McLovin

Claiming 2/2

(Graphic credit to @Zetterberg) VSN Presents: S91 VHLM Power Rankings: Weeks 1 & 2 Edition! Hello, and welcome to this season's iteration of the VSN VHLM Power Rankings for S91! We have a lot to cover, as we are now entering our second week of VHLM games! So without further ado, let’s jump straight into the rankings! Houston Bulls | 17-2-1, 1st in Western Conference, 1st in League Standings Starting off this season's power rankings, we have the Houston Bulls in the number one spot. The Bulls have been hands down the most dominant team in the M this season by far. Boasting the best defensive team in the league, and constantly being a top 3 team in goal production as well. With dominant seasons being put up by rookie Vanellope von Schweetz @Arce, VHLM sophomore Luna Everdeen @Dee & shutdown goaltending by Pipo Popa @npuBeT, the Bulls are easily the early Cup favorites at this point in the season, and will have high expectations going into the playoffs. Saskatoon Wild | 15-5-0, 2nd in Western Conference, 2nd in League Standings Moving on, we bring ourselves to the Saskatoon Wild! A very deep and skilled forward core has proven fruitful as they bolster the second best offense in the league, having put up 57 goals on the season already! Alexandros Mograine @sliceruser, Adi Dassler @BOOM & Leo Neelson III @silentnyrf31 are all having phenomenal seasons, and are contributing greatly to Saskatoon's success. Despite the teams lack of defensive depth, the stellar goaltending of Toddly Bobbly @ToddlyBobbly has been simply elite, and has been a major contributor to the team's success this season. Should he maintain form through the halfway point of the season, I see him very easily being a front runner for Goalie of the Year. Las Vegas Aces | 12-4-4, 3rd in Western Conference, 4th in League Standings Onto our third Western Conference team in a row, we have the Las Vegas Aces! The Aces this season are far more elite offensively than last season, bolstering the best goals for in the league with 59. On the backs of offensive production from Stinky @taylorherd, Jean-Marc Lemieux @Gorth & Piston Maicupp @MandyManiac, they have had no problem putting on high volume of shots and goal production to get them up in the standings. Their achilles heel this season, however, is easily the defense. Already up to 43 goals against on the season, they’ve been struggling in their own zone as much as their opponents have against them, leading to high scoring slugfests regularly. Should Hugo Boss @Dil crank the goaltending numbers up more, the Aces will be a very dangerous team come playoffs. Ottawa Lynx | 14-4-2, 1st in Eastern Conference, 3rd in League Standings Pushing forward, we have our first Eastern Conference team of our power rankings thus far, the Ottawa Lynx. Having a remarkably strong season in a rather weak conference, the Lynx have been carried by a strong offense similarly to Las Vegas. George Richmond @badcolethetitan & Thijs Mooij @Thijs are both having incredible seasons, and have been major factors to the success the Lynx have enjoyed into this first half of the season. Similarly to the Aces again, they do struggle a bit defensively as they only roster two defenseman at the moment, and their goaltending situation is far from perfect as they have two backup caliber goalies fighting for the starting position. If Andrew Cobberson @BrandyAndy reaches his potential in playing ability, the Lynx will solve a lot of defensive problems and likely shoot up even more in the standings, and in our power rankings! Mississauga Hounds | 12-7-1, 2nd in Eastern Conference, 5th in League Standings Onto the halfway mark of this iteration of our power rankings, we have the Mississauga Hounds! The Hounds find themselves in a strange position at this point in the season, where they’ve found themselves in a bit of a lucky streak despite specific stats holding them back. They’re not the most offensively remarkable team, as players like Tom Dufour @Cookie, Gremlis Lielais @Anomalijs & Howdy Doody @BigIrish are having just hovering around point per game seasons, which is still impressive but not of league average when looking at other top team scorers. This plus the lack of defensive depth has hurt them a bit in the standings, but the elite play of Pierre-luc Dutil @Pierre-Luc Dutil has helped keep Mississauga in the competition, and may prove to be the piece needed for a deep run into the playoffs. Philadelphia Reapers 11-9-0 | 3rd in Eastern Conference, 6th in League Standings In the latter half of our rankings, we have the Philadelphia Reapers! A very peculiar team indeed, they bolster the number one and number two scorers in the entire league by FAR in Caring Bear @thecaringbear & Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy, who both have 47 points in just 20 games played! With offensive production like that, surely you’d expect the Reapers to be a much better team than one at an 11-9-0 record. That isn’t the case however, as their lack of roster depth has forced Bear and Ninefingers to essentially put the entire team on their backs to keep the Reapers competitive. Whether this is a winning formula or not is yet to be seen as it’s still too early to say, but the Reapers have two assets here that they either can compete and build around now, or trade at the TDL or sooner for capital on their rebuild. As it stands right now however, I only see the Reapers maintaining this pace unless something drastically changes. Miami Marauders | 8-10-2, 4th in Eastern Conference, 7th in League Standings Moving right along, we have the Miami Marauders. The defenseman shortage in the M right now has definitely stung Miami, as they find themselves in the worst half of the goals against statistic right now, with their goal differential being at the time of writing this a -10. Players like Demko @Demko & Jeffrey Howard Dewberry Kalin @Motzaburger having strong PPG seasons, they can only do so much as they lead the way offensively. Petit Hughie @Sen is the only rostered defenseman on the team, and the immense responsibility put on the rookie's shoulders has forced him to be a rather good offensive player, but receiving very little help in the way of defense. Perhaps a trade for a defenseman from a team with strong depth in that category (Las Vegas comes to mind with their five rostered dmen) would bear some fruit, and propel the Marauders up in the standings more. Until then, however, I fear the playoffs will be a quick one and done series for Miami unless something changes. San Diego Marlins | 7-12-1, 4th in Western Conference, 8th in League Standings On the final stretch of our rankings, we move onto the San Diego Marlins! Another victim of the lack of depth plague that’s consumed teams in the M for the last few seasons, San Diego has struggled to keep their heads above water. Forward production has not been at the place it needs to be to help the team, as the two leading scorers by far are defensemen in Factor Lee @Hockeywizard676 & Vladimir Kozlov @vladbatton. They were forced to release a goaltender in Vincenzo Pagano @Oatex who was putting up great numbers, and replaced him with Jake Dunzapp @Dunzapp, who early in the season has struggled a bit with the team rostered in front of him. Should they be able to go out and acquire a star forward to help with offensive production (Maybe one of the two stars from Philly?), it would tremendously improve the team, and shoot them up the standings, and our own VSN power rankings as well. 9. Halifax 21st | 2-18-0, 5th in Eastern Conference, 10th in League Standings Nearing the end of our rankings, we move onto the Halfiax 21st. It’s no surprise to see Halfiax here, as they have only 3 forwards rostered, with no defense and a rather good goaltender in the crease. The rebuild is truly on as Halifax looks to build the future with Bubba Tree @Bubba & Josh Caz @Caz96 at the helm. When you only have two wins in your first twenty games, it’s hard to have much hope at saving the season. Fully dedicating to the rebuild and doing everything they can to maintain their last place position should be a priority, but given the quality of the S92 VHLM Draft so far, it might be difficult to jumpstart a contender after this season unless some moves are made. It’s certainly safe to say that GM @ShawnGlade has his work cut out for him. 10. Mexico City Kings | 2-15-3, 5th in Western Conference, 9th in League Standings Onto the final team in our rankings, we have the Mexico City Kings. Another similar situation to Halifax, the rebuild has truly begun in Mexico City. The strangest thing about this team, however, is that I just find it incredibly difficult to believe they are THIS bad this season. They bolster great star power, with Arne Holmquist @axtron & Hezeus Ohmontegue-Steinhardt X @Sisyphus leading the way offensively, both as defensemen. At this point in the season, it’s an extremely tough call as to what to do. They’re VERY far down the standings, so it may be worth it to dedicate to the rebuild and liquidate their assets before many of them move onto the VHLE. At the same time, they are only 8 points behind San Diego for the last spot in the playoffs, and should they be able to figure out good line combinations and strategies to get out of this massive rut they find themselves in, they have a slim chance to make the playoffs, but a chance nonetheless. Time will tell what happens in this regard. This concludes this Week 1 & 2 Edition of the VSN’s Power Rankings coverage of the S91 VHLM Regular Season! A lot of interesting stories are being made, and a lot to unpack from these first 20 games. This is going to be a very exciting season for the VHLM, so tune in next time for VSN’s coverage of the midway point of the season! Thank you for reading, this has been Marcus Svedberg, signing off!

I'm going to sound like such a boomer saying this, but back in my day of the mid to late S60's and early 70's, it was just the M and VHL. That method worked just fine for teams in both leagues as the M was constantly filled with recreates and had players to spare, and the VHL itself was rarely small rostered. Having less teams is an unfortunate route, but it means more players per team and thus improved performance. There are M teams right now that literally only have a handful of players, 2 or 3 max and that's just unacceptable in my eyes. Considering this last draft and the next not being projected to be in bulk either, it makes me wonder why the E exists if it's just a stopgap solution to a problem that, in my eyes at least, never existed. I do believe the TPE cap of the M should be raised regardless as players rotate out far too quickly, teams are broken up and chemistry is lost between teammates, which is a big retainer of newer players in the VHL to begin with. tldr; Until we get a recruitment drive, we need to simplify the league and delete the E, raise the TPE cap of the M and all these problems are pretty much solved once we get the drive to improve the quality of drafts.

When I got drafted by them bro I couldn't stop laughing no joke, stars def aligned on that one

Maxim Anisimov Rookie Experience Maxim Anisimov has graduated from the VHLE, and has officially played his first 4 games in the VHL with the Warsaw Predators! In this Rookie Experience article, we're going to cover goals Anisimov has for this season, as well as his entire VHL career and what he aims to accomplish in his time in the pros. Being drafted 5th overall in the VHL Draft leaves high expectations for all. For players, for the team, for the fans, everyone wants big things from who they hope will become a cornerstone piece to a Championship winning team. Anisimov has taken this pressure in stride as he's exploded onto the VHL scene with 3 points in 4 games already, on a team that is in the midst of a hard rebuild. The aims of Maxim during this season is to show the team and the league what he has to offer, and help make hockey more mainstream and popular in Ukraine, his home country. His performance thus far has definitely helped this aim, as he's already scored his first VHL goal against the Helsinki Titans. His hope is that he can elevate his game even more, and give kids in Ukraine inspiration to do what he's doing, and make names for themselves in the VHL. Having already represented Team Asia and Europe in the WJC during seasons 89 & 90, he feels like he's on the right track. Long term goals for Maxim Anisimov are to definitely meet the expectations of being drafted 5th overall, and become a franchise player for the Predators. His aims for the next few seasons include racking up the assists and raising his teammates scoring up by being a special teams menace for opponents. Of course, he'd love to break a few team or league records while he's at it, but he rather keep his head in the moment and have a good rookie season before he starts daydreaming about the Hall of Fame, but he'd be lying if he said he isn't aiming for that by the end of his career! With that in mind, he's loved his time in Warsaw so far! Interactions with management have been remarkable, and he absolutely wants to spend his career playing for Warsaw! His teammates have been great influences and help in transitioning to the pros, and he's already learned so much about how to be the best player he can by their teachings and guidance. Overall, Maxim Anisimov is incredibly optimistic over his VHL career, and he can't wait to show the league what he can do! -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Claiming 2/2

Commander Doom @Mech hi Confirm referral

S90 World Cup Preview Hello and happy World Cup to all of our readers! It’s an exciting time to be a fan of the international tournaments as the WJC just wrapped up with a threepeat victory for the Europeans! Now the big guns of the VHL are gonna face off against each other, representing their nations and continents on the biggest stage the VHL has to offer, the World Cup! In today’s article, we’re gonna preview what the S90 World Cup will likely have to offer, including teams and players to look out for! Without further ado, let’s get into this preview! Team World: Starting off with arguably the best team in the tournament, we have Team World! Carried by the best goaltending and defense the tournament has to offer, this team is going to be a significant challenge to score on. The only thing the team struggles with slightly is their offense, where they find themselves more middle of the pack competitively speaking. While it is still serviceable and able to get goals on the board, leaning heavily on the defense to protect the net should be Team Worlds priority going into the Round Robin. Should the likes of Hammar Voss @BOOM & Lachlan Summers @kirbithan be able to take over games, Team World should be expected to play very well, and be the “way too early to predict” favorites to take home Gold at this season's World Cup! Team Canada: Moving on, we have Team Canada! Statistically speaking, Canada bolsters the second best offense in the tournament, and it’s not hard to see why. When your first line is projected to consist of the likes of Todd Cooke @KRZY, Molly the Cat @JCarson, and Leonard Triller @Triller, you can expect goals on goals from those players should they play together. While the defense is good and will lock games down where they can, the biggest piece of the team might very well be Joel Castle @animal74, who’s already proven to be one of the best goaltenders in the VHL. Should Castle be able to steal games for Canada, they have an incredibly good chance at making their 3rd Gold Medal appearance in 4 tournaments, and outscoring the competition in every game they play. Team Western Europe: Into the middle of the pack, we have Team Western Europe. Based on the statistics mentioned in the previous team preview, Team Western Europe has by far the best offense in the World Cup, and taking a glance at their forward roster goes to show exactly why they’re going to be a scary team to play against. Ronan Lavalle @Arce, John Jameson @Frank, Leandro Goncalves @leandrofg & The Frenchman @OrbitingDeath are all elite players in their own right, and will be looked upon to come in clutch during close games. The reason I say close games is because while they have good defense similarly to Canada, they certainly struggle between the pipes. Their starting goaltender isn’t even European, so let that go to show just how desperate the goalie situation in Western Europe is at the moment. Team Western Europe will live or die on the backs of Ash Sparks @DarkSpyro & Karl Herzlich @LastGoon007, and their performance will be the deciding factor on the teams success in the Round Robin. Team Eastern Europe: Onto the second half of our preview, we have the other European team, Team Eastern Europe! A similar situation to Western Europe, East also has a strong cast of offensive tools at its disposal. The highlight of the team, though has to be defenseman Siyan Yasilievich @badcolethetitan, who aims to carry a defense that consists of mostly VHL newcomers, who might struggle against fully veteranized All-Stars. His leadership and elite two-way play will be make or break for Team Eastern Europe, and his play alongside the strong offense the team has, games between them and the rest of the tournament will likely devolve into slugfests. If you enjoy high scoring matches, make sure to catch Eastern Europe's games, as they are projected to be some of the most competitive and hard fought wins anybody in the tournament will fight. Should they be able to keep the puck out of their net, they could be a very serious Cinderella storyline in the making, so keep your eyes open for these guys! Team Scandinavia: Nearing the end of our list, we move onto Team Scandinavia! A very well rounded team, they have everything a team could need to compete in the World Cup. Their biggest assets who will be relied on heavily include LW Nikolas Kauppi @Tetricide & Fuukka Rask @Jubis. Having a strong number one forward & goalie to support your team and make clutch plays definitely helps, but I worry that Team Scandinavia lacks enough star power to compete with some of the top teams in the tournament with the likes of Team Canada and World having matched and beat them in every category statistically. However, numbers are only that, numbers, and once the puck drops, anything can happen. With that in mind, and Fuukka Rask in particulars game considered, Scandinavia has the potential to be a real upsetter in the Round Robin, and even another dark horse candidate for Medal contention should they pull out strong games against higher skilled opponents. Do not underestimate Scandinavia’s ability to take advantage of overconfidence from their competition, because anything can happen in the World Cup. Team USA: Concluding our preview, last but certainly not least, we have Team USA! A very similar situation to Team Scandinavia, the All-Star power in Team USA is not as prevalent as seasons past, but don’t let that fool you. They’re an incredibly well rounded team, but just statistically on average have the lowest of the numbers you’d hope for in international competition. Lead by players such as Daryl Dixon @Ricer13, Mac Atlas @v.2 , & Brian Payne @Scurvy, Team USA has a wonderful mix of young and veteran presence on the roster. While it might not be the most competitive Round Robin for the Americans, the young guns will want to come out swinging and prove to the world that they have what it takes to compete on the international stage. Never underestimate the resolve and skill of players trying to prove they belong, because it’s usually a great opportunity to take advantage of and create a couple of upsets along the way. Whether this happens or not is yet to be seen, but I don’t see Team USA going quietly into the night whatsoever. They’re going to fight for every game, and give quite the run on anybody they face. This concludes this VSN coverage of the S90 World Cup Preview! A lot to be excited for in this seasons iteration, and I personally can’t wait to see what happens. Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful evening. For VSN, Marcus Svedberg, signing off!

IT'S SHOWTIMEEEEEEEE!!! I have been given the honor of being the General Manager of Team Eastern Europe for this seasons iteration of the World Cup, and I'm very happy to be here to announce Eastern Europe's international representatives! Without further ado, representing the BETTER half of the continent, here is your Season 90 Team Eastern Europe Roster! Forwards: Wann Kerr @VattghernCZ Henry Eagles @Greg_Di Yaroslav Bogatyrev @Bojovnik AK92 Wit da Hoodie @hedgehog337 Left Alone @okochastar Yaroslav Trunov @qripll Defense: Siyan Yasilievich @badcolethetitan Faith Hope Love @MMFLEX Hunor Solyom @solyom YaBoi Oven @Doomsday Goalies: Bubbles Utonium @fishy Ilya Bryzgalov @Devise Congrats to everyone that was selected, here is a discord invite link for players and fans alike to keep up to date with all things World Cup! See you on the ice! https://discord.gg/RbvzJW4FzS

Credit to @kirbithan VSN Presents: Recapping an Era: Philadelphia Following the end of the S90 playoffs, we saw the end of one of the most successful GM careers in recent VHLM history, as @Pifferfishstepped down as the GM of the Philadelphia Reapers. In today’s special presentation of VSN, we’re going to recap the era of Reapers hockey that Pifferfish was instrumental in constructing, and the legacy that has been built and will be the standard of GMs for seasons to come. Piffer’s M career started when he was brought into the Reapers organization as an AGM during S85. Assisting the Reapers management; the GM being @Lemorse7, with pressers and lineup assistance, he helped bring the team into the playoffs with the Reapers posting a 35-31-6 record. Despite their regular season performance, the Reapers went all the way to the Founders Cup Finals, in which they beat the Las Vegas Aces in 6 games to win the Founders Cup! Off to a strong start, Piffer carried the knowledge acquired from such a successful season into S86, continuing AGM duties and assisting in improving the Reapers regular season record to 45-22-5. On the back of Ryan Sullivan winning defenseman Elias Lampi, the Reapers advanced all the way to the Conference Finals where they were ousted in 7 games to the Ottawa Lynx. Having contributed to the success of the Reapers, helping them be only a game away from back to back finals appearances, and the resignation of the GM, Piffer learned enough to ascend to the position of full time General Manager for S87. S87 was a rough one as Piffer inherited a rebuilding franchise as a rookie GM. The team itself went 22-44-6, and was not present in the S87 playoffs. The season definitely proved to be a trial by fire, but glimpses of brilliance were already shining through in some moves being made by Piffer. A trade made in the season to acquire a S88 4th & 5th from Mexico City for a S87 4th showed that Piffer had long term goals with the team, and intended to turn the Reapers into a powerhouse team in a few seasons. His handling of S87 would prove to be perfect for the franchise as they vastly improved upon their S88 showing. Almost doubling their wins from the previous season, the team went 43-26-3 in the regular season. Piffer would complete three trades in S88, biggest of them being the acquisitions of Trey Jones @Slick, Dank Turtle @DankTurtle & Zyn Westwood @Sullvino. In the playoffs, the Reapers would dominate the competition in clinching games, having won two game 7’s on their path to their second Founders Cup in 4 seasons. S89 would easily prove to be Piffers best showing as GM of Philadelphia, as this was the season the Reapers absolutely dominated everything and everyone. 55-12-5 was their regular season record, which would be good enough for the Prime Minister’s Cup for most points in the regular season. Axle Gunner @Steve would go to win the Ethan Osborne, while Tyler Swift @lilchrist would win the Vladimir Boomchenko & Ryan Sullivan Awards & Karl Herzlich @LastGoon007 would go to win the Mitch Higgins. A near sweep of yearly awards would surely mean playoff success, which they found by advancing all the way to the Finals for the third time in 5 seasons. Unfortunately the dream of another Founders Cup was cut short by a dominating performance by San Diego, who ousted them in 5 games. Even more unfortunately, this would be Piffers last season as GM of the Reapers, as he decided to resign down into the AGM position he previously held before becoming GM. As of S90 Piffer had proven to be a great influence in management and remained as the AGM for the newly re-hired GM @Lemorse7, who he helped assist the team in maintaining competitiveness after the rebuild commenced. Despite entering a rebuild, the team remained very competitive, finishing the season with a commendable 30-34-8 record, allowing them to compete in the playoffs, though they were ousted in the first round. The career of Pifferfish in Philadelphia was one of great success, and brought multiple team and player awards to the team, including two Founders Cup Championships, a Prime Minister’s Cup, and 8 individual player awards over the span of 6 seasons. While he may not be GM anymore, it’s safe to say that the prestige and competitiveness he brought to Philadelphia is definitely worth notice from around the league, and should be the standard as to how to help an M team win. For this special presentation of VSN, this has been Marcus Svedberg, wishing you all a pleasant evening!

https://vhlportal.com/players/playerfocus/6087 has reached 100 TPE

https://vhlportal.com/players/playerfocus/6095 has reached 100 TPE

https://vhlportal.com/players/playerfocus/6094 has reached 100 TPE

I'm very interested in being a WC GM, I apply!

IT'S MAXIM NOT MAXSIM

The great @Blazzer has decided to resign from her position as AGM of the Aces, which means the Aces are now looking for a new AGM! Should you be interested in the job, make sure you meet the requirements for the position before applying! - Be able to create press conferences every week for players to complete for TPE - Be active and engage in the locker room Discord with players - Assist players with questions they may have regarding builds, TPE opportunities, etc - Assist myself in creating lineups, scouting for the draft, trading and other managerial duties No experience is required to apply, and I'll likely send interviews out to those interested in the coming days! Thank you in advance!

This is why I'm kinda pissed on Warsaw's behalf because according to team stats, the bot for the Preds won 5 games, which actually meant Warsaw was more competitive with the bot goalie if we're going off win/loss ratio. That plus the starting goalie for Warsaw has been inactive for over a year now, I don't really see how the Preds playing better on average with a bot goalie over a one year+ IA goalie who has similar stats anyways means they should be knocked down FIVE draft spots in the lottery, that's horrendously overkill. EDIT: Here's the stats of the two goalies from the regular season just for reference

I strongly beg to differ. Dropping back 5 spots in the lottery for 5 extra games than Calgary is overkill as fuck, and seems malicious if I didn't know any better. I agree that this needs to be appealed and reviewed before implemented cause it's quite honestly bullshit

Claiming week 2/2

I am very interested! Sign me up!

Personally as someone who has dealt with this exact problem for two seasons now, I don't necessarily think that the recreates should not be given a choice, but i certainly think the waiver limit for teams should be reduced greatly as to prevent juggernaut teams like San Diego from essentially taking everybody available. This is very easily done just by averaging the number of waivers every team signs in a season and capping it at whatever the median is. This season, Las Vegas has signed 4 referral waivers who are all close friends and family of mine who showed interest in the league, plus a recreate and a first gen. 6 players and we're a very competitive team, so if the limit was like 5 or so per season or something, with free agents still being at the limit they are now, it would allow other teams to be able to get some players to build with and give their best shot at competing for a cup with. The fact is that San Diego has had 9 claims this season alone, with the next highest number being 5 from us (we dropped one of our waiver players for IA.) Past that, the rest of the league is lucky to get three waiver claims this season, while there's even a few teams who only have one or two to show for the entire season. I think the current waiver limit is set waaaay too high and allows teams to, as Grape worded perfectly, cup chase with elite recreate players other teams had no chance of ever signing because they aren't first place in the league. tldr; lower the waiver limit by about 80% so other teams have more fair opportunities to build competitive seasons, and to prevent waiver monopolies from forming at the TDL.

Credit: @Zetterberg VSN Presents: VHLM Power Rankings for Weeks 5 & 6 (Pre-Playoff Edition) Hello, and welcome to this final edition of the VHLM Power Rankings for Weeks 5 & 6 (Pre-Playoff Edition!) We got a few more changes in the standings before the start of the playoffs, so let’s cover each team and how they’re projected to perform come the postseason! 1st: San Diego Marlins = 56-10-2, 114 Points | 1st in Western Conference, 1st in League Standings No surprise here, we start our power rankings with the San Diego Marlins! The cup favorite, they are expected to do very well in the playoffs, and anything short than a finals appearance will be a failure in the eyes of the team. Carried by 100 point seasons by both Tyrece the beast @beanhead420 & Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish offensively, and a historic goaltending performance by Benoit Devereux Trophy favorite Olober Syko @Spartan , they have massive expectations for themselves. Whether they thrive or buckle from the pressure is yet to be seen, but as they’ve only lost 12 games out of 68 thus far, they are by far the team to beat. 2nd. Mississauga Hounds = 51-16-2, 104 Points | 1st in Eastern Conference, 2nd in League Standings Up next, we have the team that arguably has the best chance to take down San Diego, we have the Mississauga Hounds. They bolster one of the best offenses in the league, being led by the likes of lead leader in points Grimgor Ironhide @FrostBeard with a whopping 118 points in 69 games, and Med @Med with a commendable 86 points in the same time frame. Having offensive pieces like this to get them on the board is very important, but arguably even more important is the shutdown goaltending they’ve had this season in Red Panda @Lemorse7 who’s making a run for the Benoit Devereux himself. With all these pieces in mind, plus the rest of the elite roster they bolster, they more or less have the Eastern Conference on lock, with only the Marlins being the most substantial roadblock in their path to a Founders Cup. 3rd: Saskatoon Wild = 46-16-7, 99 Points | 2nd in Western Conference, 3rd in League Standings Moving along, up next we have the Saskatoon Wild. Having not moved from their previous rankings, which at this point in the season is definitely a good thing, they look to hold their status as the second best team in the West after a very strong latter half of the season. Being led by their high scoring defensemen and strong presence in net, they look to withhold offenses from the likes of Mississauga and San Diego by shutting down scorers and taking advantage of mistakes made by other teams to convert them into scoring opportunities. Players like Jorji Costova @Hybrid1486, Joseph Reed @BrutalBoost, and Henry Ford @JCN lead the team in their respective positions, and look to be leaned upon heavily come the playoffs, in which they’ll most likely face the Aces. 4th: Las Vegas Aces +1 45-19-6, 96 Points | 3rd in Western Conference, 4th in League Standings Onto our third Western Conference team in four rankings, we have the Las Vegas Aces. Up one from their previous ranking, they’ve gone on a quite remarkable end season tear as they’ve won their last 9 games in quite convincing fashion. Looking at their team on paper, it’s not hard to see why they’re doing so well either. Both Stinky @taylorherd and Didier Verhault @FTK are having incredible 80+ point seasons, with players like Quinndillus Whopper @Max77 and Bric Sheithaus @Oldhead91not too far behind. Offensive production of this caliber will definitely help, and I was honestly debating putting them at the #3 spot just for their recent success. Only thing that’s stopped me from doing just that, however, is their consistency. While it appears they found their stride, whether this translates to postseason success is yet to be seen, and as they’ve struggled the last few seasons with deep playoff pushes, we’ll see if they can make something magical happen and be an underdog Cinderella story for this season. 5th: Miami Marauders -1 39-23-6, 84 Points, 2nd in Eastern Conference, 5th in League Standings At the halfway mark, we have the Miami Marauders. Down one from their previous ranking, they were neck and neck with Las Vegas for 4th place in the league for the longest time, but have not been able to keep up with the recent tear Las Vegas went on. Despite this, Miami still bolsters a very impressive roster. Sebastian Thunder @Matt thunder just eclipsed 100 points on the season, with Oden Bell @WhiskyJack & Lionel Collberg @Masu Chan both projected to have well over 90 points by season's end. Their top end production is great, but it definitely drops off after that, by about 20 points in production from their 3rd ranked point producer to their fourth. This high level of reliance on their top end talent isn’t usually the worst strategy, and can definitely steal you some games. Whether or not this strategy pays off in the playoffs, however, is a completely different story. They certainly have their work cut out for them, but have the potential to definitely be another underdog story in the making. 6th: Philadelphia Reapers +1 28-33-7, 63 Points | 3rd in Eastern Conference, 6th in League Standings Onto the latter half of the rankings, we got the Philadelphia Reapers! Similar to Miami, they bolster incredible top end talent, but sorely lack depth to round out the team. Caring Bear @thecaringbear is at the edge of reaching that 100 point marker on the season, with Behrens Minion @UnknownMinion not too far behind and kodie Curran @Battlepopcorn leading the way for the defensemen. A quick look at their roster definitely points to explanations as to their record, as they lack 4 defensemen to round out their core, and are also missing a forward to fill in gaps in the depth. As they’re projected to face Miami in the playoffs, they’ll certainly have their work cut out for them, and every game is going to be hard fought for, so definitely watch out for that series should it be announced! 7th: Mexico City Kings +1 26-38-5, 57 Points | 4th in Western Conference, 7th in League Standings Back to the West, we have the Mexico City Kings! I sound like a broken record saying the same things over again, but little has changed for Mexico City minus their strong defensive core leading the way offensively. The team is still led production wise by Mina @Baozi and Free Gorlab @eaglesfan036, but they and the rest of the team have definitely struggled to stop the puck going in their own net as well, and they’ve suffered in the standings and these VSN rankings for it. jose avocado @Bobo has done all he can, but when there’s holes in the roster and a sore lack of star power to match other teams, you will certainly and understandably struggle to maintain high levels of production. As they’re projected to face San Diego in the playoffs, they will quite literally need a miracle to win the series. They’ll give them a good series though, but I cannot in good faith say they have a good shot at winning the series. Who knows though? It’s playoff hockey, anything can happen! 8th: Halifax 21st -2 24-37-8, 56 Points | 4th in Eastern Conference, 8th in League Standings Moving right along, we come to the Halifax 21st next in our rankings! A drop of 2 down from the previous rankings, they definitely cooled off from their hot streak midway through the season and have entered a point of just lethal offensive production. Jeid Rohnson @TopTiddee2 & Theo Allard @InstantRockstar are having remarkable historic seasons, both likely to pass well over the 100 point threshold by seasons end, with the likes of Bubba Tree @Bubba, liam oinas @ojje, Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage @Grape, and Olumide Anderson @Theory putting up incredible seasons offensively too. The achilles heel of this team however, is their lack of defensemen to compliment the lethal offense. As they only had one defenseman for a majority of the season before the signing of Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts, they will struggle to defend against the explosive offense of Mississauga come playoff time, and the series will almost certainly turn into a high scoring slugfest. I believe this series will be much more competitive than the previously mentioned one, but I think the lack of defense will bite Halifax hard though, and burn them for the season when it matters most. 9th: Ottawa Lynx = 15-46-8, 38 Points | 5th in Eastern Conference, 9th in League Standings Nearing the end of our rankings, and the first of the playoff contention eliminated teams, we have the Ottawa Lynx. While we aren’t able to predict their playoff success in this article, we are able to assess the season they had and what they can do for the future. They dedicated hard to the rebuild this season, and from what I can gather, they did it tremendously well! Almost their entire roster is signed with them through the rest of their M careers, and they already have strong skill sets that’ll only get better. Ottawa looks to be a very strong and dangerous team for next season, and as they have a top 2 pick in this upcoming draft, they’ll only expand upon this strength and be a remarkably impressive team come the S91 regular season! Expect to see them very high in next season's rankings! 10th: Houston Bulls = 14-49-6, 34 Points | 5th in Western Conference, 10th in League Standings Lastly, we have the Houston Bulls. Similarly to Ottawa, they have an incredibly bright future ahead of them in their rebuild. All but two players are signed with them for the duration of their VHLM careers, and unless they royally screw up and decide to win a couple games to put themselves over Ottawa in the standings, they’ll have the number one overall pick in this season's draft. With how strong this draft class is, I imagine they’re already sending scouts and interviews out to field the best pick possible for them so they can truly begin their rebuild as a contender. Between them and Ottawa, despite them not making the playoffs this year, they will be remarkable teams to watch next season, and I cannot wait to see what they pull off This concludes the VSN Week 5 & 6 Power Rankings for the VHLM Regular season! There is a lot to be excited about for these upcoming playoffs, and I cannot wait to see what happens. For VSN, this has been Marcus Svedberg, signing off for the S90 Regular Season! Thank you for reading!

Claiming week 2/2

Credit: @Zetterberg VSN Presents: VHLM Power Rankings for Weeks 3 & 4 Hello, and welcome to this VSN Presentation of the VHLM’s Power Rankings for Weeks 3 & 4 of the S90 Regular Season! A lot has changed over the course of these last two weeks from our previous power rankings, and with us passing the halfway mark of the season, we have much to cover once more! Let’s get into it! 1st: San Diego Marlins +1 32-6-1, 65 Points | 1st in Western Conference, 1st in League Standings First place in our new rankings, we have San Diego! A surprising jump, as Mississauga was projected to be in this position in the last rankings. They’ve jumped tremendously in the standings, their players are on fire production wise, and they’ve won decisively as they carry a 7 game winning streak as of writing this. The team finds itself on the backs of Tyrece the beast @beanhead420 & Eric White Jr @Mysterious_Fish having historic seasons, placing themselves 2nd and 4th in overall league scoring respectively. Should they maintain their level of production, San Diego might very well run away with the regular season title should their win streak continue! 2nd. Mississauga Hounds -1 32-8-1, 65 Points | 1st in Eastern Conference, 2nd in League Standings Moving on, we have last week's first place ranked team, the Mississauga Hounds! Had it not been for the absolute tear San Diego found itself on, the Hounds would definitely be first ranked once more. The only difference between them and the Marlins is just recent success. Mississauga won big early and started to slow down a bit entering the midway section, while San Diego did the opposite and started turning it on harder at the same time. They’re still carried by the elite play of Grimgor Ironhide @FrostBeard, who’s having himself a historic season too, as he finds himself atop the individual leaders mountain in points, assists, and shots. A one man army will definitely do that for a team, and their place in our 2nd spot of the rankings is well deserved for the position he’s helped get the Hounds to. 3rd: Saskatoon Wild +3 27-10-4, 58 Points | 2nd in Western Conference, 3rd in League Standings Next up, a surprise jump for sure, but a welcome one, we have the Saskatoon Wild. From their early season struggles, they’ve definitely turned a new corner and are now exploding in production. Similar to San Diego, they’re on a BIG winning streak, and has contributed greatly to their jump in the rankings. Jorji Costova @Hybrid1486 & recent addition Joshua Schwarzer @Velevra lead the way in point production over these last two weeks, and with their strong two-way play, they’re very capable of keeping this ranking moving into the latter half of the season. Time will tell if their place here was a fluke, or the start of something greater. 4th: Miami Marauders = 24-14-3, 51 Points, 2nd in Eastern Conference, 5th in League Standings Up next in the power rankings, we have the Miami Marauders. One of only two teams who haven’t moved in their rankings, that doesn’t mean they haven’t improved greatly in terms of their individual performances. Sebastian Thunder @Matt thunder, Oden Bell @WhiskyJack, Joakim Norden @Kaldolmar & Lionel Collberg @Masu Chan are all approaching the 60 point mark, which, when you have that amount of well distributed high levels of production across the team, they’re a dangerous team for anybody to play against. Should they maintain this production as well, watch them move up in the standings and rankings with ease in the coming weeks. 5th: Las Vegas Aces -2 26-10-5, 57 Points | 3rd in Western Conference, 4th in League Standings A surprising drop, now at the halfway mark we have the Las Vegas Aces. Despite their standing in the league and elite scoring from the likes of Stinky @taylorherd and Co, they find themselves struggling with consistency. They can go from 6-0 wins to 1-0 losses on the same day, and until they find their stride and catch fire a bit in their consistency, the Aces might struggle to be a deep team come playoff time. Should their waivers and rostered players continue to grow their game, however, that may be enough to win back some games and climb up to elite status. 6th: Halifax 21st +4 16-21-4, 36 Points | 3rd in Eastern Conference, 6th in League Standings Arguably the biggest surprise of this iteration of the rankings, we have the Halifax 21st at 6th. From their last place position in both the rankings and standings at the beginning of the season, and improving to a near .500 record after starting 1-10-2 is simply incredible. While they still haven’t greatly improved their depth, their high end talent in Jeid Rohnson @TopTiddee2 and Theo Allard @InstantRockstar are helping to keep the team afloat, and seem to actually be raising the team out of the grave a little bit. If this is a good thing remains to be seen, however, as if they don’t make anything happen for the playoffs, they might have lost their chance at getting a good set of draft picks to rebuild with fully. Time will tell whether this awakening actually brings good or bad fortune upon the franchise, of course. 7th: Philadelphia Reapers -2 17-21-1, 35 Points | 4th in Eastern Conference, 7th in League Standings Pushing on, we have the Philadelphia Reapers. They’re an interesting case, as when you look at the standings they find themselves in, and the scoring and stats of their players, finding them here is quite peculiar. They’ve struggled to stay above .500 since our first rankings, and despite having a pretty decent team all around, they’ve just struggled to make it work and find consistent wins. Caring Bear @thecaringbear & Behrens Minion @UnknownMinion lead the way on a team that’s got elite scoring across the entire roster. If they can just find consistent wins, perhaps a waiver player or two as well, they’ll find their way into deep playoff contention with their already rather stacked roster. 8th: Mexico City Kings = 13-25-3, 29 Points | 4th in Western Conference, 8th in League Standings The last of the two non moving teams in the rankings, we have Mexico City. As the ranking and their standings suggest, not much has changed with this roster or the season they’ve had thus far. The blueline still carries the roster, but they’re only able to do so much to keep the Kings heads above water. They sorely lack an elite scoring forward, and it’s burning them as they bolster one of the lowest GF stat in the league. If Mina @Baozi & Free Gorlab @eaglesfan036 can turn on the defensive game, they can definitely move up, but until that happens, they will continue to find themselves down here in our rankings. 9th: Ottawa Lynx -2 8-27-5, 21 Points | 5th in Eastern Conference, 9th in League Standings Nearing the end of our rankings, we have the Ottawa Lynx. They still suffer from the issues from earlier in the season, that being a lack of depth or star players to take over games for them. They have a handful of decent PPG scorers on their team in Dan jr @Danzo, Thijs Mooij @Thijs & Ivan Ivanov @KmaddFPS, but until they get a handful more players to fill holes in the roster, they will struggle to get out of the basement in the standings. 10th: Houston Bulls -1 7-29-4, 18 Points | 5th in Western Conference, 10th in League Standings Concluding our rankings of Week 3 & 4 of the VHLM Regular season, we have the Houston Bulls. Similarly to Ottawa, they have the same struggles they held at the beginning of their season, and it’s hurt them badly. No defensive players and only natural left wingers as their forwards isn’t usually a winning strategy, and with Luna Everdeen @Dee being the only player exceeding expectations on the team, they have a long rebuild ahead of them that they’ll need to think long and hard on as we push towards the trade deadline. This concludes the VSN Week 3 & 4 Power Rankings for the VHLM Regular season! Lots of changes, and we’re only halfway through! Thank you for reading this presentation of the VSN, this has been Marcus Svedberg, signing off!

ye apologies for the delay, still waiting on a graphic from zetterberg. if he doesn't send one soon i'll post the next one without it too