SlapshotLegion

Left Wing - Randoms @hedgehog337 Randoms is what I wanted Ryuu and Sigard to be. A hard hitting winger that can also score. While it took a while for Randoms to find his groove, he proved to be a very capable scorer, only scoring less than 35 goals in his first three seasons. Even including those three seasons, a career low of 18 goals is quite impressive. Randoms’ points category is nothing to scoff at either as he put up 70+ points in four of his seven seasons in a lower point scoring era. Definitely would be a great winger on the power play and just an overall solid player. Randoms would be a great power forward and seems to play a 200 foot game that I would love to have in a winger on my VHL dream team. Center - Podrick Cast @Victor Podrick Cast would be my centerman on my VHL dream team. Cast was a point getter and while his points might not seem impressive on first look, remember that during the early 60s, the VHL was not as high scoring as it was. To have a 174 point season is impressive enough but during a relatively low-scoring period is phenomenal. At his lowest, Cast would score 80+ points. With a point per game pace of almost 1.5, Cast definitely was an offensive threat and a big asset for the Riga Reign. Podrick also knew how to put the puck in the net, with his lowest season count being 33 goals in a season. It happened twice in his three last seasons. Cast’s career high was 79 goals. Cast consistently scored 40+ goals outside of those two 33 goal seasons. That is a center I would have on my dream team. Right Wing - Vyacheslav Smirnov @Banackock I’m a big fan of goal scorers. Which is why I brought in former rookie sensation and Seattle star Vyacheslav Smirnov. While his first season may have soured people’s views on the rest of his career, Vyacheslav still had a damn great career. Vyacheslav never got less than 80 points in a season and his lowest goal count is 36. Seattle had a goal scorer in Vyacheslav, who could pot at least 40 or almost 40 goals in a season. If you wanted to get a goal, pass it to Smirnov and he would snipe it in the back of the net. Vyacheslav would also be great in a powerplay situation. It’s a shame that the rookie season set such a big expectation that he was considered "a bit disappointing" even though he was a consistent and great offensive weapon. Anybody who believes that Smirnov was a bust is dumb. No opinions allowed, I am always right, hahahahahahahahaha. Okay, jokes aside though, Smirnov is great. Defense - RJ Jubis @Jubis When I had goalie Jacques Lafontaine as my player, I was lucky to play in a solid defensive squad that could help make my job easier. And somebody who was there from the very beginning was RJ Jubis. He was from the previous draft class of Lafontaine's. As both a forward and a defensemen, he proved that he had defensive prowess and could hit. He was a major goal scorer as a forward and scored 30+ in all but his first two seasons as a forward. During his one season as a defensemen where he switched to help fill in a gap for the team, he still showed the league that he could rack up points and make passes, even with a lack of goals. He can block shots and just overall plays a very well rounded game. Plus, you can add a bit of a sentimental reason here. Defense - Ryan Kastelic @Enorama You can tell there is a huge amount of Riga Reign influence because of my days with the team. Either way, Kastelic is a no-brainer for me. While he did switch positions in season 67, Kastelic was a weapon on the blueline. Heck, his offensive stats were so similar as both a forward and as a defensemen that I completely forgot he switched positions until I noticed the position category. Despite that, I am including him as a defenseman. Kastelic was an offensive defensemen in every sense of the word. I don’t mean that as his defence was terrible. His defensive skills were great. But Kastelic started his career blazing out of the gate. When he changed positions, some stats dropped but others rose to fill the gap. Kastelic is the player who adapted the smoothest to the change in my opinion, speaking to the versatility that he had as a player, no matter the position. Goalie - Jaxx Hextall @ROOKIE745 It would be a travesty if I didn’t include the best (or at least my favourite) goalie in the entire span of the 70s. Jaxx Hextall was a major force in pushing Lafontaine to greater heights. Jacques was drafted high and had a solid career. But there is no debate; Jaxx Hextall is the best goalie from that class. Yes, Lafontaine was lucky enough to win the Clegane but Jaxx took an okay Toronto team and provided them with consistent goaltending while Lafontaine fluctuated and was backed up by a stack Wranglers team. Jaxx Hextall also has longevity on his side as he stayed in the league longer and still put up consistent numbers. Jaxx will always be my favourite goalie and I still believe he is grossly underrated. Hextall is my dream team starting goaltender. If your opinion is not my opinion you are wrong and therefore inferior. That is what Twitter has taught me.

Review: I find the concept of a team wallpaper for the VHL teams to be a great and fascinating idea. I love the "Choo Choo" caption and the background is very nicely toned. It's green but it's not bright enough to distract from the logo in the middle but also not dark enough to make the background picture unrecognizable. The choice of having a train in the background is great and the way you blended the text into the background is very nice. The logo sized perfectly and placed very proudly in the middle. The drop shadow also helps add some depth to the piece. The font choice for the Choo Choo in the background is neat and I love how distinct it is from typical fonts. Very cool and well done. My only pieces of feedback are that I wish the bottom choo was slightly more visible and also maybe it might help to have the graphic resolution be a little less tall. Other than that, I love this. 8/10

Review: Sometimes it's best to keep the graphic simple and clean! It's refreshing to see a stat graphic that does not try to do too much with the player while also not being text on a plain background. Player render choice is nice and the logo swap is serviceable enough to look pretty solid. Love the slight blue tone on the bottom of the text and the font selection is pretty solid. Having a black border is a very nice choice to make it look contained. I'm also glad you chose some fairly good spots to put the text without needing a shadow or background. The way it's placed does not block anything of interest and looks very organized. In terms of feedback, I wish there was more done with the player and at the very least maybe more interesting text for the player name in order to make in stand out. Other than that, it's pretty solid. 7/10

51. Currently, I'd probably add a backup goaltender to give Flex some rest. Probably would bring in somebody like Juuse Saros. 52. Listen, having burgers during the Super Bowl was great. I'd definitely do it again with the team if I could. It was fun cheering and just hanging out as we watched the ball game, even if the Bengals lost. Should have known better than to bet. 53. It's great to see how we have come together and just started winning games both tight and not as tight. Just a very complete and high-pressure game from us. Dominating in shots help us dominate the scoreboard and so I'm really excited to see this team prove itself. 54. I remember when I first joined in 2018 that the highest scorers would get around 100 so it's wild to see how much scoring there is. My guess is because of how many more teams there are, there are all different types of goalies and a lot more fresh ones. More roster spots from expansion teams as well as more leagues to play in (VHLM, VHLE, and VHL) add to more playing time for players as well. I remember when Riga had enough players to have three full lines (maybe even four) but now we have players playing in two lines. Also, meta. 56. Took him out to dinner. We bond through food a lot if you haven't noticed. Like real bears, we have quite the appetite both on the table and on the ice. 57. 300 assists. Man knows how to pass. If I had to make a comparison, Chara passes to Lose and Tsujimoto like Phil Housley passed to Teemu Selanne way back when. He knows how to get the puck where you want it and exactly where you need it. Absolutely magnificent to watch and experience.

https://imgur.com/a/LQyl11G @thadthrasher

SEATTLE - At the beginning of the season, Sigard stated that he needed to improve his game in the o-zone and aimed to contribute more offensively. Fast forward to now and Sigard Petrenko is on pace for a career high season 40 games in. With 45 points, he is already 2 points away from his career high point count and is on pace to break his assist and goal records soon. He has also seemed to keep his defensive play relatively the same in terms of how effective it is. Offensively, this has been a huge turnaround for the young winger in his Victory Hockey League career. One of the factors may include the fact that he has been given the opportunity to be on the top line with Taro Tsujimoto and Justin Lose, as well as Vinny Detroit earlier in the season. “It’s been an honour to play along those guys. If I’m being completely honest, I just try to skate with them and get them the puck.” Sigard sheepishly admitted. “The lineup is very solid from top to bottom though and I believe that everybody on the roster is tough and hard working. On paper, we might not be the most star studded team but we definitely have the most cohesive and hard-working team. I’m just happy I’ve been able to contribute in some form.”

1. What is the funniest hockey name you have ever seen? Doesn't matter if was in the NHL, VHL, KHL, AHL, CHL, etc.; any kind of hockey name. 2. On a jersey, what do you think the coolest colour combination would be? 3. Both the NHL and VHL have MVP awards. What do you think warrants a goaltender winning the MVP award as well as the Best Goaltender award, considering it is rare for it to happen? (Especially in the case of the NHL).

32. Lots of scoring happening. I remember when I first joined, barely anybody scored 100 points. 33. I personally haven't been on the main VHL discord page so I don't have any real context to what is happening. Kind of weird it's an issue considering barely any blown up drama happens on the forum. 34. Gonna watch the Super Bowl highlights one more time, hopefully be happy that the Bengals won and then go to school, do a test, then sleep.

Review: Having zoom blur or whatever blur you are using looks really cool as a filter! I like how it retains the general colours and shape of the object yet adds some texture to the render. The logo swap is great in terms of it fitting with the torso area of the jersey and the blur/effect makes it look like aspects of the jersey (especially the numbers) are shining or glowing a bit and I think that is a very cool effect to have on a player. It's simple and it looks great with a plain black background. As for feedback, I'm not the biggest fans of graphics without text so it would be nice to have text or something denoting any kind of information. I also wish the face was visible, though, that's a pretty minor thing. Next time, it might help to have a jersey with secondary colours that fit the Lynx logo more, as I found the bright yellow to distract from the Lynx "gold". 6.8/10

Review: I think this was pretty neat! I love the bottom portion with the welcome to the VHLM. Font choice looks pretty good and the way you chose to decorate that area was real nice with the chevrons and the lines. The icy background is a great touch and just screams this is an elite hockey league. The logo is nicely placed and big enough to be noticeable but not annoying. It's very well organized in that section and I just appreciate the placement of each element. Having the small rectangular banners is a cool idea. The execution was a bit meh for me though; they are blurry and it looks clunky having ALL of them on top. Maybe splitting them would have helped because it really takes away from the bottom. If you do have them all together, I'd prefer them to be below the "Welcome" section. Another thing you might have been able to try is having the logos IN the welcome section but I'm not sure if that would make it too cluttered. Solid VHL.com graphic, welcome to the VHLM indeed. 7/10

SEATTLE - Sigard has expressed some frustration in his own play. The young winger is a solid forward in the VHL yet seems to lack a real role within the Bears lineup. His most consistent quality is probably his hitting. Defensively, he is a solid guy to have but his offensive play in his Victory Hockey League career has been quite underwhelming. He showed a scoring touch and promise in the Victory Hockey League Minors yet seems to lack the same ability to score in the Victory Hockey League. Three seasons in and he has only scored 20 goals in one season once. His best season point total was a point count 47, including 13 goals. A far cry from the scoring that he and others expected when he came to the Seattle Bears in the draft, especially considering the tendency for players to score more nowadays.. This was a pattern that Sigard experienced when he was originally drafted in the National Hockey League by the Detroit Red Wings. Despite his standout play in juniors as well as with their AHL affiliate, the Griffins, Sigard had no real standout quality to his game in the majors. He is hoping to not repeat that in his VHL career. “Yeah. It has always been frustrating not being able to score or contribute much offensively. Just gotta drive harder, work harder, and maybe shoot and skate harder in order to get a few in the net. I have to prove myself as a viable scoring option here on this team. Maybe more like Vinny, a physical powerhouse but also someone who can help pot some goals for the team. I'm getting real tired of the same old story.”

https://imgur.com/a/q82sAY1 for my favourite rival @ROOKIE745

Review: Very nice trade graphic! These are very common choices for making VHL.com graphics but yours is refreshingly unique! The logo swap for the Marlins player in the background is clean and I like the grainy-ness as well as the sketch-like quality of it. It blends in well in the background while also allowing the Marlins logo to stick out very nicely. Font choice was excellent and it is very professional and official looking. The border around the graphic is very neat and I love the line in the middle as it sort of adds a very clean looking border without straight up using a solid plain rectangle. Every aspect is similar to the other elements and it just looks very cohesive and united. My only real gripes is that I feel it is overly grainy but other than that, it's a very well done trade graphic. 8/10

Review: Very nice VHL.com graphic! Good choice of player render, the jersey colours match the logo and seem very fitting to it. The jersey swap was well done! Getting the original logo off the pants and even the shoulders is pretty hard but you were able to pull it off fairly well. The helmet logos are also gone which is a great touch. I also love the RGB split effect on the players. The graphic is a good size and you did a good job making sure the effect was not too much. In terms of feedback, I would love text at the very least or clearer renders. Maybe even a background change could help. Doesn't have to be crazy, could just be something like a black and white background with the players coloured in. Also, the bottom stick has a weird gap? Other than that, it's a serviceable VHL.com graphic. 6/10

30. Not as hot as we’d usually like but we’ve recently started to get back on track. It may have taken a few games to get things down but we seem to have it relatively figured out and we’re winning games now. 31. Slightly better start but it seems like the same old in my eyes. Hopefully things begin to change because I have been underperforming my whole VHL career and don’t really have a “thing” I do in the league. 37. A bit strange saying this considering he’s our captain and in my opinion, the best hitting player in the league but Vinny is underrated defensively and is starting to rack up points so my choice would most likely be him. 38. I was able to trade in some games and was able to buy NHL Hitz 2003 for 5 bucks as well as buying the original DS model from a game trading shop so that’s fun! 39. The hockey super power was being to aim every shot perfectly regardless of how hard it is. This includes somehow adding spin to the puck and almost curving the puck as if it was a soccer ball in soccer or a baseball being pitched as a curveball. 40. Probably would be a fisherman. Seattle has shown him the joys of fishing and he has grown to love fishing in the Seattle area. Nothing like sitting back and catching fish with some friends.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hr8g7XGD2bed730NlAsokc68blhxUVFB/view?usp=sharing

SEATTLE - Ryuu Crimson has joined the Seattle Kraken’s coaching staff as an associate coach. He has shown his experience as the coach of a Japanese high school before becoming a coach for the Japanese U19 Hockey Team. Afterward, he was given a job as a WHL assistant coach for the Saskatoon Blades. Soon, he found himself one step away from coaching either a VHL or an NHL team as he joined the Texas Stars as the assistant coach there. His experience in the AHL proved to be fruitful as he won the Calder Cup with them. After hopping around teams in the AHL, he landed a job with the Charlotte Checkers, where they were the temporary American Hockey League affiliate with the Seattle Kraken. Then he was brought up to help coach the Seattle Kraken. For those who are unaware, Ryuu Crimson used to be a Victory Hockey League player, and is the first and only player to win the Daisuke Kanou award as the Playoff MVP in their rookie season. Known for his scoring touch and later his fighting prowess, Ryuu has proved that he knows a thing or two about playing hockey. “I never imagined myself being a coach in the hockey world. Anything can happen and I’m just glad I have this opportunity.” The former winger said when asked about his feelings on the job.

Review: Very cool and original concept! I love seeing some creativity and I found this to be a smart way of using glitch effects and scanlines. Having the camera effect and the text on it looks great. Jersey swaps are looking pretty great. Just an overall fun VHL.com graphic. Love having the border to make the text visible, just wish it was a bit smaller. Also, the date being “1970” is kind of weird. Overall, this is pretty fun! 8/10

Review: Arguably one of the best versions of this player stat/player draft graphics I’ve seen. First of all, I love the Red Wolves/Phantoms split on the player. Very smart by keeping the gloves and stick black and white but the half and half jersey swap looks amazingly clean. Font selection is amazing, looks very fitting. And I’m amazed how the contrast of the “DRAFTED” font to the stat/info font just makes it pop that more. I love the background and there are just so many tiny details that make this so great. 10/10.

18. To that I say, time to pull out the Barack Obama giving a medal to Barack Obama meme. Just kidding. It’s only natural for Bana to pick his own guy considering any other GM would have chosen Kovalchuk in his position. Excellent player and high ceiling. Plus, Bana knows exactly what he wants from him and can directly affect the team’s build through building his player. 22. Our roster and, heck, even our prospect pool has me feeling quite confident and hyped. Great acquisitions as always and as always, our General Magician got excellent prospects alongside the great players we signed. Our core is mostly intact and we’re shaping up to be a versatile (and may I add, very defensively strong) team. 23. A lot of weightlifting and puck handling drills. Also, I have made sure to work on my shooting as well as boosting my skating. After that, I’m going to try boosting up my defensive awareness. A little bit of everything; a smorgasbord of skill practice. 27. One of my favourite pranks to do is putting lotion on all the doorknobs. Typically, people don’t notice and it catches them by surprise. Yes, it is kind of lame but it works like a charm. Though, my favourite prank on him was when we put Siran Wrap across all the door frames at about the level of his face. 28. Well, probably the weirdest superstition I have in my opinion is bringing in a water gun full of pickle juice and spraying it in my mouth. It sucks when I miss and hit my eyes though. Really sucks. In fact, I probably should stop but it’s fun. I also try to shoot pickle juice at the other guys’ face as well. 29. Chest. The Bear is saying “Pucks Here”. Thought that was a pretty funny choice.

SEATTLE - Sigard Petrenko is a young winger still trying to find his way in the Victory Hockey League. Drafted in the first round, it is no surprise that there are expectations; expectations he is anxious to live up to. However, he is used to coming up short in terms of what the fans anticipate. For those who are unaware, Sigard Petrenko was a Red Wings prospect that ended up playing mostly in the AHL. The Red Wings ended up never signing him to an NHL contract and he was a free agent. So, he tried his hand in the Victory Hockey League Minors. Sigard proved to be a formidable shooter and knew how to put the puck in the net. Then in his second season in the Minors, he proved himself to be a formidable hitter. While you could argue the latter still holds up today, it is no secret that his offensive production has taken a hit. “I mean, it does get to you. Pointless stretches, goal droughts; it can mess with your mind. It’s up to me though whether or not I can learn to get over those. I’m glad that the organization has been quite patient with me but this season is crucial. I need to prove my mettle here and show the fans that they did not waste their first rounder on me.”

https://imgur.com/a/cSH0ctD laptop still out of commission so here are some other stuff i chose not to post

4. What are your overall thoughts on your players performance last season? Disappointing. Building Petrenko towards offense now that i’ve laid the checking groundwork. 5. Thoughts on Vancouver winning the Continental Cup? The theme seems to be wild animal teams winning so I think the Bears are next. Good for them but they better be ready because the Bears are coming! 6. What's one move you'd make to improve the Bears this season? Probably just sign or draft a center to replace Gunnar Odinsson. Unless I am imagining things, he retired, so it’d be good to find someone who can fill in the scoring gap. 7. Can you think of ways to improve the experience in Seattle? Honestly, this is more on me if anything but just locker room activity. Even then though, we’re one of the best locker rooms in the league imo. 8. What are your individual expectations for this upcoming season? 20+ goals and/or 50+ points. I’m getting plenty of minutes so I need to be better. 9. What are your build plans for this season? SC -> PH -> SK -> ST. Anything to boost up my offensive game as my physical game is quite developed.

Review: Very refined now! This template has proven to work and it has gotten better every time. Still in love with the white glowing shadow behind the logos, the stylistic choice to put logos in rectangles, and the usage of a reflection of the logo. Font selection is excellent as always. A few things I noticed have improved that I am super happy about. It could just be me but the VHL logo looks excellently placed and just blends in really well. The “Trade Alert” font is perfectly centered and the glow is still beautifully applied. My only two pieces of feedback are that the top of it looks darker than the bottom, throwing off the balance ever so slightly. And I don’t know if it is my eyes deceiving me but the white glowy shadows look uneven when compared to each other. Border COULD be a bit more exciting but honestly, I’ve grown to love it’s simplicity. 9/10

Review: A fitting tribute to one of the Riga greats. It’s a shame it had to end this way but Maxx’s statline is impressively consistent. Plus, it’s amazing how he has never had a goal scored against his team when he was on the ice with Riga. Underrated career and it’s a surprise Riga did not utilize him more considering he was never lost a game with the team. Jokes aside, funny graphic and the statline is an absolute low blow. A funny one though. Border is great and font choice is pretty solid. Jersey swap is immaculate, I always struggle with angles but you found the perfect one for the jersey. Only real gripes are uncentered text with the bottom border and the flyers player in the background. Other than that, really well done. 8/10 (tempted to give you a 0 to match the stat line)