zepheter

@zepheter

1. We're at the halfway point of the season! What's been the biggest VHL surprise to you so far?
LA is a lot better than I had anticipated. Really impressive season so far.
 
2. Have the Titans lived up to your preseason expectations so far?
We're staying somewhat competitive with mid-low level teams, but getting smoked by good teams. So kinda what I expected. 
 
3. In keeping with the Theme Week, what makes a good GM to you?
Winning is important, but keeping your LR lively is probably the most important. Gotta make it fun to be on the team otherwise it'll just be a boring experience.
 
4. Who's your favorite VHLM/VHLE/VHL GM you've played for and why?
Thad was great in the VHLE with Stockholm. Always checking on and looking for ways to get players more involved. Playing for Bana's Bears was awesome. He keeps the team competitive which means players will frequently come and go. It was awesome to meet all of the different people. All of the cups were a bonus.
 
5. It's starting to get cold in Helsinki, what piece of winter gear do you still need?
I have a box of swimsuits on the way as we speak. 
 
6. Have any special plans for the first day of snow?
Sneaking out to go snowboarding in my brand new swimsuits. It's gonna be a blast. 

Okay perhaps I was wrong but I will be right at some point this season. 

Don’t worry Lavelle 6 points next sim. 

This is true but where the fuck did you come from

#S85CUPCHAMPS

A Career, Interrupted
 
Normally I have some sort of overarching theme to my media spots to make them more coherent. But today, I’m just going to ramble a bit. I think it’s warranted given how this offseason’s gone, and the rather sudden dissolution of the team with the third-best record in the league last season.
 
I’ve experienced a lot in my VHL career. I’ve created Hall of Famers, won titles, been a part of dominant teams. I’ve also experienced the lowest of lows, going careers without ever making the Finals, finishing as a bit of an afterthought. After being here off and on for about 50 seasons, I didn’t think there was much left to experience in my VHL life.
 
But now, I guess I can say I’ve experienced something new. I’ve never been on a team where a GM has ghosted before.
 
To be sure, a GM no longer showing up isn’t exactly a novel phenomenon in the VHL. Famously, the S43 Bears had Bushito up and leave midseason, while the team went on to win the title anyway. The practice was unfortunately common in the league’s 50s and 60s, although much less so today with so many active members chomping at the bit to take the reigns. Still, I suppose I’ve been fortunate with the GMs I’ve had in my VHL career, because there really hasn’t been much turnover when I’ve been on a team, and even when that’s occurred, there was a succession plan in place.
 
A succession plan is something that Helsinki could have used desperately. Rayz has/had been slowly fading away for a while, but for some reason, never really hired an AGM to pick up the slack in his stead since Hatter left a couple of months ago. I tried to help where I could - I’ve pretty much been posting Helsinki press conferences the past few seasons myself, and I also did all the team’s S84 Draft scouting, since I assumed it wouldn’t get done otherwise. But there’s a reason I actively avoid taking a league job: my schedule goes off and on. The last two weeks (of vacation and work) I was largely offline. For the first week, Rayz was supposed to be too - but now, as that has stretched into two weeks and now a third, there hasn’t been someone there to take up the slack. Apparently the Titans drafted people, but without looking at the portal, I’d have no idea who because there’s been radio silence on Discord. Rayz may very well come back, but there’s been no talk of how or why, and it’s clear that a clean break was not going to be in the cards here.
 
The results have been both obvious and devastating. There’s a chance that Helsinki stalwarts like Pearce, Nezuko and Nano would have stayed if they had actually been courted. Obviously, one can see from the boards that they never received an offer. I don’t blame them for jumping ship at all; I would have done the exact same thing in their situation. And what’s left are the few players that had a longer contract - myself, Boom, AW, Ledge, Zeph. Ironically, I think the bones are there for a team that can still compete, but now without even anyone to bid on inactives, the chances of full lines aren’t very good. I genuinely don’t know what’s going to happen next. I'm not confident it will be good.
 
I talked with Josh on Sunday about the situation, and my hope is that the blue team is considering its options here. I haven’t heard anything back from them, to be fair, but I can’t say I’d be shocked by some sort of takeover. I do believe time is a bit of the essence there, given that the cap is still tight across the league, and it would be tough to find worthwhile homes for the team’s remaining actives. Plus, I figure any new GM would want as many suitors as possible to try and maximize picks for any sort of rebuild.
 
Even then, though, I fear I’m going to be the one screwed by this situation the most, especially because of one big factor: the recent glut of goalies. In recent drafts, just about every team has solidified their goalie position, or at least have a plan for the next couple of years. That leaves my potential options for landing spots - not only via a trade this season, but even in free agency next offseason - very slim. It’s a bit odd that I’m going to be sitting at 1200+ TPA for the next four seasons, yet I could be left out of the general league shuffle for reasons beyond my control. It’s the way the cookie crumbles, but it doesn’t make it any more palatable.
 
I suppose my best case scenario is somebody takes over the Titans now, sees the potential and tries to cobble together a winner for the next couple of seasons. I’m curious if that ship has sailed, though. And if it has - well, I guess I’m going to keep banking a ton of TPE, and I’m open for business next offseason if somebody wants a potentially game-breaking goalie on their side. I genuinely don’t know where that might be, because I’ve done zero research on other destinations - I never thought I would have to. That’s something I’m learning comes up quickly in this situation that I’d never experienced before.
 
I really did want to see this through on the Titans, but I guess the Titans didn’t really want to see it through on their side. As a result, the ultimate trajectory of where I see my career going is changing. Especially after a Season 83 Slobo and Shaw, and a Season 84 playoff run that saw a Game 7 loss to the eventual champs, I’ll admit that I had Hall of Fame in my eyes. Maybe I still could. But that has been rapidly replaced by scramble mode, and the increasing possibility of my final season before depreciation being a complete wash. I imagine it will change how the history books remember Booberry. I know it’ll change how I remember him. Because now, it will be partially the story of the promising goalie who ran into the brick wall that he never saw coming.

 

please come to helsinki

You can't celebrate 15 years of VHL without the greatest playoff performer of all time. Shoutout to the homie @Rayzor_7

In six postseason appearances with the Bears, Funk racked up a league-leading 55 wins. Also recording a 0.930SV% and 2.09GAA.
He won the Stolzschweiger Trophy in his rookie season, and went on to win four Continental Cups including one Victory Cup in S73.
In S73, Funk won his fourth and final Daisuke Kanou Trophy. Making him the only four-time winner in VHL history.
He may not have put up the greatest numbers during the regular season, but he always performed when it mattered most.

Clearly missed this past playoffs lol. And missed the NHL playoffs too

MIKE SMITH???? @oilmandan @a_Ferk

Mike Smith is goated

You can't celebrate 15 years of VHL without the greatest playoff performer of all time. Shoutout to the homie @Rayzor_7

In six postseason appearances with the Bears, Funk racked up a league-leading 55 wins. Also recording a 0.930SV% and 2.09GAA.
He won the Stolzschweiger Trophy in his rookie season, and went on to win four Continental Cups including one Victory Cup in S73.
In S73, Funk won his fourth and final Daisuke Kanou Trophy. Making him the only four-time winner in VHL history.
He may not have put up the greatest numbers during the regular season, but he always performed when it mattered most.

You can't celebrate 15 years of VHL without the greatest playoff performer of all time. Shoutout to the homie @Rayzor_7

In six postseason appearances with the Bears, Funk racked up a league-leading 55 wins. Also recording a 0.930SV% and 2.09GAA.
He won the Stolzschweiger Trophy in his rookie season, and went on to win four Continental Cups including one Victory Cup in S73.
In S73, Funk won his fourth and final Daisuke Kanou Trophy. Making him the only four-time winner in VHL history.
He may not have put up the greatest numbers during the regular season, but he always performed when it mattered most.

F - AJ Williams
 
@Jason kranz

D - Hari Singh Nalwa
 
@thadthrasher

D - Hulk Hogan 2
 
@Jason kranz

G - Oskar Lindbergh 
 
@thadthrasher

F - Duncan Idaho 
 
@Jason kranz

https://vhlportal.com/game/VHL/83/VHL83-1.html
 
It is opening night for the VHL S83. The Helsinki Titans hosting HC Davos Dynamo in a sold out stadium.
 
It didn't take long to hear the crowd go crazy after Florida Man put home the first goal of the season 5:55 into the first period flying past Boris Tsezar. After a couple of small minor penalties the first period ended out with the Dynamo trailing even though they out shot the Titans 9-7.
 
The second period starts and 4:18 in Flynn Remy is pulled up for a High Stick call and Davos pounce on the chance and get a PP goal 5:51 in with Tavau scoring.
 
The third period started off strong with 2 goals in the first minute. The Titans goal was scored by Nasherov only 12 seconds after the Dynamo scored at the 39 second mark. Davos' goal was scored by Tavau. This wasn't the end of his night though, scoring another power play goal at 16:36 to complete his hattrick as one lone hat was thrown onto the ice by a Davos supporter.
 
The game ended 3-2 to the HC Davos Dynamo even though the Titans outshot them 37-24
 
@Ahma @comrade cat @zepheter @Vat

@Enorama I’d like to ignore the Jerome Reinhart pick and get forwards Vinny Detroit + Zeedayno Chara instead. 
 
@Lilpfigher

Cologne dynasty lives on

you’re right Cologne is seriously underrated. they should be #1. 
 
👀
 
wouldn’t mind seeing a total TPA stat for each team in future rankings. great work on this 

Hmm very interesting piece! I kinda like what you have done with the render and all the background work. The background gives me this intergalactic space travel vibe, but the render work itself reminds me of ice-man or whatever the villain from Batman is. All together seems a bit neon-ish so a lot of perspectives for this specific work. As you already mentioned yourself then you had issues with the text. Cannot say that the text is bad, not at all, but ye, text is an issue most of the times. Although the piece is busy, I kinda would like to see the background filled up a little bit more and not have that much of the black blank space around.
 
Rating: 8/10

Review: I love this. Great player render choice and the effect looks cool as hell. Love the choice to keep it two colours as it really keeps it simple. Sometimes, simple works well. The blue looks so nice and it such a nice shade. I love the glowing effect it has with the black background. The idea for the text is great and the overall composition is great. IN terms of feedback, I am sort of not a fan of how the effect affects the face of the player render. It is a great render and a great pose but the face just looks off. These next ones are more suggestions rather than critiques as I like how the graphic stands alone. Maybe experiment with having the player render positioned in the left and the font in the corner, allowing for a neat imbalance in the composition. Also, maybe change the font for Florida and keep it opaque. 8/10, looks great!