Renomitsu

Yaaaa one Halifax win away from the full 7-game series

Hey wait no, I want game 7 thanks

Just waiting for game 7 here hah

Johnny Havenk Carlson = Jesus H. Christ, change my mind

Please tell me this series goes the distance

Wake up Halifax friends, I don't do Game of Thrones and I want a good series to watch ?

1. Probably when @Tagger said I could go in the mid third round. I want to be taken seriously as a player in spite of my relative newness to the league, and I got a tremendous confidence boost when a relatively-reliable source like the VHL Scouting Center sends you some love. Another is when my agent was used as a source for a recent GustavMattias article on defensemen - always feels good for someone you hold in high esteem to be recognized by someone you respect. 2. 22. It's the number my uncle wore, and you bet I'm going to do him (and the rest of my family) proud within the next few seasons. It's a number that has a decent amount of history, and my agent and I both agreed pretty quickly on it. I wore a few different jersey numbers in college because I wasn't one of their high-priority scholarship players early on, so I don't have much of an established history in that respect. 3. Yeah! I'm pretty sure one guy jumped through the arena walls and onto the ice and tried to hug Nethila @nethi99 mid-way through our last game of the season. I mean, he was a big dude but I've never seen anyone just casually crash through the walls like that, maybe aside from the Kool-Aid Man. 4. Personally? I like it. It leaves a tiny bit of ambiguity as to what animal the 'wild' are supoposed to be, but communicates ferocity without too much edginess. I feel like it's pretty easy to make a team logo too edgy with black and red while trying to look 'cool,' and our logo is far from that. 5. Wet gear. Other players try to get me back for hard hits way too often to not wear a cup. It's not like they're aiming for the family jewels, but if I've hit them five or six times in a game they're definitely going to try to return every one. I remember falling in the pond once or twice when playing hockey in Ithaca, and yeah, wet gear is rough, but at least it doesn't sting days later like a player in pads going full force into your balls.

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 2 TPE) Game 3 - Toronto Legion @ Helsinki Titans Game 4 -Toronto Legion @ Helsinki Titans Game 5 - Helsinki Titans @ Toronto Legion Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 5 - Helsinki Titans @ Toronto Legion 4-2 Toronto Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer) Series leader in points: Borwinn Series leader in goals: Arroyo Series leader in assists: Borwinn

I'm sorry, did: 1) @GustavMattias just post an article where 2) I'm cited, and 3) He talks about defense? Uh, marry me?

I guess it had to end at some point. Great series, hoping Halifax/Minnesota can be as back-and-forth as this one!

Thanks for following up. Glad to hear you're hitting all the stats, even if the R2 for SB is poor. Great, great work - and super helpful for strategizing GMs!

Claiming my second week of the above post here! Ask me some more questions!

Awesome. I would have liked this post just for the 'defense matters' tag but I'm always glad to see statistics. Was this data normalized for ice time? And also, would it be possible to do a similar analysis for hits and shots blocked?

It's interesting that it took game 6 in the playoff semifinals to start another debate about team depth. Makes you wonder what the real purpose of the VHLM is. Hopefully making 3 new expansion teams will be enough to accommodate the volume of players we've got coming in while maintaining competitiveness, but I do worry that few teams will take on newbies late in the season in favor of concentrating their teams for the playoffs.

Hah, I wish I could have - but I don't have the time for it for most of this year! I'm also not the best personnel motivator, so I'm not ideal for GMing. You'll do well, I'm positive; but you'll be doing more work than me when the playoffs end!

Review - Definitely agreeing with nethi99 - liked this article. I'd like to see some of the text broken up with pictures (team logos/bars, flags, etc.). Very much a fan of the interpretive parts of your article (e.g. the 'verdict' at the end). I also liked the 'honorable mentions' at the end - the more of the class you cover, the better!

Review - Gonna need you to rewrite this one. It's unbelievable how you think S66 isn't the best overall draft class of all time. /s Joking aside - well-written, well-formatted, and the content is excellent. I don't know a lot about the seasons between my former two players, and I love seeing historical comparisons to current events. I actually went back to look at historical VHL drafts after reading this a few weeks ago.

Review - Very few complaints here. I thought this article was well-written and generally well-formatted, outside of the "Possible Openings in the VHL" - I'd like to see that subtitle either centered or bolded/italicized so that it has greater importance visually - otherwise it seems out of place or as an incomplete phrase. This is hard topic to cover with the goalies in this upcoming draft, especially with expansion!

Review I liked the content of your article! I'd recommend adding in a little more formatting - e.g. bolding/underlining subsections in your article (Offensive Defensemen, Goalie, Guys To Keep an Eye On) and capitalizing those important subtitles. There are also a few grammatical errors (screw this guy's name, it's too long); 's = possessive, except for it's (contraction for 'it is'). Make sure you're consistent in capitalizing names (victor vs. Victor). Otherwise, I do like the stream-of-consciousness style to explaining draft choices/preferences. Like I said, I enjoyed the content - just make sure we clean up the grammar and formatting a little.

(Unofficial) VHLM Scouting AgencyTM, USA – We’ve got an expansion draft on our hands, and a few key players and picks are for sale. A huge S66 and burgeoning S67 draft class make the Entry and Dispersal drafts a pretty big event, but VHLM GMs have a monumental task on their hands: who do they protect, and who’s most likely to find themselves on a brand-new team come S66? We’re going to take a quik look across the VHLM and see who (and what picks) GMs might want to keep under wraps, as well as who’s most likely to walk. Halifax 21st GM: McWolf Most Likely Protectees: (No Firsts to Protect) (S65) Chase, Stand-up Goalie, 198 TPE* (S66) Rhye Tyr, Offensive Defenseman, 177 TPE* (S64) Anton Edvin, Two-Way Right Wing, 140 TPE (S66) Nacho, All-Around Forward, 125 TPE S67 HFX 2nd *dependent on VHL trajectory The 21st are in the thick of a playoff race that will see them face the Minnesota Storm in the finals – understandably, they’ve got a lot of players who are headed up to the VHL regardless of what happens. Basaraba Moose, Dimitri Volosenkov, Jet Jaguar, Julius Freeman, and Teagan Glover are players from the S64 draft through this season’s upcoming draft who must transition to the majors next season; they’ve got at least three or four that will make an immediate impact on the league. That leaves only a handful of players that they’re almost guaranteed to keep – and with no S66 firsts, they have to reach down pretty far and hope for a number of good signees after the draft. Several of their good S66 non-VHL players like Edward Vigneault will be headed into the dispersal and entry drafts. The question then is, who does that leave? Rhye Tyr @Plate will probably be McWolf’s highest priority pick – Tyr’s agent just made a return and he’s effectively at the TPE cap. The player’s sudden improvement makes him a high-priority pick in the VHL Entry Draft – and you can expect Tyr to be a sure-fire pick by the early second round (possibly even the first). He’ll likely spend another season in the minors, crushing the competition before uncapping in the S67 offseason – or even being called up late in the season if his VHL team is making a playoff push. The same may apply to S65 prospect Chase, but he’s quite likely to head off to the pros next season since he’s at 198 TPE. This leaves Halifax with very few options next season, but some high-priority picks may be S66 forward Nacho, who will spend another season in theminors, and some older draftees like Anton Edvin. Nathan McKinnon may be headed to the waiver list, as he’s in his third season of his minor league rights contract. The 21st are all-in on this season though, as they made a few trades with the Philadelphia Reapers and Yukon Rush that sent away a multitude of S66 and S67 picks. They only possess Philadelphia’s S66 third and sixth round picks, and while those will likely be at the top of each round, having two picks isn’t ideal in the league’s deepest draft in a long time. It's possible that they'll elect to protect their S67 2nd or the S66 PHI 3rd - or both, espcially if Chase and/or Rhye Tyr go pro. That, at best, leaves expansion teams with a S67 third-rounder. Expansion Effect: Low/Medium Houston Bulls GM: Sonnet Most Likely Protectees: (No Firsts to Protect) (S65) Milan Griffin, Sniper/Two-Way Left Wing, 161 TPE (S65) Callum MacElroy, All-Around Right Wing, 158 TPE (S65) Fylo GIbbles, Offensive Defenseman, 136 TPE S66 HOU 3rd S67 HOU 2nd In spite of being a S65 Expansion Team, the Bulls have a decent selection of prior draft picks to save for later – especially since their rights don’t expire for the next couple of seasons. Off to the VHL are Jack Lynch, Jerry Garcia, Kari Jurri, Maximilian Kirbsson, Viktor Kozlov , Owen May, and Ludvig Sederstrom – six members of an incredible team that have aspirations of pulling off the impossible in the playoffs this season after forcing a game 7 against Halifax with an overtime thriller just a few hours ago. They’ll also be losing core members in Beau Buefordsson, Rhys Chism, and Samuel Sparrow – all of which will be entering the S66 Dispersal & Entry drafts. Frankly, that doesn’t leave them with very much – they have a few strong S65 minor leaguers that will form the basis of a decent Bulls team next season, but they’ll be scrambling for new players like Halifax come next season. Houston’s draft is more promising than Halifax’s, with third and fifth-through-seventh round picks for S66 – but that still means they’ll be looking at primarily 100-130 TPE players (optimistically) for their first couple of picks. Like Halifax, they have pretty slim current player pickings after their protected players: expansion teams will probably have to take 30-50 TPE players if they want anything from the Bulls. What's far more likely is teams opt for Houston's S67 3rd - or if they're desperate for immediate success, maybe their S66 5th. Expansion Effect: Very Low Las Vegas Aces GM: Jubo07 (S65) => oilmandan (S66) Most Likely Protectees: (No Firsts to Protect) (S66) Jordan Joshua Tonn, Offensive Center, 156 TPE (S64) Rocky LaGarza, All-Around Right Wing, 175 TPE (S66) Luke Derion, Butterfly Goalie, 112 TPE S66 OTT 3rd (S65) Benson Van Roosen, Offensive Defenseman, 90 TPE Las Vegas is another playoff team that has relatively few resources left after their protection list, particularly because they’re losing at least seven players to the Entry Draft – Charlie Paddywagon, David Harrison, Josh Harris, Kyle Sabertooth, Mikko Aaltonen, Mitch Matthews, and Tyler Barabash Jr.. The Aces had their season end just four days ago after a crushing double-overtime loss against Yukon, where they had a 3-1 lead after the first period and saw it slowly slip away over the next two in spite of a 58-39 shot imbalance in their favor. Many of their S65 players that provided them depth – or a starter in the case of netminder Kolur Bjoernsson and defenseman Duncan Jeffers– will be headed to the Dispersal and Entry Drafts – but thankfully the Aces have enough depth to retain five solid players, as shown above. Like the 21st and Bulls, the Aces are limited in their draft picks, with a few other teams’ 3rd-5th round picks in S66 (OTT 3rd, SSK 4th, and PHI 5th), so while they’re able to retain some acceptable players, they’ll be largely reliant on new signees for next season too. Some of the more desperate expansion teams may try to claim 50-70 TPE wingers Willy memelander or Micheal Rasmussen, but it’s more likely that they try to take Vegas’s 3rd or 4th rounders in S66 or S67 before that. Expansion Effect: Low/Medium Minnesota Storm GM: Eudaldkp Most Likely Protectees: (Automatic) S66 LVA 1st (Automatic) S67 MIN 1st (S66) Andreas Sundell, Playmaking Defenseman, 128 TPE (S65) Donat Szita, Offensive Defenseman, 110 TPE (S65) Dorian Mason, Passing Center, 92 TPE (S66) Wendy Kandee Cain, Butterfly (?) Goalie, 152 TPE (S64) Divaani Sohva, Butterfly (?) Goalie, 125 TPE // S66 MIN 3rd The Storm are the favorites to win the title this year – though the winner of the 21st/Bulls series will give them a run for their money – and they will lose a whole host of players to the VHL this season, among them Aron Nielsen, Bert Meyers, Chico Smeb, Denver Wolfe, Matteo, Matthew Kai, Orion Slade, Shane Mars, and Sven Hitz – more than any other team in the league. In fact, they’ve enough talent to easily field two lines of capped (or nearly-capped) forwards and defensemen, a claim that can’t be said even by other playoff teams. They’ll be losing Codrick Past and Mat Tocco, two key depth pieces, to the Dispersal/Entry Drafts, but even after all of these players go, they still may not have enough protection slots to hit all of their 80-120 TPE players. They may consider keeping two goalies in Wendy ‘Kandee’ Cain and Divaani Sohva, but Minnesota is in a uniquely unfortunate situation with these two: Cain may be called up even before hitting 200 TPE next season if there’s a lack of quality keepers in the majors (especially with the Nighthawks entering the fray). Further, Sohva’s junior rights only last one more season – so the Storm will have to look for another answer at goalie if they want a long-term acceptable answer. They’ll likely draft a one-and-done player with Las Vegas’s first-rounder – possibly taking Codrick Past if he plans on staying down in the minors next season – but the incredible depth they had this season won’t be around for the next one. We'll most likely see the S66 3rd rounder or Divaani Sohva leave, depending on if GM Eudaldkp wants to try to turn Sohva into trade bait. Expansion Draft Effect: Low/Medium Ottawa Lynx GM: Esso2264 Most Likely Protectees: (Automatic) S66 OTT 1st (Automatic) S67 HOU 1st S67 OTT 1st (S65) Don Draper, All-Around Right Wing, 163 TPE (S65) Pekka Pouta, Hybrid Goalie, 147 TPE (S66) Hunter Wagner, All-Around Left Wing, 138 TPE S66 HOU 2nd // S66 OTT 2nd // (S66) Blake Laughton, Scoring Left Wing, 113 TPE The Lynx found themselves prioritizing future seasons over this one, as a late slide in the last third of the season put them at home during the playoffs. It’s actually unlikely that this team sees any of their players leave for the pros with this upcoming draft, as they sent away Codrick Past and Jack Lynch for depth players and picks. Sadly, they’ll lose a starter in Aleksander Rodriguez to the Dispersal Draft – but they retain Hunter Wagner and a pair of high-quality S65 prospects in Pekka Pouta and Don Draper. They have the option of retaining the second of their two second-rounders or S66 winger Blake Laughton – and that ends up being a matter of whether they are looking for a likely one-and-done or seeing if Laughton will be called up in the middle of next season. The Lynx are in a good position draft-wise, as they have five picks in the first four rounds (including two seconds and a first this season) over the next two drafts. They'll most likely end up having one of their second-rounders taken from them, unless they want to lose a 130+ TPE veteran. Expansion Draft Effect: Medium-High Philadelphia Reapers GM: BladeMaiden Most Likely Protectees: (Automatic) S66 PHI 1st (Automatic) S66 HFX 1st S67 PHI 1st S67 SSK 1st S67 HFX 1st S67 LVA 1st S66 PHI 2nd // (S66) Sunny Burst, Stand-Up Goalie, 87 TPE Well, the Philadelphia Reapers are slated for an incredible S66 draft following a miserable Season 65. They might protect picks with all five of their selections, but I’ve listed netminder Sunny Burst as an option depending on how he’s communicated to his GM about activity. The Reapers may possibly lose a 2nd round pick to Expansion – but since they can only lose one asset, that’s the worst damage they can take. Philly is the only team that has a draft pick list that you might actually have to scroll through to get all the way down, and with plenty of 100ish TPE prospects, they’re likely to have a deep, deep team next season. You can probably rest easy, current Reapers – new GMs will probably hazard a 2nd round draft pick rather than taking <100 TPE players – but that gives you a chance to grow on what should be an promising S66/S67 team. In spite of being an expansion team, the Reapers have a trade list that runs as long as any current expansion team – and that shouldn’t be a surprise with their list of picks. BladeMaiden has the most work to do out of any GM this upcoming draft, with a whopping eleven picks in the first four rounds in BOTH S66 and S67. She’ll have to carefully navigate around current active players and draftees, however. The main Expansion Draft question BladeMaiden has to answer is if she wants to keep Burst or not - after that, she has to do her homework on our S66 Dispersal draftees. Expansion Draft Effect: High Saskatoon Wild GM: Peace Most Likely Protectees: (Automatic) S66 SSK 1st (Automatic) S66 HOU 1st S66 MIN 1st S66 SSK 2nd (S65) Brian Strong, All-Around Right Wing, 155 TPE (S66) John Perdue, Two-Way Left Wing, 135 TPE // Hans Gruber* // Rusty Shackleford* // Nethila Dissanayake* *dependent on VHL trajectory The Wild are probably in the roughest position of any team facing the Expansion Draft, as their combination of draft picks – six picks in the first three rounds – and previously-drafted talent like those listed above is the deepest. It’s entirely likely that Saskatoon loses a second-rounder or (depending on who goes pro), maybe even Hans Gruber, Rusty Shackleford, or Nethila Dissanayake, each 170 TPE players in their own right. The worst-case scenario is Gruber, Shackleford, and Dissanayake both stay down, in which case John Perdue and Brian Strong are up for grabs and Peace has to make a decision on whether to keep a potential early call-up or a longer-term player. In the best case, one or none of his high-tier prospects leave for the VHL and Peace gets to keep all of his top picks AND prospects without a fuss. Having several starters and depth players like Anthony Amberback, Apollo Hackett, Cody Parkey, Edgar Tannahill, and Emil Passerelli lost to the draft will be sad for the Wild – but they’re in prime position to re-draft some of these up-and-coming players, and Peace will have plenty of inside information about their professional league plans. But Peace’s job with his protection list and draft will be nearly as difficult – if not more difficult – than Philly GM BladeMaiden’s. It's entirely likely they send off a high second round pick in favor of firsts and a few high-quality, mid-100 TPE players. Expansion Draft Effect: High Yukon Rush GM: Josh. Most Likely Protectees: (Automatic) S66 YUK 1st (Automatic) S67 YUK 1st (S66) Valeri Morozov, Scoring Defenseman, 184 TPE* (S66) Clayton Park, Butterfly Goalie, 166 TPE (S66) Richard Hejtsel, Defensive Defenseman, 123 TPE S66 YUK 3rd S67 YUK 2nd *dependent on VHL trajectory After a heart-breaking, series-ending loss to Minnesota, the Rush are back to the drawing board. Like the other playoff teams, they have a host of players heading off to the pros – among them Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Anthony Matthews, and Arnor Sigurdsson. It’s also entirely possible that they lose winger Valeri Morozov and Clayton Park, with the former more likely than the latter because of his 183 TPE. However, as with Wendy Cain, Clayton Park may be forced to ascend to the professional league early because of a mixture of expansion/lack of goalie depth. This leaves GM Josh with a pretty clear-cut set of players to retain, as there isn’t a whole lot of depth on the Yukon squad after their sure-fire major leaguers. Yukon may end up giving up the Halifax third-rounder in order to retain Richard Hejtsel – but if Morozov is definitely going pro the Rush might just give up their 4th-rounder or prospect Titus Stone. The Rush are in a decent spot draft-wise, but they'll probably have to give up an S66 or S67 3rd-rounder to the expansion. Expansion Draft Effect: Medium (Uh... when I claim this, I'll let you know? 2,500+ words)

Well, it was a valiant effort from Yukon at least. Well done to both teams, GL to Minnesota in the finals!

Saskatoon, SK – The draft is fast approaching, and with dispersal, expansion, and entry drafts fast approaching, it’s difficult to keep track of exactly what journalists are asking about. “Well, let me tell you one thing, yeah? I don’t need to win the championship next season,” Apollo Hackett was quoted saying in a recent presser, “There’s a time and a place for everything. I think I need a little more time in the minors, personally.” A few different prospects, on the cusp of being VHL-competitive, have emerged with similar sentiments – and with Shane Mars and Hunter Hearst Helmsley as the clear blue-chip players since early in the season, it’s not surprising. Few players are quite as polished as the top two picks in the draft. “Where do I want to go? Well, whether it’s minors or majors I want a manager that communicates well and is able to adapt to the new league,” he noted, hinting at the recent expansion changes and influx of new minor leaguers. “I think that’s what most players want. Like I said, I don’t need to be in the finals in my first season – but I do put a solid foundation and significant draft potential very high on my list. I want to be competitive every season I’m in my prime, and I want a team that will want to keep me for most of my career. No mercenary nonsense. I don’t care about contract as much as a competitive, loyal team.”

Great games from Buefordsson and Lynch. This series is going to go the distance I think!

Good games from Nielsen and Mars. Not sure what Yukon can do aside from hope for another 5pt HHH game.

Hi Saskatoon friends! Here are some questions. 1) The VHLM recently announced an expansion for next season, adding three new teams - but they don't have GMs waiting in the wings. Who's one person from the Wild that you'd like to see take on a GM role? How about one from a different team? 2) The Wild narrowly missed making the playoffs this season, with results being decided by the very last day of games. What happened? 3a) (If you're drafted by the Wild already) Who's one player not currently on your team you'd like to see drafted by Saskatoon? 3b) (If you haven't been part of the VHLM draft yet) Suppose you can't return to Saskatoon. Where do you think you'd fit in best? 4) Which one of our forwards is most likely to have success in the majors? What about our defensemen? 5) You get one player in the VHL to swap jerseys with. Who is it, and why? 6) Suppose you're a GM of Malmo or one of the new VHLM teams. Who do you plan to build your team around? Any thoughts about who to take from current VHL/VHLM teams? 7) Since moving to Saskatoon, what have you done to make your house/apartment feel like home? 8 ) What's your favorite fan interaction so far? 9) We found a Hello Kitty keychain on the locker room floor. Who does it belong to, and how can you tell? 10) Which of the eight VHL-supported brands are you most a fan of?