Exlaxchronicles

Throwing a border around this render would give it a more aesthetic and finished look I think.
Not much to critique on this as its just a stick pick with a logo swap.
Pretty good placement of the logo and even though that's the logos color, I'd probably try to change its color to match closer to the orange on the jersey.
Nice touch with the pant logo as well.
Be cool to see some filters, fonts or something more to the SIG thrown in.
Dont know what else to say about this but I would like to see more time and effort spent on this as I know you have some gfx skills! 

Beave usually has it on YouTube and he puts up a link here. I always miss the live stream.
Next expansion team.....Manila Bahlutes( did I spell that right?)

Nice write up!

1. Now that your in the lineup, are you going to continue adding the to help your game in the playoffs?
2. What personal goals do you hope to accomplish with Gucci?
3. Do you play hockey in real life?
4. Where did you hear about this game and do you plan on sticking around for awhile?
5. Gretzky or Lemieux and why?

Big news has hit the wire this week with both the VHL and VHLM announcing plans for Expansion. The VHLM will gain 2 teams while the VHL will only gain 1 for the time being. This news comes after a highly successful recruitment leading to many new players in the league. The VHLM expansion will primarily focus on North America while the VHL's expansion will continue the leagues international focus.
 
Starting with the VHLM, the first expansion franchise has been granted to the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The city has strong ties to the game of hockey as well as being the only eastern American city to be granted a team. The fans in the east have long been clamoring for a team of their own to root for. The new team will be named the Philadelphia Reapers and boasts a blue, red, and yellow color scheme. With no nearby teams, the Reapers will likely look to Ottawa and Halifax as potential rivalries. Fans are already clamoring to find out what kind of cuisine will be featured at the arena. Many expect traditional Pennsylvanian fare such as cheesesteaks, scrapple, and traditional Amish foods to be among the new delicacies.The first General Manager of the team will be BladeMaiden.
 
The second VHLM expansion team has been awarded to the city of Houston, Texas. With this expansion we have a second team located within the southern United States(the first being the Las Vegas Aces). Many fans bemoan more teams being created outside of traditional hockey markets but the league feels that in order to grow the game they must reach out to new territory. The city has long been starved for a hockey team and the VHL hopes to capitalize on this demand from local fans with a new team. The team will be named the Houston Bulls and will feature a color palette of red and yellow. Many hope that the recent expansion to the south will open up the sport to new audiences not used to the game. The most obvious rival for the Bulls will be the Las Vegas Aces. Although the Bulls will have a challenge as the Aces currently sit atop the league. The inaugural GM of the Houston Bulls will be Sonnet.
 
The lone VHL expansion will happen halfway across the world from the VHLM expansion. The city of Moscow, Russia will be the latest site for hockey excellence. Following the trend of having the league spread across the world; Russia seemed like an obvious choice for growing the league. Russia is a country with a rich hockey history and a huge fan-base waiting for a team to support since they last lost a team in Season 10. The team will be known as the Moscow Menace and features a gold and white color scheme. The team logo is fierce and will likely lead to many merchandise sales. The GM for Moscow will be Victor who has a history of building top notch teams.
 
Of course this expansion will affect all teams as both leagues will feature an expansion draft prior to the 65th season. We look forward to the changes that expansion will bring to the league. With so many changes the VHL must continue to adapt and improve itself to keep itself relevant.
 
(Word Count 549) Claiming for Theme Week
 

I know that homie
I stand corrected!

Hey I play pretty good defense. I also have 21 goals and the next defenseman on the team has 20 points to my 71.
 
I just don't hit people, that's all.

Yo same. I scored 2 to keep it interesting, but i wanted you to win, big boy @Banackock

Congrats Bana! Glad I could contribute to your big milestone.?

You have $5M from the Holiday Giveaway still.

How come I keep gettin tagged? I thought I picked three. If not then K Louth, Thompson and Ironside

Moscow Menace   

                         

Explanation: Decided to go for the 3 main colors of the logo - White, Gray and the gold of the crown, also incorporated the whole "winter" and "cold" vibe in the player numbers as I thought it looked nice.
This jersey might not look too intimidating as Moscow Menace intends to be, but it can bait enemies in to a false sense of security

                     Houston Bulls     

                      



Explanation: The logo just screamed Fire & Flames to me, so I decided to give the jerseys that "burning" feel to them, also the fact that bulls are aggressive when seeing the color red, made my decision as to which color to put as the main accent easier.

  Philadelphia Reapers  

                            

Explanation: This was an interesting one to make, since the colors are passive, however work together really well, the agressiveness of the red color on the scythe is balanced out with dark blue/green color.

EDIT: Claimed for February 10th, 6+6 TPE. 
EDIT EDIT: I'm so sorry to the Philadelphia Reapers organization (@BladeMaiden) , I must have forgotten to put yours in by accident.

599 - 1 more to go  

FWIW I gave you my vote.

Nice listen Tag! Your the first PC I've listened to. BTW, my brother in law is from Aylesbury.

Don't say that yet. Maybe tpe wise I am. Not producing like it though 
 
 
@Enorama you should write more. You're good at it

The playoffs are less than twenty games away and it looks like we have three clear contenders; the Aces, out of Vegas; the 21sts, out of Halifax; and the Lynx, out of Ottawa. Oslo was looking strong earlier this season but couldn't maintain their position and eventually decided to blow everything up. Consequentially, they are now sitting in forth place and will likely be fighting Saskatoon in the wildcard round. Saskatoon has significantly bolstered their roster after aggressively acquiring free agents. 

Let's dissect the contenders and take a deeper look into them.
 
 Las Vegas Aces 
This seasons powerhouse - the Aces - appear as the strongest roster in the VHLM. (Jubo07), the Aces' general manager, has really stepped up and crafted an amazing roster through roster moves and smart decisions. We had the chance to ask him a few questions!
 
What were your expectations heading into the season? Did you expect to be #1 with a 10 point lead on the second team?
“My expectations heading into the season were to be a top 3 club. We had several returning members, including at the time the top goalie TPE wise, and a decent collection of picks. Having the lead we have at this point in the season is a product of active members and some wheeling and dealing. We have as good as a team you can really hope to put together in the VHLM and our guys are loving the journey.”
What is the team that you feel like is the bigger threat for the Aces chances at the Founder’s Cup?
“I feel our biggest threat is Ottawa, although Halifax is a very close mention. We are all at the mercy of STHS which makes absolutely nothing a guarantee.”
 
 
The Aces are first for a reason, that reason being their impressively talented roster. The Aces' top nine forward group has well over a thousand accumulated TPE, their top pairing is as stacked as it can get with two capped defenders in Parker and Philliefan. The Aces' goaltending duet supports and develop with one another, providing (Jubo07) with options on the back end. 

What are the Aces weaknesses? 
While their top paring is monstrous, they could really benefit from a stronger second and third defensive paring. Aside from that, the only other thing that's left to improve is Nixon's save percentage. 
 
 
 Ottawa Lynx  
 
Right now the Lynx look like they're the second best team in the league, and having just beaten the Aces in recent matchups, the Lynx will be a team heading into the playoffs with confidence. At the moment they're sitting just one point behind the Halifax club, but the Lynx have looked like the better team recently. 
Lynx GM, (diamond_ace), made some impressive moves not long ago to solidify themselves as one of the leagues top contenders for the Founders Cup. Acquiring Carles 'Puggy' Puigdemont and Dallas Jones from Oslo prior to the trade deadline passing capped a busy mid-season for Ottawa. We asked Diamond what his thoughts were on the trade now that Puigdemont and Jones have gotten the opportunity to adjust to the team. 
“The trade was pretty much your standard VHLM trade. The standings basically flip every year, except if a team decides to always finish in the middle but never really make a run. This is our contention year, so on some level a trade was always going to happen, (...) the trade was less to catch up to Halifax and Vegas, and more to stay on pace with them when they inevitably made their moves as well. (...) Trifecta approached me a few days earlier and told me he was thinking of going that route, so then when he finally did, I had a little more control over which specific pieces to acquire.”
 
As he was leaving we asked him if he thinks the Lynx’s roster compares to the Ace’s, and what is the key to beating them in the playoffs. He added:
“Vegas is probably deeper at forward, but not by a ton, and if Volosenkov takes off like I expect, the gap could close some. We definitely have them defensively, with four caps by playoffs and for right now, Rift has an edge in goal over Nixon and Weekes although I suspect Nixon will cap, making them essentially even for the playoffs. If we can use our defensive edge to nullify their forward edge, then we'll have a good shot at it. Of course, this is all assuming we're the two finals teams - it's a bit early to write Halifax off as well.”
 
 
While (in my opinion) the Aces have the deeper roster, I believe the Lynx edge them out in defensive depth and goaltending talent. They have been picking up some steam lately and are looking like a solid contender for the Cup this season. Although not as talented as the Aces' top six, the Lynx match up really well and I feel like they could match their offensive firepower. However, they haven't got the depth that Vegas has, and they will probably have to solve that by playing a top heavier game. 

One thing that's for sure... if they match in the playoffs it's going to be a blood bath. 
 
 
 
 Halifax 21st  
The 21st are now sitting at the 2nd spot in the standings, but that could be taken away soon by the Lynx. They have been some moves lately and GM McWolf has invested a lot into this season, shipping a 1st and a 3rd rounder to Oslo for star player Diljodh. @McWolf conceded us the pleasure of asking a few questions by email. We wanted to know if they feel like the 21st are a clear contender and if they think they have a real chance against the Aces. He responded:
"If I'm being absolutely honest, I think the Lynx and the Aces might be a step ahead of the 21st. We'll likely need to beat the two of them to win the Founder's Cup and it will be hard. But I'm confident we can do it. We didn't start with too much on the roster and we didn't have too many draft picks at the beginning of last draft, but we struck gold with some selections and we made some interesting waiver claims. This puts us in a good place to give the two others a run for their money. Ottawa beat Yukon in last season's semi-finals. If you need a proof that everything is possible, there's that. We're not last season's Ottawa though, we are deeper than them and if we beat any of the other two teams in the semi-finals or in the finals, it shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone."
 
Having the opportunity to pursue more answers, we asked him to break down his opinions on the trade he completed with Oslo. 
"At some point, I had to be a buyer this season, I could not just sell that makeshift roster that was built as the season went, and I kind of owed to Thranduil, my AGM, to compete this season. He forfeited a lot of TPE so John Madden would be back with us this season (...). Getting Anton Edvin and Diljodh Starload was necessary for us to keep up with the Lynx and the Aces, since they both made similar moves in the last few weeks. (...) As for Edvin, he might not have made as much noise since joining, but he'll be back next season too, which adds tremendous value to the trade in my eyes.
Even if we don't win this season, I still think it was all worth it. However, I'm definitely looking forward to the playoffs and I'm excited to see if we can pull off what others would probably claim is an upset against the Lynx or the Aces. This is especially true with the Lynx, as I was their AGM for the past 2 seasons, learning the ropes of the job under diamond_ace. I'd be delighted if we face them in the semi-finals and take them out. Student surpasses the teacher."
 
 
On paper the 21sts have the weakest roster of the three clear contending teams, however they have a roster with plenty of rookies who are developing at a high rate and could help the Halifax club finish with a more competitive roster at the end of the season. One of the main things about Halifax is their goaltender situation, Smith's performance has been remarkable, and as a reward he is the top goalie in the league. Backing Smith up is Chase, a rookie who could take over Smith's starter duties should he collapse. If they had to fix something, it would have to be their defensive situation. Their top four simply can't compete with the talented defensive core of both the Ottawa Lynx and Las Vegas Aces, but as we've said they have defensive prospects that are making huge developmental strides. Elasmobranch Fish and Bald Guy, both rookie defenders, are sitting right at a respectable TPE total and are improving weekly. 
One player to watch out for is Hunter Hearst Helmsley, a natural centre that came into the league late but has hastily developed into one of Halifax's key forwards. 
 
 
Final Analysis (TL;DR)
 
The Aces have been looking like the strongest team, but the Ottawa Lynx have recently shown that they're not invincible. Both the Lynx and 21sts are going to be tough rivals in the playoffs, and with both teams likely to defeat Oslo/Saskatoon, it'll be an interesting final four this season. While there is a clearly separation between the final three teams, we can't forget about Oslo and Saskatoon. Both teams have been acquiring talented free agents lately and could be a surprise first round winner if the team that matches with them becomes over confident. 
 

Great job guys and gal! You all spoiled me with your talents. The win streak lives on!

@Members
 
This is to announce that, retroactive to last week, all re-creates for the S66 Draft, and onward, will follow a new set of carryover rules. We have decided to separate starting TPE from Carryover TPE, while also creating a standard carryover percentage that will apply to ALL players, who retire with at least 50 TPE.
 
Going forward, members who retire a player with 50+ TPE will earn a 4% carryover, to a maximum carryover of 50 TPE, which will be added to the initial 30 TPE that all players begin with, meaning a starting maximum of 80 TPE for all re-creates.
 
If you re-created a player last week, please post in this thread, and we will adjust your player's TPE to the correct starting amount.
 
Thank you,
@Commissioner

As some of you know, I am an aspiring writer. Tonight, I released a collection of short stories and poems titled Nightmares and Dreamscrapes. I am very excited to present this to the general public and hope that the reviews are positive. Cheers!
 
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UMJBXAA

*making offers...*
 
 
Kind of a clickbait, isn't it? Well, that's exactly what happened this Monday between these teams. Seattle, Quebec and Helsinki made a sequence of trades which pretty much became a three way. And it's not like it involved some small assets. It was indeed a big one which was promising a change of scenery of this season. The end result of this: 
 
Seattle receives:
Veran Dragomir
 
Quebec City receives:
Jake Davis
Konstantin Mulligan
S65 DAV 4th
S66 SEA 3rd
 
Helsinki receives:
The Charm
 
What happened? Seattle. The rumors are swirling about Bana retiring from GM'ing after he beats a D_A record. It looks like he decided to make something big before doing that. He brought a big player who was supposed to be an offensive powerhouse for Quebec, but never had a proper chemistry with his teammates. He is doing a bit better job in Seattle, but it's still a Malenko-Thompson show there and I'm not sure if Veran will be the main figure in Bears' playoff run. More like there was another reasoning why Bana did this trade. 
 
What happened? Quebec. At the time of that trade, the Meute was still a team with so much promise but with a mediocre offense. And that's with two 800+ TPE forwards plus another solid ones like Palo and Harding. So Beav has decided to pull this trade to make a shakeup. He gave the one of the biggest stars in order to acquire Davis, The Charm and a couple of secondary picks. The Charm was traded to Helsinki then. Looks like it kinda worked. Davis was good in Seattle and he never missed a beat after moving to Quebec. That also helped Beau to stay at his level despite losing Veran. 
 
What happened? Helsinki. At the end of the day, they basically made a Mulligan - The Charm swap. Quik is trying to solidify the offence for a half of season (since an Irish centre is heading to FA regardless). I believe he was doing a bit better in Seattle, but that's mainly because of you know which two guys. So I guess he is still doing what Helsinki wants from him. 
 
 
WHO WON?
 
 - WON. To be fair, there is no such difference between Veran and The Charm as this moment. The another reasoning I was mentioned earlier was about a longterm. As we know already, The Charm will be FA and there's nothing Seattle management could've done. Veran Dragomir still has the next season under a contract and of course it's a better thing. Also, it allowed Garrop to make his proper debut which is also nice. Making a firesale following this season wouldn't be a pleasant experience, this is like only a second year Seattle is competing for real. Veran makes sure it isn't happening so that's win for this team even if they had to trade a solid player in Jake Davis.
 
 - WON. I think we can say surely that The Charm in better than Mulligan. That's definitely is a win. Even for a half of season. 
 
 - WON? It's a bit harder to rate this trade from Quebec's perspective. They got Jake Davis which is great. He's also younger than Dragomir which is even nicer. So that's another plus for this team. And these picks might actually turn into steals as we are experiencing deep drafts lately. But...Konstantin Mulligan? No offense to this player, but I don't think he will bring something valuable to this team. He's not about scoring life and his build is weird. He has 93 checking? The problem is only Palo is having less than 70 checking and now they brought another power forward? Quebec doesn't needs that. Also, they had to trade Pat Svoboda. And meanwhile he was struggling there, I believe he still has more potential that Mulligan. So I can't say that Quebec definitely won. But they didn't lose either. It's just they won less than Seattle and Helsinki. 
 
 
So nobody lost in this three way trade. Some team got more, some less. But all three GM's can be happy with the result. 
 
That's it and I'm out. 
 
6 TPE goes to Kallis. 

4. What Player has the worst personality in the VHL and why? (Get Shady)
Tough one, how can you pick just one when there is so many, but I´ll say David Kiaskov. There is no limits on what he will say to get a reaction out of you and on top of that, he is willing to fight, so gotta be careful around him.
 
5. If you got to have an entrance song as a player, what song would you choose to play as you enter the arena?
Woke up this morning by Alamaba 3! Hell of a tune
 
6. If you had to pick a sponsor for your player that doesn't already exist in the VHL what brand would sponsor them and why?
Unibet. Some say it´s wrong to sponsor something that has power to ruin lives in terms of gambling addiction, but like my grandpa always said: If the money is good, gotta do it.

It's fitting that I'm taking two TPE for Randoms since this one is about him. I never was hoping to make at least a decent second player after I created Kallis. But then I didn't have a drive to continue this random shit. And this wasn't the original idea anyways. So he became a power forward. The interesting thing is he is being kind on fire lately. He was behind NY rookies, but now he's actually ahead of them. That's right, he's leading rookies in points. Also, he's the best hitter as well. The only players in league who are ahead of him in this category are Thompson and Irosnide. I think this is saying much. At this moment he definitely one of front runners for the RoTY award which is surprising. I never got this award so it would be nice to have it. The main competition for this? Definitely aforementioned NY rookies. Also, Brick Wahl may have a chance for this too. He has a decent .912 with 3 SO. I don't know if this would be enough, but I can't write this goalie off. 
 
So yeah, I hope Randoms will keep this pace up and get this award. It would be a nice start for a 24th OV pick.
 
2 TPE goes to Randoms

Hey guys,
 
With the hiring of @BladeMaiden for the expansion franchise in the minors. The Meute needed someone to take her important place.
 
With the increased work load on the General Manager Beaviss in his personal life. The Quebec Meute have decided to hire an assistant for him for the stability of the team. This assistant will be assisting in the daily operations of the team as well as heading the scouting and public relations side of the team.
 
The Meute would like to welcome @Philliefan as the newest member of team management. Welcome to the management side of the pack! 

It was good to play along side you all these seasons fellow Winnipeger.