5. I think the Bears future is nothing but bright. I'm excited to be a part of it and hoping to kick a lot of ass in the coming seasons.
17. Gotta go with the home town on this one. Richmond is a great city that has always loved hockey, and Virginia is a state in need of a team. I would name them the Richmond Red Dragons.
26. I always kiss my hand and slap the roof of the car while running a red light. And I always listen to the same album (Live at Leeds by The Who) before every game.
1. All of those picks and you blew it by not picking up Derek England... how do you explain that?
2. Did you know that Derek England is a madman who buys TPE every season and does all the TPE task?
3. How will you feel when the Titans roll over you in the upcoming seasons?
4. Did you know that you are 67 times more likely to get killed by a dog than a bear lol?
5. Can the Bears actually not finish last in the standing this year?
6. What do you think about the Space Needle?
7. Do you go to Mariners Games?
8. Do you go to Seahawk games?
9. Don't you hate it when the fans do that whole C-Hawk Chant?
10. How will you compete with the new NHL team coming to town??
1. What are your thoughts on the Bears having 3 1st round picks in the upcoming VHL draft? 2nd, 5th and 7th overall!
2. What are your thoughts on the Bears having 8 picks in total in the first 2 rounds of this draft?
3. Who do you want the Bears to pick at the draft?
1. Seattle management has always been creative at adding new talent and this deal is typical for the GM. Very pleased with it.
2. Like I said, the GM works the phones hard and is always looking for an edge and the best players available.
3. I think Seattle could benefit from pretty much any player at this point. Maybe locking up the future 1C or 1D would be a good bet.
1. Thoughts on the Bears next season?
I think we may surprise some people around the league. We have a good roster with some young depth and a good goalie that will be only getting his feet wet. Anything is possible.
2. What team is going to place last in the VHL next season?
Davos. They really unloaded for some good future pieces, but I don’t think they will have a good season next year.
3. Who goes 1st OV?
Well now the draft is over, just looking back at who actually was selected First Overall, that was a huge surprise in my opinion. Hedge seems to know what he is doing so I won’t question him.
4. What logo is your least favourite? Why?
Davos. Love playinng for the team, just not a fan of the logo or colour scheme.
5. Predict who is going to be the VHL's MVP this season?
I predicted Julian Borwinn. Had a great season last year with 51 goals. Helsinki will be good again and so will he in my opinion.
6. Which goalie in the VHL is gonna reign #1 and collect some awards?
Alexander Pepper will have another great season. Another season or two like last year and he might be in the elite category and a HOF candidate moving forward.
We're the youngest, best built, most exciting team in the league. We may not win this cup this season, but we've got a lot of star power that can bring it and we'll all reach out peaks around the same time. This could be the trappings of a dynasty.
2. Who are some key players moving forward in Seattle's rebuild?
There are so. fucking. many.
Our top six right now is:
Burn @Acydburn - Ylonen @Esso2264 - Mars @Spade18
Morozov @Dangles13 - Greene @DoktorFunk - Zoiderberg
That's an incredible crop of young, high-scoring forwards who are only going to get better over the next eight seasons. Knock on wood, but if that group sticks together, their names will be on the cup.
3. What are your thoughts on the next VHL draft? Who do you think the Bears should target?
@Banackock positioned himself incredibly well this draft in acquiring new talent. We're not in a win-now mentality, as long as we continue to draft and develop, we'll be in great shape.
4. What team is surprising you this off-season?
I can't believe the Wolves reached to pick up Michael Gary Scott @Motzaburger and not his linemates from the Mexico City Kings. There was so much talent on that line and although they picked out the best of it, they had the opportunity to get so much more.
5. Who wins the cup? Who is the losing team?
Helsinki's looking like the team to beat yet again, but they'll age out eventually. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Bears near the bottom of the league for a couple of more seasons, but once our talent comes online we'll be firing on all cylinders.
6. Predict your statistics for the seasons end. Are you happy with those numbers?
If I end up going 30-30-60 I'll be a happy guy, but I'm going to push to do even better than that.
Compared to Season 66, this off-season has been a whirlwind – just about on schedule, with an expectation for Season 67 proper to start on either Sunday or Monday. After a dominant regular season, the Helsinki Titans and their two skater stars in Julian Borwinn @Jubo07 and S65-66 free agent signing Matt Thompson @Beketov easily cleaned up in the playoffs – and the awards, with nearly a dozen going their way. And that’s not even including their first- and second-team All-VHL selections.
In terms of the draft, Season 67’s class was incredibly deep – much like last season, and a very promising sign – which means some teams have been revamped a bit. And while some teams have traded away players, they were generally pretty even exchanges: New York started a fire sale for picks, and Toronto kept on doing its thing just trading away all of its draft picks. Otherwise, a couple of exchanges for picks to offload some salary didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But here’s a hot take: even this season’s biggest free agent signing in Veran Dragomir doesn’t change my favorite for the S67 championship. Heck, it might not even put them in the top two. Read below and in this topic's companion article for more opinions!
#10 – Seattle Bears
GM // @Banackock
Stars // None
Risers // S67 LW Acyd Burn
S67 D Ambrose Stark
S67 D Boone Jenton
S67 LW Henrik Zoiderberg
S67 D Hulk Hogan
S67 C Scott Greene
S66 C Thomas Kennedy
S66 G Rayz Funk
Of all of the teams with a bright future, Seattle has the most potential. Like New York, they have a relatively younger ‘star’ player in center Joel Ylonen @Esso2264 (an S64 prospect) surrounded by players that would most likely qualify for limited second to third line minutes on other teams. But it’s worth noting – if it isn’t already obvious enough from their ‘Risers’ – that Seattle hit with deep S66 picks and have a tremendous number of 250+ TPE S67 selections.
The first season or two for the Bears has been and will be rough – there’s little way around that. With the retirement of Defenseman of the Year and assists leader Samuel Gate @street, there are few current redeeming qualities for the bears. But between rookie wingers @Acydburn and @HenrikZoiderberg, rookie center Scott Greene @DoktorFunk and sophomore Thomas Kennedy @Walter Fizz, three rookie defensemen in Hulk Hogan @HulkHogan, Ambrose Stark, and Boone Jenton @FakeJenton, and goalie Rayz Funk @Rayzor_7, the Bears have literally drafted an entire set of first liners for the future.
The question is, will they stick around after their rookie contracts? If 5 or more of the 6 re-sign, they’ll be a force to be reckoned with come S70, but hardly anything is ever so certain in the VHL.
High Points - First-line center Ylonen; ridiculously good S67 draft class. Hulk Hogan will be a first-line starter right away, and Seattle has possibly the best future defensive trio and goalie in the league.
Concerns - Everything from F1-F3 and D1-D2... for this season.
Projected Lines
F1 // Shane Mars – Joel Ylonen – Acyd Burn
F2 // Henrik Zoiderberg – Scott Greene – Thomas Kennedy
F3 // Valeri Morozov – (Thomas Kennedy?) – Edgar Tannahill
D1 // Lando Baxter – Dallas Jones/Hulk Hogan
D2 // Ambrose Stark – Boone Jenton
G // Rayz Funk
#9 – New York Americans
GM // @Esso2264
Stars // RW Dan Wilinsky
Risers // S67 ACL TEAR
S66 RW Aleksander Rodriguez
S66 RW Nethila Dissanayake
S67 C Boris the Forest
The Americans squeaked into the last playoff spot in Season 66, and promptly started a fire sale in order to take on two excellent S67 prospects in winger ACL Tear @Quik and center Boris the Forest @chillzone. In the process, they rid themselves of first-liners Joel Ylonen, Joseph McWolf, and Leph Twinger and accumulated picks for S67/S68.
For now, that leaves them with several promising young prospects and superstar winger Dan Wilinsky @oilmandan, the lone skater above 500 TPA for the Americans. Thankfully he’s still mid-career, having entered via the S63 draft, and that gives him another couple of seasons to see the New York roster grow. For now, he’ll likely line up with center Carles Puigdemont and fellow winger Kisshan Shan, particularly as the team waits for one of wingers Aleksander Rodriguez @Jtv123, Nethila Dissanayake @nethi99, or TEAR to pass one of the two. Until then, this leaves New York’s first two forward lines as a bit underwhelming, and their D1 line woefully so. In fact, it’s unclear as to who, exactly, New York can even play at D2. Piotr Jerwa and Bald Guy will likely man the first line, while Mountain Thunderfist and maybe a call-up or position swapped forward will have to man the second spot in the second defensive line.
New York also has one of the larger rosters in the league, sitting on 15 skaters and 3 goalies. While the aging Tristan Iseult isn’t a bad backup for perennial starter Ismond Kingfisher, their dearth in starting-quality skaters forces the Americans down to ninth.
High Points – Good, young prospects (S65+) complemented by a single superstar in Wilinsky. Rodriguez, TEAR, Forest, and Dissanayake should be steady earners.
Concerns – No other skaters above 500 TPE. Depth is questionable beyond second forward line and a singular defender (Jerwa). Expect the S68 NYA first pick to be either 1 or 2OA.
Projected Lines
F1 // Kisshan Shan – Carles Puigdemont – Dan Wilinsky
F2 // ACL TEAR – Boris the Forest – Nethila Dissanayake
F3 // Aleksander Rodriguez – Maximilian Kirbsson – Blake Laughton
D1 // Piotr Jerwa – Bald Guy
D2 // Mountain Thunderfist – ???
G // Ismond Kingfisher
#8 – Malmö Nighthawks
GM // @Advantage
Stars // None (RW Matthew Materazo future)
Risers // S66 D Jerry Garcia, S67 RW Lucas Nygren, S66 D Rusty Shackleford, S67 C Trevor Van Lagen
As the new kid on the block, Malmö really has their work cut out for them. After a hot start to last season, they were eliminated from the playoffs with around 10 games left, and part of it had to do with their selected expansion core. The Nighthawks chose high TPE players, many of which unfortunately ended up going inactive.
GM Chris Miller did an excellent job drafting generally high-quality players in Season 66. D Jerry Garcia @GustavMattias in particular has shot up the rankings since being revealed as a possible sleeper in the draft and taking on a VHLM GM position. In a similar vein, defenseman Rusty Shackleford @K1NG LINUS was drafted slightly lower but continues to earn TPE like a madman. When it comes to offense, Malmö’s team is predictably young but promising; Materazo has his work cut out for him, as he’ll most likely be working with veteran Mikka Pajari (492 TPE) and RW Jack Lynch (425) against other first lines. Garcia and one of Shackleford/Basaraba Moose will man the first defensive line, but they’ll likely struggle against league-average lines with 250-300 more TPE than either of them.
Ultimately, from the top-down, Malmo needs time to develop its prospects. With a handful of pretty reliable users occupying their roster, they’ll need to figure out a way to retain all of their actives come S68 and S69.
High Points – Excellent young defenders, reliable earners after F1. Jerry Garcia and Rusty Shackleford have shown promising consistency in point earning from S66’s draft class. S67 prospects will get starting time sooner rather than later.
Concerns – Stated above. Malmö’s not going to win playoff games any time soon, if I had my guess.
Projected Lines
F1 // Jack Lynch – Mikka Pajari – Matthew Materazo
F2 // Blake Gaudette – Teagan Glover – Lucas Nygren
F3 // Trevor Van Lagen – Phil Marleau – Brian Strong
GM // @Victor
Stars // LW Randoms, C Podrick Cast
Risers // S66 C Jet Jaguar, S66 G Owen May
As one of the two most recent expansion teams, this is about where I’d expect to find Moscow. There are some starter-quality players on the team that can join Randoms and Podrick Cast, namely C Mark Gebauer, RW Jorgon Weyed, and LW Dan Baillie, but none of the Moscow lines blow other teams’ lines out of the water. That’s not to say the Menace’s offseason was uneventful – they offloaded picks to Riga and Vancouver to acquire three best players in Cast, Randoms, and goalie Roger Sterling – but they certainly mortgaged some of their future in the progress.
Ultimately, Moscow is still a very young team, and with rising stars like C Jet Jaguar @gorlab and “goalie of the future” Owen May @FacebookFighter, we can likely say that the Russians have some good days ahead. They may want to move some of their veteran players out for some active rookie and sophomore players or some high draft picks, as I don’t see the Menace going terribly far in the playoffs if they make it. Offensively, they’re capable of keeping up; their first line is perhaps only marginally worse than Riga’s, while their F2 is a fair bit better than the league average (but possibly worse than Vancouver’s).
Defensively, we have a different story: Moscow’s best defender is 468 TPE Paolo Nano - good for most teams’ second line, but certainly not their first.
High Points – Young, developable team with a pair of veteran mentors. Will have good transition from Sterling to May in goal. Very deep at forward, with Pavlov moving up to F3 shortly.
Concerns – Defense currently doesn’t measure up to other mid-table teams. First line offense doesn’t have a clear-cut star.
Projected Lines
F1 // Randoms – Podrick Cast – Jorgon Weyed
F2 // Dan Baillie – Mark Gebauer – Jet Jaguar
F3 // Dimitri Volosenkov – Connor McDavid/Vladimir Pavlov – Mat Tocco
D1 // Paolo Nano – Evgeni Komarov
D2 // Mitch Matthews – Edward Vigneault
G // Roger Sterling
#6 – Vancouver Wolves
GM // @Beaviss
Stars // C Beau Louth, C Rauno Palo, D Shawn Glade
Risers // S66 LW Julius Freeman, S67 G Greg Eagles, S66 C Hans Gruber, S67 C Micheal Gary Scott
The Wolves made it to the finals last year – so why are they sixth, and third overall in the North American Conference? They re-signed Gritty @Positivefan036 and Denver Wolfe @InstantRockstar, who will both be important depth pieces, but don’t have any first line quality players beyond the above listed three stars. S66 draftees LW Julius Freeman @rjfryman and RW Shawnomir Jagr @TheLastOlympian07 are pivotal in forming the second lines, and both are likely to break the 600 TPE mark this season.
One point of difficulty comes with Vancouver’s depth at one position – center. Both of their stars are there, and many of their depth pieces (e.g. Hans Gruber, Micheal Gary Scott) have lower effective TPA because of points lost to faceoff skills. And unless they plan on putting Louth and Palo on the same line, Vancouver’s stuck with 400-550 TPE players occupying the remainder of their top two forward line spots. This bodes well for their F2 – which would be the best by about 100 TPE per player if Rauno Palo were put there – but the star split makes for a F1 line that pales in comparison to Helsinki’s, Riga’s, Davos’s, Toronto’s, and Calgary’s. Their first defensive pair (Shawn Glade and Jagger @Philliefan) is similar in quality to Calgary’s, putting them at about fourth in the league, while their D2 sits moderately above the league average. However, Vancouver can easily fight fatigue, as they’re likely to have 8+ forwards above 400 TPE this season.
The factor that pushes them furthest down the rankings, however, is their goalie. Even if Greg Eagles and Clayton Park are incredibly active this season, they’ll both hit 450 TPE at best – which puts them possibly above Seattle in North America and tied-ish with Malmo in Europe. That’s not a great look for a team that wants to contend.
High Points – Excellent Center and overall offensive depth. Good defensive depth.
Concerns – Very star-reliant (i.e. Louth and Palo) forward lines. Their goalies are also very raw prospects and may have a tough time because of average defensive depth.
Projected Lines
F1 // Julius Freeman – Beau Louth – Gritty
F2 // Hans Gruber – Rauno Palo – Shawnomir Jagr
F3 // [F1 extra minutes] – Micheal Gary Scott – Ben Hafkey
After much deliberation on the matter, I've decided to do make my hire, after contacting @Acydburn and making sure my hire wouldn't be getting in the way of his plans.
Anyway, I'd first like to thank everyone who applied for this job, hoping they'd get it. I can say with confidence that if you weren't hired, it would be fair to say you were FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY. There were just that many good people putting their names in and I knew right off the bat, after a few people had applied, that I'd feel bad about hiring anyone, because that would mean I wouldn't be hiring all these others with loads of enthusiasm and potential. That being said, though, there can only be one, and with confidence that I'm making the right choice (because, let's face it, you're all the right choice), the new Hounds AGM is...
"We’re here with VHLM prospect Frans Eller. Eller spent the very last part of last season with the Houston Bulls, managed by FrostBeard. Eller is a well rounded two way winger that enjoys firing the puck into the back of the net. Eller – where are you hoping to go?"
“Well, I have heard that I am now one of the top five players on most scout’s draft boards. I don’t know who they’re comparing me with, but I do know that whomever picks me will absolutely not regret it. I will work my ass off for you and your franchise and I will help you be productive on a daily basis.”
“That’s great. Frans, how would you describe your play out there?”
“I know where to be on the ice to make the right play happen. If my linemate turns it over, I will scramble back to cut off passing lanes and to force the transition wide. I have a good stick that can disrupt the play and turn the puck back the other way. I’d say an offensively skilled two-way winger.”
“Is there any destination in particular that you’d really be fond of going to?”
“My agent and I have had discussions with a few franchises. I am probably most keen on my interaction with the Philadelphia Reapers front office. They had a certain swagger about themselves. I think my attitude about the sport of hockey, how it’s meant to be played and how the locker room dynamics should be align extremely well with what I’ve seen so far there. They’ve even invited me to tour their locker room and training facilities, and compared to what I have seen in Denmark and in other hockey clubs that I have been affiliated with, I am tremendously impressed. I’d love to be selected by the Reapers – I mean come on, they’re the Reapers! Spooky!”
“Well, it certainly seems that you have a favorite! Are there any other spots you’d be happy to land at?”
“I had a quik chat with the Minnesota management team. It’s been more subdued, but it seems like I could fit in there. FrostBeard has always been good to me with Houston, but the culture there seems to have accepted losing as commonplace and I don’t really want to accept a culture of failure. Perhaps that doesn’t carry over to next season? I don’t know. In the grand scheme of things, this is a draft, not a free agency experience. I’ll get drafted anywhere, play anywhere, lead anywhere and win anywhere.”
“Well said. Are there any of your fellow prospects that you hope to land with if possible?”
“Yes, I’d love to play with Condor Adrienne. He is a defenseman, fellow European. I enjoy my time with him on the ice – we started training together the week I announced my intention to come over to the VHLM instead of the SHL Juniors draft. Unfortunately, Condor is just above me in skills for the draft class and it’ll be difficult for a team to get both him and I. I can hope though!”
“Thanks for your time, Frans, and enjoy tomorrow’s VHLM Draft!”
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DoktorFunk reacted to Motzaburger in Season 66 Top Prospects Game
DoktorFunk got a reaction from Banackock in Seattle Bears Press Conference
DoktorFunk got a reaction from Berocka in Mississauga AGM Hiring Thread 2: Electric Boogaloo
DoktorFunk got a reaction from K1NG LINUS in Mississauga AGM Hiring Thread 2: Electric Boogaloo
DoktorFunk got a reaction from fonziGG in Yukon Rush AGM (HIRED).thumb.png.4b5fbc935b6ed65967c02064fea37f39.png)
DoktorFunk got a reaction from Hogan in Yukon Rush AGM (HIRED)
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