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Guessing the Season Standings Based on Number of Posts in the Team Forum I have a simple theory that the best teams have the highest number of posts in their team forum -- not the locker room necessarily, but the actual team forum, where rosters and update threads are kept. This is logically based on two premises -- (1) the more players you have the better your team likely is, and (2) the more update posts you have, the better your team is. Without further ado, congrats to the New York Americans on back to back championships. The numbers don't lie. New York Americans - NA - 791 Posts Helsinki Titans - EU - 718 Posts Stockholm Vikings - EU - 606 Posts Toronto Legion - NA - 574 Posts Seattle Bears - NA - 452 Posts HC Davos Dynamo - EU - 403 Posts Cologne Express - EU - 294 Posts Riga Reign - EU - 233 Posts Quebec City Meute - NA - 132 Posts Calgary Wranglers - NA - 50 Posts I plan on tracking this all season long and will put the teams' rankings to the right of their cumulative posts. I will also sometimes post shit about how flawed my logic is. It actually looks pretty good right now - the top 5 teams are definitely represented well.

There really is no consistent rule or methodology is the biggest point

(Please note: I am going to post this as two articles as this is about 1,300 words, but wanted everyone to read as a whole piece so we got the full picture of this for discussion purposes). You only have to grade up to 'Part Two - GM Succession') GM Succession One of the VHL's Greatest Mysteries TORONTO, ON, CANADA -- At the VHL's headquarters, there seems to be a constantly changing methodology on how succession plans are made and enforced. We decided to do an investigation on how warped the system is in an effort to highlight the issue in a cohesive manner. Below, we review the factors and outputs of the last 6 changes in leadership in the Victory Hockey League. Frankly, I think if you do not agree with me after reading this than you are either being stubborn or have the reading comprehension level of a toddler. For many of the successions, you can click the header link (all underlined) in order to read more about the front office shake ups. Each shake up will have the respective timing (it is listed in chronological order), the exchange of players, picks, etc., commentary, as well as a rating of how much the succession benefited the respective team (1st - best, 6th - worst). This will be a two-part article with the three most recent changes being preview in this week's version, with the remaining three next week. Davos: Simon Valmount >> Pavel Komarov Timing: S47 Off-Season Exchange: Davos received Pavel Komarov in exchange for the 7th overall pick. Comments: First, let me state that this is not a disaster for HC Davos. Komarov is a passionate leader, but when you put it under the lens with other GM transitions, you can see that the Dynamo were not treated fairly in any respect. Komarov was probably rated as the 8th-10th best prospect in the league. There was a huge drop off from Komarov to Kendrick Cole. Komarov was in fact closer to the 13th best player in terms of TPE. Although all of this (and more) was laid out in front of the BOG, they apparently decided to drastically change the decision-making process for GM succession. In terms of precedent, this is by far the least beneficial to the respective team. With the somewhat barren situation HC Davos is in, they could have stood to not be the poster child for GM reform. Also, unlike other GM transitions, they won't be able to trade Valmount for anything worthwhile as he has gone completely inactive and his player will not improve moving forward. Rating: 6th Davos: Freedom McJustice >> Simon Valmount Timing: S46 Off-Season Exchange: None - player already played for HC Davos Comments: Not going to go into this one too much because there was no exchange of player rights in bringing the new GM in. I will provide an explanation, however, on McJustice's apparent disappearance from the league. Around the end of S45, HC Davos was eliminated right around the Christmas holiday. The day after Christmas, I had to leave the country to attend my best friend's wedding in Bolivia -- had to give a speech at the wedding, the whole nine yards. I had mentioned this to Draper via personal message, and I had thought I had also told Mason Richardson and Bismarck Koenig (our two pending FA's) as well. Unfortunately, I did not make it back to the country until the draft, free agency, etc. had begun. I had asked Draper if they could stomach pushing everything pack a few days (due to holidays of Christmas/New Year's). He did not acquiesce to my request. Also, the VHL finals moved through in a quick four- or five-game series, and the perfect storm materialized for me. Embarrassed and upset by a lack of flexibility, I told Draper I wanted to resign. I know I should have had a better plan, but I feel like giving some breathing room around the holidays might be a decent idea. Rating: 5th New York: Chris Miller >> Edwin Reencarnacion Timing: S46 Off-Season Exchange: NY received rights to Atticus Von Braxton (S47 - G), a top three prospect as part of the GM recreate rule. Comments: This was a well-planned transition by Chris Miller, one of the all-time greatest general managers in the VHL. As he retired a young, budding star in Benjamin Dupont, he was able to create a new player shortly before handing the reigns over to Reencarnacion, who was acquired with the first overall selection in his draft. In my mind, this still positively benefits New York in a somewhat unbalanced manner, as New York was able to hold onto Miller's new goalie, while giving the reigns to someone new within the span of one or two seasons. Still, it's tough to find anything seriously unbalanced here as Dupont was also a young player prior to retiring. Rating: 4th Part Two -- GM Succession As we continue to look at GM succession, we see a number of changes from the S46 and S45 off-seasons, and this is where you really begin to see how vastly the methodology can range. These next three successions were unquestionably beneficial to the respective organizations and make the recent Davos change look incredibly unfair. Please feel free to leave your thoughts below in the comments section, and feel free to tag @CoachReilly. Cologne: Thaddeus Humbert >> Joel Jarvi Timing: S46 Off-Season Exchange: COL received rights to Joel Jarvi (S47 - D), a top three prospect in his respective class for no particular reason. Cologne was also able to trade Humbert and one other player to New York for a S48 NYA 1st, S48 NYA 2nd, and Tyson Stokes. Comments: Although this only happened exactly one season ago, you can see how ridiculously outlandish the return for Cologne became. Besides receiving a free prospect, they were able to also get a solid return for their former GM. Cologne didn't even have to exchange a second round pick for him in a historically weak draft class. If we were looking at prospect rankings, Jarvi probably would have been the first or second best prospect from this class. There were no two sides to this transition - just a blatant miss by the board of governors with no offsetting detraction from the Express. Rating: 1st MENGSK SPEAKS TO THE MEDIA, SHORTLY AFTER BEING NAMED GM OF SEATTLE Toronto: Sachimo Zoidberg >> Max Molholt and Seattle: Brady Stropko/James Faraday >> Arcturus Mengsk Timing: S45 Off-Season TOR Exchange: Top S45 player Max Molholt was acquired in exchange for voiding Toronto's S46 2nd round pick SEA Exchange: Top S45 player Arcturus Mengsk was acquired in exchange for voiding Toronto's S46 2nd round pick Comments: The Toronto/Seattle transitions were both incredibly one-sided. Although the S45 draft was strong, neither team had to give up a pick in that draft. Instead, they were able to defer their voided draft choice to S46's second round. Both players are undoubted, first round talents. Additionally, the two teams were able to respectively leverage Zoidberg as well as Faraday for some great draft choices. Again, the two teams vastly underpaid for their original acquisition of their new general managers' players, while also getting a direct bonus from trading their former GMs. This one is again, very, very favorable to the respective franchises. Rating: T-2nd As we reach our conclusion, it's clear to see that the patterns of GM succession are all over the map. The VHL's Board of Governors needs to take a serious look in the mirror and decide to employ some sort of consistent methodology moving forward, taking a range of factors into consideration, including but not limited to: (1) worth of exchange -- does this greatly hurt a team or does this greatly help a team? Are we really giving the VHL overall a fair shake? Does the future value of the player match what we're exchanging? Are we exchanging anything at all? (2) current team situation -- how much help does this team currently need? (3) precedent -- how does this compare to prior GM changes? In the long run, I'm hoping we can trust the BOG to take these matters more seriously than they have in the past. If there's major disagreement when a decision is announced, you can reconsider. Be flexible. There's no shame in reversing an unfair decision.

DEPRECIATE MY ASS AS WAS PROMISED

i'm the same way. love their fan base.

yes - i mean, watching the game live from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM ... I just had kind of a weird reaction for a late win. Just a very odd game. Good for the 10 guys who won it and very happy for Benteke.

Poor Crystal Palace. That was gut wrenching even from a liverpool fan

This is getting to be laughable. What's the excuse here dudes?

And I wouldn't expect you to do anything different because you're a good dude. But you need shit to work with, and you got a little squeezed tonight - and I do think there are some things that need to be addressed. Victor - you were around two seasons ago? You've always been BOG from what I can tell. How did your reasoning from one selection to another change? The situations are strikingly similar to SEA and TOR.

I've voiced my frustrations on GM successions for probably 15 seasons at this point, so maybe you can understand my overreaction. You act like I'm way off base here when every other GM I've heard from, including Draper, has agreed with me that Davos is not getting fairly treated. no, I don't think you did this knowing that DGFX would fall to you or in an effort to get a better prospect for Helsinki, but you called my argument into question for saying Davos would totally ruin the draft by getting Komarov 13th. Which is complete and utter bullshit - I think that's well established. And Helsinki was a major benefactor of this, so that was my point. no sane person could argue that. i really think you looked at a draft board, looked at ranking, and took zero other factors into consideration. A much too simple solution for a complicated matter. i know I fucked Davos over and I really apologize for having a life over Christmas and New Years and not being able to draft, sign FAs, etc. when I was in goddamn Bolivia. I made a poor plan and that wasn't the BOGs fault, but this poor decision made today (a few hours before the draft) definitely falls on you

Hosed the market? I'll do some more research but Helsinki DEFINITELY hosed the market here. Not surprised you ignore that.

Glad this worked out very well for Helsinki getting a near 200 TPE player with the 8th overall

I'd be happy either way if Davos didn't get hosed on market value

Best of luck, Komarov

Looks like I was right: 70 TPE difference between who Davos could have gotten at 7 and who they did. Way more of a difference than Komarov going at 13

D Black Velvet, 312 TPE 312 TPE 312.00 C Unassisted, 267 TPE 267 TPE 267.00 RW Tyson Kohler, 227 TPE 227 TPE 227.00 G Jakab Holik, 226 TPE 226 TPE 226.00 G Dmitri Dadonov, 176 TPE 176 TPE 176.00 RW Kendrick Cole, 172 TPE 172 TPE 172.00 RW Bogdan Podarok, 133 TPE 133 TPE 133.00 C Pavel Komarov, 97 TPE 97 TPE 97.00 D Clan Mercer, 95 TPE 95 TPE 95.00 D Nikki Kassanen, 89 TPE 89 TPE 89.00 LW Dope Fiend, 85 TPE 85 TPE 85.00 D Titan Kronos, 78 TPE 78 TPE 78.00 RW Rock Soapwart, 59 TPE

He's about 15 TPE from 13th overall and about 40 from 7th in terms of pure TPE rankings. care to further explain the thought process on why 7 is so much closer than 13? come on dudes please be receptive

The bad thing is -- there will be different circumstances on the next GM change and you will again rationalize why that was different.

I really wish you'd reconsider based on feedback being offered, but I doubt you will.

Davos right now is not in exactly the best shape (due to me and Ahma) and as much as I love Komarov I would say 7th is slightly high for him. Molholt and Mike both could have been taken by any of the 6 or 7 picks Seattle and Toronto had together, and yet they got picked by worthless draft choices. congrats once again on your constantly changing methodology for succeeding GMs. Get your shit together.

I've complained about GM succession and how goddamn random it is based on BOG random discussions about what's worth what - make this easy and do the right thing. Molholt and Mike were two of the top prospects their year and they only had to give up 11/12.

Can someone explain why Davos had to give up 7th overall vs 13th? Precedent has been set to give up second round pick (Molholt cost TOR 2nd 12th overall and Mike cost SEA 2nd 13th overall).

FREEDOM COMES HOME New York, NY - As expected, Calgary shipped over Freedom McJustice to the New York Americans as part of the Wrangler rebuild. It was a short stay in Calgary for McJustice, but he says he's happy to be back in the United States. In his press conference shortly after the trade, McJustice said, "I'm happy to potentially be a leader on this team and will look to occupy a positive role in the locker room. I've always admired the guys like Ruutu, Reencarnacion, and the rest of the guys here. Of course, the goal will be to win another championship for New York and finish out my career in New York on a positive note, and I think we've got a great core to do just that. " When asked what the trade meant to him, Freedom responded, "It means a lot. Great to be in New York City. This is where freedom was born. Freedom with a lower case F. I was born in the Midwest. I'm feeling slightly less good about this at this point, because I just realized the multitude of puns which will, of course, be made." Let Freedom (win a) ring, Americans.