Victor

Sad reacts only.

Top RIGgery by hedgehog.

I agree, but also would say could happen to Portugal. Both can be carried but both have trickier groups than given credit for. Both have creaking old defences as well. Creaking old defence is also what I think will kill off Brazil. On the contrary though, I think France is a bit on the young side, Last chance saloon for Belgium and Argentina this - Belgium in particular won't replicate this generation for years, their youth teams are non-existent. Both seem a bit unbalanced.

Scenes.

I'm home.

That bloody season was possibly the most illogical in my entire time here.

Shame you're frequently the worst player to come out of them. ?

classic Latvia

My job here is done.

It's been a while since a truly unpredictable draft, by which I mean the battle was not between the top 2 players or the 1st overall pick was clear-cut and the rest could go either way. No, Season 61 has hit very rare territory, where 3-4 players at the top could go in any order and that is about as good as it can get. Ironically, this criteria does in fact ignore some of the best drafts in the VHL's history (S18, S33, S40, etc.) but alas, it is what it is. With draft hype taking place in the next few hours, I thought I'd post the bare bones of this now to ride the wave and turn it into a proper Media Spot tomorrow. Therefore, without further ado: From back in the day: S5 1. Vasteras: Jochen Walser 2. Helsinki: Branden Snelheid 3. Avangard: McLovin 4. Calgary: Devon Marlow-Marta S6 1. Avangard: Josh Vestiquan 2. Helsinki: Dominik Stryker 3. Toronto: Kevin Brooks 4. Hamilton: Alexander Beketov - not @Beketov's last appearance on this list Possibly the most archetypal example: S12 1. Helsinki: Matt Bailey 2. New York: Devon De La Soul 3. Toronto: Geoff Gartner Something a bit more recent and again featuring Beketov: S25 1. Riga: Ansgar Snijider 2. Seattle: Kasey Braun 3. New York: Jason White 4. Vasteras: Tukka Reikkinen A few which didn't come to mind but having looked at them I can recall some uncertainty: S30 1. Helsinki: Ethan Osborne 2. Calgary: Yuri Grigorenko 3. Riga: Alexander Valiq S32 1. Toronto: Jack Sound 2. Quebec: Tomas Valiq 3. Helsinki: Anatoli Zhumbayev 4. Cologne: Evgeni Chekhov S36 1. Seattle: Godavari Yumalatopinto 2. Riga: Robin Gow 3. New York: Xin Xie Xiao 4. Riga: Damon Tyrael And the last one I can remember, with a cautionary tale about passing on a goalie: S43 1. New York: E'Twaun Delicious 2. Riga: Bronson Faux 3. Calgary: Hans Wingate The ones which first came to my mind were S12 and S25, but I look forward to delving into all of these fine drafts and hopefully S61 can live up to the drama. I suppose the only question I have is for the time I missed - were S54 and/or S58 quite unpredictable? To be continued....

You just described Settlers of Katan tbh. Now that the Fong and Marlow-Marta are dead and buried, this is going to be my next victim.

https://vhlportal.com/VHL/60/Playoffs/VHL60-PLF-14.html Close enough I guess

I predict 1. Chershenko 2. Glover 3. White

Could I feasibly stay up til 2 on a Sunday. No But I will certainly discuss.

Not necessarily - trade deadline recreates pick up off-season TPE from before they were created basically.

Exactly. That said, still need a great goalie before you need a great defenceman.

Goaltender is only the 2nd most important position.

The league isn't ready.

Today is probably draft day and in a pleasing turn of events I am still not 100% sure where I will end up. That is possibly the first time ever as even back in my first draft in S11, being a goalie, I think my possible destinations were quite limited. Since then it's been either GM players (Berger, Bentley) or my draft position was well known to me far in advance (Chershenko, Clegane). 2nd overall was the result of the latter two and could it be that again? Would certain work nice as an alliteration given the name Cast. However, I also deem this the least likeliest outcome, slightly beating out the also unlikely outcome of me going 1st overall. Ultimately, the sounds coming out of Seattle have been quite secretive while the sounds coming out of Quebec have been quite non-existent and while I think Bana is simply stirring up some draft anticipation and has already decided on his 1st overall pick (be it Gate or Thompson), at least he has been stirring it up a bit. I expect to end up at 3rd overall but would also not be surprised to fall to 4th - I'd say I rank the probabilities as 65/25, with the remaining 10% split between 1st and 2nd overall. That means my likeliest 2 destinations are Riga and Seattle which is great for 2 reasons - 1) I have never played for either franchise and 2) they together own half of the 1st round which should set them up very nicely to start the rebuild. Plus, while their teams will be god awful in S61 and Cast will go straight up to the VHL, that might well mean some very nice point totals in the rookie season. In summary, while pleased with any of the 3ish possible outcomes of the upcoming draft, I am especially pleased with the fact that this close to the draft there are still that many possible outcomes.

5 TPE

Round One: 1. SEATTLE BEARS(From Toronto): Matt Thompson 2. QUEBEC MEUTE (From Riga) : Samuel Gate 3. RIGA REIGN (From Quebec): Podrick Cast 4. SEATTLE BEARS: (From Davos) : Roger Sterling 5. RIGA REIGN (From Calgary) : Robert Malenko 6. RIGA REIGN (From Seattle) : Arvid Aamo 7. TORONTO LEGION (From New York) : Edwin Preencarnacion 8. HELSINKI TITANS: Sergei Kovalev Round Two:  9. TORONTO LEGION: Alvaro Jokinen 10. QUEBEC CITY MEUTE: Mikhail Vega 11. QUEBEC CITY MEUTE(From New York via Riga) : Marvin Harding 12. DAVOS DYNAMO: Jacob Smith 13. CALGARY WRANGLERS: Chat 14. SEATTLE BEARS: Greg Santos 15. RIGA REIGN (From Quebec via New York) : Lew Bronstein 16. TORONTO LEGION (From Helsinki): Ryan Skinner

Can add Ko Kane now too - didn't pick up player option.

@Bushito I think you missed me off week 5 results but I definitely have a PM to you in that week! +1 TPE please thank you.

1. Just a smoothie like a true 2018 metrosexual. 2. Have to listen to at least 1 podcast every gameday morning, otherwise bad things will happen. 3. We're almost here and if I had to bet then it'd be 3rd overall to Riga. But, top 2 GMs have been hard to read so maybe higher. 4. Continental Cup, a few 100-point seasons, and hopefully enough to keep the HOF player streak going, but it won't be the end of the world if that doesn't happen. 5. Salt and vinegar.

still got a decision to make!