Disclaimer: This is a bit of a whistle stop tour of 10 years of history. Where I could below, I've linked to articles which dive into some of these topics in much greater depth.
One of the ideas floated around the blue team forum for 12 Days of Christmas was to try to refer to something from all of the 12 years of the VHL's existence. It was a bit convoluted in the end and we went for a simplified approach that you all saw, but I do feel like using the fruits of the brainstorming session. So, barely a week into 2020, why not look back at the 2010s in the VHL? Ten years is several lifetimes in a sim leagues and having joined in April 2009 this is actually a slightly easier topic for me than the entirety of the VHL's existence, so let's dive in.
2010
Where were you in 2010? If you're reading this, chances are you weren't on the VHL. In fact, not many people were based on the levels of activity at the start of the year. I won my first Continental Cup in S14, the goaltender of the New York Americans who also won their first cup, meaning that all 8 franchises won at least 1 cup in the VHL's first 14 seasons. That was a fine accomplishment but it did have an end-of-time vibe to it. S14 was also notable for long-time commissioner and simmer Scotty Campbell stepping down from both roles after 14 seasons and just under 3 years. He was replaced by two of the biggest names in the VHL at the time, Brett Slobodzian and Sterling Labatte @sterling, but this didn't lead to an immediate uplift. In fact, in S15, a league-wide poll was posted in the announcements forum asking if the league should pack it in after 15 seasons (at the time, a sim league record). Fortunately for us all, the answer was a resounding no.
That was a big turning point. By S16, an inactive third-rounder by the name of Jardy Bunclewirth @JardyB10 was drafted by Calgary – his sudden burst in activity right after that transformed Calgary and then the league when he became commissioner by early 2011. Jardy also headlined the new concept of first-gens as opposed to recreates, alongside other hyperactive names like @Squinty, @frescoelmo, @CoachReilly, and @Phil. This all culminated in the S18 draft, still arguably the greatest in VHL history – quite a turnaround from where 2010 had started.
2011
The years after that weren't ever as revolutionary as 2010 but still saw some fundamental changes throughout the league. 2010 was also when the SHL was founded and that became a rival we've had to contend to ever since. At the start though, things were quite amicable – lots of the 2010-11 drafts were filled with SHL members crossing over with varying degrees of success. In early 2011, VHLM Commissioner Terence Fong @tfong successfully pitched an idea to change the VHLM from an affiliate system to the entirely separate junior system we still use today. It was an absolutely essential change even if both leagues stayed on the same sim file (i.e. simmed by the same person, Sterling then Jardy) for some years.
Then our beloved forum died. Invisionfree was home to the VHL from July 2007 to July 2011 – I know this because I went on holiday for a month with no internet that year and when I came back it turned out we couldn't post anymore as we hit some threshold. This was the catalyst to finally abandon what was in truth an outdated website, although our first move to Simple Machine Forums (SMF) led by the league's biggest ever flash in the pan, Nick Barretta, would prove to be nearly catastrophic. But it was still an improvement and we ended 2011 with a brand new website to start S24, an early version of the portal to go with it, and brand new custom-made logos for every VHL franchise (many of which you still see today).
2012
The next year was spent entirely on SMF and saw continued rise in activity and league parity. The website kept crashing for days on end and we all had to seek refuge on the old invisionfree forum while Sterling tried to figure out what was wrong since Nick had gone inactive pretty much immediately after the move. But we all just went along with it and pretended it was a completely healthy way to run the league. To be fair, apart from that, things were going swimmingly, so swimmingly that David Knight was confident enough to announce expansion, to great hype, to take place in S31. I still think it was worth it and 10-team VHL was better fun than 8-team VHL for at least 20 seasons. Plus, that original level of excitement is still unparalleled in my mind.
2013
This is where I have to talk about me for a bit because either in late 2012 or early 2013 I became commissioner at the ripe old age of 16 or 17. I walked over a few people to get there (mainly David @Knight which is a regret but I think we were cool in the end) and can always take solace from the fact that people seemed genuinely disappointed when I stepped down. In terms of fundamental changes in the VHL, I can only take credit for the increased focus on the VHLM which I dedicated a lot of my time in 2013. As my very first act upon gaining access to the admin CP (after changing my username of course), I split the VHLM team forums into their own section as they remained until everything moved to the portal. Then I pushed to change the equally archaic sim set-up where Jardy was still simming both leagues simultaneously, but I couldn't do anything myself as I've always been a bit of a dummy when it comes to the sim. Fortunately, my new right-hand man @Higgins stepped in to split the sims in S33 or S35 and we never looked back.
Higgins also turned out to be key during the other major event of 2013: the SMF site being hacked or DDOS'd or whatever happened there. It was a blessing really because it was the most unstable forum I've ever had to use, but unlike when invisionfree went down we didn't have any way of mass communication other than going back to invisionfree if we had been in the league long enough. Somehow, despite over a week of setting up this forum, I don't think we ever lost any members in the transition.
2014-15
There was a bit of a gap when we were brainstorming for 12 Days of Christmas and it was in this period of VHL history. Sim-wise I think there were quite a few good storylines but in terms of big changes in the league, nothing came to mind. As one of my last acts of commissioner I held S40 celebrations and then concluded them by announcing that Vasteras would be relocating forever and after that.... I think we just went stale. Nothing really changed for a while in the league.
2016
Then came 2016 and we realised things were really unravelling. The same core of members was essentially carrying the league since 2013 if not earlier and everyone was clearly fatigued. There were some cool stories in the VHL throughout this time, probably most impressively Toronto's threepeat team, but whether this was a positive or a negative for the league was unclear. Fittingly, it was Toronto's GM Molholt who put forth the most convincing pitch to date for two players (what came to be known Project Player Two) and in one my last few bursts of activity I saw the band-aid potential for this idea and just ran with it. In S52, our first draft featuring second players took place and the darkest period in VHL history began.
2017
I am no expert on 2017 in the VHL as I quit the league in January that year, but I don't think I missed out on too much. Project Player Two flopped and the legitimate fears of existing members burning out came to fruition, while we also let Scott Anderson back into the league and into a GM role because no one else wanted to do anything. Second players were canned by the end of the year and two VHL franchises were contracted, while boubabi and Kendrick threatened to destabilise what was left of the league with petty arguments on a daily basis (it is notable that this was from the first petty squabble in VHL history but was so long-term and so toxic that it warrants its own place as one of the main events on 2010s). Looking back at 2017 now I am very unclear what prompted me to come back in March 2018, but I'm glad I did.
2018
For this was the year that the tide turned in almost inexplicable fashion. Fair play to the BOG in the lead up to contraction as they painstakingly assessed all the possible solutions to the dwindling activity in the VHL. It wasn't just the big changes (contraction and end of PP2) that were made in that time – grading was also abolished and a 12 TPE weekly cap established with more capped TPE opportunities than ever before (including the addition of press conferences). 2018 was the first full year of these sweeping changes being put in action and it clearly became a more appealing concept both to burnt-out old members and the new ones being attracted by a revamped recruitment crew.
In 2018, the portal also became an integral part of the league. I'm not sure if the portal existed as effectively a database for a few seasons previously (it looks like it starts around S50 but I don't know if this was retroactively added), but this was when updating moved off the forum after 11 years – arguably the biggest change in VHL history. It's a bit ironic that the dinosaur that is the VHL ended up at the forefront of one of the big innovations for sim leagues in general and all credit here has to go to @Will, a solid commissioner but a great admin. I wonder if it was his brief stint as simmer after Jardy stepped down that prompted him to entirely revamp the manual set-up before. Either way, with so many of the league functions moving to the portal since the initial announcement, it's an absolute godsend that he did.
2019
With the league structure torn up and revamped and the portal becoming an integral feature of the day-to-day VHL life, the scene was set for the biggest recruitment effort we have ever seen. There's not much more to say here other than that the drafts in the 60s have had the most quality and quantity of prospects ever and most remarkably weren't just one-offs, with VHL players drafted as late as the eighth round. A lot of credit here has to go and has gone to @Beaviss who earned his commissioner spot on the back of revolutionising VHL recruitment. This does also feel like an opportune moment to give shout-out to the guys who had to steer the league through the darker times, like @Beketov, @Devise, and @Smarch.
With drafts better than ever we've managed to undo contraction and then some, exceeding old expansion levels with no 12 teams (and it's not unthinkable that this will increase again). Based on the rollercoaster that was the previous decade I wouldn't dare to predict that this will mark a guaranteed golden age in the VHL but if we've survived the 2010s, I'm confident enough to say that this league will still be around in 2030.
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