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WE - ARE - LEGION

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- The Legion have selected their guy, even signed him to a rookie contract before the conclusion of the entry draft, and the skipper couldn't be happier with the Legions' newest prospect. Even though he'll be staying in the minors for a season, unfortunately consuming one of his eight eligible seasons in the Victory Hockey League, it means that Merrick will be in a position to challenge for the top rookie award when he does break into the big leagues. GM Peace took to the podium and stunned the hockey world when he picked John Merrick at fifth overall, even coming to the surprise of a commentator of the leagues coverage of the Entry Draft. 

"Merrick went fifth? That's actually a big surprise to me," the commentator said. "There's still [Pines] on the board, who I feel is a stellar first gen pick." 
 
"We liked what we heard," GM Peace admitted. "We sent out pre-draft interviews to a select dozen prospects, and we felt Merrick fit our team the best based on the situation we've found ourselves in." 

The Toronto Legion have 14, 000, 000 in cap space, and are hoping to capitalize that in free agency. 

"There are things we'd like to do, certainly, that I feel we've got the cap space to accomplish. Merrick deciding to stay down is both beneficial to himself, as he gets another year of development and will join the Legion stronger, and we benefit from an extra three million in cap space for free agents." 
 
Welcome to Toronto, Merrick! 

The World Cup is the forgotten child of the VHL, a brief event every other off-season which rarely gets much attention and generally has no bearing on a player's career or Hall of Fame credentials, even making the Triple Gold Club usually the footnote of its members' time in the league.
 
The history of the tournament is nonetheless tracked though rarely talked about, but the information on medal winners from S4 to the modern day is there. With the S72 edition just around the corner, today I thought I'd bring it to life a bit by talking about some of the most successful teams and players to grace the VHL's international tournament.
 
?? ?? 20s Scandinavia ?? ??

Apart from the usual suspects in Canada and the US, the most successful region in the World Cup is Northern Europe, known throughout history as Team Sweden, Scandinavia, and most recently Nordic, but encompassing the hockey hotbed of Sweden and Finland, with some help from their neighbours in Norway, Denmark, and Iceland at various times. It's not been a smooth ride for these nations in recent years, with just 2 gold medals in the last 20 tournaments (last one coming in S48), but they still have the most golden generation to look back on.
 
From S12 to S26, Sweden/Scandinavia medalled 8 straight times and missed out on the gold medal game only once. The pinnacle came in a record-setting run of 4 straight gold medals from S20 to S26. This team always had at least one of Jakob Kjeldsen and Andreas Bjorkman in net, two Tretiak Trophy winners who backstopped Helsinki and Vasteras to Continental Cups. They were protected by some of the league's top defensive talent of the time – first Patrick Bergqvist, Voittu Jannula, and Frans Spelman, then the torch was passed to the less heralded Kristian Carlsson, Sigmund Olofsson, and Jeff Dar. Carlsson never won a Continental Cup but as the only member of Scandinavia from S20 to S26 holds the record of most gold medals with 4.
 
Finally, up front the Dane Lars Berger was usually the star, with 25 points in S20 and 22 in S24. However, he was supported by a Hall of Fame cast featuring Anton Brekker, Jukka Hakkinen, and Mathias Chouinard, among others. All in all, it was a well-oiled machine which steamrolled through the off-season tournaments – no World Cup team has managed to quite match their achievements since.
 
?? 50s Canada ??

It will come as no surprise that Canada is the World Cup's most successful team with 9 gold medals, but this is a relatively recent development. Underachievers for much of VHL's history, the Canadians finally strung together their own streak of 3 straight golds from S52 to S56. This was a team very much dominated by goaltending, with all 3 rosters featuring future Hall of Famers Rhett DeGrath and Markus King. They had differing fortunes in the big leagues (King was champion twice with Riga, DeGrath never got to raise the cup), but pushed each other to their limits when joining forces in Canada camp.
 
The rest of the team was just naturally talented. Hall of Famers Unassisted, Black Velvet, and Tom Lincoln were all part of the first two triumphs in S52 and S54. Ay Ay Ron, Marc-Alexandre Leblanc, and Shawn Gretzky had joined to give the team some new blood by S56. Breaking a gold medal curse lasting more than a decade lifted a weight off the Canadians' shoulders and they followed up with two more wins in S62 and S66 – it was this streak in the 50s which lay the foundation though.
 
?? Gabriel McAllister's USA ??

Hall of Famer McAllister was renowned throughout his career for lifting inferior teams on paper to great heights – this was certainly the case when he won the cup with Seattle in S59 and especially Davos in S61, ending two long droughts in the process. With the US it was a slightly different challenge – elevating a team which was often second fiddle throughout World Cup history, including while the aforementioned Team Canada romped to 3 straight golds in the 50s. Goaltender Apollo Skye, who had similar MVP heroics during his time with Quebec, had helped the American team take the first steps, so it was no surprise they finally claimed gold when prime McAllister and Skye combined forces in S58.
 
Skye retired soon after but McAllister inspired USA to another gold in S60, now backstopped by Vernon Von Axelberry. It wasn't just about McAllister – Jack Shephard, John Locke, and Pablo were just a few of the star names which had joined the team by then – but the next American leader was fittingly New York American captain Casey Jones. Between them, Skye, McAllister, and Jones ensured the US claimed a medal in eight consecutive tournaments from S50 to S64, tying the all-time record set by Scandinavia all those years ago. It was a herculean achievement for chronic underachievers.
 
?️ The 60s: The Game Goes Global

Seven VHL players have won five medals in their career. These are Carlsson and Berger from the great Scandinavian team of yore, as well as Skye, McAllister, and Jones from Team USA above. The final two slots have been filled most recently by Ryan Kastelic and Tzuyu. How do a guy from Slovenia and a girl from Taiwan find World Cup success together? There's only one answer: the rise of Team World.
 
The Russian team (or sometimes, and controversially, the Soviet one) often by extension included Asia and anyone else who didn't fit into Europe or North America. In the 40s this officially became Team World for ease and the rebranded team got their first gold in S50. However, as the VHL has appealed to a wider audience, in recent years Team World has arguably become the World Cup's leading team – which resulted in Kastelic and Tzuyu's haul of 2 golds, 2 silvers, and 1 bronze from S62 to S70. Romania's Veran Dragomir and Latvia's Kallis Kriketers were key components of the roster for most of the 60s, while the gold in S70 was secured thanks to the addition of the Ukrainian Jet Jaguar and even India's Michael Johnson.
 
Is this the future? Probably not. The World Cup has evolved significantly over time and what you generally find is the talent fluctuates from one team to another at a whim, as evidenced by the diversity of nations above. Where we go from here is anyone's guess... perhaps it's the Mercenaries' time to shine?
 
Honourable mention:
Only one key VHL region didn't get a shout-out in this article and that is Europe. This is a team which has generally been weighted towards the trendiest European nation outside Scandinavia, be it Switzerland in Scotty Campbell's heyday, or the UK and Germany for most of the rest of time. Now known as Western Europe, their best days came before the “Western” prefix, when they claimed two golds and two silvers from S43 to S50. The great Hans Wingate, Phil Hamilton, and surprisingly Thaddeus Humbert were present for all four tournaments, with appearances from Wingate's backup Greg Clegane (quite a 1-2 punch in net) and the rest of the Hamilton family.

Greetings, friends! The fun of the off-season has arrived and with it, another Hall of Fame induction. As is custom, we have 2 players to add to the Hall of Fame today, as well as a Builder.
 
PLAYERS
 
D - Joseph McWolf, S63-S70 @McWolf
RS: 576 GP, 114 G, 433 A, 547 P, +5, 1243 PIM, 1887 HIT, 1130 SB, 20 GW
PO: 37 GP, 5 G, 19 A, 24 P, -5, 88 PIM, 131 HIT, 68 SB, 0 GW
 
S64 Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenceman) 
S67 Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenceman) 
S67 Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top Offensive Defenceman)
2x All-VHL First Team (S64, S67)
2x All-VHL Second Team (S69, S70)
 
Defencemen are probably the most under-rated position in the VHL but I reckon we'll be seeing a fair few being inducted in the near future. In a way, McWolf paved the way for a new generation of all-around blue-liners equally prolific at both ends of the ice. He may not have had the playoff success he deserved, playing for some very unlucky New York and Malmo teams, but in the regular season he was the epitome of consistency. From a break-through year as a sophomore all the way to an All-VHL Second Team appearance in his last season, McWolf was ever-present on the hits, shot blocks, and defencemen scoring leaderboards. The points total may look low but only 4 other defencemen have ever put up as many while amassing 1,000 career hits and shots blocked. Only a strong S63 class kept McWolf off a first ballot induction.
 
C - Jasper Canmore, S58-S65   @Bushito
RS: 576 GP, 292 G, 441 A, 733 P, +191, 486 PIM, 949 HIT, 281 SB, 55 GW
PO: 63 GP, 18 G, 49 A, 67 P, +10, 67 PIM, 102 HIT, 36 SB, 1 GW
 
S59 Dustin Funk Trophy (Most Improved)
S62 Alexander Beketov Trophy (Most Assists)
1x All-VHL First Team (S63)
1x All-VHL Second Team (S62)
One Continental Cup (S62)
 
A slightly longer wait but equally deserved induction arrives for Jasper Canmore. For Canmore, it was less about the beginning and end but more about the peak, which was higher than most players could dream of. From S61 to S63 the Canadian center was among the more feared in the VHL, with an eye for a pass unparalleled among his contemporaries. In the same time frame, the Calgary Wranglers, managed by Canmore's agent Tyler Barabash, made 3 straight finals, claiming their first Continental Cup in nearly 20 seasons in S62. Fittingly as Barabash steps down from a long and largely successful run as Calgary GM, a key piece of his arguably his greatest team receives recognition. Canmore played with Keaton Louth and a young Oyorra Arroyo up front, with Mats Johnsson and Norris Stopko at the back, making him the 4th member of those Wranglers to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
 
Voting results:
Joseph McWolf - 12/12
Jasper Canmore - 7/12
------
Sebastian Ironside - 5/12
Tyson Kohler & Jakab Holik - 0/12
 
BUILDER
 
We have all kinds of Builders in the VHL. From members who delivered in flashes, to high-profile commissioners and other important positions, to the guys who just kept plugging away. This season's induction definitely falls into the latter category. Tyler Owens, known simply as @Tyler, has been in the league from its earliest days, back in S3/S4 in 2007/8 which I'm sure he will correct me on. There have been many players, and although no Hall of Famers, plenty to remember. From one half of the notorious Dubnikov brothers, through a couple sets of Evans', via a genuinely elite goaltender in Andreas Bjorkman, to playoff hero Milos Denis and more recently serial cup winners Slava Aleksei and The Charm. Still kicking with stay-at-home defenceman Andrej Petrovic, Tyler has been here through the league's highs and lows, with now over a decade of VHL service.
 
There's been a fair few jobs along the way, grader I'm sure, potentially some VHLM roles I'm forgetting, but what really sealed the deal has been his time as VHL GM. Tyler clearly has a soft spot for the underdog, as while he stays away from the GM scene most of the time, he has picked up sleeping giants on two occasions, taking over Vasteras in the midst of a 20-season cup drought in S21 and then the once great Davos during a similar slump in S57. Through careful trading, drafting, and quite a bit of patience in the face of public opinion, Tyler broke two curses making it look easy, delivering the cup to Vasteras in S26 and to Davos in S61. So whenever anyone's cup drought gets a bit too much to handle in the future, you know who to call.
 
With that in mind, Tyler was unanimously inducted into the Hall of Fame as a Builder.
 
 
Congratulations to McWolf, Bushito, and Tyler!

Thanks to @Corco's work on the season-by-season stats, I have created the below for scientific reasons. Note some players on the list are retired, I couldn't be bothered to take off all of them.
 
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1iSUTeI_bL9xeGf-KluDR43QTzhbRMsPX4wTg6f3XjWI/edit?usp=sharing
 
Top 15 points:


Player Name Games Played Goals Assists Points Plus/Minus Hits Shots blocked Jet Jaguar 504 228 351 579 107 556 160 Julius Freeman 505 247 268 515 106 656 158 Hunter Hearst Helmsley 504 220 294 514 96 1308 182 Mikko Aaltonen 504 205 241 446 -85 411 161 Scott Greene 432 166 229 395 37 676 179 Boris the Forest 432 175 212 387 -58 780 180 Tyler Barabash Jr 502 173 214 387 22 1036 144 Ambrose Stark 432 132 252 384 62 547 431 Acyd Burn 433 169 204 373 -10 390 132 Hulk Hogan 432 55 307 362 47 937 740 Jerry Garcia 504 91 257 348 9 1177 863 Mat Tocco 431 158 184 342 62 458 130 Chico Smeb 504 136 200 336 -56 367 139 Vladimir Pavlov 432 74 254 328 38 942 687 Henrik Zoiderberg 432 153 170 323 37 874 154  
Top 15 hits

Player Name Games Played Goals Assists Points Plus/Minus Hits Shots blocked Phil Marleau 432 114 162 276 -4 1778 127 Lance Flowers 360 50 227 277 9 1317 627 Hunter Hearst Helmsley 504 220 294 514 96 1308 182 Jerry Garcia 504 91 257 348 9 1177 863 Condor Adrienne 360 84 224 308 13 1130 655 Nethila Dissanayake 432 118 144 262 -55 1046 148 Tyler Barabash Jr 502 173 214 387 22 1036 144 Vladimir Pavlov 432 74 254 328 38 942 687 Hulk Hogan 432 55 307 362 47 937 740 Henrik Zoiderberg 432 153 170 323 37 874 154 Chad Magnum 216 53 78 131 -39 829 81 Berocka Sundqvist 360 80 200 280 72 809 364 Cinnamon Block 288 34 186 220 14 805 525 Seabass Perrin 360 48 179 227 -17 804 733 Lincoln Tate 432 60 247 307 71 800 645  
 
Top 15 SBs

Player Name Games Played Goals Assists Points Plus/Minus Hits Shots blocked Jerry Garcia 504 91 257 348 9 1177 863 Charlie Paddywagon 504 47 250 297 -8 474 829 Hulk Hogan 432 55 307 362 47 937 740 Seabass Perrin 360 48 179 227 -17 804 733 Vladimir Pavlov 432 74 254 328 38 942 687 Wolf Stansson Jr 360 72 197 269 -18 367 678 Condor Adrienne 360 84 224 308 13 1130 655 Dean Clarke 432 42 176 218 23 437 650 Lincoln Tate 432 60 247 307 71 800 645 Luciano Valentino 360 53 206 259 -106 428 640 Lance Flowers 360 50 227 277 9 1317 627 Fredrik Elmebeck 359 55 160 215 -31 239 616 Cody Smith 432 52 158 210 8 521 567 Charles Drumm 345 14 149 163 -78 364 543 Cinnamon Block 288 34 186 220 14 805 525  
 
This message has been brought to you by the Pavlov4HOF committee.

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- The final seconds of the season are on the clock, just a few more seconds before the off-season begins.
 
The VHL S73 Expansion Draft looms just around the corner, hiding in perfect sight but cloaked in mystery. The Legions' protection list has already been submitted, and now it's time for Toronto's management team to continue preparing for the S73 VHL Entry Draft. It's around this time where the hype starts to build, player agencies start to amp up the draft expectations for their players, and GMs begin to send out inquiries as they test the draft pool waters. Although typically boring for some, especially those outside of the playoffs or eliminated early, it's also one of the more unique atmospheres to be around -- especially for a first time player agency. 

The Legion themselves have three prospects ascending from the VHLM ranks, which fits the cut-and-run stories of free agents leaving their teams at the conclusion of the season. Toronto has plenty of free agents that will hit the market, or in one case a pending UFA that will be forced to retire due to the VHL's collective bargaining agreement. 
 
Dissanayake? Gone. 
Matthews? Retired. 
Scoringsonn? Gone.  

Three gone -- three more rise, maybe. 
 
Joseph Gainer (@joeg) -- perhaps Toronto's most anticipated prospect since the wonderful three -- will join the team around the same level McDagg started his VHL career at, if I can recall correctly, but I digress. There should be no surprise that Mr. Gainer will immediately slot into the Legions' forward core, and given enough time to develop properly, could even surpass current 1LW McDagg in just a few short seasons. It's inevitable for depreciation to happen, but Gainer will be ready to assume the duties his teammate has performed with immense loyalty. 

Ziarie Anigbogu (@ngine4) -- Toronto's current top defensive prospect -- has slowly been earning himself reputation as one of the best fourth round selections picked in recent drafts. The 38th overall draft pick has risen over ten slots compared to his fellow drafted prospects, ranking in at the 26th best player from his class. Combined with training camp and the growth between the present day and when they open, Anigbogu will likely find a spot on the Legions' roster for the start of S73. 

Jeff Blaze (@NyQuil) -- formerly one of Toronto's top prospects from seasons in the past -- will likely be forced to join the Toronto Legion as per the leagues rules. It's unclear whether or not the S71 prospect wished to be a career VHLM player, but his development exceeded the capacity the VHLM allows, so his options may be limited. Blaze, should he actually join the Toronto Legion, could replace an 'unlikely to return' player in Damien Wolfe. We hope he does, we really do. 

That leaves the Toronto Legion looking ahead at the entry draft. 

The Legion have the fifth overall pick. 

"We're excited," GM Peace admitted. "Lots of quality players around that pick, so we've got options. The only position that we're not interested in right now -- and this might be disheartening for some to hear -- would be goaltenders, so I guess that's a little bit of a hint. With Hextall in net, we don't really think it's far to those hardworking goalies to be stuck behind a starting goalie signed long term for the foreseeable future." 
 
"Optimally, we'd like to go with either a quality forward or a defender who could rise above our current depth chart to eventually slot in with either Magnum or Killinger. We'll see what happens though." 

 

Can't wait!! #WeAreLegion

Whenever Victor tags me in an award thread, only for me to realize it's a members tag
 

I figured one of the first things to look at which we hadn't been able to previous was going to Season 5 and comparing the attributes of Scotty Campbell during his best ever season to the other players in the VHL. The Team Roster page doesn't work on the regular season but luckily works on the Playoff Archive. Here's what stood out:
 
- Campbell had very high attributes in passing (97) and scoring (99). While a few other players had focused on getting their scoring to 99, only Joey Kendrick (98 Passing and Scoring) was equal to Campbell when it came to combined talent in both distributing and finishing. 
 
- Campbell had the best Face-Off rating (85) by some distance. 13 ahead of his nearest rival Robbie Zimmers, although given strength has some effect in face-offs, Campbell's closest rival was probably Scott Boulet (70 STR, 70 FO)
 
- Given his dominance, I was surprised to see Campbell as low as he was when it came to his skating attributes. His 84 skating was 12th in the league while his Puck Handling was 24th in the league.
 
- It was also interesting to get a proper glimpse into the level of goalies he was up against. The league's best goalie Maxim Desny had just three attributes in the 80's, while the league worst Toronto (who didn't win a single game in regulation) were playing a rookie goalie who had 81 TPA (both in this current era and the old one given that none of his attributes were at a point where he had to worry about the update cap) and had a GAA of 6.31. If that's the scale of goalies we were dealing with then, it's not really any wonder no-one has yet to break Campbell's numbers. 
 

The long con.

The long con.

So I remember a piece a while ago by @Victor about guessing who he thought were different members’ favorite players.  That combined with the draft coming up for my new player, Jean-Pierre Camus, has made me think about my previous eight players (wtf, how have I been here this long) and where I'd rank them preference-wise.  This is going to end up being longer than a VHL.com article is supposed to be but whatever, I have way too much free time anyways right now.
 
1. Theo Axelsson: Probably pretty self-explanatory for those who are more familiar with my history.  My first ever hall of fame player, which was something that I’d been trying to accomplish for a while with the two-way forward/power forward build that I’d been thinking about making for my last few players.  Plus I got to be a part of two separate teams that were fun to be a part of: a ridiculous Calgary team that somehow didn’t win a cup, and the Helsinki dynasty that repeated in S54 and S55.
 
2. Willem Janssen: Probably my first truly “good” player, as well as a sort of representative for my time spent with Vasteras.  Never quite became a great player in the league (as evidenced by the lack of individual success) but I really enjoyed being captain and the whole “us vs them” mentality of being on that team.  Unfortunately I never really accomplished the goals that I set out to achieve (be captain for all 8 seasons, win a cup with Vasteras, etc.) but in this case the journey meant more than the destination.
 
3. Lukas Müller: Kind of a weird player.  An unexpected success due to the short-lived Project Player Two and the lull in activity during the 50s despite not having a ton of TPE.  The second Müller was supposed to be fairly average since it was my second player but I ended up getting pretty lucky with a fun Quebec team and a crazy S56 that came out of nowhere.  I was honestly inactive towards the end but got lucky and finished with three cups and a hall of fame induction to show for it.
 
4. Klaus Müller: My second player, and the first time I actually made a serious effort towards earning TPE.  Didn’t have very much individual success, but was a part of the late 20s/early 30s Calgary team that was one of my favorite teams/LRs to be a part of.  Hopefully I can reunite with some of those people again soon.  Plus the beginning of my Vasteras experience at the end, too.
 
5. Callum Sinclair: My first goaltender, and my only real experience at the position until now.  I think I got off to a slightly unfortunate start though as I created at a kinda weird time, and for the rest of Sinclair’s career my TPE earning wasn’t really at a good enough level.  Sinclair showed flashes of potential, especially in one playoff series vs Riga, but was largely unsuccessful and was part of a Davos team that just didn’t seem to live up to its promise.
 
6. Aron Nielsen: My return from inactivity.  Had some good moments - coming back to see the league way more active and the portal being more developed was great, and the leadup to the S66 draft was fun.  Being on the Legion for the last two seasons was nice too.  But my inactivity in between those periods held Nielsen back.  Unfortunate, as I was hoping to make a successful defenseman but could never quite stick with it.
 
7. Turd Ferguson: My first VHL player, created back in S19 and drafted in S20.  I never quite got much of a taste of the VHL as I wasn’t too active and spent my first three seasons post-draft in the VHLM.   There were some bring moments, including winning VHLM MVP in S22, but I was too young and not really active enough to really enjoy the league.
 
8. Ivan Morozov: Unfortunately, my least favorite player by a lot.  I was burnt out as far as the VHL went at the time, and IIRC my college work was ramping up a little bit.  Against my better judgment, I ended up recreating immediately after Axelsson’s career ended.  I thought I could get myself interested in the league again but it just wasn’t to be.  Doesn’t help that I created the player during an inactive period in what was, from what I can tell, an awful draft class.  Ironic that this ended up being my first VHL player to go first overall after four straight second overall picks.

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Whoa! Quite frankly I don't think anyone thought the Toronto Legion would be tied with the Calgary Wranglers four games into the playoffs. In fact I think most of the league thought this series would have been over now, or at the very least a 3-1 CGY lead... but here we are. In quality italic words the series blatantly reads: Series tied 2-2.

"Toronto scares me more than Vancouver," a Calgary player was quoted saying before the off-season began -- which was also said during Toronto's unfortunate eleven game tumble off a rocky cliff. 

I guess he was justified. 

Toronto went 3-5-1 against the Victory Cup champions this season, so the Legion have displayed that they're a competitive team to go up against, and the teams star players [or what would be considered the teams best] have shown up for the series. 

Chad Magnum has five points in four games: three goals and two assists, including a game tying goal. 

Teemu Lethinen Jr also has five points in four games: a goal and four assists.

Fredrik Elmebeck has five points as well, sharing the same stats as his teammate mentioned above (1G-4A), while also scoring the game four game winner.

Anthony Matthews has potted three goals in four games, tied with just two other Legion players. 

Dissanayake and L. Gutzwiler both have four points from the blue line. 

Scoringsonn has lived up to his name, potting three goals himself, including a game winner.  

Jaxx Hextall has been solid when he needed to be, battling hard through adversity to get his team tied against Calgary. 

Erik Killinger has been a physical presence on the blue line. He's registered 23 hits in just four games, tied for second in the post-season. 

Kristopher McDagg may be hoping for more production, but his disciplined defensive play is helping the team achieve victories. 

Let's see if the Legion can take a 3-2 series lead. 

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- A nightmare would be too timid to explain the horrors the Toronto Legion are experiencing, and that's putting it relatively politely, as the Legion fell to 0-9-1 after their most recent defeat against the top team in the conference. The situation is pretty bleak, but there is still hope within the Legions' unusually silent locker room. It's only a small glimmer, but being one point up over the Vancouver Wolves gives them an opportunity to correct themselves and recover from this inane free fall. 

Someone has to pull the cord -- be the hero the club desperately needs. 

Whether it's a Hextall, a Magnum, a Lethinen Jr, a McDagg, Killinger -- the list goes on. 
 
For now though let's look at a recap of these ten losses.
 
 

HSK 2, TOR 1; 0-1-0
 
Toronto was competitive this game, but it honestly boiled down to a goalie battle between Hextall and Johnson. Both goaltenders performed superbly, so the only true negative for both clubs would be the undisciplined play. Once again -- despite warnings from his general manager -- Erik Killinger finds himself in the box with three minor penalties for six total PIMs and that is completely unacceptable for a team just entering what they were hoping was a small slide. 

McDagg scored the lone Toronto goal, also the first goal of the game, assisted by Erik Killinger and Fredrik Elmebeck. 


 
PRA 7, TOR 5; 0-2-0

Perhaps the Toronto Legion have warn out Jaxx Hextall -- it should have been expected after he carried the team to a flying start earlier this season. Unfortunately for the young promising goaltender, the Toronto Legions crash back into an unkind reality has hurt him the most. Beyond the disappointment irradiating from the entire Legion roster at the conclusion of this game, it was an offensive display and fans certainly got their money worth even if their favorite team didn't win. 

Down 3-0 in the first period, Toronto stormed back to tie the game 3-3 in just over four minutes from goals by Teemu Lehtinen Jr, Gabriel Gutzwiler and Chad Magnum. Unfortunately for the surging Legion, the Phantoms would score twice in less than ten seconds to end the first period up 5-3. They proceeded to pull ahead 7-3 early in the second, before goals from Kristopher McDagg and Anthony Matthew made it 7-5. 

TOR G relieved Hextall in the first period. 
 
 
 
NYA 5, TOR 2; 0-3-0

What seemed like a great hockey game until 3:16 in the third period, the Toronto Legion remained fairly competitive against the team just ahead of them in the conference. Both teams had similar shot totals, effective penalty kill, but the Legions' defensive efforts were simply overwhelmed by the third period. Hextall recovered from his rough night against Prague, he was amazing at certain points in this hockey game, but with an overwhelmed Legion defense being cycled by an aggressive New York team it was just too much. 

Bjorn Scoringsonn and Kristopher McDagg scored the two goals for Toronto, putting them up 1-0 in the first period and tying the game 2-2 near the quarter mark of the second frame. 
 
 
 
DCD 5, TOR 4; 0-4-0

Had the Legion started Hextall from the start, you could reasonably argue this would have been a 4-0 victory for the Toronto Legion instead. TOR G -- the Legions' often venerable backup goaltender -- simply let the team down after letting in a trio of weak shots by the Dragons. While it is true they were pressing hard, most of the shots against the Legion were either straight misses, deflections on net from outside scoring zones, or a redirection from fortuitous bounces off the back boards.

The Legion drew within one after battling back from that 3-0 deficit when Bjorn Scoringsonn and Teemu Lehtinen Jr scored roughly a minute apart to bring them within striking distance of tying the game. Unfortunately TOR G would let another in, so the Legion were chasing to start the second period. Kristopher McDagg would draw them back within one, but the Dragons would score again, resulting in TOR G being yanked from his start. McDagg would score another, but Toronto would never tie the game. 
 
 
 
MAL 5, TOR 2; 0-5-0

Hextall wasn't the issue in this game, and that's without a doubt in my mind, apparently the Legion came across a hot backup goaltender too... what was the issue was the Legions' inability to solve a backup goaltender while going oh-for-three on the power play. It should be noted here that Toronto still had a healthy point lead over the Vancouver Wolves at this point in the slide, but that lead -- as you now know -- would quickly disappear under the Wolves individual victories during the still ongoing collapse of the Toronto Legion. 

Gabriel Gutzwiler and Anthony Matthews would both score for the Toronto Legion in the second period, but they trailed 2-1 and 3-2 at those points, and never truly regained composure after a 2-0 deficit after the first twenty minutes. 
 
 
 
MOS 3, TOR 0; 0-6-0

In all fairness this was a solid game from Moscow. TOR G played fantastic... surprisingly... and limited the Toronto Legion from building any offensive pressure. There's really nothing more to say CGabout this game, the Legion didn't play terribly, it was just a solid offensive and defensive effort from the Menace.
 
 
 
SEA 3, TOR 2 (SO); 0-6-1

How fitting would it have been for Toronto to end their slide against Seattle? It would have been monumental I reckon, considering the bleeding was just getting worse and the Wolves were creeping up on their playoff position. The game itself though was neck and neck, hence why it needed a skills competition to solve it, where Seattle's Rayz Funk denied all three Legion shooters in the shootout to secure the win for his club. 

Bjorn Scoringsonn and Anthony Matthews -- two names we're seeing quite frequently on this partial breakdown -- scored to tie and take a 2-1 lead in the second period. 
 
 
 
NYA 2, TOR 1; 0-7-1

Honestly this is where Toronto should have come up with a victory, but a remarkable performance from Guy made it difficult for the Legion to secure any goals. Erik Killinger would score in the third period (eventually) but it just wasn't enough, despite Matthews, Scoringsonn and Magnum all recording plenty of shots and creating numerous scoring opportunities. This is the game where a beacon of light exists in what is surely near perpetual darkness. 

Hextall played fantastic, too, and denied every NYA opportunity in the second and third periods where his play strengthened Toronto's attempt at tying the game.  
 
 
 
DAV 6, TOR 5; 0-8-1

If you extrapolated that this game was a back and forth affair based on the score... well you'd be correct. Both clubs exchanged leads, ties, runs and more. Toronto tossed nearly fifty pucks on net, and were honestly rewarded fairly often. Leon Gutzwiler scored the first goal of the game to bring the Legion ahead 1-0, while Fredrik Elmebeck would tie it up 2-2 about six and a half minutes into the second period. Gabriel Gutzwiler and Anthony Matthews would score back to back to bring the Legion back into the hockey game 5-4, and Erik Killinger would score early in the third to keep them within one with a 6-5 DAV lead. Unfortunately that's all she wrote, and the Dynamo skated off with a W. 
 
 
 
CGY 5, TOR 1; 0-9-1

Another game where you have to consider starting Hextall over TOR G could have netted better results, but the truth is we'll never actually know, even if we could replay the game in its entirety. The variables would never match again, but TOR G couldn't keep it together and was yanked at the tail end of the third period. Toronto's offense, however, was creating opportunities but ran into determined Lafontaine who denied 31 of 32 shots against him. 



So now we are here. 

Toronto leads Vancouver with a single point. 

New lines have been submitted and the team is eager to get back on the right track. 

We hope they do. 

This is one Eno posted from somewhere else.
 
You know it isn't "Legos". You've had FUCKING YEARS to adjust to the actual, correct way to say the term. It's Lego. Lego bricks, Lego sets, Lego kits, Lego mini-figures, Lego City.
 
There are no such things as "Legos". They don't exist. "Lego" refers to the COMPANY THAT MAKES THE TOY, and thus the shortening Lego is acceptable. Saying "I'm playing with my Lego" works because it's referring to the sets themselves: The individuals aspects that make of the toy from the bricks to the mini-figures to the electronics to the other little parts. It isn't claiming that the fucking square bricks are each a Lego. THE ENTIRE THING IS. If you were to say "I'm playing with my Legos" that implies that you're playing with at least two different types of Lego set at once, i.e. Lego City and Bionicle.
 
Still saying LEGOS after all these years makes you look like an assclown. Here in Europe, the continent responsible for this toy (no, it wasn't made by America, no matter how much your capitalistic toy industry wants you to think), you'd be laughed out of the room if you said that.

For the OG @Corco

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Externally it might seem like an easy decision for the Ontario hockey team, but the Toronto Legion are still privately discussing who to protect from expansion while they still have the opportunity to discuss it. All options are being explored, and all avenues being exhausted, but it's important for the team to be smart about their protection list. They're in the playoff bubble, but their roster isn't quite strong enough to be considered defenders. Vladimir Shaposhnikov's recent contract extension might reveal one member who was protected by the team, or perhaps there is alternative motivations behind the single season extension for the steadily developing depth forward. 

"Personally this expansion draft is an entirely new experience," GM Rylan Peace admitted. "In the VHLM we never really had prospects we had to protect, since the minors was fairly turbulent on the rosters. You generally protected your top players, so that much has remained the same, but there weren't really any 'prospects' to really protect. It kinda went against the whole reason of the VHLM -- you were there to promote activity and growth into the big leagues." 

The Toronto Legion released the names of three players that they've confirmed to be protected from the expansion draft, but there should be absolutely no surprise these individuals were protected from expansion, they're the core of the surprisingly competitive S72 Toronto Legion that find themselves within a playoff position: Chad Magnum, Jaxx Hextall and Erik Killinger have all been secured by the team and -- as we've already implied in this paragraph already -- that's not surprising at all.

Chad Magnum is judged to be the teams top forward by numerous VHL talent analysts, and is currently enjoying a career season with 47 points in 52 games. His twenty three goals are second on the club, while his twenty four assists tie him for fourth on the Legions team scoring. He is on pace to finish with sixty five points -- a twenty point improvement over his sophomore season -- and he's a far more dangerous player than ever before. 

Jaxx 'Stud' Hextall has earned his nickname, occasionally reinforced by fans of the Toronto Legion, and is arguably the most important piece of the Legions success this season. The young goaltender has improved greatly over his rookie season, improving in all major categories and the season isn't over yet. His .920 save percentage is better, his 2.74 GAA is better, and he's on pace to finish over thirty VHL victories. He should absolutely be in individual award categories, and if there was an award for biggest backpack, Hextall would firmly win that award. 

Erik Killinger is the teams top defender despite swapping over to the position in the off season, and we'll be the first to admit it's a rewarding experience to witness the product of his hard work -- and aside from his glaring discipline issues -- a refreshing can-do attitude that puts the team first over his own success. Killinger's taken a goal hit, that's for sure, being cut from twenty eight in his rookie season to just nine so far in his first as a defender. Point wise, however, he -- like other members of the Legion -- is set to end the season on a career note.  

 

Your joke is as dead as your HOF chances.

I thought something looked off when I came on the site but my name has gone back to the default member group after being red for just over a year. Obviously makes a lot of sense since it sounds like they plan on having actual paid moderators whereas we were more just general admin (e.g. moving threads to correct places) and "act if you saw something very wrong on the board", which in fairness there hasn't been too many instances of in the public forums (I only acted on one instance where someone thought it was appropriate to post Rule 34 shit on the forum, the only other big instance that immediately comes to mind is the VHLM S68 Finals thread which I couldn't deal with since I was at a friends house) and was very vague at a time where we had no code of conduct to follow or refer to regarding decisions. But yes, I was surprised to see I still had the colours after taking a six month break from the league, so it doesn't bother me.
 
I'd say the only thing that sucks is that I no longer have access to the Updaters Lounge, where I felt I gave good and prompt advice to updaters whenever they had questions. 
 
Also, I'm still on recruitment crew on the discord, which is real weird. 

1. I think our return-to-earth was expected; we came out of the gate on fire, and it took the other teams a little bit to get up to speed. I think we've weathered the storm decently at this point.
2. We love it; he's the reason we've had the start we have. If he can keep it up over the course of 72 games, I see no reason for him to not be in consideration for the Shaw Trophy.
3. They both absolutely have a chip on their shoulder, and it's been a huge gamechanger for our offense, if they can keep it up we may be in the playoff race way longer than people will expect us to.
4. I'll be the first to admit, I'm not a very vocal captain, I;m much more of a lead-by-example kind of guy, so it's definitely  nice to see the team responding well to that.
5. Their successful transition has been absolutely vital to our success this year; without them switching to D, this season might have been lost for us. They've been everything we've asked for and more.
6. I think our hot start has certain given us postseason aspirations, but it remains to be seen whether or not those expectations will be realistic over the course of the whole season; hopefully they do.

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- The Toronto Legion were essentially a third wheel in the trade between the New York Americans and the Vancouver Wolves, both North American rivals, with the Legion being added to act as a salary dump so the two teams could complete their trade. GM Peace said the move was a pretty easy decision, it only cost the club two forth round picks and significantly improved the defensive depth of their roster. Elmebeck will be replacing Dissanayake on the back end, who's on the cusp of being surpassed by both Gutzwiler siblings, thus effectively removing him from the 6F-4D-1G depth chart the team uses.

The addition of Elmebeck will strengthen the Legions' first defensive pairing by nearly one and a half times the talent, where he'll join alternate captain Erik Killinger and should be more capable of withstanding the sheer workload formerly expected out of Dissanayake. Elmebeck has seventeen points in twenty seven games, two with the Legion so far, and registered a goal in his first game with the club playing as a forward while Toronto adjusted their lines for the next set of games; New York resigned Elmebeck to a one season contract during the off-season, and retains a small chunk of his salary that enabled Toronto to acquire the defender. 

While fourth round draft picks could be useful in a deep VHL Entry Draft -- for example Toronto's previous draft pick Ziarie Anigbogu selected in the forth round -- the occasion a fourth round selection making the VHL has been seemingly rare. By that point most drafts are empty, and the players that remain have fallen away from the Victory Hockey League for other avenues. Sometimes teams will even skip a pick, wasting a fourth round pick entirely, although this is more common in the VHLM who have seven rounds in their dispersal draft. 
 
Toronto is expected to play a more defensive game with the addition of Elmebeck, who's talents only lag behind Killinger slightly, although Killinger focuses more on defensive play while chaining his learned offensive skills as a forward into his style. Elmebeck is a slightly better puck handler, who's stronger on and off the puck, but lacks the refined defensive effort his partner has... although it should be noted this isn't a fault, it's a strength for the Toronto Legion... one they're happy about receiving. 

Additionally, offense generated from the blue line should increase, as both defenders are categorically considered offensive defenders by VHL standards. Scouts rate Elmebeck's scoring ability around eighty five while rating his passing around seventy five. Compared to scout reports of Killinger, he only trails behind on scoring by six and passing by five (85 v 91, 75 v 80). Regardless of the ratings, the information revealed should indicate more scoring opportunities for forwards trying to collect on a rebound, as both of these gentlemen will shoot the puck from the blue line to generate some offensive opportunities. 
 
The Legion will likely opt to extend his contract in the upcoming off-season, considering he's now a core member of the Toronto Legion, and will effortlessly grant time for a potential prospect to develop within the pipelines. By the time Elmebeck begins regressing, the Gutzwiler siblings continued developed should pick up some of the slack left from regression, while that potential prospect continues to develop as a suitable replacement as the twilight years fade away.

On a more somber note... I miss you, Elmebeck. 

I told you back in Saskatoon we'd play together on the same team, I'm glad I had this opportunity even though you're gone. 

I hope you've found peace. 
 

I started out with the intent to write this article about how Davos is at least kind of living up to expectations and talk about how I'm glad that all the moves I made this past offseason aren't crashing down around me and making me look stupid, but then I went and took a look at the standings so I could say "Davos is sixth in the league and third in the EU conference" and realized that there's a whole lot about the standings that's just...off (or, at least, a lot that I didn't think would be the case).
 
-Helsinki is #1 in the EU. I do have to give credit to Jubo and the fine players of Helsinki here for keeping up a good degree of success. Buying Johnson in a move that not many people saw coming and then proceeding to sign Rodriguez helped them out quite a bit even though they didn't give up a ton for that. They're not exactly a loaded team, but they have a good amount of 600-700-ish-TPE players, putting them in "not bad" territory. I'm still surprised that they're sitting on top at the moment, though standings are tight enough that this could certainly change.
 
-Malmo is somehow not terrible. 8-10 is not bad, considering that Malmo shipped out all their stars (except Adrienne I guess?) in the past season for future assets. It should be interesting to see how much they do or don't drop off, as well as what does or doesn't happen to Adrienne (with apologies to five out of six VHFL teams if he doesn't go anywhere).
 
-Toronto is better than they should be. Toronto continues to be a dumpster fire, with Hextall, Killinger, and Magnum making up just about the only parts of the roster worth looking at TPE-wise. 10-6-2 is a really solid start, though, putting them up with the top teams at the moment.
 
-DC and New York suck. Here we've got two of the best teams in the league from a TPE perspective, and here we've also got the two teams at the bottom of the standings. Maybe it's a strong conference, maybe not, but one would certainly expect both of these teams to have gotten off to a better start.
 
Standings are still pretty tight, so anyone could end up anywhere at this point. I'm interested to see if some of the weirdness we've seen so far ends up persisting.

Hello everyone, welcome to my first draft analysis article! As you may or may not know, I followed the last three drafts very closely in my Draft Profiles series. While reflecting on the most recent S72 draft, I found a connection to the first draft I ever covered. That connection was that the top 2 picks went to the same team. In S70, Edwin THE Encarnacion and Mikko Lahtinen were selected with the respective first and second overall picks by the Calgary Wranglers. This time around, SS Hornet and Robin Winter were both picked by the HC Davos Dynamo with those same picks.
 
Imagine this. You’ve begun a brand new VHL franchise, and you have no other players yet. You have the choice to build around one duo; there is Lahtinen and Encarnacion, or Hornet and Winter. But what’s interesting about this hypothetical is that time has been rewinded for all of them, restoring their TPE and age to the moment they were drafted. Now that we’ve removed as many biases as we can, let’s take a look at what’s on the table here.
 

Shoutout to @Tagger and @enigmatic for the graphics I used to make this.
 
Edwin THE Encarnacion // D // 371 TPE
 
Mikko Lahtinen // C // 350 TPE
 
 

Another shoutout to @zepheter for the one on the left. Couldn’t find one for Hornet, unfortunately.
 
SS Hornet // C // 379 TPE
 
Robin Winter // LW // 325 TPE
 
 
Previous Players
While this isn’t an accurate indicator of what this player will be, it is never a bad idea to have a background check on the user. Let’s look at how much TPE they earned with their last player.
 
Tagger - Edwin Preencarnacion: 1064 TPE
 
Beketov - Matt Thompson: 1571 TPE HOF
 
McWolf - Joseph McWolf: 1434 TPE
 
Sonnet - Alexander Pepper: 1390 TPE
 
It’s worth noting that TPE inflation could have been different at their peaks, but I can’t say I have any knowledge on that.
 
 
 
Draft Season
Edwin THE Encarnacion had a fantastic draft season, in which he put up 122 points (3rd amongst defensemen) in the regular season, and added a league-leading 24 postseason points. His efforts were key for a nearly unbeatable Saskatoon team, en route to a Founder’s Cup victory.
 
Mikko Lahtinen was traded early in the season, and headed to that same Saskatoon team. He posted 44 goals and 93 points on the season, with 83 coming from his time with the Wild. Lahtinen’s faceoff percentage was second in the league amongst the players with more than 25 faceoffs taken, which was impressive for such a young center. His 18 points also helped the team reach their S69 championship.
 
SS Hornet and Robin Winter unfortunately didn’t play on a Founder’s Cup winning team. Hornet made it to the second round with the Aces, tallying 4 goals and 17 points in 12 games. This came after a season of an identical 41 goals and assists, totaling 82 points.
 
Robin Winter had a remarkable draft season, with 57 goals and 120 points to show for it. Minnesota would go on to have a first round exit, but to no fault of Winter, who posted a point-per-game on the series.
 
 
 
TPE Earning
Now, we move on to the most important category, TPE earning. First, we’ll look at capped TPE. Obviously, as these guys are all top 2 picks, they’re bound to miss out on very little of it. The only one to not earn the maximum amount of capped TPE available to them was Mikko Lahtinen, who only missed out on 2. 
 
With that out of the way, it’s time to look at the uncapped side of things. This really puts into perspective the differing opportunities they had to earn TPE. First off, the time frame here isn’t the same. The S70 duo had 14 full weeks to earn TPE before their draft, while the S72 duo was finishing up their 13th week when they were drafted. Now that it’s been more than a week since the draft, we can see what they would have earned in that 14th week. 20 TPE must be subtracted since they wouldn’t have the training camp or VHLM graduation bonus, but that still adds a respective 19 and 30 TPE to Hornet and Winter. With this, their total TPE becomes 404 and 358, better than Encarnacion and Lahtinen.
 
Another opportunity the S70 players had was the VHL’s 12 days of Christmas giveaway. This totaled up to 15 uncapped TPE, which is a significant advantage over the S72 duo. Back then, donations could include an extra 5-6 TPE (though it should be mentioned that this was not used by Lahtinen), and they had two trivia payouts as well. With how the S72 guys still put up close to the same TPE totals as the S70 two, I would definitely give them the edge in TPE earning, given the lesser opportunities they had.
 
 
Other Factors
I’m not here to say one of these pairs of great players are better than the other. I leaned heavily towards the S72 guys in the last section, and I’m going to do the opposite here. I’m just trying to lay out all the information for you to make the most accurate vote. So here is the biggest factor I haven’t covered yet: position. Hornet and Winter are both forwards, being a center and a left winger to be exact. Encarnacion and Lahtinen cover two bases that are essential to a successful team; Lahtinen is a future #1 center, and Encarnacion is a future #1 defenseman. If you were in the hypothetical situation where you were building a team from scratch, that’s something that could greatly benefit your team. 
 
Jobs could also be a factor down the line. The most significant case here is Lahtinen, whose jobs are being a commish and simmer guarantee him 10 capped TPE each week. It likely isn’t a huge advantage, given that the others are almost always going to be capping out anyways, but it gives him a much lower chance to dip in TPE production long term.
 
 
Thank you for reading this, it has been fun to cover. I ask that you be as unbiased as possible in your vote, and I hope I was unbiased enough in my explanation. 

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Let's not get carried away, alright? Toronto is enjoying their position as the Victory Hockey League's top team, but the sheer reality of the situation is simple: There is a lot of the season left, and their explosive start will be contained by other teams fairly soon. A huge part of their success right now -- not to take away from anyone else -- has been the extraordinary play of Jaxx Hextall between the pipes. 

Hextall leads the league with an impressive .940 save percentage, while also facing just shy of one hundred additional shots than the second leading goaltender on the list with the same amount of ice time and shots against: Lafontaine from Calgary has a .932 save percentage and has faced 99 less shots than Toronto's reigning all-star goaltender. Now we do acknowledge that Bernard has a .939 save percentage as well, but he's only played twelve games and the comparison would require averages that I am way to lazy to do. 

Not only has Toronto's starting goaltender been absolutely lights out, but the entire team has come around and started producing after a rather disappointing season yester-year. Chad Magnum is on pace to finish the season with 66 points, a major improvement over his forty five from season seventy one; new comer Anthony Matthews has anchored the second offensive line well, and will be soaring into a career finish; Erik Killinger's move to D has benefited the team, and he seems to be on pace for a career season himself; and finally Teemu Lehtinen Jr has paired nicely with Matthews, and is on pace for a career season too! 

If there was one thing GM Peace could improve, it would be the top defensive pairing and giving Magnum another capable winger to increase the threat of the first offensive line. 

The season is early... but Toronto is enjoying this moment for now.