Peace

I have no life and spend an unhealthy amount of time refreshing the recent activity page, so... perfect candidate.

Rara Rasputin, blah blah some Russian queen.

Toronto's window could surprise people. ?

I'm in.

First claim for the week ending on the 20th.

Alright, so I'm not going to lie... this might be a self-damning media spot highlighting my inability to draft or -- for what I believe anyway -- just how unlucky I've gotten with some of the picks I've made since taking over for Toronto at the end of Saskatoon's S69 dominance. I'll be breaking these picks down from the first one I ever made as a VHL GM right to the most recent draft pick, which will almost certainly be a 'too early to tell' recap nearly everyone uses in most big sport leagues like the NHL, NBA and what not. Anyway, let's get onto the breakdown, shall we? SEASON 70: 10th Overall: RW - Justin Graves @JDGraves Inactive My first ever draft pick was -- at the time -- an exceptional pick, but obviously the dangerous 'first gen' risk is now brightly displayed as Graves went completely inactive shortly after he was drafted. Apparently, he got extremely busy in real life, and that's not something I can complain about. He moved into a new house with his wife, and had a kid from the short discussions we had, but disappeared after that. I hope he is okay, I really do mean that. I hope he is healthy, his wife and child are healthy, and he's doing alright in life. It's unfortunate Graves went inactive, as he was a capped earner who'd only missed a few capped TPE tasks. He would have been a solid piece on Toronto's roster, complimenting Magnum and then a forward Killinger before he switched to defense to assist with the build effort of Toronto. Sadly, this pick is entirely a bust as he never reached the ceiling I had hoped from him when I made the pick. Ultimately though, comparing who was drafted after him in the first round, this turned out to be the story with multiple GMs and their own individual picks. 22nd Overall: D - Aleksandra Olsen @GlowyGoat Retired GlowyGoat retired Olsen during the season seventy campaign at just 130 TPE, but after looking into the history of this player agency -- admittedly half arsed -- it's not a huge surprise the perennial VHLM preference has nipped a few GMs in the past. Chalk this one up to a rookie mistake, I suppose, but when I made the pick I was adamant he'd go further because I thought I was drafting a friend alongside him in Cheezy. There's really not much more to say about this selection other than, I suppose, 'what could have been'. I anticipate Olsen -- had Glowy brought him above the 200 TPA cutoff mark at the time -- would have left in free agency to a team he preferred more, but I was looking forward to seeing Olsen on the Legions' back end. 23rd Overall: C - Dick Cheezy @goldenglutes Inactive For a while Cheezy continued to slowly develop, and it gave me hope that at least one pick from my first ever draft would make the VHL. It wasn't meant to be, as moderately short of 250 TPA, Cheezy ultimately went inactive. I believe this was during the SBA-VHL 'incident' that ended in a broken partnership that has since been restored, but I had respect for the 'slow and steady' approach to Cheezy's development. At a management level, it meant that Golden's player would have been an amazing depth piece for quite some time. He'd be cheap, continue to progress, and serve as a then much needed boost down the middle of our lineup. Sadly... it simply wasn't meant to be. As the sun goes down, and the day comes to an end, my entire season seventy crop of draft picks were busts and it kinda hurts. SEASON 71: 11th Overall: LW - Erik Killinger @Peace Franchise Erik Killinger is my player, so obviously he showed up on the Legions' roster, so instead I want to take a minute about the changes I've gone through in an attempt to help build Toronto... I've always been one to claim I wear my heart, my pride, on the sleeve of my shirt and I try to make that obvious by the support I give my players. I changed from a forward (which is the position I always want to play) to a defender just so we could become competitive quicker due to the lack of developing defensive prospects. What hurts more is striking out on free agents that could have made Toronto a competitive team as early as S72. Obviously Killinger is a 'franchise player', he'll spend the entirety of his career on the blue line now. Not much more to say, so I'll wrap it up here. 18th Overall: RW - Jeff Blaze @NyQuil [Semi-Inactive] I want to be clear here... hindsight is always more clear than the ability to predict the future. I had hoped Blaze would return to form, but it simply didn't happen. Regardless, I was still happy with NyQuil's development as he continued to keep earning TPE for Blaze. Even today, somewhat recently I'd argue, he was around and using the portal's new welfare function to grow Blaze beyond the 250 TPA VHLM cap. I'm not going to give this one a bust rating -- primarily because he's still updating his player from time to time -- but rather call myself out. I should have investigated more, and not let my mind make this pick for me on hope alone. Generally, though, because of Killinger's unique selection... S71 wasn't so bad. SEASON 72: 21st Overall: RW - Michael Mac @LastOneUp Inactive LastOneUp's Michael Mac was an excellent prospect to select at 21st overall, and frankly, I don't regret this decision at all even as I write this article. I had discussed it with @diamond_ace shortly after making the pick, and he revealed a few things I'll keep between us. Morale of that conversation though is Toronto picked a player Prague wanted, and I can respect that. We're both puzzled by his sudden disappearance from the VHL; it could be the SBA-VHL drama, it could be he was drafted by Toronto, or it could be any other reason. Truth is -- unfortunately -- it did happen, and it's another pick that hurts the success of Toronto. 22nd Overall: RW - Joseph Gainer @joeg Away JoeG's season has began... just not here on this virtual sim league, so I'll officially mark his as 'away' in hopes that he'll return. School, sports, and other things are keeping him away last I heard... so that's respectable, and real life should always come first over a website like this. Joe was a member who messaged me about coming to Toronto, claiming his favorite hockey team was the Toronto Maple Leafs, and that he would love to play for my team. I made it happen by trading a first round pick for three second rounds picks, another trade involving Beaviss and myself, which also included the pick I used above to select Michael Mac. 27th Overall: RW - Adam Frence @Kachur Retired Despite my best efforts to understand, communicate and be a presence for Kachur when he returned to the VHL he still decided to retire Frence and leave the Discord. If I'm being honest, this is the pick where I feel the most betrayed, simply because I wear my heart and pride on my sleeve. I stated it above, and I'll state it again here, but I don't want to blame Kachur for retiring out of the Legions' roster. I just have questions, questions I don't want answers to anymore, I've accepted it what it is. When I drafted Frence, I was unaware that he 'deleted his online presence', but was elated when he showed back up. 38th Overall: Ziarie Anigbogu @ngine4 Steal Anigbogu is without a doubt a huge win for Toronto, and one of the numerous steals in the S72 VHL Entry Draft according to some articles. Although he's teetering on partial activity, I am still absolutely thrilled with this selection, and he'll finally be making his VHL debut with the Toronto Legion for the start of season seventy four. Ngine4 doesn't know much about hockey, and that's okay, I'm hoping that his interests are growing as he continues to develop his simulation player. Anigbogu is an excellent depth piece, one that I am happy to have, and one that'll replace the deceased Elmebeck as he rides his posthumous player to retirement with Toronto. SEASON 73: 5th Overall: C - John Merrick @Steve Franchise? Merrick was my only selection in the season seventy three VHL entry draft, and that's alright... he's a potential franchise player for the Legion and I couldn't be happier. Merrick joins the Toronto lineup at 400 TPE already, and with VHLM graduation and training camp just around the corner, he'll be a quality player for Toronto for seasons to come. Merrick represents a piece of Toronto now, and although I am still unable to get help for himself and Magnum, I know Merrick will contend [he will!] for the top rookie award as a member of the Legions' top forward line. SEASON 74: 25th Overall: C - Wolf Weiss @Matmenzinger First Line Forward Weiss' selection made sense for Toronto, as we were hoping [and still are hoping] to acquire the services of some talented defensive free agents this season. Matmenzinger's previous player was a staple for his team, and Tocco was an excellent player for the period he played in, so I was thrilled with this draft selection. I'll be the first to admit I didn't have him scouted, but I didn't expect him to drop to 25th, and I was honestly surprised when he did. I sent him a PM, and I think things are going excellent right now, so I'm a happy camper with this pick. 35th Overall: LW - Nicholas Sunderbruch @NickSunderbruch First Line Forward The potential is there, and I believe the desire too, as the member has already started to become active within the Discord LR. Nick joined the VHL late into the draft season, earning his first TPE at the end of July, and has climbed a considerable way already. Sunderbruch has the ability to become a top line forward for the Legion, assuming he's on a team fully manned, and I think he has the means to get there. Overall the season seventy four draft class is still young... obviously... but I have great faith in the two players I selected. Thanks for reading! I want to say a special thank you to everyone I have selected, whether you are here or not, which is why I tagged you. You are all apart of Toronto's history now, be that good or bad, so I will take this moment to say I appreciate you. Take care, people, and stay safe. Claiming for the next three weeks starting on the week ending on the 20th.

I never saw this. Thanks for the artwork, bud!

Kinda did it, kinda made it worse.

Well despite my best efforts to improve Toronto during this long off season so far, even though there was a tournament to keep things a little more interesting, I can safely say they've all fallen apart like a cheap toy. Toronto was a team trying to acquire Kris Rice, alongside another player from Calgary, in a package deal that saw them both coming to Toronto in return for picks; Toronto's forward core is being reduced by three players, and our defense is regressing as Elmebeck (RIP) nears closer to retirement. Seattle obviously got Kris Rice, but not for a lack of the Legion trying to acquire him. Turns out that Rice wanted to head to Seattle anyway, as I understand it from Jubis later on in the trade talks, so to be honest I felt a little frustrated when the resulting deal with Seattle also melted away. Most of the deals I've tried to make the last few off seasons I've been led around the stable, but I'm almost positive this is a familiar feeling with everyone. Then we discussed acquiring Andersen with Jubo, but the defender retiring this morning and another missed opportunity goes up on a growing list. So now my attention shifts to the draft... I guess.

Draft edition, I guess? 1. Toronto only has a second round pick in the S74 VHL Entry Draft, but it looks deep -- do you think the Legion will draft a quality prospect at twenty sixth overall? 2. Who do you expect to go first overall in the draft? 3. Do you have any friends or associates in the draft class, and who are they? 4. What would you say is Toronto's biggest strength heading into the draft? 5. What about the Legions' biggest weakness? 6. GM Peace has been transparent in the team locker room -- do you feel demoralized from the missed opportunities at all? @Corco@joeg@Viperxhawks19@Peace@DaftRaincloud@Gwdjohnson @ROOKIE745@ngine4

Second claim.

Drop to 26th overall and make me regret not scouting a top prospect. ?

Double press conferences in bound. Quickly answer these ones, and I'll get the others up on Monday. 1. How are you enjoying your off season so far? 2. Did you get to clear your mind, get some relaxation in? 3. Are you excited about the upcoming draft? 4. Any thoughts on the free agency pool? 5. Helsinki and Seattle... who do you think is going to win the cup? 6. What would you consider the best moments of Toronto's unfortunate season?

CALGARY, ALBERTA -- It's been a little while since the Toronto Legion were eliminated from the playoffs, and Erik Killinger is enjoying nearly every minute of it not caring about the playoffs. When we asked what he thought of the Helsinki - Seattle final, Erik Killinger was surprised by the revelation the finals had already started. "Seems just like yesterday they started," the Legion defender said. "Honestly though I don't give a flying [expletive]." Killinger instead said his off season was spent dealing with headaches, and is looking forward to being back in a Toronto jersey. "When you're home all the time, you're dealing with the drama from that home, and every household has one. Been a couple of rough patches here lately, sometimes you feel like your drowning, unable to make anyone happy. I'm certainly looking forward to returning to Toronto and playing hockey again." Instead of training his body and his mind, he's being bombarded at the home front like he's fighting a three front war. Mentally he's being exhausted, and sometimes that's more tiring than physical exertion.

No they weren’t, we won the tournament AND got to see Vancouver get fucked. Win-win, even if the pick is at 6. Not even top five, it’s great.

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- It might seem rather boring, or unnecessary to some [including the GM of Toronto], but it was a rather entertaining handful of games to watch Toronto finish atop the tournament with a 9-1-0 record. I mean it was kinda obvious Prague and Toronto would do well against the other four expansion teams, I don't think anyone predicted anything different, even though the expansion teams were able to squeeze victories out of the established clubs. Winning the tournament boosted Toronto's odds from ten percent to fifteen percent, and during the lottery... well it didn't mean jack shit, as Vancouver -- via Toronto -- wound up with the worst possible pick for the upcoming VHL Entry Draft. "Kinda feels good," Legion defender Erik Killinger admitted. "We played well -- unfairly I think -- and Vancouver still got [expletive] during the draw." Toronto's first game in the tournament was against the Prague Phantoms, another team -- similar to Toronto -- that barely managed to make the post season play-in wildcard round. Fortunately, Toronto was able to skate away with a 4-2 victory over the Eastern Conference 'we just weren't good enough' club. Chad Magnum, Jeff Blaze and Teemu Lehtinen Jr all had two points in Toronto's first victory of the season. The Legions' second game, the fifth game of the tournament against Chicago, was a relatively easy 5-3 win for the boys in blue against one of the four expansion teams. Chad Magnum's three point performance, including two goals on ten shots, led the way offensively with a quality game winning goal. Rookie Joseph Gainer also scored twice while humorously multiplying Magnum's shots by time and a half. Jaxx 'Stud' Hextall made a ton of saves, too! The Legions' third game -- the eighth overall game played in the tournament -- was pretty much Jaxx Hextall earning his nickname. The stud stopped all twenty six shots he faced in Toronto's 6-0 win over the London United [which really should be the London Knights but copyrights]. Oh, and... uh... who could forget Chad Magnum's marvelous five point game which included a hat trick while taking a forth of the shots the Legion actually registered on net. The forth game of the tournament [Game 11] featured the Legion against the Phantoms once again, although the game was eerily different than their previous match up. It's early in the second period, Prague is enjoying a 3-1 lead over the Legion, and Toronto simply turns it on. The gas pedal is floored, and Toronto takes off, eventually tying the game at three a piece less than two minutes after Prague took a two goal lead. The period ended 3-3, but Toronto enjoyed a 18-5 shot advantage, and Phantoms' goaltender McPine certainly kept his team knotted up heading into the third period. Underyew would score his second of the game, and third of the tournament, to give Toronto a 4-3 lead -- the goal would become the game winner as the clock ran out. Let's fast forward a couple of games, shall we? In between tournament game twenty one, the Legion played against the United [Game 14] and the Predators [Game 17], with the deciding scores being 4-2 and 4-1, respectively. The game against the Los Angeles Stars, however, was an absolute stunner. It is impressive how LAS G, some bum off the streets of downtown L.A I'm sure, was able to turn aside an admittedly depressingly low sixteen of seventeen Legion shots. The Stars' true power was their defensive play, effectively limiting Toronto's ability to get... well anything going. The final score to this game was 6-1 LAS, and quickly brushed under the carpet by Legion management. The game against L.A was important. It shook up the teams confidence, and the next three games below display just how broken the Legion looked. Toronto 4 - 3 Warsaw in the shootout. Toronto 4 - 3 Chicago in regulation. Toronto 5 - 4 Las Angeles in the shootout. Toronto defeated Warsaw 4-1 in the lone game they played against them, but Warsaw was able to take advantage of Toronto's deflated confidence during the twenty third game of the tournament, and we'd argue they were step-for-step if not outplaying Toronto for the majority of the game. The Predators' took an impressive 49 shots, but Legion goaltender Jaxx Hextall stood tall and practically earned Toronto their seventh win of the tournament. Against Chicago? Toronto cruised to a five-three win against the Phoenix, but this time the Legion got burned. They got complacent, even though they never stopped trying, and despite a 3-0 lead heading into the second period it was all tied up at three just six minutes into the third period. It really was all Chicago until Underyew scored the game winning goal at the seven minute mark, his sixth of the tournament. And finally, while it may look like Toronto took revenge on the Stars, it was anything but a proper smack down you hope revenge wins are. Thirty five minutes into the game, Las Angeles had a three-one lead over the Legion, until Underyew slapped in his seventh of the tournament and drew Toronto within one less than half a minute after the Stars scored their third goal of the hockey game. Momentum shifts, though, right? To star the third -- just over four and a half minutes in -- the Stars increased their lead by two once again, leading the Legion 4-2 with just over fifteen minutes left in the game. Toronto fought back though, luckily, and tied the game up at four by the thirteen minute mark. Overtime would settle nothing, so off to the shootout we go. Jaxx Hextall stopped two dangerous scorers, while the bum off the streets would end up only blocking a weak shot from Killinger of the three he faced. "The tournament was alright, I guess." Peace stated. "I still don't really see the point of it, other than keeping people engaged now that the playoffs are a tad longer with the wildcard round." "From that perspective I understand it," The Legion GM crossed his arms. "Having as much of an impact on lottery odds as it does, well... that seems like it needs some adjustment. Five percent boost for a team that barely missed the playoffs, seems kinda unreasonable, even though we were technically a lottery team. I doubt we'll see any change soon... until it royally fucks someone. Worst team int he league gets second overall because the sixth team that was a point or two out of the playoffs got first."

That's what you get for basing your luck off the success/failures of others. ?

No first overall pick for you.

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- It was the final game of the lottery tournament, and Toronto had just finished up earning Vancouver a +5% chance at a lottery pick, and it struck the alternative Captain. Had they won just one more game in regulation, Toronto would have won the tie-breaker between themselves and the DC Dragons [using ROW anyway]... but they didn't win one more regulation game, and Killinger's excessive disciplinary issues continues to shine through an otherwise great defender. "You know... I feel like shit, you know?" Killinger said in the final post-game interview. "We go on in this tournament and play great, and the team doesn't even have it's own pick." "It's eating away at me." Erik Killinger recorded a lot of penalty minutes -- a lot is too many, and the Legion suffered for it. "I want to apologize to my teammates, I know I let us down this season. I'm smarter than this, I'm better than this, I don't know why I'm taking so many penalties." "I'll come back next season and be better," Killinger emotionally admitted. "Not for myself, but for my team."

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- Recently there was some moderate media coverage of the Toronto Legions inability to improve their roster during the S73 campaign, fresh off a 9-1-0 showing at the lottery tournament, ironically sourced directly from Latvia -- the former country where the Legions' bench boss had spent some time during his career playing for the Riga Reign. In the article the author broke down a few things Toronto never accomplished; landing free agents, mentioning the public lottery-ish system "HHH" conducted to determine where he'd play during his final season; wrote about Toronto's lack of trade deadline movements, where he gave his opinion on what may have happened; and broke down Toronto's depleting roster, where the light is seemingly fading away. "Well," Peace began the interview. "During the off season we made offers to plenty of individuals. When the free agency discussion opened, we went after a few of the legal free agents, at least from our portal report. We contacted -- obviously -- Hunter, but his ridiculous system was moronic at best. We also approached others, like Perrin and Jensen, but they had opted to resign with their current teams and I understand that." "Prior to that, in the free agency a season before, we went after the 'big five' that were available. Obviously none of them wound up joining Toronto, but if they had... oh if they had. Anyway, I guess you could say free agency was a dud for us. We ended up signing a depth piece and that was pretty much it, but that was all we could really do. We didn't have inactive priority, all of those invested in the league went elsewhere, and we were left weaker entering this season compared to the team that pushed Calgary to seven games." We asked about the trade deadline. GM Peace has been pretty vocal about it, claiming that there was nearly no movement, and the facts support his claim. Only three trades were completed during the season, with the most influential piece moving to Calgary in exchange for a second and a fourth. Joe Proto was the most talented player to find a new home, and Toronto was temporarily in on the deal until the price was just too much. "The price coming from Vancouver was atrocious, and nearly all the GMs called it out at one point or another. He was looking for a first for Joe, which if he were around and developing as a player, would have likely been worth the price. But here's the thing -- Joe shows up to play his games, but is done with the league, he's just... done. The price for him early on was bad, very bad. I'm talking a first and a third, plus extras, just because he was still relatively young and had plenty of 'career' left before the VHL enforces a mandatory retirement." "Look at what Vancouver wound up getting. A second and a fourth, and even then most GMs knew Calgary had made a questionable trade, but it's not that bad -- that second is, at best, a mid third round pick now the league has expanded." "I was talking to other GMs too, but getting silly offers. Here's a rental for your seventy five first, it's a good deal because so and so is still a talented player. Yeah, but, well... he's gone when the playoffs end. Toronto simply wasn't in a position to make deals for guys who'd be retiring, so we didn't. We already gave Vancouver a first round pick that wound up being a lottery pick, so I've promised myself and my team to be a little smarter." The Toronto Legion finished just two points out from winning a tie-breaker against the DC Dragons. "This season hurt," Peace admitted. "We know we regressed, even though our star players got much better, and production was higher than its been in a long time. We wished we made the playoffs, but the stars just didn't align this season for us." "That doesn't mean I'm sitting on my hands and just moping around," Peace continued. "I'm always looking for ways to improve the Legion, just smartly now, we can't afford to be handing out lottery picks."

Shame the GMs who have access to check IPs will abuse that anyway. ?

Why would I read through the Discord? It’s a chat, often entirely irrelevant, and I don’t think anyone actually read that. >.>

@VHL GM Some of us didn't even know this was up, including me. Doesn't apply to everyone, so I apologize for the tag. @Quik shoulda done it sooner. ?

Erik Killinger isn't exactly a household name yet, and quite frankly he is a long way away from becoming one, but he's earned a reasonable amount of respect and league reputation this season by climbing above the formerly challenging point-per-game mark as a mobile two-way defender. The Legions' top guard still has two more games to play, but at eighty one [81] points in seventy games, he slots in as the ninth best VHL defensemen this season. "Am I good now?" Killinger asked. The answer is no... from me at least. The only other category Killinger is featured is one he knows he shouldn't be included in: PIM The goon racked up 172 penalty minutes that most likely contributed to his team loosing more games that they may have otherwise won. Meanwhile on Toronto, another player with nearly a hundred more hits, has sixty less penalty minutes. Magnum needs to show Killinger the ways of the discipline, and perhaps smack his hands a few times from all those hooking and high sticking calls Erik takes. Will he? We hope so.