solas

Don’t look now, but Jean-Pierre Camus is playing his final season in the VHL. Originally drafted by the team in Season 73, Camus has been the team’s starter in between the pipes ever since the beginning of the franchise. He’ll be the first ever player to play his entire career in Chicago. He’ll also be one of the first two players to play eight full seasons for a Season 73 expansion franchise alongside London’s The Terrible Trivium (assuming neither player gets traded before next week’s deadline). On top of that, he’s also on track to become Chicago’s first ever player to play 500 games. So what happens when he retires? The VHL’s eight-season (now nine-season) career limit has created a certain balance to the league, an expectation that you can’t get too used to a player or a roster. But for the players themselves, retirement tends to creep up on you. It’s all fine and good seeing other people end their careers, but then your final season comes out of nowhere and you have no idea how to deal with the idea. That’s been exactly the case for Camus, who says he’s tried to just focus on hockey this season but has had a hard time getting retirement out of his head. “It’s hard to imagine the fact that I won’t be playing for Chicago next season,” he explains. “Ever since I got drafted here, I’ve been focused on the team and how I can become a better player. Now it’s weird, because my playing days are about to end and I’m going to have to watch Phoenix games on TV. I can’t be on the ice anymore. That’s going to be hard to deal with.” While Camus’ performances thus far suggest that he’s all in on this season, there are rumors that he has plans for life after the VHL. Since the recent offseason, reports have been swirling that he has a standing offer to work for the Phoenix in a non-playing capacity once his playing days are over. The most likely destination seems to be as a goaltending coach, as Camus has run seminars for young goaltenders in past offseasons. The organization has declined to comment on the matter, stating “Jean-Pierre Camus is a very important part of our team. It would be unfair to both him, his teammates, and all current Chicago Phoenix employees to publicly speculate about his future.” Sources within the team, however, suggest that it’s not quite a done deal. “JP is very interested in maintaining his involvement with the franchise,” says one source with connections to both Camus and Chicago management. “But he doesn’t quite know what he wants to do yet. Thinking about what to do after his career has been difficult for him, and a lot of this season has been about trying to end things on the right note. There’s a good chance that he takes some time off and out of the public eye once this season is over.” “I just want to focus on doing the best I can this season,” Camus says. “The future is too complicated.”

Is Quebec's 27-game streak still the record? Because if so

1. The roster now looks much smaller than the previous seasons. Is there player from the FA list that we should try to bring in? Well I guess now that hindsight is 20/20 I can say that we didn't necessarily need any particular big-name player. But we did need to fill some holes just to improve our depth for this last season. 2. Look into the future and how would we do next season? For S81, I'm imagining Chicago won't be doing too hot. Three of us are retiring after this season, and six more are UFAs in the offseason. That leaves three players left on the roster who are under contract next season. Even if we were to include some prospects coming up, I don't think that's enough to keep performing the way we have been in the past few seasons. 3. Should Chicago consider a rebuild this season or next season? I already went over it a little bit, but I think a rebuild has to be in order. We have our own S82 first, so even if we can't get a top prospect going into next season we should be able to comfortably tank without worrying about benefiting someone else. Mingle and Xin will have some value in the trade market for a contender, even if it'll be their last season. So that could bring in some picks or prospects to jump-start the rebuild. It'd be nice to have a little bit more in terms of moveable assets, I'm sure, but it's better to do it now than put things off I think. 4. Who should plan the farewell party for Camus and Socks at the end of the season? Well it obviously couldn't be me or fishy. And I don't know if I trust many other people here to plan a party. I'll go with Quik since maybe it'd make him active again. The worst thing that could happen is he falls asleep while the TV is on. 5. How has the Chicago journey been so far? Awesome. I was hoping to end up on an expansion team with this player and things ended up being timed perfectly. It was really fun to be here from the beginning and it's going to be weird to think that there's gonna be a Chicago team without me on it soon. 6. Is it finally time for us to draft another goalie? Yes. Draft two of them, in fact. In all seriousness though I look forward to welcoming another goalie to the Chicago lineage. (hope you enjoyed me bumping this thread from the grave lol)

Chicago on a fucking TEAR, you love to see it

Go Sea of Tranquility Rovers!

sorry about that @McWolf

Sure thing! Sorry about that G - Doug Dimmadome

F - Isabella Campbell G - Artem Tretiak @Agito

D - Kasper Kankkunen F - Duncan Idaho @Agito

D - Robin Galante Nilsson F - Gunnar Odinsson @Agito

in before the bell

Jean-Pierre Camus - Rebound Control

Okay now we're dead. Congrats LA! Good series.

Not dead yet

Edit: am I correct in saying you used to be @HF92?

@Frank

@rjfryman good luck. You better do well

G - Doug Dimmadome F - Muffbeav @dasboot