Tyler Barabash jr is having a career year with the Calgary Wranglers. On a team that is so heavily stacked on defence, Barabash has been the driving force on offense.
We are 64 games into the season and he has already set career best totals in goals(35), shots(380) and hits(229). With 8 games remaining Barabash needs 9 points to set a new career high in points with 78. Ironically enough his current season pace of 69 points in 64 games would have him finish with 78 points.
Barabash's importance to Calgary is almost unmatched around the league. His 35 goals out of Calgary's 167 total goals ranks #1 for highest percentage of a teams goals by one player at 20.96%. He slightly edged out Julian Borwinn 20.85 % with his 39 goals out of 187 for Helsinki.
Calgary's goal production drops off drastically after Barabash. You have Barabash with 35 goals , Palazzo 16, Jubis 15, Gunnar 14 and Rice, Tonn with 13 goals rounding out the top 5.
His career totals are 352GP , 110G , 136A , 246PTS. HOF is an extremely long stretch but with 3 seasons left in him anything is possible.
If the Wranglers are hoping to have any playoff success they will have to rely heavily on Tyler and he will have to continue to be a clutch player for them.
A couple seasons ago (I think? Sometime in recent memory at least) it was announced that practice facility would now be made available on the portal, and the updaters fell on their knees and thanked the great portal overlord @Will. So did many others, myself included. To this day, portal practice facility remains one of the greatest technological advancements in VHL history, providing quick and easy convenience to everyone popping online every week.
So why do I think it's problematic?
Since practice facility was moved to the portal, we have had so many new players create...and then proceed to claim nothing but practice facility. No welfare, no press conference, no small articles. Just practice facility, week after week, and that's it. Claiming 2 TPE a week on a career path to nowhere, even at the VHLM level. I've even reached out to many of these players through a forum message, asking how things were going and reminding them that they could claim welfare as well if they had no time for PTs, and I haven't gotten a single response, nor have these players changed their earning in any way. I first noticed that this was happening shortly after the Great YouTube Disaster of S69 and it hasn't slowed down since. The links I dropped in there are only limited to players who created, did practice facility for three weeks or more, and then either went inactive or continued to do just that every week, still hanging around but in a manner that's 100% invisible. If we want to look at players who did one or two other things and then went back to only getting 2 per week, we can do that too, and even that doesn't cover people who only did practice facility for two weeks or fewer before leaving (and, trust me, there are a lot of links to throw in there as well). Sure, this happened to some extent before the shift, but it hasn't happened at nearly the rate we're seeing now. Retirements or disappearances at 32-34 after a couple practice facility claims have always been common, but never before did we see people going into the 50s on practice facility claims alone, and then being completely unreachable with advice. So what's happening?
1. We may be getting app-only users who neither look at the forum nor know how to use it. I have never used the app. I don't know what's on the app. I don't know how forum-functional the app is. According to @Enorama today in Discord, this is a possibility. If that's what's happening, then maybe it's time to annoy @Dil to make the forum more accessible on the app.
2. It may just be a YouTube thing. Something about a large part of the recent audience of YouTube recruits has led to our recruitment numbers being not at all as strong as they once were in recent seasons. Many of these PF-only players came from YouTube drives, so it could simply be a matter of the audience we're targeting. Might want to hit a different channel next time?
3. Having a TPE button on the portal may be legitimately messing with the ability of some people to understand earning, and in some cases, preventing them from figuring it out. Having one method of earning points in a different setting than every single other method of earning points can present a confusing situation. We may be getting people who think that practice facility is the only way to earn points. We may be getting people who, because of this false notion, simply do not care about the forum, and do not check it, not getting involved with their teams and not receiving the education necessary to become a solid earner.
I'm not saying "let's take practice facility off the portal," but simply presenting a bit of a problematic situation that I feel this has certainly at least contributed to in some way. If we take it off the portal and bring it back to the forum, sure, everyone would hate it. The updaters would hate it even more. People would think I'm an idiot and probably still will even after going through my reasoning.
So would putting practice facility on the forum be popular? Hell no. Would I want it to happen? Also no, but I'd hate it less than most people. This is more of a discussion thread than a suggestion.
So welcome to another article! Here we'll be taking a look at how every VHL team is doing--now, yes, but more importantly, into the future. We'll see who's sticking around, who's leaving, how each team is set up for the draft, all that good stuff. If you like overly wordy analysis that takes up half your computer screen to say what could be said in two lines, you've come to the right place. So, let's get into it, I guess...
NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE
Calgary Wranglers
On Pace For: 44-20-8
Current Standing: 3rd
GM: @Bushito
The Present: Calgary looks good this season, and that's thanks to a solid veteran core with one of the best defensive games in the league. With five players over 600 TPA and a blueline where the average exceeds 700, they're a hard team to crack. Among the veterans, center Tyler Barabash Jr, defenseman Brady Stropko Jr, and goalie JB Rift provide the team's strongest statistical showings, though talent in Calgary is very much spread across the board--despite the Wranglers' record and standing, you'd have to go to 19th on the points list to find Barabash, and the same or similar may be said about many other categories, indicating that there is no sole savior of the team and that it is working well as a whole.
The Future: How the Wranglers look now is nothing compared to what they might look like in a few seasons. Prospects Sigard Gunnar, Hiroshi Okada, Kris Rice, RJ Jubis, and Jacques Lafontaine are all a season or two old and max earners (or close to max earners) on the brink of busting their careers wide open, and that's not even taking into consideration the two top picks in this past draft, Mikko Lahtinen and Edwin THE Encarnacion. If you think they've got a good team now, just wait--especially when they've got two first-rounders in S72.
Best Case: "Best case" is wonderful to think about for a team in a situation like this. Calgary's got five players over 600 TPA right now, and they've managed to put together a solid roster that can win games already. I'm counting seven significant earners on this list alone who are ready to move to the next level, and that's not even looking at the rest of the roster, many of whom are respectable earners in their own right. So, best case scenario? Bush builds a dynasty out of this, going on a long run of success and winning a few cups.
Worst Case: It's difficult to imagine what could possibly go wrong with a team that already seems to have completed a rebuild and are enjoying the post-tank success with much more and potentially much greater to come. A good look at the portal, though, combined with the questionability of some recent events, could even put Calgary under in a few seasons, though that assumes that all that can possibly go wrong does. For one, only four players are signed through S72, and none are signed through S73. For the Wranglers to keep any of their players past that point, they'll need a few good re-signings--though, admittedly, chances are low that everyone decides to bail. The team was briefly put in jeopardy for a brief period of time last season, though, when a large part of the roster retired due to internal conflict. Though the team looks to have sorted things out since, it will be necessary for management to continue to monitor its locker room in order to actively avoid the worst.
Players mentioned:
D.C. Dragons
On Pace For: 29-33-10
Current Standing: 9th
GM: @Enorama
The Present: At the moment, D.C. is a bit below average, but that's a good deal better than they were a couple seasons ago when expansion hit. They actually have more players above 600 TPA than Calgary, at seven compared to Calgary's five, though the pieces aren't quite fitting together in the same way. Next to nobody is seeing individual success--Mikko Aaltonen, the team's point leader, is 23rd on the league leaderboard, while in categories like hits and shots blocked Dragons are barely breaking into the top 40. Even Kallis Kriketers is having his worst season since S64. D.C. does have a roster that looks good on paper, though, and that much is contributing to a just-about-average level of team success.
The Future: D.C. is one of the league's youngest teams, with almost two-thirds of the active roster being either S68 or S69. Whatever's going on there with player retention is working--Luciano Valentino and Mikko Aaltonen are already signed for the rest of their careers, while John Frostbeard just picked up a two-season extension. In the S69 draft, too, they were able to pick up Benny Graves, who stated before the draft that no matter where he was drafted, he planned to stick with them long-term. Other notables picked up in recent drafts, too, include Guy Lesieur and Ricky Johnson, while prospect Derek Eriksson continues to maintain a respectable earn rate in the minors and Eno's GM player, George Washington, is another career-long Dragon at forward. While they've got a first-round pick in both of the next two drafts, it's imperative that they select a goalie if they can't get one in free agency--Kallis is out after this season and backup Pekka Pouta doesn't have future face-of-the-franchise potential.
Best Case: The best case for D.C. is that career signings and player retention are what will lead to them winning. While the Dragons have a couple picks to work with, it really won't be much, so maintenance and growth of the current roster will need to be management's number-one priority. If it works out, though, and they're able to free up some cap space by letting a few inactives go and securing a good goalie before long, D.C. will be a team to be reckoned with in a season or two.
Worst Case: Career signings are a double-edged sword. On one hand, you're quite possibly locking up the future core of your team and ensuring its success for seasons to come. On the other, though, now you've got a massive contract on your hands that can limit cap space and make movement difficult. There's also the question of goaltending--will the Dragons be able to find a legitimate, long-term starter in time to catch their roster in full swing? The future doesn't look bad, but D.C. will have to jump through a few hoops to get there.
Players mentioned:
New York Americans
On Pace For: 35-29-8
Current Standing: 6th
GM: @Esso2264
The Present: New York looks pretty good on paper--nine players above 600 TPA and a good crop of young talent--though they're currently enjoying a fairly average place in the standings because for some reason they keep losing to Davos. Fellow baguettes Joel Ylonen and Joseph McWolf make up the team's veteran leadership, and while New York is yet another team barely cracking the top 40 in points (only two players in that range, with none in the top 30!), goaltender A Red Guy is enjoying a reasonably decent season, coming in at .918 SV% and 2.36 GAA. Overall, not half bad with a decent shot at playoff success.
The Future: The Americans are a young team who look like they've got a bright future--S67 steal and TPE whore Boris the Forest is locked up for the rest of his career, and with recent selections like Lance Flowers, David OQuinn, Soren Jensen, and Owen Nolan leading the prospect pool, New York will break the curse of the S60s and will once again become one of the teams to beat. There's one obvious concern, though--a huge portion of the roster is in their contract year this season. Notable names that could be out the door next season include A Red Guy, Thorvald Gunnarson, Lance Flowers, and Ryo Yamazuki II, and that's not even considering forced retirement of McWolf or the tragic departure of Elmebeck, which will cut out half of the Americans' blueline. If players can be re-signed, this might not be a big deal, but it's a definite concern nonetheless.
Best Case: In short, New York re-signs the players that matter and make a good choice with their first-rounder in this offseason's draft, maybe cashing in on defense. If this can be done, there shouldn't be any major concerns going forward--having so many contracts end in one season does raise concerns, but it also allows a team to decide who to keep and who to move in a much more flexible manner. Next season's cap should be easy to navigate, and if the right players are convinced to re-sign, the Americans will continue to be a threat.
Worst Case: You can probably guess the worst case by now--basically, everyone leaves and New York gets thrown back into the void only a couple seasons after crawling out of it. They're in danger of losing both of their goalies, all but one defenseman, and two active forwards, and if all this happens, New York will find it difficult to stay afloat. Their last first-round choice was a bust as well even though I told Esso to pick him, as Iangenere Risteneen hasn't been seen for a while. So, if the next draft sees a similar miss, it's difficult to imagine the Americans remaining competitive, and even more difficult to imagine them finding legitimate success.
Players mentioned:
Seattle Bears
On Pace For: 38-29-5
Current Standing: 8th
GM: @Banackock
The Present: There's no time like the present to be in Seattle. Winners of the last two cups, the Bears are feeling good behind (as I'm holding back snarky Hounds-related comments) a strong showing from their S67 draft class. Acyd Burn, Ambrose Stark, Henrik Zoiderberg, Scott Greene, Sundqvist, LeGrande, Hogan, Funk--they're all S67, and only four members of the current roster aren't. There's a good chance that they'll continue to find success this season as well--with nine players above 600 TPA, they're a much better team than their eighth-place standing suggests.
The Future: When most of your roster is S67, and six of them are signed through S73, you'll be in the running for a while. Though Seattle doesn't have any prospects in the minors at the moment and won't have any homegrown replacements for its current players for a while, they also don't have much to worry about at the moment. The main concern for Seattle, at the moment, is cap--salary goes up as more TPE is earned, and if the season ended today and restarted tomorrow, they'd be $1.5 million over the cap, even if Jack Lynch is left to free agency--and that's assuming nobody else goes into a higher bracket (a few are close right now and will likely break it by then). They'll be in deeper trouble cap-wise if they use either or both of their two first-rounders in the coming draft on players who will be playing up. So, while the future is still bright, there will need to be at least one cap dump trade to get there.
Best Case: The best thing that can happen to the Bears here is trading away an older, more expensive player (best choice would be Slade, though he's got a no-trade clause) and then using picks to fill in the gap left in the lineup by that player. Then, by the best-case model, that player fits in nicely and the Seattle machine keeps running. Keeping every asset will be impossible, so the best case is simply a smooth transition past the inevitable loss of current strength that keeps the team moving forward and on top.
Worst Case: Sure, Seattle will end up temporarily a little bit worse after this coming offseason. As has been said a million times here already, someone valuable has to go. Worst case? Robbie chooses to exercise the no-trade clause and takes up $4 million in next season's cap space. If that happens, Seattle enters cap hell and needs to offload someone right on top of their career, in their fifth season. At that point, they've taken a step into "sell players for future assets," which is a major step running contrary to the current plan. It won't be the end of the world, but it could knock the team out of elite level long enough for the S67 class to start depreciating--and at that point, it's time for this team to start finding replacements.
Players mentioned:
Toronto Legion
On Pace For: 26-36-10
Current Standing: 11th
GM: @Peace
The Present: There isn't much to be said about Toronto's roster at the moment. They're plagued with inactives, have only one first-round draft choice, and have a thin prospect pool with a few inconsistent welfare earners. The lone bright spot on the current roster is Chad Magnum, this past season's 5th overall selection and a max earner who was shipped off to Toronto as part of a large players-for-picks deal that saw Toronto's first-rounder in the coming draft go to Davos (let's not talk about what I did with it after that). Other semi-actives on the Toronto roster include Nethila Dissanayake, a former Saskatoon player who may remain loyal to current Toronto management, and Aron Nielsen, a S66 first-rounder making a recent return from inactivity.
The Future: It generally isn't a great sign when the most impressive player out of the "present" group is also the most impressive player in the "future" group, but here we are. Magnum is the only player currently owned by Toronto who has future star potential. One player retires next season, and all but three are set to enter free agency, with only a few able to be re-signed as actives. Though the Legion's late first-rounder will almost certainly be burnt for Erik Killinger, Peace's player sitting near the top of the S71 class, Killinger and Magnum are the only two definite pieces they've got in place at the moment and more than time will be necessary to make them competitive.
Best Case: The few active prospects they have ramp up their earning game enough to at the very least provide solid depth, and the rest is done through creative trading, free agent signings, and smart drafting, if it takes long enough to do that they'll have the picks to do it. They'll likely go through a couple more rough seasons, but will be reasonably well-set for the future in good time.
Worst Case: Management is unable to make anything happen within a few seasons. Magnum becomes impatient with the consistent lack of success and leaves in free agency, or he sticks around and the process takes long enough that he and Killinger don't have many prime years left when Toronto begins to compete.
Players mentioned:
Vancouver Wolves
On Pace For: 47-18-7
Current Standing: 2nd
GM: @Beaviss
The Present: There's a lot to like about the Wolves. They've got a small roster of only twelve players, but ten of them are over 600 TPA and two--HHH and Freeman--are over 1,000. Those two sit in the league's top 10 in points, spearheading the Wolves' current success. Goaltender Greg Eagles is enjoying a fantastic season in net, and there isn't a weak spot on the team that would lead one to believe that it might be going otherwise.
The Future: Though Vancouver is a bit older than some of the other teams on this list, that's certainly no major concern at the moment. They'll have Freeman, Downey, Eagles, and very likely HHH through S73, they have not one but two max earners in net (backup Jimmy Spyro says hi), and to go with a long list of draft picks, they've already got prospect Griff Manzer maintaining a respectable earn rate in the minors. The Wolves have pretty much reached any GM's dream spot--to have a good team and the future assets to keep it going. Cap shouldn't be an issue next season, either, as 5-million-dollar defender Tzuyu retires and they'll be able to trade a lower-TPA player like Jerry Wang or let Kevin Low go to free agency if that isn't enough of a discount.
Best Case: Beav continues to lead the team to success and smoothly transitions it into the next era. They're perfectly set up for this, and if this is done right they'll be a consistent threat to any other team in the league for, well, as much of the future as can be reasonably imagined with their current assets. Manzer comes up and continues earning well enough to become a legitimate part of the gameplan, either Spyro or Eagles is flipped for big-time draft capital or a star at some other position, and the team cashes in at the draft with some solid picks.
Worst Case: It's very tough to imagine a worst case here, but one thing or another might go wrong. Tzuyu is out the door, and Kevin Low might be, and if both leave, the roster is left without a fourth defenseman--and the third will be Manzer, who will still be relatively low on the TPE chart. Micheal Gary Scott satisfies his lifelong dream of going off to Seattle in free agency, and Vancouver whiffs on its first-rounders in both of the coming drafts. These are still events that the Wolves will be able to recover from, but it won't make the transition between solid teams a simple handoff.
Players mentioned:
EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
HC Davos Dynamo
On Pace For: 18-42-12
Current Standing: 12th
GM: GM Himself, @GustavMattias
ego grows audibly
The Present: OK, fine, let's talk about how Davos is doing right now. We suck! But that's OK, we've got our actives. As far as this season goes, Davos player leadership consists of a few older and largely inactive individuals--Materazo (our only player above 600 TPA, but at least that's one more than Toronto) is putting up great numbers on both ends of the ice, while John Madden and Anthony Matthews represent the other two pre-S66 players contributing to our game at forward. On the back end, goaltender Samuel Ross recently returned from inactivity and has been earning well since. Overall, sure, we're last in the standings, but it's a rebuild, so that is to be expected.
The Future: Oh boy, the future. That's what we're all about. Let's talk about that--four first-round picks in the next two seasons, and five seconds. To go along with that, we've got a couple Davos-for-life players on defense in Fernando Jokinen and Andrej Petrovic, and there's also Milos Slavik at forward with the potential to be a decent second-line player on a good team. Winger Alex Bridges leads the pack among prospects, with a decent earn rate and solid team activity.
Best Case: The best case is, obviously, that I nail it in the draft and build the best team in the league. There's nowhere for this team to go but up, and there's potential to go way up if things are managed well. We've got the prospect pool and the younger players to build a future support structure already, but the star power needs to be obtained from somewhere else, and the draft is where we'll do it.
Worst Case: I run the team into the ground by being an idiot, making stupid decisions, and not drafting well. If I do, too, it's entirely my fault--I was handed a perfectly set-up team and now it's on me to work with that. And if I'm stupid enough, it won't happen quite the way anyone here in Davos is hoping. I'm still unproven as a GM on the VHL level, and if it turns out that I suck at it, that will be the team's greatest enemy.
Players mentioned:
Helsinki Titans
On Pace For: 37-30-5
Current Standing: 7th
GM: @Jubo07
The Present: The Titans sit in seventh place at the moment, and they're hanging on to the last bits of their former glory days. Julian Borwinn, Joey Boucher, Sidney Crosby, and Alexander Pepper are all in their last seasons, and it looks like Helsinki is doing what they can to make the best of it. They've made some moves to secure some players from S66 and later--Ben Hafkey, Erik Draven, Erik Summers, and Guillaume Fontenette come to mind--and have built a decent roster with dreams to compete and bring what's left of the @Quik era to an end with a bang.
The Future: I came into this one thinking that this segment would be all about how the Titans need to rebuild, scrap everything, become the next Davos and all that stuff. It turns out that that isn't really the case, though--Helsinki has easily the best pool of VHLM prospects that the league has to offer, and many of their players from S66 or after will be sticking around for a bit. Though a step back is expected, it won't be nearly as drastic as one might believe. Virgil Ligriv will likely take over in net, while the others mentioned above will make up the future core. Among the prospects, Jared Spaz and Ike Bennett come to mind as two that do 6-point tasks with a decent earn rate, and there are many more welfare earners who should be up in a season or two. It seems that a retool, not a rebuild, is in order, and for that Helsinki management is grateful.
Best Case: Though it's unrealistic to expect Helsinki not to take a step back, a best case scenario leads one to believe that they'll be able to emerge from the transition in only a season or two without ever tanking or being at the bottom of the league. They'll have at least two solid earners next season, and likely a bit more than that, with a first-round pick in the draft, another first-rounder in S72 when Jubo's recreate comes up, and the cap space to accommodate some free agent signings or perhaps a big-ticket player or two in a trade. If all goes well, the Titans will once again stand atop the league with an entirely different roster in not too much time.
Worst Case: The worst case scenario in this instance is simply that the retool might not be done in a matter of one or two seasons. It might take a bit longer to develop the prospects--assuming, of course, that they all continue to develop and none go inactive--and by that point players like Hafkey, Fontenette, and Ligriv will be significantly affected by depreciation and well on their way to retirement. Assuming Helsinki does attempt a successful retool--and I maintain that they should, regardless of what the worst case scenario says--their prospects need to maintain their earn rates. If management isn't able to flex their player retention muscles, the Titans will be left with yet another aging roster, this time with nowhere else to go but a complete rebuild.
Players mentioned:
Malmo Nighthawks
On Pace For: 31-38-3
Current Standing: 10th
GM: @Advantage
The Present: Malmo is the league's most unlucky team, and (I hope) I'm not just saying that because I play there. With eight players above 600 TPA, right up there with the more above-average teams in the league, they've still managed to be...not that great, currently sitting in 10th place. Much of the roster is in the S66-S68 range, with players like Jerry Garcia (ahem), Phil Marleau, and Michael Johnson representing the first generation of the team's history. Further supplemented is the blueline, with the likes of Condor Adrienne, while the forwards lines are graced by the presence of Aleksander Rodriguez and Dan Wilinsky. There's a solid roster there, but one that simply is not working.
The Future: If you thought D.C. was notorious for career signings, then take a look at Malmo's finance page and think about how wrong you were. Every player in the S66 class or after on the 600-TPA-or-more list is locked up for most or all of the rest of their career, leaving Malmo (on paper) very set up for the future. Though Dan Wilinsky is retiring this season and Ryan Sullivan Jr the next, the Nighthawks will see first-round prospect Lewis Dawson promoted next season and will then have the cap space for a move or two to be made, and perhaps a signing as well.
Best Case: Everything finally clicks for Malmo after two seasons of underwhelming sim results, and they're able to enjoy success because of it. Marleau finally finds his place on the team, Garcia stops taking so many penalties, and the Nighthawks are back on top of the league with seasons to go on the big-boy contracts. Management hits on the first-rounder in S72, and all is well.
Worst Case: SimonT continues to vomit all over Sweden and Malmo's current roster simply doesn't do the trick. The career signings given to half the team begin to hurt the team rather than help it, as moves should be made to bring Malmo back to where it should be and it becomes difficult to ship people off elsewhere, particularly now-inactive Rob Mattalex, who will cost any team taking him on $4 million per season, even after depreciation hits. Malmo is unable to scrape together enough prospects for a successful retool and goes the way of the Helsinki worst-case.
Players mentioned:
Moscow Menace
On Pace For: 48-17-7
Current Standing: 1st
GM: @Victor
The Present: "Top of the League" is really all that needs to be said about Moscow at the moment. They've got eight players over 600 TPA, and while that isn't top of the league, they're making it work. A veteran core including Jet Jaguar, Randoms, and the venerable Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen lead the way at the moment, and there's a ton to like on the leaderboard--six out of the top ten point scorers are from Moscow: Jaguar, Randoms, Smitty, Gritty, Mat Tocco, and the highly underrated Dan Baillie, a player who isn't a household name but has contributed almost a point per game in his Moscow career while also showing his two-way ability by consistently reaching impressive hit totals. Moscow is dominant this season, and it's hard to imagine anyone getting by them in the playoffs.
The Future: The future looks good in Moscow, more so than one might expect from a look at the finances page. Though Smitty and Gritty are officially set to enter free agency after this season, neither one has historically been prone to leaving a team, and it's easy to see both re-signing. As far as younger players go, the Menace don't have much in the way of prospects, but they do have a good amount of draft picks in the coming drafts, as well as TPE whore Raymond Bernard in net, active long-term signing Nate Telker at forward, and GM player Vladimir Pavlov on defense to keep the ball rolling (or, "keep the puck moving," I guess?) into the next generation of Moscow players.
Best Case: Smitty and Gritty re-sign and stick with Moscow for the rest of their careers, as does Jaguar. The Menace make some good draft choices and maybe a signing somewhere along the way, and remain a good team for the foreseeable future. One can afford to run the team conservatively at the moment, too, as more than enough cap space will be freed up by the retiring Randoms to retain the current roster should they decide to stay where they are.
Worst Case: Smitty and Gritty decide to take their orange fur elsewhere and the Menace aren't as menacing in S71 after, well, not making signings like Smitty and Gritty. They remain mediocre--think of a big buff dude grimacing at you rather than scowling in terms of menacing quality--but aren't top of the league. They'll have space to work with, both cap-wise and draft-wise, but Victor, being the idiot that he is in this worst-case model, somehow manages to screw up both, missing signings and picking busts, until Moscow has an aging and top-heavy roster ready to tip over. As you can see, this worst-case scenario takes a whole lot of screwing up to achieve, but it's the most realistic out of everything as there isn't really much that can go wrong.
Players mentioned:
Prague Phantoms
On Pace For: 37-25-10
Current Standing: 5th
GM: @diamond_ace
The Present: Prague is getting off to a better start than the other S67 expansion, D.C., and they're doing it with a super balanced roster. With only two players above 600 TPA, but tons in the 500-600 range, the Phantoms are making a name for themselves through depth, teamwork, and a little bit of sim luck. Current Prague veterans leading the way include Roll Fizzlebeef and Brick Wahl, though the roster runs a bit deeper with many noted players from S66-S69 seeing themselves in supporting roles. Though it could be argued that they're playing a bit above their caliber at the moment, the Phantoms are a decent team that happens to be very, very balanced.
The Future: Prague's got three players--Alex Pearson, Jacob Perry, and Wolf Stansson Jr--signed through S73, with Seabass Perrin and Cinnamon Block representing a couple young bright spots on defense with solid earn rates and bright futures. Solomon Crawford isn't the fastest earner, though likely figures to be the starting goalie once Wahl is out. The Phantoms don't have many draft picks, with one first-rounder next season representing the only significant pick held by the team, but if the current roster is able to be retained successfully, they could be in more serious contention in a season or two.
Best Case: The best case here isn't really as dynasty-ish and high up as some of the others, but it's still an optimistic one. Prague's future lies in retention--if they lose some players to free agency, which is possible, they may end up making some signings of their own, but the smartest way to develop the Phantoms is simply to just wait for the current roster to develop and reach a higher level of competition. After a hit in the coming draft's first round, the Phantoms sit back and wait--the defense breaks into the next level, Pearson steps it up at forward, and Prague earns a spot near the top of the league in an undisputed manner.
Worst Case: Prague picks a bust next season and growth of the current roster proves to be of questionable effect. Block, Perrin, and Stansson should stick around, but most others on the team are welfare earners with second-line potential. The team also has no real star power at forward, a part of the ice a good deal more important in this league than the blueline. In this case, we'd see less of management running the team into the ground and more of the team running itself into the ground--most of this plan is dependent upon the team's ability to improve itself, and if it fails in that regard, there won't be much to see in a few seasons.
Players mentioned:
Riga Reign
On Pace For: 42-23-7
Current Standing: 4th
GM: @hedgehog337
The Present: Riga's got seven players above my arbitrary 600-TPA standard, and as has been the norm as long as I've been in this league (since the prime days of Preencarnacion and Cast), plenty of star power. They seem to have transitioned well between rosters, keeping Ryan Kastelic, the TPE whore who makes most other whores look like nuns by comparison, throughout that entire period. The current stars of the team include Kastelic, Lincoln Tate, Apollo Hackett, and former Davos franchise goalie Finn Davison, acquired this past offseason in a deal which gave Kallis the chance to be shipped out to D.C.. The Reign are strong as always, and though they aren't on top of the league, no major concerns are present as far as this season goes.
The Future: Oh, look, Riga has a good team and a good set of picks again. I'm hardly surprised--this has, of course, been the case for most of the time I've been in this league. With three first-rounders in the next two drafts, Riga is there to make a big splash with their selections, and they'll be strengthening an already good team with a decent prospect pool--they've got a few decent earners in the VHLM, but forward JaredN and goaltender Nicolas Fomba, who projects as a solid backup, are the top two in that regard. With the current roster, the entire blueline is signed through next season, though only two forwards will be around for sure--with the rest either retired or hitting free agency, an overhaul up front might be necessary.
Best Case: Hedge re-signs who he needs to at forward and Riga solves their goaltending problem, either through the draft or a trade. He's able to use some free cap space left in the absence of Kastelic to seduce bring in a solid player up front, and Patrik Tallinder and Guy Sasakamoose continue on their young talent track and develop into legitimate stars. Solid draft choices are made, Riga continues to be a good team, and nobody is surprised in the slightest.
Worst Case: For a team where everything has gone right in recent times, what could possibly go wrong? The worst that can happen to the Reign at the moment is a loss of just about their entire forward personnel--Kastelic will be forced out, and should the others choose to exercise their right to test the market, it could thin the team out quite a bit more. Davison retires before Riga is able to find a legitimate replacement, and the team effectively becomes limited to its strong defensive core only. Though this situation is unlikely, some smart management will be necessary to avoid it.
Players mentioned:
Word count: 5,711. Apparently it's a 20-minute read too, hope you enjoy it. Thank God for multi-claims, because I might need them in the next few weeks.
Hello everyone, and welcome to this season’s first edition of the VHL Award Tracker. At this moment, teams have played either 36 or 37 games, meaning that we are pretty much halfway through the season, which makes it a perfect time to assess the races for the different end of season trophies awards to the VHL’s best of the best. Without further ado, let’s kick it off with the Mike Szatkowski Trophy, given every year to the player that scored the most points.
Mike Szatkowski Trophy
The first award we are going to look at is one for which the race promises to be exciting until the very end of the season. In fact, there are currently three players tied at 48 points in 36 games atop the scoring leaderboard, making it a three-way tie when it comes to determining favourites for the Mike Szatkowski Trophy. Experts think the player who has the best shot to come on top in the second half of the season is Julian Borwinn, who already has two Szatkowski trophies to his name, but it doesn’t mean Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Jet Jaguar don’t have what it takes to finish the season with the most points scored. After all, the three of them are on a pace for a haul of 96 points.
Kevin Brooks Trophy
The lead in the Kevin Brooks Trophy is about as tight as the one for the Szatkowski, as two players have been taking the lead alternating fashion since the start of the season. Former Season 66 winner, Julian Borwinn of the Helsinki Titans, is currently a single goal ahead of his main rival, Jet Jaguar of the Moscow Menace. Their respective 25 and 24 goals put them at a safe distance from the third-best goalscorers so far, Mat Tocco and Matthew Materazo, who have both scored 20 goals in 36 games. It would take a massive collapse from both current favourites and a great second half for one of their rivals for the trophy to not be awarded to either Borwinn or Jaguar.
Alexander Beketov Trophy
We have witnessed a trend in the last couple of seasons, where forwards skillset makes them better shooters than ever before, leaving the primary quarterback and playmaker roles to the blueliners. It is once again the case this season, as three defensemen are tied at 31 assists in 36 games, creating a three-way tie in the race for the Alexander Beketov Trophy. Moscow’s blueliner Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen is only one year removed from a Beketov-winning campaign - before finishing a single assist behind Diljodh Starload last season - and once again finds himself near the top at this point of the season. He shares the lead with his Menace teammate Vladimir Pavlov and Riga Reign's phenom Apollo Hackett. Though it looks like defensemen lead the way once again, it would be surprising to see a forward come out on top for once, as both Hunter Hearst Helmsley and Ben Hafkey are only 2 assists behind the leading group.
Alexander Valiq Trophy
This recent trend of defensemen leading the league in playmakers made it so the favourites for the Alexander Valiq Trophy, awarded to the VHL’s best offensive blueliners, are often in contention for the Beketov Trophy as well. This season makes no exception as Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, arguably the league’s best defenseman in the last couple of years seem to ahead in Valiq voting, thanks to a statline of 10 goals, 31 assists and 41 points. His closest rival in the Valiq race is his fellow Menace blueliner, Vladimir Pavlov, who only trails him by 3 goals. If not for them, Guillaume Fontenette of the Helsinki Titans could continue his rise to stardom and have a shot at the award, but he trails Pavlov by 3 points, putting him 6 behind Werbenjagermanjensen.
Jake Wylde Trophy
The Jake Wylde Trophy favourites are tough to determine because, unlike the other awards we talked about so far, it isn’t given to the leader of one particular statistic - the Valiq Trophy either, though it’s pretty much always given to the defenseman with the most points at the end of the season. For the Wylde, we must look at more than one statistic, without really knowing their specific impact in the race. It seems to me that the 4 players at the moment who could claim to be among the favourites for the award are Riga’s Apollo Hackett and Lincoln Tate, Helsinki’s Sidney Crosby and Toronto’s Rusty Shackleford. The Reign linemates both basically have the same skillset and showcase some good balance between their hits, shots blocked totals and their +/- - 91 hits, 73 shots blocked, +2 for Hackett, 97 hits, 70 shots blocked, -2 for Tate. Crosby could be compared easily to the both of them too, with a statline of 87 hits, 75 shots blocked and a -5. On the other hand, Shackleford is the kind of player that has gotten attention in Wylde voting in the past. He’s the only player to be in both the top 10 for hits and shots blocked - with 141 and 66, respectively - though he has an abysmal goal differential at -13 because he plays in a rebuilding team. So really, it depends what the voting committee is looking for, but I feel like these are the best options at the moment.
Sterling Labatte Trophy
The Sterling Labatte Trophy race can be brought down to pretty much only four players. First, we have Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, who won the award in the last two seasons and now leads all defensemen in points, assists, while still accumulating strong defensive numbers - 94 hits, 54 shots blocked. Then, we have Werbenjagermanjensen’s partner with the Menace, Vladimir Pavlov, who trails him by 3 points but shares the league lead in assists with him. His defensive numbers might be even more impressive too, with 77 hits and 69 shots blocked that ranks him 6th in the whole league. Another player that should be considered for the Labatte is Apollo Hackett, who has been mentioned in the Beketov and Wylde races already, as he too shares the league lead with 31 assists, though he scored fewer goals than the previous two. His 91 hits and 73 shots blocked are among the league’s best defensive statline. Our last potential winner of the award is Guillaume Fontenette, who is currently 3rd in defenseman scoring with 35 points while leading the league in shots blocked with 79. The stat that might hurt him the most, however, is the hits column, since he has never been known as a heavy hitter and never finished with more than 40 hits.
Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy
If there’s one race that isn’t even a race already at the midseason point, it’s the one for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy, awarded annually to the league’s best performing rookie. In the first half of the season, Helsinki Titan Erik Summers has separated himself from the other first-year players’ thanks to a respectable production of 20 points as a defenseman. The rookies closest to him in the rookie scoring leaderboards - Kris Rice (16 points), Edu Stava (14 points) and Milos Slavik (13 points) - are all forwards, which means that they don’t have nearly as much of an impact as the blueliner in their own zone. In fact, Summers only trails Chad Magnum, Ben McGirr and Raleigh Ritchie in hits by a rookie, and he’s 3rd among rookies in shots blocked, behind only David OQuinn and Odin Omdahl. Unless he collapses, Summers should be named the Season 70 Rookie of the Year and lift the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy.
Dustin Funk Trophy
If Season 70 was to finish right now, we might see a repeat of last season, when a young goaltender walked away from the Award Show with the Dustin Funk Trophy. In fact, A Red Guy went from 20 wins, a .906 save percentage and a 2.99 goals-against average in his rookie season to 32 wins, a .9.23 save percentage and a 2.15 goals-against average in his sophomore season, the same kind of exponential growth that Menace’s netminder, Raymond Bernard who, at the halfway of this season, bears a statline of 23W, .918SV%, 2.15GAA, compared to last season’s 22W, .903SV%, 2.15GAA. However, if Bernard can’t keep it up, I’d see one of Ben Hafkey or Mat Tocco swooping in to win the award, as both players have now scored 41 points, which puts them on a pace for 82 points, a lot more than the respective totals of 34 and 55 they amassed last season.
Scott Boulet Trophy
The Scott Boulet Trophy, given supposedly to the league’s best two-way forward or, as the engine has it, the league’s best power forward. After the first half of the season, it looks like the defending champion is leading the way and might win it again this year. In fact, Randoms’ 147 hits put him first in the league, while his 43 points have him in the top 10, which seems like a perfect balance for a great power forward. His most serious rivals for the title at this point in time would probably be leading scorer Julian Borwinn (48 points, 120 hits), and a trio of heavy hitters who all have recorded fewer hits and fewer points than Randoms, Ryan Kastelic (37 points, 140 hits), Tyler Barabash Jr (34 points, 131 hits) and Matthew Materazo (36 points, 128 hits). I’ll conclude this part by saying it’s pretty sad that the only thing that the engine allows us to use to compare defensive contribution from forwards is their relative number of hits and their seemingly random blocked shot totals.
Greg Clegane and Aidan Shaw Trophies
Last season, I bundled the Greg Clegane and the Aidan Shaw trophies together because, to me, it seems like the favourites for an award is inevitably a favourite for the other one as well. For instance, at this point, the leader in both races would be Seattle Bears’ Rayz Funk, whose 2.12 goals-against average and .929 save percentage rank him first among VHL goaltenders. His most serious competition would be Raymond Bernard, who leads the league in 23 wins, while only trailing Funk in the other two columns by a bit (2.15GAA, .928SV%). Next in line would probably be JB Rift (20W, 2.15GAA, .923SV%) and Greg Eagles (17W, 2.19GAA, .924SV%), though it’s safe to say Funk and Bernard are a step ahead of them.
Scotty Campbell and Brett Slobodzian Trophies
And here we go, another bundle of trophies to end this whole thing. I didn’t even speak about the Brett Slobodzian last season but, truth is, it’s really easy to pretend that I’m considering it in this paragraph because, really, the Campbell and the Slobodzian most of the time both go to the same players or at least it’s the same two or three players that appear to be seriously considered for both. It still applies this season though, I must admit, no player seems to have a statline warranting of the overwhelming favourite status, so we will just look at the favourites for other trophies, the best players at their respective positions, and work from there. Aidan Shaw and Greg Clegane trophies favourite Rayz Funk has easily been the most consistent goaltenders so far this season, giving the Seattle Bears a shot at a victory night in night out and could follow the way Kallis Kriketers paved last season, making it the second campaign in a row in which a goaltender goes all the way to be named most valuable and most outstanding player of the VHL. As far as defensemen go, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen would be the only one with a distant shot at winning one of the two end-of-season awards, though his numbers are not as impressive as his numbers in other seasons, and he wasn’t considered in these other seasons, so I doubt this is the season we finally see a blueliner be named MVP again. Actually, I think the award is currently being disputed mostly between two forwards, the two players who are currently leading the league in points, who are within only a single goal from each other: Helsinki Titans’ Julian Borwinn and Moscow Menace’s Jet Jaguar. They are both on pace for 50-goal, 95-point seasons, which doesn’t seem that impressive until you realize scoring has been trending down in the last couple of seasons and only a handful of players even reach the 50-goal and 90-point marks every season now.
It will be interesting to see the way these races shape up during the second half of the season because, let’s be honest here, nothing is set in stone and the competition for these prestigious titles is as fierce as ever. I tried to talk about a couple of players for every award, but basically everyone - except maybe Erik Summers for the Stolzschweiger - is only one bad week of sims away to be dropped from contention altogether. Everything is still possible, both for players deemed as favourites at the halfway point of the season and for players who don’t appear to be considered for an award at the moment. Good luck to all!
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