Dinamo Riga 2019/20 - Did not make the playoffs (again, probably!)

[Rigafan]

Labdien all!

Discuss all things Dinamo Riga, the best sporting team in the whole Baltic region! Here's to a better season then last, maybe we can finish 15th instead!

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[ozo]

Labdien all!

Dinamo Riga, the best sporting team in the whole Baltic region!

Weird way how to spell Zalgiris.

 

[aonb]

Maione stays in Riga? How do you feel about him?

 

[Rigafan]

Weird way how to spell Zalgiris.

I acutally thought, oh crap!, once I'd posted it, haha! Good call

 

[Rigafan]

Maione stays in Riga? How do you feel about him?

I wouldn't complain, he seems to be good at this level. I haven't seen anything that he's staying yet though? I'd much prefer a full clear out though and see if we can bring in anybody interesting (not happening I know but I can hope)

 

[SoundAndFury]

Maione stays in Riga? How do you feel about him?

Maione is Erik Karlsson of the KHL. So it means two things: 1) he is one of a kind player; 2) Riga has next to no chance to keep him.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Case in point, Riga is traditionally back to dumpster diving signing Jacob Berglund from Krefeld (aka Krapfeld) and Ben Marshall from Banska Bystrica. The new thing is they are announcing these deals so early as well as extensions to the local guys.. Berglund's deal was reportedly done a few months ago meaning the financial situation is a lot more stable than before. That's positive.

The players they've got though.. Marshall is almost certainly Maione's replacement so we are replacing best offensive D in the league with the guy who has played in ECHL and Slovakia.. That's is quite a risk. On the plus side, Maione actually took exactly the same career path although he made a stop in Finland along the way.

 

[Rigafan]

Case in point, Riga is traditionally back to dumpster diving signing Jacob Berglund from Krefeld (aka Krapfeld) and Ben Marshall from Banska Bystrica. The new thing is they are announcing these deals so early as well as extensions to the local guys.. Berglund's deal was reportedly done a few months ago meaning the financial situation is a lot more stable than before. That's positive.

The players they've got though.. Marshall is almost certainly Maione's replacement so we are replacing best offensive D in the league with the guy who has played in ECHL and Slovakia.. That's is quite a risk. On the plus side, Maione actually took exactly the same career path although he made a stop in Finland along the way.

I don't even know what to say about these signings. No disrespect to the two players, they are probably better than me but.. really. These two wouldn't look out of place on my local team, definitely not what I expected to see in the KHL, not even at Riga! Gazprom must have cut our budget drastically this season.

Let's hope they prove us all wrong!

 

[SoundAndFury]

So Maione moves to Kunlun. The only thing I'm sad about is he goes to a mediocre team. Best of luck to him there though.

 

[hansomreiste]

Exactly. He was totally gone but I was thinking, "Well, at least it will be good for him with a much better team than this abomination." Ooops.

 

[Rigafan]

So Maione moves to Kunlun. The only thing I'm sad about is he goes to a mediocre team. Best of luck to him there though.

As mediocre as they are they'll still have a huge budget compared to us won't they, money talks for these foreign 'mercenaries', obviously!

 

[SoundAndFury]

So Dinamo has signed another Berglund - Kristofer from HV71 this time. I'm quite happy, SHL signings are usually rock-solid and he is a puck moving D this team sorely lacked last year. This is Marc Zanetti's replacement and he even comes to Riga from the very same team.

Ultimately, however, I hope this is all a master plan to sign Patrik Berglund eventually

It's also most likely the last signing on D except for extensions to Balinskis (almost certain) and Ališauskas (50/50 at this point, I guess).

 

[Eye of Ra]

videll not staying?

 

[SoundAndFury]

videll not staying?

After the season he's had? I'd say no chance...

 

[BalticWarrior]

Ugh. Just bury this f***ing team already along with this bush league.
Czechs, Croats and Slovaks have already pulled out, we should aswell. Too bad that it wont happen next season.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Ugh. Just bury this ****ing team already along with this bush league.
Czechs, Croats and Slovaks have already pulled out, we should aswell. Too bad that it wont happen next season.

Tell it to all the players whose families this team feeds and their other options are either going abroad or playing for 500 euros, unlike Czechs/Slovaks.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Tell it to all the players whose families this team feeds and their other options are either going abroad or playing for 500 euros, unlike Czechs/Slovaks.

If you are not good enough, you shouldnt be playing , theres other things to do besides playing hockey - hell you could try to be a coach, an equipment manager, physical trainer, ref or just do something outside of hockey completley. Thats no reason to artificially prop up a hockey team.

 

[SoundAndFury]

If you are not good enough, you shouldnt be playing , theres other things to do besides playing hockey - hell you could try to be a coach, an equipment manager, physical trainer, ref or just do something outside of hockey completley. Thats no reason to artificially prop up a hockey team.

So Latvia should have 20 hockey players and if some of them get injured/have issues they should just call up local coaches, refs and equipment managers to try out for 4th line spot? Because there's a pretty decent chance someone like Kulda, Batna, Marenis, etc. wouldn't be playing pro hockey anymore if not for Dinamo. And hell, Kulda might still turn out to be a pretty solid player. But who needs those, am I right?

It's not artificial prop-up. It's providing stability to the hockey pyramid because not all players develop equally. Not all skill sets are wanted by foreign coaches. How much Darzins struggled at the start of his pro career? How many Ziles and Balinskies would have just quit hockey because there is nowhere for them to go after junior or they don't want to go to some trash NA league/Siberia? I know first hand how many Lithuanian guys quit hockey for these reasons and you might think nah, this wouldn't happen to us, we produce way too much "real talent". But then stop and consider the fact that you just had the guy scoring goals in WC for your NT whose career path was NA3HL > NCAA III > Latvia.

 

[BalticWarrior]

So Latvia should have 20 hockey players and if some of them get injured/have issues they should just call up local coaches, refs and equipment managers to try out for 4th line spot? Because there's a pretty decent chance someone like Kulda, Batna, Marenis, etc. wouldn't be playing pro hockey anymore if not for Dinamo. And hell, Kulda might still turn out to be a pretty solid player. But who needs those, am I right?

If you are good enough, you will eventually find a spot somewhere in Europe, if not- see ya`, we were fine before Dinamo existed and we will be fine after its gone.

Batņa and Marenis are both bums that were embarrasing to watch for our team and i mean this when i say this - some of our college kids could probably do equal or a better job on the 4th line. Their "KHL expierence" didnt count for shit.

The only reason Kulda might be decent is because he moved to Czech Republic, Dinamo was literally suffocating him.

It's not artificial prop-up.

My dude, where do you think Dinamo gets its money from? In what way is it not an artificial prop-up? Its a Kremlin project through and thorugh

How much Darzins struggled at the start of his pro career?

Lots of players do, doesnt mean he wouldnt have developed a succesful career later in life in this alternate universe. Next.

How many Ziles and Balinskies would have just quit hockey because there is nowhere for them to go after junior or they don't want to go to some trash NA league/Siberia?

Zīle is a dud and Balinskis also seems to have been a flash in a pan. Maybe theres a reason they havent been able to break out elsewhere.

But then stop and consider the fact that you just had the guy scoring goals in WC for your NT whose career path was NA3HL > NCAA III > Latvia.

First of all this is more to do with lack of RHD than anything else, second what does it tell you about the quality of players on Dinamo that Jānis Jaks can come in and simply outplay them?

 

[Rigafan]

If you are good enough, you will eventually find a spot somewhere in Europe, if not- see ya`, we were fine before Dinamo existed and we will be fine after its gone.

Batņa and Marenis are both bums that were embarrasing to watch for our team and i mean this when i say this - some of our college kids could probably do equal or a better job on the 4th line. Their "KHL expierence" didnt count for ****.

The only reason Kulda might be decent is because he moved to Czech Republic, Dinamo was literally suffocating him.



My dude, where do you think Dinamo gets its money from? In what way is it not an artificial prop-up? Its a Kremlin project through and thorugh



Lots of players do, doesnt mean he wouldnt have developed a succesful career later in life in this alternate universe. Next.



Zīle is a dud and Balinskis also seems to have been a flash in a pan. Maybe theres a reason they havent been able to break out elsewhere.



First of all this is more to do with lack of RHD than anything else, second what does it tell you about the quality of players on Dinamo that Jānis Jaks can come in and simply outplay them?

Before Dinamo though we had the league being sponsored by Samsung and also the team in the Belarus League, giving players somewhere to play and make a living. There is no way that people can make a living in the currently league as its semi pro isn't it...

Dinamo is frustrating yes, we seem like we are just here, because as you mentioned, Putin makes sure we are just here.. we get enough money to function and that's it.. but it comes down to coaching and recruiting etc. too. We were able to compete initially then soon as Ozo retired it all fell apart.

I don't think that the Latvian players would instantly find a new home abroad if Dinamo were to go bust, sure the TOP guys would but everybody else? Most teams prefer to sign local talent in Europe unless a small league like the UK for example, but then the style of play is much different.

 

[SoundAndFury]

Well....

1) "we were fine before Dinamo existed" - define fine. Also, we aren't debating if Dinamo is some sort of game-changer. We should debate if it's negative or positive to have such a team. And my point is any, any actual pro team is a huge bonus to the hockey system. And Latvia has very little options other than playing in the KHL.

2) You berated half of the Latvian NT, the list of players you deem worthy of playing there is way shorter than those you don't (Dzierkals, Zile, Balinskis, anyone from 4th line, etc). Every young player as well, really. If it was up to you I guess Latvian NT would ice 10 players. It doesn't quite work that way, though. Lots of players develop a successful career but that's the whole point, to you, they are all shit if they don't produce at 21. Didn't you scream how bad Dzierkals is?

3) Dinamo had 3 Latvian Ds last year, 2 of them are younger than Jaks. So I don't really know why would you mention him at all.

4) "My dude, where do you think Dinamo gets its money from? In what way is it not an artificial prop-up? Its a Kremlin project through and thorugh". What? What does one have to do with another? If it's Kremlin project is it not a hockey team? I would love if Latvia had money to have their own hockey team which wasn't a Kremlin project. But you don't. So unless you explain how this particular Kremlin project does more harm than good I'm at a loss what this "prop-up" point is.

 

[BalticWarrior]

Well....

1) "we were fine before Dinamo existed" - define fine. Also, we aren't debating if Dinamo is some sort of game-changer. We should debate if it's negative or positive to have such a team. And my point is any, any actual pro team is a huge bonus to the hockey system. And Latvia has very little options other than playing in the KHL.

2) You berated half of the Latvian NT, the list of players you deem worthy of playing there is way shorter than those you don't (Dzierkals, Zile, Balinskis, anyone from 4th line, etc). Every young player as well, really. If it was up to you I guess Latvian NT would ice 10 players. It doesn't quite work that way, though. Lots of players develop a successful career but that's the whole point, to you, they are all **** if they don't produce at 21. Didn't you scream how bad Dzierkals is?

3) Dinamo had 3 Latvian Ds last year, 2 of them are younger than Jaks. So I don't really know why would you mention him at all.

4) "My dude, where do you think Dinamo gets its money from? In what way is it not an artificial prop-up? Its a Kremlin project through and thorugh". What? What does one have to do with another? If it's Kremlin project is it not a hockey team? I would love if Latvia had money to have their own hockey team which wasn't a Kremlin project. But you don't. So unless you explain how this particular Kremlin project does more harm than good I'm at a loss what this "prop-up" point is.

1) Fine as in - we would still have decent depth options without Dinamo. Does it really matter if guys like Marenis play in DEL-2, VHL or Dinamo? Not mention guys like that dont make our roster on 9 out of 10 occasions. This year was ABYSMAL for injuries and declines, it was ridicilious almost unprecedent.

2) They arent shit, because they dont produce, they are shit because they have zero offensive awareness or hockey IQ. If all you can show to me is dumping the puck in the zone and then holding on for dear life waiting for top guys to show up - you are not good enough. Literally any college kid can do that just fine. Dzierkals had some offensive flare to his game in the juniors - now he is goddamn grinder with the hockey creativity equal to that of a shoe box. Useless.


4) How many players need suffocate in the Dinamo system only to get better once outside to get my point across? Bukarts Sr? Edgars Kulda? Hell even Bukarts Jr. or f***ing Bičevskis of all people.

 

[SoundAndFury]

2) They arent ****, because they dont produce, they are **** because they have zero offensive awareness or hockey IQ. If all you can show to me is dumping the puck in the zone and then holding on for dear life waiting for top guys to show up - you are not good enough. Literally any college kid can do that just fine. Dzierkals had some offensive flare to his game in the juniors - now he is goddamn grinder with the hockey creativity equal to that of a shoe box. Useless.

So where are those "any college kids"? Oh wait, those are the best Latvia's got. Well, shit.

I mean this is as futile discussion as any, lets just drop it.

 

[BalticWarrior]

So where are those "any college kids"? Oh wait, those are the best Latvia's got. Well, ****.

I mean this is as futile discussion as any, lets just drop it.

You could replace Marenis or Batņa with Tralmaks and NOTHING would have changed. Our depth will not be considerably affected by loss of Dinamo. We will always have players stack our roster.

 

[geri]

latvians can be happy to have its own KHL team, with majority locals in team playing at high level around 60 games per saison...
even if you are just at bottom and fight for playoffs sometimes...

you could see the success at championship- i was impressed how well they played and just unlucky lost so missed quarterfinals in atough group...
latvia is now a top 10 team i would say.. of course you have good youth development and infrastructure too...
me as an austrian can say we are lightyears away of you latvians