Devise

We should give a crazy high amount of TPE to one member on a draw just for the shit of it. One up even Sterling. Raffle where the winner gets 100 TPE!

Post your cool stories here and see if they meet the high demands of the VHL elitist, welfare junkies and everyone in between. To start. Chris (Advantage) and I played NHL 16 for the first time in a while last night. We opened with what we both agreed was one of the most tense and legendary games of all time. Dallas vs Washington, 10 minute periods just long enough so powerplays feel stressful. It was the type of game that organically had everything all while feeling realistic to how each team would really play. ADV won on a former Cap Cody Eakin shootout goal late in the 8th round, notching it 4-3.

So it was him who started the TPE inflation scandal. Ha.

I'll apply for Team Europe. Been a while since I GM a WC team.

Thanks for the clarification sir. Your ten times the Commish Victor was.

Sure I did a MS spot this week, let's double it!

It's a trap!

Surprised no talk or thoughts on Star Wars, even non spoiler stuff. I saw it last night. It was good, but not great. The movie felt like it was more homage than it was original, and because of that I found the entire plot to be predictable. At about the halfway point of the movie I knew pretty much everything that was going to happen. It was still very well executed and very well acted. But it's another case of another Star Wars movie for me that is good, but man it could of been great. It'd of been nice if plot wise they didn't play it so safe, and gave the audience some genuine shocks.

I was actually 100% joking Draper. While I find I end up liking the results of Jardy sims more as I clearly lay out in the post there is zero evidence or logic to assume you actually rig. But hey people finally posted in a Fan590 of mine. FINALLY!

Am I?

There is also a reality I may not have recognized. Maybe Jardy secretly rigs, and tailors results to his own liking and always has. And now that Draper takes over some sims we start to see inconsistent results between the two sims because of it! #Conspiracy

..... I'm sort of joking, but sort of not. Ever since Draper took over simming duties, I always felt that his sims seemed stranger on the surface. This isn't a blanket accusation, or even an accusation of any kind. Any evidence I have could easily be considered coincidental, especially since Draper is a quality GM and his team is good. While the statistics I dug up is only from this season, this is actually something I started semi seriously wondering this since Draper began to take over more simming duties. His sims seemed inconsistent with Jardy's and leaned more towards the success of his teams. They also seemed inconsistent with team results more often based on what we have seen inside of each season. Again this is just on the surface. Either way I was always too lazy to dig up any research. I may go through other seasons of his, just to find out for sure. Here is some research from this season. In Season 46 regular season and playoffs, Draper has simmed 15 games that Helsinki played in. Helsinki won all but two of them. Riga bested them in Game 109 and the Americans as well in Game 336. Interestingly enough, these wins come against all types of teams. Teams Helsinki should beat, like Seattle or Toronto. And teams that should put up more of a fight, like Calgary, who when Draper simmed they bested 3 times by a combined score of 12-3. In 3 games, Helsinki with a young goalie and Calgary who played two of those games with top goalie candidate Hans Wingate was able to only allow a single goal per game. Now again, this is all pseudo evidence of nothing. Helsinki is the reigning Continental Cup Champions, they are a good team. And Helsinki beat Calgary 3 times more (once in OT) when Jardy simmed. But it isn't just the results of who won and who lost. Calgary scored 3 goals in 3 games against Helsinki. They then scored 13 goals in the remaining 5 games played against them. So they go from averaging barely a goal per game against Helsinki to scoring more than 2 goals per game? Inconsistent much. Inconsistent. That is a great word. Because it is what I have always felt happens when Draper sims versus Jardy. When Jardy sims I always have felt like I have an idea of what could and couldn't happen. Yet when Draper sims....I don't know... Again take this semi seriously, and I may go back and do more research throughout the other seasons. But the question has to be asked....Draper do you actually tamper with the settings to get favorable results?

Yeah I don't even know what he was responding to specifically. The Burrows comment potentially? On a side note, I haven't really spoken much this season, but my Caps are doing a hell of a job. Oshie and Williams were huge pick ups, Holtby is having a Vezina like season and Kuzy is breaking out this year. Can't say I'm unhappy with the results so far ha.

.....u wot m8?

Tis but only a flesh wound, battle on!

Big way to start the series!

It's highly possible. I didn't look into your stats before the 8 games so my apologies there. I just assumed they would of been worse. But it is different for sure, I mean that stretch had to fade though. We really took for granted how many elite level goalies we had during a long stretch there.

Curious how much not playing against him since he played with him, helped Brookside in his final seasons ha.

Bump, you know what...this meets the word count and I don't have to format to get a 6 on Media Spots anymore, can someone with the power just move this to the MS section and I'll take it as a Point Task?

That is right, you heard it. As a former Shaw winner in this league, I feel absolutely not qualified to say that the current goalie crop, and this current goalie era in the VHL is garbage. Don't want to take my word for it? How about some statistics! Since Martin Brookside, the last goalie of what felt like era after era of stellar goalie performances we have seen nothing but pedestrian to "solid" goaltending outings each season. The first season without any notable names or carry overs from those days, Season 44, saw Hans Wingate win the Shaw with a petty .923 save percentage. Season 45 saw Mikaelson, now retired, take it with a .922. And now, pending how the voting goes Wingate looks to take his second with another .923, and he played all 72 games because he was traded this season. He'd likely be lower if you took away the last 8 games. All people can seem to talk about in the VHL these days is offense. O'Malley has a shot at making crazy high point totals and cracking top ten all time for his career. We had 6 players break the 100 point mark, and several where in the high 90's. The facts don't lie. The previous era of goalies weren't just more dominant, they were the reasons their teams won games. Consider this, the .923, .922. and .923 top overall save percentages the past 3 seasons are the lowest save percentages posted by top goalies since Season 30 when Henchoz posted a .921 to take the Shaw. In the 13 seasons, 9 times did the top goalie finish above .930. 9! Even the "lower end" seasons saw players hit at least .926. Now goalies are even struggling to hit .920-.925 much less .930. I mean this past season, Wingate was the only goalie above a .920 save percentage. So with more goals, more points, worse goalies, what do these statistics tell us? Well they tell us that the current crop of goalies really aren't "elite." Some of them may have the TPE earning pace to be elite, but TPE as anyone can tell you is only half the battle. The VHL is likely going to be on a down stretch for netminding due to tons of factors, at least until some of the younger names can start to establish themselves. Names like the Cleganes, like Gow and Weinstein. Perhaps it also tells us that the VHL went through a stretch where they were spoiled. It felt like we went right from Shaw (who the trophy is named after) Kanou, and Bjorkman to Glover and CAL G to Labatte, LeBeau, Tukio and Rift to Bagelface, Moher, Brookside, Wahl, and Statkowski Jr. While not every player listed won a Shaw, the battles were not only more intense, but the numbers for goalies were consistently better than we see now. Even the "lesser" goalies of those era's like a Bjorkman, Rift and Wahl all had seasons where they posted strong numbers. The same cannot be said for the current crop. While Wingate is clearly the leader of the pack, it feels more like he's a good goalie in a sea of prospects and capable starters. But until we see an elite netminder truly begin to stick out, look for a continued increase in the offense output around the league.

Here be my list. A few are probably mispelt because I didn't want to google the correct spelling for all the names. Sam Gagner Alexandre Burrows Andrew Shaw Brendan Smith Sami Vatanen Eric Staal Mike Fisher Peter Forsberg Mario Lemeiux Johnny Gaudreau Alexander Steen Henrik Sedin Jonathan Toews Claude Giroux Daniel Sedin Brian Gionta Michael Latta (biased) Mark Stuart Dwayne Roloson Ryan Suter James Van Riemsdyk Tyler Myers Marc Stall Taylor Chourney Jeff Carter Sergei Kostisyn Marian Hossa Thomas Greiss Justin Williams Nicolas Desluriers Gabriel Landeskog Phil Kessel Luke Schenn Shawn Thornton Martin Jones Scottie Upshall Pavel Datysuk Daniel Briere John Scott David Booth Nathan MacKinnon Kyle Okposo Max Pacioretty Dustin Brown Zach Bogosian Olaf Kolzig Trevor Linden Andrei Markov Kristopher Letang Chris Tanev

Humbert for 4.

NYA G and we still win!

Thaddeus Humbert is not a goal scorer. He never set out to be a goal scorer, and throughout the majority of Season 46, we are seeing the true development and evolution of a smooth skating pass first defender. While his 28 total points are rather laughable by VHL standards, especially considering we have 6 games left in the season, his coaches were impressed with his ability to stick to his strengths and be the player he knows he can be. Humbert hasn't sacrificed defense in a quest to put more points on the board, and many expect as his career goes on his ability to make those great breakout passes, and then get involved in the rush with his playmaking ability will translate into more points. However one thing is for certain Humbert is not a goal scorer. Which is why in a recent game with Riga, Humbert and his teammates found themselves laughing despite a loss. After making a great pinch on the blue line to keep the puck in, Humbert sent a hard pass from his left point down to the right faceoff circle. The puck was coming with enough speed that when a Riga forward attempted to tip it, it deflected, hit a Riga defender in the backside, and then dipped before going off the post, then Wingates skate and into the back of the net. It was the type of freaky goal you rarely ever see in the sport. It was the only goal of the season for Humbert. Humbert downplayed the goal during interviews, focusing more on the loss. But there was no denying the Americans locker room had a great laugh at just what type of fluke luck it takes for Humbert to put the puck in the net.

....I scored a goal? First of the season. Well there goes my hope of going the season without scoring one. Damn you Wingate!