InstantRockstar

The off-season has really only begun to kickoff with a few tasks as a new GM, but it's been an eventful one thus far. The two major 'accomplishments' that have been achieved in LA are the raising of the banners for three excellent members of LA, alongside a flurry of trades that has seen the entire roster shaken and stirred. Below are the "in's" and "outs" of LA from every deal. 

IN TO LA
Deagun Rust (from Seattle)

Sebastien Dokis (from Seattle)
Cooper Skambraks (from Moscow)

Eldon Escobar (from Moscow)
Cameron Elsby (from Helsinki)

Magnus Verlander (from Helsinki)
Barron Kruulenstien (from Warsaw)

Tater Tot (from Warsaw)
S83 4th Round Pick (WAR)
S83 4th Round Pick (MOS)

S84 2nd Round Pick (PRG, from WAR)

S84 2nd Round Pick (HEL)
S85 1st Round Pick (SEA)
S85 3rd Round Pick (SEA)

OUT OF SEATTLE
AJ Williams (to Seattle)
Henri le Massif (to Moscow)
Florida Man (to Helsinki)

Tavish DeGroot (to Warsaw)

Tui Sova (pending FA, to Warsaw)
Jan Hlozek (pending FA, to Warsaw)

So a lot of players, prospects and picks into LA, and a lot of very skilled, dynamic players out of LA. As we reported last week, LA was going to be going through a rebuild and the pieces obtained by LA will help do just that. The LA Stars former GM had already prepared them for a bit of a rebuild by acquiring some picks in the S84 draft, and these new assets help bolster that future build down the line, now having multiple picks in S83, S84 and S85. LA was also able to bring in very many helpful prospects, as well as some roster players that can fill the gap and potentially be used as depth down the road during the competitive seasons for LA. Overall... a very fantastic turnout! 

@Banackock stinks like old farts... yeah, he made me do it. 

Seriously though, while it's tough to give up such an excellent user in AJ, the return was too good to pass up. 

@ajwllmsnPlease go try to win it all, its my only aspiration for you and I really want you to succeed  

@Spade18 Glad to have you on one of my teams again, will be fun to have you on LA! 

@SebastienNot on LA yet, likely next year with the rate you're earning, but glad to have you as a prospect on the team! Look forward to working with you. 

Cheers. 

23 minutes ago, Doomsday said:

Really well done @InstantRockstar, you really went the extra mile for these!

Thank Bek for making them, stellar design, stellar concept. I just did the write-up haha  

Glad I could become your arch nemesis, too bad you didn't join me in the VHL but I look forward to the day you do, then we can reignite our battle. 

Great piece though in all seriousness, I love the write-up. 

If there is one thing I love about the VHL, it's the history aspect and having records of... just about everything really. You can see a teams top players, top goalies, their stats, everything you need to do an article like this. With the history comes great responsibility and as a new GM, I figured what better way to kick my tenure off than with a jersey retirement post. I am actually fortunate enough to be the first LA GM to retire some numbers so it makes it even more special, as I get to retire three of the best players to play for this franchise to date. Without further ado... the retirements! 

 

And that is me DONE. I really am so honored and blessed to be able to induct/retire three absolutely special and unique players for LA. Thank you everyone for reading. 

Biggest part of the job is putting together a roster that I believe can win the whole tournament as well as represent our country as best as possible. Below, are the official members of Team Canada! I am very proud for all of you and happy to have you on this part of our journey through the league. Congratulations to everyone selected! Here is your TEAM CANADA official roster: 

FORWARDS:
LW - Brendan Telker @Telkster

C - Jonathan Ori @ROOKIE745
RW - Alex Johnston @Alex
C - The Seabasstard @Seabass

LW - Nathan Perry @tinafrombobsburgers

RW - Baby Bob @Baby Boomer

DEFENDERS: 
D - Aurelien Moreau @Frank

D - Poopy Peepants @JardyB10

D - Nathan Powrers @JB123

D - Rolf Fizzlebeef Jr @TacticalHammer

GOALIES: 

G - Tater Tot @Trunkxolotl

G - Tobias Reinhart* @Spaz

* = Canada only had one goalie, as such was approved to take a goalie from another eligible country once their roster was finalized. 

THIS IS... YOUR TEAM... THE HOME TEAM... THE NATIONS TEAM. MAKE US PROUD CANADA! GO TEAM GO! 

@comrade cat is going to be the new LA AGM cheers. 

I endorse this vhl.com article. 

@TeeJay11 and @CSkams15I am very excited and delighted to be adding you to the LA prospect pool and hopefully soon, the LA roster. You both look to have promising and bright futures and I cannot wait for LA to be a part of those futures. 

@Garsh never easy to move on from such a top notch user and player, but under the circumstances, the dominoes continue to fall. I wish you nothing but the best in Moscow

 

@zepheteryou know how much it pains me to move you but I know per our talks, Florida Man can serve another team better than here. I wish you nothing but the best in Moscow
 

@rorygot your wish 

@v.2whether it’s on Warsaw or FA I wish you the best of luck! 
 

@Trunkxolotlim glad I could acquire you as our starter! 
 

thank you @dlamb for everything  

Thanks for the first trade

Thanks. 

2 minutes ago, leandrofg said:

 

Hey @InstantRockstar! I don't know if you have interviewed everyone and are in the decision process, but if you're able to squeeze in another applicant I'd love to be that guy! If not... the 24 hour period has passed - is reminding the GM of something and AGM duty?

 

LOL I love it, never too late to apply interviews have been made up and are being sent out, got some inquiries in discord also. I'll shoot you an interview over, decision has yet to be made! 

With all the excitement already overwhelming me, from winning the cup with Rome and making it to the finals for the final time, to finally being promoted to VHL GM, I didn't think the news would or could get much better, but low and behold... it did. Not long after Rome won, I ended up with some deja vu as my VHLM team (the Saskatoon Wild), faced a similar finals dilemma, being down 3-1 and possibly being knocked out at any moment. It was a crazy feeling really, being a rookie goalie for a team and making it to the finals was wild already (no pun intended) but now to be in the finals, same exact scenario... craziness. The sim's happened once a day, and slowly but surely we began to chip away at the games, winning to still be down 3-2, then a miracle win to tie up the series, and now once again the deja vu hit even more... a game 7 with the possibility of reverse sweeping the opposing team, but it couldn't happen twice... right? Wrong. The Wild would come back to win the game 6-3 and win the series to once again make me a double champion (one as GM, one as player). 

This all happened back when I was with Miami, where I ended up winning the cup as GM with the team and then with Seattle as a player. I couldn't be more proud of @BrutalBoost and the whole Wild franchise for what we were able to accomplish. I haven't been in the M for quite a few seasons now as player and around 4 seasons as GM, so needless to say this was such a refreshing win to be back in the place where I started my whole 'GMing' career. Happy to send off Boost with a cup win too

This is amazing Frank, not doing any type of "TPE claimable review" but had to say just how wicked this is. 

Hey everyone, 

@v.2 has informed me that he will officially be hanging up the jacket as AGM for the Stars, and while I'm disappointed to not get to work with him, the show as they say, must go on. So I will be officially looking for an AGM, with the following tasks in mind: 

- Active in LR

- Active on both forum/discord

- Weekly pressers

- Keeping up with activity in LR (making sure people are doing tasks, keeping convos going, etc). 

I'm not looking for someone that has experience, but I can offer the necessary knowledge of GMing that I've gathered over the last 3+ years to the successful candidate, I'll also teach you how to use STHS if you don't know how to and prepare yourself essentially for a GM role of your own one day. 

Please reply here, and I will send an interview to everyone who applies in the next... 24 hours

Thanks all! 

Couldn't be happier for you Boomer! Told you congrats in private but, had to post here too.

8 minutes ago, Peace said:

I congratulated Dooms in private as I handed him the keys to Toronto's discord LR, but I'd like to take a moment to applaud the selection of @InstantRockstar! 

Congrats on a VHL team, bud. It's been a while since we worked together at the management level [and unfortunately this opportunity slides through the cracks again] but I still recall the warm discussions we've had in the past when we were both VHLM GMs. I think you'll make a fine VHL GM in our modern era, good luck and I'm glad to see you finally taking the reigns of a VHL flagship team. 

Always good talks indeed, nothing but great memories when we were both VHLM GM's for sure. Unfortunate you stepped down just before I got to come up, but regardless the words mean a lot. Hopefully we can see you back at the helm of a team in the future! Would be one hell of a story haha. 

LA PRESS CONFERENCE
MARCH 20TH, 2022

1. With the off-season looming, what do you think LA needs to do the most in their off-season? 
2. A lot of teams likely needing shake-ups due to retirements, is this the year of the rebuild? 
3. New GM in town, what is your honest suggestions to get LA back to the big time? 
4. Toronto also got a new GM, congrats @Doomsday! What are your thoughts on Toronto next season? 
5. What does your player do pre-game to get FOCUSED? 

6. If you could add one legacy player to the team, who would it be and why? 

5 minutes ago, Babyboomer said:

i apply

Just publicly going to post that I do use my "recommendation" on my AGM boomer for what it's worth. Been with me all 3 seasons, has huge ties to the team, has already built chemistry with the players and knows the strategy for the team moving forward. 

Good luck boomer!

1. We're in the Cup Finals, how does it feel?
There isn't a better way to describe it other than FREAKING amazing

2. What has our team done to see this type of success in the playoffs?
I think the biggest thing has been growth, both internally and externally. We added some pieces late which only bolstered the roster, and those already on the team stayed committed to updating and it proved to be our success story. 

3. After the season is complete, what does your player plan on doing for the offseason?
Off-season for me is draft time, this is my biggest draft as I go to both a new VHL and VHLE team, I'm very excited to learn who I'll be playing for moving forward. 

4. In your opinion, how has your player grew from the start of the season?
I would say there is a clear difference between my player from the beginning of the season to now. I've grown almost 150 TPE and really proved I'm committed, my players performance has also been huge ever since. 

5. As the season winds down, awards will be the next thing on players minds. Who is our MVP for this season?
I agree with the above mentioned player, Minou has to be top of the list if we're talking MVP.

6. Is there any particular team your player wants to end up in next season? Whether it's in the VHLE or VHLM
I honestly hold no bias or 'status' towards any particular team, I'm just open to landing on a new team and having a lot of fun there, and if it happens to be a team I've played for in the past, I'll be just as happy as I haven't had a bad experience since re-joining the league 3 years ago 

Just now, MattyFired said:

You will do good things.  Past is behind you

Appreciate you Matty, let's hope so Looking forward to big things coming. 

To use the phrase 'emotional roller-coaster' over the last couple of weeks would be absolutely one way to put how this week has gone for me. I started off my third finals appearance tied 1-1, we then went down 3-1... needless to say, I was quite glum. I felt like I was once again going to toss away a prime opportunity to capture some championship 'gold' for my team and I really struggled to let that fact go. I submitted some new lines and I decided to run with them for the next game, and possibly the next game after that, sure enough, luck would be on my side and we'd win to now be down 3-2, I was still sweating, one game could change my whole 'GMing' career and put me 0/3 in the finals, but then a miracle happened, and another win came across my screen, the series was now tied 3-3. I was having flashbacks to the M, where this had happened to me once before, I won a championship via reverse sweep and now I was focused... game 7 was live simmed and I was there to see the action unfold, a 3-1 win despite being heavily outshot as Boris stood tall in net... and captured the cup for Rome. I couldn't have been any happier in that moment, finally after 2 failed seasons of making it to the finals, a bittersweet moment was shared amongst the whole team... we brought it home. 

Not even a full week later, in fact in the same week I won the cup, I'd get the DM I've been waiting nearly 3 years for... not only did I have the honor and privilege of bringing my team a cup, but I was now being offered a position to go to the big leagues, and take over the LA Stars. I've made some mistakes in my life, no question about that, I've made some enemies here, burnt bridges that people won't ever try to build back, and I've coped with that, but one of my biggest achievements here is finally making it to the pros. Over the years I've tried to make changes for the betterment of myself in the league, and I'm glad to see those efforts have been seen. I'm very proud of where I've come and just thought I'd share with everyone my excitement and my journey over the last week or two. It's been one hell of a ride, but now the games have just begun...