Victor

It’s absolute fucking carnage

The VHL is fucking crazy these days. There was a simpler time once where you could easily keep track of the off-season moves, split the contenders from the pretenders, and just kind of neatly make sense of it all. These days, with insane amounts of trades, ridiculously deep drafts where you don't even need 1st or 2nd round picks to still restock your talent pool, we have a situation where teams change on a whim season to season and everyone can literally beat anyone else. As the off-season drew to a close, I tried to make sense of the goings-on in the league and to my shock identified the following: Only two current members of the Vancouver Wolves, Beau Louth and Rauno Palo, played for the franchise when it was still in Quebec. That's despite, as a reminder, Quebec still had a VHL franchise in S64 – TWO SEASONS AGO. In a similar vein, the Riga Reign won the Continental Cup in S63 and have remained competitive ever since, finishing second in the regular season for three straight years and again amongst the cup favourites going into S67. Only 3 players remain on the Reign roster from that S63 triumph however – Edwin Preencarnacion, Ryan Kastelic, and Kallis Kriketers. That level of turnover is mind-boggling but makes sense when you consider both Vancouver and Riga wanted to extend their contending cycles by going hard on the S66 and S67 draft classes. However it is pretty much unparalleled in VHL history. And while you have some teams taking the traditional rebuilding route, such as Seattle fireselling to grab all of the S67 picks, you've also got Davos, who, having barely entered their competitive phase in S66, promptly blew up the team and pivoted to a younger core as well. It's good fun but fuck is it hard to keep up.

1-1-1 to start the season, love to see it.

This is what we like to see

Bruh wtf

This is a fucking all star squad tbh

I’ll put you in one.

U wot

He’s retired. G - Brick Wahl F - Rauno Palo @Acydburn

And Moscow

?

I wouldn’t call him as gone too soon lol, I was surprised he stuck around for as long as he did, especially as summer. Also proud alumni right here, including running an awards ceremony or two. I wonder who @ShawnGlade was gonna protect between him and Davison but Moscow either missed out on a franchise goalie from the start or dodged a bullet because of his early retirement. Got Baillie instead from Davos so guess it doesn’t matter too much.

Mate you’ve been inducted as builder it’s time to chill

Doubters Die of Dysentery

?

Rylan Peace Sidney Crosby @Acydburn

Wait were you McKelvie?? Or was that someone else.

It was only around S28-S30.

Wait we did make the playoffs in S28. And all trades since S1 are in the pinned threads in the trades forum. @TheLastOlympian07 you slacker

Can confirm that it's their second medal ever, having won bronze in S46 as well. This also ends the USA's 8-tournament medal streak (2 gold, 4 silver, 2 bronze) spanning back to S50, meaning they could only tie Scandinavia's record (S12-S26, including 5 gold).

Trading their best player obviously.

That Helsinki core had a pretty good season then. Good few tournaments for World but damn pretty much all their forwards will retire before S68.

Mercenaries roster actually looks lit. First medal for them ever?

Good thing I kept my S68 1st ?

1. Can't speak much for the VHLM although I'm sure it's going well given how many prospects are coming through and the activity it seems to generate (as well as number of teams). VHL though is the best it's ever been. The previous peak was sort of the first 15 seasons of Cologne/Quebec expansion but recruitment never hit up a gear while this time it's relentless. It's great and I didn't expect it even a year ago. 2. More expansion is almost certainly on the cards, but the next big step is definitely something I can't think of, probably something portal-related but I don't really know what's feasible and what isn't there. 3. Yeah it's a bit of a vanity move this off-season, we'll see if it pays off (or worst case scenario I guess I'll have to win the draft lotto again). Sterling should do better than last season but just needs to be a steady hand, while Cast I'm hoping for better results as Riga just wasn't working anymore but I've still got a deep team and a lot of people to satisfy. At least Cast's destiny is wholly in my own hands now. 4. I have to say you did exactly what you needed to with Toronto and probably win it on paper at the moment. Helsinki did well to not lose anyone and Davos might look really good in the future but I don't understand their off-season moves right now. The big adjustment is Vancouver falling for me, unless they've lined up a trade for Kingfisher I think they've taken a step back after their most encouraging season in a while. 5. Gonna keep it boring and stick to the players whose careers are largely behind them. Arroyo is going in, while Preencarnacion is not, largely based on their relative award cases (and Edwin will become eligible when HOF classes become deeper again). 6. No, just Pavlov once Cast hangs them up. And then possibly no one at all after Pavlov but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it.