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Apply. Would prefer to stay in Miami but will ultimately take any job .

So my main takeaway so far is that people are more willing to accept that I stole money from the league than to accept that Gus had a relationship with a woman.

PRELUDE: Hello everyone! After several months away from the forum for much-needed life adjustments, I have finally returned to the forum! Very nice to see many new and old names still around, and I hope I get to meet all the new names here soon. NOW...THE ACTUAL ARTICLE Now the premier developmental league of the forum, the VHLM has gotten a lot more competitive, making it tougher for lower TPE to stand out like they once did at a 200 TPE cap. With many graduations to the VHL, @Spartan knows that the league is bound to shake up following the conclusion of the playoffs, stating, "...teams in contention always have more players they'll lose to graduation or call-ups. It's sort of natural for a developmental league. The teams sitting in the mid-low playoff range this season will likely be the ones to make a bigger jump next season." As stated in the title, I will be ranking the depth of each team's position (F, D, G, Potential [meaning team's future potential with picks and lower TPE players]) and give my input as to what each team needs to focus on heading into the upcoming offseason. I'll start from the bottom of the standings to the top. DISCLAIMER: THE GRADES BEING GIVEN ARE FOR THE ROSTERS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE OFFSEASON, NOT THE CURRENT ROSTERS Miami Marauders (10-56-6, 26 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 1 Forwards: F | Defense: F | Goalies: F | Potential: A+ GM: @Ricer13 OVERVIEW: Miami had a rough season, finishing at the bottom of the standings for S98. They'll be looking to fill in some major holes, and this draft certainly has the potential to help Miami build for the future. When asked about thought processes about the upcoming draft, GM (@Ricer13) stated, "The upcoming draft is a big one. Miami's focus will be on trying to accumulate as many picks as possible to build out the team for long-term sustainability." Offensively, they're looking to find three replacements for all 3 Cs, as they will be lost to the Dispersion Draft/Retirement. On the defensive side of things, Miami will be losing D Chase Breeze (@C-Breeze) to the S99 Dispersal Draft, which will be a major blow to their D core. Most of their D have been slacking/not active as of recently, or at a very low TPE number, so Miami must pick up some D depth to build for the future. In net, G special ed (@special ed) will also be entering the Dispersal Draft, which puts Miami without a #1 option for the upcoming season. While ed's stats were nothing pretty, the Mauraders are banking on a G to fall to them in the draft or to have one join them via waivers. DRAFT SUGGESTION: 1st Overall - C John Cowgill (@FlyingWV) (195 TPE) Ricer has stated that "Miami will look to dangle this pick and move down in the draft. The goal is to acquire more depth picks in the draft. We aren't in a place to be selecting a top-end player as we won't be a contender next season." However, we like to have fun and assume that if, for some reason, Miami is unable to trade down with a team, then we say they would stick with #1 in this draft. If so, this should realistically be a no-brainer for Ricer. As mentioned before, Miami will be losing its 3 Cs after the season is over. Picking up C talent at the draft is going to be crucial for Miami's future, and Cowgill's progression has continued to skyrocket. Not to mention, with Cowgill just under 200 TPE, this would possibly mean that the C can stick around longer compared to Florida Man II (214 TPE) and Igor Sokolov (245 TPE). Cowgill has also performed well with Mexico City, putting up respectable numbers on the 2nd line. With first-line minutes, it's possible we could see a breakout from Cowgill and a dominance for seasons to come. TO RECAP: Ricer knows that Miami is in a full rebuild coming into the offseason. When asked about the amount of talent the Mauraders are losing, the hopeful GM reiterated, "The plan hasn't changed. We know waivers will be coming and going, and our focus will be on locking in our roster through the draft and speeding up the rebuild." Ricer certainly has a lot to think about come offseason time, and only time will tell if Miami can squeak into the postseason with luck from Simon. San Diego Marlins (21-47-4, 46 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 2 Forward: C | Defense: B | Goalie: D+ | Potential: A+ GM: @Mysterious_Fish OVERVIEW: San Diego missed the playoffs by 9 points this season and is looking to broaden their depth tremendously. In my opinion, their Defensive core is solid, while their Forward core is mainly young and lower TPE, but has some experience sprinkled in. The only reason I gave Goalie a lower grade was due to a lower TPE compared to several other goalies in the league. Since (@Will3) is currently running Welfare + Practice claims, the position won't be developing into a top-tier goalie anytime soon (trust me, I'm not taking any shots, I was also like that at one point). DRAFT SUGGESTION: 2nd Overall - LW Florida Man II (@Florida Man) (214 TPE) The Marlins are looking to build on their forward depth, and I believe that Florida Man II is a key player that SD should be targeting. The Halifax LW (59GP 2-8-10) may not have the most lucrative stat line in the draft, but is capable of becoming a bloomer given a bigger role on a new team. Not to mention, Man II is consistently building up TPE points, suggesting he could reach well over 300 by the time next season concludes. Considering SDM holds both #2 overall and OTT's 1st (#3 overall), the Marlins have the chance to build strong depth up front or back in net if they wish to do so. 3rd Overall (from OTT) - RW Igor Sokolov (@Kisslinger) (245 TPE) Picking up F talent at the draft is going to be crucial for San Diego's future, and Sokolov, on paper, might be the franchise talent the Marlins can build around. Sokolov, last playing for Halifax (72GP 11-13-24), has been extremely active as of recently and tends to complete a lot of tasks to garner a LOT of TPE. A good forward core is what San Diego needs to be able to clinch a playoff berth, and I believe Sokolov would be the beginning of building something strong for the Marlins. TO RECAP: San Diego could easily become a playoff contender with a MAJOR shakeup bound to happen in the M this year, as top-seeded teams are losing several key players to graduation to the VHL. With the 2nd & 3rd overall pick, picking Man II, in my opinion, will give SDM a rather competitive team, giving them a shot to compete in the playoffs. It will be entertaining to see how SDM plays their cards and competes in S99. Ottawa Lynx (25-42-5, 55 PTS) - First Selection: R2, Pick 11 Forward: C+ | Defense: C | Goalie: C- | Potential: B GM: @Grape OVERVIEW: Ottawa just snuck into the playoffs after comfortably making it in during S98, thanks in part to RW Kyle Evans (@Kyle Evans), who put up great numbers for the 8th seed (72GP 38-71-109), as well as LW Owen Two (@do3bo1) (72GP 31-52-83). When asked about the potential departure of Evans, Grape acknowledges that the offseason will look to fill Evans' shoes once he leaves the club. The GM stated, "Right now, I'm looking at our draft and the players we are retaining to replace that offensive production, which I feel quite confident about." D Elisa McMuffin (@Ente2997) held down the blue line with impressive numbers (72GP 11-51-62), and G Komi Kamal (@dustywilson22) struggled a bit in between the pipes, as the Lynx couldn't find themselves in the middle of the pack and got bounced early by Houston in the 1st round of the playoffs. OTT does not have its first-round pick, as it was sent to San Diego, which Grape says was for a reason. The GM mentioned, "I made the trade right away, knowing that it'll be a high pick, and I still stand by it. I've done my best to load up on later-round picks to assist in making up for this." DRAFT SUGGESTION: 7th Overall (Trade w/ LVA) - D Ayumu Kasuga (@Grape) (149 TPE) Yes, you read that right. I think Ottawa's OWN GM will trade up with LVA to select himself. Here's why: Ottawa's main focus is going to have to be on their defense once Kasuga leaves for the Dispersion Draft. Having said that, if I were in the shoes of Grape, I would move the S100 OTT 2nd and S99 HOU 3rd to obtain the 7th overall pick, held by LVA. That way, Las Vegas obtains a 3rd round pick in this upcoming draft to draft a lower, but also productive, player on defense (they still have the 4th overall pick anyway). This, meanwhile, gives Ottawa the chance to retain Kasuga's services for several seasons down the road. Most of the players for the Lynx have not received TPE points in recent weeks, so it's important to have a player that you know is going to stick around, hence the pick for the GM's player. TO RECAP: Ottawa is continuing to look to compete in the playoffs down the road, but San Diego is not far behind. Miami is going to take a bit longer, but there is no warning as of now. If Ottawa can play their cards right, in picking up key F and D, this team will have no problem continuing to stay playoff contenders (it would also be funny to see Grape take his player lol). Las Vegas Aces (28-34-10, 66 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 4 Forward: B | Defense: D | Goalie: B- | Potential: A+ GM: @sadie OVERVIEW: Las Vegas sat comfortably in the 7th seed when the regular season ended, and as of this writing, has made its playoff series with Philadelphia (the #2 seed!) very interesting. A very notable player on the blue line is easily D Mathias Gunnarsson (@ThatCanadian), putting up solid numbers in his last season with the Aces (72GP 16-43-58). That's the main issue, however, is that Gunnarsson will be leaving the team once the playoffs have concluded. Aces' GM Sadie agreed that Gunnarsson has been a major help for the team, but that the Aces are ready to move into the future. The optimistic GM stated, "Gunnarsson has been HUGE for us, and his departure will make a difference, but the team as a whole is going to have to look very different...S99 will of course be the most important draft in my time GMing." DRAFT SUGGESTION: 4th Overall - Chase Breeze (@C-Breeze) (180 TPE) In a no-brainer, must-need selection by the Aces, they take Chase Breeze, a very productive D with the Miami Marauders (38GP 9-19-28). This pick gives the Aces a solid D choice who has been very active in the forums and Discord. Not to mention that Breeze has developed very well for a first-gen. As mentioned previously, a hypothetical trade would see LVA send their 7th overall pick to OTT for HOU's 3rd in this draft and OTT's 2nd in next season's draft. This gives LVA the chance to pick in the 3rd round on top of their 2nd pick, with chances to select more D to solidify the core. A good draft and FA period could see LVA compete for a championship next year if Sadie plays it smart. Another player to target would be previously mentioned D Ayumu Kasuga, as having two solid, constantly developing D would prove extremely beneficial to the Aces in the long run, as they would both most likely stay for 2+ seasons. Sadie mentioned that Defense is going to be the focus of the offseason, claiming, "We're planning to build the foundation with S99 and be the favorite in S100." TO RECAP: Las Vegas has a lot of chances to make noise in the offseason and emerge as the easy winners. The 4th and 7th (if retained) overall picks could be a game-changer and bring much-needed talent to an already respectable Aces squad. If I were on another team, I would be cautious around the Aces going forward. Saskatoon Wild (34-33-5, 73 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 5 Forward: C | Defense: C | Goalie: C- | Potential: B GM: @Dadam30 OVERVIEW: As of this writing, Saskatoon had been swept by Halifax in the 1st round and is now looking ahead to the offseason with RW CJ Daniels (@xNJDevilsFanx) (72GP 52-58-110) moving on from the team to HC Davos (VHL). This is going to raise a lot of concern for the Wild, who are looking to continue their rhythm next year and make the playoffs again. Their core roster will mostly return, besides Daniels and other late-season pickups. The Wild might have a lot of work to do in the offseason, but they hold a plethora of draft picks to help keep their roster afloat. GM Dadam30 will have their work cut out for them. DRAFT SUGGESTION: 5th Overall - C Patrick Finnegan (@JB123) (158 TPE) Saskatoon is gonna need a LOT of help up front to keep up with the rest of the league, and by selecting Finnegan with the 5th overall pick, will solidify their C position for several seasons. For playing in Miami this year, Finnegan (72GP 21-24-45) produced well and should be a solid piece for Saskatoon should they take him here. Another option could be to move down from 5th to grab more late-round picks in this draft, seeing how deep it is. TO RECAP: Losing a big piece is going to be tough, but I think Saskatoon has enough to persuade FAs and select well. The only reason I graded their potential low is due to the uncertainty of their offseason and the team going forward, but if they have a great draft and FA period, then I could easily see Saskatoon finishing higher than 6th next season. Finnegan's season with Miami this season shouldn't be taken heavily, as Miami struggled this season, but if the Wild were to take him, they should be able to keep up with the rest of the teams and make the playoffs. Mississauga Hounds (38-26-8, 84 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 6 Forward: C+ | Defense: C+ | Goalie: F | Potential: B- GM: @ace_five_ OVERVIEW: After being eliminated in the 1st round at the hands of the Mexico City Kings, a lot of questions are going to be asked about the Hounds. Mississauga had a roster consisting of 3 400 TPE players, and 1 nearing 400, all of which produced a high point total over the season. Not to mention, their starting goaltender, G Yor Bjorven (@Rin), suddenly retired from the team. This makes the offseason very important going forward for them, as they look to continue to be playoff contenders. GM Ace acknowledged this, stating, "They will be missed greatly. Some of these players were part of the cup-winning team back in S96, so it says a lot...these are big shoes to fill." DRAFT SUGGESTION: 6th Overall - C Finn Mertzer (@Steve) (154 TPE) Mississauga currently holds 2 1st round picks, which Ace has high value for, claiming, "I don't think it's too necessary to move up a few spots in such a deep draft. I think the whole first round, and into the second, will be a hit. Anyone will be ready to help the team immediately." Suggesting this, Mississauga will have a strong chance to pick up very talented players, with possibly several seasons to be with the team. C Finn Mertzer (18GP 4-8-12) is a solid option to head up their new-look forward core. 10th Overall - G Brandon Hope (@McLovin) (125 TPE) Coming off a 3 game trial with Las Vegas, Hope can shine as a future star goalie. I have Halifax taking G Diego Adam with the 8th overall pick, so Mississauga should look to pickup the next best option, which in my opinion, is Hope. TO RECAP: Mississauga needs to make some major noise in the offseason to ensure a return to the playoffs. Their potential is solid due to their two high picks, but hangs in the balance of their FA signings due to their minimal draft capital. The GMs for the team know they have their work cut out for them in the upcoming FA/Draft period. Mexico City Kings (44-20-8, 96 PTS) - First Selection: R3, Pick 21 Forward: B+ | Defense: C | Goalie: C | Potential: C GM: @VattghernCZ OVERVIEW: Mexico City's roster has been stacked, consisting of a strong forward core and arguably the #1 defensive core, with a capped goalie to boot. One of the league's top defenders, D Ronan Amnon (@Breeze837) has put on a show from the blue line (72GP 21-53-74), and not to mention their goalie has had an amazing season (53GP 33-14-6, 0.927%, 1.51) to help the Kings become serious playoff contenders. However, once their season concludes, they will have some serious work to do to replace the firepower they will lose to the VHL. DRAFT SUGGESTION: 21st Overall - D Natalia Nano (@leafsman) (98 TPE) MEX will be losing 3 (possibly 4) D at the end of the season, so this position is going to become crucial down the road for the Kings to fill. Nano was stuck on a STACKED Houston team and was picked up late in the season, only playing 18 games in the regular season (2-1-3). With a bigger role and the possibility to play for a few seasons, Nano could easily emerge from their shell and become a big producer down the road for the Kings. TO RECAP: Mexico City has a lot of talent to boot, and should help carry them on a deep playoff run, but once their big producers leave, they'll have to start thinking about the future. With few picks of value in this year's draft, they may have to look to the FA market and pick up some help. I expect Mexico City to regress, but still make the playoffs somewhere in the 5-7 seed range. I give their future potential a C, as it's unsure how the Kings are going to rebound off their D core leaving. Halifax 21st (47-18-7, 101 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 8 Forward: B- | Defense: B+ | Goalie: C | Potential: B+ GM: @rory OVERVIEW: Halifax just barely eclipsed the 100-point mark to cap off a great season under GM Rory. LW Hater Tottingham (@Trunkxolotl) finished in the Top-10 in points this season (72GP 33-47-80), and as of this article, the 21st swept Saskatoon in the first round. Their team consists of solid depth, both on the offensive and defensive side, and features a capped goalie in G Chad Powers (@Big_Dyl), helping solidify their positioning. DRAFT SUGGESTION: 8th Overall - G Diego Adam ( @Dadam30) (147 TPE) Halifax's big concern is going to be picking up a solid G to make up for losing G Chad Powers and now-inactive G Kim Chi. Picking G Diego Adam would make a lot of sense here. While he struggled with Saskatoon this past season, he may need a resurgence with a new team to emerge as the top option in the draft, and Halifax provides enough depth to help him grow. TO RECAP: Halifax had a very productive season, one that sees them more than likely making a deep playoff run, and potentially as a dark horse to win the championship this year. Once the offseason begins, I expect Halifax to move to the top of the standings and finish with an even better record with the depth they have and a hypothetical new addition of G Diego Adam. Losing LW Tottingham to the VHL is going to be a scratch to the lineup, but it shouldn't hurt the 21st too much. Philadelphia Reapers (54-13-5, 113 PTS) - First Selection: R1, Pick 9 Forward: C | Defense: B | Goalie: B | Potential: B GM: @mattyIceman OVERVIEW: Winning the Eastern Conference is no easy task, especially with the talent of some of the teams in the conference (-Miami), but Philly made the most of their season, clinching the conference title and the #2 seed in the Founder's Cup Playoffs. Boasting 4 (!!!) players in the Top 10 in points and G Louis Burley (@EndoNate) locking it down between the pipes for most of the season, the Reapers had no problem becoming a problem on teams' schedules this season. DRAFT SUGGESTION: 9th Overall - C Bash McMurray ( @Bushito) (148 TPE) Philly is going to be losing several Fs to the VHL soon and will need to address their depth up front. Selecting McMurray 9th will solidify the middle of the lineup, especially boasting an impressive stat line on conference rival Miami (18GP 4-7-11). Expect McMurray's production to slightly decrease with more depth surrounding them, but with development over the next few seasons, it should continue to be a productive piece for the Reapers to continue to hunt a championship. TO RECAP: Philly is a Founder's Cup contender at the moment and has a legitimate shot at taking the crown once it's all said and done. They'll lose some F depth after the playoffs, but I don't doubt their ability to rebuild with a hypothetical pick of McMurray. However, it is uncertain what kind of attention they can get from the FA pool, so their potential remains at a solid B for now. Houston Bulls (59-8-5, 123 PTS) - First Selection: R2, Pick 16 Forward: D | Defense: D+ | Goalie: F | Potential: C GM: @SMYLS4 OVERVIEW: The "Cream of the Crop", the Bulls finished with a 10-point cushion ahead of Philadelphia to win the Prime Minister's Cup for most points in the regular season. Led by a star-studded team of ~6 capped players and a capped G in G Bartholomew Lorequavius (@jaypc8237), Houston breezed through their opponents. GM SMYLS4 explained the plan for the Bulls this year, featuring an all-in push. "The plan for S98 was to go all-in and do whatever we could to win," stated SMYLS4, "Although I'm still not 100% sure how many players we will have returning next season, we will be missing many positional needs." I asked SMYLS4 what he thinks about the possibility of Houston winning the Founder's Cup in his first year at the helm. The GM smiled, stating, "This team is full of talent no matter where you look. I am very happy with how we performed in the 1st round, and have high expectations for the following rounds. With it being my first season, I was happy to inherit a good Houston team. I knew we would have a good chunk of players moving up to the VHL after the season, so I decided to go all-in and put us in the best position to win it all. I know it would mean a lot to the team to win it all, as they put in a lot of effort. For myself, winning a Cup in your first season is basically the best possible outcome you could ask for. Houston deserves another Cup." DRAFT SUGGESTION: 16th Overall - LW Oppai Bumu ( @BOOM) (132 TPE) With this all-in push, Houston runs the risk of rebuilding next season. SMYLS4 admitted this, with most of the roster for the Bulls about to be depleted. The GM states, "Having only 3 FA claims doesn't give us a ton of room to work with, but it could be possible. We will desperately need a goalie this draft or have to acquire one via trade." If I'm the GM, I would be looking to build up front and take a different approach to the upcoming draft. I believe at #16, Houston should look to take a risk with LW Oppai Bumu. Not having played in the VHLM yet, Bumu has a high ceiling and should develop quickly. Bumu has the chance to thrive in an environment like Houston's and should be a near half-PPG pick this season, considering future roster woes. Houston in the 3rd round should look to select their backup G from this year, G Michael Szatkowski III (@Mike), who performed well (understandably with a great team in front of him). Szatkowski has developed nicely, and while not the most lucrative pick, should be able to provide long-term stability at the position for Houston down the road. TO RECAP: Houston's roster will take a massive hit once the playoffs conclude. SMYLS4 understands this and seems committed to making the rebuild in hopes of becoming more competitive by the beginning of the season in S100. I give their potential for the offseason a C, considering the lack of draft capital and likely rough FA period lying ahead of them. FINAL THOUGHTS: Whew! Writing 2 days' worth of content is wild, but I had fun doing so. I am excited (as a potential VHLM draft pick myself) to see what the offseason holds and how much the league shakes up in S99! In Simon We Trust. ~4240 words (OH MY LORD)

Would you look at that, a timely hiring.. go figure. Alright so the real reason why I'm posting. The @Commissioner team (within 72 hours) would like to announce the new GM of the Calgary Wranglers. We had some qualified candidates who applied for the position and I wish we had more GM's to announce but, alas we don't. (If someone says expansion, No, Just No) This member needs no introduction, you all know him, some of you love him, Is the new GM of the Wranglers. Let's all congratulate them on the great things they're going to do.

Hi VHL, Hope you’re all doing amazing! Please head on over and check out our YouTube Advertisement that just hit with the amazing Thrash HKY. Make sure to show them some love from the VHL and be ready to welcome/help all the newcomers (hopefully). Advertisement is at 3:12.

Season Ninety-Nine VHL Entry Draft 1ST Gens With the season 100 draft eligible players flowing into the league this past week, I clicked on the season ninety-nine draft eligible players and noticed a boat load of first-generation players eligible for the upcoming draft. With so many first time VHLers available in the draft I thought we would highlight some of those players and give them much deserved recognition. Additional Pylons (D) @courtjestr19 Additional Pylons is the top first-generation player on the list of draft eligible players for the season ninety-nine VHL Entry Draft, currently sitting as the fourth best prospect available, oddly enough the third best defensive prospect in a top-heavy defense draft. Pylons joined the VHL back on January 30th, 2025, and has been a consistent face in practice each week, including a new role with VSN as part of the graphics team. On the ice Pylons is in the midst of their first full season in the VHLM, as he only appeared in four games with Miami in season ninety-seven. Pylons was drafted fifth overall by the Houston Bulls in the season ninety-eight VHLM Dispersal Draft and had played in all sixty-seven games so far this season with the Bulls. In those sixty-seven games Pylons has put up nine goals and twenty-eight assists, helping Houston to their current fifty-seven-win total. With only eighteen TPE separating Pylons from the top draft eligible prospect in the draft, Pylons work ethic as a first-generation player, may see him jump the draft board come draft day. Boing Boing (RW) @slothfacekilla The Australian born sixteen-year-old Boing Boing is currently having a good season for the Las Vegas Aces after being drafted by the Las Vegas based VHLM club thirteenth overall in the season ninety-eight VHLM Dispersal Draft. Boing is another member that joined the VHL on January 30, 2025, and jumped right into the VHLM for the final four games of the season ninety-seven VHLM season. Boing was picked up off waivers by the San Diego Marlins for those four games and unfortunately was unable to register their first VHLM point during those games. In the off-season Boing joined the Aces at the conclusion of the draft and has participated in all sixty-nine games so far in season ninety-eight. In the sixty-nine games Boing has played in they have put up seventeen games and twenty assists. While Boing continues to trend upwards on the ice, the youngster has really exploded off the ice, putting up 206 TPE since joining in January. Boing is another first-generation member breathing life back into the VSN with amazing graphics, which has helped them climb up the prospect leaderboard, with Boing currently sitting as the eighth best prospect available in the season ninety-nine entry draft. With only two other forward prospects ahead of them in the draft, Boings name might be called way earlier than eighth overall. John Cowgill © @FlyingWV American born seventeen-year-old centerman John Cowgill is the next first-generation member on the draft board. Cowgill joined the VHL just over a month again on March 12, 2025, and was subsequently picked up off Waivers by the Mexico City Kings. Cowgill has played in sixty-six of the Kings seventy games played this season, putting up seven goals and eighteen assists on a very good Mexico City team. While Cowgill is working away on the ice, Cowgill has been working even harder off the ice by putting up 189 TPE to date in just over a month. Cowgill, like the previous first-generation players we wrote about in this media spot, has taken on a bigger role in the league writing articles for the VSN, including his last piece on April 5, 2025, where he talked about analyzing defenders in the VHLM. Cowgill and the Kings will be heading to the VHLM playoffs in a few days once the season ends, another avenue for Cowgill to prove his wort and possibly improve his selection in the season ninety-nine VHL Entry Draft. Chase Breeze (D) @C-Breeze Next on the draft board for first generation players available in the season ninety-nine VHL Entry Draft is Canadian born defender Chas Breeze. Breeze joined the VHL a month ago on March 24, 2025, and was quickly picked up off waivers by the Miami Marauders. Since joining Miami Breeze has appeared in thirty-eight games with the team, putting up nine goals and nineteen assists. Breezes twenty-right points on the season puts him as the sixth highest scorer on Miami. Another impressive stat Breeze has put up this season for the Marauders is his 13.46 shooting percentage, which is the third best shooting percentage on the team. While Breeze is making great strides on the ice since joining the league, off the ice Breeze is also improving leaps and bounds each week. Since the week ending March 30, 2025, Breeze has completed four media spots, published his biography and done other countless supplementary point tasks. Breeze currently sits as the fourteenth best prospect available in the draft and sixth best defenseman available. With VHL teams often in need of defenseman, we can see Breeze going higher than the bottom of the first round when the draft begins. Roger Lamothe (RW) @Webby1121 Two spots behind Breeze on the draft board is sixteen-year-old Canadian born winger Roger Lamothe. Lamothe joined the league back on March 1, 2025, and was eligible for the season ninety-eight VHLM Dispersal Draft. The Philadelphia Reapers took a flyer on Lamothe selecting the youngster with the twenty-second overall pick in the draft. Lamothe jumped right into the roster this season, playing in all seventy-two games for the Philadelphia based VHLM club. In those seventy-two games Lamothe scored seven goals and nineteen assists, which was the tenth best point total on the Reapers’ roster. Lamothe had a decent rookie season in the VHLM and continue to improve on and off the ice all season long. While Lamothe is currently a welfare player, he is still earning TPE each week which is very positive for a first generation VHL player. Other than welfare Lamothe has been claiming Affiliate VHL.com replacements, trivia and practice facility. VHL. Lamothe currently sits as the sixteenth best prospect available in the draft and eight best forward prospect. While we hope the longer Lamothe stays in the VHL they become more comfortable to complete some media spots or graphics, we are happy to have him any way he wishes to take part in the league. Special ed (G) @special ed Goaltender prospect special ed starts off the list of first-generation players outside the first round on the draft board. Special ed joined the VHL on March 24, 2025, and was picked up by the Miami Marauders to lead the team in net down the stretch. Special ed played in forty-six games after being picked up off waivers by the Marauders, putting up a record of 7-36-3, along with a .888 save percentage and 3.56 goals against average. With Miami only putting up ten wins all season long, Special ed should be patting himself on the back considering he was responsible for seven out of those ten wins on the season. Off the ice Special ed has been progressing nicely as he has completed two graphic point tasks, one VHL.com article, two weeks of trivia and practice facility. Special ed currently sits as the twenty-first prospect and fourth best goaltender prospect available in the draft. If Special ed can keep up the off-ice training going forward, he will be a great draft pick for whoever selects him in the season ninety-nine VHL Entry Draft. Cameron Squires (RW) @CSquires Twenty-one-year-old Canadian born right winger, Cameron Squires is the next player up on the first-generation draft board. Squires joined the VHL back on February 28th, 2025, which made Squires draft eligible for the season ninety-eight VHLM Dispersal Draft. Squires was selected twenty-eighth overall by the Mississauga Hounds and played all seventy-two games with the Hounds this season. Squires has a decent first season in the VHLM putting up fourteen goals and nineteen assists in his seventy-two games played. Two of those fourteen goals were also game winners, and two more of the fourteen were scored on the power play. Off the ice Squires has been practicing each week since the week ending March 2, 2025, completing welfare, trivia and practice facility most weeks. Squires is currently the twenty-third best prospect available on the trade which will hopefully see him go in the first two rounds in the draft. Wayne Greatzky © @Dukeston1111 Next up on the first-generation draft board is twenty-three-year-old American born centerman Wayne Greatzky. Greatzky joined the league on March 30, 2025, which made him waiver eligible for his first VHLM season. Greatzky agreed to a contract with the San Diego Marlins during the waiver process and joined the team for the last eighteen games of the Marlins season. In his eighteen games he appeared in with the Marlins, Greatzky put up two goals and seven assists. In the four updating weeks since joining the league Greatzky has been working hard off the ice to improve his game. Beginning the week of April 6, 2025, Greatzky has been consistently claiming welfare and practice facility, while also the last two weeks taking part in the league wide trivia for additional TPE. Greatzky is currently the twenty-fourth best prospect available, which should see him go in the later part of the second round. With Greatzky hopefully feeling more comfortable each passing day, we hope that he will continue to explore additional TPE earning options. Jozef Koesser (LW) @fantooge Right behind Greatzky is the Hungarian left-winger, Jozef Koesser. Koesser joined the VHL on March 7, 2025, which unfortunately didn’t allow the nineteen-year-old to be selected in the season ninety-right VHLM Dispersal Draft. Koesser entered the VHLM waiver pool prior to the season starting and was picked up by the San Diego Marlins. As Koesser was picked up off waivers before the beginning of the season, he was able to play in all seventy-two games for the Marlins this season where he put up six goals and twelve assists. Two of Koessers six goals were scored while the Marlins were on the man advantage. Koesser also had 186 hits, and nine shots blocked during the regular season. Off the ice one can say Koesser is a man of consistency, claiming welfare and practice facility each week since the week ending March 9, 2025. Rated the twenty-fifth best prospect in terms of TPE earned to date, Koesser shouldn’t have to wait too long in the draft process to her his name called during the VHL Entry Draft. CJ Franklin © @CJ Franklin Nex player on the list is Britain’s own twenty-three-year-old centerman CJ Franklin. Franklin joined the VHL back on February 3, 2025, which made him eligible to be drafted in the season ninety-eight VHLM Dispersal Draft. Frankling was selected by the Saskatoon Wild with the twenty-fourth overall pick in the draft and joined the team in the “Paris of the Prairies” for the teams seventy-two games played. In those seventy-two games played, Franklin scored nine goals and twenty-three assists, while also putting up a plus thirteen over the course of the season. Off the ice, Franklin has been putting in the work collecting welfare and adding trivia and practice facility each week to keep growing. Ranked the twenty-six best prospect in the draft, it will be interesting to see what team will take on Franklin with an eye on him cracking the roster a little bit down the road. The Milkman (LW) @THEMILKMAN The last first-generation prospect we are going to look at today is an older prospect in forty-nine-year-old winger The Milkman. The Milkman came to the VHL on February 10, 2025, and was able to join the Las Vegas Aces after they drafted him twenty-first overall in the season ninety-eight VHLM Dispersal Draft. The Milkman had a very good first season in the VHLM scoring twenty goals and twenty-four assists in his seventy-two games played with the Aces. Off the ice, The Milkman has been averaging about six TPE each week by claiming welfare and practice facility training. As the twenty-eight prospect currently available TPE wise for the draft, it will be interesting to watch if The Milkman stays in the second round or slips down into the third round come draft day. 2, 046 words April 14-20 April 21-27 April 28-May 4 May 5-11

I'll make sure to keep this short publicly; I'm stepping down (at the end of this season). It has been an honor to serve as Calgary's General Manager for the past year and a half. Although we haven't been able to win the Continental, I've tried to maintain a great group of people and an active Locker Room. For the past couple of months, for a variety of reasons, I feel like I haven't been able to fulfill my tasks as I should, therefore I decided to step down. I've shared my feelings internally and I'm not going anywhere, but I want to be 100% focused on any position I hold around the league. With that in mind, I decided to take this step back for now. Another GM position will come in the future. I appreciate the league for the opportunity! I appreciate everyone I share moments with! Much love!

@RileyL

Player Information Username: JardyB10 Player Name: Gifford bin McShockerson Recruited From: Returning Age: 24 Position: G Height: 69 in. Weight: 190 lbs. Birthplace: Australia Player Page @VHLM GM

I’m back! Did you miss me? Of course you did. Don’t ask who I am if you’ve never met me. I think an entire season happened while I was away due to work but I am back and ready to be a productive member of the VHL community once more! Until the next tax season rolls around at least lol. So, what has Ahsoka been up to while I’ve been barely earning and not really paying attention? Let’s look into it. Based on numbers alone (which is really all we are), Ahsoka seems to have had her best season yet. Most goals, most assists, and most points. Low end for her +/- but that’s okay. Overall, all her numbers are up. 16 goals, 51 assists, 195 shots, 6 game winning goals, and 8 power play goals. The only numbers she was down on were penalty minutes and hits, which is exactly what I needed her to do. Lowest so far and I am happy with that. Given that I didn’t build her as a fighter or a menace, I’m happy to see that she’s finally on lines with players who keep her focused on actually playing. Looks like once again she didn’t find herself on any of the leaderboards, but I supposed we can’t all be top 10 players. Though she is tied in 10th place for game winners so had the algorithm worked differently, she might have that number 10 spot. So in terms of the league, she wasn’t all that great. But I guess I’ll take personal improvement as a consolation prize. This was her 4th season so I’m hoping that as she gets further into her career, maybe we’ll be able to see some growth. I think I also may be approaching max build with her. I need to double check with my sources but I’m pretty sure I’m coming close to banking for depreciation. Makes me really happy that I worked my ass off prior to February to earn as much as I could in order to get here so quickly. I think a few more weeks and I’ll be there. As for Seattle, apparently, we made the playoffs? Fucking mint. In 2 games she’s only got 1 assist but I’m sure Bana has some strategy to try and get us as far as possible. Honestly I’m not going to worry about it too much. I always stressed over Jesse Teno because they were such a superstar but I think I’ve come to accept with my time away from the VHL that not every player I make it going to be a star. Not every player I make is going to make a name for themselves and be recognized around the league. And that’s the power of maturing. But seriously, I think I’m okay knowing that Ahsoka isn’t going to be the best or collect accolades. She’s still a great player who I have missed these past 6 weeks and I’m looking forward to getting to know her all over again. 505 words for week ending 4/27/2025

Player Information Username: hedgehog337 Player Name: Electrician God Blacksmith Recruited From: Returning Age: 32 Position: LW Height: 72 in. Weight: 195 lbs. Birthplace: Latvia Player Page @VHLM GM

@courtjestr19 Hi everyone with the season just about halfway over, I figured it would be a great time to take a look at the league’s top 10 prospects. Let’s dive right in! TOP PROSPECTS First off to accurately assess the league’s top prospects I made a fairly simple formula taking into account draft season, TPE, and position. The current top ten VHL prospects are as follows: Cardinal Copia @Beketov Rank: 1 Draft: S98, 1st Overall Team: Malmo Nighthawks Position: RW TPE: 418 The 1st overall pick from the last draft has maintained their spot at the top of the prospect ranks, largely due to having considerably more TPE than any other skater. This season Copia has been good in the VHLM with a total of 19 goals and 21 assists for a total of 40 points in 46 games, 4 of which has been for Houston following a recent trade. Copia is doing well, and their production has improved from last season but, a larger step would be good to see. With that being said, Copia does project as a true franchise forward, and will be a key piece in Malmo’s rebuilding process. Gingy @MexicanCow123 Rank: 2 Draft: S98, 4th Overall Team: HC Davos Dynamo Position: C TPE: 387 Since the draft, Gingy stocks have only rose as they find themselves in the number 2 slot. This season Gingy is very much in the same boat as Copia as they are producing at a decent level just below a point per game with 43 points in 45 games, now with Houston Gingy will be looking to pick up the pace a bit before making the jump to the VHL, where they will join Davos and their existing core. Peter Venkman @Josh Rank: 3 Draft: S98, 2nd Overall Team: Warsaw Predators Position: D TPE: 364 Peter Venkman has been good this season, having already surpassed their total from last season with 36 points in 46 games. With them joining Warsaw next season Venkman will be the first piece in a long list to get Warsaw back into contention and into the playoffs, but Venkman is a great start to doing just that. Tina Hughes @tinafrombobsburgers Rank: 4 Draft: S98, 8th Overall Team: New York Americans Position: D TPE: 363 Tina Hughes is in a awkward spot of being the 2nd best defensemen in this draft and as a result will likely always be compared directly to Venkman since they are fairly similar. However, Hughes hasn’t enjoyed the same offensive success that Venkman has in the M with only 27 points in 46 games, while playing on the same team. Hughes will join to good New York team next season and get to learn from a few of the league’s top defensemen! Sidney Sheppard @GoodLeftUndone Rank: 5 Draft: S98, 9th Overall Team: HC Davos Dynamo Position: C TPE: 359 Unlike every previous player, Sidney Sheppard slid considerably in the draft, however they have maintained their spot as a top prospect in the league. Additionally, they are the first player on this list that is above a point per game in the VHLM as they have 25 goals and 23 assists for a total of 48 points in 46 games played. They will be joining Davos alongside Gingy next season. Toby Bob @Baby Boomer Rank: 6 Draft: S98, 3rd Overall Team: D.C. Dragons Position: G TPE: 419 The only goalie on the list today, Toby Bob was drafted 3rd overall last draft and falls in our rankings largely due to being a goalie. Bob has been good this season for Saskatoon and has posted a 25-17-4 record with a 0.922 SV% and a 2.27 GAA. Bob will be joining the goaltending mess that is D.C. next season as they already have 2 goalies, one of which is signed long-term, IA, and about to hit depreciation, making them near impossible to move, and the other is the GM’s player. D.C.’s choice here likely comes down to when they project to be competitive. Zak Trokker @Peace Rank: 7 Draft: S98, 10th Overall Team: Warsaw Predators Position: LW TPE: 343 Zak Trokker largely got over-looked at the draft due to concerns regarding their long-term potential and while they have slowed down slightly. They have had a good season so far in the VHLM with San Diego as they currently have 36 points in 46 games. Trokker does still project as a good top-line forward and will be joining Warsaw next season. Alex Bridges IV @Oatex Rank: 8 Draft: S98, 7th Overall Team: Prague Phantoms Position: RW TPE: 339 Alex Bridges IV has been fairly solid in the VHLM this season and is one of many top prospects on Houston. Their scoring is very similar to both Copia and Gingy which is a great sign for Prague. Next season Bridges will join Prague where they will likely just replace a retiring forward and provide a good compliment to the existing core. Agustin Martinez @SleepyPlayz Rank: 9 Draft: S98, 5th Overall Team: D.C. Dragons Position: RW TPE: 336 Martinez has seen the largest drop out of any player in the S98 draft class in the top 10, this is partly due to inconsistent growth. This season their production has been on par with most the S98 class as they do have 40 points in 46 games played. Next season they will be joining D.C. who should be looking to make a step this offseason. CJ Daniels @xNJDevilsFanx Rank: 10 Draft: S97, 13th Overall – Seattle Bears Team: HC Davos Dynamo Position: RW TPE: 467 Lastly, in the 10 spot we’ve got CJ Daniels, who’s VHL journey has been slightly controversial as their rights have bounced around to 4 different teams since the draft, but they appear to have found a home in Davos and be focused on the future. In the VHLM, Daniels has been one of the league’s best players with 30 goals and 36 assists through 46 games and sits 3rd in points and 1st in goals. They will be joining Davos next season alongside their existing impressive group of rookies. Prospects Ranked 11-50: Rank Player Name Position Season TPE Team 11 RW - Ryan Mantzz RW 98 321 NYA 12 G - Chad Powers G 97 469 SEA 13 G - Pepe Silvia G 97 465 NYA 14 D - Bazooka Joe D 98 253 MAL 15 LW - Jakub Kovar LW 98 263 WAR 16 LW - Hater Tottingham LW 97 368 MAL 17 LW - MacGregor Walcott LW 98 220 MOS 18 LW - Lorenzo Mancini LW 98 215 LDN 19 D - Remain Six Meters Back From Me D 98 191 WAR 20 D - Darko Alexander Malkovich SR D 98 178 HSK 21 RW - Jacob Seed RW 97 324 LAS 22 D - Jack Jack D 97 308 CGY 23 D - Ron World Peace Jr D 97 306 LAS 24 D - Petr Novak D 97 304 DCD 25 D - Kurt Bachmann D 96 435 MAL 26 RW - Joseph Poole RW 97 310 CGY 27 RW - Raoul Cyr RW 97 302 WAR 28 RW - Nick Sansoe Jr RW 98 168 LDN 29 RW - Spallsy McDavid RW 97 299 MOS 30 D - Chris Barbre D 98 139 CGY 31 D - Dog Jagr D 96 393 VAN 32 RW - Avery Acres RW 97 260 CHI 33 D - Feka Ohi Kau D 96 372 CHI 33 C - Michael Lee Jr C 97 250 DCD 35 C - Ethan Ashcroft C 97 243 TOR 36 LW - ALTO RED LW 97 243 TOR 36 LW - Fortnite Moneygang LW 98 111 LAS 38 RW - Arochimaru Shahar RW 97 235 DCD 39 C - Gordie Howl C 98 96 NONE 40 LW - Alex Versti LW 97 232 NYA 41 D - Manuel Ceson D 96 345 DCD 42 D - Hank Smith D 97 212 MOS 43 D - Victory Hockey League D 96 343 LAS 43 RW - James Harle RW 98 94 CHI 45 G - Brian S G 97 274 DAV 46 G - whiteknight G 98 140 HSK 47 C - Jackson Jeannot C 96 348 NYA 47 D - Elisa McMuffin D 97 206 MOS 49 C - Jagger Bomb Jr C 97 213 HSK 50 G - Kim Chi G 98 135 HSK Thank you all for reading! Next week we’ll be looking at teams prospect pools and ranking them! 1401 words (2 weeks)

Not ranked - @Frank @Alex - anyone with a first name only is automatically DQ'd, what the hell kinda boring ass username is that? Bottom - @Banackock - obscene name, this is a family friendly website and you've got phallic imagery in a GM's username 2nd bottom - @Baby Boomer - tanked the economy and blames the kids for it Tied for 3rd worst - @LucyXpher @badcolethetitan and @leandrofg - only narrowly better than Frank and Alex Next - @v.2 - v2 of what? Why did you put a . in the middle this time around? @McLovin - DQd if that's your real name. Ranked here for trying to forge a name to buy alcohol if it's not. Pick your poison. @STZ - what are you, STD for gen Z? @qripll and @dstevensonjr - bad spelling / grammar @Tetricide - no complaints about username, putting you firmly in the top 4. However, you're struggling to make the playoffs. @InstantRockstar - win a cup ffs @Spartan - job hogger Least bad - @N0HBDY. Which is fitting. You're all terribly so nobody is the best. None of you are fit to polish Bushito's shoelaces. Go back to the VHLM. Dishonourable mention - @Ricer13

The New Meta: An Analysis on Discipline AKA the Gustav is Wrong Thread Some of you may know me for meta in s79-s82, and I’m here to bring you an analysis on the new meta, and something I haven’t really seen talked about by in-depth by anyone else, and in fact it’s mainly talked about in a negative light by a lot of prominent members in the community. @Victor@Spartan @Gustav (for shame) And I, in fact, have been saying it’s good for years now. I will also give a shoutout to @Enorama who hasn’t necessarily been saying it’s good (as far as I can tell), but hasn’t been on the DI is useless train and does recognize it for what it is. I’ll also give a shoutout to @DMaximuswho said this: I didn’t realise he said until I re-read Gustav’s article in the process of writing this, and I’ve used this metric before in the Prague thread, so great minds think alike. I’ve used similar metrics to this before in arguing for awards here I’m sure some of you have also seen my comments about discipline in other threads (specifically the Prague thread) but here’s a concrete manifesto of my whole thoughts on it. 1. What does Discipline actually do? I feel there is a large misconception about what discipline does. Intuitively it would make sense that CK increases how much your player hits, or how hard your player hits, or some explanation with total hits. Likewise, it would make sense that discipline is almost an attribute of how “clean” your player hits. One would expect that increasing CK would result in more hits, and increasing DI on top of that would result in the same increase in hits but less penalties off of it. However, that is not the case. The quick punchline here is that CK increases how often your player hits, DI decreases how often your player hits, it’s basically negative CK. Lets take a look at some numbers. I have 28 seasons of player stats and attributes from S70 - S97. We’ll first explore some basic relationships between the variables of interest (CK, PIM, DI) and then get into some regression models. From the charts we can see very obvious strong positive correlations between CK, Hits, and PIM. This is a super similar chart to what Gustav had, we have a super high population at 40 DI (mostly due to people thinking it’s worthless) and some sparse data points above that with a weak negative correlation. Like Gustav also said, this chart doesn’t really prove much, since it doesn’t tell us anything about CK. The people at 40 DI could have 99 CK or 40 CK for all we know, same with any other point. Let’s then look at the gap between DI and CK, so that we can get information on both. Now we see a negative correlation. As DI increases compared to CK, we see a decrease in hits. We can further analyze this plot and make some improvements to it to build an even better understanding, since there’s still some points that can be made about this one. We’ll get a bit more colour in here to make it look a little fancier. Here I’ve coloured points green if Discipline = 40, and red if Discipline isn’t 40. Let’s dive deeper into this plot now. We can use the 0 point on the x-axis as a marker of sorts. Anything to the left of that point is super similar to CK vs. HIT’s plot we made earlier and we still see that strong correlation. This is further backed up by a lot of these values having DI of 40, which suggests that this is just purely caused by increases in CK. If we look to the right of the 0 marker, we see all the players who have upgraded DI higher than CK. We can “zoom-in” on this. This does look a little random, but there is a negative trend line, and we see the right end having much less hits than the left end. I’ve coloured the graph by whether CK is 40 or not this time, and we can see that a lot of the upper hits numbers are a result of increased CK on top (which we will see later). I can see why the conclusion that DI isn’t that impactful was made, especially since Gustav was just looking at s72 data (a much smaller sample size). It’s also hard to isolate DI from CK, and the correlation between Hits and CK is very small. If you are questioning my results right now I totally understand. From this though we can certainly conclude that CK, PIM, and HITs are all positively correlated with one another, and there may be a dubious relationship between DI and HITs. 2. Deep Dive With Statistics We’ll do a regression of CK and DI on number of hits. Here is some R code output. I’ll interpret it for you if you have no idea what you’re looking at. The coefficients section is basically how much each variable affects the outcome. The estimate is the main one we want to look at. We can see that CK has an estimate of 4.41 and DI has an estimate of -2.52. The regression is like a linear line, where Number of Hits = 4.41 * (CK Value) - 2.52 * (DI Value) - 10.46 So each point in CK is about 4.41 more hits, each point in DI is about 2.52 less hits. We can ignore the intercept of -10.46 since that’s not really relevant (it’s the number of hits you’d have if you had 0CK and 0DI). We also see that the P-value is very significant. We can do the same regression on PIMs as well. We see that each point increase in CK is about 2.7 more PIM, while each point in DI is about -1.12PIM. From both of these regressions, we see that DI is about half as “powerful” as CK, in that 1 point in DI reduces about half the hits that 1 point in CK gains, similarly 1 point in DI reduces about half the PIM that 1 point in CK gains. We however see an R^2 of 0.6, which means this regression explains 60% of the variance in the dataset. Since this is a sim engine, this means that 40% of your hit total cannot be explained by attributes, and is probably a factor of team/lines/minutes. Interlude: I will also just share that throughout the course of writing this I’ve been slowly adding more and more seasons. This started as just S83-S97 but the final version for now is S70-S97 (before S70 my function to scrape doesn’t work due to index formatting differences and I don’t want to fix it right now). However, as I’ve added more data, especially pre-hybrid, the estimate of DI has gone up, while the estimate of CK has gone down. If we just use S83-S97 data the CK estimate is 3.11 and the DI estimate is -0.93. I think this is just due to a bias in the sample, in that a lot of players keep DI low (due to a lot of people thinking it’s a useless stat). We can visualize the distribution. We can see a huge spike at 40 DI, with very few players actually choosing to upgrade DI (In-fact 71% of players in the dataset have DI at 40). After hybrid attributes the number of players choosing to upgrade DI is even smaller than pre-hybrid, which is why including more seasons before S83 is increasing the “power” of DI, since we are able to sample more players actually updating it. 3. Why this is important. So you may be asking, what’s all the fuss about discipline, maybe it works, maybe it doesn’t, why is it good? I’ll tell you why it’s good. Hits are bad. As we saw before, hits are directly correlated with penalties. Penalties are correlated with power plays for the other team, and power plays for the other team are correlated with goals against your team. I’ll show you what I’m talking about. Consider a player with 300 hits. From our previous plot, we’d expect them to have about 160 PIM. 160 PIM is about 80 powerplays for the other team. If the other team has an average power play of 18%, that’s about 14 goals against your team. For comparison, that’s about equivalent to the difference between a .930 goalie and a .924 goalie. We can further extend this to say each hit is about 0.53 penalty minutes. Which means every 4 hits results in a powerplay. With an average power play of 18%, about every 20 hits results in a power play goal against your team. If we furthermore use the regressions, 1 point in CK is equivalent to 2.7 penalty minutes. If each powerplay has a 18% chance of being scored on, 2.7 * 0.18 = 0.486. So every point in CK results in almost 0.5 goals scored against your team Similarly, 1 point in DI is -1.1 PIM. So every point in DI results in 0.2 less goals against your team. One flaw in the metric (that also helps my case), is that if you are a player who has high DF and is on the PK, say for example a team’s top defenseman, hitting is even WORSE for you, since those powerplay averages will presumably go up against your team if the top defenseman is the one in the penalty box. We can conclude though that hits are bad, but why not just avoid updating CK and not touching discipline? Well there does come a point where it is better to upgrade discipline. 4. When is upgrading discipline useful The main problem with discipline is that it’s effect is kind of weak as seen above. In this article I’m not proposing that everyone should just be rushing DI to 99, it’s not that good. In order to properly value it we need to consider the TPE opportunity cost of DI vs. other attributes. Obviously it is much better to upgrade DF to 50 before you upgrade DI to 50, but at what point does it become worth it to upgrade DI? One thing that I’ve seen pointed out is that at some point you have to upgrade BC as it’s the cheapest way to get STHS DF. However, this comes with the drawback of getting 0.06DF but also 0.36CK. So maybe there is a way to also upgrade Poise in-line with Body-Checking to cancel out the CK and just get the DF, while also being cheaper than the next best source of DF. Time to do more math. The most efficient source of DF is PC (Poke Checking, but I always think this is Puck Control for some reason), which gives 0.24 DF and 0.18 ST. At a value of 80 it starts costing 5 tpe to upgrade, so each tpe is worth 0.24/5 = 0.048 DF. Once PC is 80 you start getting more DF per TPE from BC than PC. (0.06 vs. 0.048). But the cost of that cheaper DF means to cancel out the CK increase you basically need 1 point in Poise. So it actually costs 2 tpe for that 0.06 DF to be purely beneficial. We can use an estimate that 1 point in CK is cancelled out by 2 points in DI (0.36CK vs. 1.08DI for upgrading 1 BC and 2 PO respectively), which results in an overestimate [less DI is needed to cancel], and overestimating here is fine. So we need to find a point where 0.06/3 = 0.02DF/tpe (since you need 1 tpe for BC and 2 tpe for the PO to cancel it) is a better alternative to other DF sources. We find that for PC this will never happen, as at the maximum 0.24DF/10tpe = 0.024 DF/TPE, but for the other DF-granting attributes this does happen. For DK which gives 0.12DF, this happens when DK = 90 (0.12/8) = 0.015DF/TPE For DC which gives 0.18DF, this happens when DC = 95 (0.18/10) = 0.018DF/TPE So once DK and DC get to the 90/95 breakpoints respectively, it becomes more efficient to upgrade BC and cancel out the CK increase with PO than to continue upgrading them. Which if you are only upgrading defense, will happen around 580 player TPE. 5. Takeaways, Further Theories, and Conclusion Alright, so we’ve concluded that DI is not in fact useless as many have claimed, and does result in a reduction in Hits and PIM. The main reason why DI is useful though is twofold, hits in general are just bad and you want your player to avoid them as they cost your team goals against. DI does slightly reduce hits and PIM (although it’s easier and more effective to not get hits and PIM by just avoiding updating CK). However, as seen above there does come a breakpoint where to efficiently get DF you need to also upgrade CK, discipline does allow you to effectively cancel this out. However, throughout this analysis we’ve just seen that DI has a somewhat weak effect. I think that this is just due to how STHS works, and a lot of the further variance in hits for players is just due to roster composition and STHS giving a bunch of hits to people high CK already on the team. So for instance if you have a player who is 40CK 40DI, they’ll get about the same amount of hits as someone who is 40CK 60DI just because on the team there is someone with 80CK who is taking all the hits, and not leaving many to be assigned. A basic example to explain what I’m talking about is imagine a line of 3 players, one has 80CK, one has 40CK 40DI, the other has 40CK 60DI. If STHS decides to give that line 100 hits, suppose the 80CK player gets 80 of those 100 hits, and then the remaining 20 hits are to be given to the other players. That distribution may look like 12 hits to the 40DI player and 8 hits to the 60DI player. The 60DI player gets “less” hits but the effect of it is so small just because the 80CK player is absorbing all of it. I think that if you have a team of low CK players, say for example a line of 3 40CK 40DI players, STHS may now evenly assign like 80 hits. However, if those players are now 40CK 60DI, STHS may now assign only 60 hits. What I’m saying is that DI becomes strong on a overall low CK team, as there’s no hits going to the team already, and reducing the hits even more is beneficial (since hits are bad). I saw this anecdotally with test sims with Vancouver in the S80’s. We had a low CK team, and when I ran test sims with everyone at 60DI our winrate increased by like 5% or so. Also please don’t try (or do try) to make the argument that hits lead to takeaways which lead to goals. I might write another article on this but I just don’t think it’s true, or isn’t true at the rate it needs to be true. For the takeaways to be better you’d need a ~5% chance of scoring as a direct result of each hit, which there’s just no way that’s true. TLDR Results: Over 25+ seasons of VHL data: It’s slightly hard to analyze DI just because so little people upgrade it 1 point increase in CK results in 2.7 more PIM and 4.41 more hits 1 point increase in DI results in 1.1 less PIM and 2.52 less hits Hits are bad because they lead to penalties -> powerplays -> goals against your team DI allows for efficient upgrading of DF in BC by cancelling out CK Overall low CK teams probably benefit from DI more. and most importantly, @Gustav is wrong. 2700 words

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VHL Community, It's an exciting time for all. Not only are we about to celebrate the VHL for everything it has been to us all over 100 seasons, but we're also about to celebrate all of you for what you've helped it become. Everyone is so vital to this community. You all add to it. This recruitment spurt so far has been a lot of work, but a lot of fun. So far we've seen lots of current member recreates, some old faces returning and some new members joining the Victory Hockey League. We've been hard at work making our rounds with affiliates and our social media outlets and wanted to share some of our work for your awareness. There are absolutely no rewards for interaction with these posts - we want to be clear about that. We simply want to bring awareness to the efforts of the team, and if you're active in these communities or spaces and want to answer anyone's questions, it'd be much appreciated. REDDIT POSTS VHL Subreddit - r/VictoryHockeyLeague Posts on Reddit: OHL Fantasy Hockey Penguins Caps Winnipeg Jets San Jose Sharks Tampa Bay Lightning Sabres GoldenKnights Predators Hobbies Teenagers We've chatted to a bunch. We've received permissions for the above. Sometimes, unfortunately, they can still be removed (despite permissions from one mod) or pending moderator approval. TIKTOK VHL TikTok Account There's a few posts on here. One pinned, two posted today! X/TWITTER VHL X Account X Recruitment Post AFFILIATES Reached out to our affiliates. They've been posted on SBA and ISFL. PBE will be later on this week. Waiting on the SSL to get back to us. I'll be posting on the STHS forums eventually, too. Should you have suggestions, please let us know! YOUTUBE Just a friendly reminder that this will be happening Wednesday. INACTIVE EMAIL Sent out to about 3,000 members to come and join in on the celebrations and fun.

Player Information Username: UnkemptCL4PTP Player Name: BEER BEER BEER BEER BEER Recruited From: Returning Age: 26 Position: LW Height: 78 in. Weight: 250 lbs. Birthplace: Belgium Player Page @VHLM GM

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Hello all, It is with great sadness that I make this announcement. Effective immediately, it has been decided between myself and the @Commissioner team that @Gustav will no longer be serving as a VHLM Commissioner. Various complaints and issues were brought to staff and after a thorough investigation, we have made the difficult decision to remove Gus from his role. In the interest of transparency to the community and with our commitment to upholding a fair and competitive league, we'd like to share some of the details of the issues found: - Investigations revealed that Gustav broke the VHLM Commissioner rules of impartiality to VHLM teams, and was discovered to be assisting a team with roster decisions and general management. This involved abuse of admin powers to perform GM duties on behalf of the team in question. - After the aforementioned situation was discovered, there was a strong correlation between the rule changes Gus proposed and the potential benefits to the team he was aiding. - Additionally, investigations found that Gustav was abusing admin powers to update inactive players (Lazlo Holmes and Gustav Mattias) to make them appear active. This is an extremely egregious offense, and one that we have issued strict punishments for in much more minor instances. - A report was also confirmed that Gustav was having appropriate relationships with a real woman which is unacceptable, resulting in him being too inactive to properly complete his VHLM Commissioner duties. Due to the above points, the commissioner team decided to remove Gustav and begin the search for a replacement. Fortunately, we have two interim candidates who expressed willingness to step into the role in an attempt to potentially shift them into a full time role in the future. We will also be working with the @Moderator team to develop training protocols for VHL Staff members as it has been deemed unacceptable to have this many staff scandals in a relatively short amount of time. For now, please welcome the two interim commissioners:

Introduction: (1)The VHL Forums have been around for over 10 years at this point in time and we have seen people get over 10 thousand reactions from their peers in the VHL. This can be extremely exciting for those people, as it shows how others interact with their posts in a positive manner. However many issues arise from a system built on reactions, and it's important to fully understand these implications. So today, I will first explain to you the concept of technology-mediated dangerous behaviors, then I will explain the psychological effects of receiving insufficient positive feedback online, and explain ways to mediate this risk. Technology-Mediated Dangerous Behaviors (TMDB): The Causes of Technology-Mediated Dangerous Behaviors: (2)To first understand the Idea of TMDBs you first have to understand what causes them. According to Hamed Qahri, a researcher at Colorado State University, we go through a phenomenon known as homeostatic violations. This is where the socially driven creatures that we humans are, receive a negative reaction. This can trigger a stress induced reaction (SIR) and result in rash behaviors. This is one of the primary triggers for a TMDB, and on standard social media apps, can result in life threatening behavior, which has led to multiple deaths around the world, through texting while driving, or participating in dangerous activities to get a photo that will receive more interactions. (3)There is another major driving factor known as Social Comparison. People often carefully craft the image of themselves that they put online, whether we know we do it, or it is a subconscious action. This image we create drives others to compare themselves to the other users they see online. We as humans are theorized to experience a psychological trait known as psychological egoism, this is a theorized phenomenon that is supported by a study conducted by Joshua May at the University of Alabama. Psychological egoism states that all humans are influenced by selfish desires, whether these selfish desires lead to selfless acts makes for a different argument, however all humans have a view on the way they think the world sees them. If humans feel that others are doing better than them, it drives TMDBs and leads to the behaviors stated in Paragraph 2. The Correlation of Technology-Mediated Dangerous Behaviors on the VHL: (4)The VHL forum is not like a typical Social Media platform, rather than prioritizing fast stimuli material, entering the brain after short periods of time, to keep a user engaged. It prioritizes a slower reactionary based engagement strategy. This means that the users on the VHL Forum are trained to receive, rather than short term rushes of dopamine from seeing the latest trends, to lengthen their attention span through longer articles, where you read about various topics, usually relating to hockey. These interactions are then displayed on a user profile, filling in the two primary triggers of a TMDB, the reactions on any post that a user creates will lead to a homeostatic violation, and viewing your own reaction count compared to others triggers Social Comparison. (5)In an Unmatured mind, these factors can result in a stressed induced reaction, resulting in a TMDB. Due to the slower nature of the forums, the behaviors exhibited might not show short term offline dangers, like texting and driving would, but it can result in long term effects on a person's life. This is known as Cognitive Dissonance, this may be something as simple as sharing their real name with someone, or something as major as revealing personal information in an attempt to gather more interactions from their peers on the form. The Dangers of These Behaviors: (6)While if a person shares something small, such as a name or personal detail of their life, if they get the reaction that they seek, they will continue participating in this action, eventually they will see less of a reaction when they participate in this behavior, and decide to build on their previous behavior, by providing more personal information about themselves. This is known as the Slippery Slope or in extreme cases Intermittent Explosive Disorder. Which is where a person becomes so reliant on these reactions that it becomes violent episodes rather than short term stressed induced reactions. The Effects of Receiving Insufficient Positive Feedback: (RIPF) The Actions That Register as Insuffecient Positive Feedback: (7)Online, we like to build projects, aimed at creating feedback for ourselves to trigger the dopamine response most humans have experienced. An amazing example of an online project would be this paper, based around the very topic. When we create these projects, we often have an idea of being better than the rest, which loops back into the topic of Social Comparison as explained in paragraph 3. Once we feel we have generated content better than those that we choose to compare it too. We create an idea in our head of the feedback we are looking to receive, and then fully expect to receive this feedback. We go online, post our project, whether it be through video, text, or application, and we await to see our feedback, (8)Once this project is posted, we gain a short dopamine rush through a psychological effect known as anticipated response, where the neurotransmitter associated with pleasure and reward triggers because we feel we have already earned this reaction. This short term rush solidifies in our brain that we deserve these reactions, and causes us to further expect a positive reaction, sometimes even uplifting our expectations to unreasonable and unrealistic heights. The Insufficient Feedback Provided By Our Audience: (9)We as humans often understand that it will take time to build reaction to our expectation, so we often view this feedback through 2 stages, the Immediate Positive and/or Negative Feedback (IPF/INF) and the Long Term Positive to Negative Feedback (LTPNF). Our initial reaction is quick, usually within a couple hours of posting the project, we look at the Positive feedback and Negative feedback separately and occasionally only look for positive feedback. We will see a quick initial rush of support and be excited that our reaction is living up to our expectations, however these reactions will often start to die down after a couple of hours. (10)After these reactions start to slow, we start to experience a reaction similar to that explained in Paragraph 2, we experience Stress Induced Reactions and feel as if we failed, in our creation of the project. While often that is not true, the amygdala often triggers a sad response anyway. This can cause feelings of failure, low self worth, and ultimately depression. The Effects of Receiving Insufficient Positive Feedback: (11)Humans self worth is often a result of a series of factors, the most important being that of Self Comparison (Paragraph 3) and Psychological Egoism (Paragraph 3-4). These two factors are greatly affected through receiving insufficient feedback. We often create expectations through comparison, and when these expectations are not met we often see that as a showing that our work did not size up to that of others, but that we as people can not meet the expectations that others seem to receive so easily. (12)This lowering of our self worth leads to saddening effects, and if the cycle repeats over extended periods of time, we eventually develop social media fatigue, but because of the dopamine rush that we experience from it, we struggle to detach ourselves from these website that are ultimately the root of the issue. This continued depressive state can lead to much more serious effects on our mental health, which continues to degrade over time if we don’t seek professional help. All because of 1 simple button. The Overly Complicated Solution: Solution #1: Remove the like Button: (13)It seems like a simple fix, all we have to do is remove the like button, and this domino effect of SIRs, TMDBs, RIPFs and SMFs can all be avoided. Right? It's sadly not that simple. As the author of my favorite book has stated time and time again, “Nature Enjoys it's balance, you can’t remove bad without removing good.” As much pain as the like button provides, it's also a rewarding factor for doing a good job. The like button influences people to continue creating content, as well as to put effort into their content. Removing the like button ultimately changes the forum from an active and thriving space, to a simple, likely inactive place, where there is no reward or incentive to continue being active. (14)Sadly, this is why like buttons have been provided on almost every social media platform, and those who don’t are often not active or predominant in today's social climate. Ever heard of Maven? It's a perfect example of this sad flaw with the human brain. A social media with no follows, no likes, and as of this moment, practically no users. Solution #2: Educate Rather Than Retaliate: (15)As established, we can’t rely on a system without a reward for posting, so instead we have to educate ourselves on the effects of these issues. If we fully understand the damages that this has on our brains, we can better react to situations, and better help others who don’t fully understand the effects of a system like this. We can’t entirely educate or help everyone, so this solution has a downside, and a very big one, but as stated in Paragraph 13, nature likes its balance. If we want to continue with a forum being active, we have to have likes, but we need to understand how these likes affect us. So ultimately we can continue to safely interact on social media. (16) More importantly, we can also strive to provide support for those who provide their projects on the forum. I am guilty of almost never reacting or commenting on others posts, and through my research on this topic, I have realized that this is an issue in itself. Most of the time, one person's issue can be amplified by that of other people. We need to make it a habit to support each other, in our projects, and in our struggles through issues like this. The VHL has a very tight knit community, and we are already so supportive of each other, but we can reach even further, to support everyone. Read Further Into The Issue: This paper is the collage of many different researchers' work, put together by someone who is dangerously under qualified to be talking about the issue. There are very likely mistakes throughout the paper so I can’t encourage you enough to go read about the issue through the professionals. Everything I have said here has been closely fact checked through at least 2 papers, so any issues you find are that of my fault alone, and not a research failure on any of the papers below. I truly hope I built your knowledge on this correctly and if you remain confused on any of the topics above, do not worry, it took me a while to get it myself. The people below do an incredible job of explaining everything. Further, this project is also apart of a paper I am writing for an actual project in my educational career, if you are knowledgeable about the topic and spot any inconsistencies, I ask that you please point it out to me, as most of the information I have laid down in this paper, is also going to be submitted as a paper about the effects of social media on our psychological health for a grade. Please take everything written here into account, as this is a real issue affecting one inside and outside of the VHL, and providing a like on a smaller youtube video, or some words of encouragement for someone, can make them feel like their countless hours of work has affected one person. All it takes is changing 10 people, and you have changed the world. You are amazing and have a great day! *The words used to label word count have been excluded from the counts themselves (2003 Words Without Sources) (2098 Words With Sources) https://www.rochester.edu/newscenter/getting-fewer-likes-on-social-media-can-make-teens-anxious-and-depressed-453482/ https://iep.utm.edu/psychological-egoism/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cognitive_dissonance https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/what-is-intermittent-explosive-disorder https://www.apa.org/monitor/2022/11/strain-media-overload#:~:text=The term “doomscrolling” emerged during,negative affect%2C” he said. https://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialSciences/ppecorino/ETHICS_TEXT/Chapter_5_Teleological_Theories_Egoism/Psychological_Egoism.htm#:~:text=Psychological egoism suggests that all,be motivated by self interest. https://biz.source.colostate.edu/research-reveals-the-link-between-social-media-likes-and-dangerous-user-behavior/#:~:text=The research explains that there,users whose expectations are met.

Hi folks, I'm tired of getting people messaging me about my resignation, so I wanted to write a message to clear everything up. I'm simply sick and tired of being a consistent bully target by people in the league that use being mean to me as a way to gain easy clout. I've been an easy target for harassment for the past ~3 years and it's recently come to a head for me. I got labeled as a troll in 2020 (happy 5 years in the VHL to me btw) and nothing I do has been able to shake that label, and so it's been open season to target and harass me, which I've had to mentally deal with. As much as I believe in, and love the VHL, I can't reasonably pour energy into a league that does not reciprocate the energy back. I think there's a lot of great people in the VHL, including people that I have butted heads with in the past 5 years, but the recent directions of the league are trending to a direction where I'm not sure there's a positive outcome. I'll still be around casually and hope the league can become a place where everyone can feel safe to contribute like when I got hooked.

@Kisslinger

In the right place this time!

Here’s my predictions for awards with some hot-takes, and 100% not biased at all… Scotty Campbell Trophy Player Name: Adi Dassler @BOOM Honourable Mention: Forum Content @frescoelmo Bit of a hot take to start things off, and while both players listed above did have a massive impact on their team success, it honestly comes down to that Calgary would have been much worse without Dassler. Whereas the main argument for Content comes down to the gap between them and their next best teammate. This is probably a bit of a toss up, but I would give Dassler a slight edge. Brett Slobodzian Trophy Player Name: Maverick Goncalves @leandrofg Honourable Mention: Jarmo Ruutu @jRuutu This one is kind of a two horse race, and it’s all Moscow. I’ve got Goncalves taking this one due to a slight edge in goals. The next closest is probably Content or Ironhide, but there really isn’t much of an argument to have either of them ahead of Goncalves or Ruutu. Sterling Labatte Trophy Player Name: Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts Honourable Mention: Mina @Baozi Now onto D awards, this season we could very well see a Gavilrovs sweep, they had a good offensive season, they will be in contention for the Wylde, and they won two last season, which is huge for their HOF hopes. Alexander Valiq Trophy Player Name: Mina @Baozi Honourable Mention: Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts This one really comes down to how you weigh 3 more goals (Gavilrovs) vs. 5 more assists (Mina). I don’t think only 3 more goals is enough to warrant the small points gap, as a result Mina takes this one. Jake Wylde Trophy Player Name: Borris Bone-Breaker @RileyL Honourable Mention: Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts Hot take #2, Borris Bone-Breaker takes the Wylde! Their defensive play was huge this season as they led all defensemen in hits by a wide margin, and aren’t too far down the table for SB, while having a positive +/-. Aidan Shaw Trophy Player Name: Deadpanda @Alex Honourable Mention: Red Panda @Lemorse7 Hot Take #3, I’ll be honest here and say the Shaw is a bit of a crap shoot, 3 goalies finished with a 0.93 SV%, of those 3 Red Panda would have the slight edge with the lowest GAA. However, only 0.03% behind them is Deadpanda who led all goalies in wins (45), GAA (2.06), and Shutouts (9), I think that the considerable gaps in those stats likely end up making up the difference in SV% and then some. Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy Player Name: Bubbles LaFleur @AJW Honourable Mention: Pelayo Bolivar @SMYLS4 This one is purely a toss up that could go either way between LaFleur and Bolivar, LaFleur finished their season with more points and assists, whereas Bolivar had way more goals. I have LaFleur taking this largely due to being a defensemen, however this vote could really go either way. Scott Boulet Trophy Player Name: Maverick Goncalves @leandrofg Honourable Mention: Grimgor Ironhide @FrostBeard Goncalves likely has this one wrapped up with a pretty bow, while Ironhide did have more hits, they also had way more penalty minutes, fewer points, goals, and shots blocked. From my brief look there’s not really many other players in contention. David Knight Trophy GM Name: @v.2 Honourable Mention: @McLovin I have V.2 taking this one in his first season as GM, largely due to their ability to adjust their plan on the fly and turn their season into a really great one! Dustin Funk Trophy Player Name: David Pastanap @Jubis I can’t be asked to go through every team, so we’re just going to assume Davos’s nominee wins it! So congrats Pastanap!

@Tetricide

Player Information Username: gorlab Player Name: Fade Runner Recruited From: Member (Ahma) Age: 28 Position: C Height: 76 in. Weight: 223 lbs. Birthplace: Canada Player Page @VHLM GM

Player Information Username: jhatty8 Player Name: Bo Love Recruited From: Returning Age: 25 Position: D Height: 74 in. Weight: 215 lbs. Birthplace: United States of America Player Page @VHLM GM

Player Information Username: Fire Tortorella Player Name: WWWumbo Recruited From: Returning Age: 31 Position: D Height: 73 in. Weight: 195 lbs. Birthplace: United States of America Player Page @VHLM GM

I also want so say a huge Thank you to the recruitment team as the amount of work that they have put in over the past few months have been amazing!! @Banackock keeping the ship floating long enough to get the support that he required. @Ricer13 jumping in with two feet running when asked!! @Big_Dyl joining hitting everything out of the park. And all the others that have supported the group @Triller@TenIQ@sadie@Moon@Spartan @Mysterious_Fish@Pifferfish. I know I am excited to see what happens with S100 and this current recruitment drive as a ton of hard work has been done behind the scenes!! Congrats on all the hard work done and I hope to see even more members joining the league soon. 21 returning members and 6 new members is by far the largest recruitment drive we have had in the past few season and recruitment teams still has more to come this week. Also thanks for the tag but I have barely done anything other then a few comment here or there as waking up to 50+ pings by the recruitment team always force me to feel like I should be doing more!! LOL!! I do read most of what is going on and will continue add anything that I can!!

@LucyXpher In today’s article, we will be analyzing Defenders. I will be analyzing the top 10 user controlled defenders of the VHLM, sorted by +/-. I apologize in advance if your player was not included, but I will be limiting these articles to 10 players at a time to help limit article length to make it more readable. We will start each analysis with Plus / Minus, Hits and Shots Blocked. As a bonus we have Successful Hits, Puck Retrievals and Pass Interceptions as slightly hidden defensive stats. These three stats were gathered courtesy of user VattghernCZ, who contributed heavily to the analysis of these defenders. Then we will go over the offensive production of these defenders, and finally we will list how many stars of the game they have accumulated. Without further ado, let’s dig right in. All players on this list have played in 34 games (at the time of writing), so keep that in mind for the totals they have accumulated. 1st, Krister Von Casar Tzesar, user @Komrad, Philadelphia Reapers. They generate 0.91 plus / minus per game, for a total of 31 plus / minus. They have 3.15 hits per game, totaling 107 hits. They have 1.82 shots blocked per game, for a total of 55 shots blocked. They have 2.68 successful hits per game (hits that resulted in puck retrieval), for a total of 91 successful hits. They had 11.41 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 388 puck retrievals. They had 21.76 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 740 pass interceptions.Their offensive production is 0.06 goals per game, for a total of 2 goals. They contribute 0.53 assists per game, totaling 18 assists. They score on average 0.59 points per game, for a total of 20 points. They play 28.66 minutes per game, and score 0.41 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 0 times, the 2nd star 0 times, and the 3rd star 3 times. Their ratings are 25 DK, 20 SH, 0 PA, 50 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 46 PC, 40 DC, 15 OV, 15 SP, 15 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 40 EXP. There were 226 TPE spent on this build. The top defensemen on the list is sort of balanced in their TPE spent, but is somewhat focused on BC, PC and DC. 2nd, Adam Joy, user @MrMom, Philadelphia Reapers. They generate 0.82 plus / minus per game, for a total of 28 plus / minus. They have 0.91 hits per game, totaling 31 hits. They have 1.08 shots blocked per game, for a total of 35 shots blocked. They have 0.97 successful hits per game, for a total of 33 successful hits. They had 14.59 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 496 puck retrievals. They had 26.82 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 912 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.29 goals per game, for a total of 10 goals. They contribute 1.03 assists per game, totaling 35 assists. They score on average 1.32 points per game, for a total of 45 points. They play 28.99 minutes per game, and score 0.91 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 2 times, the 2nd star 2 times, and the 3rd star 3 times. Their ratings are 52 DK, 0 SH, 0 PA, 28 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 50 PC, 50 DC, 60 OV, 0 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 40 EXP. There were 300 TPE spent on this build. This player is much more offensively oriented than the number one defensemen by plus / minus, and it makes sense with their ratings being very focused, and they have put a high priority on OV. 3rd, Additional Pylons, user @courtjestr19, Houston Bulls. They generate 0.79 plus / minus per game, for a total of 27 plus / minus. They have 1.06 hits per game, totaling 36 hits. They have 0.76 shots blocked per game, for a total of 26 shots blocked. They have 0.94 successful hits per game, for a total of 32 successful hits. They had 12.41 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 422 puck retrievals. They had 22.12 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 752 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.15 goals per game, for a total of 5 goals. They contribute 0.56 assists per game, totaling 19 assists. They score on average 0.71 points per game, for a total of 24 points. They play 28.01 minutes per game, and score 0.5 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 2 times, the 2nd star 1 times, and the 3rd star 3 times. Their ratings are 50 DK, 20 SH, 0 PA, 0 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 70 PC, 50 DC, 10 OV, 0 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 43 EXP. There were 200 TPE spent on this build. This player continues the trend of the top 2 and focuses heavily in a few areas, the highest being PC, but good investments in DK and DC as well. It seems to work as a strategy, being good enough for number three on the list. 4th, Feka Ohi Kau, user @Hacob, Houston Bulls. They generate 0.71 plus / minus per game, for a total of 24 plus / minus. They have 2.18 hits per game, totaling 74 hits. They have 1.0 shots blocked per game, for a total of 34 shots blocked. They have 1.68 successful hits per game, for a total of 57 successful hits. They had 16.38 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 557 puck retrievals. They had 25.76 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 876 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.29 goals per game, for a total of 10 goals. They contribute 0.5 assists per game, totaling 17 assists. They score on average 0.79 points per game, for a total of 27 points. They play 27.52 minutes per game, and score 0.58 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 3 times, the 2nd star 3 times, and the 3rd star 1 times. Their ratings are 70 DK, 60 SH, 0 PA, 28 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 70 PC, 70 DC, 21 OV, 44 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 49 EXP. There were 363 TPE spent on this build. This is the most experienced player on the list so far and they also focused DK, SH, PC and DC. So far the top defensemen are focused in their TPE spending. 5th, Dan Bacle, user @Starchychaff, Philadelphia Reapers. They generate 0.56 plus / minus per game, for a total of 19 plus / minus. They have 1.91 hits per game, totaling 65 hits. They have 0.97 shots blocked per game, for a total of 33 shots blocked. They have 1.88 successful hits per game, for a total of 64 successful hits. They had 9.29 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 316 puck retrievals. They had 16.88 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 574 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.15 goals per game, for a otal of 5 goals. They contribute 0.12 assists per game, totaling 4 assists. They score on average 0.26 points per game, for a total of 9 points. They play 27.63 minutes per game, and score 0.19 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 2 times, the 2nd star 0 times, and the 3rd star 1 times. Their ratings are 17 DK, 0 SH, 0 PA, 20 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 30 PC, 30 DC, 12 OV, 0 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 40 EXP. There were 109 TPE spent on this build. This is the first sub 200 TPE build on this list, good for fifth overall. Like the first four players, this player has focused their TPE, to good effect, on PC, DC and BC. 6th, Bazooka Joe, user @ScottyP, Philadelphia Reapers. They generate 0.53 plus / minus per game, for a total of 18 plus / minus. They have 1.12 hits per game, totaling 38 hits. They have 1.65 shots blocked per game, for a total of 56 shots blocked. They have 1.09 successful hits per game, for a total of 37 successful hits. They had 17.26 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 587 puck retrievals. They had 31.76 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 1080 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.38 goals per game, for a total of 13 goals. They contribute 0.82 assists per game, totaling 28 assists. They score on average 1.21 points per game, for a total of 41 points. They play 28.16 minutes per game, and score 0.86 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 2 times, the 2nd star 4 times, and the 3rd star 3 times. Their ratings are 0 DK, 40 SH, 0 PA, 8 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 70 PC, 70 DC, 45 OV, 0 SP, 20 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 40 EXP. There were 253 TPE spent on this build. This build is much more offensively oriented than the previous five, and it shows. They are still focused, focusing on PC, DC and OV. This is the first defensemen in the top 6 to not put TPE into DK. Even though they are sixth in plus / minus, they are the most decorated player so far in stars of the game, which indicates they are doing something right. 7th, Petr Novak, user @LastGoon007, Halifax 21st. They generate 0.44 plus / minus per game, for a total of 15 plus / minus. They have 0.91 hits per game, totaling 31 hits. They have 0.91 shots blocked per game, for a total of 31 shots blocked. They have 0.85 successful hits per game, for a total of 29 successful hits. They had 10.79 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 367 puck retrievals. They had 19.44 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 661 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.15 goals per game, for a total of 5 goals. They contribute 0.91 assists per game, totaling 31 assists. They score on average 1.06 points per game, for a total of 36 points. They play 24.47 minutes per game, and score 0.87 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 3 times, the 2nd star 2 times, and the 3rd star 1 times. Their ratings are 30 DK, 70 SH, 6 PA, 20 BC, 6 GR, 0 FO, 70 PC, 70 DC, 15 OV, 10 SP, 6 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 1 FG, 0 PO and they have 46 EXP. There were 304 TPE spent on this build. This user continues the trend of focusing heavily on a few areas, namely SH, PC, DC. It seems to be working since so far there are no generalists in the top seven players by plus / minus. 8th, Manuel Ceson, user @dylanjj37 Halifax 21st. They generate 0.41plus / minus per game, for a total of 14 plus / minus. They have 1.79 hits per game, totaling 61 hits. They have 1.15 shots blocked per game, for a total of 39 shots blocked. They have 1.47 successful hits per game, for a total of 50 successful hits. They had 17.53 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 596 puck retrievals. They had 32.56 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 1107 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.29 goals per game, for a total of 10 goals. They contribute 0.59 assists per game, totaling 20 assists. They score on average 0.88 points per game, for a total of 30 points. They play 28.57 minutes per game, and score 0.62 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 2 times, the 2nd star 4 times, and the 3rd star 0 times. Their ratings are 75 DK, 0 SH, 0 PA, 45 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 80 PC, 80 DC, 0 OV, 0 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 43 EXP. There were 315 TPE spent on this build. This user heavily focused on DK, PC and DC. Despite not putting any points into OV they are contributing 0.88 points per game, which is pretty good. 9th, Peter Venkman, user @Josh, Mexico City Kings. They generate 0.32 plus / minus per game, for a total of 11 plus / minus. They have 1.5 hits per game, totaling 51 hits. They have 1.47 shots blocked per game, for a total of 50 shots blocked. They have 1.41 successful hits per game, for a total of 48 successful hits. They had 16.38 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 557 puck retrievals. They had 29.79 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 1013 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.35 goals per game, for a total of 12 goals. They contribute 0.47 assists per game, totaling 16 assists. They score on average 0.82 points per game, for a total of 28 points. They play 28.98 minutes per game, and score 0.57 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 3 times, the 2nd star 1 times, and the 3rd star 1 times. Their ratings are 75 DK, 53 SH, 0 PA, 0 BC, 0 GR, 0 FO, 58 PC, 75 DC, 79 OV, 1 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 0 LD, 0 FG, 0 PO and they have 40 EXP. There were 364 TPE spent on this build. This user heavily focused on DK, DC, OV, PC and SH . The somewhat surprising result from their build is that the heaviest focus on OV in this group of ten players does not necessarily have the best offensive production of the group. 10th, Dog Jagr, user @koty_k, Houston Bulls. They generate 0.26 plus / minus per game, for a total of 9 plus / minus. They have 2.21 hits per game, totaling 75 hits. They have 1.26 shots blocked per game, for a total of 43 shots blocked. They have 2.21 successful hits per game, for a total of 75 successful hits. They had 12.38 puck retrievals per game, for a total of 421 puck retrievals. They had 24.06 pass interceptions per game, for a total of 818 pass interceptions. Their offensive production is 0.15 goals per game, for a total of 5 goals. They contribute 0.71 assists per game, totaling 24 assists. They score on average 0.85 points per game, for a total of 29 points. They play 28.37 minutes per game, and score 0.6 points per 20 minutes. They were the 1st star 1 times, the 2nd star 0 times, and the 3rd star 2 times. Their ratings are 40 DK, 40 SH, 35 PA, 40 BC, 13 GR, 0 FO, 60 PC, 60 DC, 31 OV, 68 SP, 0 SS, 0 WS, 2 LD, 4 FG, 0 PO and they have 49 EXP. There were 393 TPE spent on this build. Despite having the most TPE spent on their build amongst these top ten defensemen, they grade in 10th place. I think this is in large part due to their philosophy of spreading their points around to lots of areas and not focusing on a limited number of areas. So far in my observations, players who focus tend to do better. In general, my observation is that the Defenders who put up the most plus / minus were heavily focused in a few areas of their training. All ten defenders heavily spent on DC and PC, which could indicate those are two key attributes for a defensemen, the rest of the ratings are kind of spread around, but the ones who did better focused on fewer areas, whichever those may have been. I hope that this article was enlightening and entertaining for everyone. 2200+ Words

Not waiving my NTC

S98 was a major leap forward for the Kings, compared to the last season. But after a solid refular season and a first round series win against the Hounds, the Kings met the giant @SMYLS4 created in Houston just across the brook from us, one of the most dominant teams the VHLM has ever seen. While we were able to go toe to toe with them for games 3-5, we had dug ourselves a hole too big to get out from, going 0-2 to start the series. Despite the bitter end, this season was filled with individual highs and some great stories. It is with great pleasure I can highlight one such story - the story of Ronan Amnon @Breeze837, a career King and a face of the Mexico blue line for as long as I've been around the team. Before being appointed as the Kings GM, I had spent the previous two seasons (and a bit) there as a player, sharing the blue line with Ronan. When my player joined the team in late S94, Amnon had been a premier defender in the 200-cap league and already had a season with the Kings under his belt, as he had joined the team in late S93 and was drafted in the 2nd round of the VHLM draft to return back for S94. In his first full season with the Kings, Ronan immediately established himself as a premier two-way defenseman, scoring 10 goals and 47 assists for 57 points, with +15 rating, 161 hits and 116 shots blocked. He also immediately gained a reputation of a team player, who's a dream to work with for any coach as he's always been really receptive to coaching advices on what areas of the game to focus and improve. A great testament of how well can @JCarson , Mexico GM who drafted Amnon, work with people as well as of his understanding of how the game works. In his second full season with Mexico, Ronan build on his already impressive offensive numbers - especially goals - as he scored an elite 25 goals to go with 44 asists (69 points, nice), 137 hits and 121 blocked shots. Clearly, the increase of his offensive output didn't come at the expense of his defensive game, as that's an area of the game he's always been proficient in. The plus/minus rating took a little dip, going from +15 in S94 to -8 in S95, but realistically - to what extent is it an individual stat? S96 brought the increase of the TPE cap from 200 to 400, a dip in production was expected for all players. This was the case for Ronan as well, but he still managed to outperform the expectations and went on to score 13 goals and 40 assists for 53 points, -9 rating, 60 hits and 120 blocked shots. The offensive production was still on a really high level, the biggest difference was his physicality. Ronan has never been a physical force, but rather a smart, mobile, positionally sound defender. This style of game and his hockey IQ allowed him to recognize he has to take fewer risks now, with a lot of players used to playing a level above the VHLM have re-joined the league. Rather than trying to outmuscle older, tougher and more experienced players, he was using his stick and blocking shots to still bring a huge value defensively, on top of his consistently high level of offense. After the S96, Ronan became a free agent for the first time in his career, as his rookie contract with the Kings expired. However, he decided to re-join the Kings once again. S97 was a down season for Mexico City, as they had had some key players graduating. For most of the season, it was only Amnon and Carl Erhardt @Elite Steel guarding the blue line. With this in mind, it's only expected that some of Ronan's stats took a dip. On the offensive side, he became a 20-goal scoring defenseman once again, this time in a 400-cap league, as he scored 22 goals on career-high 214 shots. His assists and points went down to 30 and 52 respectivelly, but even the best playmakers in the world can't record tons of these, when the team is lacking firepower. the minus-33 rating looks brutal too, but it wasn't the resul on Ronan's defensive game, as he recorded career high 167 shots blocked and 76 hits. He was an elite defenseman on a struggling team. The "struggling team" was the reason I was unsure about Amnon's interest in coming back with the Kings, as he had previously stated that despite his interest in staying in the M for one more season, he'd like to test free agency to see what the options are. But in the end, he decided to sign with the Kings for his final VHLM run in S98. And what a run it was. One fewer goal than the previous season with 21, but a career high in assists and points, with 53 and team-leading 74 respectively, with career high +16, 14 hits and 110 shots blocked. With the Kings blue line being arguably the best in the league and other players taking major defensive roles, Ronan was able to focus on creating offensive plays and showed a level of playmaking prowess that hadn't been seen in his game previously. He was one of the league's most dominant two-way defenders, and I sincerely hope he will be considered as one of the best defenseman trophy contenders. Ronan Amnon's VHLM career stats: 375 games played (all-time franchise leader) 91 goals (all-time franchise leader among defensemen) 221 assists (all-time franchise leader) 312 points (all-time franchise leader among defensemen, 2nd overall) minus-32 rating 280 penalty minutes (3rd all-time) 562 hits (5th all-time) 937 shots (all-time franchise leader among defensemen, 4th overall) 667 shots blocked (all-time franchise leader) 19 game winning goals (all-time franchise leader among defensemen, 2nd overall) With a career like this, I can not make a single argument against Ronan Amnon's number forever hanging from the rafters, joining @SDCore Shush Nyko's 13. But Ronan Amnon was not the only player to make an impact in S98, it's time to move to recognizing some more players with the team awards! Disclaimer: While Ryan Mantzz @Rkhockey9 was arguably the best player on the team since joining us, he only played 20 regular season games with the Kings. While you changed the dynamic of the whole offense and we all appreciate you joining, I'm afraid the limited time disqualifies you from winning most of the team trophies. Rey del Hielo (The King of the Ice) The player dominating the game. The player without whom we wouldn't have been the team we have been. The Most Valuable Player of the regular season. Sombra del Rey (The King's Shadow) The player who might have been overlooked a bit, staying in the shadow cast by the King of the Ice having the spotlight at them. Probably the MVP on most of the VHLM teams. Guerrero de Acero (The Iron Warrior) The player sacrificing the body for his team. Whether it's giving or receiving a hit, blocking a shot or dropping mitts, this player is up for the challenge. The toughest MF on the team. A player you love when he's on your team, but hate when he's not. Guardia del Rey (The King's Guard) The last line of defense in front of the goaltender. The player whose job it is to roleplay Gandalf the Grey preventing Balrog from crossing the bridge in the mines of Moria. The team's best defenseman. Cañón Azteca (The Aztec Canon) The player who the opponents don't want to see with the puck on the stick close to their net. It doesn't have to be the player who had recorded the most goals, but simply the most natural shooter. Goals, shots, shooting percentage, the ability to get the puck through the traffic, anything and everything. Commandante del Ataque (The Commander of the Attack) Some players prefer to be involved in the front lines, while others prefer to direct the attack from the back, making strategic decision and distributing the puck among their teammates to put them in a good position. Not necessarily the player who records the most assists, but overall the best playmaker. Ascenso del Rey (The King's Rise) The player who made the most progress compared to their last season. Maybe it's their confidence, maybe it's their deployment, but they were the most improved player. Soldado Incansable (The Relentless Soldier) This is one of the off-ice trophy that has to do more with the member than with the player. I'd like to show appreciation for hard work put into getting involved in the league and earning TPE. By default, this award would have gone to @Josh Peter Venkman, as probably no one does more for the league than a dev and VHL Commissioner. But I'm sure Josh is okay with highlighting dedication of others, especially first generation members who have immediately stepped in and are already establishing themselves as one of the more active members of the community. Alma del Equipo (The Soul of the Team) The second of the two member awards, rather than player awards. The player who was the most active in the locker room, getting involved all the time, hyping the team up and overall being a great presence and a great member of the community. (Shame you've joined the team late, @Rkhockey9, it's been awesome having you around!) @preds @SleepyPlayz @VOID Stiles @Zurgzz @Rkhockey9 @FlyingWV @Lochlan Chisholm @Bhockey17 @Elite Steel @Josh @Breeze837 @tinafrombobsburgers @STZ @shaun1979 Not team related mentions: @SMYLS4 @LucyXpher (Claimed as a Media Spot; word count: 2k+)

Prospect Scouting Report: [D] Chase Breeze! Dear VHL powers that be, When I first discovered you had an opening for an official league water boy, I couldn't help thinking this would make for a truly excellent plan B. You know, just in case this whole blossoming young star thing goes off the rails. After all, what better way to ensure long term longevity in the league than to secure a position working behind the bench in a role that is absolutely vital to team operations? With my advanced skill set, (more to come on this later), I'd never have to worry about being fired, nor would I have to retire due to advancing age! Okay so you're probably thinking, so far so good, but what qualifications does he bring to this critical position? And this is where it gets really good! Throughout my 18 plus years of life on this planet I have successfully poured thousands, and I do mean thousands, of glasses of water without ever spilling a single drop! During that lengthy time, I have perfected my pour technique with a great variety of receptacles including plastic, paper, styrofoam, glass and even ceramic! Truth be told, there is virtually nothing that holds water that I am not a complete expert in! (Except perhaps swimming pools). Not to mention, the fact that I have personally consumed nearly a million gallons of water on my own time, which I'm sure you'll agree makes me eminently qualified to carry out full time water bucket duties! As an added bonus, I also know how to work the garden hose, so if the bucket ever runs dry, I can handle that too! Now I know you're definitely thinking that's way more than enough, but to put a cherry on top, I also happen to be a master of the secret art of making - wait for it... Ice Cubes! Here I am hard at work!! I know right? It's like a wet dream come true! So what are you waiting for? Throw all those other applications in the trash, and hire the VHL's newest (and best) water boy without delay! This is a limited time offer, so don't dilly dally or you might miss out! Naturally I'll expect 2 uncapped TPE a week, plus 7 million per year as adequate compensation. A small price to pay to secure the services of the very best in the business!! * * * * * * * On a serious note, (aw do I have to?), I just want to say that my experience here in the mighty V has been a ton of fun! It feels great to be surrounded by a group of like minded people who share the same passion and enjoyment for developing and tracking their virtual players! It's so cool seeing what everyone else is up to, while sharing and encouraging their successes and even commiserating with their defeats as well. That plus I really enjoy creative writing and the V gives me an awesome opportunity to scratch that itch! (Yes it's fair to say I'm hooked)! Last but certainly not least, I realize that TPE earning and player development is a key issue. So for me, it's the full 12 capped TPE each and every week, plus whatever else I can conjure up along the way. The truth is, I feel very committed to become the best player I can be. There's no half way here, it's all or nothing! So yeah, draft me and I'll do all I can to make our team even better!! Yours Truly, C-Breeze [591 Words]

REDRAFTING THE PAST - SEASON 62 The draft is where dynasties are built and that’s why I wanted to look back at the draft classes of the past and see where these players would fall in a redraft. To make it clear, I did not consider team needs at the time or if the player was a GM’s player. I purely look at this as who were the best players in a draft class. I will also be looking at the draft classes from Season 62 to present as I personally find it easier to work under the current convenience of the portal, at least to help myself not get burnt out on this idea (see every other series I have ever done). Finally, the number of picks in the draft will be determined by the number of picks in the actual draft, and with this being just the first round, this first article will feature the best eight players in my opinion. So let’s kick it off with the Season 62 class, which was frankly unspectacular, but not without it’s few elite talents either. 1 – MAXIM KOVALCHUK – D/LW (RIGA) @Banackock Original Pick - 2nd Overall (SEA) RS: 576 GP | 196 G | 413 A | 609 P | 1205 HITS | 774 SB PO: 67 GP | 23 G | 45 A | 68 P | 98 HITS | 93 SB INT: 58 GP | 9 G | 40 A | 49 P | 112 HITS | 100 SB Awards Hall of Fame Inductee (S70) 2x Continental Cup (League Championship) - S68, S69 2x Victory Cup (Best Regular Season Record) - S64, S65 1x Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenseman) - S65 1x Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top Offensive Defenseman) - S62 2x Jake Wylde Trophy (Top Defensive Defenseman) - S64, S65 1x Alexander Beketov Trophy (VHL Assists Leader) - S65 Statistical Accomplishments 5x 25+ Goals Scorer (S62, S63, S66, S67, S68) 1x 100+ Points Scorer (S62) 3x 85+ Points Scorer (S62, S65, S66) 3x 200+ Hits (S65, S66, S67) Obviously ignoring Maxim Kovalchuk’s agency’s hardcore allegiance to the Seattle Bears’ franchise, there is little doubt who the best player to come out of this draft class is. Kovalchuk is the only player in this draft class to be inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame and he won five individual awards including the Sterling Labatte Trophy. A well-rounded player, Kovalchuk managed to become a physical player over the course of his career, hitting 200 hits three different times. All of that while also being one of the VHL’s best offensive defensemen, finishing above 25 goals and 75 points four different times in his six seasons as a defender. And to be honest, in hindsight, Riga needed an elite defenseman. The Reign instead went for Leph Twinger, who while definitely a physical forward who could still find the back of the net, was a far cry from the absolute stud of a defenseman Kovalchuk was and is. With Kovalchuk going one to Riga in my re-draft, he jumps up one spot from where he was taken back in Season 62. 2 – JAKE DAVIS – RW (SEATTLE) @Josh Original Pick - 10th Overall (TOR) RS: 576 GP | 290 G | 391 A | 681 P | 1161 HITS | 54 GW PO: 38 GP | 14 G | 28 A | 42 P | 56 HITS | 3 GW INT: 45 GP | 21 G | 34 A | 55 P | 56 HITS | 5 GW Statistical Accomplishments 3x 40+ Goals Scorer (S65, S67, S68) 6x 30+ Goals Scorer (S63, S64, S65, S66, S67, S68) 2x 100+ Points Scorer (S65, S66) 6x 80+ Points Scorer (S63, S64, S65, S66, S67, S68) Jake Davis was never an award winner or someone that was necessarily one of the league’s best players at a given time. That being said, he was arguably one of the most consistent offensive producers of his era, hitting the eighty point plateau six different times. He was a great goal scorer and someone that still hit triple digits multiple times, proving he had the ability to score with the best. Davis did all of this after falling to tenth overall in his draft class, showcasing how he was absolutely the steal of the draft. He is someone that honestly will probably slip under most people’s radars, but he nearly hit 300 goals and 700 points while also being a solid playoff and international producer for his entire career. Wherever Davis went he simply was consistently productive, and that’s all you can ask for. Therefore, I have Davis going second overall to the Seattle Bears, jumping up eight spots from his original position. 3 – RAUNO PALO – C (TORONTO) @jRuutu Original Pick - 4th Overall (QUE) RS: 577 GP | 233 G | 336 A | 569 P | 350 HITS | 44 GW PO: 86 GP | 28 G | 44 A | 72 P | 57 HITS | 5 GW INT: 54 GP | 17 G | 34 A | 51 P | 35 HITS | 0 GW Awards 1x Continental Cup (League Championship) - S67 1x Scotty Campbell Trophy (League MVP) - S67 1x Brett Slobodzian Trophy (Most Outstanding Player) - S67 1x Mike Szatkowski Trophy (VHL Points Leader) - S67 1x Alexander Beketov Trophy (VHL Assists Leader) - S67 Statistical Accomplishments 3x 40+ Goals (S66, S67, S68) 5x 30+ Goals (S65, S66, S67, S68, S69) 2x 100+ Points (S67, S68) Palo jumps up one spot here on my Season 62 re-draft, and if not for his last few seasons, that may have not been the case. After finishing his third season in the VHL, Palo had still not hit the 20 goal or 50 point plateaus, and while he was a very disciplined player, there were some concerns over the Finnish center not reaching his potential. He would then rally off five consecutive thirty goal seasons (three of which topped 40) and four point-per-game seasons (including two 100 point campaigns). He even took some major hardware home, winning League MVP and Most Outstanding Player in Season 67, when he led the league in points and assists. While maybe not someone who was consistently very good like Davis, Palo did have higher high’s which were considered when debating who should go higher. Ultimately, I felt Davis had the better overall numbers and while Palo had one season better than anything he put up, Rauno was a better fit going to Toronto at the third pick. 4 – LEPH TWINGER – F/D (QUEBEC) @DollarAndADream Original Pick - 1st Overall (RIG) RS: 576 GP | 234 G | 289 A | 523 P | 1984 HITS | 50 GW PO: 66 GP | 14 G | 17 A | 31 P | 194 HITS | 3 GW INT: 57 GP | 32 G | 38 A | 70 P | 103 HITS | 4 GW Awards 2x Continental Cup (League Championship) - S63, S69 1x Victory Cup (Best Regular Season Record) - S63 Statistical Accomplishments 1x 50+ Goals Scorer (S62) 4x 30+ Goals Scorer (S62, S63, S65, S66) 1x 100+ Points Scorer (S62) 1x 300+ Hits (S65) 7x 200+ Hits (S63, S64, S65, S66, S67, S68, S69) I know first hand how much pressure can add to a player’s psyche…especially first overall pressure. Leph Twinger was taken first overall and came into his rookie season with high hopes…and he did not disappoint. Twinger finished his first season with 56 goals and 116 points, finishing the season with an unprecedented +70 plus/minus and even 10 game-winning-goals. He was an absolute superstar and it seemed like nobody was going to be able to stop him. During the off-season, Twinger decided he wanted to become more physical in his sophomore season and while he definitely made that a focus of his game over the remainder of Leph’s career, it definitely came with the sacrifice of his offense. Twinger never hit 75 points again, and while he would later find a fair amount of success in his first of two season’s as a defenseman, it really was never quite the same as his first one. While his career may have been prematurely hyped due to the offensively ridiculous Season 62, Twinger managed to still have a solid career as a power-forward that used his size to contribute around the net and hit the 30 goal plateau four times. That’s good enough for 4th overall in this draft. 5 – DAN MONTGOMERY – D/F (QUEBEC) @BarzalGoat Original Pick - 6th Overall (HSK) RS: 575 GP | 137 G | 323 A | 460 P | 974 HITS | 725 SB PO: 60 GP | 5 G | 39 A | 44 P | 106 HITS | 91 SB INT: 44 GP | 11 G | 34 A | 45 P | 51 HITS | 35 SB Awards 1x Continental Cup (League Championship) - S66 1x Victory Cup (Best Regular Season Record) - S66 1x Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top Offensive Defenseman) - S66 Statistical Accomplishments 2x 80+ Points Scorer (S63, S66) 6x 50+ Points Scorer (S62, S63, S64, S65, S66, S67) 3x 50+ Assists Scorer (S63, S65, S66) 1x 200+ Hits (S66) Dan Montgomery finished his career as a reliable and loyal defender, playing all eight seasons of his career as a member of the Titans. Reminding me a lot of my original player, Michael Angelo, Montgomery had two seasons that saw him hit 85+ points and he also was very physical over the majority of his prime. Montgomery finished his career fifteenth all-time in points as a member of the Helsinki Titans and is second only to Angelo when it comes to defensemen. The Titans have a pretty decorated history, but I do think there is an argument for Montgomery to see his number retired, and he goes fifth in my re-draft to Quebec, moving up one spot from his original selection. 6 – SHAWN GLADE – D (HELSINKI) @ShawnGlade Original Pick - 11th Overall (RIG) RS: 432 GP | 110 G | 269 A | 379 P | 968 HITS | 725 SB PO: 72 GP | 25 G | 49 A | 74 P | 155 HITS | 115 SB INT: 67 GP | 18 G | 32 A | 60 P | 94 HITS | 142 SB Awards 3x Continental Cup (League Championship) - S63, S67, S68 1x Victory Cup (Best Regular Season Record) - S63 Statistical Accomplishments 2x 20+ Goals Scorer (S65, S67) 2x 50+ Assists Scorer (S65, S66) 3x 70+ Points Scorer (S65, S66, S67) 1x 200+ Hits (S64) I definitely think Glade could have found himself higher on this last had he been able to have a longer career. He was a triple digits hits guy for all six seasons and was a 70+ point defender three times in six seasons. With two more seasons, Glade might have at least been able to surpass the numbers Montgomery was able to put up, and certainly move up at least one or two spots. Especially, when you consider how decorated Glade is as a playoff and international performer, combining for 134 points, 249 hits and 257 blocked shots over those 139 games. He was a three-time Continental Cup winner and was a great performer for those strong teams. There are definitely some arguments that he should find himself higher on this list, but I ultimately see Glade as the sixth best career in this draft, going to Helsinki. 7 – RYUU CRIMSON – LW (RIGA) @SlapshotLegion Original Pick - 9th Overall (RIG) RS: 432 GP | 175 G | 244 A | 419 P | 945 HITS | 39 GW PO: 39 GP | 16 G | 20 A | 36 P | 81 HITS | 4 GW INT: 57 GP | 22 G | 32 A | 54 P | 107 HITS | 3 GW Awards 1x Continental Cup (League Championship) - S63 1x Victory Cup (Best Regular Season Record) - S63 1x Daisuke Kanou Trophy (Playoff MVP) - S63 Statistical Accomplishments 1x 40+ Goals Scorer (S65) 3x 70+ Points Scorer (S65, S66, S67) Crimson, like Glade, only played six seasons in the VHL and was a fairly consistent offensive and physical contributor. He was a point-per-game player three times and hit the sixty point plateau two other times. He also had at least 130 hits each season of his career, showing that he was far more than just an offensive threat. To cap it all off for Crimson, he was Playoff MVP in Season 63 for the Continental Cup winning Reign. What an incredible accomplishment to pull off, but he did it in his rookie season! Ultimately, despite going two picks higher this time, Crimson finds their way back onto the Riga Reign, for a partnership that may have not lasted forever, but really hit it off with a bang. 8 – PAOLO NANO – D (DAVOS) @leafsman Original Pick - 19th Overall (RIG) RS: 488 GP | 63 G | 264 A | 327 P | 878 HITS | 764 SB PO: 29 GP | 1 G | 9 A | 10 P | 45 HITS | 41 SB INT: 41 GP | 8 G | 22 A | 30 P | 122 HITS | 66 SB Statistical Accomplishments 3x 10+ Goals Scorer (S65, S66, S67) 3x 60+ Points Scorer (S65, S66, S67) 1x 200+ Hits (S66) Capping off our first round is former nineteenth overall pick, Paolo Nano. Yeah, I said that right…nineteenth overall pick! The steal of the draft sneaks into the first round and gets selected another European team, the Davos Dynamo. Nano was drafted by Riga, but was traded to Helsinki before playing a game in the VHL. Nano spent a couple seasons on the Titans and a year on the Americans before settling in for his best seasons on the Moscow Menace. It was in Moscow where Nano carved out a solid career, recording 327 points in 488 games while adding fairly consistent physicality and a willingness to block shots at at an above-average level. While not someone that won any individual awards, Nano was the best player left when it comes to putting together a career that would be useful to a contender. I wouldn’t consider him a number one defender, but he’s best considered a solid number two, which is vital to any championship contender. --- 2214 Words (Claiming Week 1/4)

The trade deadline has passed and the S99 class is set. I'm not busy today and need TPE. So, I'm going to expose you to my wealth of knowledge and wisdom. Please enjoy my 100% accurate predictions for the first round of the S99 draft. 1st Overall: D - Titus Cunningham Warsaw needs everything. Pairs nicely with Venkman. Thad is going to build a great player and give Warsaw a lot to look forward to when they are competitive again. 2nd Overall: D - Additional Pylons Chicago needs everything but a goalie. If they don't want von Doom to get absolutely shelled they should probably invest in defense. Pylons should be exactly what they need. 3rd Overall: G - Yor Bjorven Drafted Copia last season and already have a couple promising Dmen. Get their goalie for the future and they're looking pretty good in a couple seasons. (from Prague) 4th Overall: D - Krister Von Casar Tzesar Prague's struggles are turning into a gift from the hockey gods for Vancouver. With a couple defensemen retiring soon, KVCT is going to fit in perfectly. 5th Overall: C - Zara Wolf Slam dunk pick for LA. They already have Bubbles and Tuomala on D and LaFleur in net. Now you get your stud center. (from DC) 6th Overall: D - David David Their biggest need is likely defense. David will fit in well with Groenvold. Lots to be excited about in London. 7th Overall: RW - Igor Sokolov Pair Igor with the two rookie phenoms Bolivar and Carti. London is looking like they'll be a top team for a while pretty soon. 8th Overall: C - John Cowgill NY is an older team that doesn't have much center depth. So, Cowgill will fit right in with the rest of their youth movement. 9th Overall: LW - Florida Man II Their biggest need is defense, but with Dassler retiring they could use a forward as well, so they're going to grab the best player available (no bias). (from Vancouver) 10th Overall: RW - Boing Boing DC has some good young players/prospects. They'll be adding another solid winger and an elite name. Imagine getting scored on by Boing Boing. 11th Overall: D - Takashi Borisyuk (from Riga) 12th Overall: G - Komi Kamal (from Seattle) 13th Overall: LW - Family Mart (from Toronto) 14th Overall: D - Chase Breeze 15th Overall: C - Patrick Finnegan (from Helsinki) 16th Overall: RW - Viener Schnitzel

I felt a pigeon was fitting.

He left?

Player Information Username: Doomsday Player Name: Wade Landry Recruited From: Returning Age: 22 Position: C Height: 80 in. Weight: 250 lbs. Birthplace: United States of America Player Page @VHLM GM

Player Information Username: dstevensonjr Player Name: Dougie Talladega Recruited From: Returning Age: 18 Position: C Height: 77 in. Weight: 220 lbs. Birthplace: Canada Player Page @VHLM GM

As many of you have seen by now @leandrofg has decided to step down from being GM of Calgary. The league would like to thank him for his time and effort put into Calgary and improving the league. Even though you never got the raise the Cup. I met a lot of members who wanted to be a part of Calgary during your tenure and there were always positive things being said about your Locker room. If you want to read to read Leandrofg's own words. With that said, as one door closes another opens. The league is looking for someone to take over the mantle of Calgary. If you are interested in the opening, please post in this thread. Please do not contact the @Commissioner's outside of this thread, we will reach out to the chosen candidate privately. ***Please refrain from making comments regarding any candidates and their "worthiness" of being hired for this job, positive or negative. Any comment that is not an application will be removed to maintain a clean list of actual candidates, and (I hate that this actually needs to be said, but...) any member bashing will not be tolerated.*** We're going to try something new with this hiring based on some feedback. This thread will lock after 48 hours and we'll have a decision within 72. (lets see how close to this timeline we can get)

Player Information Username: McLovin Player Name: Brandon Hope Recruited From: Returning Age: 25 Position: G Height: 73 in. Weight: 196 lbs. Birthplace: United States of America Player Page @VHLM GM

Player Information Username: Advantage Player Name: Mia Miller Recruited From: Returning Age: 20 Position: D Height: 70 in. Weight: 185 lbs. Birthplace: Canada Player Page @VHLM GM

In this .com article I take stab at guessing the members who will be re-creating for the S100 Draft Class. Members who are coming back from hiatus? @Mr_Hatter Been a while since Atreides laced em up. @Advantage Jensen retired not too long ago so I feel like this one's a high probability. @solas Please please please. @JardyB10 Come back to us, legend. Members who are recreating at the deadline or in the off-season? @Steve Gunner's going to the HOF. @Doomsday I'm not sure you'll be able to top Yaboi Oven on player name choice but I know you'll come up with something great. @jRuutu I dare you to make a player not named Ruutu! @McLovin Recently took the reigns in Helsinki. Be interesting to see if you try to draft/trade for your player. @Grape Will be the longest name of the lot. Carry the momentum you had with Obuz, back to back HOFers? @Zetterberg Feels like a strong chance you re-create, you always earn like crazy at the start and then tail off near the end. Will that trend continue? @SlapshotLegion Slapshot(whoever drafts me) Raimo Tuominen was a sick name and carried Calgary back to relevancy after their cup win. @rory It's time for Jeffrey Pines JR, but with more sim luck. @Enorama If you re-create in S100 this will be your first HOF player, seriously! @hylands Came back after your killer tenure as Malmo GM. I feel like you're here to stay now! @Mysterious_Fish Eric White Jr has surpassed your previous players by a wide margin. See you in S100? @Moon You can do it! @dasboot If you re-create, please name your next guy after a brand of beer you enjoy! @leafsman Kemp had a nice career and I enjoyed the short time we had you on Vancouver. @cLoWn @leandrofg you know what to do. I'm guessing we'll have 15 re-creates tomorrow and the rest will trickle in.

@Tim Robinson