solas

Week 2 of 3.
 
First VHLE related poll will be coming possibly as soon as this weekend! Watch this space.

Fun fact: if you google "derphorse logo" this is one of the very first pictures that comes up. Google needs to learn that this beast won a fight to the death with the derphorse.

The recent announcement of the VHL: Europe has got me excited for the concept of new (and old) cities getting official teams in the VHL universe. I am a sucker for history, but also I would like to see the best representation of Europe as a whole in the Victory Hockey League Cinematic Universe. 
 
Here is a chart of countries by registered hockey players:

 
Now, obviously, the VHL doesn't really need hockey players, nor population, leading to some "fun" cities getting teams (Davos), but I think it's still noteworthy. Looking at the chart, as it applies to the VHLE, France, Germany, Slovakia, Norway, and Hungary are the top 5 countries by registered skaters in Europe that do not have representation on this site. While I do think a one or two Swedish teams are going to make it into the new league, I would like to see at least half, or 3 teams, in countries that do not have a team currently. 
 
In my opinion, those should be: 
Germany 🇩🇪 (Cologne, Berlin, or Hamburg)
France 🇫🇷 (Nice, Marseilles, or Rouen)
and for a fun one, I'd like to see Hungary 🇭🇺 (Budapest being the only plausible option imo)
 
The other 3, I'd like to see as revived franchises from VHL past. Vasteras, Stockholm, and Bratislava. Obviously I didn't put a ton of thought into it, but nonetheless I am super excited to see what teams and cities make the cut. If my wishes were granted, we would add 4 new countries into the league, which I think should be the bare minimum for the VHLE, seeing that it is representing Europe solely. 
 
(270-ish words)

Hopefully this will also integrate a relegation/promotion system with franchises

mood

A touching thought . But no.
 
 
jk, I got the wolf baby

 

I think so, or at least it had a lot of traction TO be a thing.
 
We had a member who went by Nagger (aka Laker12 aka James Platts, the man who the Welfare Program is named after). I don't know if this was a South Park reference or not, but whatever.
 
Anyway, for all of my personal history in the league, his avatar was that of an iconic wolf. Thus, the iconic member and the iconic profile picture briefly drummed up popularity as its own team.
 
To this day I'll still support the Seamen and the Naggerwolves. I don't know if I still have the wolf on file, but I do have a lovely graphic I made that features it...

Pardon? Was this a thing?

Would be cool to see Oslo return as a location, although they’d have to use a different name (Storm already in use, Screaming Seamen and Naggerwolves are probably self explanatory). Also I’d love to see Bratislava back.

Toledo Scorpions anyone?

Alright, who's ready for some potential VHLE team hype? We are going to go down memory lane to see which logos and franchises have a shot at coming back to the VHL after 20 or 30 seasons in the abyss and assess the early favourites and the longshots.
 
Vasteras Iron Eagles

 
Up first it's Vasteras. I think it would be one of the upsets of the year, although very fitting for Vasteras, if this is not the landslide winner of the vote. This should be one of the few instances where there will be a united front between the hardcore Vasteras fans and the members who thought the Vasteras experiment had run its course but retain a soft spot for the franchise.
 
As a quick recap, Vasteras is an iconic franchise for a variety of largely wrong reasons. Founded as the Vasteras IK, a straight rip-off of an existing Swedish hockey franchise, the team drafted Scotty Campbell in S1 and famously won the inaugural Continental Cup, defeating the record-setting 69-3 Calgary Wranglers. After Calgary avenged their defeat in a rematch in S2, Vasteras went on an infamous run – making only one further finals appearance before S26, and this was during a brief sojourn as the ill-fated Madrid Thunder. The franchise returned to Vasteras in S21, now under the Iron Eagles moniker and soon under that clean logo you can see above. S26 ended the longest cup drought in VHL history but embarked on an even longer one, although from S41 the team moved to Stockholm (more on that franchise in a second).
 
Although to this day no franchise has matched either of Vasteras' lengthy cup droughts (New York and Davos are getting close though), the city was home to several big names over the years. Campbell started his career as noted above, with the likes of Mike Szatkowski, James Bencharski, and Tukka Reikkinen lighting up Vasteras in the seasons to come. During their time, highly respected members such as Sterling, Tyler, Damien (muffins), Corco, and solas represented the Vasteras brand well and have kept the memory alive such that I think this is one of the VHLE favourites.
 
Bratislava Watchmen

 
From unsuccessful, possibly cursed, but well-liked in some circles, we go to very successful and why were they contracted again? Bratislava's contraction in S53 is in my eyes one of the biggest mistakes the VHL has ever made and a large reason for the VHLM's North American shift, as it, along with Bern's move to Las Vegas, left Oslo as the minor league's only European representative. Coming into the VHLM as part of the S31 expansion, Bratislava was created by future Builder Vince Wong (future Helsinki and NY GM) and won 2 cups in his 6 season tenure – the Watchmen eventually won 7 in 23 seasons of existence which as I'm sure you'll appreciate is an incredible record.
 
In addition, after Wong Bratislava was at various times run by Blake Campbell and Benjamin Zeptenbergs – two names you'll recognise as they've been in charge of Seattle and Riga forever and are also both in the Hall of Fame. Great GMs lent themselves to great players passing through Bratislava – the likes of Thomas Landry, Davey Jones, Niklas Lindberg, Jody 3 Moons, and Pietro Maximoff started out as Watchmen – i.e. some of the earliest VHL experiences of Trifecta, Doomsday, Boubabi, and Gorlab, among others. Anyway, Bratislava won the Founder's Cup in S52, literally a season before someone decided to get rid of the franchise and for this injustice they will definitely be my first vote into the VHLE.
 
Stockholm Vikings

 
The cursed child of Vasteras. Despite not being the successful new chapter that Riga, Davos, and New York were for their franchises, the Vikings came into the league with a great logo and left with plenty of goodwill. Two trips to the finals in just 17 seasons is better than what Vasteras could muster in the previous 38, but in the end the Vikings couldn't get over the hump falling in two finals to New York and it was an easy choice to contract.
 
I don't really have much of a fond connection to Stockholm and the fact they peaked in the late 40s and early 50s means they're associated with the league disparity of the time, Project Player Two, and just general pessimism. I do think the Vikings brand deserves a second shot and a potential Swedish rivalry with Vasteras is intriguing plus I think lots of people will vote for this option anyway.
 
Cologne Express

 
Once associated with Quebec as one of the first expansion teams in the VHL, since S57 Cologne has sadly been forever linked to Stockholm as one of two unlucky contracted franchises. The Express were the slower starters compared to the Meute, but in S42 won a championship at the expense of Quebec, and with the likes of Kameron Taylor and Thomas O'Malley being some of their homegrown talents, Cologne was definitely a desirable destination. Things soured after that though and the Express made only one more finals appearance after the O'Malley era, becoming known for a ludicrously good Joel Jarvi season in S53 and then infamously for being managed into the ground by Scott Anderson.
 
The lack of a German team in the VHL despite coming so close in the S73 expansion might make Cologne slightly more appealing than Stockholm. I would personally expect both to make it into the VHLE but if it came down to it I might edge towards Cologne. CHOO CHOO.
 
Bern Royals

 
Davos' old affiliate, the Royals controversially moved to Las Vegas in the 50s because someone let Robbie Zimmers make decisions, although the Aces seem to be a decent VHLM franchise and Bern was always a bit forgettable. I don't really how strong feelings about the Royals, except maybe that the name doesn't make too much sense for Switzerland, but I do like Bern as a location and think Swiss hockey deserves more representation both for its prevalence in VHL history and its real life growth over the past decade or so.
 
Bern would be one of the teams I would probably vote for but maybe leave the name open to suggestions as long it suited the logos. I do however think a regal team in the VHLE would be very welcome.
 
Turku Outlaws
 
This is actually a difficult one to support because 1) they didn't win anything and 2) I can't actually find their logo. I know it was a dark green with black type scheme which is fairly redundant if Cologne makes its way back into the VHLE as I suspect it will. Plus Turku's stay in the VHLM was very brief, with Kolari having won in S30 and Turku being disbanded at the end of S42 – so there really isn't much history to call on. Really Turku's best hope is taking someone else's logo purely on the basis of being a good Finnish location and in my opinion superior to Kolari.
 
Kolari Panthers

 
The problem with the Panthers in the meantime is the tiny little town they are based in, as well as a logo I am not convinced is actually ours (but it might be). I know there is a reasonably sized support for Kolari in the league, mainly from members who remember the franchise from the 20s, but it could be a tough sell. I will touch on two other potential options now before suggesting what might be a solution for the Turku/Kolari/other location dilemma.
 
The Gladiators and the Red Wolves
 
 
We then have two fine logos which don't quite work for the VHLE. One is for the Minot Gladiators, a franchise contracted back in S42 along with Turku and based in North Dakota. That was quite a controversial decision at the time, as Minot had a good history, especially as Calgary's affiliate, and was also the hometown of the recently passed away 701 who was a vocal critic of their contraction. There is no real reason to bring back Minot but the Gladiators might have life yet – either as a logo for either Turku or Kolari or perhaps another location such as Gothenburg or Oslo, both of which were well-liked and successful VHLM franchises.
 

 
The Red Wolves in the meantime is possibly not the most ground-breaking logo but adds a nice bit of red to the league and would most likely have to move elsewhere within Russia, given Moscow now has a successful franchise in the VHL. That's fine though – Russia is obviously a massive hockey nation and can be represented with more than 1 team across the leagues. Certainly these two logos provide a bit of flexibility with the team options.
 
With that in mind however, there is a possibility that a brand new logo is the approach to take, rather than pulling together scraps to form a 6th (or 5th) VHLE franchise. If I was a betting man I would say Vasteras, Stockholm, Cologne, and Bratislava are four slam-dunk and in fact excellent selections for revival. Bern might sneak in by default either. The sixth selection is open to interpretation however and perhaps there is time for someone to approach the VHLE with a real game-changer of a franchise.

instead of Vasteras we should be using Madrid Thunder

Yeah I think Davos right now is more bad luck combined with more teams which means less chance to win. @GustavMattias hasn’t really been managing the team badly, they are just having rotten luck.

I didn’t have any ideas for PTs this week so here, have some of my random, unorganized, and largely unedited thoughts. This was originally going to be a VHL.com article but it ended up being so long that I figured I could extend it to 500 words pretty comfortably. Won’t pretend this is my best work but hey, it’s 6 points.
 
Seeing the VHLE announced was really surprising as someone who is not at all involved in BoG/blue team decisions. And the more I think about it, honestly, the more I’m interested in it. It preserves the idea of the VHLM as a developmental league (probably enhances it, in fact), and adds a more competitive early league for both new players who are and recreates like myself who aren’t (and shouldn’t be) the target of the VHLM. Personally, my interests in the VHLM have basically been 1) maybe being in a locker room with some cool people to hang out with and 2) trying to accomplish the Sisyphean task of winning a Founder’s Cup so I can finally have a player in the triple gold club. So having a new league based around competitiveness early in players’ careers definitely piqued my interest.
 
Of course, the biggest part of this for me is the possible return of Vasteras. You may have seen me bringing up Vasteras a lot since the announcement, and if that was annoying/confusing then I apologize.  This is too short of an article to give you the full breakdown, but long story short Vasteras was a polarizing team that had a small, dedicated group of supporters (myself included) who enjoyed playing for an underdog with a unique and distinctive history. Basically, imagine the memes around Davos now, except stronger, less justified (imo), and extended over ~30 seasons. This article is a good retelling of the team’s history around the time that I was there if you have the time/interest in seeing more details. 
 
What I’m getting at here, though, is that I’ve always wanted to see Vasteras return to the VHL - and while that is sadly looking less and less likely, the idea of them coming back this way makes me far more interested in the VHLE. I’m also interested to see what the rest of the league ends up looking like. I won’t say it’s perfect - while I get that the league is going to be 100% old teams being brought back, I would’ve liked to see maybe one or two teams in new locations that haven’t been covered yet. It seems like the VHLE is meant to curb unsustainable expansion in the VHL, so I feel like the locations/teams that would’ve/should’ve been considered for expansion should be considered for the VHLE. It also would’ve been nice to maybe see teams outside of North America or Europe. Either way, I’m still excited by the possibility of the league.
 
For a while, I’d been thinking about taking a short break from having a player in this league after Camus just so I could recharge and hopefully be more motivated to max earn with my next player. But now, there’s the possibility that my next player could return to Vasteras, possibly for multiple seasons if I’m not that concerned about earning or my player’s individual success in the VHL. I’ve also even thought about trying for a VHLE GM job when the time comes but I just don’t think that kind of responsibility is for me, if I’d even get hired.
 
I don’t know how to finish this article now, so uh...congratulations! You made it to the end of my media spot.

I didn’t have any ideas for PTs this week so here, have some of my random, unorganized, and largely unedited thoughts. This was originally going to be a VHL.com article but it ended up being so long that I figured I could extend it to 500 words pretty comfortably. Won’t pretend this is my best work but hey, it’s 6 points.
 
Seeing the VHLE announced was really surprising as someone who is not at all involved in BoG/blue team decisions. And the more I think about it, honestly, the more I’m interested in it. It preserves the idea of the VHLM as a developmental league (probably enhances it, in fact), and adds a more competitive early league for both new players who are and recreates like myself who aren’t (and shouldn’t be) the target of the VHLM. Personally, my interests in the VHLM have basically been 1) maybe being in a locker room with some cool people to hang out with and 2) trying to accomplish the Sisyphean task of winning a Founder’s Cup so I can finally have a player in the triple gold club. So having a new league based around competitiveness early in players’ careers definitely piqued my interest.
 
Of course, the biggest part of this for me is the possible return of Vasteras. You may have seen me bringing up Vasteras a lot since the announcement, and if that was annoying/confusing then I apologize.  This is too short of an article to give you the full breakdown, but long story short Vasteras was a polarizing team that had a small, dedicated group of supporters (myself included) who enjoyed playing for an underdog with a unique and distinctive history. Basically, imagine the memes around Davos now, except stronger, less justified (imo), and extended over ~30 seasons. This article is a good retelling of the team’s history around the time that I was there if you have the time/interest in seeing more details. 
 
What I’m getting at here, though, is that I’ve always wanted to see Vasteras return to the VHL - and while that is sadly looking less and less likely, the idea of them coming back this way makes me far more interested in the VHLE. I’m also interested to see what the rest of the league ends up looking like. I won’t say it’s perfect - while I get that the league is going to be 100% old teams being brought back, I would’ve liked to see maybe one or two teams in new locations that haven’t been covered yet. It seems like the VHLE is meant to curb unsustainable expansion in the VHL, so I feel like the locations/teams that would’ve/should’ve been considered for expansion should be considered for the VHLE. It also would’ve been nice to maybe see teams outside of North America or Europe. Either way, I’m still excited by the possibility of the league.
 
For a while, I’d been thinking about taking a short break from having a player in this league after Camus just so I could recharge and hopefully be more motivated to max earn with my next player. But now, there’s the possibility that my next player could return to Vasteras, possibly for multiple seasons if I’m not that concerned about earning or my player’s individual success in the VHL. I’ve also even thought about trying for a VHLE GM job when the time comes but I just don’t think that kind of responsibility is for me, if I’d even get hired.
 
I don’t know how to finish this article now, so uh...congratulations! You made it to the end of my media spot.

I didn’t have any ideas for PTs this week so here, have some of my random, unorganized, and largely unedited thoughts. This was originally going to be a VHL.com article but it ended up being so long that I figured I could extend it to 500 words pretty comfortably. Won’t pretend this is my best work but hey, it’s 6 points.
 
Seeing the VHLE announced was really surprising as someone who is not at all involved in BoG/blue team decisions. And the more I think about it, honestly, the more I’m interested in it. It preserves the idea of the VHLM as a developmental league (probably enhances it, in fact), and adds a more competitive early league for both new players who are and recreates like myself who aren’t (and shouldn’t be) the target of the VHLM. Personally, my interests in the VHLM have basically been 1) maybe being in a locker room with some cool people to hang out with and 2) trying to accomplish the Sisyphean task of winning a Founder’s Cup so I can finally have a player in the triple gold club. So having a new league based around competitiveness early in players’ careers definitely piqued my interest.
 
Of course, the biggest part of this for me is the possible return of Vasteras. You may have seen me bringing up Vasteras a lot since the announcement, and if that was annoying/confusing then I apologize.  This is too short of an article to give you the full breakdown, but long story short Vasteras was a polarizing team that had a small, dedicated group of supporters (myself included) who enjoyed playing for an underdog with a unique and distinctive history. Basically, imagine the memes around Davos now, except stronger, less justified (imo), and extended over ~30 seasons. This article is a good retelling of the team’s history around the time that I was there if you have the time/interest in seeing more details. 
 
What I’m getting at here, though, is that I’ve always wanted to see Vasteras return to the VHL - and while that is sadly looking less and less likely, the idea of them coming back this way makes me far more interested in the VHLE. I’m also interested to see what the rest of the league ends up looking like. I won’t say it’s perfect - while I get that the league is going to be 100% old teams being brought back, I would’ve liked to see maybe one or two teams in new locations that haven’t been covered yet. It seems like the VHLE is meant to curb unsustainable expansion in the VHL, so I feel like the locations/teams that would’ve/should’ve been considered for expansion should be considered for the VHLE. It also would’ve been nice to maybe see teams outside of North America or Europe. Either way, I’m still excited by the possibility of the league.
 
For a while, I’d been thinking about taking a short break from having a player in this league after Camus just so I could recharge and hopefully be more motivated to max earn with my next player. But now, there’s the possibility that my next player could return to Vasteras, possibly for multiple seasons if I’m not that concerned about earning or my player’s individual success in the VHL. I’ve also even thought about trying for a VHLE GM job when the time comes but I just don’t think that kind of responsibility is for me, if I’d even get hired.
 
I don’t know how to finish this article now, so uh...congratulations! You made it to the end of my media spot.

G - Jean-Pierre Camus
F - Aloe Dear
@BladeMaiden

Nice

I didn’t have any ideas for PTs this week so here, have some of my random, unorganized, and largely unedited thoughts. This was originally going to be a VHL.com article but it ended up being so long that I figured I could extend it to 500 words pretty comfortably. Won’t pretend this is my best work but hey, it’s 6 points.
 
Seeing the VHLE announced was really surprising as someone who is not at all involved in BoG/blue team decisions. And the more I think about it, honestly, the more I’m interested in it. It preserves the idea of the VHLM as a developmental league (probably enhances it, in fact), and adds a more competitive early league for both new players who are and recreates like myself who aren’t (and shouldn’t be) the target of the VHLM. Personally, my interests in the VHLM have basically been 1) maybe being in a locker room with some cool people to hang out with and 2) trying to accomplish the Sisyphean task of winning a Founder’s Cup so I can finally have a player in the triple gold club. So having a new league based around competitiveness early in players’ careers definitely piqued my interest.
 
Of course, the biggest part of this for me is the possible return of Vasteras. You may have seen me bringing up Vasteras a lot since the announcement, and if that was annoying/confusing then I apologize.  This is too short of an article to give you the full breakdown, but long story short Vasteras was a polarizing team that had a small, dedicated group of supporters (myself included) who enjoyed playing for an underdog with a unique and distinctive history. Basically, imagine the memes around Davos now, except stronger, less justified (imo), and extended over ~30 seasons. This article is a good retelling of the team’s history around the time that I was there if you have the time/interest in seeing more details. 
 
What I’m getting at here, though, is that I’ve always wanted to see Vasteras return to the VHL - and while that is sadly looking less and less likely, the idea of them coming back this way makes me far more interested in the VHLE. I’m also interested to see what the rest of the league ends up looking like. I won’t say it’s perfect - while I get that the league is going to be 100% old teams being brought back, I would’ve liked to see maybe one or two teams in new locations that haven’t been covered yet. It seems like the VHLE is meant to curb unsustainable expansion in the VHL, so I feel like the locations/teams that would’ve/should’ve been considered for expansion should be considered for the VHLE. It also would’ve been nice to maybe see teams outside of North America or Europe. Either way, I’m still excited by the possibility of the league.
 
For a while, I’d been thinking about taking a short break from having a player in this league after Camus just so I could recharge and hopefully be more motivated to max earn with my next player. But now, there’s the possibility that my next player could return to Vasteras, possibly for multiple seasons if I’m not that concerned about earning or my player’s individual success in the VHL. I’ve also even thought about trying for a VHLE GM job when the time comes but I just don’t think that kind of responsibility is for me, if I’d even get hired.
 
I don’t know how to finish this article now, so uh...congratulations! You made it to the end of my media spot.

I didn’t have any ideas for PTs this week so here, have some of my random, unorganized, and largely unedited thoughts. This was originally going to be a VHL.com article but it ended up being so long that I figured I could extend it to 500 words pretty comfortably. Won’t pretend this is my best work but hey, it’s 6 points.
 
Seeing the VHLE announced was really surprising as someone who is not at all involved in BoG/blue team decisions. And the more I think about it, honestly, the more I’m interested in it. It preserves the idea of the VHLM as a developmental league (probably enhances it, in fact), and adds a more competitive early league for both new players who are and recreates like myself who aren’t (and shouldn’t be) the target of the VHLM. Personally, my interests in the VHLM have basically been 1) maybe being in a locker room with some cool people to hang out with and 2) trying to accomplish the Sisyphean task of winning a Founder’s Cup so I can finally have a player in the triple gold club. So having a new league based around competitiveness early in players’ careers definitely piqued my interest.
 
Of course, the biggest part of this for me is the possible return of Vasteras. You may have seen me bringing up Vasteras a lot since the announcement, and if that was annoying/confusing then I apologize.  This is too short of an article to give you the full breakdown, but long story short Vasteras was a polarizing team that had a small, dedicated group of supporters (myself included) who enjoyed playing for an underdog with a unique and distinctive history. Basically, imagine the memes around Davos now, except stronger, less justified (imo), and extended over ~30 seasons. This article is a good retelling of the team’s history around the time that I was there if you have the time/interest in seeing more details. 
 
What I’m getting at here, though, is that I’ve always wanted to see Vasteras return to the VHL - and while that is sadly looking less and less likely, the idea of them coming back this way makes me far more interested in the VHLE. I’m also interested to see what the rest of the league ends up looking like. I won’t say it’s perfect - while I get that the league is going to be 100% old teams being brought back, I would’ve liked to see maybe one or two teams in new locations that haven’t been covered yet. It seems like the VHLE is meant to curb unsustainable expansion in the VHL, so I feel like the locations/teams that would’ve/should’ve been considered for expansion should be considered for the VHLE. It also would’ve been nice to maybe see teams outside of North America or Europe. Either way, I’m still excited by the possibility of the league.
 
For a while, I’d been thinking about taking a short break from having a player in this league after Camus just so I could recharge and hopefully be more motivated to max earn with my next player. But now, there’s the possibility that my next player could return to Vasteras, possibly for multiple seasons if I’m not that concerned about earning or my player’s individual success in the VHL. I’ve also even thought about trying for a VHLE GM job when the time comes but I just don’t think that kind of responsibility is for me, if I’d even get hired.
 
I don’t know how to finish this article now, so uh...congratulations! You made it to the end of my media spot.

Time for the a Memorial Cup-esque tournament - winners of the VHLM, VHLE, and VHL plus a host team battle for the ultimate championship. 

Next step, add promotion and relegation so Vasteras can finally take back their rightful place in the VHL

VHL's Third League
 
Hello @Members!
 
For awhile now the @BOG have been teasing a more robust option to deal with the roster room issue we have been experiencing lately. Many of you have been assuming this means more expansion, despite us continuing to refute those claims. Well... the expansion claims and us saying they are wrong were both correct in a sense. Today the VHL is announcing that the VHL and VHLM will no longer be the only leagues contained within our Community, we are adding a third, the Victory Hockey League: Europe.
 
Be design the VHLE will fit between the VHLM and VHL so that players are not stuck at the VHLM level passed when they should be there, making the M as a true developmental league, but also not getting pushed to the VHL before they are ready for it. This will open up the rosters of the VHL teams as they will only contain the higher TPE players. Specifically the caps for the individual leagues will be:
 
VHLM: 30-199 TPE*
VHLE: 200-399 TPE*
VHL: 350+ TPE
 
*Of note these limits operate in the same way as the VHLM does now. So you can claim past the TPE limit but you cannot apply past it.
 
Obviously there's a bit of weirdness at the bottom there as the VHL starts at 350 while the VHLE doesn't end until 399. This is intentional to allow players above 350 TPE to enter the VHL if they so choose but they are not forced to do so until the 400 TPE mark. This does mean that some players can, or will be forced to, skip the VHLE completely; know that this is not necessarily a guaranteed step in your progression. If you are above 350 TPE by your VHL draft and want to skip the VHLE completely you may do so.
 
VHLE Leadership
 
Obviously the @Commissioner and @VHLM Commissioner  teams are already quite busy with the VHL and VHLM respectfully so running a whole third league will not fall on them, a new Commissioner team will be added to cover the VHLE. @Acydburn and @Victor have graciously offered to head up this new leadership group. This will of course involve Acyd giving up his current Green team role (which we will be hiring for) to head this new league into the future including hiring the GM's for the new roles, which leads me nicely into the next topic.
 
VHLE Teams and Mentality
 
In effect the VHLE is not a developmental league like the VHLM. Its purpose is not to recruit and retain members and it's GM's will not be bound to that mantra like the @VHLM GM's are. The job of an VHLE GM is to be competitive within their bracket. It will still have the fast turnarounds of the VHLM given it's small TPE window but teams may use their assets as they please to get the most out of their teams and win.
 
Notice I did say VHLE GM's. TheVHLE teams will not be controlled by @VHL GM's or VHLM GM's but rather be new GM opportunities in their own right. But for what teams? Well that's up to you all to decide.
 
Seeing that the league has many amazing old European teams that have been left to the sands of time, we will use those teams to make up the VHLE with the league voting on which 6 they want to see. This means that the Vasteras Iron Eagles, for example, could return; and / or the Cologne Express, Stockholm Vikings, and many others. We have the teams, we have the logos, and we see no reason to not use them so they will make up the pool of teams you all can decide on. The poll for this will be going up soon.
 
Layout wise with the league being only 6 teams at the moment will be simple: 1 conference with the 4 top teams making the playoffs per season. In addition the VHLE will not be affiliated in any way with the VHL or VHLM so it will be simulated as an entirely separate league, the same way the two are now. Think the KHL rather than the AHL.
 
Contract wise the league will be similar to the VHLM with more or less a "free for all" mentality. If a player has been drafted to the VHL they will receive their VHL contract but otherwise all players are signed to $1.5M contracts with no bonuses or salary cap to speak of. This could change in the future if we feel a cap and formal contract structure would improve the VHLE but we want to see if that's necessary first.
 
 Draft Structure, Career Length, and Depreciation
 
Adding a third league will obviously affect how drafts and career lengths operate within the VHL. With the VHLE placed where it is in a player's career, and the expectation that they will spend at least one season there, it would obviously create problems for the career clock if we didn't address it. For that reason player careers will be formally extended to 9 seasons, with draft seasons being set the same as they always have. This means you will be eligible for both the VHL and VHLE draft in the same season; potentially all three if you time it right. If, at the draft, you are at or above 350 TPE and would like to go straight to the VHL you still get the 9 season VHL career, adding a year onto the total you can have now. If you spend a season in the E league, as most will, you don't lose out on a VHL season and still retain the 8 that is currently available.
 
So, for example, let's take a player that creates at the S79 deadline. We follow the same rules as now so his VHL draft is S81. In his season and a bit in the VHLM this player earns 200 TPE. This player is drafted to both the VHLE and the VHL. He does not have the minimum TPE to play in the VHL so goes to the VHLE for S81, finishing with 350 TPE or the minimum to play in the VHL. At this point he can choose to either go up to the VHL and play 8 seasons from S82 or he may chose to stay down for a season and would enter the VHL in S83. In either case he retires at the end of S89, having played 7 or 8 seasons.
 
An alternative example is a super heavy earning player. Let's assume he creates at the same time and has the same draft date but has a bunch of carryover and gets a very large amount of TPE in the VHLM. He enters the drafts at 350 TPE, the minimum to play in the VHL. He may choose to skip the VHLE completely and go straight to the VHL in S81. He will then play for 9 seasons and retire at the same time in S89.
 
Nine seasons does add one caveat however; depreciation. As it stands right now depreciation only hits for 3 seasons, season 6-8 of your career. This holds two problems, one exists currently and one is new. The more obvious one is that having 9 seasons means we need to add a depreciation level. For this the same percentage (7%) from year 8 will be used but we will not be adding an additional depreciation fighter to the store that can be used for this season. That means only the Jagr purchase can help you fight 9th season depreciation, you must take the full 7% hit.
 
The second problem, which exists now, is that players can spend extra time in the minor leagues and be hit with depreciation in their "6th" season but that could be, in fact, their 4th VHL season. This does not seem fair to hit lower earners with so quickly, even being percentage based, so we are changing depreciation slightly. Depreciation seasons are now based on VHL seasons played, not seasons since your draft. That means a player who skips the VHLE and plays 9 VHL seasons will be depreciated 4 times. A player that plays 1 VHLE season will be depreciated 3 times, and so on. So if a player takes his time to get to the VHL and only plays 5 VHL seasons he will not face depreciation by the time he is forced into retirement.
 
Call-Ups, Send-Downs, and Graduation Bonus
 
As all VHLE players will be owned by VHL teams as well the issue of call-ups and send downs must be addressed. Like the cap situation this may change later but to start we will only be allowing call-ups and send-downs during the off-season and, obviously, only if the player in question meets the TPE bracket for the league they are being sent to.
 
This means that at no point mid-season can a player be plucked away from their VHLE team to join their VHL team, similarly no player will be pulled from the VHLM to join the VHLE. Whatever league you start the season in is the league you finish the season in.
 
In addition the graduation bonus will remain in place where it is, exiting the VHLM. With the VHLM remaining as a "training ground" of sorts it makes the most sense to reward players for graduating from there. The VHLM to the VHL or VHLE is what we are looking at as the "upwards" movement while the VHLE to VHL is more of a lateral move in your career.
 
 Introduction Timeframe
 
Obviously a change this large can't be implemented immediately and start next season. We would not want players who have already created but are undrafted to be left suddenly being told there's an extra league before the VHL that they were unaware of. There's also a matter of dealing with the players who currently sit on VHL rosters that are under 350 TPE and wouldn't be allowed under these rules.
 
Therefore, the VHLE first season will be S80 meaning players that retire at this deadline will be the VHLE's first draft class. Players currently on VHL rosters who are under 350 TPE at the start of S80 may remain on the roster if they so choose or they may be placed into the VHLE draft, remaining as prospects for the VHL teams that drafted them. Likewise any players currently drafted who are still in the VHLM will be given the option of going to the VHL or the VHLE at 200 TPE. Their career clock remains unchanged however; only players starting in the S80 draft will be given the 9 season career and new depreciation rules.
 

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