Devise

Bump. No love from anyone?

We are only a few games after the polarizing defender Thaddeus Humbert was traded to the New York Americans. Humbert has been a steady defensive presence, but like his first two seasons into the league he is still slightly inconsistent when it comes to offense. Humbert and the Americans announced today a career extending contract extension, that would make Humbert an American property all the way through till Season 51. Humbert was finally made available to media, to speak on his thoughts. He wasn't taking any questions, but the still young defender had the following to say. "I'm super excited to be here in New York. What a lot of people don't realize is that our agents, they aren't just our agents. They care about the game. The players in the game. You know it was a weird entry for me into the league because at the time I came in my agent, Mr Power was the General Manager of the Cologne Express. As such I came into Cologne, and you know I enjoyed it there. It was good going for a Cup, seeing some hard working guys in that locker room. Guys that I will miss. Guys like Jackson Miller, Brock Waldron, Nicklas Karlsson. It's good to have Shockey coming this way. But you know I could see the grind getting to my agent, and when he stepped down and returned to his agency positions it wasn't too long until Greg who took over began talking to me about contract extensions if I were to be traded." "I told Power, as well as Greg the truth of the matter. I just want to play hockey. I have a lot of ground to make up to be as good as I know I can be. These contract talks, free agency talks, trade talks, all it does it put extra pressure and distractions among the players. However I will say that Chris Miller the Americans General Manager was very receptive to me. He told me up front he wanted to me to play with Biggu Kyanon. Bigs and I actually have a history. When he was being scouted by the Express a few seasons ago his player agent had ties with XXX, who as you all know was playing with the Express at the time. At the time, Humbert and Biggu were both prospects, and we were given a chance to come up to a rookie training seminar and camp, and we played together a bit there. I enjoyed playing with him, it's no secret that I'm a strong skater and passer, and he's got one hell of a slap shot from the point. We just seemed to work well together. So when Miller told me his plan was me and Biggu as 1-2 defenders, I was stoked. People often underrate how powerful a solid defensive pair can be in the VHL, and now the pressure is on the both of us to get ourselves to the excellent level we know we can be."

Pushing this to Weds, so you have a few more days for questions if your interested. Fire them away!

Could use a new sig now that I'm on NY if any of you awesome great graphics people can help?

We are going to record on Monday so if you have questions that'll be cufoff to get them in. Thanks.

Eh, the plot holes it apparently has (a similar problem to Skyfall) troubles me. I like the "style" of Bond, but my issue with Craig ones has been that when they go for style of substance, they aren't campy enough to make up for it. When you look at the Brosnan Bonds for example, even the worst of em (Die Another Day, god Halle Berry was awful in that) still was campy enough that it wasn't asking you to take it seriously. Craig isn't nearly as charming or witty, and they don't really go for it with his movies anyways. Especially Skyfall didn't. They hit gold with the reboot of Casino Royale with a gritty down to earth story, but in attempts to ramp the stakes up the plots have become far to murky. I still plan on seeing Spectre and hold out hope that despite plot holes I still enjoy it, like I did with Skyfall.

YEAH! Congrats all!

He still has the skillsets to be a great player. The 4-5 Canadiens games I did watch he played he didn't always look awful. His issue is he can play a solid posession game, and help influence things but he needs to be pressured to take the shot instead of trying to set up plays and make passes. He needs to use his shot more, especially as another weapon your guys PP. I hope he can do that, because as a fan of the sport I dislike seeing talented players who still can go rushed out of the NHL for one reason or another.

My thoughts and prayers go out to those families affected. Evil is such a tough thing to deal with in the world. Despite the fact that the amount of people that exist that possess the mindset to do some of these crazy acts are so limited, it doesn't take much of them to get together to cause destruction on such a large scale that it gets us riled up, and pushes us to extremes we normally aren't comfortable going to. It's tough though, because that is what people like this want. They want to push you to the edge of retaliation, they want war, they want chaos. We are better than that, and we need to continue to remind ourselves of that. When they take family members away, don't get angry at them...pity them. The very fact that they can take important people away from us is our strength over them. Because we have important people and values in our lives. We care more about our lives, our families, our values, than harming other people. Anyways, France will recover, they are a strong people. Those responsible will be caught eventually too, even Bin Laden got caught eventually.

Not really as big of a block buster as it would of been seasons ago, with me and Noah on the go. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't both happy and sad about this. I know being on a team with a large group of members I love (ADV, Yeah!, Fong, Damien, even DT). But I'll miss my opportunity to play with Jardy which I was actually looking forward to. Also leaving Cologne feels strange. But I'm happy to go. Sad as it is, the moment you begin burning out on aspects of the league the best thing to do is go back to square one of being just a player, and surrounding yourself with a group of members you have fun with. I think this is best for my activity levels. Good luck in Cologne everyone, hope the Trains can get themselves another Cup in the future!

Make or break for him tonight imo. Therrein is only going to give him a few games to prove he wants to be on the roster. I'll be watching UFC tonight but I'll surely check in. Like I said before, If i'm wrong I'll eat the crow. Looking more likely you were right. Although I still say Therrein pulled Semin from the line up a little early, but Flash (another underrated player who I thought was a good pick up for MTL) has been playing good for you guys.

Thad Humbert for 4!

The mismanagement of the assets is the punishment though. Let's say a GM for a team goes inactive right? That has happened before. He misses out on trade opportunities that season, he isn't drafting or scouting/talking to potential prospects. He isn't promoting growth within his team, likely creating a situation where many players want out. We finally find someone new to take over the mess, and that person has to deal with more punishment on top of the mess they are taking over? This doesn't directly apply to the Cologne situation since I wasn't inactive, just not committed to doing GM work this past season. It helped that I did all my trading last off season as well. But in general, more punishment to teams already with issues doesn't really seem fair to me. To me the purpose of the GM rule is a fair straight across the board balance for every single team. They get a free player. Period. That is what I always thought the point of it was. It mean that any GM taking over for a team provided they had a new up and coming player who had yet to be drafted would be allowed at least that, regardless of other assets. One player to begin to build a franchise around. The fact that teams who benefit from better management than a team reeling from mismanagement issues gets all those extra opportunities and then we go ahead and punish the team already in a worse situation by forcing them to pay for a player the other teams would get for free doesn't make sense to me. How does that encourage new GM's to want to take over for franchises in turmoil? How does the at any way help boost the turmoil team out of turmoil, so we have as many teams that are good places for new members to land as possible?

It's a weird idea, it solves a cap situation but at what cost? As in, a GM is decently active but not a grind whore like you Boubabi. So you get the better end of the stick in this deal then. Because your saving $5Mill in cap while that GM maybe saves $3. It's already hard enough that by virtue of having a overly active TPE style GM those teams get basically a free 1000 TPE player. Should that just become the norm for every GM in the league? If that is the case then we are creating a bigger parity gap between the value of high end TPE players and the value of middling TPE players. Which is a big reason we have so much league parity right now, and why so many teams can't repeat/we've seen a lot of different Cup winners. Because middling players and welfare players make a bigger difference. More rules to limit that could see more people just leave.

I suppose. I just mean if you want to look at this for arguments sake. Here is the list of Cologne GM's and what Cologne had to pay and what they got on return for the players. Cologne Paid a 1st round Pick to acquire Kameron Taylor as a GM player. Taylor stayed with the team for 6 and a half seasons before he was traded along with Malcom Spud and Guido for 2 1sts and a 2nd. So realistically, they eventually got a first round pick as compensation. I actually can't find a record of David Collier to be honest. It says Romanes first player was drafted by Vasteras 10th overall in S33, however then the only transaction on the trade list is him being sent to Vasteras in Season 39 for a 2nd. Either way, I know that Cologne then traded for Laich in a deal that saw them get two firsts and a second. Cologne then obtained Caprivi for free via the GM rule. Caprivi was then traded in a giant package deal that saw XX and Klose head to Cologne. Which would then see obviously Humbert come in via the GM rule. I'm not arguing specifically against Cologne paying it Kendrick, I'm more curious what in the hell is the point of the rule? Evidence shows it either balances out, or actually punishes teams who can't promote internally or have shitty situations. Like I was so opposed to this in the TOR/SEA examples despite the reference to the expansion draft because to me it made no sense. We are punishing teams because they had bad GM turmoil. The bad GM turmoil should be the punishment. The fact that they can't promote internally is a negative thing, and that should be punishment in and of itself. Because as you said, promoting internally or sticking with a GM ensures a team more free assets than teams who have to pay to obtain players when they need a new GM.

This rule has never made sense to me. If it's to stop "free players" from occurring, then there is no balance. No matter how you slice it, a team eventually will get a free player from the GM rule. For example, Cologne traded for Laich, I was then able to trade him if I wanted after I retired him but the team got Humbert for free. That is the case across the board. In the case of Seattle and Toronto I didn't agree with it either. If it's super close to the draft killing GM's potential scouting of players and where positions of draft picks are lining up since you have a good idea I get. But the "stop the free player" movement makes no sense. Eventually that team is getting a player for free, it's the entire point of the GM rule. Greg pays a 2nd for his player now, in 5 seasons decides to retire, trades him for lets say just for argument sake a better 2nd, then gets his own player on the team for free. One way or another guys, a GM has the opportunity to leverage the player they gain, and then get their next one for free. Realistically it feels like this system is in place to punish teams that go through more GM turmoil. Because if a GM stays with the team for 20 seasons, they will be guaranteed their own free player at zero extra cost every time they build a new player. Same goes for if a team is lucky enough to find a replacement in house. There is zero extra pay. Meanwhile we then end up punishing teams who have a harder time looking for a GM or need to find one out of team. When me and Draper discussed it, the fact that Greg had yet to be drafted yet and was still a season away was a drawing point in doing this. Because it's an easy transition. Nobody has the rights to his player yet, there has been no real scouting down for his class and the line up for how picks look next season are still up in the air. Taking him away while it does slightly hurt the draft class, it is no different than GM players who get taken away every draft whom have been GMing the entire tenure they were on their teams. They are still stealing a draft pick and getting a free player.

I don't see why Kendrick. Greg is a player for the S47 draft, a draft that is still a season away from occurring. Humbert was the GM player that was given to Cologne after Laich retired. Provided Greg trades Humbert before his own player comes up to the VHL in Season 47 no rule is being bent or broken. If we were closer to the S47 draft I'd say there was an argument for removing a key player, but GM's just finished scouting for the S46 draft, they only have begun to scout for S47. Giving people a season of notice is fair.

Due to my faded interest in being as active an involved with the league effective immediately I will be stepping down as GM of the Cologne Express. Id like to thank all the great players and members I've had the pleasure of GMing. Got the trains our first cup and I'm proud of that. Greg has been awesome enough to step up to the plate and will be the next GM. When he's motivated he's one of the best GMs in the league and I look forward to his tenure. Due to GM player rules and as discussed with the Blue Team Greg's next player when he shows up will mean a forced trade for the now scrubby near welfare Thaddeus Humbert. Best of luck to Greg I really feel like we got a great candidate.

The repeat curse of the modern era continues!

It's a valid concern Sterling. For all the use chat gets for trading and conversations that would be private there is also tons of conversations that could of been posted and generated more discussions.

It wasn't meant as a shot. But come on. How many of these Fan590's have you made about changes? You guys talk like these things are so simple, so easy, and that if you did them it'd be fool proof. The actual reality is that there is a fabric of this league that those who are experience in the BoG recognize. Without naming names, those that have been here a long enough to know that fabric. We have to consider the actual consequences of wide scale changes. Random jokey things aside, big changes can have big consequences. And fine cool, maybe we should just change the entire fabric of the league, maybe that is what is needed. But what determines whether that is needed is not the opinion of a couple of members. It's league wide. Because if we make those crazy changes and the league goes under, what then? We and I feel comfortable saying we giving my years of time here have worked very hard to keep the VHL going strong for as long as it has. I'm hardly the person who's over protective when it comes to new ideas, and my BoG record speaks for that. If anything I probably have suggested some of the most radical changes in the BoG over my tenure there. But I do so knowing that there has to be a dialogue on it. One that often represents the mindset and ideals of a wide variety of different league members. Given the diversity in the BoG over the last long while, you see tons of different opinions on subjects. We consistently have influxed newer members in the BoG for that very reason. But we don't do so to stifle creativity or new ideas. We do it to ensure that all new ideas are being considered in the fair way, not the "flavor of the month" shit you post. Again, this is not meant as offense. But come on. All you post is click bait. HERE IS HOW YOU BE THE BEST GM then you follow it with half assed evidence with anecdotes but really nothing substantial. Every time you or someone posts one of these all you guys do is analyze things you think is wrong and go "boom here is the fix." If only it was always that easy, but sadly it isn't. For every solution I've seen presented and at times discussed in BoG (even ones from your guys on posts) someone comes in and puts complications and holes in those ideas. Even then we have still been willing to try tons of new things in an attempt to see what can and does work. But again I'm sorry if this comes of offensive to you, Streetlight or anyone else who has created these click bait drama ass change the league threads, it comes off less like you guys actually have constructive suggestions to help improve the league and more like you guys think your "cool" and if you ran shit you'd do a "cool job" because that is all it takes. When in reality, it doesn't. Ask Victor, Jardy, Draper, Higgins, or anyone who has put thankless fucking hours into this league. I'm not just talking about doing job stuff either. Even just discussing bigger changes, working on implementing and running things. It's all fun when you get started, when people are on board. Player Card Crew is a perfect example of this. But then when the grind sets in, when some members fall through and actually accomplishing something in this league begins to represent real challenges that need real solutions it isn't about who's making the click bait threads that everyone likes a post in and everyone goes "support change, this guy should be Commish" yada yada. Then it's about coming up with actual solutions. But since I was actually responding to a complaint regarding BoG transparency. I reiterate, we tried it. It didn't gain any traction. If anyone has a legitimate solution that they can present, and one that actual represents an opportunity for consistent feedback that could work it's way into long term traction, be my guest. But for now, the methods we have tried have received minimal community feedback and reaction. We led you to water and told you to drink, you all took a sip and then went "Meh fuck it." That is on you.

I did do a big update for a few seasons but it didn't appear to gain any traction. Plus my overall interest in appeasing every random asshole, like yourself, for every "big new change" that they thought was "the best thing ever" dwindled. The BoG has had a rough season for sure this past one, but we aren't that far removed from us regularly discussing (and there still is active discussion) changes. Similar to many new ideas that have been proposed, and some even implemented, if users actually like/want some of the stuff we have done or did perhaps they should support that stuff? Even the Magazine for all the pay and time and energy that goes into that how many people actually comment on it when it gets posted? Meanwhile Boubabis random fan590's about "change" get tons of comments and support. It has nothing to do with actually wanting to see something done. Or if anything we did was good or bad. We could do a million things, even things you guys suggest and it wouldn't change. It also has nothing to do with an "old boys club." It has to do with "Hey i'm boubabi and I'm streetlight and we actually wish we could run this fucking league." Well I got news for the both of you, too bad you don't suck it up the end. /thread

That whole third line has looked pretty good tbh. Flash was another underrated pick up by the Habs after his training camp.

The one thing this giant post and all this analysis has me thinking, just how actually UNDER RATED Crosby and Ovechkin are. Like seriously. Look at them against all the comparable players in their own eras and their over performance is insanely consistent. I think we may of been caught in a funk by seeing these two play as much as they have but make no mistake about those two are probably up there in the top 10 or 20 of all time hockey greats.

See the post ADV made as I tend to agree with a lot of what he said. But the big fundamental point is people are forgetting a couple of key things. When Ovechkin and Crosby entered the league, there wasn't anybody for them to compete with. Like really. Tell me the generational talent that existed that was on their level. Nobody. They were it., Crosby and Ovechkin aren't even CLOSE to done yet. I'd argue both are still in their prime. Then you have elite level talent, guys .like Kane, Malkin, Tavares, Stamkos heating up. How in the hell can anyone expect these two rookies to enter the league and blow it up when coaches and defenses and teams are already hard at work on stopping the best of the best in the NHL, and doing it pretty well. Again, when was the last time a team with a generational talent on it won a Stanley Cup? McDavid is one player, hell the whole Oilers team is filled with first rounders but they almost never address team need. You talk about a goalie, how about a third line that is actually capable? How about net presence on a top line? How about a top 4 defense that actually can help your goalie out? Again, the Oilers are so far from a complete team it isn't even funny. One forward, no matter how good can't save a team. Crosby didn't win his Cup because he was a savior, people forget how actually good their depth was at that point, plus they had a way better defensive core. There is a reason they haven't come close since. I do feel bad for the two rookies due to the pressure though. The NHL is in one of it's most defensive eras, both have been hyped as the next Crosby/Ovechkin and they are forced to come in and try to have point per game style seasons or lead the league in scoring when realistically just getting to 40-50 points in todays NHL in general not just in your rookie season is impressive. To expect the consistency of argaubly the two most consistent players at what they do in Ovie/Crosby is so unfair it isn't even funny.