SirRupertBarnes

Claiming part 3/3 week ending Sept 27 (holy cow September is almost over)

Review: This graphic is awesome! I always love your edits just for how unique and well done they are. The dual picture is a great idea and I love that font style you used. The effect you added around him adds a very interesting element that brings a lot to the table without being overpowering. Could’ve added a logo but it’s not required. 10/10

Review: this is a pretty sweet graphic. The logo looks pretty natural on the jersey. I like that font as well, it’s bold but not distracting either. My only real complaint is the red band on the waist still having the hurricanes squares on the red band. The fact it doesn’t match the red band on the arms bothers me. Other than that the colour scheme fits together well and I really like that Phoenix in the background. Having the team name on the helmet is a good addition as well. I’d rate this about an 8.8/10

D - Jeff Downey @fishy

@Matmenzinger it’s @SweatyBeaver up for 2 picks not me yet

D - James Rose @Matmenzinger

LW - Markus Nygren @fishy

1. I thought every pick was great but getting schwarz at 10 I thought was a bit of a steal. Figured he would’ve been higher than that. 2. Plate, Emi, and Doug Dimmadome but we couldn’t really have taken them so it’s okay. 3. We filled some holes in the roster and got good value. A- I’d say. 4. I miss the poutine back in Ottawa so I’ll have to find something else as a pre-game meal. Still working on it 5. Stay loose, clear my head, watch footage to see what I can do better. 6. Skating and defense. I need to work on my physical aspect a bit more too.

C - Ray Sheilds @Matmenzinger you’re up

Seems like @Kylrad has had his 12 hours. I guess you’re up @dasboot

Prospect Scouting Report Name: Alec Volchenkov Age: 22 Country: Russia Position: Center Handedness: Left Height: 6’ Weight: 200lbs Volchenkov’s VHLM career was a fairly successful stint. He spent just under two full seasons in the system split between the Saskatoon Wild and the Ottawa Lynx. His first season he signed as a free agent with the Saskatoon Wild but was only able to put up 4 goals and 11 assists for 15 points in 60 games played. After a line boost and some skill development he was able to up his game for the playoffs. In the postseason he recorded 2 goals and 11 assists for 13 points in 18 games on route to winning the Founder’s Cup with the Saskatoon Wild. Following the conclusion of S72 he was eligible for the VHLM Entry Draft as well as the VHL Draft where he was drafted 2nd overall by the Ottawa Lynx and 12th overall by the London United respectively. In his second and final season of his time in the VHLM he put up some big numbers having 22 goals and 70 assists for 92 points in 72 games played. His game improved in all aspects improving his skill level as well as his stats. His physicality has shown some improvement and some say he’s been training hard to work on his entire physical presence. As his time in the VHLM has concluded he looks to make the jump to the VHL this season to join London. We’ve evaluated quite a bit of game footage and come up with the following pros and cons to Volchenkov’s game. Pros: Skating: Volchenkov has some pretty serious speed considering his age and development level. His edgework is quite strong and has the agility to turn on a dime when needed.. He uses his skating to his advantage in all lengths of the ice whether it be getting up on the rush for 2 on 1’s or back-checking to prevent odd-man rushes. Passing: Volchenkov is one heck of a passer. He can pick a lane with the narrowest gap to get it over to a teammate waiting on a one-timer or sauce it up over a defender’s stick right on the tape of his linemates every time. His passes are like lasers and he’s been one of the best in the VHLM this past season in this regard. Defense: When watching footage you can’t help but see him in every zone just because he always seems to be intercepting passes, pick pocketing the puck off a player’s stick, blocking passing lanes, etc. He’s a valuable defensive asset to have on any team and combined with his incredible hockey IQ he’s able to predict and shutdown opportunities before they even happen. Faceoffs: We had to throw faceoffs in here because of his resilience in the faceoff dot. He works hard on every draw and it pays off. This past season he won 59.64% of his 2200 faceoffs. He finished 6th in faceoff % out of forwards with more than 100 faceoffs taken. Cons Discipline: He can take some pretty bad retaliatory penalties that are just unnecessary. He was even thrown out of a playoff game for instigating a fight in the first period. This could be seen as a positive to teammates but for management you don’t want your best players either in the box let alone tossed out of the game entirely. Especially because he’s such a good penalty killer you hate to miss him when you need him. Physicality: Volchenkov isn’t exactly the strongest guy out there or the biggest hitter. He’ll step up when he needs to but if you had to pick a spot in his game that’s the weakest, it would be this. He has shown a bit of promise this past season improving in this area but in order to really shine in the big leagues he’ll need to step up a little bit here. We feel overall that Volchenkov is ready for the VHL. He will likely be a great player for the foreseeable future with London as they look to grow around their young star power. We’ll have to wait and see how he pans out but it’s looking like London made a good choice with the 12th pick, even if they did have to wait a season before his debut.

C - Benny Graves @Kylrad

Claiming part 2/3 week ending Sep 20

I was actually planning on doing that to cover players that will get missed. I just wanted to focus on the more “core” countries first

Welcome back to another entry of the greatest players from the portal era. Today we’re going to be looking at Finland. In case this is your first time reading, the format I use is five skaters and one goalie. If there’s a player who didn’t make the cut and I felt they were still worth mentioning there will be an honourable mention category. There will be a special exception in today’s article so be sure to check it out. Now with that out of the way let’s get right into the list! F - Rauno Palo 1443 TPE @jRuutu First up on this list we’ll start off strong with Rauno Palo. In 577 career games played, he recorded 233 goals and 336 assists for 569 points. The first few seasons of his career with Quebec were alright recording 131 points in 216 games. After the team moved to Vancouver his career started to take off, recording 31 goals and 35 assists for 66 points the very same season. He followed that up with 83 points the following season before having a career year in S67 putting up 46 goals and 64 assists for 110 points that year. He recorded 16 points in 18 games on the road to his first and only Continental Cup win. When the dust settled and the playoffs had ended he was awarded four individual trophies which were; the Mike Szatkowski Trophy for league leader in points, Scotty Campbell Trophy for league MVP, Brett Slobodzian Trophy for being voted the most outstanding player voted for by the players, and to top it all off he won the Alexander Beketov Trophy for leading the league in assists that season. In S68 he was traded to Riga where he spent the last two seasons of his career and recorded 179 points in those 2 seasons along with 31 playoff points in 28 games. Pretty solid career for the 4th overall pick. Although he wasn’t inducted into the Hall of Fame he’s by far one of the best to come out of Finland. F - Joel Ylonen 1256 TPE @Esso2264 Up next we have a very interesting story with finnish player Joel Ylonen. In his 8 season career between S64-S71 he was able to record 135 goals and 311 assists for 446 points. He was a pretty fantastic player, especially in the playoffs putting up 15 goals and 35 assists for 50 points in 54 playoff games. He even won back-to-back cups with Seattle in S68 & S69. He wasn’t anything too flashy, never winning any individual trophies or making too many highlight reels. He did however put in the work and post some solid numbers night in and night out. In his 8 year career he was traded on six separate occasions. Some of which were pretty serious blockbuster trades. I could get into that but that’s not what this list is about and it probably deserves its own trade tree anyway. The largest one in terms of amount of assets was when he was traded to Seattle in exchange for six different assets, including a first rounder. He won’t be a Hall-of-Famer but he did have a solid career and represented Finland well during his time in the VHL. D - Fabio Jokinen 1224 TPE @jRuutu Now we move onto the offensive dynamo on the back-end, Fabio Jokinen. In his 8 season career (6 of those with Quebec) from S52-S59 he was able to record 151 goals and 489 assists for 640 points in just 576 games played. The man knew how to set up his teammates and he did it well. Not only was he spectacular in his own zone, he also was a fantastic defender blocking over 1100 shots in his career. He was a two-time Sterling Labatte Trophy winner for being the league’s top defenseman, along with a Jake Wylde Trophy for league’s top defensive defenseman. He was able to capture his first and only Continental Cup in S56 with Quebec and had a career high 24 goals, 82 assists finishing with another career high 106 points that season. In S60, the very next season after he hung up the skates, he was inducted into the VHL Hall-of-Fame and rightfully so. He was a special talent that paved the way for many more defenders of his kind. There’s definitely been many kids in Finland as well as around the world who have looked up to his style of play over the years. Even the likes of Joseph McWolf may have looked up to him as their styles of play were quite similar. F - Aleksi Koponen 1190 TPE @Will Up next on our list we have Hall-of-Famer Aleksi Koponen. Aleksi played part of his career before the portal era so I had to do a little bit of research to get all of his stats but we did manage to find them in the end. In his 8 season career spanning from S45-S52 he recorded 337 goals and 485 assists for a whopping 822 points in 576 games played. He won back-to-back cups as a rookie and a sophomore in S45 & 46 along with a Mike Szatkowski Trophy in S51. He wasn’t afraid to throw the body around a little bit as well, recording a little over a 1,000 career hits. Koponen was an absolute offensive dynamo and is ranked 18th in all time points. He’s definitely the best offensive player from Finland in the modern era. F - Mikko Aaltonen 1140 TPE @GRZ Now we move onto Finnish forward Mikko Aaltonen. Aaltonen just retired this past season and in his 576 career games played, he put up 232 goals, 277 assists for 509 points. Although he never won any individual awards nor a Continental Cup, he was a consistent 30 goal scorer along with putting up more than 60 points per season. He won’t be inducted into the Hall-of-Fame but in terms of Finnish players, he’s one of the best to come from there. G - Tuomas Tukio 1400 TPE @Higgins So normally I would just be using players from the portal era. However, there were no goalies in the modern era that I felt were worth mentioning so I decided to dig into the archives for the greatest Finnish goalie of all time. Upon some research through the Hall-of-Fame as well as all time goalie stats I came across none other than Tuomas Tukio. Tukio played from S31-S38 and in his career he posted a 359-114-37 record with 62 shutouts and a career .925% with a 1.99GAA. He’s 11th in games played, second in all time wins, tied for 8th in career SV%, second in GAA, and 16th in shutouts. Tukio had well over 13,000 saves in his career along with a multitude of trophies. He is a two-time Scotty Campbell Trophy winner for league MVP, two-time Brett Slobodzian Trophy winner for most outstanding player as voted by the players, two-time Aidan Shaw Trophy winner for league’s top goaltender, and to top it off he helped Helsinki win a Continental Cup in S34. To nobody’s surprise he was a first ballot Hall-of-Famer in S39 where he’s had his name cemented as one of the league’s best goaltenders in history. Normally I would stick to just portal era players but I felt he was just too good and their wasn’t anyone else even close to this caliber that was worth mentioning as one of the greatest players to come from Finland. Honourable Mention: F - Mikko Lahtinen 970 TPE @Beketov One player I felt was worth mentioning who didn’t make the cut was Mikko Lahtinen. He doesn’t quite have the stats or skill level just yet to be considered one of the best. However, he does have a lot of potential to be on this list in the future and should be at least mentioned. In just four seasons in the VHL he’s been able to record 81 goals, 127 assists for 208 points in 288 games played. Lahtinen also has almost 800 hits in his career and even won the Dustin Funk Trophy for most improved player in S72. He’s yet to win a Continental Cup but he has played in 57 playoff games and recorded 23 goals, 14 assists for 37 points. There’s a lot of potential left yet so we’ll have to see how his career turns out but for now I felt he was at least worth mentioning. Although this doesn’t directly affect anything, he is a fan favourite in terms of fantasy picks putting up so many hits as a forward is bound to get the fans to like you as well. I’m sure we’ll hear more of this name as time goes on but for now he’s in the honourable mention category. Unfortunately that’s all the time we have for today but be sure to let me know what you thought down below. Thanks for taking the time to give this a read, I do appreciate the support. Do you think the exception was valid or do you feel I should’ve stuck to the format? I’d love to hear your feedback and be sure to let me know what country you feel I should do next. 1534 words

1. Just train hard and have a good time. Go water-skiing on the lake with boys and just relax a little before getting into the grind. Still need to get settled into London for the upcoming season though. 2. I have no affiliation to either but Seattle has won more often so we’ll go with Helsinki. 3. With my Bruins being out I’m going for NY. If they lose then there’s nobody I want to win. 4. Not overly but I’m a fan of Boston sports teams so I’ll cheer for the Patriots but I’m not a diehard by any means. 5. Ozark is a spectacular show. Disenchantment and Outer Space are great as well. Lately I’ve been watching Jojo’s bizarre adventure. 6. Breaking Bad and The Office are classics

Review: I think this would be a great banner. The edit is solid, good job with making the logo seamless on the crest. The only thing I’d make more prominent would be the team name and logo. The info with the series wins along with the GMs of the team is a great touch. Definitely a great quality edit though. Overall 9/10

Review: this concept is actually pretty funny. You’ve implemented it very well and I appreciate the effort the made. It’s very unique and one of a kind. I like you implemented the name and logo as well. Overall you did a good job for what you were trying to achieve. 10/10

I’m in. Let’s not get last place this time

I was just basing it off the information on the portal because I find it the easiest to navigate. That’s pretty cool though, congrats on the great career!

Welcome back to Part 2 of the Greatest Swedish Players of the Portal Era. Last time we had some pretty good names up there, so let’s see what Part 2 has to offer! If you didn’t get a chance to check out part 1 you can click here -> {insert link here} <- Now with that out of the way let’s get into it! F - Henrik Zoiderberg 806 TPE (@HenrikZoiderberg) First up for part 2 we have Henrik Zoiderberg. Zoiderberg has just finished his 7th season in the VHL. So far in his career he’s been able to record 189 goals and 212 assists for 401 points in 504 games played along with over 900 career hits. Although he may not be the flashiest player of all time he gets the job done and knows how to grind to get the job done. Having been right around a point-per-game in the last three seasons he’s really picked up his performance as of late to put himself on this list. He’s been able to get back-to-back cups in S68 & S69 with the Seattle Bears. We’ll have to wait and see how his final season goes but he remains as one of the greatest players in the VHL from Sweden in the modern era. D - Mats Johnsson 1674 TPE (@Quik) Up next we have the legendary Swedish defender Mats Johnsson. Johnsson had a fantastic career in the VHL recording 134 goals, 469 assists, 1046 shots blocked, and 984 hits in 576 games. Through the years he was a two-time Jake Wylde Trophy winner for leagues best defensive defenseman, Alexander Valiq Trophy winner for top offensive defenseman, along with a Sterling Labatte Trophy for league’s top defenseman. Along with all the individual trophies he was able to capture a Continental Cup in S62 with the Calgary Wranglers. He was able to get all of those trophies in just a 3 year span of his career as well. After hanging up the skates following the S64 season, he was inducted into the Hall of Fame in S66. A pretty solid career and a generational talent from Sweden that we likely won’t see again for quite a while. G - Torstein Ironside 730 TPA (Unknown) Now we move onto the goalie of this list, Torstein Ironside. In his seven season career from S54-S60 he put up a 225-138-38 record along with a career .925SV%, 2.18GAA and 57 shutouts. Although he was never able to get much playoff success he did win the Aidan Shaw Trophy in S58 with the Toronto Legion for the league’s top goaltender. In S59 he posted a 46-14-4 record which helped Toronto take home the Victory Cup which is awarded to the team with the best regular season record. In that season he had a .927SV%, 2.18GAA, and 9 shutouts. Overall he had a great career and will be remembered as one of the best goalies to ever come out of Sweden. Today we have an honourable mention who I felt was too good to not be mentioned. F - Patrik Tallinder 1024 TPE (@Patrik Tallinder) Although Tallinder is on paper one of the best players he just hasn’t played long enough to be considered one of the greats yet. He has however recorded 115 goals and 135 assists for 250 points in 288 career games in which he posted 99 of those points this last season. He’s even won a Continental Cup in his first four seasons in the league. Over time he definitely has the potential to be on this list and knock someone off but for now he just hasn’t had the time to develop into his full potential. If I did this list in 2-3 seasons he would for sure be on beyond and honourable mention. That’s all we have for today. Thanks for taking the time to read this article and I look forward to making more of these in the future. Let me know what country you think I should do next down below.

Review: I really love this! I could just be a bit biased since I’m on London but that’s beside the point. Great job incorporating the logo onto the crest and making it look natural. I like the action shot and how well the colours all fit together. I appreciate the semi-transparent logo in the background as well. Overall great job! 10/10

Review: this is an awesome graphic! It’s simple enough while still maintaining a high level of originality. The text is simple enough, you could’ve used something a bit more flashy but I don’t know if that would’ve really fit with this anyway. I love that effect you have on it as well. My only suggestion would be to have a team logo and maybe their number but that’s just personal preference. Great job! 9.5/10

Great job man! This is incredible!

Transaction ID: 3364664918686002C $10 5 Uncapped TPE Doubles Week