Gustav

Hi! Those who know me know that I've recently moved, and I'm "settled in" enough life-wise that shopping for groceries no longer constitutes an adventure. I'm really happy that I've been able to manage things fine so far, that I've got a decent social life at school, and the like. Overall, stuff has been going just fine...but there's one thing that's gotten to me a little bit lately. Now that I'm no longer putting things on shelves at a store over my weekends, I have absolutely no idea what to do with my weekends. It's not to the point that it's affecting my overall quality of life or anything--don't worry about that, I'm fine--but I was bored out of my mind last weekend and I really don't want to spend tomorrow mostly sitting around inside like I did today. I love watching football, but there's only so much of that I can take. So, I'm looking for ideas. What are some things that you do for fun when you have the time to do them? Preferably, I'm looking for things that are cheap or free and involve moving off my own property.

Awards, because of the loophole that I could choose to win a few Kanous and that almost always means Cup winner. Even if I got Monkey's Paw'd out of championships, that at least guarantees some deep playoff runs. Seattle, partly because that would be funny to watch and partly because they're going to be very strong competition for LA. I have other answers, but I'll avoid them due to some potential for drama. It always weirds me out when people get together and create players in a "family" or something. The Reinharts were/are hard to keep track of sometimes and it looks like McFleury is the next name we'll be seeing everywhere for a while. I won't judge what makes others happy, but it's a gimmick that I don't see myself following. 1. Your current team ceases to exist, and you become a free agent who MUST sign somewhere else. Where do you go and why? 2. What's something specific that you either like or dislike about the VHLM? 3. How is your favorite NHL team doing?

They can? I guess "end of the season" might be interpreted otherwise, but that wasn't the intent.

Changeling (11-12-2022): Updated Rule 1.1:

You're GM of the Stars for this season. What are 3 things you do to make the team better and prepare for the future?

HELLO VHLM! You thought we were done this offseason? THINK AGAIN! In the spirit of consistently improving and making the VHLM what we want it to be (and thinking about what waivers on the portal will let us do), it's time for another thing. In recent times, VHLM teams have struggled with having an active goaltender on their rosters and have often been forced to use bots. As we all know, rules regarding mandatory release of inactive players have generally been followed very well since their implementation, but that has led to some difficulty in net--nowhere else on the roster does the activity of one player have so much influence on the performance of the team as a whole, and we feel that this is somewhat unfair as teams should not be effectively punished for one player's activity dropping off. Due to this, the following will be added to the VHLM's Rule 1.1: Due to current restrictions with the portal, these players must be claimed and assigned manually. @Spartan will follow up with more information where this is concerned in the VHLM GM forum, but be prepared for the moment to be in contact with us to have players assigned to you. @VHLM GM

VHL Canucks fans in TEARS at being out-merchandised by the Roughriders. I went and verified that this was at least true as of 2011...which, given the hype for them in 2011, is arguably more glorious than that being true now. I kinda hope it is because I literally never think about the Roughriders and before today I couldn't have told you where they played. Glad I could seduce you If I ever went FA with Vandelay (or anyone else, not that the current goaler market makes FA super realistic, at least not with a lot of options) thinking about who I'd be talking to as a member of that team would do a lot to influence my decision, and that's why I also think it's important to represent your team as a player. The GM can do a lot of work in this regard and is usually the most important component, but spamming "Art Vandelay" on the forum might eventually make someone want to play with Art Vandelay.

...that isn't exactly surprising.

I've always read it as "Leandro F.G." and I think you can't read if you think otherwise.

When I wrote my "best player in every draft class" article I learned that was more common than you'd think. I want to say it's less of a thing in the portal era but I also don't have anything to back that up.

It could be an absolute legend!

That’s…a familiar name I think. I don’t think you know me, but if you’re coming back, welcome back!

I'll be brutally honest and say that--completely aside from anything to do with me being London's AGM (where I'm barely involved/invested anyway and paid zero attention to this draft), this is the type of situation we need to see more of in our league, and I'm glad a minor roadblock got thrown in the way of this season's draft (if only for a few minutes). You have every right as a player to team up and ask to be drafted together, and you also have every right to try to handcuff the GMs into making that happen by threatening to leave otherwise. It's not a move I'll ever support or understand, I think it's borderline unfair draft manipulation, and I hated this when it happened when I was a GM, but whatever makes you happy. It's not against the rules, so I'm not going to judge that when it comes up. I'm just also of the opinion that every player on the board should be considered fair game. You have every right as a GM to pick one player in question and wait for the other to fall below their draft grade. After all, no one will want that player, right? Not a bad move by Helsinki in any regard, especially given that there's a decent track record of success for this sort of thing. Up until this point, it's really nobody's fault. Again, I don't love it, but everything is allowed and to each their own. The thing is, you also have every right to grab that other player and make the GM pay up. This was a smart, fair move by @Dil (can't believe I'd use that in a sentence) and what I hope ends up being a more common response to other "we'll only play together" situations when they come up in the future. Especially since, in the end, the players in question got what they wanted!

ART FUCKING VANDELAY

Imagine the absolute madness we'd see if we just...removed the cap. 2019 me would never have left the house.

On the other hand, those players will have fewer SB at forward and fewer points on D. It's a trade-off (plus there's some disadvantage handed out by STHS when playing out of position in that way, so I don't anticipate that putting someone above everyone else). If that situation ever does come up, I like to think the difference in (namely) SB would be enough for people to take a second look at how that player was used in the lines, so as long as we can understand the differences enough to react when things are way off, I think we'll be OK.

In the spirit of Christmas, or even just the holiday season and helping kids in general...we can donate to a toy drive. Marine Toys for Tots is definitely the largest one in the US... ...and there's a Canadian one as well.

CONTEXT I was fairly happy to be chosen as VHLM Commissioner, but imagine how excited I was to find out that the VHLM Commish team is generally allowed to do its own thing, making its own rules and policy changes as it sees fit and executive-ordering things, for the most part. It's arguably more power in some respects than the VHL Commissioners have, because people care less about the M the blue team has to run a lot of things through BoG, where topics can either be dealt with reasonably and smartly or sit around in purgatory for a year, depending on what they are and how we're feeling. I went looking for some things I'd written about what I didn't like about the VHLM a while ago, and I was always familiar with my first write-up about what I didn't like at the time, which may have somewhat influenced the current implementation of the all-or-nothing (and choosing nothing) rule regarding inactives and contained some of my initial thoughts about the waiver system not being good enough. I'd forgotten, though, all about this far more comprehensive article containing an updated list of complaints, my own first vision of a waiver system on the portal, and a few ways that I disagreed with how some of my opinions had been interpreted under the VHLM's management of the time. The thing is, I'd more or less forgotten I ever wrote that second article, about a year ago, and when I read it again I'm realizing that I've had mostly the same issues with the VHLM over the past year, and that I've followed mostly the same vision to fixing them as commissioner. I'd yelled (with the support of some others) until the double-shifting rule of the time was reduced to playoffs only (and, as of tonight, completely eliminated!), advocated for the portal waiver system until it was finally developed (with the help of many others along the way), and since being hired, we've succeeded in tightening pick limits. In short--minus the idea of relaxing the current IA rule--everything I proposed a year ago has come to fruition. And far more of that is due to just...being able to do things than anything else. I'm not trying to take credit for every change that's happened in the VHLM. In fact, far from it--I'm blessed to be working with someone in @Spartan who's organized in exactly all the ways that I am not but is able to work toward all the same objectives nonetheless. It's especially nice that if one of us has an idea, we can usually agree on its conclusion within a day or two, and that's far more efficient than any sort of league bureaucracy would make it happen. But...what's coming in the future? Most of my big ideas have been accomplished. I like to think we've done a good job so far, and I like to think the VHLM is a better place already than it was just over a season ago when we took over. I'll be honest, I haven't had many new big ideas since I wrote that article, so I've got no clue what I want to do beyond it. Maybe we've managed to create the utopia I'd imagined--that would be nice. But I know we haven't and there will always be things to fix and all that. It's definitely nice that we're rolling back on some unnecessary stuff as well--especially in the VHLM, "ban this" or "restrict this" is often seen as the solution to everything, and I really appreciate that we can make a difference by doing the exact opposite and it's received all the same. So, thanks to all of you for being part of this lovely world, and I can't wait to make it better.

Changeling (11-6-2022): Overhauled Rule 2.2 as follows:

Hello all! You've seen me hinting that some things may be on the way as a result of the waiver system changing. and here's part of it. Getting straight to the point: The above rule has been eliminated, effective immediately. Given that there is no reason to incentivize offers, as all offers are now given automatically, we see no reason to restrict what GMs can and cannot do with their lines based on any incentive. On to a separate point... Last season, a question was raised to us regarding the placement of players within the lines of a team, wherein a team was found to be playing forwards on defense when other teams were under the impression that this was not allowed. As certain teams had been managed in a way that put them at a disadvantage as a result of this perception, we chose to outlaw the use of players out of position for the remainder of S85 so that all teams could play under the same conditions. After further discussion, we have agreed that teams should be allowed to use players as they wish, under certain conditions, as the mid-season "every team should face the same conditions" factor is no longer a factor. As a result, Rule 2.2 will now become: @VHLM GM @VHLM Commissioner

Stop being me smh

Welp time to quit

I genuinely have no recollection of you having the portal idea first, nor do I remember not liking it. If we're talking late 2019 it's probably because I was good at waivers and didn't want to stop being good at waivers (and now that I'm typing this, you're saying that). Props for having what was ultimately a very good idea I think constantly being on the forum is a downside in almost all contexts. Even if it can help the players...I've seen people saying things like "well, if you're not online while you're in school during the day, you don't deserve to be a GM" which is bullshit and not the type of high activity standard we're going for. Waiver signings plus more trade restrictions will very likely make competing more accessible to teams who aren't trade-heavy. Ultimately, we're definitely looking for someone who's good for the players much more than someone who can build a cup-winner. I consider S67, for example, a good season for the Hounds because we weren't a good team but still managed to produce a few actives. Gustav WOULD and DOES listen to things you do. Gustav would also at the very least put you on the short list were you to apply for a job, and if you didn't get it we could safely blame Spartan for everything. You were definitely too hard on yourself last time around and I think coming into it from that perspective, you could do well. "In New Jersey, where Spartan is, people are nice on the roads" BRUH