Dinamo Riga 18/19 - Yes, Still a KHL team!

[Rigafan]

Early but who cares...

First let us all thank Gazprom Exports for their continued support - thanks for that!

The board met on 29th March and instructed Girts Ankipans to start preparing for the coming season. He's currentl GM/Head Coach.

I wouldn't mind if they gave Sandis another shot as he didn't have a fair chance last time but I can't see that happening & I'd really love if we didn't go so heavy on 'Team Latvia' and went scouting for some imports that could actually help us out.

However I still we will see Team Latvia + fringe imports again.

Click to read more...

 

[SoundAndFury]

Indrasis is leaving to Moscow, that's the big news so even if the team is going to be in the same mold it will be very much different that way. Regarding team Latvia, positives are that there are a lot of Latvian FAs and they are pretty cheap at this point. You still need money and not magic beans for them though.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Hopefully Dinamo can bounce back and ice a better team for 18/19. They were very good in the second part of the season, too bad that Indrasis is moving to Dinamo, at least is better than having him moving to C/SKA

 

[Rigafan]

I mean, Indrasis deserves to be on a team that has a chance of winning, for a chance. Just hope we don't win it all this coming season now he's leaving

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Options are starting drying up already after Daugavins and Karsums moved to Spartak and Kenins signed with Lausanne.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I don't think we could ever be aiming that high. Kenins is unlikely to ever leave Switzerland as well, that's more of his home that Latvia is by this point. Dzerins, Kulda, Bartulis are still out there and could be aimed at as they all had mediocre seasons.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Kenins is unlikely to ever leave Switzerland as well, that's more of his home that Latvia is by this point

Throw at him some gazprom serious euro he'll leave like there's no tomorrow. He's not different from other players

 

[SoundAndFury]

Sure. But if Riga had those gazprom euros they would be better off going for some other guy. Since Kenins plays with Swiss license non-import status inflates his price, just like Russian players in the KHL. Going after them is just a bad deal.

 

[Rigafan]

Options are starting drying up already after Daugavins and Karsums moved to Spartak and Kenins signed with Lausanne.

No this is a good thing. The scouts might have to actually do their job and go find us some players for a change.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Sure. But if Riga had those gazprom euros they would be better off going for some other guy. Since Kenins plays with Swiss license non-import status inflates his price, just like Russian players in the KHL. Going after them is just a bad deal.

Yeah, of course, I was more talking about "if Riga actually had Euro".

 

[Rigafan]

Nick Petersen is rumored to join from Eisbaren Berlin. He's had 5 solid season in the DEL. Would be a promising start.

Nick Petersen - Elite Prospects

 

[SoundAndFury]

A guy who didn't cut it in the AHL so he moved to DEL.. Don't know what would be promising about it. He is decent I guess but nothing to write home about. Justin Shugg was someone with a similar career trajectory and we've seen how good he was.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Yes the DEL is two steps behind the KHL, shouldn't really be the scouting direction.
On a side note, too bad that Armalis moved to Sweden

 

[SoundAndFury]

I actually think that's the best decision Armalis could have made so I'm rather glad about it. Kalnins is a proven starter at this point anyway.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

I actually think that's the best decision Armalis could have made so I'm rather glad about it.

How so? The KHL is better than the SHL

 

[SoundAndFury]

How so? The KHL is better than the SHL

Yeah but he has a chance to be a workhorse starter in the SHL while that wasn't a possibility in the K.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Yeah but he has a chance to be a workhorse starter in the SHL while that wasn't a possibility in the K.

Ah, ok, that makes sense. Maybe he can get back in two years or so.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Linus Videll coming back to Riga. Getting a pretty reliable and actually decent KHL player? What is this sorcery?

Wow Kevin Clark as well. It looks like Riga indeed has some money this year.

 

[Alessandro Seren Rosso]

Always doubtful to sign those Canadians, although Clark played well at least statistically not only in Germany. Though I'd focus more on European players

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well he has successfully played in Germany, Switzerland and Sweden. They don't come much more proven than that, who cares about the nationality.

 

[Rigafan]

Gudļevskis joins DINAMO RIGA — The Official Website of Dinamo Riga Ice-Hockey Club

Welcome to Gudlevskis

 

[SoundAndFury]

Honestly I'm not too excited about Gudlevskis, I think Kalnins will still end up being a starter. Dzerins as a 3rd line center is a really nice piece though.

 

[cska78]

Any young Latvian players threatening to have a break out?

 

[v-man]

Honestly I'm not too excited about Gudlevskis, I think Kalnins will still end up being a starter. Dzerins as a 3rd line center is a really nice piece though.

You know Kalnins signed with Jokerit, right? Hopefully Gudlevskis has a comeback year. He's been regressing the past few seasons in the AHL.

 

[SoundAndFury]

I actually did not. Good for him. A bit surprising Jokerit won't have any Finnish goalies.