Victor

Still waiting on Marner @Spartan unless I've missed it (or you want to give it up). In the meantime, Lavelle, Payne and Eno's Builder article are up for grabs.

RIP Robb Stark

Are goalies broken? A momentous shift in the VHL took place in S83 when all skaters' builds were completely revamped for the first time in league history. This was done to counter the abuse of the 99 scoring / 40 passing meta made infamous by the Vancouver Wolves threepeat of S80-S82 but by that point prevalent across the whole league, evidenced by outrageous shot totals, dwindling goaltending performance, and rookie seasons consistently coming close to breaking the all-time records. The scoring-first mentality wasn't in itself anything new for the VHL – Scotty Campbell knew it, Evgeni Fyodorov in S21 VHLM knew it, and everyone who blew up in S62 (see Podrick Cast, Matt Thompson) knew it too. However, when individual preferences became institutionalised and player builds were exclusively dictated by GMs, a solution was needed and so far seems to have addressed the major issues while keeping this current era comparable to all those that came before it. Except maybe one position. Goalies were not touched by the player build revamp for the primary reasons of 1) There is no scoring/passing meta for goalies and 2) I am not convinced that 90+ seasons in anyone still knows for sure what the absolute best goalie build is. However, whilst a welcome respite for goaltenders shelled by the Metawolves and copycat franchises, there is clearly now an advantage to goalies starting at a higher level than skaters and needing less TPE to progress through their attributes. Whilst there hasn't necessarily been a knock-on effect on the numbers we see from the top scorers in the VHL or the scorelines in specific games, there is nevertheless an interesting trend when it comes to save percentage, often the metric we attach the most importance to in the league. The headline figures 6 goalies since S83 have had one of the best 21 single season save percentages Papa Emeritus - .939 in S84 - 7th best season of all-time .938 achieved in both S90 and S91 (Lachlan Summers and Joel Castle) .937 achieved in both S89 and S91 (Clueless Wallob and Jesse Teno) Such figures have not been seen since the 50s, just before contraction, when league disparity was at its highest and several top goalies were able to put all-time great numbers. The only previous comparable era was S7-S11 – the perfect storm of low TPE, scoring-orientated forwards putting up a lot of shots on goalies just about good enough to repel most of them. Whilst Anton Nygard's unbelievable .949 mark from S9 apparently remains out of reach, it seems only a matter of time someone reaches the .940 mark, a feat only achieved six times (by four goalies) in VHL history. Of course, there's nothing inherently wrong with long-standing records being challenged, especially when we have many, among forwards in particular, that are probably untouchable. The question though is whether this save percentage boost is genuine evidence of all-time greats or whether circumstances and unfair advantages are skewing the current generation's stats like poor quality of opposition did for those who peaked in the 50s. Career stats 6 goalies have retired since S87 with a career save % of .925 or higher – all good for the top 20 of all-time 5 of those (Augustus Kennedy, Alexander Minion, Boris Tsezar, Bubbles Utonium, Dusty Wilson) have no shot at the Hall of Fame, with Xavier Booberry inducted straight away All 4 goalies mentioned above, as well as other active goaltenders, are on course to join the club Summers' and Teno's current .932 and .929 marks, respectively, would be the best two career save percentages of all time should they maintain (excluding career backup Edwin Threencarnacion) On the face of it, this looks like an unprecedented period of goaltending excellence but those Hall of Fame numbers in particular tell a different story. Historically a .925 mark (and even lower) was a good indicator of a Hall of Famer but this has clearly moved due to the sheer quantity of netminders hitting that level, a classic case of quantity over quality (no offence intended to the various goalies mentioned). The flipside is that some of the old names can also be seen as era-dependent. The leading names of Alex Gegeny and Anton Nygard come from the aforementioned S7-S11 era, as does Benoit Devereux, while Greg Clegane and Apollo Skye both played some or all of their careers in that late original 10-team era. Undoubtedly though these players rose as the cream of their crop, as opposed to reflecting the baseline of their generation. The S7-S11 comparison is interesting in that while the best goalies clearly benefited from facing more shots than before or after, this wasn't at the expense of the top scorers. League leaders in that 5-season period hit at least 128 points, with Kevin Brooks (S10) and Mike Szatkowski (S8) both cracking the 150-point mark. Only three players have exceeded 120 points at all since S83, and none as goalies seem to have turned the screw in S89-S91. The ancient comparable era was evidently a perfect storm of great forwards and great goalies going head to head, while the change in player builds in the 80s has meant all the benefits are flowing to the goaltenders. The counterpoints The save percentage explosion does however seem to be just that with no knock-on effects on other goalie stats. GAA records haven't been approached since the peak disparity of the 50s and the death of meta has normalised season-to-season stats if anything else – goalies are no longer peppered by shooting-crazed forwards, but anything below 2.00 remains a rare, but attainable and well-regarded achievement. It's a similar story with shutouts, a goalie getting into double digits is a great season these days, a long way away from the old records of 20+ shutouts a season. Therefore while we now have to sift through a lot more goalies with what seem like all-time great save percentage numbers, it is not a particularly difficult task to separate the generation's best from those riding the waves of save % inflation. Finally, we can't discount the fact that the duo of Summers and Teno may well be all-timers. Putting aside the probably inflated save percentages, they also have a career GAA of 2.23 and 2.39 which means if they retired today they'd have the best mark since Kallis Kriketers hung up his skates back in S70. There's probably more that can be done to increase scoring without completely undermining the goalies (the logic being that we should be catering to the majority of the VHL population) but equally goaltenders were put through a difficult few seasons during the meta era and are certainly enjoying their return to prominence. Just don't be surprised if you seem to have smashed an old Hall of Famer's career numbers out of the water but don't even get a sniff of the HOF yourself – context always matters.

Sherifflobo and Slobo are actually very different people. Sheriff disappeared without a trace once upon a time but is certainly not as storied as Slobo Sterling forever getting the credit for posting them here smh It was actually to the 2nd one which then got DDOSd in S35 which prompted our move here. Other than the nitpicks, good read. Not sure I have the energy to bring back these old names and start comparing them to the current era especially with this season's culling of the ballot.

Thunder too low, otherwise looks legit

Chuck was right, he's no real lawyer.

needs to start tracking back

Awards and cups though https://vhlportal.com/hof/inductees/124 To be clear, Thunder is very possibly #1 but at the top end it's not just about the numbers. And the fact he's at the top end is a compliment in itself.

Not sure about best Davos ever but certainly brought back the old tradition of great defencemen. All-time great!

Something about broken clocks

Please don't disrespect McLovin's legacy like this.

@Members 'tis the season to vote for the league's most outstanding player in S91!

Happy to volunteer even without deepfake

@Mysterious_Fish sir please add me to ping list

Cologne has threepeated! Woo-hoo and congrats! The Express have experienced a true Renaissance in the VHLE, attracting the cup like a magnet after only winning one championship in their 27-season long stay in the VHL. Here's some fun tidbits coming out of Cologne's latest victory. Cologne and Oslo have now won the last 7 Renaissance Cups between them. Ironically they were the last two franchises to claim a championship (ignoring Geneva who never did) and now haven't let anyone else touch it. Oslo and Cologne haven't actually contested many finals in that time period. The Storm beat the Express in S85 before Cologne avenged that defeat in S87, but otherwise the duo have bullied the rest of the league. Rome has been the unlucky bridesmaid on three occasions and have the joint-most finals appearances with Cologne but just one cup to show for it. Vasteras have continued reliving their VHL nightmare by being unable to match their inaugural season win, despite putting together strong rosters. Bratislava and Stockholm have wisely decided to avoid the finals since the Cologne-Oslo duopoly began. And finally, Jordan Bennett has become the first player with 4 Renaissance Cups to his name – fittingly, 3 with Cologne, 1 with Oslo. Cologne loyalist Al Land is hot on his tail though with 3 straight cups.

get well soon

"Calgary and American"

New York kills another great man

0JE561421W2992726 $1M Player Store Cash 5 TPE Uncapped Doubles Week

Week 4 of 4

I don't do my full update on Mondays and haven't done today's. I was ahead yesterday and I don't think your temporary 5 TPE lead is going to cause me significant issues giving there's 14 a week.

It's not been 25 seasons yet so not sure what Vasteras is expecting here tbh.

Same wavelength for sure. What we know is if Toronto wins it's the start of a finals streak, repeat, threepeat or something, they don't mess about.

In fact, a 24 or a 25 season cup drought will end this season.

Big statement to end a very long finals drought for Toronto. Toronto vs Helsinki, that's a proper throwback final.