Plate

PRESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS CONFERENCE Answer 3 for 1 TPE, or all 6 for 2! 1. How do you feel about the draft? 2. Will Prague make the playoffs next season? 3. What are the chances Prague gets a cup in the next 5 seasons? 4. What is the most over-rated hockey statistic? 5. What is the meaning of life? 6. CHRISTMAS IS ALMOST HERE ARE YOU EXCITED!????? (And if you don't celebrate is there anything you're excited about?)

Answer 3 for 1 TPE, or all 6 for 2! 1. Do we buy or sell at the trade deadline? 2. Prague currently has a -84 goal differential. Will this be an issue for future seasons? 3. Helsinki and London are both below us in the standings. Will either of them pass us? 4. Do you play any instruments? 5. Coke or Pepsi? There is a correct choice. 6. Remembrance day was this week. Is there any of your family that fought in a world war? What is their story?

Okay then I will change my statement to wheat because it's still true.

Shrek 2 is great, just not as great as The Last Wish. Also, both rice and bread are whole grain foods so that's why I put them in the same category. What you do with them is completely different but their place in cooking is relatively similar.

I don't understand why the origin of the universe matters to my current understanding of anything. There are things humans will never know. We are not the ultimate universal species, just simply the apex predator on earth. Knowing one thing, no matter how small in scale, does not detract from the inherent value that information provides. And to say that the sheer scale of the universe reverts any knowledge understood by current civilization is just something outside of the scope of this conversation. Humanity, thus far, has been a blimp in lifespan of however long we think the universe has existed for. It is the pursuit of truths, and the cynicism of current information, that pushes us forward in that regard. None of that is done without foundational information that has been critical to civilization. Basic concepts like life and death are key and indisputable. I don't need to know about the origins of the universe and backtrack my entire history as an animal to prove that I am alive. Also, I don't know why resenting the process of working backwards to the beginning of the universe has anything to do with having problems with the scientific method. From my current understanding, the scientific method mostly exists to prevent a person from having bias when conducting any form of science, not necessarily proving something to be true.

1+1=2 is an absolute truth. You might argue that it's a social construct and it does not count but I would argue that it certainly does. I mean even pythagorean "theorem" was understood in Egypt well before Pythagoras laid eyes on it. To argue that nothing is provable unless you know quite literally everything in the universe is to imply that a hockey player wouldn't know anything about stick lifting because they aren't a cook, or that a data analyst couldn't understand data because they're not fully versed in Buddhism. I have listened to what people describe as "good death metal" and it sounds almost as bad as nails on a chalkboard.

So these are my real, controversial opinions that mean nothing but I felt like the VHL pot has been sitting for too long and I wanted to stir it up. I will provide a full list of genuine opinions that are mine and mine alone and nobody will be able to debate me on them no matter how hard they try. This is, for all intents and purposes, a really good idea. - Puss in Boots the Last Wish is one of the best animated films of the modern era and it surpasses all of the Shrek sequels in terms of pacing, storytelling, and morals. - Screaming into a microphone at full blast and calling it "death metal" is only music because the metal stans that listen to it can't fathom having their feelings hurt over the subjective truth. - Rice is far superior to bread. - Drake had a better songs to sit down and listen to than Kendrick did during the beef. Meet the Grahams is a fantastic diss track but horrible music. - If Socrates was right in saying he knew nothing, then that means I can't ever have opinions or believe in anything because it will always be wrong. I have to believe I know something in order to be a human being, otherwise I turn into a B.C. era greek sheep that's well overrated. Anyway you can come at me in the comments.

Answer 3 for 1 TPE, or all 6 for 2! 1. Prague has 5 wins, the 2nd lowest in the VHL above London who has 1. Who will come out on top by the end of the season? 2. Give a shoutout to another member in the league (Not on our team) and share your favourite memory of them with us! 3. Prague had 11 wins last season. Will we have more or less by the end of this season? 4. For my hip hop allies out there, Tupac or Biggie Smalls? 5. Is there a movie that changed your life? If so, what one and why? 6. I think saying that the world is your oyster is stupid. What do you think the world is?

So about a week ago, Tet my VHLF group manager and I were talking as we were waiting for picks to come in. Now, I'm a nosy boy and decided to snoop around Prague a little bit (Since he's the GM). What I saw was a vacant AGM position and no memory of there being a post about an opening. After inquiring about it Tet was kind enough to share that he was upsetti with former AGMs departing to the lands of inactivity. As a member that vacations there quite often I thought there was absolutely no chance that I'd get the position. But you know something? Questions have power. And somehow after about a fifteen minute conversation (I still think he did it because he felt bad for me) I ended up in the Prague Phantoms board room as their AGM. This is NOT an endorsement to raid the dms of GMs that don't have an assistant. It's also not an endorsement of begging. It's just nice that the community is always welcoming even to members that can never seem to stick around long term. Hopefully, people can see that the AGM for Prague will be around for the long term.

Answer 3 for 1 TPE, or all 6 for 2! 1. Prague has traded away Holmes for a 1st, 2nd and a 3rd. How do you feel about the trade? 2. What do you need to work most on as a player? 3. If you could be the GM of Prague for a day, what would you do? 4. What is your go-to song at the moment and why? 5. Prague is a city of rich history and culture. What's your favourite Prague fact? 6. If you had one dessert to pick to eat in the desert, what would it be and why?

Let us obtain bread!

Answer 3 for 1 TPE, or all 6 for 2! 1. Prague had a busy draft class, which prospect are you most excited about? 2. Week 1 is right around the corner! Where are you predicting Prague to finish in the standings? 3. Can you name (And ping) one teammate you're excited to play with this season and explain why? 4. What's your jersey number and what's the story behind it? 5. If you ran a country and could name a national animal, what would it be and why? 6. I'm your new AGM! If you could request one thing from me what would it be?

Joel Jakobs has had pretty admiral performances in both the JST and WJC. As a member of Team Asia in the WJC, Jakobs would put on a show humiliating the EU GM that decided to pass on him by putting up a pgp and getting 4 points in the deciding game to force Team World out of the playoffs and push Team Asia into the bronze medal game (They didn't win). Ottawa's been looking very closely at the playmaking ability of Jakobs. When asked to comment, Ottawa scouts said "He's good". High praise considering I made that up on the spot. On the flipside in the JST, where Jakobs has been skating against the worlds best competition in the VHLM, Jakobs has put up 42 points in 42 games (20G - 22A). This high point production isn't unprecedented for the forward. It'll be interesting to see how Jakobs performs on a depth role within the Lynx system. Brandon Petan Jr. is projected to slot in that top C line so much less focus will be placed on the German Forward in Joel Jakobs.

1. My player's German so probably shoving beer in his face until he passes out. I think he's got Canadian thanksgiving as the Canadian version of Oktoberfest. 2. Well, probably chicken would take over as the substitute. KFC in Asia (Japan in particular) is really, really popular around Christmas for that reason. 3. The answer is nothing so I don't have to worry about it. 4. I definitely think it needs to be shorter. I don't see a reason why it lasts as long as a season (No playoffs). I think the offseason also hurts player retention which I know the league has attempted to fight for a long time. 5. Would you swap the hand you're dominant with? 6. That you don't need to max earn each week to be an all-star player, and that your draft position is also not the value of your player.

Yes very Asian players right there ;D

Well I'm in the Worlds LR because I'm stupid LMAO

Team Asia (And Friends) Total TPE: 2,714 Projected: 5th Place Team Asia has never won gold. And you know what, even though our team sucks I'm still happy to be here. Do we have a capped out 400 TPE player? No. Do we have depth to go the distance? Well we have a team. But you know what we do have? An active locker room and good vibes. So I think we win by default, you can just give us the trophy now and call it quits later. Honestly if we make the playoffs I'm going to be laughing my ass all the way to the bank. In goal you have the tending duo of Ricky Lafleur and Vladimir Trunov. It’s likely that Trunov will get the nod as the starter, but there could be a tending battle happening between the Asian pipes. The Russian netminder Trunov has to compete with the Canadian 4th VHLM selection Ricky LaFleur. While it’s possible a tending switch could happen it’s incredibly unlikely however, as both former S95 Halifax netminders come into the tournament with established routines. Defense is led by another Russian Boris Bone-Breaker. Coming back from the final VHLE season Bone-breaker has established themselves as a top physical presence on the blueline. Following is 8th overall selection in this recent draft Narnia Shaw from India. This two way defenseman will sauce the puck around to that front-end offense and give an excellent quarterback to the Team Asia powerplay. Following are the depth pieces Cysteine and Bubbles LaFleur. Another Canadian joins the backend but not to be overshadowed by Bone-Breaker LaFleur provides some real skill to whatever pairing they find themselves in. Cysteine the Vietnam depth option can also put in some work on that 2nd defensive pair as a stable player. And now we get to the part of the story that falls flat on its face. Team Asia has a severe lack of forward potential so goalscoring will be incredibly low for this roster. Leading the charge is German Joel Jakobs, 7th overall selection in the draft. Followed by the Afghan Alex Ovechkin IIII a prospect drafted a couple seasons ago. To round out the top three you have former Jakobs linemate and Canadian Jackson Jeannot. This line will certainly be outclassed by almost any other first line available in the tournament and will struggle to find the back of the net against the starting netminders of the tournament. The forward core is followed by Kyle Evans (Canada), Jay Sikes (Canada) and Doc Hudson (North Korea). These three players are all second rounders in the S96 VHL draft and could have some potential as playable options. Teamplay and hard work will have to be the edge that these skaters lean on in order to come out ahead of their opponents. But with all three being 20 goal scorers in the VHLM there’s a possibility they contribute offensively. To finish off the forwards we find ourselves with Steven Nichols (Philippines), Andreas Andreasen (Denmark) and Arochimaru Shahar (Moldava). This unique opportunity gives these players to play against other best in class skaters of their experience level. It will remain to be seen if they can keep the puck out of the net. But if they can do that, or at least chip in with a handful of goals, Team Asia (And Friends) might make the playoffs. Just to sum it up, Team Asia (And Friends) are going to rely heavily on goaltending and defense to pull a miracle playoff run into order. It remains to be seen if this is possible. Unfortunately, my best guess is that you read an article about nothing more than hopes and dreams. But hey, that’s what a prospect is after all, isn’t it?

You're telling me Team Europe didn't pick me, those losers

Wait I'm not Asian what

So uh hi. I was incredibly, and I mean incredibly surprised when I saw my name at 7. I thought 100% for sure that London was going to be taking me at 9. There was an interview that I thought did really well with them but Warsaw, a team that did not interview, whom I had no idea was on their radar, scooped me up. Now, am I salty that I got picked after 6th overall? Yeah, I mean, he's worse than I am so why pick him first. Either way I'd never imagine a player of mine putting on a Predators jersey. To be truthful with you, I like the brand of Warsaw. There's absolutely nobody on the team though so that's going to be an interesting 45 point rookie season. I'm almost reminded of Maxim and Kisslinger in a way. The forward and defenseman pair that was going to send them to a cup, but never did. And now we're here rebuilding again. Hopefully we can do better and get a couple banners in the rafters. It was 10 seasons ago that Warsaw won their 2nd Victory cup. I'm looking to double that number.

Image Credits: @Ricer13 Empty coffee mugs and the clamoring of phone calls lined the Moscow Stadium on October 4th where the S96 VHL entry draft was held. While there were only two rounds of picks (and some change) we’ll take a look at each team's needs, what their draft means, and generally give an overview of most prospects selected. Calgary, Los Angeles, Malmo and Vancouver had no picks in the draft and forgoed selecting players in the draft. All of these teams have completely full rosters even with retirements, and opted to go all in last season for the cup. If you’re a first gen you get a next to your name. Welcome to the league! Before we get started however, I want to tell the story of how we ended up at the draft. Notably the trades that completely shifted the outlook of the 1st round. Because trust me, the GMs were busy with 23 trades during a 5 day span leading up to the draft. This draft looked overwhelmingly different on the morning of September 29th. We’ll be taking a look at the trades in chronological order, so long as they include a 1st round pick in this draft class. September 29th H.C. Davos starts us off with a massive blockbuster sending the 13th and 16th overall selections and a 3rd over to Prague in exchange for the 10th overall pick. Jumping themselves up in the draft list by 3 spots in order to secure a top 10 selection. October 1st In what could be called the trade of the season already, New York would acquire Warsaw Predator Maxim Anisimov. This guy is absolutely the real deal and likely would have broken many Predators records had they stayed with the team long term. The price that New York paid however was Gregger Mckegger (He’ll retire this season) and the 6th and 7th overall selections in this draft. Warsaw just swapped places with having no draft to completely shape the future of their franchise. Helsinki joins in on the fun selling their 2nd overall pick to Moscow in exchange for the 8th and 12th overall selections. This gives Moscow two of the top 5 picks in the draft and secures them a choice between River Harrington or Brandon Petan Jr. Helsinki on the other hand chooses quantity here and can load up on deep talent from that first round. October 2nd We see again the H.C. Davos Dynamo made a deal this time with Seattle sending that 10th overall pick to the Bears in an attempt to address their cap space situation by shedding Marek Nowacyk and Sunset Moth. For their return they get a 4th next season but more importantly a 25th overall selection in the draft. October 5th We round things out with, of course, a Davos trade. Davos this time acquired the 15th overall pick from the New York Americans. Sending to the Americans three fourth round picks, a third and that 25th overall pick originating from the Americans. Just to give a quick recap, Warsaw pops in with two picks in the top 10 at a hefty price of their prime franchise player. Moscow sends Helsinki a top 10 and a depth 1st in order to move up to the 2nd overall spot in the draft. Davos threw everything at the wall and would stick to the 15th overall spot. Seattle picks up a 10th overall pick in the draft. Chicago Phoenix Feka Ohi Kau (14th) Ricer Fourteen (30th) Chicago didn’t miss on both of their picks this draft. Feka Ohi Kau will be an incredibly responsible defensive defenseman when their skates land on VHL ice and can pair with any offensively minded D-man in the league. Feka stands out as a trade asset by the Reapers to put them over the edge in their Founder’s Cup championship run. Having a positive impact with 8 points and landing 41 hits in the 14 game campaign. This should shore up any future penalty killing required also. Ricer Fourteen should also come as some backup relief for the future as Ryan Artyomov and Clark look to depart by the time Ricer hits the big leagues. Another Reapers champion, Ricer Fourteen was placed on goaltending duty for the lionshare of the Reapers regular season getting 32 wins in 50 games. Notably with an above .900 SV% and 2.56 GAA putting him in comfortable starting status in the minors. While the goalie had a shaky start and eventually wouldn’t lead the Reapers in the playoffs, there’s nothing to suggest Ricer won’t be a solid backup or fringe starter for Chicago in a few seasons. The Chicago Phoenix may find themselves in a lul in S89 as depth forward pieces Legacy Gaming and Francesco Mancini go on to retire. Neither of the Phoenix picks address this potential issue. However, with the lack of forwards present in this draft, no one should blame the Phoenix for taking a chance on two first gen players. Welcome to the league guys, have fun in Chicago! The H.C. Davos Dynamo Victory Hockey League (15th) This is another situation where a contending team has no immediate needs. Best thing to do is pick the best possible player. Davos opted for a defenseman here and selected first gen Victory Hockey League. VHL has played in the VHLM, not the VHLE, but VHL may play in the VHL after a couple VHLM seasons which would have been one VHLM and one VHLE season combined prior to their VHL season for VHL. Otherwise, VHL has a great career ahead of them as a classic two-way defenseman that does a little bit extra on and off the ice. I wanted to highlight their 180 hits and 171 shots blocked placing them 2nd highest in shots blocked in the VHLM. D.C. Dragons Brandon Petan Jr. (3rd) You’re Not Fucking Retiring (18th) Wefernardo Mackingikus (19th) Manuel Ceson (26th) Steven Nichols (32nd) Andreas Andreasen (34th) The Dragons prospect pool is deeper than most VHL rosters at the moment. The future is looking incredibly bright for D.C. Topping their list is Brandon Petan Jr. This Lynx achieved the career 100 point total in the VHLM last season with an impressive 39 goals and 421 shots. Brandon will be a future 1C for the Dragons and with their excellent leadership and inspiring presence in the locker room makes it an easy selection for 3rd overall. With both captain material and high scoring to boot, the Dragons should be proud to have a player of this caliber on their roster next season. Some may be wondering why You’re Not Fucking Retiring fell to the 2nd round this draft. This is a player that’s incredibly highly skilled compared to their counterparts. However, bias and a common misconception existed that this player would retire early and strayed people away. D.C. however did not take up the opportunity of taking a top 10 TPE player in the 2nd round. Very much a potential steal, this near 60 goal scorer (58) last season in the M provides incredibly high upside with an insane shot, shooting ability (502 shots) and should be a solid 2nd line scoring winger for the future when he caps himself out at the goal of 700 TPE. Wefernando Mackingikus is the last player on the list but certainly not one of the least. Yet another Reaper’s alumni Wefernardo scored more than a point per game in both the playoffs and the regular season. The Dragons look to shore up the other side of the wing with Mackingikus and will be doing just that in a few seasons. A consistent earner, the Dragons have taken a stable pick to round out their draft. Taking a look at history with this player agent will wind you up on a road all the way back to S68. Yet, during all that time, this player agent has yet to produce a single VHLer. History will tell you that Manuel Ceson has already hit their ceiling and will likely not turn into anything of note outside of the VHLM. We’ll see, but my unfortunate estimation is nothing is really going to come of this player in the VHL. A pretty good Halifax player in Steven Nichols finds themselves among the long list of Dragons prospects. There’s so much competition between players at this level it’s not likely Nichols will get the nod up to the VHL. All though Nichols was noted to have a strong offensive presence and decent defensive options, a coach will likely step in and offer some guidance to the player in terms of scope and future setting for personal goals and development. D.C. also selected one of the three third round picks in this draft. Andreas Andreasen went quietly but could prove to be a depth piece in the future. Not necessarily a player that will turn the tides of the rebuild but can be a welcome asset as the forwards from S91 and further move on from the team in retirement. Sheer volume seems to be the draft strategy for the Dragons. There’s a total of 14 prospects in the system. Even if half of them end up busting, there’s still half a lionshare of a team there for them to come out of this rebuild and into the next generation of VHL talent. With the incredibly high upside of Brandon Petan, and the stability the rest of the forwards provide, the Dragons have locked up their core forward group for the future. Helsinki Titans Narnia Shaw (8th) Drew Mac (11th) Kurt Bachmann (12th) Shot Blocker (21st) Xhekajs Middletoe (27th) Sometimes you can have too much of a good thing. Helsinki have a ton, and I mean a ton of forward prospects. Defense was something desperately needed in the system and moreover a defenseman of the future. Shaw more than fits the bill and will be the 2nd defensive pairing behind Ahsoka Tano in the future. Right now, however, Shaw still has some developing to do. Don’t let the stat line fool you, 56 points in 50 games, -14, 144 hits and 110 shot blocks on a completely dead Saskatoon team made him an obvious piece of trade bait where he was sent to Miami. The playoffs showed us exactly what this two way defenseman was capable of. Shipping in a handful of points but shutting down high scoring oppositions everytime his skates hit the ice. Now, I won’t sugar coat it, this pick surprised me. THE MIGHTY ICE WIZARD is more than a capable goalie with a high upside. My best guess is that Draw Mac was selected to give a bit of competition to the backend. That doesn’t really fit with the show-stopping ability and best player for Miami during S95. A .92 and .94 save percentage in the regular season and playoffs makes Draw an elite goaltender. Let alone the 1.75 GAA he posted throughout the entire season. In my humble opinion, Helsinki could use this as a piece of trade bait for the future but that’s not good enough for the quality of this goaltender. Welcome to the league Kurt Bachmann. Yet another much needed defensive option for Helsinki to round out the core for the future. Bachmann played decently well on San Diego, but really shone when sent to a real team. Mississauga threw Bachmann in the top defensive role and he showed exactly what he could do. A massive +44 (7th best) as a rookie should tell you all you need to know about this player. Responsible for both ends of the ice this two-way defenseman is the pinnacle of utility players that the league loves. Some of us may be sensing a pattern here. Shot Blocker is also a defenseman. More of a stability depth option, this prospect will crack the roster in a few seasons and can provide some relief to fill out the penalty killing lines. Not a huge asset, just a position player that fits the future of the team. And we say hello again to another first gen player! Not a defenseman this time but I think Helsinki were picking the best available prospect at this point. Not the highest amount of TPE but could be a depth piece after their run in Halifax comes to an end. We’ll see how Xhekajs grows and leans into the league. As of now, he’s a walk in and out of practice type of player that should crack the roster in a couple of seasons. Being in full rebuild Helsinki protects their own blue line with a top goalie prospect and insane defensive options. The Titans will likely look back at this draft as the defining point of their defensive identity. Shaw, Bachmann will likely break into a starting role in the lineup. With a bit more time we could be surprised to see VHL regulars come out of Shot Blocker and Xhekajs Middletoe. One may wonder who will come out on top in the brewing Helsinki goaltending battle. London United Alagsantere Groenvold (4th) Chazz Michael Michaels (9th) Some teams have been pretty heavy in terms of their prospect pools. London is not one of them and desperately needed some sparks of hope to get their rebuild started. Alagsantere Gorenvold is one such spark. This King (He plays for Mexico) is a brick wall on the blue line. He’s one of the key pieces that dragged the Mexico City Kings into the playoffs. With the kind of leadership, presence, and quality you get from a prospect like this it’s impossible to pass up on. Some may even argue that this wasn’t a high enough pick, and that in any other draft this stalwart defenseman very well could have been the best defenseman in other drafts. In this one, however, London sought to take the opportunity and pick the best player available. This draft sort of had a mini game. There were four critical goalies available and the questions of where they would land got answered very quickly. One of these goalies (We’ll get to Deadpanda don’t worry) was selected 5th which put London in a unique position. You see, London does not have a goalie in their system. Not a single one. Not a veteran, not a prospect, nobody. So London needed to pick a goalie with this pick. Using the Mexico City pipeline London selected the other reason why Mexico was able to make the playoffs by picking Chazz Michael Michaels. This is an elite goaltender and will be among the top 10 goalies of the future. Boasting a .911 SV% and 2.06 GAA in the regular season with Mexico sits him as one of the defining pipe defenders in the S94-S95 VHLM era. It can’t be said how desperately these two players fill the short term star needs of the London United. There are a handful of prospects in the pool but not enough to fill the rotating players of the roster. With the London United stuck in a limbo where they only get enough assets in to rotate the ones going out, one may argue against the quality over quantity strategy that the United are putting out. However, with these two VHL bound players, the United will have to worry about their depth for the next draft. Moscow Menace River Harrington (2nd) Deadpanda (5th) Cysteine (24th) So Moscow is right in their prime. Depreciation will start hitting the team but for the most part the team’s looking to make things last. Fortunately they won’t need to worry about that with the franchise defining defenseman in River Harrington. It’ll only be a matter of time before we’re talking about Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage handing the torch to Harrington. A locker room setter with high earning is the dream pick most rebuilds look for. Fortunately, Moscow aren’t even rebuilding and don’t need them right away so Harrington gets to tear it up in Ottawa for another season. This player would have been an all-star in the VHLE had it still been around but will instead use their skills in the VHLM. Moscow is completely spoiled with this selection. This is a team that has everything. Offense, defense, high scoring, penalty killing, shootout scoring players that kill every crack in the roster. One problem though. Moscow has two backup goaltenders to fill the pipes this season. In an effort to fill that gap again they selected Deadpanda. If you want to know how good Deadpanda is, this guy is in the conversation for VHLM playoff MVP and he’s on the losing team. This is a franchise goaltender. If this isn’t the VHLM S95 MVP I no longer believe in the awards. Las Vegas may never have a goaltender like this again. With another season on their belt, you know this goalie will be hunting records. And that is the future goalie for the current juggernaut Moscow Menace. Just to round things out we have a deep prospect Cysteine. Moscow can either make use of this player when Nils and Obuz find their way out of the system if they need a gap to fill, or could be an extra piece of a trade to a team needing to fill out their defensive options. Either way there’s real value to this player as with just a bit of time you’ll see a serviceable defenseman that will join Harrington a couple seasons later. Goalies were the need and with Deadpanda being selected there’s no wonder how Moscow has managed to stay so dominant. This is without mentioning the dominant player Harrington will be in the VHL also. With so much going for Moscow there’s no reason why we’ll see them falling out of relevancy any time soon. New York Americans Jackson Jeannot (20th) Jay Sikes (25th) Kirill Tyutyayev (28th) Jeffery the Elite Edger (33rd) New York is a playoff team cashing in on the extra value from picks and trades made earlier in the season. One such player is Jackson Jeannot, one of the few Reaper’s alumni that won the Founder’s Cup this season. Jackson Jeannot shoots the puck. Pucks on net. Where do you want the puck? In the net, and this guy will throw it on like nobody’s business. And if you do try to shove him off he’ll just push you away. This is an incredibly offensively minded player that could be used as a really unique scoring wing option on a top line with quality playmakers and defensive options. Don’t sleep on this guy, cause those pucks go in the net. We welcome Jay Sikes to the VHL. A Mississauga center that saw playing time in both the playoffs and regular season. You’re looking at a potential depth piece when cap space gets tight for the New York Americans future. However, with competition like Jeannot, you’re likely seeing a piece of added value to a trade. Which is highly unfortunate because there’s some real upside to Sikes. Plenty of points and an even higher +/- gives Jay a really good look on special teams. Kirill Tyutyayev is almost a carbon copy of Jay Sikes. That is not a bad thing, at all. Some may wonder about the ceiling of this player. I think there genuinely could be a place for a player like this on a championship roster as someone that chips in 10-15 points in a deep playoff run. Players like that have real value and I like this pick at 28th for that reason. You’re looking at a 360 shot, 175 hitting power forward that can have real impact on a lot of rosters. Ultimate Edger welcome to the VHL. Please, for all that is good in this world, APPLY YOUR TPE. That’s all I have to say, likely this player won’t make it past this season but I want to be proven wrong. Consider this the VHL’s official please come back we miss you message . As a contending team New York has ideas of the future behind them. Prospects are nice pieces that can be added on to trades to make the team better now. There’s a lot of value in these players with the scoring ceiling of Jeannot to the two-way play of Sikes. We’ll see how New York handles these assets but as of now I’m not hating what they’ve done here. Prague Phantoms Pan Daffleck (1st) Luc Moreau (13th) Dog Jagr (16th) Doc Hudson (17th) Kyle Evans (29th) Let me tell you something. We all saw it coming. My parents saw it coming (They have no idea what the VHL is). But let me make something clear to you. Pan Daffleck will be a Hall of Famer. Pan Daffleck will break Prague Phantoms records. Pan Daffleck will win a cup during his career. This player has a ceiling that doubles even the best players in the league. A league of their own. If your goal is to win a race, and you have 10 cars of different brands as options, Pan Daffleck is a rocket ship. In fact, Pan Daffleck has already won the Founders cup AND the King's cup. He’s one of the few remaining players that has the potential of completing the triforce. He is the chosen one. He’s Link, he’s literally Link saving Prague from the moon of irrelevancy. With that out of the way we get to look at some newcomers! Luc Moreau was actually one of the best forwards available. A puck first type of player, Moreau excels with his stick. Getting in lanes, stripping players of the puck and making quick decisions to catch and release on net or to a teammate. This is a pretty solid selection and immediately becomes the best winger prospect in the Phantoms pool. With a little bit of time you’ll be seeing a 2nd line VHL staple come out of this player. Just to add to the already stacked defensive future of the Phantoms they decide to add Dog Jagr to the lineup. We see our second Miami Marauder (Moreau was the first) fill in some future ranks for the team. Mason Rice is going to be looking to take a step away from the team next season which will fit perfectly with the projected growth of Dog Jagr. One of the few physical players of the draft, Jagr has laid out 200 hits (The most of any prospect to this point) and has blocked 150 shots. This heavy hitter can take it just as well as dealing it out. A great option for teams wanting to be completely awful to play against. Doc Hudson took a break from racing and has decided to lace up the skates. Hudson was an asset sent to Mississauga in the pursuit of a cup and would end up averaging more than 4 shots a game in the playoffs. A high shooter with good defensive ability makes this player a bit of a gem in the rough. We’ll see how the North Korean can put up in the VHL but my guess is that you have the potential of a depth piece for a hopeful Prague Phantoms team. We find another welcome depth type player to the Prague system in Kyle Evans. A solid option for a team that still doesn’t have the future core set in stone. Evans put up 209 hits in 88 games, so it’s clear the Phantoms are eyeing up the big boys for their future. It could be a solid strategy as Evans puts up some decent points and shots as well. Prague are laughing all the way to the bank with their full set of selections. They get an all time great in Pan Daffleck and solid options for both the forward and defensive core. Even if none of those selections work out they still have plenty in the tank to pull from. Not much else to say besides they selected smart and got big hitters out of it. Riga Reign Mad Villain (31st) Congrats to Riga once again for winning the cup! In addition, they also get Mad Villain, a highly valuable prospect that seems to have embraced the villandry of their personality. For those wondering, this did push certain gms and locker rooms away from this player. I don’t think that really bothers Villain though, he’s happy to antagonize and contribute equally so on the ice. As part of the finals Las Vegas roster, Villain averaged a PPG in the VHLM and had a wild 377 shots. Riga did well here to take this player but it remains to be seen whether or not locker room issues come about. My hope is that this player will be an absolute steal and prove everyone wrong. Also I've been told there's some retirement rumours about this player but they're not even fully confirmed (From what I know). Winning a cup does basically mean anything you did or do during the season is completely validated. The Reign certainly made tons of moves shipping away picks but the lack of draft won't bother them at all. I think most teams would rather have a cup in their history than a lengthy prospect line. Otherwise, there's some real potential here for Mad Villain to come ahead and put things behind them. Seattle Bears Vladimir Trunov (10th) The 3rd goalie of the draft and honestly a steal, Trunov fits himself snuggly in the Seattle prospect system under the Ottawa Lynx banner. Though they played in Halifax last season and had a forgettable performance in the playoffs, put up a very strong .917 SV% in the regular season. Even had a couple of shutouts so this could be a piece that finds themselves a home as a backup with the Bears or as a potential starter elsewhere. Taking a goalie ultimately is a pretty safe choice. At some point a team is going to need one, probably pretty badly, so depending on the time the value can be inflated by quite a lot. More than the stability of a skater. With the wealth of experience in the management group of the Bears I don't expect anyone to second guess this selection. I know I certainly won't. Toronto Legion Adam Joy (22nd) It won’t be long before we talk about a possible Toronto rebuild or re-tool so having good prospects in the pool can be a huge asset as the team turns the corner. Unfortunately, Toronto has a puddle and so every bit helps. Adam Joy is one of many defenseman selected in the draft with championship experience. He’s huge standing at 6’6 with good defense and puck control. A responsible, big defenseman that just needs to work on skating but could find their way to the Legion roster if a retirement happens at the right time. Warsaw Predators Slava Kovalenko (6th) Joel Jakobs (7th) TIJ Davies (23rd) Warsaw surprised the field in many ways this draft. First of which was selecting the first first-gen of the draft Slava Kovalenko. Kovalenko is a strong locker room presence in addition to a consistent performer on the ice. One of the incredibly strong defensemen among many in the draft, Slava was the best first-gen available in the draft and was selected just short of the top 5 due to that invariability. There’s unavoidable risk with selecting a first-gen. You don’t know the longevity of the player. I hope, and trust, that Slava will continue his strong hitting, shot blocking, and point generation well into the future of the Predators and establish himself as the franchise D-man of the future for the Warsaw franchise. There’s certainly potential for it. Speaking of potential. Hi. So we get to my player. For those that have been around for a while you’d know that I first joined in S64. I have not stayed active for longer than two seasons at the same time. Being picked in the top 10 I thought was possible but not likely. Come to my surprise that I’d be selected 7th, by a team that had not interviewed me, as a player that has consistently not pulled through. Maybe there’s hope that the potential will finally be realized, or that by some miracle I won’t burnout again. Jakobs is, I believe, one of if not the only pure playmaker two-way forward in the class. Jakobs scored the most points in the playoffs to win the Founder’s cup, reached 95 points with 300 shots, and overall has played at an elite level. Warsaw took immense risk in this draft with incredibly high potential. Yet another new player! TIJ Davies is a right winger that’s gone inactive since the start of September. I hope they didn’t get burnt out, that they’re okay, and that they know just taking welfare is good enough. Hopefully this can be a welcome call to let them know even if they continue to make busts for 30 seasons gms will still give you an opportunity to prove yourself . With risk being the theme of this draft Warsaw really had not a lot to lose. They have no team, and with this pool their first round of real prospects. It’s likely that Jakobs and Kovalenko are the future stars of the Predators. Or, if things don’t go very well, we could be writing a different article: VSN Presents: Trouble Brewing in Warsaw. Closing Thoughts If you're new to the league and have read to the end of the article then you just read through 5000 words of an article about a hockey sim league. But the VHL is more than that. It's more than numbers on a screen and speculation in the draft. It's about you, the player. Creating and manifesting a career with all the highs and lows that come with it. Whether you click the welfare button or scrounge between cracks for TPE: The VHL welcomes you to the start of an incredible journey. Whether you're excited or disappointed about where you ended up in the draft I'd like to share a point of view with you. Each and every single draft pick has value. But picks are nothing without the players. And in every single case it's the player that gives the pick value, not the other way around. It's up to you to establish yourself in this community however you like, so long as you're following the rules. We here in VSN are excited to make articles about this generation of players. It's up to you if we write about how historic this draft is or what could have been. Thank you for reading and enjoy the VHL! Mentions

1. I think with a couple of pieces Ottawa could use their high picks in the draft to completely overhaul both the locker room and on ice product. The Lynx could very well be a strong contender next season for a Founder's Cup run, assuming a couple key waiver wire pickups happen. 2. Sim leagues are pretty unique but honestly it all comes down to the engine. It would be cool if EA workshopped their engine to work on a text based system or another engine that's more dynamic comes into the fold. 3. No I don't think so. Until teams are growing past two lines you don't need to expand it. There's going to be a small bump with a lot of players with this re-introduction draft but things should smooth out. 4. Should be higher imo. But it's nice because now VHLM teams can build cores with players and not just have spots on the roster that need to be filled every season. You can actually plan for the future and not be forced to go all out each season. 5. I'm planning on staying for one more season before I move up. My earning pace will prevent me from staying down for longer. 6. Probably the Moment by Saint Motel. It's a banger of a song, trust.

98635787K9614173J Doubles Week 5 TPE Uncapped

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