Peace

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- The season is less than twenty four hours away, and people are steadily making their predictions. One player, however, seems to be lacking from the majority of the votes -- in fact I don't think I saw him once as a prediction for top rookie for season seventy three. The chance for Mr. Gainer to take the top rookie award is actually pretty strong, although he does have some serious competition with the top picks of the most recent VHL Entry Draft. Gainer will be slotted on the top line to start the season, a trial period if you will, but will likely keep his position at the 1LW position primarily due to his quick development that'll inevitably outpace Lehtinen Jr after his natural regression. While no one is predicting him to have a point-per-game rookie season, as those are long in the past and nearly an absent memory, it is possible for Gainer to produce offensively off the talents of Magnum and McDagg. I'm predicting he wins top rookie.

.sims

TORONTO, ONTARIO -- We'd be lying if we said Killinger's first season as the teams top defensive asset wasn't rough -- we all know that is wrong because it was -- but there were plenty of highlights to the Legions' go-to guy on the blue line. To start the twenty-something year old had a career season, improving from his rookie output in nearly every category, while growing into a more demanding on ice presence expected from him by the clubs management and roster. Killinger's bread and butter for the majority of the season wasn't his defensive play, but rather his ability to generate offense from the blue strip that enabled the Legion to stay competitive most nights, obviously in tandem with the rest of the roster. When the playoffs started, however, Erik Killinger grew into the defender the Toronto Legion needed. Despite only playing seven games in the post-season, the developing defender ground down the high flying Calgary Wrangler team by throwing forty hits, which -- at the time -- were the most among any defenders at the conclusion of the first round. It was Killinger's hits in the offensive zone that caused turnovers, which resulted in Legion goals, and that was one hell of a series for any hockey fan. Killinger grew into form when it mattered most, and even though he only registered two points during the series, it was his on ice presence that was finally felt. That presence was missing during the regular season, especially on the Legions' eleven game tumble off the face of a cliff. The future for a forward-turned-defender is bright, and the club is excited, but there are certainly things he needs to continue working on. His discipline is lacking, shockingly, as he was a well disciplined player at both the VHLM and VHL level of play. We can't quite put our fingers on it, but we suspect his more aggressive style since switching to defense -- kinda obviously -- has impacted his ability to be more disciplined. You don't just increase your penalty minutes by an honestly mind boggling one hundred and ten minutes without some kind of underlying variable, there is something amiss and Killinger needs to work with the team to discover what it is. None of that takes away from his perceived effectiveness during the Legion-Wrangler best of seven showdown. "He was excellent in that series," GM Peace agreed. "While we would have liked more offensive contributions from him, he was a rock for us, but that goes for any of the prime three Legion players and our supporting roster. Hextall was brilliant when he needed to be, Magnum's five goals pushed us further than we've ever been, and the team behind those three fought exceptionally hard." "I think our physical play slowed them down," Killinger answered. We had asked if the series between Toronto and Calgary, where Toronto put up one hundred and fifty two hits, had any impact on Calgary's eventual post season defeat. "I never really paid much attention to the playoffs after that, but I think our physical play contributed to eventually wearing the Wranglers down by the time they were in the finals. I imagine it was another physical series with New York, and two seven game series takes quite a bit out of you. Riga was rested and ready to go, Calgary was tired and bruised."

My grandpa used to take me to a bunch of WHL games when I was younger, but one sticks out in my memory the most. Obviously I was thirteen, but in this particular game the home team was being shut out, so I fell asleep during the second intermission. Well -- before puck drop -- my grandpa entered me in a giveaway the club was hosting, and if I recall correctly it was a signed jersey by the team. They drew the winner in the third period, and I won, but because I fell asleep my grandpa wouldn't let me get the giveaway. It was one of the last times he ever took me to a WHL game.

Ah, so you're looking forward to something when you turn 13 then.

Missing below is the 'this list has been refreshed 15 times'. We're onto you.

I see. I’m disappointed but that’s reasonable. Refund the extra $20 to me so I can spent it on what paid for it all: my alcoholism.

So... you’re telling everyone that you can’t pay for $5 of another players $15 donation cap? What’s the difference between me giving them five dollars towards their donation, so does it really matter where the money comes from? I think I understand — I’m boosting the Legion, that must be what your thinking, and I’d understand if that is the concern. However I’d argue — if that is the concern — there is still a donation cap, right? The max one person can have in donations is still $15... which is why Rookie never picked a second doubles week, or am I honestly missing something here. Edit: to clarify, this isn’t me “buying the loyalty” of those I gave $5 too, and it was a one time celebration for Toronto’s first playoff appearance under my reign as GM. I do believe I understand the issue a little, but I would like some more clarification.

Adama... is that you?!

$30 CAD Donation Transaction ID: 74639372W54833340 For Killinger: ($10) - 5 Uncapped - Doubles Week For @ROOKIE745 ($5) - Doubles Week For @Steve ($5) - Doubles Week For @Corco ($5) - Doubles Week For @joeg ($5) - Doubles Week 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!

DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAFT DAY! 1. The Toronto Legion only picked one player -- center John Merrick -- in the S73 VHL Entry Draft. What are your thoughts about the most recent addition to the Legion? 2. Despite GM Peace trying to move into additional rounds of the draft, he was unable to do so -- how do you think this will impact Toronto in the future? 3. How 'hyped' were you about the S73 VHL Entry Draft? 4. John Merrick will be joining the Legion in S74 with a projected rating of over 400. How will this impact the S74 Toronto Legion? 5. Who was the most surprising player drafted in the first round? 6. Were you surprised at any of the prospects that were ranked fairly high but continued to slide through the draft, if you paid attention at all? @Corco @NyQuil @joeg @Viperxhawks19 @Sixersfan549 @Peace @DaftRaincloud @Gwdjohnson @ROOKIE745 @ngine4

So as a GM this was my first time experiencing an expansion draft that actually had long-term implications on the roster that could significant impact the team I was trying to build. In the VHLM I went through this dance before, but honestly with the turnover of players, I now feel like expanding the VHLM never had a true impact on the long term feasibility of your roster. Now it's quite obvious who Toronto protected, and most people assumed correctly, but there were things that happened leading up to the expansion draft that challenged me into making different decisions and forced me to reanalyze my roster. In the end... I have to look at it as the Legion were lucky through unfortunate events. I'll start off by saying that one of our prospects, Frence, returned from inactivity sometime after selecting him in the draft. When he returned and started updating, we reshuffled our protection list and dropped an otherwise core piece of our roster, so we could protect the future of the Legion. With Frence now protected, I had to leave one of the Gutzwiler brothers' exposed to expansion, despite all the sacrifices and willingness to change for the Toronto Legion. I honestly felt -- when I submitted that update on the protection lists -- like I had betrayed the loyalty I was building with them, but I realized that only one of the Gutzwiler brothers was actually active and updating, which is one of those unfortunate events I was talking about. After that realization, I added the active brother back to the list, and dropped a prospect I didn't think anyone would take in the expansion: Anigbogu. Surprise! Muff tried, but he was again protected just a few days before the lists were finalized, suddenly now a 'good in hindsight' decision. Honestly it wasn't, it was just the natural thing to do. Leon Gutzwiler was inactive, hasn't updated since the last week of May, so why would I protect him over an active prospect? Here's the thing. Toronto was kinda burned, and I think I can realistically say that, because the prospect that returned -- Frence -- retired after some petty drama that was exchanged between himself and members of both the Saskatoon and Mexico franchises. When he retired the only logical move was to protect Anigbogu, who was originally on the list anyway, so it all worked out for Toronto in the end, at least I think it did. I'll admit Shaposhnikov was never protected, and he was taken from the Legion late in the expansion draft, but I knew that he was the only piece an expansion team would want after our list was fully finalized. Toronto's finalized list had them protecting Magnum, Hextall, Killinger, McDagg, Elmebeck, G. Gutzwiler, Gainer and Anigbogu. Fun fact... originally Toronto's protection list didn't have them protecting Killinger. I figured expansion GMs wouldn't pick him because they'd know I wouldn't play for their club, a situation similar to Davos' Jokinen, but I figured I wouldn't be an asshole and protected my player from the expansion anyway. I felt like the spirit of competition, the ethics not the rule, applied to this so I did the right thing. I protected Killinger, even though I wouldn't have played for the expansion teams, when I could have abused the technicality and squeezed just a little more out of Toronto than I was able too. Then again... I didn't have to do that, anyway. Frence retired, L. Gutzwiler went inactive, and the protection list seemed to just melt into place almost naturally. Anyway, that's a wrap for this article. Those who actually read it, I appreciate you reading it.

I needed a VHL.com article to write about, so I figured why not convert something I had planned as a 500 word media spot and condense it into something I can use for this week instead... given the time frame I have left to complete it. Honestly, when I converted Killinger to D, I said I was alright with the swap for a few different reasons. After a full season, I can genuinely say my decision is conflicted; on one hand it gives Toronto a steady and reliable presence on the back end, something the Legion have publicly [and desperately] needed; on the other hand it was a snap decision, really, I had been thinking about it but never truly committed until I starting building up the S72 roster on the teams private spreadsheet. I keep thinking to myself how both Magnum and Killinger would have fared together at an entirely new TPA bracket. Would they have clicked together like Peace and Dahlberg did for the S65 Dynamo, or would they have kept the similar sub point per game of the prior season. I'll always wonder how Magnum and Killinger would perform together as both players 'matured' into their prime, but with my player now playing defense, it's not something that'll happen now. I suppose the next step for Killinger is to find a good defensive partner for him, and maybe he can be the offensive [but defensively reliable] defender I'm trying to build him into. That's a wrap!

It shouldn't be an attribute in the first place.

Now that you've said it, someone is going to take ACL Tear just for the memes.

I’m telling you @Motzaburger if you changed your name to a half decent burger you’d win more. Just saying.

I can't find anyone who does.

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."

What can you expect when it's Nyko.

Jokes we're trading the pick.

Way to go, Saskatoon!

Right to the point! ... Right? 1. The draft lottery results were just released and Toronto drafts fifth. It's a pretty high native pick, are you excited that your team gets a good pick and made the playoffs? 2. How are you enjoying the off season so far? 3. What are you doing to prepare for next season? 4. Expansion draft could hurt the Toronto Legion -- among other teams -- so which team do you think expansion will hurt the most? 5. Coke or Pepsi? 6. Burrito or Taco? @Anthony Matthews @11 Eleven @Corco @Laflamme @Viperxhawks19 @Sixersfan549 @ng1291 @DaftRaincloud @Gwdjohnson @nethi99 @ROOKIE745 @Kachur @goldenglutes @NyQuil @joeg @JDGraves @LastOneUp @ngine4

A Toronto Legion fan visibly disappointed by the Legions elimination during the post-game handshakes. It's all over now, Toronto. But by my deity did we put up one hell of a fight. 1. How do you personally feel about Toronto being eliminated by a score of 4-3 in a game seven where the Legion lead 1-0, 2-1 and 3-2 after two periods of play? 2. Who do you think was our best playoff performer? 3. Do you think the time is right to start selling assets for talented and established VHL players, or do you think management should stay on course for their game plan? [Competitive by S74]? 4. Toronto was down in this series 2-0 before winning two in Toronto to tie it up. What was your reaction at the buzzer in game four, when this best of seven series became a best of three? 5. Similarly to the above... what was your reaction when Toronto won game six to force a seventh game? 6. What were some of your superstitions or pregame rituals during the series? @Anthony Matthews @11 Eleven @Corco @Laflamme @Viperxhawks19 @Sixersfan549 @ng1291 @DaftRaincloud @Gwdjohnson @nethi99 @ROOKIE745 @Kachur @goldenglutes @NyQuil @joeg @JDGraves @LastOneUp @ngine4

Firm handshakes to all of Calgary. One hell of a series. Great season, Legion, we'll be back.