What Can We Learn From the History of IceHL Finals?

Written by Kris Knesis, GM Helsinki Lynx

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New year, new IceHL Fantasy League finals. Some of the guys have been here before, but for some this is all new experience. This year saw a couple of new GMs added to the leagues and some had to depart. Others were and still are looking to keep their team in good shape and contend.

So what do the three final match-ups bring us this year? What do the six teams have in common with each other and past years winners? Let's dig in and find out.

IceHL East

Matt Riegler and his Minnesota Mammoths have advanced to the final for a second straight year. Opposing them are Mike Kelly's Detroit Chargers who beat the New York Guardians in a watertight battle to get to the final.

But who's been here before?

Minnesota Mammoths
2015 IceHL East Champion
2013 IceHL East Champion

Mammoths GM Matt Riegler
2015 IceHL East Champion
2013 IceHL East Champion

Detroit Chargers
No finals experience

Chargers GM Mike Kelly
No finals experience

MAMMOTHS Players

Jamie Benn
2015 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)
2013 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)
2012 IceHL East Champion (North Carolina Nighthawks)

P.K. Subban
2015 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)
2013 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)
2011 IceHL runner-up (Saskatoon Sharpshooters)

Jonathan Toews
2015 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)
2013 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)

Ryan Miller
2015 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)
2014 IceHL East runner-up (New York Guardians)

Ryan McDonagh
2013 IceHL East runner-up (Quebec Armada)

Alexander Wennberg
2015 IceHL East runner-up (Baltimore Blue Crabs)

Mike Smith
2015 IceHL East runner-up (Baltimore Blue Crabs)

CHARGERS Players

David Krejci
2013 IceHL East runner-up (Quebec Armada)
2012 IceHL Champion (North Carolina Nighthawks)

Andrew Ladd
2012 IceHL East runner-up (Montreal Olympiques)
2011 IceHL Champion (Alaska Huskies)

Dan Girardi
2015 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)

Tyler Seguin
2013 IceHL East Champion (Minnesota Mammoths)

Mark Giordano
2011 IceHL Champion (Alaska Huskies)

Troy Brouwer
2015 IceHL East runner-up (Baltimore Blue Crabs)

Alex Goligoski
2014 IceHL East runner-up (New York Guardians)

Advantage: MAMMOTHS

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IceHL WEST

In the NHL there's an ongoing fight as to who's going to be the new modern dynasty — Chicago Blackhawks or Los Angeles Kings? We can see something similar over at the IceHL West, where Boulder Beasts and Salt Lake City Scorpions will battle once again for the IceHL West title.

So, yeah, they've been here before:

Salt Lake City Scorpions
2014 IceHL West Champion
2013 IceHL West runner-up

Boulder Beasts
2015 IceHL West Champion
2012 IceHL West Champion

Scorpions GM Kyle Grossman
2014 IceHL West Champion
2013 IceHL West runner-up

Beasts GM Robert Brown
2015 IceHL West Champion
2012 IceHL West Champion

SCORPIONS Players

Corey Perry
2014 IceHL West Champion (Salt Lake City Scorpions)
2013 IceHL West runner-up (Salt Lake City Scorpions)

Kris Letang
2014 IceHL West Champion (Salt Lake City Scorpions)
2013 IceHL West runner-up (Salt Lake City Scorpions)

Joe Thornton
2013 IceHL West Champion (Edmonton Kodiaks)

Tyler Seguin
2014 IceHL West Champion (Salt Lake City Scorpions)

Semyon Varlamov
2014 IceHL West Champion (Salt Lake City Scorpions)

Ryan McDonagh
2015 IceHL West runner-up (California Wave)
2012 IceHL West runner-up (Alaska Huskies)

Jason Spezza
2012 IceHL West runner-up (Alaska Huskies)

Gabriel Landeskog
2013 IceHL West runner-up (Salt Lake City Scorpions)

BEASTS Players

Jamie Benn
2015 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)
2012 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)

Joe Pavelski
2015 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)
2012 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)

Brent Seabrook
2014 IceHL West runner-up (Saskatchewan Snipers)
2012 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)

Brandon Saad
2015 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)

Nikita Kucherov
2015 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)

Anton Stralman
2015 IceHL West Champion (Boulder Beasts)

Advantage: BEASTS

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IceHL WORLD

Martin Chouinard and his Gold Coast Rush have beat their bitter rivals Osaka Samurai to advance to the final. On the opposite side, Kristofers Knesis' Helsinki Lynx beat their expansion cousins, the Munich Machine.

Who's been here before? None of the teams and none of their GMs. Rush came third last season and Lynx are only playing their first season.

Players, though:

RUSH
Jared Spurgeon 2015 IceHL World runner-up (Royal London HC)

LYNX
Joe Thornton 2015 IceHL World Champion (Royal London HC)
Pekka Rinne 2015 IceHL World runner-up (Osaka Samurai)
Filip Forsberg 2015 IceHL World runner-up (Osaka Samurai)

Advantage: LYNX

So, what can we learn from all of this?

It helps if Jamie Benn is on your team. He has five championship titles across all leagues and he plays in all three of the finals this year, courtesy of Minnesota Mammoths, Boulder Beasts and Gold Coast Rush.

2015 World Draft Analysis

Written by Kris Knesis, GM Helsinki Lynx

Editor's Note: After two months of action in the 2015-16 IceHL season, one GM analyzes the best and worst picks of each round in the 2015 IceHL World Draft.

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ROUND 1
Best pick: Jamie Benn (Gold Coast Rush) - 7th overall (Keeper)
Worst pick: Ryan Getzlaf (Quebec Armada) - 5th overall (Keeper)
Sleeper: Alex Ovechkin (London Royal) - 1st overall

Benn and Crete's Tyler Seguin will obviously feed each other for the remainder of the season. Stockholm's 2nd overall pick in Connor McDavid has been rather unlucky, but not necessarily bad. This is a keepers league, afterall. Getzlaf raised eyebrows as a keeper pick and has yet to deliver. Ovechkin, however, will get his points and has the potential to be the best of the round.

ROUND 2
Best pick: Patrick Kane (Stockholm Hammers) - 14th overall
Worst pick: Tyler Johnson (Moscow Cosmonauts)  - 23rd overall
Sleeper: Evgeni Malkin (Munich Machine) - 15th overall

Kane is running away with it, scoring nearly 7 points per game. Johnson's had a slow start and was actually dropped by the Cosmonauts and picked up by Seoul Express. Malkin, who is slowly heating up, was drafted by Munich but recently traded to Auckland in a blockbuster deal involving six players.

ROUND 3
Best pick: Brent Burns (Moscow Cosmonauts) - 35th overall
Worst pick: Dennis Wideman (Osaka Samurai) - 28th overall (Keeper)
Sleeper: Jonathan Quick (Crete Minotaurs) - 32nd overall

Burns is a beast with 9 goals and 11 assists on the season. Wideman was probably the strangest of all the keeper picks and unsurprisingly has less than 3 points per game. Quick will start the majority of games this season and has a good team playing in front of him, which should translate to many wins. Unlucky pick here is the injured Logan Couture (36th overall, Auckland).

ROUND 4
Best pick: Marc-Andre Fleury (Seoul Express) - 42nd overall
Worst pick: Jiri Hudler (Gold Coast Rush) - 43rd overall
Sleeper: Matt Duchene (Geneva Mountaineers) - 46th overall

Fleury has been bailing out a struggling Penguins team for most of the season so far and the points have been coming in. Hudler was just recently waived and is not in a good place right now. Duchene started slowly but was unstoppable in November and has found good chemistry with line mates Landeskog and MacKinnon.

ROUND 5
Best pick: Nathan MacKinnon (Munich Machine) - 51st overall
Worst pick: Semyon Varlamov (Quebec Armada) - 53rd overall
Sleeper: Taylor Hall (Seoul Express) - 54th overall

Nathan MacKinnon is bouncing back from his sophomore slump big time and was a steal at Round 5. His real life teammate Varlamov, however, has struggled with injuries and poor play and is a Free Agent in IceHL World right now. Hall is another Round 5 steal, courtesy of Andy Taylor and Seoul Express.

ROUND 6
Best pick: Justin Faulk (London Royal HC) - 72nd overall
Worst pick: Jordan Eberle (Auckland Rockhoppers) - 61st overall
Sleeper: Mark Stone (Osaka Samurai) - 69th overall

Faulk has been one of the few bright spots on Carolina Hurricanes, while Eberle has just recently returned to the lineup from injury, but hasn't yet produced at the expected rate. Mark Stone has the potential to be the best pick of the round, Ottawa being one of the top offensive teams in the league.

ROUND 7
Best pick: John Klingberg (Osaka Samurai) - 76th overall
Worst pick: Cam Talbot (Moscow Cosmonauts) - 83rd overall
Sleeper: Gabriel Landeskog (Quebec Armada) - 77th overall

Already called 'The Next Lidstrom', Klingberg has impressed in his sophomore season. Talbot has been out of job for over a month now and isn't likely to find one soon. Landeskog is playing on 'The 9 Line' with MacKinnon and Duchene and will continue to produce.

ROUND 8
Best pick: Ryan Suter (Munich Machine) - 94th overall
Worst pick: Alex Galchenyuk (Stockholm Hammers) - 95th overall
Sleeper: Cory Schneider (Crete Minotaurs) - 89th overall

In a round of solid choices, Suter averages nearly 5 and a half points per game (and over 28 minutes). Galchenyuk is not bad, but the other 8th-rounders have just been better. Schneider has what it takes to be one of the top-5 fantasy goalies this season altogether, Express were wise to acquire him, once Minotaurs waived the goalie.

ROUND 9
Best pick: Daniel Sedin (Osaka Samurai) - 100th overall
Worst pick: Matt Moulson (Moscow Cosmonauts) - 107th overall
Sleeper: Jake Allen (Auckland Rockhoppers) - 108th overall

Daniel Sedin has regained vintage form and is producing very well to start the season. Moulson was dropped by 'Nauts on November 15. Allen, interestingly, was also dropped, but then again picked up by 'Hoppers nearly a month later — dodged a bullet there. Allen has been solid.

ROUND 10
Best pick: Blake Wheeler (Crete Minotaurs) - 113th overall
Worst pick: Trevor Daley (Stockholm Hammers) - 119th overall
Sleeper: Alex Steen (Moscow Cosmonauts) - 110th overall

Wheeler averages over 5 points per game, not what you'd expect from a 10th round pick. Daley has been out of work for a month, after he was dropped by the Hammers on November 2. Steen has been a pleasant surprise and with such high quality line mates that he has, he might continue to wow.

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LATER ROUNDS

BEST PICKS
Martin Jones (London Royal HC) - 14th round, 168th overall
David Krejci (Osaka Samurai) 13th round, 148th overall
Patrice Bergeron (Osaka Samurai) 11th round, 124th overall
Evgeny Kuznetsov (Geneva Mountaineers) - 15th round, 178th overall

Jones has become a true #1 goalie for his team, while Krejci and Bergeron — teammates in Boston and Osaka, have combined for 231 points so far. Kuznetsov was actually dropped by Geneva and immediately picked up by Helsinki Lynx.