VanCanWin

D - Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen @Tate

It’s soooo close to happening. S68 is just around the corner and it can’t come soon enough for Van Lagen and his Malmo teammates. The hype is building for what could be a huge year for the team. There’s two reasons for such optimism: Development and Additions Development Malmo has some star potential sophomores that began their careers just last season. @Phil Phil is the star that warranted his high selection. At such a young age he’s already a leader in the locker room, a physical presence on the ice, and a dynamic talent that should shape up his career quite well. @fonziGG Johnson, our goalie, has had an offseason to develop his strength and endurance to handle a heavy workload this season. His talent and dedication to his craft sets him apart from his peers. Potential Most Improved Player here! Van Lagen has worked on his strength as well as his face offs while continuing to develop offensively last season and he is being rewarded with top line minutes to start year two. His teammates believe in him and he is determined not to let them down. What an off-season Malmo had! Can we just take a minute to appreciate the work @Advantage put in to improve his team once again this offseason? I mean he got the first overall puck handed to him sure (and what an addition that pick is!) but it’s the other picks from last season and looks to be more good ones this past draft that have built a depth chart that should keep Malmo contending for a long time. Then there is the trades. Getting a star in Sully Jr as a precursor for the FA signing he made in luring prized FA Matt Thompson to Malmo. I mean the body of work here is tremendous and not just in quantity but also quality. GM of the Year right here! Let’s kick this European conference in the teeth and show them who is the presence and the future! Let’s go Malmo! 329 words.

G - Pepper @Kekzkrieg

F - Matt Thompson @Tate

S68 Donation Player: Trevor Van Lagen Transaction ID: 5249-8844-2704-7656 Reward: Doubles Week (Week ending Sept 15, 2019) Doubles Week (Week ending Sept 22, 2019) 5 TPE Uncapped $1 mil player store cash

I’m in

Less players protected.

Van’s Hot Takes - Part Two This article is the second in my ongoing series of Van’s Hot Takes. (No, this has nothing to do with the Wolves. I go by Van in reference to myself, partly because that’s my nickname but mostly because the fans of the Wolves love clicking on my articles thinking it’s all about them. News flash: it’s not always about you). My takes are bold predictions of the future. In this episode I will be covering both one VHL team outlook, a recent league event involving two new teams, and a TPE situation that is cringe worthy. Feel free to call me out if you wish on any of these especially if (or when) I am proven completely wrong in my predictions. Last season I went 2 for 3 in with the only missed one being because one GM decided not to heed my wise advice in building his team. *See link at the bottom for previous episodes of Hot Takes with Van. Disclaimer: All the predictions are made in good fun though some may not be too complimentary of different teams and/or players. I hold no ill will to anyone. Without further ado, I present to you, on behalf of the VSN network and all the great writers there, Van’s Hot Takes - Part Two. Seattle will lose their division. Scenario: Last off season Seattle was my lone miss in my Hot Takes. This year I will get it right and Seattle players and fans won’t like what I have to say. Seattle, by not following my not so subtle hint to trade potential for star power, has decided to commit to their mega S67 draft. The intent here is to build a roster that can compete for multiple seasons, thus expanding their competitive window, albeit at the expense of a longer wait. That’s going to kill them. In fact they’ve decidedly shortened their competitive window. They’re clearly not winning anything this year and after next season most of their roster will be due new contracts. Some will demand higher wages while some will leave for greener pastures. What will be left is a team with many holes and no draft picks to fill them. They will become a top heavy team at a time where depth will become imperative to winning. The Top Six Top Four setup isn't the future of the VHL folks. Hot take: Seattle will take a step backward this season when they are expecting to be moving forward. They will finish LAST in their division. Their window to contend will be ONE season long: S69. If they don’t win then, it will be rebuild time again. (This hot take will be retracted if GM @Banackock decides I am right and mortgages his future to win now. Then they will become instant contenders and will win it all, this season!) Prague and DC Finish Bottom Two Scenario: Celebrated by the world, the VHL has recently undergone a two-team expansion showing the growth in the league with an abundance of talent infiltrating it via back to back loaded draft classes. As seen in other leagues (NHL specifically) Expansion is exciting and the leagues generally want a competitive team right away rather than a team that sits at the bottom for the first few years of its existence. This is where the VHL went wrong. The protection rights for GM’s were way to much leaving only fodder for new GM’s @Enorama and @diamond_ace. Hot take: Prague and DC will finish bottom 2 in the standings by a large margin. There is no desire (or ability) to compete out of the gate as each GM settles for a start from the bottom and horde the draft picks approach in an effort to build a competitive roster. Bonus hot take: DC’s name also gets an overhaul after one season in the league. New name will be Washington regardless of any protests from other leagues. They can suck it up, the VHL owns them. Reviewing Rules get an Overhaul Scenario: In a league where TPE whoring is more of a indicator of talent than actual on ice success, it’s that last dang two TPE that just sucks to get. Media spot or graphic? Easy for those dedicated to this sport. VHL article? No biggie. Press conference, trivia, practise facility? All relatively pieces of cake. Now what happens when Trivia is done for the season? People resort to reviewing. What exactly does that consist of, some might ask? Basically, it requires you to dig up some old articles or graphics people submitted, sometimes seasons (or months) old in age, and to write a short sentence saying what they did good or not so good and how they can improve. There are many annoying issues with this. The front VHL article page filled with irrelevant topics, opinions from people who don’t know the first thing about what they’re reviewing, and in general, tedious time spent doing the worst job there is for just 2 TPE. Hot take: A petition will begin for the BOG’s to consider changing the rules in this area. Within a season or two, new rules will be in place. That’s the good news. The bad news? (For those who actually do the reviewing for “easy” TPE). It will become more difficult to review and thus earn tpe PLUS nothing comes up to replace this. It’s time to start getting league jobs or risk losing out on a few TPE each season. Recap So there you have it folks. I guarantee you that Seattle did it wrong, expansion teams will suck until the VHL does it right, and no one will be spamming ancient VHL articles anymore. Now that I’ve told you the future let’s all sit back and watch it play out exactly as I have just said. Episode 1: Hot Takes With Van - https://vhlforum.com/topic/65273-hot-takes-with-van/

Review: Well done on this one! Very good depth here and the spotlight lights up the player well bringing good attention to the focal point of your graphic. Good job!

Review: very nice graphic here. You’re background and render mesh together very well. The shadow on the player works really well in this render as intended. Very well done.

Review: Very nicely done. The background here is amazing and meshes well with your render. Very well done!

Review: I really like what you’ve done here. Kept it to minimal colours and yet you’ve managed to make the render pop well. Word font and location is spot on. Good job!

Review: Good choice and good job with the render here. My favourite part is the letters which you’ve blended well. Not sold on the background colour of purple but the effects are good. Overall, solid job here.

Review: I think you’ve done a good job with the render on this one. It’s clear, the focal point stands out well. The background is a bit plain but at the same time it doesn’t take anything away from the render so good work.

Review: The colours go really well here. You’ve aced the background on this but as Steve said, the player is a bit sharp. Overall, good effort and nice outcome!

Review: This is really well done man! The player definitely is the focal point here and really pops out. The name also fits well as it doesn’t take away from the face at all, meshes well with the background and yet stands out clear. Well done, my friend!

Good idea... maybe I will do that for this weeks article!

It’s that time of the offseason again! Draft day is here! For all the players who have been toiling for a season (or more) in the VHLM building a player with the hopes of fulfilling their VHL dreams, keep pushing to be the best player you can be. Whether you’re being picked in the first round or the fourth round, you will soon be a valuable piece to a VHL team who will be able to help develop you into a serviceable VHL player and possibly one day, a star. Everyone should be excited for this day as it is one of the more entertaining events there is! Even better, tune in to the VSN’s coverage of the event as they break down each pick! Their coverage is so great I watched the entire event last season! While the top pick should be much less of a shocker than last seasons first overall pick, the draft will still be full of intrigue and should keep everyone on the edge of their seats, especially those finding out where they’ll start their next step in their careers! 185 words.

League creating a Rift between itself and its best goalie? ?

Yeah definitely was a fun experience. I honestly worried a bit after the excitement of the draft that the next step in my career would be more monotonous but fortunately it hasn’t at all as it’s been so great with the group of guys on Malmo. I think I would become just as excited for draft on a recreate though.

Sign me up for yahoo!

Claiming for weeks ending: August 8th August 15th.

As usual, time flies by and before we know it, the present has become the past. This is also true in our VHL lives. The seasons are short and fun-filled. There’s always something happening. There truly isn’t such a thing as the “dog days of summer” in the VHL. So, as this season has come and gone, and with the draft rapidly approaching, I thought I would reflect back on my draft experience in an effort to help those getting ready to be drafted, especially those who are going through this experience for the first time. A few things I want to cover as I dive deep into my experiences. 1. Leading up to the draft 2. The Draft itself 3. After the draft is complete Leading up to the draft. My VHLM season was well under way and it was becoming clear who I was as a player and who I was intending to become. I was a big, scoring Center who due to being a first Gen player and having started my career later then the early birds of the draft class, was an underrated prospect — something I don’t fault the GM’s for at all but the truth none-the-less. Regardless, I had maxed out earning the entire season, was constantly contributing on the forums via Media Spots and Articles, all the while my player was putting up point per game numbers in my first season. Since I wasn’t getting any love on the forums and in draft spot lights, I felt a real possibility I was going to slip in the draft so I began to focus my articles and media spots on me as a person and on my player in an attempt to gain some of the draft spotlight. In the official Draft rankings I was always just on the outside of the elite of the class due to having a later start than others and not having any carry over TPE to give me a boost. By the end of the season I ended up top 20 in rankings (higher when you discounted the GM players who couldn’t be drafted) so my thought was I would become a early second round pick. Boy was I wrong. In the two weeks before the draft I had a couple GM’s reach out to me to let me know they were interested and to get to know a little about me. I handled these interviews with honesty and depth explaining who I was, who I wanted to become, and why exactly the should draft me. I even prodded a little about where they were thinking about possibly drafting me and again, was left with the impression I wasn’t making it out of the second round. This set me up for what was next to come — the Draft itself. The Draft Draft night came quik and I was confidently tuned in expecting to hear my name called relatively early. With my eyes on a couple teams who were very interested in me, I sat and watched the picks roll by. I actually tuned into the live feed and followed along there. The first round came and went and I was still not selected. As the second round began, I was on the edge of my seat. My future was about to be determined. Pick by pick went by. Players I know were lesser prospects were being picked. I was beginning to wonder what the heck was going on. Why was no one taking me? I began commenting on the feed and in the forums that “hey I’m still out here guys” and others began to jump on board asking the world why. The second round finished and the one thing I never would have guessed, happened. I was falling to the third round. At this point I was quite shocked, and frankly I was disappointed. I worked my butt off to show everyone who I was and yet everyone was passing on me. Then it happened. It started with whispers that there was a team really interested in me. Then a trade was announced. Malmo was moving up one slot and just like that I was the one selected. They didn’t have roster space for me but just couldn’t pass on the opportunity to draft such a high TPE player in the third round! I sighed, the wait was over. My VHL dreams were a reality! I really didn’t know Malmo much but I knew some of the guys on the team who had vouched for me so I was excited to be drafted by them. After the draft was complete After a little bit of time passed and it began to sink in to me that I had been drafted, I began to look ahead. Malmo’s group excited me. They invited me to the team discord and I felt very welcome by some familiar faces as well as those I did not know yet. As I evaluated my situation and took stock of how my career was going to start I began to realize that once again I was being under valued as there was only going to be room for me on the third line even though I was a higher earner than others ahead of me in the depth chart. So I wasn’t going to win (we had a young team that needed to grow) and I wasn’t getting minutes. I would be lying if I told you I wasn’t itching for a move elsewhere. However, a trait I do admire is loyalty and something I try to have myself and so I stayed patient. The group of guys really struck a good chord with me and I began to really appreciate the locker room and this team. This really helps in looking at your future because if it wasn’t for the locker room I would surely have requested a trade. This exactly was my experience going through the draft as a first Gen player. You get undervalued because of no history, you fall to a deep team who still under values you but stick with it and prove your critics wrong and you will come out on top! Good luck to the S68 draft class, especially the first Gen players hoping to hear their name called on Draft night. Remember, no matter when your name is called, you will be given the chance to compete in the best sim League there is. It just doesn’t get better than that. 1089 words

Thanks!!

isn’t great journalism all about how many clicks you get??