo start that will have people wondering if he will score 50 goals in about seven years. Good attributes coming for him. Brock Boeser scored 55 points in 62 games and played 17:30 per game. Good attributes coming for him. Anaheim defenseman Brandon Montour might have a PO rating just as high. He will turn 24 in a few days and he played a lot and in all situations for the Ducks this season. He scored 32 points from the blueline and was a +16 with more than 20 minutes of ice time per game. Good attributes coming for him. Los Angeles Kings center Adrian Kempe produced at roughly half the rate Connor and Boeser did, but he was a +11. OK attributes coming for him. Ditto for 20-year-old Tyson Jost of the Colorado Avalanche, who produced 22 points in 65 games. Because he is a couple years younger than Kempe, he should get a better PO rating. Nikita Scherbak is another Montreal player who was rushed up to the big team and GM Jukka Tuominen will be grateful if 26 games played is too few to get attributes. He could do better than he did with the Canadiens this season.
Lisbon – Mattew Barzal should have the very best PO rating once the list is released. The 20-year-old center can handle the puck perfectly and he scored 85 points for the Islanders this year while seeing 17:45 minutes per game. Another Islander forward hopes 22 games isn’t enough for Websim attributes. Josh Ho-Sang was a playmaker, but his numbers will suffer everywhere else if he gets ratings this year.
London –Robert Hagg and Sonny Milano will be on the London salary chart next season. Hagg should be a solid stay-at-home guy who might have to spend a year or two on the farm club at Tottenham, but he projects to be a regular for a long time. Milano won’t be quite as ready as Hagg, but he too will be a regular after some time on the farm. The winger scored 0.40 points per game, which is above average for a 21-year-old.
Madrid – The Royals will have a solid goalie in a few days. Malcolm Subban might start out as a backup for backup Darcy Kuemper in Spain, but he should get good attributes. He played in 22 games for Vegas, was 13-4 with a .910 save percentage. As his durability and experience ratings rise, so will his salary. Tyler Bertuzzi will have low durability and stamina ratings to start, but he scored half a point per game and was feisty. Madrid GM Tony B should be pleased with the numbers he sees for Bertuzzi. Tall Tage Thompson might be one of those guys who is starting with poor attributes. He’s only 20, so there will be room for growth, but he was played sparingly by St. Louis this year and that will give Madrid the blues. He managed 9 points and was -12 in half a season (41 games). Haydn Fleury should do a little better in the attributes department, although he too failed to light the world afire in his 67 games with Carolina. He scored 8 assists and no goals but played nearly 17 minutes per game at age 21. That should translate into a solid stay-at-home Dman who needs seasoning.
Milan – The Guerriero already have lots of talented forwards and they will get another to keep in reserve. Alex Tuch scored 37 points in 78 games with the Golden Knights and he saw powerplay time. The 21-year-old projects to be a good offensive addition a few years down the line. Milan has some blueline help coming in Ryan Pulock. The 23-year-old scored 10 goals and 32 points in 68 games for the Islanders. If Websim accepts players with 19 games, Luke Kunin’s career will be nothing to shout about since he managed just 4 points and 13 minutes per game.
Minsk – The defending champs hope they don’t get anyone with attributes this year. Colin White of the Ottawa Senators played 21 games and if the stats he earned count forever more in Websim world, then he might be a good defensive forward, but he will never see PP time.
Moscow – Christian Fischer did a good job in a lower-line capacity for the Arizona Coyotes and he will get good attributes, although they will be poor in stamina. He scored 33 points in 79 games and he fired 154 shots in just 13:54 average TOI. And Ryan Donato made a splash when he joined the Boston Bruins at the end of the season, but he only got into 12 games. He would have gotten very good attributes and he will have to do it again next year.
Munich – EHC Red Bull will get a very good winger joining them this week. American Clayton Keller lit it up for the Coyotes with 65 points and 212 shots as a 19-year-old. He probably won’t be in Barzal territory, but Keller will have a bright future with a high PO. Finn Kaspari Kapanen is likely to get his attributes, but GM Grant Sayle won’t be blowing any noise-makers when he sees them. The Leafs winger played just 11 minutes per game and tallied just 2 assists in 38 games. He did score 7 goals, but an offensive wiz he won’t be on our league. The waiver wire could be in his future, unfortunately. Kapanen’s Toronto teammate Travis Dermott will fare a bit better. He also played just enough games to get attributes and he was a +16 in 16 minutes per game of work.
Oslo – No one coming up
Paris – A hard-working Swede will join the Paris franchise, perhaps before a general manager does. Joel Eriksson Ek, 21, played 75 games for the Minnesota Wild, scoring 16 points. One has to assume he played defense better than he did with the puck since the playoff-bound team gave him 12:47 minutes of ice time on average.
Prague – Mikhail Sergachev should get very good numbers, thanks to a 79-game, 40-point, +11 year in the NHL, ending it with the Tampa Bay Lightning. His ice time wasn’t huge (15:23) but those are impressive numbers he generated nonetheless. Prague has quite an asset there.
St. Petersburg – Jakub Vrana played enough games with Washington to earn his attributes and they should reflect good offensive talent. Durability and stamina will lag. He scored 27 points and 13 goals for the Caps. Travis Sanheim of the Philadelphia Flyers will get the attributes of a lightweight, young defenseman. In real life, he will get bigger and stronger and his shot will get faster. In virtual evolution, that is unlikely to happen. He scored 10 points in 49 games, so don’t expect too much production from him for a while. Scott Harrington, a defenseman for the Blue Jackets, might be right on the bubble for games played. If he gets attributes, they shouldn’t be much to crow about. He only generated 5 points in 32 games and didn’t seem to do much, if you go by the stats alone.
Stockholm – Julius Honka is arguably much better than the attributes he is about to get. In 42 games with Dallas, he had just a goal and 3 assists. But he can really move the puck. His 13 minutes of ice time per game will give him poor stamina ratings and his -1 rating will keep his defensive numbers down. Unfortunately for Stockholm GM Michael Sauer, this might go down as a promising pick that fizzled.
Zurich – Charlie McAvoy plays big minutes for the Bruins and he could do the same for the Lions as early as Season 9. He is just 20 and still was able to produce 32 defenseman points in 63 games and a +20 rating. A stud comes to Zurich. McAvoy’s Boston teammate Jake DeBrusk will be another welcome addition, if not this year, then next. He scored 43 points in 70 games with the Bruins averaging 2 shots per game. And he’s tough. DeBrusk is another good development for the Lions. Zurich will also see a 22-year-old goalie get his baseline attributes. Tristan Jarry’s ratings will be alright. He was 14-6 with the defending champion Penguins and his save percentage was .908 in 26 games. Not great, but he did well for himself.
