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VHL Wordle https://vhl-wordle.herokuapp.com 2 3/6

Scouting Report: Milan Dvorak Position: D Height: 5’9” Weight: 180 lbs. From: Prague, Czechia Drafted: 5th overall, S82 (Helsinki Titans) VHLE: Geneva Rush VHLM: Yukon Rush (S80) / Ottawa Lynx (S81) The Season 82 draft certainly had its twists and turns, and there were many big-name prospects getting a lot of media attention going into the event. One name that didn’t quite get as much media attention was Czech defenseman Milan Dvorak. That’s not to say Dvorak wasn’t talked about at all - he certainly was. But he certainly wasn’t earmarked as one of those elite, can’t-miss talents that headlined the top of the draft class. There were some suggestions that he might be selected by the Chicago Phoenix at fourth overall, in part due to his agent’s relationship with the organization. But other mock drafts that didn’t consider this fact had him pegged as more of a mid-to-late first rounder, hovering somewhere around the 8-10 spot. So when he was selected by the Helsinki Titans at fifth overall, it was a surprise to many watching. Some sources within the player’s circle suggest that it was even a surprise to Dvorak himself. And most Titans fans barely even knew who he was. So who is Milan Dvorak? After spending much of his career with Sparta Prague in Czechia, the young defenseman made the surprising decision at age 19 to move to the VHLM for Season 80 with a view towards entering the S82 VHL Entry Draft. Dvorak signed with the Yukon Rush for the remainder of the season, and averaged about a half a point per game as a depth defenseman. After the Rush fell in seven games in the Founders’ Cup Finals, he was selected 16th overall by the very team that Yukon lost to - the defending champion Ottawa Lynx. Dvorak then put up 78 points in the regular season (T-7th among VHLM defensemen) as a part of a dominant Lynx team that won its second cup in a row. That brings us to this season. Now, Dvorak will be making his way to the VHLE with the Geneva Rush for a bit more seasoning before he (presumably) plays for the Titans in S83. So what can Titans fans expect to see out of their new hot prospect? PROS Scoring - Dvorak has very impressive goalscoring abilities, especially for a defenseman. He put up 16 powerplay goals with the Lynx in S81 (T-5th among all skaters), a sign that he’s got not only a dangerous slapshot from the blueline but also a keen eye for goal. He’s an offensive threat almost any time he’s on the ice, which is an asset as we move towards a new high-octane offense era in the VHL. Puck Handling - Dvorak’s offensive ability doesn’t purely come from his shooting. He’s also great at carrying the puck into the offensive zone, which makes him a useful player to have in transition. His great hands tend to create goalscoring opportunities for both himself and others, which can often take a decent amount of pressure off of the forwards. Defensive Positioning - He doesn’t necessarily throw the body around like other defensemen, but make no mistake about it: Dvorak is a very intelligent player defensively. What he may lack in size, he makes up for in an ability to cut down angles and see passing lanes. It’s easy to watch Dvorak play and categorize him as a liability on defense. And while he is an offensive defenseman, one cannot disregard his keen defensive awareness. CONS Size/Strength - We’ve mentioned it briefly before, but now it’s time to address it head on. At 5 foot 9 and 180 pounds, Dvorak is certainly not the prototypical size teams would want out of a defenseman. This was a sticking point for multiple front offices - some of whom wanted him to move up to the wing, which Dvorak and his team were dead-set against - and a large part of why many expected him to go later in the first round. This won’t truly be tested until he gets to a higher level. Dvorak was able to avoid questions about his size in the VHLM and Europe thanks to his offensive ability as well as the comparative talent gap of the teams that he ended up playing for, but he might not be able to get away with it in the big leagues. Checking - This is kind of a situation where one plays into the other. Because of his size, Dvorak has developed a game where he avoids having to rely on physicality wherever possible. This is an understandable approach. But it could also turn out to be a drawback, especially as he gets to the VHL. It’s very possible that Dvorak’s skillset won’t be nearly as unique when he gets to the pros, and so he might be exposed by players who are more adept at throwing their body around. It’s likely that Helsinki might pair him with a much more physical defenseman in the VHL in order to disguise his shortcomings. Passing - It’s surprising to see an offensive defenseman who isn’t a skilled passer of the puck, and it might not be considered that much of a drawback in today’s shoot-first-ask-questions-later VHL, but it’s a weakness nonetheless. Dvorak tends to rely on his shooting and puck handling when it comes to his offensive game to create space for passes. This can work, but it’s a problem when things don’t come off as expected. He’s hesitant to make the more aggressive pass, and can sometimes misplace simple passes that lose possession for his team. This is a less serious issue than the other two, though, and can likely be remedied fairly quickly.

Your S82 Shaw winner, β-CHI G

(Bruh)

xavier booberry is the meta killer

you better be good @Dil

G - Rara Rasputin @Spartan

1. From 1 to 10! How did you find this year's draft? I'll go with a 5. I didn't hate it, but I missed a lot - didn't catch the VHLE draft at all, and didn't make it to the VHL draft in time to see myself get picked. But all in all I'm not upset with the outcome. 2. Do you agree with the position you were drafted to? If so, why? I think it's about fair. I went in about the right place in the VHLE considering the cap. To be honest I think 5th might've been too high for me in the VHL draft but I'll take it. 3. Are you happy that you were selected by our team? I don't really have any opinions about VHLE teams other than that I like Vasteras a lot and was kinda hoping to end up there. But it doesn't look like they needed a defenseman so in that case it doesn't really bother me. Hopefully things go well with Geneva! 4. If you had an improvement to make in relation to the VHLE draft! What would you do? I feel like it's kinda in a weird spot where people aren't as interested in it. I don't know if that could be helped with more articles/coverage or if that just has to do with the nature of the VHLE. It'd be cool to see a VHLE mock draft or two, I guess. To be honest I didn't really care too much about it so it kinda felt weird to get a bunch of VHLE interviews when I was really thinking more about the VHL draft at the time. 5. What is your goal as a player for Geneva Rush? Win the cup. Nothing else, really. I want to win all three cups with Dvorak. 6. Following the official retirement of Willie O'Ree! Who is your favorite NHL player? Uhhh I don't really follow the NHL so I wouldn't really have an answer. Sorry.

D - Jan Hlozek @Tate

F - The Seabasstard @Spartan

D - Robin Galante Nilsson @Tate

F - Taylor Mourning @Spartan

F - Alex Johnston @Tate

In

All the logos should be in the spoiler tags here (and then of course the Rush and Storm are in the VHLM section). The Stockholm logo is kinda cut badly but there's a cleaner version with red here and I'd be willing to make a version with the new colors if people need it. Also if anyone needs a higher-res or vector version of the new Vasteras logo I can get it to them.

@CowboyinAmerica

1 WOW, we are finally back in the finals, does this surprise you? Not really, to be honest. I think we were comfortably in the top two teams in the VHLM based on roster strength. Plus we were the best team in the regular season anyways. 2 Our record against Vegas is at 2-2, who do you think will win? You know, I think we will. No particular reason. Just a hunch. 3 Do you have any idea on how to turn around this situation? No but whatever ideas people had must've worked. Can't fix what isn't broken. 4 In the game 7 against San Diego, when we won, did you scream? I did lol and my mom yelled at me I didn't because I didn't even know we made it to Game 7! Was a nice surprise to find out later that we were in the finals. 5 What do you think is our biggest strenght? Depth. Considering players are capped at 200 TPA in the VHLM, once you get to the playoffs star power becomes less important. So the best thing you can do is to have strength in depth with a good amount of players around the 200 mark. And if you look at our roster, we've got every skater above 150 (5 defensemen and 7 forwards capped) and our starting goalie at 200. That's a really good spot to be in for a playoff run. 6 Last week @Steve said that if we are going to win against vegas he was going to kiss every team mates of the Ottawa Lynx, but do you want that kiss to be with the tongue or with no tongue? No tongue. Gotta be safe with COVID and all.

@hylands

1 with this year near to his end, what are yoir objectives for next year in the vhl? I'd like for Dvorak to make it to the VHL and become a solid, contributing player. 2 What do you want to see changing in the vhl next year? (I want an all star game so bad) An all-star game would be great. To be honest, I don't have too many changes I'd want to see. Just want this to continue to be the fun and welcoming community that it is as we hopefully iron out the negatives. 3 The regular season is near to his end, do you have any regrets? ( did you want to score more goals or make more assists?) It's hard to have many regrets about our team performance so for me it's all individual. I would've loved to score more, yeah. Although the defensemen who were better than me seemed to not have much trouble, so I can't complain too much. 4 With the playoffs so near, what are your objectives for the playoffs? Win the cup. Nothing else. That's what I want to do in the VHLM. 5 What team is, for you, the most dangerous during the playoffs. I mean, the Aces or the Bulls for sure. But then it'd be obvious that they'd be dangerous since if we met them it'd be in the finals. Within our own conference, I think Philadelphia could surprise some people. There's more talent on that roster than their record might suggest. 6 Would you like to have a player who wins always the championship but never a personal award or a player that always wins personal awards but never the championship? That's a tough one. I think it depends on the team I'm on, and it's a close call, but in most situations I'd go with championships without personal awards. I've had hall of fame players already, so why not just enjoy the team success with a good group of members?

I remember he had it for a while at least. I think Black Velvet might’ve broken/tied it?

Jenkins is more memorable to me since he was actually a hall of fame player that everyone wanted to sign

So my new recreate is going to be drafted this offseason, and I don’t think I’ve ever really said anything about my plans for this player. To be honest, that’s because I barely have any. I didn’t even know if I was going to recreate right away - I told some people that I was planning on taking a break but ended up deciding not to. My logic was that I don’t plan to be a big TPE whore, hall of fame player this time around, so there’s no harm in just creating at the deadline and claiming 5 TPE pension. What are my plans past that? I have no idea. I’ve thought about testing free agency a bunch of times with this player (or at least after my rookie contract). That’s something that I’ve thought about doing a lot with past players, but I never really end up committing to it since free agency is always more difficult than I anticipate going into it. I always feel bad about saying no to teams who put a lot of effort into their pitch. So I might do free agency again, but I don’t know if I’ll do the Leeroy Jenkins thing (older members will know what this means) and just sign one-year contracts. At one point I was thinking about trying to play for every single team in the league during my time here, but at this point there are so many expansion teams that I don’t even know if I could do it unless I had like four more players. Being on one team for my whole career with Camus was fun, but of course that was much easier as a goalie when only so many teams have a spot so you’re less likely to be traded. Defensemen seem to be more in demand now. Also, I have to say the holiday charity drive has been really fun this year and it’s been nice to be even a small part of it. Time to dust off the old photoshop so I can make rory their sig.

twelve

1 the team is having an up and down moment, yeah we are winning some gemes, but we are also losing some, do you think this is normal? I think it's normal, especially in the VHLM. There's not as much separation between teams in the M, so you can have peaks and valleys. 2 How would you fix our problem? would you changes some lines or maybe just make a trade? If anything I think it's lines - but I don't think there is anything to be fixed. We're the best team in the league and on a seven-game winning streak! 3 Who do you think is the biggest presence on the rink? Gotta be Ragnar Hagstrom. Leading the team in points as a defenseman (plus third in the league in goals/points, fifth in assists) is a big accomplishment. We've got a fantastic defensive core but I think he's the biggest part of that. 4 Now, who do you think is the biggest presence in the lockeroom? There isn't necessarily one biggest presence in my opinion. I'd say Max Torq would be the closest though. 5 if you had to pick a hat to give to the first star of the game (of our team), wich hat would you choose? Something like this comes to mind. Although wearing a hat that involves killing a lynx seems counterproductive when the Lynx is our team name! Maybe we can have a cruelty-free fake fur version of that. 6 Who would win in a fight between me and 16z against a lynx? me and 16z or the lynx? I have to go with a Lynx. That's a wild animal with teeth and claws, and a fairly big one at that. Unless one of you two is like a UFC champion or seven feet tall (or a seven foot tall UFC champion) I can't see it happening. Assuming you're fighting this lynx with your bare hands.