DollarAndADream

Toronto Legion Jersey Retirement Ceremony 

 
Today, the Toronto Legion are proud to honor two franchise legends, one of an earlier era and one recent, by retiring and sending their jersey numbers to the rafters alongside the 12 other Legion greats that already hang there. For a franchise known for its stingy goaltenders, the two players being honored tonight were known for their offensive skill. With out further ado, Toronto announces the jersey retirements of…
 

#90 – Max Molholt  @Molholt S45-S52
 
Inducted into the VHL’s Hall of Fame in S53 immediately after his retirement, it is a tragedy that his legacy is only now being honored by the only team Max Molholt ever suited up for. It is only proper that Molholt’s jersey will now hang with his former teammates on Toronto’s Cup three-peat teams of S48-S50, Zach Parechkin @DollarAndADream , World B. Free @stevo, and Hans Wingate @CowboyinAmerica. Molholt led the Legion in scoring his first five seasons and led or tied for the team lead in goals or assists four times each. He is the franchise’s all-time leader in career games played, goals, assists, and points.
 
 
 

#36 – Kyle Peace  @Peace S81-S88
 
Kyle Peace aptly brought a calmness to the Toronto Legion organization and was the ultimate “Legionary” during his tenure. Seeing the franchise through good times and bad, he led the double-blue faithfully as the second-longest serving captain (six seasons) behind Zach Parechkin. He led the team in goals twice and points once and while he never got to hoist the Cup, he did end his career 5th on the franchise’s all-time goals list.
 
Congratulations Max and Kyle! Your contributions to the Toronto Legion will never be forgotten and you will now be immortalized in the rafters with your fellow Legion legends!

VHL Trade Wars: Edition 9 (Season 60 Off-Season)

 
Good evening and Happy Canada Day to any of my fellow Canadians.  I decided to be a little bit of a procrastinator and save my media spot writing until Saturday evening, but ultimately better late in the week rather than not doing it at all.  This Trade Wars will have a few more trades involved as the overall bulk of the moves isn’t as large as some of the last few trades we have looked at.  So this edition will see three transactions looked at as there are only three other moves to review in the Season 60 Off-Season, and once again we see some familiar faces that seemed to have dominated the Season 60 Off-Season’s transaction log.
 
There are two themes that this edition has going for it with veteran players looking to win their first and only Continental Cups and a salary cap scramble, with the Calgary Wranglers looking to get under the cap ceiling and two teams looking to take advantage.  So buckle up as we look at three more moves that shaped the rest of the Season 60 off-season and gave the audience of our league more perspective on who may come out on top during the campaign.   
 
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S60 OFF-SEASON
 
To DAV 
D - Luca Volkov @Kyle
 
To TOR
S62 DAV 3rd Round Draft Pick (F - Kasper Loh @MrMaxx44)
 
General Managers: @Tyler (Davos), @DollarAndADream  (Toronto)
 
Date: June 14th, 2018
 
This trade sees the Davos Dynamo, who are entering a season where they are looking to compete for the Continental Cup, adding a veteran defender in Luca Volkov who was entering the final season in his VHL career.  Volkov, whose player agency has a familiar history with the Dynamo franchise, had played the previous six seasons as a member of North American organizations, with time spent in Calgary, New York and then Toronto.  
 
Over the course of his time in Davos, he would have a decent year as a solid accessory piece on the backend.  He finished the season with his worst offensive performance in six full seasons in the VHL, but still finished with a solid 46 points, 94 hits and 91 blocked shots in the most limited his minutes had been since entering the league.  In almost heroic fashion though, Volkov would step up for the S61 Playoffs, recording 8 points, 8 hits and an incredible 24 blocked shots over 14 games on route to the Continental Cup.  This was Volkov’s first and only Continental Cup in his VHL career, and the fact that he was able to step up and play a pretty important role during their run, just caps off his career in the best way possible.
 
During his entire VHL career, Luca Volkov would record 330 points in 447 career games, and added on 1081 hits and 720 blocked shots over that seven season (S55 was just a 15 game campaign for Volkov) career.  He would play on some really solid teams that just couldn’t follow through in the playoffs, finishing with 57 career playoff games and a respectable 35 points.  He also even put some time in on an awful young team that relied on the veteran to be one of the only go-to players, as he finished with 53 points and a statistically horrendous -102 plus-minus.  He certainly had a noteworthy career and it’s nice to see that not only did Davos get what they wanted out of this deal, but so did the player.
 
Toronto really shouldn’t receive much criticism or anything here.  They simply were doing right by the player in moving him off to a team that could compete for the Continental Cup, and basically were just giving him away for a cheap asset.  The pick they received was used on a forward by the name of Kasper Loh, who signed briefly with the Saskatoon Wild before showing a disinterest in playing professionally and moving on from the league.  There was no official word on why he chose not to continue on his hockey journey, but the only rumour I had heard was that his family business was a better fit due to the unlikelihood of making it to the pros.  
 
Winner: Davos @Tyler - It kinda has to be doesn’t it?  The Dynamo were looking to bring in a veteran defender to give them some solid minutes and hoped to return a Continental Cup run in his final season in exchange.  The Dynamo went on to win the Continental Cup and Volkov not only had a near 50 point campaign in a more limited role, but he also stepped up in the playoffs to help win it all.  Toronto didn’t make a bad move but ultimately the pick they made just never ended up getting it going.  Tough break but at least they did right by the player and Volkov got his chance to get his name in the history books.
 
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To TOR
F - Slava Aleksei @Tyler
S62 CGY 3rd Round Draft Pick (F - Jack Stucky @stucky71)
 
To CGY
D - Boner @Corco
 
General Managers: @DollarAndADream  (Toronto), @Bushito (Calgary)
 
Date: June 15th, 2018
 
This trade was one of two parts of the Calgary Wranglers trying to get under the league salary cap and this one even had a bit of controversy that I will briefly touch on first.  This trade saw Calgary move veteran defender Slava Aleksei, to the Toronto Legion along with a pick for Boner, a depth defender.  Aleksei, who is represented by the agency that runs the Davos Dynamo at the time, was pretty unhappy as they didn’t feel Calgary made any effort whatsoever to consider their player’s wishes in playing for Davos, and proceeded to move him to Toronto without communicating anything about a transaction.  This was in part due to the cap issue and Calgary scrambling to get under, but it is important to note that Aleksei would end up being moved to Davos during the regular season, in order to give him a chance at the Continental Cup (that they would win!) as opposed to being on the hopeless Legion who were in the midst of a rebuild.
 
As already stated, the Toronto Legion acquired Aleksei, who was fresh off another impressive season with 22 goals and 68 points to go along with 141 blocked shots in 72 games.  This was an excellent accomplishment for a veteran defender in his fifth year in the league as it was his first time surpassing the twenty-goal-plateau as a defender during his career, only having more than that as a forward in his rookie campaign.  Aleksei went on to play six full seasons, ending it with his Cup in Davos, and finished his career with 415 points in 432 games to go along with 659 blocked shots, five of which he played on the backend. 
 
The Legion also acquired a third round pick that they would use to select Jack Stucky, a Canadian winger who played 137 games over the span of two seasons in the VHLM, first with Yukon and then Oslo.  Over that span, he scored 32 goals and recorded 77 points, with all but 7 of those points coming in his second VHLM season, with the Oslo Storm.  Despite being drafted, his development just never got off the ground and while he showed some glimpses during the Season 62 campaign, some concerns were released about work ethic and overall talent, and Stucky would be let go and never seen in the VHL Professional System again.
 
The Calgary Wranglers got some much needed cap relief out of this deal, but also acquired Boner, a defenseman who was in the prime of his career and was known as a depth defensive defenseman.  Boner went on to play an impressive 576 games in the VHL and would record 211 points, 1972 hits and 1058 blocked shots, reaching the 1000-1000 club.  Boner played for Stockholm, Calgary, Riga and Toronto over the course of his career, with him being mostly known for his time with the Wranglers and his one explosive offensive season that he had with the Riga Reign.  However, it was his final season with the Legion where he captured his first and only Continental Cup, contributing a goal, 26 hits and 24 blocked shots over the playoff run. 
 
Winner: Draw – Yeah, I mean this is a tough one cause Aleksei ended up being moved on and he was only in his final season.  While Aleksei was definitely the best player in this deal, weighing what he could do in that one year versus Boner, who played for another four seasons in the Victory Hockey League and did so providing solid defense and physical play, is something to consider.  Ultimately I feel both teams got similar value in the end and given all that I can see, I ultimately would probably consider this is an overall draw.  I almost went with Calgary though, because their ability to clear cap space and not really lose too much on value was actually not a bad move, especially given the amount of criticism Bushito received for the transaction.  Not necessarily a defender of him not notifying a player of a potential move (cause I have been on that side of things and it can definitely be
frustrating) but it was still an okay deal all-around I think.
 
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To CGY
S62 QUE 4th Round Draft Pick (G - Matt Aloisi @twoplayable)
 
To QUE
F - Josh Stronk @Beerfridge
 
General Managers: @Bushito (Calgary), @Beaviss (Quebec City)
 
Date: June 15th, 2018
 
This was the second and final trade to get Calgary under the cap and involved them trading young forward Josh Stronk for a S62 QUE 4th Round Draft Pick, which is pretty much as good as nothing.  In fact, some teams had passed on their pick before the selection was made.  Quebec City swooped on in and acquired the player who has a well-known agency in the sim league world.
 
Calgary moved Stronk, a young Canadian forward entering his third season of professional play, for essentially nothing, a fourth round pick used on goaltender, Matt Aloisi, who played one season with the Saskatoon Wild in Season 61, before dropping out of the VHLM Farm System.  During that season, Aloisi would go 6-17-2 for a 4.54 GAA and .857 Save percentage, in what was a fairly inconsistent 25 games for the Wild.
 
The Quebec City Meute swooped in and acquired Stronk, a young Canadian forward who had just finished his fifth season in the VHLM, three of which were with the Saskatoon Wild.  He was an incredible VHLM talent, who recorded a remarkable 430 points in 362 games over the course of his six seasons in the minors.  These tremendous statistical accomplishments were capped off by three consecutive Founder’s Cups, and with three different clubs (Yukon Rush, Saskatoon Wild and Oslo Storm).  Stronk finished his career by playing two seasons in the VHL; his first with New York and his second with Helsinki.  The two seasons he played were fairly similar statistically as he recorded 71 points and 114 hits over his 144 games in the VHL, where he played as a 2nd line center on two fairly mediocre squads.
 
Winner: Quebec City….kinda? – I personally think I have to say Quebec City since Stronk had a solid VHLM career and played a couple seasons in the minors, while the player that was involved on the other side of things played 25 goals before being going released and going unsigned in the VHLM.  With that being said, this is barely a win since Stronk didn’t debut on the VHL side of things until Season 62 and played a minimal role on a rebuilding club.  With that being said, Stronk was known as a great teammate and a breath of fresh air at Training Camps, so I give the Meute the win since he’s someone that brings joy to people’s faces in the locker room.  Plus he is a 6”8 250 lb behemoth who had the nickname “The Iron Giant”, so obviously he is the best player in the deal.
 
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And with that the ninth edition the VHL Trade Wars is complete and we have completed the Season 60 Off-Season, which had a tremendous amount of trades made.  This one saw three interesting moves made involving later round picks and veterans looking to end their career with some glory, and thankfully they did indeed find this success.  Luca Volkov and Slava Aleksei went on to win the Continental Cup in their final season, as a member of the Davos Dynamo.  A tremendous finish for two solid veteran defenders, and one that makes that tremendous cup win a really precious memory for the Victory Hockey League.
 
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the VHL Trade Wars and I look forward to bringing you the next edition, which will move on to Season 61 as I strive to continue breaking down the trades that shaped our incredible league history.  Once again, Happy Canada Day and I hope you all enjoy your day and continue to live life with your head up (if you can’t tell my stoner brain has taken over by the time I finished this article).
 
 
- 2024 Words (Claiming Week 1 of 4)
 
 

It is certainly getting tougher and tougher each week to come up with a topic to write about.  I’m about to the point of just clicking welfare and training just to avoid having to write anymore.  This shit’s gotta change, especially now that I’m only earning so that depreciation coming up doesnt hit me so hard.  While searching for something to write about, I came up with a list that beats all lists.  And with a little filtering I came up with an idea.  To narrow it down, I had to pick out only active players and went from there.  From this list of 300, I took the top 20 active players who impact games with brutality, bone crushing, show no mercy skills.  If you were tagged for this, you made the list, and I can pretty much guarantee that you will never be even remotely eligible for the Lady Byng Trophy.  So, congratulations to all of you!  Keep in mind, these are active players as of the time of my research and by the time this is in print, your stats likely changed for the better.
 
Vinny Detroit @dasboot, leads all players, active and retired, with 3099 hits in 629 games played.  Vinny started VHL in season 80 and has been crushing opponents for 5 different teams.  By the end of season 88, Vinny will have a record that will be incredibly hard to beat.  In addition to his outrageous hits, Vinny spends a fair amount of time in the penalty box, with 1704 PIM.  At an average of 5 hits per game, Vinny Detroit is the biggest bad ass of powerful bad asses!  He deserves the #1 ranking.
 
Vasile Lamb @dlamb, is #2 of active players, pounding opponents with 2177 hits in only 487 games played.  Vasile is on pace at 4.47 hits per game and started bone crushing in the VHL in season 82, and has played for 4 different teams.  Vasile has spent 1011 minutes in the sin bin.  Vasile has some time left in the VHL to attempt to get closer to Vinny’s record, but its not likely he’ll match it.
 
Zach Kisslinger II @Kisslinger, ranks #3 on the hit list of active players.  Zach started the VHL in season 81 and is at the end of his career, so he will move down on the list.  Zach is able to boast 1678 hits in 557 games, all with Warsaw, at 3 hits per game.  Zach has spent much less time in the penalty box than other bone crushers, but still has a respectable 685 PIMS.  Zach’s career is a definite plus.
 
Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream , records 2.9 hits per game and currently holds the #4 rank of active players who like to hurt opponents.  Saku started earning stats in season 81 and has played for 4 different teams.  Saku has hit opponents 1607 times in 557 games.  Saku will overtake Zach by the end of season 88 and move up to the #3 spot.  With 699 PIMS, its likely to see that number increase slightly by the end of the season.  What is it with you players with long ass names making it a pain in the ass for me to type the correctly spelled name?
 
Brendan Marner @MetalToday, now that’s a nice easy name to spell.  Brendan holds the #5 slot of active players for heavy hitters and is another leader who has played only for Warsaw, and records 3.2 hits per game.  Brendan has 1566 hits in only 485 games.  Brendan started in season 82, and has some time left to move up in the power ranking before retiring.  Sitting in the penalty box 693 minutes has only slowed down Brendan’s pace to come close to Vinny’s hits.
 
Nico Pearce @Spartan , is #6 on the active list of all time hits.  Nico has played on 4 different teams in the VHL, starting in season 81.  Nico is right on Marner’s tail with 1551 hits, although he’s played 558 games.  Nico is a little better disciplined than Marner, with 660 PIM.  At 2.7 hits per game, Nico has a slight chance of moving up to #4 someday, but unlikely to move above that.  It’s obvious that Nico’s Jersey lifestyle has contributed to his meanness on the ice.
 
Brian Payne @Scurvy, currently ranks #7 on the all time active hit list.  Don’t let the fact that outside the rink he’s always wearing spandex with the “Curves” logo fool you.  Brian is a monster on the ice.  In only 413 games, Brian has hit 1485 opponents.  At 3.6 hits per game, he’s not about to go after Vinny Detroit’s record, but he could eventually move up the list quite easily.  If Brian could stay out of the penalty box, he might be able to move his hits per game up as well.  The Payne Train has 1251 PIM already and is only 450 PIM behind Detroit.  The undisciplined powerhouse has only played for Warsaw since season 83 and has a couple more seasons to bump his stats.  I’m beginning to see a pattern here that Warsaw produces some serious beasts and promotes heavy hitting and aggressive play, which is right where Payne belongs.  Now, if you are reading this and you wonder why I’m giving Payne so much more ink than others, its because I know him IRL, and he is anything but a tough guy IRL.  He’s a squishy little lamb who pisses all over his leg at the first sign of trouble, so he is able to be tough in the VHL!
 
Sven Eightnine @BarzalGoat, is #8 currently on the list of meat eaters.  He started his punishing in season 81 and has only played for Seattle and New York.  At a shocking 2.6 hits per game, Sven has played 558 games and has 1425 hits. Sven is on pace to maintain the #8 spot but there’s another hitter right on his tail with 1423 hits.  At first glance you would think Alessandro Nano might overtake Sven, but unlike Sven, Alessandro has played out his seasons. Sven has also spent 857 minutes in the penalty box.
 
Alessandro Nano @leafsman, is currently #9 and his stats are so close to Sven Eightnine, you’d think they were twins.  Alessandro has played 558 games and has 1423 hits registered, making an impressive 2.6 hits per game.  He has also been in the sin bin for 881 minutes.  Alessandro started in season 81, and has played for 3 teams, but not for Warsaw.  Alessandro is retiring and his stats will be frozen soon.
 
Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser, rounds out the list of top 10 active hitters in the VHL.  He’s been in the league since season 82, playing for only 1 team, not Warsaw!  At 2.8 hits per game, Daniel has played 485 games and has recorded 1380 hits with 695 PIM.  Daniel is Calgary’s current leader and is the team tough guy.  He’s only a short number from moving up to the #9 spot and dropping Alessandro.  With a couple more successful seasons, Daniel could move up a few spots.
 
Matty Fire @MattyFired, is currently #11 on the all time list of bone crushers at just under 2 hits per game.  Matty has 1245 hits in 631 games.  He started in season 80 playing for 4 different teams.  Matty is somewhat disciplined with only 538 minutes in the box.  There is quite a gap between the #11 spot and Janser in the #10 spot, which makes it unlikely Matty will move up in the ranking.  Nevertheless, #11 all time is a good number to be at.  There are only 10 better than Matty.
 
Tavish DeGroot @rory, is currently #12 on the active list and has some seasons left to boost his stats and move up.  He started in season 82, playing for 5 different teams, Tavish hits no matter where he plays.  With 1223 hits in only 487 games, Tavish has some room to grow with 2.5 hits per game.  And 855 penalty minutes only prove that Tavish doesn’t back down and can hurt any opponent.  It’s probable that Tavish moves up at least 2 spots before he hangs up his skates, or I should say he stops taping his knuckles.
 
Dabnad Shaw @Dabnad started in season 83 and is currently #13 on the active list of punishers.  Dabnad has played in 414 games and has 1160 hits already.  Dabnad could knock down a few above him but his pace of 2.8 hits per game needs to boost in order for him to move up any further on the list.  He spends a fair amount of time in the penalty box with 925 PIM.  Dabnad is a steady player who has been on two teams in the VHL.
 
Igor Molotov @Dom, is currently #14 on the top active hit list.  He started in season 83 and has played for Malmo and London.  Igor has recorded 1114 hits in 413 games.  Igor is a disciplined destroyer with only 541 PIM.  At 2.7 hits per game, Igor can only move up on this list, possibly 2 or 3 spots before retiring.
 
Cadmael Ixazaluoh @Vice, hits opponents on average over 2.2 times per game, currently ranks #15 on the VHL all time active hit list.  Cadmael has been with Toronto since season 82 and has recorded 1089 hits in 486 games.  In addition to hitting for Toronto, he has spent 799 minutes in the box.  Cadmael has a small chance of moving up in the ranks, with a little aggressiveness and attitude.  And here’s another name that was hard to spell causing my eyes to blur!
 
Perry Laperriere @KaleebtheMighty, currently ranks #16 on the hit list, and #1 or #2 on making it difficult for me to type without a misspelled name.  Perry L has only played for one team, not Warsaw, since season 83, and has registered 1056 hits in 412 games.  At 2.6 hits per game, it won’t take long for Perry to move up in the ranking.  Perry has also spent 439 minutes in the penalty box for Prague.  Quite frankly, the more time in the box when Perry is facing Davos, the happier I will be!
 
Maximus Decimus Meridius @Beaviss, WTF, another long ass name to screw with me.  Maximus is currently ranked #17 on the active hit list and has played 453 games hitting opponents 1028 times.  At 2.3 hits per game, Maximus will not pass Perry but may overtake Cadmael before retirement.  Maximus is a disciplined player with 401 PIM, playing for 3 teams since season 82.
 
Cobalt Burns @Ledge, averages 3.8 hits per game and is currently ranked #18 on the active hit list.  There is only one place to go for Cobalt, and that is up on the list as Cobalt has played in the VHL since season 85 and is still building his TPE.  With only 270 games under his belt and registering 1023 hits, Cobalt is a menace to be watched.  Playing for 3 teams thus far, I can see other teams looking to latch onto Cobalt for the help to raise the cup.  Cobalt already has 406 PIM, and although he doesnt have a chance of breaking Detroit’s record, he will hold onto a PIM leaderboard spot.
 
Ronan Lavelle @Arce, is currently #19 on the active hit list.  Averaging 2.4 hits per game, Ronan has plenty of time to move up on the list of active hitters.  Ronan has played in 414 games and has 1010 hits registered to his name.  Playing on two teams since season 83, Ronan has also spent 444 minutes in the penalty box.  Now, Ronan may not pass Cobalt, he will likely move up at a steady pace until he retires.
 
Nezuko @Baozi, finishes the list of the top 20 active bone crushers.  I don’t think Nezuko will stay in the top 20 with an average of 2 hits per game, but while Nezuko is on the list, Nezuko gets credit.  Nezuko has played on 4 teams since season 82 and has registered 989 hits in 486 games.  Nezuko is the most disciplined player on the top 20 active list with 361 PIM.
 
It should be noted that this list is fluid and by tomorrow there may be a different player holding the #20 slot, and eventually there will be more than 20 active players in the top 300 list.  Pay attention to Phil Strasmore @Phil who has a career average of 3 hits per game and is currently #2 on season 88 top 10 hitters.  In addition, Joey Coaster @FANTEIGE, averages 4.1 hits per game as a rookie.  Mo Probert @Yahtzee, is in the top 10 hitters for season 88, and has a career average of 3.2 hits per game.  These three players will be rising up the list quickly as they get more games under their belts.
 
Damn, this took a long time to write.  Too much work makes one want to stop earning TPE!
 
2165 words
 
Will claim multiple weeks

Welcome everyone,
 
This week is theme week, and the theme is Retro. In this media spot I will name the best goalie of each season between S70 and S74. I will select the best goalie per draft class.
 
S70 – Jacques Lafontaine @SlapshotBear
 
Without further a due, the best goalie of the S70 draft class is Jacques Lafontaine. Lafontaine played his entire career with the Calgary Wranglers from S70 to S76. He played 382 games for a record of 220 wins, 128 losses and 34 losses in overtime. He finished his career with a save percentage of 0.919% and an average of goals against of 2.58. Jacques won the Greg
Clegane Trophy, awarded to the goalie with the lowest GAA, in S72 and S73. I also wanted to give an honorable mention to Jaxx Hextall @ROOKIE745.
 
S71 – Stone Wolski @DollarAndADream
 
In the S71, the choice is a little bit easier since Stone Wolski is pretty much the only goalie that became a starter of this draft class. He played 478 games with the D.C. Dragons between S71 and S78 and won 232 games. His best season was without a doubt S75, because he won 4 trophies, the Greg Clegane Trophy, the Brett Slobodzian Trophy, the Aidan Shaw Trophy, and the Dustin Funk Trophy.
 
S72 – Zamboni Driver @Tape-to-Tape
 
Just like for the S71 draft class, there is only one goalie that was a starter for his entire career, and his name is Zamboni Driver. Driver played his first six seasons in the VHL with the Helsinki Titans from S73 to S78 and he finished his career with the Riga Reign in S79. He even won the Greg Clegane Trophy in S79 with Riga. Throughout his career, Zamboni Driver won 220 of the 406 games he played.
 
S73 – Jean Pierre Camus and Jacob Tonn @solas @MexicanCow123
 
I know I said I would choose only one goalie per draft class, but I could not decide between the two of them. Camus played from S73 to S80 with the Chicago Phoenix and won the Continental Cup with them in S76. In S78 and S80, he won the Aidan Shaw Trophy and in S80 Camus also won the Brett Slobodzian Trophy and the Greg Clegane Trophy. Tonn played for the Seattle Bears, the Moscow Menace and the London United during his six seasons career. He won the Continental Cup in his first season with the Bears in S73. In S76, he won the Aidan Shaw Trophy, and he finished his career by winning three consecutive Greg Clegane Trophy in S76, S77 and S78.
 
S74 – Markus Emerson Jr @Xflexz
 
The S74 draft class was for sure the most difficult to decide, but my choice is Markus Emerson Jr. Emerson Jr played all his 230 games with the Vancouver Wolves between S76 and S80 and won 128 of them. In S80, he had the best season of his career and led his team to the Continental Cup. Honorable mention to Doug Dimmadome @Esso2264 and Vsevolod Askarov @Gooningitup.
 
Thanks everyone for reading and just a reminder that this is my opinion, so you don’t have to agree. However, if you don’t agree with me, then you are wrong, sorry.

Down to the wire lol thanks for the talks @Rayzor_7!
 
Welcome back to Malmo @TopTiddee2!!
 
@DollarAndADream  it was a pleasure having you in Malmo, now go chase that cup!

The Hits Keep Coming:
Detroit breaks VHL all-time hits record, Lamb reaches 2000
 
Well, another VHL record has fallen, this time one not so old as some. Congratulations to Vinny Detroit @dasboot, who broke Druss Deathwalker’s @animal74 recently set VHL record for all-time hits in New York’s fifth game of the season against my new team, ironically, the Toronto Legion. With his seventh hit of the game, Detroit surpassed Deathwalker’s total of 2882 hits and finished with the new VHL record of 2885 after dishing out a season-high 9 hits.
 
Four games later against D.C., Detroit became the only player in VHL history with 2900 hits.
 

Vinny Detroit breaks VHL all-time hits record vs. Toronto
 
Other milestones the American power forward will reach shortly is 500 points as he is currently sitting at 492. He will become the 28th player in VHL history to reach 500 points and 2000 hits. Vasile Lamb @dlamb just recently became the 27th player to hit those marks (and first since Deathwalker’s former teammate Taylor Mourning @scoop in S86) when he became the 41st player to reach 2000 hits. When he reaches 500 points, Detroit will also become just the 15th player in VHL history with 500 points, 1000 penalty minutes and 2000 hits.
 
Despite breaking the all-time record, Detroit still trails Deathwalker and HOFer Brennan McQueen @Jamie for career hits-per-game average although that might change. The other feat that Detroit has yet to accomplish (although he has come close), is to reach 400 hits in a season which Deathwalker did twice (one of only four VHL players to ever record 400 hits twice).
 
 
Now, let’s look to the future: Which current players have the drive and recklessness to join the 2000 hit club? Here are five that VHLers should keep an eye out for:
 
Brian Payne @Scurvy Warsaw’s award-winning defenseman is currently the safest bet to reach 2000 hits and if he does, he’ll become only the 4th full-time defenseman to do so. He reached 300 hits for the first time last season and if he continues on his career average of 3.57 hits per game, 2000 will be but a formality.
 
Cobalt Burns @Ledge Burns has the highest hits/game average of all on this list having already dropped over 800 hits in his three-year career. Averaging 270 in those three seasons including reaching 311 last season, Burns is well on his way to hit the 2K milestone.
 
Igor Molotov @Dom Being a teammate of Deathwalker’s must have rubbed off on this former Nighthawk. After a couple of low-hit years to start his career, Molotov has averaged 265 in each of the last three seasons. If he continues at that pace, he’ll have a very good shot at 2000.
 
Mo Probert @Yahtzee A Malmo prospect coming through the pipe during Deathwalker’s final season, Probert must have seen how much fun hitting is as he’s been doing a lot of it. He had 312 hits last season and is among the hits leaders again this season. He’s still young but he’s off to a good start.
 
Molly the Cat @JCarson Another young player who likes to score as well as hit, Molly the Cat’s current career average is right on the cusp of getting to 2000 hits during their career. Keep them hits coming!
 
Joey Coaster @FANTEIGE And a quick shout out to Malmo’s newest thug sensation! Coaster currently ranks second in the league in hits as a rookie and is on pace for just shy of 300. If he keeps that up during his career, he may be the next one to challenge Detroit’s new record!
 
Will any of these players get close? Zach Parechkin’s @DollarAndADream record stood for 30 seasons, Druss Deathwalker’s only lasted 3. How long will Vinny Detroit’s record last once his career has finished? All we know is, in the VHL, the hits will just keep coming.
 
Congrats again to Vinny Detroit and Vasile Lamb on their milestones! You will be remembered for all the pain you’ve doled out over the years.
 
 

Bo Boeser was one of my favourite players while he lasted. It sucked to have to retire him early, but it is what it is. I was willing to let that one go.
 
Pretty interesting read, this article. Every name I recognize, as I was most active when the O'Malleys, Cornerstones, 3 Moons, and Reencarnacions of the world were in the league.

Welcome back to Hall of Not Bad, the series in which I take a good look at a player who is not in the VHL Hall of Fame, give an overview of their career and achievements and whatnot, and compare that player's performance against a list of other players, both in and out of the HoF, to answer as fairly as possible whether that player deserved to have made it in. 
 
One of the things that's always thrown a wrench into HoF voting is what happens when a player has lower career total numbers, not due to worse production but due to a shorter career. It's something that I've generally considered a bit less of a disadvantage than some others have seemed to (at the very least, I'd never rule anyone out entirely on that basis), but it's an interesting dilemma when you've got to ask yourself whether a given player should be in both because of and despite 7-ish seasons of good play. I don't think there's an objective answer to those questions...and those are certainly questions that lead to some doubt over the status of the subject of today's article, Bo Boeser.
 

(credit to Frank)
 
I'd likely have zero idea Boeser ever existed if it weren't for @Victor bringing up his name in the BoG's Hall of Fame voting thread way back in S76, and a quick search of Boeser in forum history shows a Victor post in that same BoG subforum ranking Boeser above eventual HoFer Jasper Canmore (we'll get to that later!) in terms of worthiness. For whatever weird/stupid reason, the name has been in the back of my head ever since we didn't really talk about him and never added him to the ballot 10+ seasons ago, so this article will satisfy some curiosity in that regard as well for me.
 
Beginning his VHL career in S55, Boeser was the GM player of @DollarAndADream , and as such automatically assigned to Toronto. He would make an impact right out of the gate with a Stolzschwieger (I spelled that right without looking!) win in his rookie year, and led Toronto to a Victory Cup in S59. Sadly, due to the rules surrounding GM players, his career would be cut short after a trade to New York (followed by forced retirement) in S60. Though Boeser's career only lasted six VHL seasons and he would never lead the league in scoring or win an award beyond Top Rookie, he averaged over 100 points and almost 50 goals per season and was consistently one of the best players the league had to offer during his time up. And while that lack of hardware does represent a negative point, let's quantify that "one of the best in the league" bit with our first of three separate comparisons...
 
...that's right, I said three separate comparisons. Generally, I look for 2-3 HoF players and 1-2 non-HoF players who played during the time of my article's focus, but with the S50s being the member-dead era it was and with Victor's old suggestion drawing a direct comparison to an older player (see Part 3), I'll have to split things up a bit. We'll jump right back in and take a look at...
 
Part 1: One of the Best
 
How do we argue that Boeser was one of the best? There's no better way to do that than to look at some of the best:
Fredinamijs Krigars: a Hall of Fame player. In the VHL from S54-S60, Krigars was inducted in S62 after a seven-season career in which he would lead the league in points twice and win two Cups with Riga in S57 and S58. At the time, Krigars was the first player since S33 to make it in without having been drafted in the first round--that's a drought longer than I've been in the league. Gabriel McAllister: a Hall of Fame player. Here's a name I've known since my rookie season when I was checking the portal's TPE leaderboards--at the time of his retirement, I believe McAllister was #1 all-time. Apart from that, he was one of the defining forwards of his era, putting up more award wins than I even care to list here and winning three championships between his time on Seattle and (!) Davos. Playing between S56 and S63, McAllister's point production curiously did not spike with that of the rest of the league in S62. John Locke: a Hall of Fame player. Yet another seven-season player, Locke would spend most of his time on Quebec after an incredible VHLM run and total almost 700 points over his career between S54 and S60. He would win four Cups and lead the league in goals twice, and, like McAllister and Boeser, was the league's top rookie in his first season. Since I have mildly interesting facts for our other two--John Locke the Enlightenment thinker had a lot of capitalist ideas, but John Locke the player is listed as a "left wing". Curious.  
So, yes, Boeser didn't stick around as long as any of these, and didn't win the same awards, but:
 

 

 
While I'm not saying that Boeser was a better player than any of the others--clearly, based on overall body of work, I'd vote for the other three above him--I will say that this is at least evidence that he was just as good an offensive player as any of the others here while still in the league, and I believe that he would have made it in easily with 2 more seasons of the same (or even 1 more). There's no visible difference in career trajectory between Boeser and anyone else in these charts, and that includes McAllister (offense-wise, at least; McAllister was a great two-way player and we aren't looking at that because most others covered here, Boeser included, weren't built that way).
 
Also clear, though, is the fact that this isn't enough. A couple questions that I asked myself along the way of putting this chart together were:
What's the next-best player to Boeser in his time, and can we establish that he was better than anyone else spending most of their time between S54-60 and not in the Hall of Fame? Can I find a Hall of Fame player with some amount of overlap with Boeser's career who is arguably worse?  
And luckily, I can answer both.
 
Part 2: It's Complicated
 
Remember how I mentioned up top that Victor had ranked Boeser above Jasper Canmore in some discussion thread? It's time to dig a bit deeper and establish that, while he was playing, Bo Boeser was not only playing at an elite level but playing above some others who were considered pretty darn good. Here, we'll take a look at:
Mattias Forsberg: NOT a Hall of Fame player. Forsberg makes an appearance here for scoring the most points per game out of anyone whose career mostly overlaps Boeser's and is not in the Hall. Exactly like Boeser, coincidentally, Forsberg was a GM player whose career lasted 6 seasons (56-61) due to an early trade. If there is a drop-off between Boeser and the next-best, this is the comparison to make. Jasper Canmore: a Hall of Fame player. The player Victor ranked below Boeser, and who did make it in, is worth a look. Canmore would exceed 700 points, but played 8 seasons, and with a Funk, a Cup, and a Beketov, doesn't do as much better than Boeser in the awards department than the players we looked at in Part 1. In my opinion, a sufficient difference in per-season production could be enough to make up for this.   
Here's how that looks:
 

 

 
I'll note that Canmore should be expected to have somewhat lower career totals than our Part 1 players as his career (S58-65) extended more into the start of the VHL's dead puck era--you can even see that taking effect where the red line levels off a bit near the end. But even looking at the seasons they had in common, it's next to impossible to say that Canmore was a better offensive producer than Boeser, and I think Boeser did better overall in that department (even with two extra seasons, Boeser still has more goals in total). Also, there's no debate whatsoever that he's better entirely than the next-best in Forsberg. This does raise a couple of interesting points and questions:
 
Yes, the players that we looked at in Part 1 clearly had better careers overall than Boeser. But, Boeser clearly had a better career than anyone else who didn't make it. Seeing as there's space on either side of this one player, which side do we draw the line on? I think the difference between Boeser and Canmore is subjective for multiple reasons, but we now have a case where we can't say "this Hall of Fame player was clearly better in every way overall." If Canmore is in, what makes the difference? Does a 6-season career do more harm than better production does good?  
And, another question--if a 6-season career really is enough to keep someone out under these conditions, then why is Bismarck Koenig in?
 
Part 3: The Other 6-Season Mr. B.
 
Yep, here's that "direct comparison to an older player" I referred to earlier. Let's hit hard right away.
 

 

 
And now let's explain where this comparison comes in. I don't think comparing career totals of players across different eras (Koenig was S42-47) does much for us, so we shouldn't take those totals too seriously even though they're pretty graphs that do illustrate that our subjects had similar careers. That's going to be the last time you see Boeser in a chart, though--our best course of action here is to try to contextualize Koenig within his era and try to compare him to the context of Boeser in the late S50s. If we can say that Koenig was exactly to the 40s as Boeser was to the 50s, and one is in while the other is out, that might be a case.
 
The aforementioned Bismarck Koenig: a Hall of Fame player. Not a GM player, Koenig nonetheless played 6 seasons in the VHL. Following pretty much the same scoring path as Boeser, Koenig would also never win a Cup but did manage to put together a few awards, notably a S47 in which he would lead in points and win MVP. We'll be comparing Koenig to... Jody 3 Moons: NOT a Hall of Fame player. 3 Moons was to Koenig what Forsberg was to Boeser--just the next-highest offensive production out of players who haven't made it. Playing between S41 and S47, 3 Moons curiously saw declining production throughout a 7-season career spent mostly in Stockholm. Edwin Reencarnacion: a Hall of Fame player. One of the great two-way forwards of his time (a characteristic only shown by Koenig for a few seasons, so we'll drop that for the sake of analysis but keep it at the back of our minds), Reencarnacion would spend all but 22 games playing for New York, leading the league in goals twice and winning MVP in S48. He's got the lowest point-per-game rate out of Hall of Fame forwards in this era.  
The sake of this one is to try to establish a connection between Koenig and Part 2 of this article, where we established that:
Boeser is the better player than the next-best, without question, and: There is at least room for fair debate between Boeser and an existing Hall of Fame player in Jasper Canmore.  
If we can say that Koenig is easily better than 3 Moons, and we can debate between Koenig and Reencarnacion, then that could give us some fair context to our comparison across two eras. Interestingly...
 

 

 
I think the first point here--that Koenig is better than 3 Moons--is correct. "Fair debate between Koenig and Reencarnacion" is less so--Reencarnacion did have fewer points per game than Koenig, but played one more season at about the same pace and was much more of a two-way player. This actually gives us a little bit more support for Boeser--I don't see Koenig beating anyone else in the HoF from his era, something that's supported a little by searching up "Koenig" in BoG and seeing more than one instance of "well, if Koenig is in then why isn't this other player?"--which was a supporting argument for the late induction of Mathias Chouinard (who also played 6 seasons!) in S68. So, I think it's fair to say that we have something that's at worst comparable to our Part 2.
 
What about Part 1? Can we say that Koenig produced on par with HoF players from the late S40s in general? The best I can find in this regard* are:
 
Lord Karnage: a Hall of Fame player. Starting on defense in S42 and switching to forward immediately after for the next seven seasons, Karnage, like Reencarnacion, was a hard, physical player (winning four consecutive Boulets between S44 and S47) with the ability to score. Interestingly enough, also like Reencarnacion, Karnage would spend all but exactly 22 games with one team (Stockholm). And if you're wondering if that's the same because those situations were related, they weren't--Karnage moved one season earlier. Thomas O'Malley: a Hall of Fame player. Only twice dipping below 100 points in a single season, O'Malley was one of the best of both the S40s and of all time. Described as "definitely the greatest of his generation" in his HoF article, he won MVP three times--and the "career awards" section of said article takes up my entire screen. **see below** Aksel Thomassen: a Hall of Fame player. Leading the league in points twice, Thomassen played seven seasons, including five in Quebec. He wouldn't win a Cup, but did very well in his time and certainly qualified for Hall status.  
*There is a number of players whose careers started around S45 and who have greater point production rates than Koenig. I haven't included them because I think there was a bit of an uptick in numbers in the early S50s--and there were just enough good players with more overlap to make it work.
**I've crossed out O'Malley because I consider him an exception--"definitely the greatest of his generation" shouldn't be the measuring stick; "typical Hall of Fame player from this era" should be. It's also for this reason that I left out Franchise Cornerstone in our analysis related to Boeser, so I figure it's best to keep it fair.
 
And here's our other Part 1:
 

 

 
I think it's fair to say that we can draw about the same conclusions about Koenig from these charts as we can about Boeser in Part 1 of this article. He didn't play as long as the others, but did produce at around the same level in the time that he had to do it. 
 
So, in summary:
Boeser and Koenig both played about as well as their respective eras' average Hall of Fame forward; just over 6 seasons instead of 7 or 8. There's a visible gap between both Boeser and Koenig and the "next-best not in" of their respective eras. Koenig is in; Boeser isn't--why is this?  
 
I think it's fair to back away from the charts and take the time to think critically a bit.
 
 
The Case For Boeser
 
Yes, Boeser has 6 seasons of Hall of Fame-level production. And while the 6-season part can hurt a player, it isn't automatically something that can keep a player out. I think the strongest case for Boeser does lie in the comparison to Koenig--they've got very similar career arcs, and they put up very similar numbers in what look like very similar eras with respect to the numbers put up by the league's best. In each, there's one clear "best" (Cornerstone/O'Malley) with a handful of others still near enough to the top to be all-time greats. And looking at old BoG posts, there was more or less a consensus that Koenig wasn't worthy of the first ballot, but no one ever really doubted that he was worthy of the Hall of Fame in general. Boeser, on the other hand, doesn't seem to make it too far past Victor suggesting the name a couple times--and no one ever said he shouldn't be on the ballot; the topic really just died out. Plus, he's got Canmore kinda sorta in his era, who he clearly beats in those in-the-era seasons. 
 
All-time, too, only two non-HoF players with at least 6 seasons have recorded more points per game than Boeser's 1.43, and both played in the league's first decade where scoring numbers were through the roof. Even counting weird little outlier careers where someone popped off for 2 or 3 seasons and then retired, no one at all who isn't inducted has even made it to that mark since S20 (Matthew Gunnarson with a 4-season career equalling Boeser's pace--no non-HoFer outside of the league's first decade has ever exceeded it).
 
The Case Against
 
First and foremost, we do have to state the obvious: the Hall of Fame players we've compared Boeser to deserve to be in the Hall of Fame more than Boeser does (with the possible exception of Canmore, who we can't fully rule out due to some era differences). Each recorded more total points, many had an additional physical dimension to their game that Boeser didn't, and all have a more impressive award cabinet. And while this is entirely true for Koenig, he at least had the one MVP campaign Boeser didn't. To quote myself from over 2 years ago at this point:
 
 
S47 was cited way back in the day as a big reason to recognize Koenig--and Boeser doesn't have that S47. I'm not at all convinced Koenig would have gotten in had he finished second in goals and/or points and not won much of anything. Even though that would have led to similar enough career totals, that reason would have been gone and we'd probably be looking at Koenig (and, for that matter, Chouinard!) for Hall of Not Bad in some future edition.
 
I don't think just one MVP campaign entirely removes Boeser from contention, though--what I think might do that is a bit of a shift in focus. What if, instead of saying "the line was drawn at this point for Koenig, so let's also draw it at this point for Boeser" (which I do still think is valid), we say "the line shouldn't have been drawn here for Koenig in the first place"? In much the same way that we can argue that, since Koenig is a HoFer, Boeser should be too, we can argue that Koenig shouldn't be a HoFer, and neither should Boeser. The rest of the Hall of Fame crop for both eras is clearly better, and we've seen Koenig brought up more than once as a relatively weak HoF pick and a justification for bringing in others as relatively weak selections. What if the BoG made a mistake, and that's not a justification after all? I think I certainly would have concluded that Boeser doesn't quite make it if it weren't for the comparison to Koenig.
 
 
So: is Bo Boeser a Hall of Fame player?
 
Much like in HoNB, Volume 3, my verdict is that it's complicated. If we interpret Koenig's induction as a valid precedent (and one which was used to--rightfully--induct Mathias Chouinard decades after his career ended!), then I think there's enough similarity to make a valid case for Boeser. If, instead, we disagree with Koenig's induction, I think the entire thing falls apart. I think Koenig was ever so slightly the better player because of awards, but the difference is so small that I have a hard time justifying drawing the line within that smallest possible margin and saying that our standards should be exactly at that point. Either we like both, or we don't like either. 
 
I do think Boeser should be on the ballot, and I might even be inclined to vote for him in a season when we don't have a particularly strong group. I don't outright think that he belongs, but I do think it's next to say that (as the league currently does from the official standpoint of who's in and who isn't) he doesn't and that Koenig does.
 
I hope you've enjoyed this one--it's the most in-depth Hall of Not Bad I've written up so far, and after finishing it I think we do have a borderline-worthy, up-for-debate player that one could reasonably argue both for and against.
 
And so ends my spring break. Until next time!
 
Others mentioned:
@hedgehog337
@CowboyinAmerica
@Will
@Banackock
@Bushito
@BOOM
@MubbleFubbles
@gorlab
@Frank
@boubabi
@OrbitingDeath
 
Previous Hall of Not Bad articles:
Alexander Pepper
Shawn Glade
Jakab Holik
 
3,483 words | see you in a month

Hi there, a lot of you probably already know but figured I’d make a post about it anyways: due to being very busy with real life things for the foreseeable future and not having any real time/motivation to do VHL things I’ve resigned from my jobs.
 
Ill still be around until the end of the season and/or till a new gm is hired
 
ok bye love you 

Hi Everyone! The VHL All-Star Game is back and better than ever! The game will be live streamed this Thursday night by @DoktorFunk and @DarkSpyro (Time TBA)!
For the initial selections 3 players from each team were nominated with one of them going straight on the All-Star team and the other 2 will be on the ballot (link at bottom)!
Without Further to do, let's get into the selections!
 
TEAM NORTH AMERICA
 
Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser 
 
Bo Johansson @Shindigs
 
Vasile Lamb @dlamb
 
Callum Murray @Berocka
 
Napoleon Dynamite @thadthrasher
 
Hulk Hogan 2 @Hogan
 
Sting Chameleon @Hybrid1486
 
Brandt Fuhr @Tate
 
 
TEAM EUROPE
 
Xavier Booberry @CowboyinAmerica
 
Daryl Dixon @Ricer13
 
Mikhail Kovalchuk @Banackock
 
Max Torq @Steve
 
Ronan Lavelle @Arce
 
Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream
 
Tavish DeGroot @rory
 
Brendan Marner @MetalToday
 
PLEASE VOTE HERE: https://forms.gle/fYD4Jy5BBEJfoi9TA
Voting closes in 24 hours!

Graphic courtesy of Leandrofg
(Marcel's stats/Daniel's stats)
 
The Wranglers have dressed in 23 encounters in the running regular season and show a record of 15-5-3 which puts them in the third seed of the NA conference and indeed the league. They are trailing Vancouver and LA by two and one point respectively, but both adversaries have a game in hand.
Since we last reported, all Wranglers have now a point to their names and Lindbergh has already four shutouts, as many as during his entire last season in Toronto. Larry Abbass Jr is now two points behind Daryl Dixon in the rookie points race, but is still in the competion to claim the coveted Stoltzschweiger.
Daniel has been put back to the first line with Wolanin as they seem to gel best, while Gonçalves has now taken over the task to mentor the rookie line. He is still leading the teams in hits, with Janser, Wolanin and Strasmore hot on his tail.
Speaking of the English non-Gentleman, he remains a regular visitor in the sin-bin and is in the top three most punished players of the league with 72 PIM on his record. The next highest penalized player is the Captain with 38 minutes.
From a +/- point of view, Justice and Dan lead the way in the internal scoreboard with +15, good enough for tied-3rd in the league. The former looks like to exceed his personal record in scoring if he can keep up the current pace.
AG is the usual offensive drive on the blue line with a point per game and a league-leading five game winners. He is also Calgary's number three in blocked shots, behind his more defensive minded brethren Strassy and Marcel. 
The veteran Swiss back also looks to exceed his highest point total in the VHL as well, with the points mainly coming in form of assits. He is second behind Phil when it comes to barring shots.
VLG is the sniper of the bunch with a conversion rate of 12.2%, which puts him in the top ten of the league. One could only wish that the young winger would take a leap of faith more often, in line with Gretzky's quote: 'You miss every shot you do not take.'
Dan is back on top of the league in points, though not in goals. The latter tally is at the moment in ex-Wrangler Saku Kotkakoivu's hands with 18 goals to his name. The Swiss Center is also the most efficient player league-wide on the hash-marks, winning 61.09% of the face-offs. He also scored a regular season short-hander for the first time since the S83 campaign, illustrating once more, that the Rotkreuz Phenomenon is dangerous in any situation.
 
All in all with the rookies finding there steps and improving from week to week, and the veteran players stepping up to the plate, it looks like Calgary is a contender again for this season. A view which is shared by hockey's most prolific news outlet VSN (see link to their respective article). Reference in same is especially made to the S83 draft class, when GM Kris Rice secured three first round pick and acquired a franchise quarter back in AirRig GoodBrandSun, a generational left Winger in Landon Wolanin and a center who would play first line minutes in half of the league but never complains about being the number two behind Janser. This 'team first' attitude is maybe even more valuable than his raw talent, which is undeniably on an elite level.
 
Please find for good order's sake the Jansers' updated stats:
Marcel: 23gp, 1g, 16a, 17pts, +12, 28 PIM, 29 hits, 48sb, 1ppg
Daniel: 23gp, 15g, 21a, 36pts, +15, 38 PIM, 68 hits, 9sb, 2gwg, 1ppg, 1shg, 61.09FO%, 3 First Star nominations 
 
 
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132298-on-time-s86-calgary-wrangler-awards/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132368-vsn-presents-s86-vhl-awards/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132563-s87-calgary-wrangler-captains/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132607-a-tale-of-two-brothers-champions-of-the-world/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132733-a-tale-of-two-brothers-change-of-pace/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132890-vsn-presents-the-draft-that-built-the-future-a-calgary-wranglers-story/
 
 

I can add a whole bunch of themed puns if you'd like to really hone in on it! Though really it's just my PR writing style lol

Express Press Conference 
(Week Ending February 5th)
Answering three questions gets you 1 Capped TPE
Answering six questions gets you 2 Capped TPE
 
1. We are now a week into the season. How do you feel about the team?
Even better than I did going into the season! We've been winning plenty, and outshooting our opponents almost every game, so that's a great sign! Of course we can always end up getting swept in the playoffs, but regular season should be a good time.
 
2. What about the VHLE. Are there any clear favorites already?
I suppose the favourites aren't CLEAR, and I'm biased, but I think Cologne is doing the best! And we have the power of double Cobbersons, so we're unstoppable.  @David Cobberson @Hendrix Cobberson
 
3. Do you have a favorite player in the VHL? 
I like Saku Kotkakoivu, the player concept is cool, @DollarAndADream  is cool, and he's been an unreal and consistent player his whole career.
 
4. What's your pregame routine?
I eat spaghetti and throw the leftovers at the crowd of transients I have chained up in my basement.
 
5. The Super Bowl is set. Who's winning, the Eagles or the Chiefs?
Damn, that was quick. I suppose the Eagles, because I don't know what I'm talking about?
 
6. If you decide to describe yourself as indecisive, are you decisive or indecisive?
I mean even indecisive people have to make decisions. It's not that we DON'T EVER make decisions, it's that every decision takes forever and is much hemming and hawwing. Also, as a Libra, the stars determined that I'm indecisive as fuck, and they happen to be correct in that. So *I* didn't even decide, the constellations did.

So with a new season we have a roster! This season the Prague Phantoms leadership is as follows
 
Assistant Captain: Nils Godlander @Moon
Assistant Captain: Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream
 
 
and without further ado the 87 Captain is
 
Captain: Perry Laperriere @KaleebtheMighty
 
Lets go out and do some damage!

We should have had better success.

The Mysteries of My Lack of Playoff Success
 
Playoffs is where champions are born. Players bring out the best of themselves and the games' intensity rises to the highest levels. Teams that perform well tend to see the results from their players whom are on hot streaks and doing well, but for some reason unbeknownst to me, I have not found my share of VHL playoffs success, regardless of how well or poorly my player plays and how well the team had performed in the regular season and punching the tickets to the after party (post season) dance.
 
My first experience of the VHL playoffs comes in the form of Rhynex Entertainment in Season 78. This would be Rhynex entertainment's first and only appearance the in VHL playoffs as part of a, at that time, up and coming young and brilliant looking New York Americans team. The New York Americans finished Season 78 with the 1st wild card seat and end up facing the D.C Dragons in a best of 5 series for the final playoffs spot in the North American conference. Rhynex Entertainment had an incredible and fantastic playoffs that season, notching an unbelievable 3 goals, 5 assists (8 points) in 4 games before the New York Americans fell to the D.C. Dragons in game 4. In what looked like a promising initiation to a long career of post season play, I unfortunately don't see the lights of the post season again with my first gen player, Rhynex Entertainment.
 
Skip a few seasons and the retirement of Rhynex Entertainment, I found myself a second chance with the creation of AirRig GoodBrandSun and being drafted into a @Ricer13 built Calgary Wranglers franchise. @Ricer13 is someone whom I personally feel is an excellent GM. Someone who is brilliant when it comes to building winning teams, and with a young team, @Ricer13 builds a team that makes the Season 83 playoffs without any defensive core. AirRig GoodBrandSun was a huge part of that empty d core. The Calgary Wranglers surprised that season in Season 83, taking 3rd seat in the North American conference and skipping the wild card games. AirRig GoodBrandSun was horrid in the Season 83 VHL playoffs. Not a good taste of the post season. I go 0 -2 in my VHL post season experience. 1 good post season performance and 1 terrible playoffs performance, but both with the same results. Failure. But my hopes are sky high as I know the Calgary Wranglers are only going to get better as the young and promising prospects will grow and form an exciting and tremendous team situated in the cold Albertan city.
 
AirRig GoodBrandSun and the Calgary Wranglers continue to find plenty of regular season success and growth as the team and their young players grow over the next three seasons. GM @Ricer13 was able to draft and monopolize 3 studs from the S83 VHL draft (Landon Wolanin @jacobcarson877 , Leandro Goncalves @leandrofg , and of course AirRig GoodBrandSun) and develop a team centered around these 1000 TPA players and alongside other superstar players in the likes of Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream , Erlantz Jokinen @jRuutu , and Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser. However when the playoffs arrive after each superb regular season entries that included top seat finishes in Season 85 and 86, the same old stories came about. A devastating short post season.
 
Season 86, a first round exit to the eventual Champions in the Vancouver Wolves, 1 - 4 series, AirRig GoodBrandSun was not good during that series, ending with only 1 goal and 1 assist, but a +5. Season 85 was also a first round exit. 2 - 4 series loss to the Chicago Phoenix. AirRig GoodBrandSun had 3 goals and 3 assists, point per game in that series. And, ironically Season 84, where Calgary Wranglers finished the regular season with their worst position in the 4 seasons, AirRig GoodBrandSun and the Calgary Wranglers played the most games in the post season. 7 games total, but a lost in the first round from a 0 - 4 sweep by the D.C. Dragons. Devastation after an excellent 3 - 0 sweep victory to get to the playoffs with the Wild Card series victory against the Toronto Legion. AirRig GoodBrandSun had 3 goals, 2 assists in those 7 games.
 
I have experienced 5 different post season - playoff seasons so far in the VHL. Each with different circumstances, but each ending with the same results, either not making the playoffs, or falling short and losing in the first round. Season 78 was quite unfortunate, especially given how well Rhynex Entertainment performed. Season 83 was a surprise and an expected weak post season showing, 0 - 4 playoffs first round sweep. But then the surprising poor showings for the following three seasons, especially the later seasons in S85 and S86, where the Calgary Wranglers were better, top ranked teams, but ending worse off than their weaker counterpart of S84. A weird post season deprovement for Calgary, from one season to the next. So what is the reason for my lack of playoffs success? Some say it is because I stayed too long and loyal to the cursed team in the New York Americans with Rhynex Entertainment (who had an entire career with the New York Americans). But what about the Calgary Wranglers? AirRig GoodBrandSun is by far a better player than Rhynex Entertainment had ever been. Yet, post season and playoffs performance-wise, a much weaker showing abide playing a different position and era. Some suggest it is also due to playing for a cursed team, and that the Calgary Wranglers should change their name to the Calgary Maple Leafs. Or perhaps, it is simply me. Maybe I am the curse? It is hard to tell. I have had plenty of VHLM success with both of my players, abide never winning any championships and tournament trophies, but a couple of runner ups. Moreover, I have won (a trophy-less) tournament with Team Canada at the Season 82 World Juniors. So, maybe I am not the curse. Kris Rice @Ricer13 once suggested that the real cause of Calgary Wrangler's lack of post season success could simply be the lack of luck and the unfortunate tightness and evenness of all the teams in the North American Conference. I will wait it out and see how things end up in a few more seasons, as it seems only time will tell me whether I would ever find post season success in the VHL. In the meantime, this is my rant on the mysteries of my lack of playoffs success.
 
[Word Count 1102]
[Claim for weeks ending 2023-01-08 and 2023-01-15]
 
 
 

Definitely was a fun season to watch for me. Thanks for the kind words.

As always with lists like these, they will be subjective. You won't agree with some of them, and that's fine. We all have bias towards if we value goals over assists, or if we acknowledge that forwards naturally score more than dmen etc. That's just how it is. I'll primarily base this list off of z-scores that are pretty much anything but subjective and give a very solid empirical score on how far away from average a player's season is. Compared to other players who play the same role (forward/dman). But that still leaves room for the goals vs. assists argument, unless you just have a god season in there where both are so elite it's not even a trade-off. As well as other circumstances that may push one season above another in my eyes.
 
1. Aurelien Moreau @Frank S83 - G: 20 (1.15) / A: 92 (3.10) / P: 112 (2.77)
 
The number in parenthesis is the Z-score compared to all non-bot dmen in the hybrid era for that attribute, with 1+ being good, 2+ being elite and 3+ meaning you're basically a god.
 
S83 for Moreau was simply an insane season, putting up an actual honest to god competitive dman point record in the very first hybrid era season. The one thing you can point out about this first season, however, is that a lot of players had very bad builds, and we were in a goalie drought. So naturally offensive numbers among the elite players in this season *should* be slightly inflated. But that doesn't change the fact that a 112 point season from a dman blows anything any forward has achieved offensively in the hybrid era out of the water. Until S86 Moreau also held the Assist record for the hybrid era with those 92, being beaten by Bo Johansson (94).
 
The one knock on this season is the goals, it's the one thing that makes this record beatable. As the top dmen of this era have put up 30+ goals, so realistically it's only a matter of time before all the stars align and we get 30+ goal 90+ assist season from a dman to eclipse the 120 point plateau. The question is how long will it take? Because for every season Frank keeps this record, it becomes more impressive. No one cares about a record that gets beaten the very next season. But a record that stands for 5, 10 or 20+ seasons. Now that's where it starts getting the recognition of a "true" record.
 
2. Paul Atreides @Mr_Hatter S83 - G: 61 (2.79) / A: 59 (1.75) / P: 120 (2.38)
 
The fact that the top two players on this list are both on S83 Toronto tells you a lot about how insane their partnership was. There are really 5 forward seasons that are nearly identical offensively, all 5 being at 120 or 122 points. But Hatter's season is the only one with 60+ goals, meaning it's holding onto the goal record for the Hybrid era, giving it that tiny extra bit of prestige to push it above the others. Atreides and Moreau both had played together on the stacked meta era Moscow team, but due to sharing the ice with monster's like Idaho and Markinson. They never had free reign to score as much as they perhaps could have. Well the S83 season in Toronto told us there was no "perhaps" involved. When made the unmistakable star players they put that Toronto team on their shoulders and went on to form the most iconic hybrid era partnership thus far.
 
The same arguments from Moreau also apply here, obviously, since it was the same team and same season. Namely that due to the weaker goaltending and slightly weaker overall compete level in the VHL due to potato hybrid builds, their stats were probably a bit inflated compared to what they should have been. But so was Scotty Campbell's records from playing against 200 TPE players most of his career, and we still acknowledge those records. So sometimes we just have to tip the hat to the players who end up fortunate enough to have their best season in the best possible season to have it. If your best offensive season is in a season that has some of the best goaltending of all time. Well, that's just very unfortunate. But if you have that same season in the meta era, you're probably having a Justin Lose S81 type deal on your hands. I won't hold the fortunate timing against either of them.
 
3. Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream  S83 - G: 59 (2.64) / A: 63 (2.03) / P: (2.46)
 
Another S83 entry, how unexpected! I mean at this point it's probably hard to argue against S83 having kinda bloated stats for the players who actually went straight into good builds at high TPA. But whatever, this is one of only two 122 point seasons in the era. The other came from Duncan Idaho on a very strong DC team, where he had all the support he could possibly ask for to help make his season the best one possible. Playing with arguably the best offensive playmaking defenseman in the league that season (Sova) and the Funk winner (Lavelle) there was no lack of supporting pieces to push him up there. Whereas in Calgary, Kotkakoivu was primarily supported by the sound of crickets and carried so hard he pulled Lazar, a clicker, up to a 99 point season alongside him. That's actually insane, there was no reason for Kotka to have a 122 point season with that supporting cast. He just had to will it to be in one of the hardest carries of a team I've ever seen outside of the Edmonton Oilers and their perennial attempts to make McJesus go into a rage induced coma at the vast incompetence of just about everyone else in the org apart from Draisaitl.
 
He was only a single goal off being the other player to hit that 60 goal plateau as well and had he done that, odds are he would have been at least 2nd, possibly 1st on this list. Not because of the raw numbers of what he did, but because of the circumstances under which he did it. I doubt we'll see another season like this anytime soon. The closest one is probably Jerome's hardcarry of London in S85. But since that fell short of the 100 point plateau and the 30 goal plateau both, it diminishes it's value by a fair bit. Just for completion I should note that on goal tie-breaker this season is the Hybrid era point total record, as Idaho had 52 and 122 points.
 
4. Bo Johansson @Shindigs S86 - G: 11 (-0.19) / A: 94 (3.22) / P: 105 (2.45)
 
Now I am biased towards assists, that's why I made a pass first dman to begin with. So I understand that this season probably doesn't make top 5 for most people. But the fact of the matter is that it is the highest assist season in the Hybrid era, and were it not for an absolutely abysmal 4.38% Shot conversion which is the lowest S% of any dman who hit PPG, let alone over 100 point in the entire hybrid era, this would have set the point record too. The only other player to hit PPG with 4.xx% shot conversion was Hari Singh Nalwa in S84 with a 4.63% conversion and exactly 72 points. The lowest S% of another top 5 hybrid era dman is 7.81% for Jerome Reinhart in S83 (Yes, the dman goal record for the hybrid era came off a 7.81% S% season, that's how bloated his shot totals were on that gutted NYA team). So really, Bo had the unluckiest seasons by a top dman in the hybrid era offensively. And still ended the season with 105 points, which is good for 4th among hybrid era dmen. That adds a bit of that "against all odds" touch that Kotka's season had, though for other reasons.
 
Had Bo matched the worst other top 5 S% he would have ended up with 20 goals and 114 points and had he matched Moreau's 10.10% from S83 he would have ended up with 25 goals for 119 points, just one away from that 120 point plateau. So assuming Bo puts up another season like this, but without the cursed S% Moreau's record might very well fall in the next 4 seasons. Though now that I've mentioned it in a MS, Simon will stop it from happening for sure.
 
5. Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 S85 - G: 24 (1.74) / A: 69 (2.09) / P: 99 (2.17)
 
This one is quite the hot take as well, because the raw stats aren't even the best Jerome himself has put up in the hybrid era. Those came in S83 due to some insane stat bloat on NYA, like I touched on before. Which is why I don't rate that season. Also if this was the most impressive season period, not just the most offensively impressive season, then this would go miles below Hard Markinson's S84 campaign. But seeing as we're strictly looking at offensively impressive seasons. I can't in good faith make a hybrid era top 5 and leave this season out. Since it's the dman version of what Kotka did in Calgary S83, on a team that isn't just a shell, setup to make Jerome score as much as possible to bloat his trade value (see S83 NYA). This was actually a real London team, sure it was a pretty mediocre London team. But not bad enough that it's stat bloat central, just the kind of team you expect to putter along and not do a lot of anything all season. But Jerome had other plans, putting the team on his back and willing them into some level of relevance. His consistency this season was scary, and the stat about how many of the game London won Jerome had points in was actually nuts. He *was* London in S85, everyone else was just along for the ride.
 
Had he been able to elevate his teammates to the heights that Kotka elevated Lazar in S83 Calgary, this season would have been contending for 2nd/3rd, as if he had done that it would have automatically resulted in at least 10+ more assists putting this up there as a ~110 point season and making it a mark for excellence to anyone that came across it. But as it stands, if someone just stumbled across this season and didn't know about all the circumstances, it wouldn't even make the top 5 list of dman offensive seasons in the hybrid era. That's what lowers its ranking for me, even though I do find the achievement impressive as hell. The other thing that would likely exclude this pick from just about everyone's top 5 is that most of the league still just hates Jerome for his part in the Metawolves, and that kind of bias is hard to beat.
 
 
This list would have a lot of honorable mentions, but likely I will just make a part 2 of this with 6-10 at a later date. I know a lot of people won't like how dman heavy this list is. But I can tell you that currently, we have 6 dmen over 2.4 Point production Z-score and only 2 forwards. Simply put, the best dmen in the hybrid era have been better than the best forwards in this era. Which is why the common theme in VHFL winners has been an insane d pairing. The gap between the best dmen and average dmen is simply bigger than the gap between the best forwards and average forwards. And I like to highlight that in this top 5, since usually the casual observer just goes "Forward has bigger number! Forward more better! Ooga boga!" which I just find a bit silly and as a result I want to showcase that it's a questionable way of looking at stats. But don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out the VHL userbase in particular, this is just a human thing. We see the same thing in NHL award voting and the like. We just like big numbers, and we rarely want to take the time to find proof that we're wrong in liking those big numbers. Since that goes against confirmation bias.
 
2040+ words, claiming for almost half a season.

Just to recap where we are and get discussions going again before I push this to a final Blue decision:
 
Proposal:
First year - 5%
Second year - 8%
Third/Fourth year - 12%
 
Regression fighters go from:
5->4% to 8->5%
and
7->5% to 12->8% 
 
9th season regression:
Remains full 12%, TBD if we allow Jagr usage or not. I don't quite care either way as a 9 season player who has played my career very safe in terms of TPA, banking TPE and saving contract money
 
In a perfect world I'd like this to be announced next Monday at the TDL to go into effect for the S87->S88 offseason so we give everyone a season+ to prepare.
 
@BOG
 
 

@Members
 
A few seasons ago, and by a few I mean like 15 or so I think, we re-worked the career point tasks because league surveys showed that people were interested in having more tasks valued lower rather than 2 large tasks valued higher. People also wanted some extra meaning behind the tasks, themes if you will, since the old Rookie Profile and Bio had become basically the same thing. On the whole this change was well received but the amount that the new tasks have been completed has been, shall we say, lackluster. Despite having full careers come and go within the new system for example not one person (as of when we got our data anyway) had completed a bio. Therefore the @BOG set out to re-tool the career point tasks again to try and hopefully give them a bit more of a spark.
 
On the whole these changes aren't as large as the last overhaul, more of a tweak than anything else, but should hopefully make the tasks less spread out (since fewer people di the later tasks) and less specialized to specific time periods. Additionally we are adding, for the first time in the VHL, the ability to podcast (10 minute minimum) your career tasks which should hopefully produce a bit of diversity. The lengths and TPE payouts will remain the same and the new tasks will go into effect immediately (more details on that at the bottom of this post). The new task layout is as follows:
 
 
As I said, these go into effect immediately so what does that mean for current players? Rather than blocking them until X season like we did (confusingly) last time we have decided to go for the easy route this time. The tasks are open to everyone immediately (the rubrics will be updated soon) with a few small caveats:
 
1. If you have not already claimed a bio you can write one any time before the end of your career; you no longer need to wait to your 8th season.
2. Veteran Presence has been formally removed; therefore if you have not claimed a VP already you can claim a Career Reflection in it's place. If you have claimed a VP then that is considered the same thing and cannot he claimed again.
3. In the same vein as above, Hello Europe is officially replacing Junior Review. Therefore if you previously completed a Junior Review you are ineligible to complete Hello Europe even if you remain in the VHLE. If you are still within the VHLE and did not claim a JR you may claim Hello Europe.
 
If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask.
 

@BOG
 
Well a message from me but I’ll try to include what’s going on as best I know for everyone so that you guys are aware.
 
First off, I know not a lot happened in here the last couple of seasons. That’s on us really more than you all and I apologize for it. You all know I had a kid 2.5 months ago and have been around but hit or miss on being able to handle large stuff since. @Josh is in a similar boat now, or will be very soon I’m not sure which. This is why I took the backup simmer role last season and he has it this season, we were trying to break up the thing we were most needed for on a daily basis. Anyway, @Acydburn was obviously brought in but does have some family related things to deal with that I’ll let him discuss if he so chooses to, that’s not my place.
 
Anyway, I have gone through and tried to at least add my 2 cents if not “finalize” the more or less active discussions going on in here. I’m hoping to be able to announce them by the off season if not sooner when applicable so if somehow there’s something to add on be my guest but I think most things were waiting for us.
 
So yeah, sorry, we’ll try and do better. You all keep being your amazing selves and don’t let us get complacent. Just know that life is a bit hectic so we’re around but major overhaul changes have been pushed kinda to lower priority than just keeping the lights on kinda duties.

1. For roleplaying purposes - should it be ok to answer and ask question in a press conference using other languages than just English?
That would be nice especially for those who have a hard time writing in English. Otherwise there's always google translate.  
2. What would be the worst possible destination for training camp?
Qatar, but apparently there's a World Cup going on there. So what do I know. 
3. Just how important it is to win faceoffs in the modern VHL?
It's an important part of puck possession which will increase shot totals and obviously the more shots you take the better chance you have to score. I have no idea how STHS determines shot quality though.
4.  Which Prague player is going to score the most goals this year?
Right now @DollarAndADream  and @Moon are leading the way in scoring for our team. I think Saku gets the most goals though. Still a long ways to go. 
5.  Which Prague prospect is going to be the next big star in VHL?
@Jason kranz looks like top young player and as long as he can keep up with his updates, he'll be a star in no time. 
6.  Your thoughts and comments on the fact that more and more teams are using only three defenders?
It's an interesting strategy and if it goes well for DC, Chicago and Warsaw. We could see other teams do that moving forward. I think the lack of depth will catch up to the teams eventually though. D.C. won with a full roster last season. Warsaw is the only team in recent memory to win without a full roster and their 3 defenders we're all max earners or close to. 

Honored to take that award!
 
Good luck to the Wranglers moving forward!

Honored to take that award!
 
Good luck to the Wranglers moving forward!