solas

Time to put @sterling back in charge of the money

Apply for seattle

Outside of everything else, trying to explain the VHL and this legal action to an actual lawyer would be very fun to watch

Time to put @sterling back in charge of the money

@Members
 
Normally this would just go to the ban thread but given the circumstances I think it's best that everyone know what's going on.
 
It has unfortunately come to the attention of myself and @Acydburn that @Josh has been embezzling league funds for his own purposes. Via his access to the league PayPal he was stripping donation funds as payments for portal, forum, and domain hosting with amounts far higher than were actually needed. Because the line items were things he was paying for we had no reason, for a number of years, to think anything of it and were unaware that the costs were actually far less than what he was reimbursing himself which amounts to potentially thousands of dollars; we're still working out the total figures.
 
Obviously we are completely shocked at this behaviour and have immediately stripped Josh of his role as commissioner pending potential future legal action. We have always held firm that the league funds are used exclusively on league related activities so I am quite frankly pissed that a member of the blue team would take donation money for their own uses; whatever his excuses may be. Please be aware that we will be launching a further investigation and audit of all our costs and funds to be sure that no one else has done anything of the sort in the past.
 
Sincerely,
@Commissioner
 
Edit: In case any future people see the is and don’t see the date; it was purely an April Fool’s joke, Josh was in on it (in fact it was his idea) and the donation money is not only safe but audited.

So wait, the $150 I was spending per month to pay Josh to make Aloe Dear a Hall of Famer just went straight to his pocket???

This is something I have very strong feelings about and to be frank, I'm offended and insulted by it.
 
Why is the VHL World Cup Team Scandinavia referred as such, when it should be Team NORDIC. Finland is not a Scandinavian country, despite how many arrogant people may claim so and refer to it as so.
 
Finland is NOT a part of Scandinavia! Scandinavia originally refers to the Scandinavian Peninsula, which consists of Denmark, Norway and Sweden (note: NOT Finland).
 
I'm Finnish. We call ourselves in my beautiful native tongue, Suomen kieli, Pohjoismaa (meaning Nordic) when we refer to the group of countries in Northern Europe. No Finnish person never ever calls themselves "scandinavian" it's always "nordic". Me ollaan osa Pohjoismaita.
 
I remember years ago back in the S50's or S60's it was incorrectly called Team Scandinavia. I then talked to, pretty sure it was then commissioner, @Will among other higher ups to change the name to Team Nordic. Unfortunately, after some time it was, for some god forsaken reason, changed back to Scandinavia, and remains as to this day despite me privately complaining about in the past.
 
But fortunately the fix is simple, fix the incorrect name! And the name is already correct in the Discord server, which is GREAT.
 
Thank you
A proud Finnish man, signing off.
 
 
 
GO TEAM NORDIC!

Have you ever asked yourself which VHLM franchise provides the best pathway to becoming a VHL GM? No? Well I did, a while ago in fact, but let the potential article idea sit there through Rara Rasputin's career and my recent second semi-hiatus. Now it is time to answer the eternal question however.
 
How does one quantify such a broad subject? A successful VHLM GM is not necessarily one who spends a season with their team and uses it as a springboard to a VHL career. Getting appointed in charge of a VHL team does not necessarily reflect VHLM GM success either. Furthermore, not every VHL GM tenure lasts long and/or goes well so are those GMs really a good reflection on their VHLM franchise? Finally, given our long and storied history, there are more than a handful of GMs who have managed in the VHLM on multiple occasions, often both before and after their (frequently multiple) VHL stints. How do we handle those? And these days, how do we handle time spent in the VHLE as well?
 
You'll be pleased to learn that I didn't bother tackling most of these quite complex questions. What I have produced instead is effectively a statistical analysis and ranking of VHLM franchises through the years based on the future employments of their GMs. I don't think it is necessarily a best-to-worst VHLM team list or even a best-to-worst GM list, but rather a fun way to look at the long and disorganised history of the M. Whilst this introduction has made it all look quite chaotic, there have been a few basic principles I followed in putting the ranking together:

 
All VHLM franchises ever to exist have been included, meaning 17 teams in total, including those which haven't been around for nearly 50 seasons
If a team has had the same GM multiple times, they are counted as 1 GM, with an exception or two which is explained separately
For the five franchises which existed both before and after the start of the “modern” VHL (I used as a cut-off the expansion to Halifax in S62 as most of the other expansion teams followed shortly after), some consideration has been given both to their performance before and after that date
This is mostly about VHLM GMs who subsequently worked their way up to the VHL but some teams have had good representation from experienced heads who did their stints in the big leagues and then came (back) down later on so that's been incorporated as well
The VHLE has been ignored entirely in keeping with public opinion

 
Without further ado then, let's count down the best franchises for an aspiring VHL GM, probably.

 
17. Vasteras IK J20 / Moscow Red Wolves (defunct S51)
Total GMs: 17
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Jochen Walser, Tyler Edgar)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Frank Chadwick, Sterling Labatte)

At the bottom of the list is a franchise that always seems to be at the bottom of VHL lists. There is not much left to be said about Vasteras that hasn't been said before, other than that by association it seems to have cursed both Moscow and the Red Wolves (the former having won 1 of 6 Continental Cup finals as the Menace, the latter being contracted in the VHLE in its Istanbul incarnation). As for the purposes of this article, the most relevant piece is Tyler Edgar being the J20's longest-serving GM, finally getting his cup in S27, and then having a successful spell in Toronto in the 30s – but the franchise has not much of a lasting legacy otherwise.

 
16. Miami Marauders
Total GMs: 6
Future VHL GMs: 1 (Kris Rice)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Zack Gagnon)

The VHLM's youngest franchise is next on the list which surprised me slightly, given its early success. But most of that came under the two names above, with Rice then going onto a very successful time as Calgary GM. As for Gagnon, Miami was his last gig before getting the Los Angeles job, but that was neither his first VHL role nor his last appearance in this article.

 
15. Las Vegas Aces (formerly Toledo Scorpions and Bern Royals) 
Total GMs: 34
Future VHL GMs: 8 (Matt Defosse, Zach Arce, Sam Helberg, Chad Murphy, Conner Low, Sachimo Zoidberg, Julian Borwinn, Euron Leonidas)
Former VHL GMs: 6 (Zack Gagnon, Tyler Barabash, Vince Wong, Sterling Labatte, Robbie Zimmers, Ron Dayne III)
Since S62, 11 GMs of whom 2 were future VHL GMs (Borwinn and Leonidas)

As you'd expect for a team that's been in the VHLM since the start (although in a wide range of locations), it's been a turbulent history for the Aces. There will be those that have fond memories of the franchise and those that think it's a forgettable one. In truth, recent history punishes Vegas a bit – unfortunate that its most successful modern era GM (Anthony Pratt) disappeared before getting a VHL job most expected him to get. Other than Borwinn and Leonidas who went onto long-term careers with Helsinki and Moscow, there's a lot of recent names which fizzled out way too quickly.

 
14. Mississauga Hounds
Total GMs: 9
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Jerry Garcia, Cole Pearce)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Dominic Gobeil)

The team founded by the Gus/Berocka tandem has seemed to attract GMs who are happy staying at the VHLM level – lots of current actives but other than Garcia's stint in Davos, only Warsaw's Cole Pearce represents the Hounds in the VHL. However, after finally breaking the Founder's Cup duck in S90, maybe fortunes will be changing for Mississauga going forward.

 
13. Houston Bulls
Total GMs: 8
Future VHL GMs: 2 (John Frostbeard, Nils Godlander)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Zach Arce, Vince Wong)
 
Similar proportion of VHL GMs to the Hounds with one difference – Houston's alumni have both won championships with Frostbeard's Malmo in S75 and Godlander's Toronto most recently in S91. Four different GMs have won the VHLM Top GM trophy while at Houston, so the Bulls are clearly doing things right at the minors level anyway.

 
12. Philadelphia Reapers
Total GMs: 7
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Victor Grachev, Alex Johnston)
Former VHL GMs: 0

Ranking higher than its fellow expansion franchises purely based on percentages, Philadelphia has had lots of VHLM success and provided the current Davos and Malmo GMs, with Alex in particular finally turning around the Dynamo's years of despair. A theme in this article now will be that I have increasingly little new insightful information to say about each franchise beyond the information already provided at the top.

 
11. Minnesota Storm (formerly Gothenburg Eagles, Oslo Screaming Seamen, and Oslo Storm)
Total GMs: 33
Future VHL GMs: 8 (Vladimir Kliment, Damien Walec, Zack Gagnon, Mitch Higgins, Thomas Corcoran, Thomas Landry, William Shaw)
Former VHL GMs: 7 (Brett Slobodzian, Joey Kendrick, Greg Harbinson, Jason Glasser, Tyler Barabash, Jim Gow, Matthew Boragina)
Since S62, 4 GMs of whom 1 was a future VHL GM (Funk), before moving to the VHLE and back to Oslo in S81

If you thought Las Vegas' history was tumultuous, spare a thought for the fans of the Storm. Three cities, two leagues, and screaming seamen, but also an impressive list of former GMs. Oslo peaked probably from S24 to S30 during the streak of Gagnon, Higgins, and Corcoran managing the team immediately before taking over Riga, Helsinki, and Vasteras respectively, although Higgins had by far the most success. There's been some dry spells followed by the Oslo reincarnation doing very well in the E, and overall the team's done good enough for midtable.

 
10. Minot Gladiators (briefly Syracuse Wolfpack) (defunct S42)
Total GMs: 15
Future VHL GMs: 4 (Matt Bentz, Chad Murphy, Jardy Bunclewirth, Tyler Edgar)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Greg Harbinson, Zack Gagnon)

A blast from the past franchise brings a blast from the past in terms of VHL GMs too. Other than the ever-present Gagnon, none of the men listed has managed a VHL team since the 50s at the latest but several will be recognisable to the average reader. Minot did well when it was affiliated with Calgary, including producing two future Wranglers GMs and in the eyes of many did not deserve its contraction, although its name lives on in Rome today.

 
9. Saskatoon Wild (formerly Fresno Bulls and Buffalo Jr Bears)
Total GMs: 33
Future VHL GMs: 7 (Greg Harbinson, Jack Reilly, Jack Sixten, Spencer Flammer, Rylan Peace, Roger McWolf III, Thomas Landry)
Former VHL GMs: 5 (Brett Noiles, James Assayag, Brett Slobodzian, Thomas Corcoran, Vladamir Komarov)
Since S62, 10 GMs of whom 3 were future VHL GMs (Peace, McWolf, Landry)

A storied franchise, still adding to its impressive list of championships to this day, has also predictably churned through a fair few GMs, most famously the namesake of the VHLM's Top GM trophy, Jack Reilly. The Wild fall surprisingly low on the list, in part due to the lack of huge success either side of Reilly, but also few GMs making the leap in the modern, post-S62 era.

 
I sadly have nothing insightful to say about San Diego, Turku, and Brampton so am skipping my commentary straight to the top 5.
 
8. San Diego Marlins
Total GMs: 7
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Thadius Sales, Jacob Carson)
Former VHL GMs: 3 (Zack Gagnon, Frank Chadwick, Zach Arce)
 
7. Turku Outlaws (formerly Jonkoping Warriors, Kolari Wolves and Kolari Panthers) (defunct S42)
Total GMs: 18
Future VHL GMs: 6 (Matt Bailey, Tyler Edgar, Chris Miller, Pavel Koradek, Zack Gagnon, Clinton Chevy)
Former VHL GMs: 0
 
6. Brampton Battalion / Blades (defunct S53)
Total GMs: 22
Future VHL GMs: 7 (Scotty Campbell, Tyler Owens, Tyler Barabash, Bryan Svec, Ryan Power, Steve Smeall, Conner Low)
Former VHL GMs: 3 (Jochen Walser, Joey Kendrick, Matthew Boragina)

 
5. Yukon Rush
Total GMs: 22
Future VHL GMs: 5 (Austin Gow, Daniel Anderson, Josh Da Silva, Jordan Tonn, Dominic Gobeil)
Former VHL GMs: 3 (Sam Helberg, Victor Alfredsson, Conner Low)
Since S62, 5 GMs of whom 3 were future VHL GMs (Da Silva, Tonn, Gobeil), before moving to the VHLE and Geneva in S81
 
It's no surprise there was uproar when Yukon was the franchise stolen by the VHLE (Minnesota was less of an issue given Oslo was its home before) and moved to Geneva where it had a short and unsuccessful life. Up to that point, Yukon was a hugely successful and popular franchise, producing multiple future VHL GMs from the 40s through to the 80s at an impressive rate given the Rush were only founded in S31. Alas, they are no more, just like their fellow S31 expansion brothers below.

 
4. Bratislava Watchmen (defunct S53)
Total GMs: 8
Future VHL GMs: 3 (Vince Wong, Blake Campbell, Benjamin Zeptenbergs)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Sachimo Zoidberg)

Ah Bratislava, back now in the VHLE, but never likely to reach the heights it climbed in its short 23-season spell in the VHLM. 7 cups, 8 GMs, of whom 3 are managing in the VHL today – Vince Wong in his third stint, Campbell and Zeptenbergs meanwhile in their roles pretty much since the Watchmen went extinct the first time, the longest VHL tenures ever, by a distance. A model VHLM franchise so no surprise to see it high on the list.

 
3. Mexico City Kings
Total GMs: 9
Future VHL GMs: 4 (Nyko Nax, Christopher James, Cole H, Mickey Dickson)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Chris Miller, Christopher James)
 
A modern day Bratislava? The Kings are the first of the three teams rounding out this list which have one thing in common – a GM who did the VHLM stint, went to the VHL, and came back to the same minor-league franchise. In Mexico City's case that is Christopher James, who led Malmo to the Continental Cup and is now back with the Kings. With a threepeat winner in Nyko Nax and the current GMs of Chicago and Helsinki, it's a good return on investment so far.

 
2. Halifax 21st
Total GMs: 9
Future VHL GMs: 6 (Shawn Glade, Roger McWolf III, Ted Mosby, Dylan Wallace, Jeffrey Pines, Mickey Dickson)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Shawn Glade)
 
Shawn Glade is Halifax's returning GM, with bonus points for being the first GM of the franchise as well, although his VHL stint was not quite as successful. Glade did open the door to a host of VHL GM hopefuls and whilst the 21st hasn't won a championship of their own, 66% of this GMs have graduated to the big leagues – maybe more than a coincidence?

 
1. Ottawa Ice Dogs / Ottawa Lynx
Total GMs: 33
Future VHL GMs: 12 (Tyler Owens, Brandon Best, Sandro Desaulniers, Victor Alfredsson, James Assayag, Jason Glasser, Jim Gow, Keaton Louth, Esso Drunkmann, Acyd Burn, Dakota Lamb, Nils Godlander)
Former VHL GMs: 6 (Sam Helberg, Frank Chadwick, Zack Gagnon, Jardy Bunclewirth, Joey Kendrick, Jason Glasser)
Since S62, 7 GMs of whom 4 were future VHL GMs (Burn, Lamb, Godlander)

And finally, to the surprise of no one probably, the VHLM's most successful franchise, and the only to be in the same city since S2, is top of the list. Percentage-wise, Ottawa is not actually ahead of Bratislava, Mexico City, and Halifax, but that gets overlooked as a lot of the early numbers are noise from the VHLM's affiliate era. Since Jason Glasser took over and gave the team its own identity, it's been a a very steady run of success both for the franchise and its GMs – 10 of the 12 future GMs listed above have won at least one Continental Cup. Glasser of course came back for a second stint, completing the cycle and keeping Ottawa as a model team into the modern era and very much the type of team I had in mind when coming up with this article.
 
@Ricer13 @InstantRockstar @Arce  @scoop @Smarch @Spartan  @STZ @MubbleFubbles  @Gustav  @N0HBDY @Dom @FrostBeard @Moon @KaleebtheMighty @Alex @Doomsday @JardyB10 @Ahma @McWolf @thadthrasher @jacobcarson877 @Frank @Toast @eaglesfan036 @Josh @MexicanCow123 @Banackock @hedgehog337 @Nykonax @hylands @badcolethetitan @samx @Advantage @ShawnGlade @fonziGG @Dil @rory @Esso2264 @Acydburn @dlamb

I was thinking a few days ago that I miss the VHL magazine 

bring back chat

I have Editions 222-327 on my current computer. The ones I was Editor for 155-222 would all be on my old lap top that is long gone. I have them in inDesign files, so I would have to reupload them as pdfs, and in doing so all the graphics and Magazine Covers will need to be reuploaded or the resolution would be pretty bad. Luckily I think I did the majority of the Magazine Covers at the times, so I could probably track them down as well.
 
If there was an actaul interest in this, I could potentially upload these somewhere, but it would be pretty time consuming. So, not sure how reassuring that is, but it's some of VHL History that isn't completely gone..
 
Note: The first random Magazine Edition I opened had a little write up about Victor as he had just stepped down as Commish.... weird.

The VHL magazine forum has been hidden for a while which seems a shame as that was a pretty big part of the VHL back in the day - so influential it even got its own 20 in 20 article and ended up with 340 editions up to late 2017 (+4 in an aborted 2018 revival). So I've decided to stick them in the publicly available VHL history forum today.
 
You can see what they looked like from edition 328 to 340 as the rest seem to have been destroyed by Dropbox - unless @STZ has them stored away somewhere.
 
In case, they can not be resurrected, I have also brought back the Articles Submissions forum which has all the raw copies. Regardless if they don't look pretty and in mag format I think it's right for them to be in the public domain as this is a fair few years of articles from some of the VHL's best writers which would otherwise be in the Media Spot archive.
 
In a similar vein, the VHLM magazine submissions are also now in the HOF (I don't think any of the actual magazines can be retrieved): https://vhlforum.com/forum/51-vhlm-magazine/ That ran for about 3 years and 100 editions in the previous golden age of the VHL/M.
 
Shameless tag of some of the past contributors of both magazines and other old farts: @diamond_ace @Banackock @InstantRockstar @Da Trifecta @Smarch @sterling @Advantage @MubbleFubbles  @CowboyinAmerica @Toast @OrbitingDeath  @BOOM @JardyB10 @Doomsday @Ahma @der meister @Baozi @eaglesfan036 @Phil @Knight @Frank @jRuutu @Beketov @frescoelmo

I'm a pretty terrible reviewer, so I'll rely on this to explain my issues: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4572710532
 
In short, the main character is clearly on the spectrum but the author clearly is not and has never had a conversation with someone who is. 

Didn't read as much as I wanted to in 2023 as grad school kind of derailed a lot of my plans of reading for fun. I don't think I enjoyed any book this year as much as I did the books I read in 2022, but Player Piano and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were probably my two favorites. Hoping to pick things back up in 2024.
 
Also I just created a StoryGraph account, not sure how much I'll use it but my username is s0las there if anyone wants to add me over there.

Full summary: https://www.goodreads.com/user/year_in_books/2023/40616420
 
Top Book: Killers of the Flower Moon (randomly found an ARC from 2017 so that was neat)
Worst Book: The Maid
 
Other good reads:
The Daevabad Trilogy
Gentleman Bastards
The Celestial Kingdom
 
Overall an underwhelming year of books for me. The Maid, Leave The World Behind, and The Big Four were particular disappointments.

Didn't read as much as I wanted to in 2023 as grad school kind of derailed a lot of my plans of reading for fun. I don't think I enjoyed any book this year as much as I did the books I read in 2022, but Player Piano and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo were probably my two favorites. Hoping to pick things back up in 2024.
 
Also I just created a StoryGraph account, not sure how much I'll use it but my username is s0las there if anyone wants to add me over there.

'tis a wonderful time, the week between Christmas and New Year's, and I am pleased today to announce the induction of two wonderful S83 draftees into the VHL Hall of Fame.
 
LW - Ronan Lavelle, S83-S90 
RS: 576 GP, 322 G, 417 A, 739 P, +175, 686 PIM, 1,473 HIT, 303 SB, 47 GW
PO: 70 GP, 44 G, 51 A, 95 P, -3, 93 PIM, 212 HIT, 37 SB, 8 GW
 
S84 Dustin Funk Trophy (Most Improved)
S85 Daisuke Kanou Trophy (Playoff MVP)
S88 Brett Slobodzian Trophy (Most Outstanding)
S88 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)
S89 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)
S89 Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals)
2x All-VHL First Team (S88, S89)
3x All-VHL Second Team (S84, S85, S90)
One Continental Cup (S85)
 
We've seen some big blasts from the past return to the VHL recently. v2's comeback with Tui Sova was a huge success, making the Hall of Fame some 80 seasons, over a literal decade, after Josh Vestiquan's induction. Sova's last act, captaining D.C.'s maiden championship was in part made possible by playoff MVP Ronan Lavelle, a return to glory for one Zach @Arce who himself was last inducted around the same time as Vestiquan. For Lavelle, that playoff run in S85 was just the start of a dominant run, one of the finest forward careers we have seen in the 16-team era. He led the league in points twice and notched 7 consecutive seasons of 90 points or more, an unprecedented feat in the modern day. A guaranteed scorer wherever he went, Lavelle is a fine addition to the Hall and a great return to form for a VHL legend.
 
 
 
D - Brian Payne, S83-S90 
RS: 576 GP, 147 G, 476 A, 623 P, +184, 1,684 PIM, 2,064 HIT, 1,326 SB, 26 GW
PO: 72 GP, 17 G, 46 A, 63 P, -2, 227 PIM, 260 HIT, 184 SB, 4 GW
 
S85 Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenceman)
S85 Jake Wylde Trophy (Top Defensive Defenceman)
S86 Jake Wylde Trophy (Top Defensive Defenceman)
1x All-VHL First Team (S85)
4x All-VHL Second Team (S86, S88, S89, S90)
One Continental Cup (S84)
 
Lavelle looked like a star from the start, but Brian Payne simmered under the surface. Warsaw located an uncut gem at 26th overall, because he worked his way to the top through grit and stayed there through sheer consistency. Payne started to become noticed when he would without fail end up in the conversation for at least one defenceman award each season. He was no slouch offensively with 6 straight 80-point seasons, but it's the all-around game where he stood out. There's only 1 previous Hall of Famer, Patrice Reynaud back from the VHL's first decade, with more than 1,300 blocked shots, because very few can combine that with over a point-per-game pace. When you add 2,000+ hits, Payne stands in a league of his own. No wonder @Scurvy stood out even on a star-studded Warsaw team, one of the most recognisable of the decade.
 
 
Voting results
Brian Payne - 14/16
Ronan Lavelle - 13/16
---
Kristof Welch - 1/16
Papa Emeritus - 1/16
Nico Pearce - 1/16
Hammar Voss - 1/16
Oskar Lingbergh, Zach Kisslinger II, Bo Johansson - 0/16
 
---
 
And that's not all, this season we are back with a Builder induction. S91 has seen a whole generation of players retire who have played since the player build changes of S83, as well as one season removed from the 10-season anniversary of the VHLE. So what better time to recognise the man who played an integral role in the testing and refining of the new attibutes and is one of the current VHLE commissioners? @Enorama has been actively involved in two of the biggest novelties of the 80s and it's no surprise he's carved out such an impressive legacy. To me, it was obvious he would have a big role to play in the league from Ryan Kastelic's impressive pre-draft performance when in S61 he became the 1st first-gen drafted 1st overall in 30 seasons, but a trend-setter for several of the subsequent drafts. Kastelic didn't make the HOF and I hope Eno's hard work is rewarded at some point with a player induction, but he was the first (and only, before 9-season careers) player to earn 2,000 TPE. Plus, a Builder induction without HOF players only says more about the extracurricular work Eno's done. Founder of the aforementioned D.C. Dragons, guiding them through a few seasons of bad luck to finally get the Continental Cup nearly 20 seasons later (feat. the aforementioned Sova and Lavelle), Enorama has also been a productive long-term member of the BOG and this doesn't feel like the end of the story yet.
 
 
Congratulations all!

Hello @Members!
 
I'm excited to announce that we have made our charitable donation for the year of $1656 to Doctor's Without Borders!
 

 
Additionally you all donated $1804 separate from the league bringing our total for the 2023 Holiday Charity drive to $3540! I'm always amazed to see the league come together and make such a difference in the world, it's great to see.
 
You all want some rewards I imagine though don't you? Well it was close but thanks to being $40 over the $3500 threshold we have once again hit every community goal which means every member of the community can claim 20 uncapped TPE and a PT Doubles week! It also means all our community items were met which means:
 
@twists will stream a declaration of his love for everyone that's been active in the past week.
@DarkSpyro will perform some Christmas themed metal songs
@Grape will do a full stream of all the Five Nights at Freddy's games.
@Acydburn will stream something, he just hasn't decided what yet.
@Beketov will once again stream Zoo Tycoon 2 Ultimate and name animals after VHL members.
 
As mentioned in the OP, unfortunately to keep things fair and not have a bunch of future creates claiming this: Rewards may only be applied to players created on, or before, December 25th, 2023
 
We'll get that stuff all scheduled as well as the raffle draw scheduled soon so keep an eye out for that and, once again, thank you all for making this time of year in the VHL so special!

On the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me: New VHL GM’s!
 
Congrats to @leandrofg  who will be be taking the reins (get it) for Calgary and @STZ who will be taking over in New York!
 
Congrats to both of you and thanks everyone that app

blood hound

Graphics god @solas is offering to make you a sig or other graphic. You choose the render, he makes the artwork!
 
Opening bid: $2.00
Minimum raise: $0.50

Another season, another theme week...wait, it's a good one? I'm not used to that.
 
I feel like it's been a while since we had forum drama. I think it's actually a little fun to log in and watch people screaming at each other over one thing or another--it's a nice little guilty pleasure that gives me reading material and the chance to say something about the situation that basically just amounts to common sense but in far too many words. It's also no secret that this week's forum drama has surrounded recruitment, from unfounded accusations to people being told to shut up to threads turning into long discussions on proper forum etiquette, it's been an interesting read. And now the blues, in their ever-broadening quest for ULTIMATE CONTROL, ask us to bury actual relevant, interesting, and entirely juicy content with endless threads about how "recruitment is good and we should do more of it." No kidding.
 
We're going to have the whole host of recycled opinions this week. We'll have "let's use Reddit again," we'll have "recruitment doesn't actually do anything," and we'll have everyone's favorite, "it would be nice if we had [exactly what the VHLM GMs do already]." And maybe this week will be valuable. I can see, somewhere in here, the opportunity to uncover some new frontier for the recruitment team. But why list ideas? Everyone's going to do that already and I'm not really part of any spaces myself where the league could reasonably be advertised. I don't, however, want the league to lose sight of realism. Just because we've had a forum thread or two that's created a perceived need for more recruitment--and, believe me, it's worked--we don't need to rush right into it yet. 
 
Which brings me to the main point of my article: if you look at the numbers, the VHL has neither a declining-numbers issue nor a need to grow its user base.
 
I wrote this lovely article two seasons back and I'm still annoyed that barely anyone took the time to read it through and understand it. There's some awesome stuff in there if you agree with my vision for the league--namely, that we should get rid of the VHLE and move back to the way things used to work, when there were only two leagues to deal with and it wasn't normal to have players taking six seasons after the draft to move up. I'm not going to harp on that point too much (although I'd still like to make it), so I'll move on to explaining why I'm bringing it up.
 
It's an article that also serves as a lovely time capsule for the league because it has lots of data on roster sizes as they were in S89. There's a massive spreadsheet in that article that shows you exactly what I mean and that I've updated for S91 (go check it out! It's in the article. You'll have to get around to reading my damn article to find it--see what I did there?). I'll extract a few meaningful numbers from said spreadsheet, and said article, for your viewing enjoyment:
 
Average VHL roster size in S89:
6.1 F | 3.6 D | 1.6 G
 
Average VHL roster size in S91:
6.3 F | 3.8 D | 1.3 G
 
My hypothetical "delete the E and use 8-season careers with a VHLM cap of 250" situation in S89:
6.8 F | 4.1 D | 1.8 G
 
The same situation in S91:
7.6 F | 3.9 D | 1.5 G
 
(Cap is fine in this situation in either season. Currently, the average VHL team has 1.6 inactive players on its roster, which would mean an almost perfect 10-12 actives per team if this were implemented in S91. Delete the E please.)
 
I also appreciated the chance to look at this sheet again because it's occurred to me (sadly after the fact) that I can copy-paste that summary sheet into a separate tab and have a snapshot of how the league looked this season for future reference. It took me a couple hours to bring the sheet up to date, and I don't have it backed up from the original case, but it's in order now for any comparison to S91 that I might eventually need. Maybe you'll see it again in the future!
 
 
You know what this tells us? The VHL has not shrunk even a little bit over the last couple seasons. It also tells us something even nicer. The VHL has not experienced a dramatic (and dangerous) growth rate over the last couple seasons either. That's awesome. In fact, VHL rosters are marginally larger than they used to be, and it appears that there are a few more VHL-ready prospects now than there used to be. That is 100% fine and doesn't indicate a poor job done on the part of recruitment.
 
I think this fits an opinion that I've stated multiple times before just fine--that the current league size should be sustained and that we should work to keep our community the size that we want it to be with recruitment serving mostly to guide it to that level. And that's what is happening. The VHL public can mostly chill out over this issue. We aren't crashing and burning and we aren't going to lose the league just because we're not experiencing the type of recruitment blowup that most of us came into the league in the middle of.
 
"But Gustav," you say, "there hasn't been much recruitment lately! I haven't actually bothered to find out, but I'll hop on the latest trend if it makes me look cool! If I had my way, I'd have all of you shot!"
 
My first answer is all of the above. Complete with a "perhaps we could even shrink the league a tiny little bit so I could have more support for an eventual E nuking. If I had my way, you know what I'd do with it!"
 
My second answer, though, is that you're right--recruitment hasn't been great. And that's something worth keeping an eye on, and that's something that does deserve its own theme week with people bringing up ideas and with the team taking them in for consideration. It's also very true that the VHLM is suffering a bit--our numbers on that sheet are considerably lower than they were in S89, and that's something that could indeed lead to smaller VHL numbers in the future if it persists. Currently, that's something we can deal with. It's even something that I appreciate seeing for my own reasons. And I'm not at all opposed to recruitment for the sake of giving us some first-gens to develop. We could try what we can on Reddit. We could make greater efforts to connect with people right from player creation. We could even--who would ever think?--stop advertising on gaming channels and try to connect with people who actually talk about hockey, or make graphics, or do their own amateur sort of broadcasting that this league isn't all that far off from, instead of making our target audience 12-year-old kids who think we're a gaming community and immediately leave. Wouldn't one or two of those things, or even a certain one in particular, be nice? I like to think it would be great for the league and that recruitment has a wonderful opportunity to grow with this week. It could be a wonderful sort of wake-up call. I'd just rather not see us go the way of overcompensating and end up flooding the league again just because we got yelled at a lot over theme week.
 
Going forward, I think the team could use somewhat of a numbers-oriented approach. We could use someone who tracks league sizes and retention numbers and draft class sizes and figures out when would be smart to recruit and to what extent. A guided approach as to what to do, instead of doing things based on instinct, would be great. It's been alluded to that there's been some inaction on the back end in recent times--and that's absolutely true--but maybe there just isn't that sort of guided approach present. Even keeping track of simple numbers like these would be nice. I believe that with enough tracking of numbers over time, we could reach a very good understanding of how large recruitment needs to make the M for the purposes of growth, shrinkage, or sustainability on the big stage.
 
That's my suggestion for recruitment--get someone to dig into the numbers for you, or start doing it yourself. I suppose it's also my suggestion for the community. The next time you see "RECRUITMENT IS TERRIBLE", think critically about it. Maybe it is! Maybe it isn't, and maybe it's a matter of opinion. Maybe you can look at it as convenient for your own little twisted vision of putting GMs out of work. In any case, I hope this is a valuable contribution to theme week and that what I have to say is taken well.
 
 
1,503 words | 3 weeks | you'll never AI-detector me because my writing style is too stupid for that

Great trip down memory lane with the names in this article. I remember making a list of hall of famers by nationality a while ago (I think you ended up making a better one) but seeing the teams grouped up like this is really interesting and it's still surprising to see the relatively lower number of HoFers from Finland and Russia.
Good to know I still have two players that could make it on a team

I've always been fascinated by the nationalities of the VHL, both at a member level, but also in the countries that members have chosen for their players. There has been a dominance of Canada and the US as expected but also a lot of other traditional and non-traditional hockey markets, which has meant a very eclectic list of entries into the Hall of Fame, and also a very balanced World Cup which has recently become a particularly underappreciated tournament. I'm moving away from the most unusual locations for the purpose of this article but you can see the nationality of every single Hall of Famer in the linked thread below. In the meantime, here is an attempt to create all-time rosters (3 forwards, 3 defencemen, and 3 goaltenders) for the most popular nations in VHL history.
 
https://vhlforum.com/topic/63841-hof-players-builders/
Note: Blue = Hall of Famer. Italics = out of position (i.e. centers used as wingers)
 
Canada
Matt Thompson - Unassisted - Brett Slobodzian
Jardy Bunclewirth - Ethan Osborne - Zach Parechkin
Tom Lincoln - Andrew Su - Josh Vestiquan

Sterling Labatte - Daniel Braxton
Black Velvet - Aurelien Moreau
Elijah Incognito - Lincoln Tate

Aidan Shaw
Benoit Devereux
Rhett DeGrath
 
Canada's obviously #1 in this discussion. 46 Canadians have been inducted into the Hall of Fame to date, by far the most of any country, and nearly enough for 3 rosters exclusively made out of Hall of Famers. Strength in depth was never going to be an issue here but what I do find interesting is that Canada has almost not produced any player considered the best beyond dispute. Yes there's the award namesakes – Slobodzian, Labatte, Shaw – and for a time they would have been considered the pinnacle of their position, but all have been moved down the ranking with the passage of time. It's also curious that there's not really been an all-time great coming out of Canada since Matt Thompson retired in S68, evidenced by the fact only Su, Moreau, and Tate would be considered “modern” players and all three are a bit buried on the depth chart. Make no mistake, Canada would almost certainly win a hypothetical all-time tournament but it's nice that there is quite a bit of individual brilliance sprinkled across the other nations.
 
@Beketov @STZ @JardyB10 @DollarAndADream @Da_Berr @v.2  @sterling @Frank @Tate
 
USA
Gabriel McAllister - Thomas O'Malley - Diana Maxwell
Jarvis Baldwin - Mike Szatkowski - Cam Fowler
John Locke - Kevin Brooks - Brannan Anthony

Conner Low - Ryan Sullivan
Hard Markinson - Jake Wylde
Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen - Brian Payne

Apollo Skye
Xavier Booberry
Benjamin Glover
 
The US might have only half of Canada's Hall of Famers but it's arguably got more bang for its buck. O'Malley and McAllister are two of the 3-4 names in VHL history who can challenge Scotty Campbell as the league's GOAT. Conner Low and Ryan Sullivan – that's basically your #1 and #2 in the all-time defencemen ranking. Any of the 3 lines could realistically be the first and rolling out the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th all-time top scorers as your 3 centers puts the recent Pittsburgh Penguins dynasty to shame. Defence has been historically a weak spot (behind Low and Sullivan) but Markinson and Smitty have bridged the gap as the best of their generations, and likely S91 inductee Brian Payne is building on an impressive recent legacy. Whisper but America could well knock Canada off its perch in a one-off playoff.
 
@CowboyinAmerica @OrbitingDeath  @scoop @Will @Smarch @Advantage @Fire Fletcher @Velevra 
 
UK
Chris Hylands - Leeroy Jenkins - David Smalling
Brennan McQueen - Phil Rafter - Phil Gerrard
Dougie Daniels - Podrick Cast - Uhtred

David Walcott - Matt Bentley
Jeff Hamilton - Phil Hamilton
David Henman - Joseph McWolf

Hans Wingate
Adrian McCreath
Finn Davison
 
The streak of HOF-only rosters ends at 2. But the UK put up a very strong effort and is only 2 forwards and a goalie away from matching Canada and the US. Also, the UK as #3 in a hockey setting? The VHL's English speaking background has definitely had its impact here as has the influence of a handful of Builders. The Knight brothers account for 6 of the players on the team (hint: it's anyone named Phil or David) and as a UK resident I have also assisted with Cast and Bentley. Is it enough to challenge the top two? Probably not, despite a sprinkling of real VHL royalty in Jenskins, Smalling, and Rafter. Goaltending depth is where the team falls down (this will start to be a recurring theme from here), with McCreath widely considered one of the weaker goalies in the Hall, and Wingate's famous playoff heroics might not be enough to rescue the UK here.
 
@hylands @Knight @Phil @leafsman @McWolf
 
Switzerland
Scott Boulet - Scotty Campbell - Matt Bailey
Branden Snelheid - Daniel Janser - Leander Kaelin
Rudolph Schmeckeldorf - Jasper Davis - Tomas Ziegler

Tomas Jenskovic - Alexander Sauve
Petr Shirokov - Lars Intranquilo
Mike Kloepfer - David Tavau

Sandro Clegane
Matthew Pogge
Marius Henchoz
 
Probably the most unbalanced team of them all. Switzerland was a VHL superstar hotspot in its early days (see Campbell, Boulet, Jenskovic) and then after S20 or so stopped producing notable talent with any regularity at all. “Recent” Hall of Famers Clegane and Janser retired some 40 seasons apart. Tellingly, Jasper Davis makes the cut despite being in his third season at the time of writing. Tavau, Kloepfer, and Ziegler in the meantime might be the worst players on any of the teams being profiled although satisfyingly have a Davos connection as either cup-winners with the Swiss team (Kloepfer, Ziegler) or Dynamo lifers (Tavau). In a 6v6 tournament, Switzerland would be up there with the best of them. Even the second line can hold its own but it all falls apart after that and the production line doesn't seem to be getting any better.
 
@Quik @Daniel Janser @Corco @Josh @diamond_ace @Ahma
 
Sweden
Mathias Chouinard - Anton Brekker - Theo Axelsson
Miles Larsson - Niklas Lindberg - Lasse Milo
Ola Vikingstad - Sebastian Ironside - Scotty Sundin

Alexander Valiq - Mats Johnsson
Battre Sandstrom - Bo Johansson
Robin Galante Nilsson - Patrick Bergqvist

Torstein Ironside
Papa Emeritus
Oskar Lindbergh
 
Probably the team most expected to be third in the list, Sweden likely does occupy that spot based on quantity, but has not really provided the VHL's absolute cream of the crop over the years. The thing that does stick out here is the overall balance – take out Brekker and Valiq and there's not really much separating the Hall of Famers from the 3rd liners. Most of the players on the roster have been or currently are on the HOF ballot. In particular this is relevant in net where Emeritus and Lindbergh are still awaiting the call and could change the complexion of this Swedish team if they do get inducted. Overall, however, the verdict would have to be solid but unspectacular which definitely fits the stereotype.
 
@solas @boubabi @Dil @fromtheinside @Acydburn @Shindigs @RomanesEuntDomus @Doomsday
 
Finland
Tukka Reikkinen - Mikka Virkkunen - Jukka Hakkinen
Saku Kotkakoivu - Aleksi Koponen - Joel Jarvi
Valtteri Vaakanainen - Mikko Lahtinen - Karsten Olsen

Fabio Jokinen - Voittu Jannula
Kasper Kankkunen - Spencer Elsby
Kerkko Hyvärinen - Ville Sixten / Velociraptor Greg

Tuomas Tukio
Vase Trikamaki
Fuukka Rask
 
Sweden's neighbours and eternal rivals are hot on their tail and one thing stands out from the off – they love a center. 8 of the 9 forwards are centers by trade and fittingly the only winger, Karsten Olsen, was a defenceman to begin with. This means great depth in the middle (not quite US level but very possible second place) but less so elsewhere. This is particularly obvious on defence where Jokinen flies the flag alone in the Hall of Fame and the depth guys blend so much that I couldn't even pick one between Sixten of 30s Toronto fame and current Prague dinosaur Greg. But the contrast is clear in goal as well – Tukio is one of the greatest ever in contention with Shaw, Wingate, and the Cleganes yet somehow my first-gen who retired in S16 with 634 TPE is still the second-best Finland has managed to produce. Like Switzerland, we are top-heavy here and will struggle on the line changes.
 
@.sniffuM @Jubo @jRuutu @Spence King @samx @Higgins @Jubis
 
Denmark
Aloe Dear - Lars Berger - Max Molholt
Jerome Reinhart (GR) - Aksel Thomassen - Zach Arce
Tomas Sogaard - Venus Thightrap - Niels Skovgaard / Tyler Reinhart (GR)

Zeedayno Chara (GR) - Frans Spelman
Asher Reinhart (GR) - Reylynn Reinhart (GR)
Joe Madison (GR) - Sven Eightnine

Grekkark Gyrfalcon (GR)
Jakob Kjeldsen
Tobias Reinhart (GR)
 
The Danes have really put all their eggs in one basket. Six Hall of Famers is actually quite good going for a country that's not necessarily a hockey hotbed but each one has been a forward. Offense as a strategy is a pretty good one in the VHL and Dear, Berger, and Molholt is one of the higher-scoring first lines out there, but we shouldn't cut Denmark too much slack. They've been bailed out significantly by the VHL's Greenland and interlinked Reinhart epidemic and will soon need to worry about whether a stand-alone Denmark team could beat a stand-alone Greenland one. For now though, this is a well-balanced combined team which would hold its own in a Nordic tournament.
 
@Renomitsu @Molholt @MexicanCow123 @Arce @Brandon @BladeMaiden @Zetterberg @Ricer13 @BarzalGoat @Spaz @Sharkstrong
 
Germany
Tyson Kohler - Markus Strauss - Christian Stolzschweiger
Ignatius Feltersnatch - Felix Peters - Shawn Muller
Marek Schultz - Lukas Muller - Wolfgang Strauss / Christoph Klose

Jochen Walser - Joey Kendrick
Erik Summers - Torsten Schwarz
Cole Hagstrom / Jaeger Stryker - World B. Free / Klaus Muller

Dominik Stryker
Greg Harbinson
Mathieu VanCoughnett
 
Germany is definitely closer to the Swiss end of the range in that a lot of its strength comes from its past rather than more recent seasons. The majority of the roster had retired or at least debuted by S30 and talent has only trickled in since. There are two old names who continue to hold up well in modern discourse in Stolzschweiger and Walser and a strong trio of centers, while the 3 split decisions on the third line show that there is more than decent depth to call upon. Goaltending is definitely a weakness however, with one of the great first overall busts in VanCoughnett propping up two names more famous for their GM roles than their exploits on the ice.
 
@Kendrick @gregreg @TheLastOlympian07 @der meister @Erik Summers @stevo @Zero
 
Russia
Alexander Beketov - Daric Radmonovic - Pavel Koradek
Evgeni Fyodorov - Sergey Preobrazhensky - Nikolai Lebedev
Bogdan Trunov - Igor Molotov - Yuri Grigorenko

Maxim Kovalchuk - Aleksei Federov
Radislav Mjers - Vladimir Boomchenko
Siyan Yasilievich / Vladimir Pavlov - Victor Grachev

Alexander Labatte
Maxim Desny
Rara Rasputin
 
Finally we close off this piece with the Russian team which is quite similar to the Swedes in 1) being quite balanced with no real standout superstar and 2) being pleasingly stereotypical. Russia's famous in the hockey world for producing individually brilliant players with good attacking instincts and little in the way of a two-way game – it is both their strength and often their downfall. The all-time VHL Russian team is no exception with pretty much everyone on the team focused on scoring (other than the goalies of course) and doing so well enough to be in the Hall of Fame or at least the Hall of Very Good. Everyone on the roster except Desny is also a cup winner which is quite impressive so if nothing else, team Russia would be entertaining.
 
@Bulduray_1 @qripll @Dom @Banackock @InstantRockstar @BOOM @badcolethetitan @KaleebtheMighty
 
After Russia the disparity grows, with no other country really providing a consistent stream of high quality VHL players. Ukraine is the only other nation with more than 2 Hall of Famers, with 4, and features prominently on the best of the rest roster I've put together below just for fun. Of course there are not many traditional hockey markets not covered above (and indeed the UK and Denmark are probably less traditional than others). The Czech and Slovak presence has also been low in the VHL with just 1 Hall of Famer between them, while Latvia actually does quite well with 2 but as expected doesn't really have the depth. Apart from that, lots of VHL members opted to bring in talent from eclectic destinations, from Asia to Australia, from South Africa to the Caribbean. It's provided a good deal of flavour to the overall list but does mean there are still gaps to fill on the more traditional teams which should be the main takeaway from this.... don't make Canadians and Americans.
 
Everyone else
Volodymyr Rybak (UKR) - Franchise Cornerstone (MON) - Odin Tordahl (NOR)
Lord Karnage (SOM) - Alexander Chershenko (UKR) - Duncan Idaho (SMR)
Pietro Maximoff (ROM) - Grimm Jonsson (ISL) - J.D. Stomwall (NZL) *Ronan Lavelle (IRL) could have a claim here

Japinder Singh (IND) - Condor Adrienne (VAT)
James Bencharski (UKR) - Patrice Reynaud (FRA)
Tui Sova (FIJ) - Roque Davis (POR)

Greg Clegane (IRL)
Daisuke Kanou (JPN)
Alex Gegeny (NAM)
 
@Baozi

I really don't like where AI is headed. It has ruined a few content creators that I know who used to be fantastic at photomanipulation but are all into AI now. I refuse to go down that rabbit hole. I enjoy making graphics too much to just enter enough prompts until you get something you want. I didn't even know there was a AI that writes shit for you. Seems like the prompts for that would take as long as just doing the task.