VanCanWin

Welcome back to the WJC Daily Review, a series in which we will talk about best players, surprises, letdowns and more! Stick around and follow us as VSN is here to be the media outlet for you and your entertainment!
 
 
Another day of games has been played at the World Junior Championship, with Team Asia continuing to impress, winning both of their matches to lead the field with four wins in as many games. Sitting in second place is Team Europe with four wins as well, matching Asia’s tally, but with an extra game played. Team Canada has continued their average start, once again splitting their games with a win and a loss, while Team World regressed from their day one performance, dropping both of their matches against team Europe. Rounding out the standings is the only team currently without a win; Team USA sits at a -10 goal differential and will have to quickly turn things around if they want to have a chance at this tournament.  
 
 
Team Asia
Asia has continued their storybook start to this WJC with two statement victories against the US and Canada. Winning 6-1 against the Americans, Asia showcased their scoring depth, with 5 separate players finding the back of the net. In particular, Richard Fitzwell impressed with a three-assist night, as well as Will Clarke’s two-goal performance. In the next match, Asia took down team Canada 3-1 behind a monster performance from goalie Jimmy Spyro, who made 40 saves, allowing just the one, while winger Jerry Wang took the first star as he had a hand in all three Asia goals, scoring two himself. Their penalty units were top class as well today, going 3/8 on the power play and 8/9 on the penalty kill. This Asia team is looking impossible to beat.
 
 
 
Team Europe
Europe’s good form from the first day of matches continued, as they picked up two victories today, both against Team World.  Despite letting in 3 goals in the first game, goalie Boris Boris still had an SV% above .900 (.903), and turned it on in the second, shutting out Team World with 19 saves. Boris Boris continues to be a bright spot for this team and leads the tournament in both SV% as well as GAA. Offensively, Team Europe has been maintaining its form. Solid performances from team leader Guy Lesieur and overall depth scoring has taken them where they need to go. However, they still aren’t firing on all cylinders. Even with a two-point game in the overtime victory,  Balentine Kidd has struggled to produce so far despite high expectations, with those two being his only points so far of the tournament, though this can perhaps be attributed to his starting on the second line. If this Europe team can start playing to their full potential, they have a very good shot at the gold medal. 
 
Team Canada
Canada’s performances in day two of the WJC were much the same as day one, having lost one and won one in both days. Their first game of the day saw them put four goals past a struggling United States team, with a big 3 point game from Alyksander Hunter, who is currently tied with Daldo and Kris Rice in leading the team with 4 points. Despite their good performance in this game, they were unable to recreate it against an in-form Team Asia, losing 3-1. To get back on track, Team Canada needs someone to step up. They have had decent depth scoring so far, but no one has taken the lead and truly given this team the impetus they need to compete at the level of Team Europe and Asia. There still is time, however, and this Canada team hasn’t given up just yet. 
 
 
Team World
As previously mentioned, Team World struggled a little in today’s matches, losing both to Team Europe. We’ve looked at the games from a Europe’s perspective, but from the World’s point of view, what went wrong? The biggest issue for World in their OT loss was the penalties. Despite a decent kill percentage, Team World spent 20 minutes in the box. If they want to take control of games, they are going to have to work on their discipline. Danny DeYeeto impressed in game one, scoring two and assisting one, but otherwise, the team was severely lacking in their performance. In their second game, they were simply outplayed. One highlight so far for Team World, however, continues to be their goaltending. Although not quite at the level of Asia or Europe currently, Block Buster is sitting at a respectable .920 SV% and is providing a good platform upon which World can improve. 
 
  
Team USA
Although many people predicted that the US would struggle this year, few thought it would be so rough. Team USA has yet to win a game, and at this rate, I’m not sure they will. First and foremost, they need to tighten up their defence. They have been scored on at least three times in every game. However, they have not been returning the favour, having never scored more than two goals so far in their four games, and as we all know, 2 < 3. Currently, they have no players within the top 20 for scoring, and only two players, Jason Connors and Nate Wright, have a positive +/- rating.  For Team USA to pull something out of this tournament they will need a real miracle.
 
 
That is it for today - good luck for now and see you again tomorrow!
 
 
VSN Writer Mr_Hatter 
 
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Welcome to the fourth edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
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Weekly Recap
 
     As Season 69 turns the corner and heads into the home stretch, teams are beginning to ready themselves for what they hope will be a long and successful playoff run. Of course, not all teams are there as some are happy to finish out the season near the bottom and instead are looking forward to the offseason draft. That said, there is still plenty of hockey to be played and many more storylines that are sure to develop. This past week we surged out of the dog days as trade chatter picked up, a tale of two seasons has begun to develop in the Big Apple, players have been selected for the World Junior Championships, and the VHL was seen trending!
 
     Late in the week, as the deadline began to rear its ugly head, teams began floundering trying to determine who they were - buyers or sellers.  Then two trades happened. First, it was HC Davos admitting they weren’t going anywhere this season (shocker, I know) as they dealt last season's Aidan Shaw Trophy winner, Finn Davison, to Moscow in return for a late first-round pick. Time will certainly tell who comes out on top of this as Moscow has gone all in. Not too soon after that, unsettled defenceman Guy LeGrande was on the move again. Though not confirmed, it is thought that this trade was a result of yet another trade request from LeGrande. With a hefty salary coming with him, will Seattle begin to feel the pressure of the cap?
 
     As troubling trends developed for a young talented New York squad, this season has quickly turned on a dime for them. Is it too little too late? They’ve gone a tidy 10-2-2 in their last 14 as they’ve been one of the league's hottest teams this week. Poor timing for LeGrande to bolt? The team is certainly out to prove he made the wrong choice.
 
     GM’s of the five teams for the World Junior Championships picked through and selected a number of talented youngsters in hopes of achieving international success. While the tournament lacks the star power it has seen in the past, there are still some good teams who are hoping to come out on top. Is there a chance Team Canada and Team USA finish bottom two in the tournament? Not likely but the possibility is definitely real.
 
     And lastly, another proud moment in VHL global news, just this week with a push from the recruitment team, VHL was seen all over social media in a concerted effort to ramp up the recruiting once again! With successful recruitment drives in the past, there is an expectation that this group can pull it off again and increase our league yet some more!

 
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Seeing Stars

 

 
Dan Wilinsky helped Seattle surge this past week posting double digits in goals and assists and leading the league in plus-minus at +15.
 
VHL’s leader in goals scored this past week, Julius Freeman scores twelve times on his way to second-star honours.
 
Playing a huge part in New York’s sudden turnaround, Boris the Forest scored nine times, four of which were game-winners, and added ten assists.
 
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 Between Extremes
 
 

 
 
 

Perfect time to bolt. I am happy they got a player that fits better  than I did and I am happy to be over a pt per game since arriving in Seattle. Good trade for both teams.

Hello there everyone and welcome back to VSN content! This time we will be looking at WJC, teams and how they stack up to each other. Let's not waste much more time and get straight to question at hand - who are the strongest teams this season!
 
1. Europe

Lacking true star talent usually required to win such a tournament, the European roster boasts such an incredible depth that should allow them the come at their opponents in waves for the entirety of each game. The question is, will their goal-tending (leagues worst) get them the saves they need should their offence sputter?
 
Strength - Forward Talent
The clear strength of this European roster is its forward strength. With zero holes in their forward group, this team will be a machine that keeps on churning.  If Balentine Kidd (302 TPE), Mac Hooper (290) and Guy Lesieur (288) can find chemistry, the trio should be able to match any other lines production this tournament.   Combining that with the secondary scoring of guys like Tallinder (261), Stava, Roadkill Steve among others it’s hard not to choose them as the tournament favourites.
 
Weakness - Goal-tending
Boris Boris is not a high calibre goaltender. With just 141 TPE to his name, Boris will be tasked with just stopping enough pucks for the offence to outscore. Unfortunately for Boris, his defence group is lacking star power so unless Europe plays with the philosophy of the best defence is a good offence, Boris may find himself under attack. That’s a lot of pressure for a young goaltender.
 
2. World

Outside of Europe, the next three rosters are quite interchangeable and good team chemistry may end up being the difference. Placing our bets though one of them to be the best of the rest, the World’s roster holds enough promise to be challenging for a top spot. 
 
Strength - Defence
While the worlds forwards should be able to match most teams enough, and their depth up front should overcome other teams like Canada and Asia, it’s their team defence that holds the most promise. Led by Charles Drumm (310) and Khalabib Stiopic (286), this defence will be counted on to provide stability for a team hoping to contend. 
 
Weakness - Forwards
Unfortunately for the World roster, their Achilles heel, which might be too big to overcome, is their top talent upfront.  With Killey Foilen (258) as their best forward, and Storm (228), Ritchie (221), and McGirr (221) as their only other forwards above 200 TPE, the offence may be hard to come by. In a tournament where the offence is important, this may be the reason we’ve placed them too high.
 
3. Canada

Usually counted on as a staple atop this tournament, Canada has faltered a bit leaving itself much too vulnerable for team and fans alike. Although they have a few very good players still, Canada’s depth is sorely lacking. It will be the reason they won’t win this tournament and is definitely the reason we have them ranked in the middle of the pack.
 
Strength - Top Talent
With forwards Jubis (295), Telker (287), Rice (260), defenceman Saskamoose (336), and goaltender Fang Flashback (254), Canada has the top talent to remain a threat in this tournament. If they hold hope that they can compete here, they will lean heavily on this core group of players.  They will be required to grind out these victories but expect Canada to be in many close games. Their ability to win the close ones will be the deciding factor of their fortunes.
 
Weakness - Forward Depth
For what Canada has in top talent, the drop off after them is significant. With the best second-line player at 179 TPE and the best third liner at just 66, Canada has some serious depth issues. These secondary lines upfront will be tasked with just hanging in there against their opponents as they allow their top linemates some rest between shifts. Clearly, this may prove too much for them and is the reason we have them sitting as just the third-best team in the tournament.
 
4. USA

Another staple atop the hockey world, this USA roster has too many holes in their roster that will be increasingly difficult to overcome. While they have a few very talented players they lack any sort of offence to score enough for success.
 
Strength - Defense/Goal-tending
Though they might struggle to score, the USA has put together a decent defence that will be leaned on heavily along with potential goaltender of the tournament Virgil Ligric (348) to keep the puck out of their net.  With Shawn Glade Jr (199) being their “worst” defenceman, this defence corps should be among the tournaments best and possibly be enough to keep them in close games.
 
Weakness - Forward Depth
For how much depth USA has on the back end, their forward lines are in shambles. Outside star Koda Adok (346) and possibly Jaxon Walker (236) they have no one else that will contribute any offence. Though their drop off isn’t as significant here as Canada’s, USA is a spot lower on the rankings because they own the tournaments worst top line. If they aren’t shut out in multiple games this tournament, consider it to be a success.

5. Asia

No team in this tournament has a roster as polarizing as Asia’s.  With a star-studded top line of Roy Yamazuki II (328), Hiroshi Okada (324) and Jerry Wang (313), Asia’s roster is made up of eleven skaters sub 176 TPE and a poor goaltender (198). 
 
Strength - Top Line
With arguably the best line in this tournament, Asia could always be a surprise team should that line score its team out of trouble. Having three forwards above 300 TPE is a luxury no other team enjoys and so when they are on the ice, this team should at least be fun to watch. Will they be able to carry their team to some success this tournament?
 
Weakness - Everything else
Outside the big three, Asia has just one hole in its roster and it’s a big one. That’s because that one hole is the entirety of the rest of the roster.  Expect many goals to be scored in games Asia is playing in and unfortunately, most of those goals will end up in the back of the Asia net. Opposing teams should be able to walk all over the Asia defence and bury goal after goal in the back of their net. This is the reason Asia sits at the bottom of the rankings for this tournament. 
 
And that will be it for this one, tell us your thoughts in the comments and lets get ready for the championship!  
 
VSN Writer VanCanWin
 
(Posting this on his behalf)
 
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Trade Details
 
To: Moscow Menace

Finn Davison

To: HC Davos Dynamo

S70 MOS 1st

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Analysis

With deadline day approaching, Moscow has taken steps to secure a veteran goaltender for their cup push this season, sending a first-round pick back the way of HC Davos. Finn Davison, the goalie in question, will without a doubt tighten up the Menace’s otherwise porous defence, which has allowed the 3rd most goals so far this season. For the Dynamo, with this season already a write-off and Davison presumably headed off to free agency in the offseason, it makes sense to recoup some value out of their assets. Due to the current goaltender situation amongst competing teams, there wasn’t much of a market outside of Moscow for Davison, and as such Davos has presumably gotten all that they could have out of this trade with Moscow's first-round pick of the S70 draft. 

Essentially, the value of this trade boils down to the outcome. Can Davison become the final piece to Moscow’s puzzle? If so, this looks like a really valuable trade; winning a cup in exchange for a late first-round pick is probably a great move. If not, they may have given away a potential star for essentially nothing, as they have sophomore goalie Raymond Bernard continuing to develop and will likely not resign Davison for the future. 
 

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Get-to-Know the Players

Finn Davison

Last season’s goaltender of the year, winning both the Aidan Shaw and Greg Clegane trophies, Finn Davison is an elite VHL goaltender. Despite having somewhat middling statistics early on in his career, the veteran goalie has grown into his game with his standout performances during the last regular season. Selected at 17th overall in S64, Davison has proved a very valuable asset for HC Davos. He was an integral part of their stingy defense in S68 along with prior Dynamo teammate, defenseman Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, with whom he is now reunited, along with another old teammate in Gritty. Look to this trade as a postseason rental, as it is unlikely Moscow will want to shift the salary necessary to retain Davison for his final two seasons in the VHL, but for the meantime, the Menace is getting a real star to mind the net.
 
 
VSN Writer Mr_Hatter

VHFL Mid-Season Update
A look at some fantasy steals and underperforming players
 
Fantasy league drafting is always one of my favourite parts of the offseason. It brings out discussions in the locker rooms, with veterans helping newcomers pick the best players available. Some people will draft mainly based on last season’s stats. Some people will draft mainly based on players’ TPA. However, if you want to be very successful, you need to factor in both of these points, as well as the situation in which the players are in with their respective team. Even then, fantasy rankings aren’t an exact science and it’s hard to precisely predict how many points, hits and shots blocked all the players will get during the season. For this reason, it should be interesting to go back to draft patterns from this past offseason and compare to the actual rankings of the drafted players at this moment.

 
Popular draft picks
 
Over the 15 groups, a total of 78 different players were drafted. Ten players of these 78 players were selected in all 15 groups. If we were to separate these ten players in three groups, we could say six of them are returning exceptional value to their owners, three of them maybe could have been picked later than they were and one probably shouldn’t even have been picked at all. We’ll focus on the first group of players in this section. Julian Borwinn was one of them and he was actually the player with the lowest ADP (average draft position) at 2.3, thanks to going first overall a whopping eight times and only slipping out of the first round once. He’s returning good value to members that selected him, as he’s currently the 4th ranked forwards at the moment with 103.8 points.
 
Three other forwards were selected 15 times and also appear in the fantasy top 5 at the moment. They are Hunter Hearst Helmsley, Dan Wilinsky and Randoms. The former two are fairly straight forward: they were both drafted near the top in most leagues -- HHH was even drafted as high as 1st overall twice -- they slipped down to the 2nd or 3rd round in a couple of leagues, but nothing alarming here, as they respectively rank 2nd and 5th among best fantasy forwards. Randoms, however, is a strange case. He was selected in every group, but he had the most spread out pick dispersion, going anywhere from the 1st to the 6th round. At least one member in every group expected him to be a good pick, but there  probably aren’t a lot of people who did expect him to be the highest-scoring forward at mid-season, which is what his owners are getting throughout the first half of the season, as his 125.0 points make him the best forward, and second-best player all positions combined.
 
Only two defensemen were taken in every league, which makes sense when you consider there are only twelve defensemen taken overall in each of these leagues. Unsurprisingly, last season’s Sterling Labatte Trophy winner Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen leads all defensemen in ADP with 8.0, but he also paces all players in fantasy points with 137.2. Diljodh Starload was the other defenseman taken in every league. He was mostly selected in the 2nd-to-3rd round range but currently appears as the 4th best defenseman in fantasy scoring.

 
Disappointing by their discipline
 
Every season, there is a specific group of players I find go way too early in every draft. They score enough goals and assists to make it seem like they belong in the first couple rounds but, when you look at it closely, you realize goals and assists are the only categories they're putting good numbers in. In fact, these disciplined players are all scoring a lot, which makes them kind of safe picks, but some of them were drafted as high as players mentioned in the previous section. Problem is, they're not laying hits as often as some of the league's best physical players like Helmsley or Werbenjagermanjensen, making them lose a lot of points, compared to these power hitters. Such is the case for Kronos Bailey and Rauno Palo, both of whom were selected in all leagues, but are trailing forwards like Helmsley and Randoms due to their low hit outputs. Their high scoring pace still makes them valuable fantasy players, helping them rank as high as 16th and 17th, but the fact that they were both drafted ahead of Randoms in most leagues, the top-ranked player at the moment, shows how little people value hits, when it should be one of the first things they look at when drafting forwards in the VHFL.
 
The same could be said about Jet Jaguar, who had an ADP of 18.0 at the conclusion of the drafting process. He ranks right outside the top 10 in points, but his below-average checking skills leave much to be desired, fantasy-wise, and he only ranks as the 22nd forward at this point in time. Two Seattle Bears forwards are also victims of poor hitting. In fact, Acyd Burn and John Frostbeard weren't drafted a ton of times -- only 9 times combined -- but they are currently ranked 40th and 44th forwards, as a result of the Bears being too deep for everyone to be productive, added to the fact that they only have 15 and 23 hits at this moment.
 
We could also add Tzuyu to this shortlist of players. The Korean defenseman is one of only a handful of the league’s finest defensemen that don’t use their body to stop the offence. She does score a lot, as shown by her Alexander Valiq Trophy won in Season 65, but every season, she’s drafted in the first couple rounds in the fantasy drafts even though she can’t keep up with other defensemen that score as much or almost as much, while also adding a lot of hits to their statline, like Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen.

 
Blueline elites
 
As always, the best fantasy defensemen are a mixed bag between actual great defensemen with high TPE and ok defensemen on bad teams. This section will feature the first group, as the lesser defensemen that are surprisingly leading the pack thanks to a perfect situation in their team, despite their limited skills, will be discussed later. Elite blueliners are mostly hit-or-miss in fantasy, as defenseman scoring is driven by shots blocked, which will come more easily to players on losing teams. That means that the favourites for the Labatte start with a large disadvantage and need to score a lot to compensate. Such is the case for Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen and Diljodh Starload, who are near the top among blueliners thanks to them leading all defensemen in points and adding respectable totals in both hits and shots blocked.
 
They are joined by Riga's Apollo Hackett, who earned the quarterback spot this season after Joseph McWolf was traded away this season. Being one of the most skilled defensemen in the league playing on a very competitive team, he was drafted on average as the 11th defenseman in drafts, but currently ranks 5th, thanks to his numbers all around. His former teammates, Joseph McWolf, is in that same group along with his own new teammate Jerry Garcia, as they form one of the best fantasy pairings in the league, ranking 6th and 7th among blueliners, mostly because of their strong defensive numbers. Finally, forward-turned-defenseman Leph Twinger has been great for the eight owners who believed in him enough to select him as high as 8th overall, as he ranks just outside the top 10 for blueliners, thanks to an insane hits output.

 
Surprisingly struggling players
 
Now, while some players are doing good at the moment and paying off for the fantasy owners that trusted them, some are at the exact opposite of the spectrum, underperforming to the point where one could wonder if they were even worth to be drafted at all this season. The best example of this is Jake Davis, Malmö’s big free agency signings who, despite being given an important role in their offence, can’t seem to put it together at all. While he isn’t having the most horrible year, his scoring and hitting pace are certainly down from the rest of his career, which comes to a disappointment to owners that selected him as high as 1st overall and never lower than 16th. This selection alone will probably cost them a couple of spots in the year-end standings, as he currently sits way outside the fantasy-relevant window, with 49.8 points, less than half of Randoms’ output. This places him 48th among all forwards. While not to the same extent, the same could be said about Davis’ teammate with Malmö, Ryan Sullivan, whose subpar amount of points ranks him as the 23rd best forward so far. He is mostly saved by his 116 hits. One last forward whose performances could be seen as disappointing, fantasy-wise, is Ryan Kastelic. He’s on pace to finish the season with less than 72 points, which would be a first in his seven-season career. He’s just short of the point-per-game pace and still posted respectable defensive numbers so far, so he’s still ranked 15th among forwards, which doesn’t make him irrelevant for fantasy purposes, but we were certainly expecting more from him, as can be shown by his ADP of 8.8 and the fact that he was drafted outside of the top two rounds only three times.
 
Some defensemen could join this shortlist of players who are underperforming when compared to the fantasy world’s expectations for them. First, on the list are two New York Americans who were selected in the top 10 at their positions, but are both currently ranked outside the top 20. Indeed, Lance Flowers and Guy LeGrande were both seen as great defensemen who could have benefited from playing on a struggling team and could have to lead the league in hits and shots blocked. It was certainly the case last season when Flowers finished as the 2nd-ranked skater in the league in fantasy scoring and was given the Jake Wylde Trophy for his amazing defensive numbers. He’ll be hard-pressed to repeat since all of his stats are on the way down from his decorated season and he sits as the 31st best defenseman in the league so far. LeGrande’s offensive numbers haven’t dropped as much as Flowers’, but his low hits and shots blocked output certainly don’t help him and he ranks 25th among blueliners. Finally, Jagger Philliefan is one last defenseman whose fans expectations largely exceeded his actual production. This one could have been predicted, however, as the arrival of Diljodh Starload on the Wolves blueline was due to force Philliefan’s numbers to take a dip. I was expecting a drop, and definitely wouldn’t have drafted him as the 5th best defenseman, but I was certainly not expecting anything so major that would see him only being ranked 41st among blueliners at the midway point of the season.

 
Puzzling goaltenders 
 
Looking at the different rosters during the offseason, it can be easy to see which players are going to have a good season, and which ones are probably going to be stuck with less playing time and, therefore, a lesser statline. So it’s easy to see which players have the potential to be fantasy-stars and which ones don’t. When it comes to goaltenders, however, the playing time aspect can’t be taken into account, since everyone that’s deemed a starter for his team is expected to start all but 8 games (with the exception of Vancouver’s starting netminder, obviously). Then, with the way the scoring goes for them, two scenarios could happen come season end: (1) the best goaltender could be on a good team and have his score mainly driven by shutouts or (2) the best goaltender could be on a very bad team and lead his rivals thanks to an insane amount of saves. Wins are worth 1 point, but shutouts are worth 5 and saves are worth 0.07 (or around 1 for 14 saves), which basically means that winning while letting a couple of goals in on a low total of shots is basically worthless. We are seeing goaltenders from these two groups emerge as good fantasy options so far.
 
Ray Funk currently sits atop the goaltender’s fantasy standings thanks to him leading the league in wins, shutouts, and thanks to Seattle’s defence being just bad enough that he actually faced the 3rd most shots, but it's definitely the four shutouts that drive his score up. Similarly, JB Rift, Michael Johnson, Brick Wahl, Alexander Pepper and Greg Eagles are all tied at three shutouts and they’re all on teams expected to make the playoffs, so they tend to win more than they lose, but they don’t get shot at too often. Therefore, what separates them is the amount of shots fired at them on a daily basis and is why they are respectively ranked 3rd, 4th, 5th, 7th and 8th at their position. Raymond Bernard and Kallis Kriketers are two good examples of great netminders on great teams being skewed by the scoring system. Their 20 and 21 wins are 1 and 2 short of the league lead, but they’re both massively trailing in one category, making them ranked much lower than they should. Bernard only has one shutout so far, but if he had matched Funk’s four, he’d be 0.1 point short of him. Kriketers’ downfall is the fact that Riga is so good defensively that he faced fewer shots against than any other starter. They’re both ranked 6th and 9th at the moment.
 
The only representative from the second scenario is the reigning Aiden Shaw Trophy winner, Finn Davison. Davos took a massive step down this past offseason, and Davison is basically a buoy, barely helping them from sinking. He has made 1,464 saves, which is over 300 more than Bernard’s 1,149, the runner-up in this category. The team in front of him lacks in so many other departments that Davison could only steal 8 wins, but the sheer amount of shots he received are enough to him ranked as the 2nd best goaltender, within 0.1 points of Funk.

 
Steals of the season
 
It could be argued that the first couple rounds of a fantasy draft are important, but I believe that the best way to score well in fantasy is to grab high-end talent in the last couple of rounds. If you didn’t completely miss the mark in the first round and didn’t pick Jake Davis, chances are you are still in the race for 1st in your group, so the difference makers will be your late-round shots in the dark. Unproven players that might save your draft with performances worthy to maybe make them jump to the top half of next season’s drafts. The best steal this season has to be the #1 ranked forward, Randoms. He may not have been available late in all the leagues, but the fact that the best fantasy forward at the midpoint of the season was available in the 3rd or 4th round of most groups is absolutely ridiculous. On average, he went 9th among forwards, so if you were able to grab one of HHH or Borwinn in the top round, a great defenseman like Werbenjagermanjensen or Starload in the 2nd round and Randoms in the 3rd, you’re set to win it all, already. Elias Dahlberg would be my second pick when it comes to players we knew were great but weren’t expected to dominate as much. He was drafted as the 12th forward, but he’s currently ranked 3rd thanks to a pace of around 90 points on the season and a sure new career-high in hits.
 
Next, I’m going to group together a couple of players that were not even selected in the majority of leagues but are all in the middle of a breakout season and all feature among the best 12 forwards in fantasy at this moment. Indeed, no one of Rylan Peace, Dan Baillie, Pat Svoboda, Phil Marleau or Joel Ylonen was selected in more than 7 leagues and none was selected higher than 16th in any league, meaning with hindsight, basically, everyone here could have selected 2 of them in the last 2 rounds. The same could be said about two defensemen, Vladimir Pavlov and Sidney Crosby, who were only selected 5 times combined, both were selected 18th at best, but they are currently sitting as the 9th and 13th ranked defenseman so far.
 
Finally, three players caught my attention as they were selected only once over the 15 different leagues, but are currently outplaying a ton of players, so I thought they (the players and the owners) deserved to be mentioned. In group 10, @Victor knew better than others and grabbed Roll Fizzlebeef with the last pick of the night, the current 19th ranked forward. In group 13, @Advantage selected an inactive, low TPE defenseman in Rusty Shackleford, the 8th best defenseman at this point. What is perhaps the most impressive and interesting pick of the three is @Sebster03’s selection of John Madden in group 6. Madden is inactive and is playing in one of the worst teams of the expansion era, which has him on a pace of almost one-shots blocked per game as a forward. Add that to his 37 points, 89 hits and you get yourself the 6th ranked forward of the league so far.

 
Undrafted wonders
 
Every season, there are a bunch of players no one thought they’d do good enough to be worthy of a fantasy draft selection. Groups only have 6 members selecting 6 players each, for a total of 36. It’s not that much, so it’s just normal that some players slip through the cracks and end up going undrafted in every league, only to finish the season as one of the top-ranked players at their position. Naturally, it happens more with defensemen, due to the fact that okay-ish defensemen on bad teams will often end the season with better defensive stats than the league’s most skilled blueliners. It’s hard to predict who will lead the pack at the end of a season. In fact, just last season, Seabass Perrin went undrafted but managed to finish the season as the best-ranked skater, thanks to playing on a painfully bad Prague Phantoms team. The biggest surprise this season is easily Guillaume Fontenette because he doesn’t even fit either mould I talked about when introducing defensemen. He’s not a star yet and he’s not getting inflated defensive numbers from playing on a bad team. It’s not even that Fontenette is not a great defenseman. He’s skilled and should be a hot commodity for years to come, but he was only expected to be third on the Titans depth chart behind Sidney Crosby and Jesse Wilson, so it was very surprising to see him 3rd in points and 2nd in fantasy points at his position. 
 
However, the next three are textbook examples of good defensemen on bad teams, getting high numbers in hits and shots blocked due to their teams playing without the puck way more than with it. Toronto’s Elasmobranch Fish, Prague’s and rookie of the year candidate Cinnamon Block and Davos’ Basaraba Moose all went undrafted, but they are respectively ranked 3rd, 10th and 11th best defensemen. As easy as it is to find undrafted defenseman that, in retrospect, should have went in nearly every group, it is much harder for forwards. It’s not always true but, for them, the more TPE, the more skills and more skills, the more points. Their team’s situation doesn’t dictate their stats as much. The best undrafted forward this season so far is Jordan Tonn, who managed to score at nearly a point-per-game pace on a great Toronto team that lacks offensive power, which ranks him as the 24th best forward.

 
I don't have the time to put a word up for every player that was drafted. I tried focusing on great early picks, bad early picks and good late or uncommon picks. If your player was picked in the mid-to-late rounds and is returning that same kind of value, I probably skipped you, but good job on making your owner a happy fantasy owner. I crunched the numbers after Tuesday's sim, however, so I have the score for every player and will release a spreadsheet in the comments in a bit if you are curious about how you are really doing. I won’t go check who’s winning every group though, you can figure it out on your own, I guess.
 
Players mentioned: @Jubo07 @Beaviss @oilmandan @hedgehog337 @flyersfan1453 @DilIsPickle @Quik @jRuutu @gorlab @Acydburn @FrostBeard @tfong @Renomitsu @McWolf @GustavMattias @DollarAndADream @Josh @Advantage @Enorama @CowboyinAmerica @Steve @Philliefan @Rayzor_7 @Devise @fonziGG @BladeMaiden @Sonnet @Greg_Di @Mr_Hatter @Poptart @Nykonax @Peace @wcats @StamkosFan @Phil @Esso2264 @Victor @SidTheKid87 @TacticalHammer @K1NG LINUS @Thranduil @Sebster03 @okochastar @monkeywrench15 @Sharkstrong @omgitshim @Toasty @MexicanCow123
 
VSN Writer McWolf

"Dog Days" and not a single mention of the Hounds? What is this so-called "news outlet," smh...

My fault actually, sorry you had to bear the wrath of Bek "The Destroyer of Souls"

Welcome to the third edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------

 
Weekly Recap
 
Another week has gone by in the VHL’s season 69. We are officially into the dog days of the schedule as things have quieted down somewhat.  This week we begin to see small sample sizes turn into true pictures as everything has seemed to revert back to normal averages. DC and Prague still suck, public demand has gone silent, one team has regained contender status, and the mess in the Big Apple continues.  
 
The season started with plenty of surprises, none more so that the two expansion teams sitting much higher in the standings than expected. Of course, as everything regresses back to the mean, so does the records of D.C. (3-8-1) and Prague. (1-9-1) in this past week. That isn’t to say they haven’t taken steps as at least they are being competitive in SOME games this season but the truth is, being an expansion team in the VHL takes time to overcome.
 
Last week we saw Michael Gary Scott throw his name into the papers when he publicly demanded a trade - to Seattle. All eyes were on the situation and GM Beaviss who calmly let the situation die down and showed that no one will push him around. If MGS gets dealt, it will be on Beaviss’ terms and that’s it. Will this situation fizz out completely or does MGS still want out of a good situation in Vancouver? Lots can happen yet but my bet is Beaviss’ keeps him around on their way to a finals appearance.
 
As contenders and pretenders get sorted out the further along the season gets, one team has decided to add itself to the list of contenders. Our hottest team of the week - Riga - is currently on a seven-game winning streak vaulting itself close to Helsinki and Malmo as a true threat to come out of the EU on top. While it will have to continue its recent form probably the remainder of the season, it would not be wise to bet against this motivated group. 
 
Last but definitely not least, we have more trouble brewing in New York. Word is that there is definite discontent inside the locker room with one or more players turning against the team. While this is just a rumour, my sources are very strong in this situation. Hearing a prominent player could be shipped out of the city this season as New York attempts at retooling their rebuild on the fly. So much potential in the dressing room but it goes to show the importance of team culture.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars


Last weeks second star is this weeks first. Randoms has another stellar week, albeit this time he was the one doing the scoring totaling 11 goals to go with his 8 assists.
 
Another insane passing week in the VHL this time by Diljodh Starlord who paced the league in assists (16) and points (20).
Vancouver's Julias Freeman showed how this week with 8 goals and 10 assists leading him to the third star of the week honours.
 
-----------------------------------
 
 Between Extremes

Welcome to the third edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------

 
Weekly Recap
 
Another week has gone by in the VHL’s season 69. We are officially into the dog days of the schedule as things have quieted down somewhat.  This week we begin to see small sample sizes turn into true pictures as everything has seemed to revert back to normal averages. DC and Prague still suck, public demand has gone silent, one team has regained contender status, and the mess in the Big Apple continues.  
 
The season started with plenty of surprises, none more so that the two expansion teams sitting much higher in the standings than expected. Of course, as everything regresses back to the mean, so does the records of D.C. (3-8-1) and Prague. (1-9-1) in this past week. That isn’t to say they haven’t taken steps as at least they are being competitive in SOME games this season but the truth is, being an expansion team in the VHL takes time to overcome.
 
Last week we saw Michael Gary Scott throw his name into the papers when he publicly demanded a trade - to Seattle. All eyes were on the situation and GM Beaviss who calmly let the situation die down and showed that no one will push him around. If MGS gets dealt, it will be on Beaviss’ terms and that’s it. Will this situation fizz out completely or does MGS still want out of a good situation in Vancouver? Lots can happen yet but my bet is Beaviss’ keeps him around on their way to a finals appearance.
 
As contenders and pretenders get sorted out the further along the season gets, one team has decided to add itself to the list of contenders. Our hottest team of the week - Riga - is currently on a seven-game winning streak vaulting itself close to Helsinki and Malmo as a true threat to come out of the EU on top. While it will have to continue its recent form probably the remainder of the season, it would not be wise to bet against this motivated group. 
 
Last but definitely not least, we have more trouble brewing in New York. Word is that there is definite discontent inside the locker room with one or more players turning against the team. While this is just a rumour, my sources are very strong in this situation. Hearing a prominent player could be shipped out of the city this season as New York attempts at retooling their rebuild on the fly. So much potential in the dressing room but it goes to show the importance of team culture.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars


Last weeks second star is this weeks first. Randoms has another stellar week, albeit this time he was the one doing the scoring totaling 11 goals to go with his 8 assists.
 
Another insane passing week in the VHL this time by Diljodh Starlord who paced the league in assists (16) and points (20).
Vancouver's Julias Freeman showed how this week with 8 goals and 10 assists leading him to the third star of the week honours.
 
-----------------------------------
 
 Between Extremes

I love these

Welcome to the third edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------

 
Weekly Recap
 
Another week has gone by in the VHL’s season 69. We are officially into the dog days of the schedule as things have quieted down somewhat.  This week we begin to see small sample sizes turn into true pictures as everything has seemed to revert back to normal averages. DC and Prague still suck, public demand has gone silent, one team has regained contender status, and the mess in the Big Apple continues.  
 
The season started with plenty of surprises, none more so that the two expansion teams sitting much higher in the standings than expected. Of course, as everything regresses back to the mean, so does the records of D.C. (3-8-1) and Prague. (1-9-1) in this past week. That isn’t to say they haven’t taken steps as at least they are being competitive in SOME games this season but the truth is, being an expansion team in the VHL takes time to overcome.
 
Last week we saw Michael Gary Scott throw his name into the papers when he publicly demanded a trade - to Seattle. All eyes were on the situation and GM Beaviss who calmly let the situation die down and showed that no one will push him around. If MGS gets dealt, it will be on Beaviss’ terms and that’s it. Will this situation fizz out completely or does MGS still want out of a good situation in Vancouver? Lots can happen yet but my bet is Beaviss’ keeps him around on their way to a finals appearance.
 
As contenders and pretenders get sorted out the further along the season gets, one team has decided to add itself to the list of contenders. Our hottest team of the week - Riga - is currently on a seven-game winning streak vaulting itself close to Helsinki and Malmo as a true threat to come out of the EU on top. While it will have to continue its recent form probably the remainder of the season, it would not be wise to bet against this motivated group. 
 
Last but definitely not least, we have more trouble brewing in New York. Word is that there is definite discontent inside the locker room with one or more players turning against the team. While this is just a rumour, my sources are very strong in this situation. Hearing a prominent player could be shipped out of the city this season as New York attempts at retooling their rebuild on the fly. So much potential in the dressing room but it goes to show the importance of team culture.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars


Last weeks second star is this weeks first. Randoms has another stellar week, albeit this time he was the one doing the scoring totaling 11 goals to go with his 8 assists.
 
Another insane passing week in the VHL this time by Diljodh Starlord who paced the league in assists (16) and points (20).
Vancouver's Julias Freeman showed how this week with 8 goals and 10 assists leading him to the third star of the week honours.
 
-----------------------------------
 
 Between Extremes

Welcome to the third edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------

 
Weekly Recap
 
Another week has gone by in the VHL’s season 69. We are officially into the dog days of the schedule as things have quieted down somewhat.  This week we begin to see small sample sizes turn into true pictures as everything has seemed to revert back to normal averages. DC and Prague still suck, public demand has gone silent, one team has regained contender status, and the mess in the Big Apple continues.  
 
The season started with plenty of surprises, none more so that the two expansion teams sitting much higher in the standings than expected. Of course, as everything regresses back to the mean, so does the records of D.C. (3-8-1) and Prague. (1-9-1) in this past week. That isn’t to say they haven’t taken steps as at least they are being competitive in SOME games this season but the truth is, being an expansion team in the VHL takes time to overcome.
 
Last week we saw Michael Gary Scott throw his name into the papers when he publicly demanded a trade - to Seattle. All eyes were on the situation and GM Beaviss who calmly let the situation die down and showed that no one will push him around. If MGS gets dealt, it will be on Beaviss’ terms and that’s it. Will this situation fizz out completely or does MGS still want out of a good situation in Vancouver? Lots can happen yet but my bet is Beaviss’ keeps him around on their way to a finals appearance.
 
As contenders and pretenders get sorted out the further along the season gets, one team has decided to add itself to the list of contenders. Our hottest team of the week - Riga - is currently on a seven-game winning streak vaulting itself close to Helsinki and Malmo as a true threat to come out of the EU on top. While it will have to continue its recent form probably the remainder of the season, it would not be wise to bet against this motivated group. 
 
Last but definitely not least, we have more trouble brewing in New York. Word is that there is definite discontent inside the locker room with one or more players turning against the team. While this is just a rumour, my sources are very strong in this situation. Hearing a prominent player could be shipped out of the city this season as New York attempts at retooling their rebuild on the fly. So much potential in the dressing room but it goes to show the importance of team culture.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars


Last weeks second star is this weeks first. Randoms has another stellar week, albeit this time he was the one doing the scoring totaling 11 goals to go with his 8 assists.
 
Another insane passing week in the VHL this time by Diljodh Starlord who paced the league in assists (16) and points (20).
Vancouver's Julias Freeman showed how this week with 8 goals and 10 assists leading him to the third star of the week honours.
 
-----------------------------------
 
 Between Extremes

As of writing this, we are now 202 full VHL games into the season. This just under halfway of the season, so I thought I'd take a look at who's had some of the more favourable matchups thus far. The table above shows for each team, the points percentage (= (2 * wins + 1 * OTL) / (2 * GP)) of the opponents they've faced so far vs the average points percentage for all possible opponents (i.e the points percentage excluding that team since they can't play themselves). A team with a weak strength of schedule so far would be one who's opponent points percentage is smallest relative to their average points percentage and vice-versa for strongest.
 
By nature of Davos and New York being the two worst teams AND by having not yet played each other, they both come out with the hardest strength of schedule so far. They will meet four times later this season so the long awaited "battle of the suck" will have to wait until then. The teams who've been on the easier side so far are all EU conference teams. This is largely again in thanks to Davos being so bad and the fact that EU teams will player other EU teams 8 times per season while only playing NA teams 5-6 times per. Still, when comparing within a conference we can see that some teams have had it easier. so far Malmo, Helsinki and Moscow have had slightly favourable schedules while Riga and Prague have not. Riga is just sitting 3 and 4 points back of Moscow and Malmo respectively, so look for them to close the gap or even jump them in the remaining part of the season. Vancouver also has a similar story, sitting very close to the top spot but yet to have played Davos. This should give them another 7-8 points easily, so consider them still to be favourites for finishing atop the VHL regular season.
 
 
 
 
 

Thanks for the kind words @FrostBeard! 

and Welcome @Mr_Hatter!! 
 
 

It's been a longer term goal of mine to figure out what makes a line perform well. This is a pretty broad topic and one that I will probably have to do many write ups on to get a satisfactory answer, but to start I have to understand how lines are used in the VHL. 
 
Most teams have 2 lines worth of non-bot players. A few teams run with 3 lines like New York (who now are back to running 2 lines the past couple of games). Despite this, the STHS sim runs with 4 "normal" lineups and 2 lineups of each special teams type. This means some players will inevitably play on many lines and the VHL compensates for this by giving every player a 99 endurance rating. Or so I thought.
 
In my scrounging through STHS docs trying to figure out what all the little bells and whistles do in the sim, the first thing I needed to do was to understand the different versions of the simulation engine. There are four versions: 1.1, 1.5, 2.0, and 2.1. The gist of it is that 1.1 came first and is the O.G sim. 2.0 came next with a whole bunch of new features but the output was so random and gross that no one could use it. Then came 1.5 which took a few of the nice 2.0 features and added them to the 1.1 engine. 2.1 is essentially a bug fixed 2.0. As you can read here (and confirm here), one of the things added to 1.5 that is NOT present in 1.1 is the ability to control line strategies/time on ice. This is a feature that GM’s appear to be able to control and configure already due to the STHS client we use (check out our index) BUT in fact does not even impact the sim because we sim on the 1.1 engine (thank you to devise for confirming). If you continue reading that STHS forum post, some player stat categories from the 2.0 engine were added to 1.5 but not to 1.1, most notably EN (but also PS, which confirms the generally accepted idea around the forums that PS was a useless stat). All this being said, I’m not trying to say that it’s a bad thing to use the 1.1 engine. What it does mean is that we are at the mercy of STHS when it comes to how often each line gets used and when players become fatigued.
 

 
This begged the question: how are lines actually used in the VHL? The chart above shows the amount of "shifts" for each line across all teams in S69 so far (as of game 155). Here I've counted a "shift" as a line change parsed from the full play by play of the game logs where some event occurred in between. For example something like:
 
Normal Lineup #1 is on the ice for home team. Normal Lineup #1 is on the ice for away team. Player A shoots the puck. ... Normal Lineup #4 is on the ice for home team. Player B shoots the puck. Normal Lineup #2 is on the ice for away team. ... would be counted as one shift for home line #1 vs away line #1, one shift for home line #4 vs away line #1, and one shift for home line #4 vs away line #2. In particular, there is no time component being measured here (the first shift is almost certainly longer than the second shift in my example) which is a limitation, but my hope was that this type of thing would even-out in the long run.
 
As for the chart, the biggest thing that stands out is the higher amount of shifts for normal line 3 vs normal line 2. At first I thought there were bugs in my code, then I thought that this was one of those discrepancies between shifts and time played, but then I looked at SHTS which tracks minutes played for each player and separates out speciality teams minutes played (PP + PK). from even strength minutes. So I went to look for differences in even strength TOI between 3rd line players AND 2nd line players. This was not as easy as it sounds because almost every team has mixed their lines a bunch to this point. Fortunately for me, Toronto hasn’t. Legion LW Koda Adok has played all 26 games on the 3rd line and racked up 293 even strength minutes. Legion RW Matthew Kai has played all 26 games on the 2nd line and racked up 298 EV minutes. This might seem a bit cherry picked and anecdotal I guess, but the general pattern is pervasive; 3rd line players play pretty much the same amount of minutes as 2nd line players.
 
So the third line matters. I’d even go as far to say as it matters as much as the second line. Traditionally in hockey, this isn’t that unusual. But given the VHL’s limited amount of skilled players to put on lines I ask myself: “is it better to re-use your top guys on the third line or to play different, less skilled guys?”. I won’t attempt to answer that in this media spot because I don’t think I have the supporting data to answer it just yet. But it is something to keep in mind and would be curious if anyone else has any thoughts on the matter.
 
Ok, we now have a better idea about which lines are used and how often they are used on aggregate. What about their matchups? If you were trying to build the perfect “first line”, would you only have to worry about beating the other teams first line? Or would you have to account for matchups all over. The answer is that all lines eventually will play against all opposing lines, but some are much more frequent than others. Take a look at the charts below, the first showing even strength matchups and the second special teams matchups.
 

 
Some quick observations from these: 2nd lines do not regularly match up against other 2nd lines. I have no idea why this is, and perhaps most of these “off-line” matchups are short-shift ones but it still shows that a team will get many chances against your second line with their 1st and 3rd lines in a game, and it’s something worth accounting when building these lines. Even more interesting is how the third lines are used; just under two thirds of the time they are facing a higher line. If you're not going to stack the third line with your top guys, you better make sure they can at least defend well against them.
 
Looking at special teams matchups, the matchup differences become more subtle. Each #1 line plays a pretty fair share of time against the opposing #1 or #2 lines. One little insight I gained from this is that your 4v4 lines become your 4 on 3 power play lines when that situation arises (~7% of the time they play). Not sure if that warrants trying to make those lines a little more offensive or not.
 
I’ve well surpassed 1000 words now. Time to stop writing.
 
 
will claim for 12/1 and 12/8

Edition #3: We're evolving, so is the season.
Completed: Monday, November 25th, 2019.
 
Another week has come and gone in the VHL and we're starting to see how the rest of the season could go. If we compared the standings, which one day we'll be able to do between articles (hint, hint special projects machine), we'd see that things aren't moving at the top or the bottom a whole lot and there's a fair amount of movement in the middle of the zones which is to be expected. New York, DC and Davos make up the bottom 3 and Moscow, Helsinki and Vancouver make up the top 3. We've had some magical moments in the VHL so far this week and things are heating up. I'm sick of this intro already, so let's just start making some thunder and get right done to some fun business this week. 
 
Under The Scope
This is going to be a weekly segment I do believe for Campbell's Corner. This little piece is where we're going to take some of the events or topics from this week and fire them right underneath the laboratory microscopes and have a good old orgy time analyzing what exactly was going on etc. A friendly reminder that the entirety of Campbell's corner is clearly a playoff on Coaches Corner and the loud mouthed, heavily loved Don Cherry and his opinionated ways etc. While we do play off that and while it will likely be somewhat difficult to know what is a joke, most things here are lighthearted but always are they going to be truthful. Know that I love 99.99% of you in the VHL. The 0.01% know who they are. With that being said, let's put the saddle on the pony and address the first elephant in the room.
 
I don't know how to talk Finnish but I met a guy at work who is a little higher up who came from there and his fingers are like individual sausages and the entire hand is a baseball glove. It is not my assumption that all people from Finland have oversized hands. Sorry to almost every man whose encountered one and afterwards felt small. It's not your fault. All that last jibber jabber, we can apply to this seasons Helsinki Titans. For me, they were a sinking team that was in need of saving. The team was getting older and could very well of see their best days and their GM/League Commissioner is nowhere to be found. Some still counter-argue that he went on vacation 1.5 months ago. WILSSSOOOON (little volleyball man). That's a story for another time though. Now, Helsinki is looking real good and I'd probably like to think a lot of members are praising @Jubo07 for stepping in and saving the team. For me? Way too soon to say. The team is clicking hardcore. 60 GF in 20 GP is pretty good. But I'm not convicted it has anything to do with him and at this moment, would be screaming STHS. His conference/division is a tough one and while the team isn't terrible, I put both Moscow and Malmo quite a ways ahead of the Titans. Again, though... you could argue many ways. This season, they have a record of 7-4-1 against teams which you could deem difficult. 8 if you count Calgary but I refuse to count Prague's etc. Time will tell but either way, differences aside, I like what I've seen from him for the most part so far.
 
Topic numero two. Smitty and Gritty. They were the talk of the town when free agency hit. Some would even say more than some of the other players that were out there. Some were pretty non-existent. I'm sure teams gave a shit, but did you really hear any hype regarding them? It was the few huge big names with the mixture of this deadly duo. They wanted to go somewhere together and that was lethal. As a GM, I won't shed too much light on all my thoughts regarding the situation but Smitty is a massive addition to the team and apparently so is Gritty. Thinking now, a lot of people probably had them going to Toronto and them once again pulling a horseshoe out of their ass and finding a way for Ryan to pad is stats without ever even thinking about draft picks or drafting. To be honest, does he even know how? Now Moscow somehow found the whole horse in their ass this off-season, found people who were willing to dance to eat up all their shit contracts to get under the right amount and landed these two boys. Huge win. Really changed them team, conference and entire VHL. When I first started writing this and thought of mentioning these two in it, they were 1-2-3, along with Randoms, in the VHL for most points. Now they're tied in 2nd and 3rd with a bunch of people but the fact these 2 are so near the top for this shit really gives me a few feelings. One, happy that these guys are finding awesome success. Two, despite not ending up as Bears which would have been bad ass, they're really turning Moscow from a dud of a team that didn't turn out, to pure magic. Very excited to see what these 2 have in store for the remainder of the season. Better hope they stay hot and Randoms stays random. @flyersfan1453 @eaglesfan036 @hedgehog337
 
The last topic I'm going to touch on this week is just the VHL as a whole. I've been extremely busy the last little while and have felt an extreme amount of being burnt out in life and on this site. Somehow, I still find a way to come on and not die out like our wonderful league pal, @Quik. For anyone who doesn't know, he's been on vacation for a month+ now with know end in sight. Man must have money if he's vacationing that long - damn. Moving on, the VHL has seen a lot of kind of days. I remember joining this league and having that awesome excitement of everything this league can bring you. I've seen shitty days where members were at one another throats, or maybe I was going at someone or they were coming at me. I've watched @Beketov tell poor, innocent (and soon to be most annoying) @DilIsPickle to fuck off. I've also almost watched Canadian Civil war break out during election debates over on discord.... And us Canadian's think American's are intense? True, but we're intense too, lol. SARRY. We've actually had a time in the VHL where everyone was crying that the league was going to die and members were dropping left and right and league management maybe was stale - IDK? Stale could mean busy or needing of change? huh... It was crazy. The more you heard the words "the league is dying", the more you started to see it - whether it was true or not. Despite the shitty times, look where we are now. You might dislike some members or not agree with them or for whatever reason always bump heads - but think about it. We're just all humans living in this crazy big world with so many fucked up things happening and becoming. Somehow we all ended up here to make up this community and to me, that's a good thing. It's a good reminder for me that despite the differences I have with people on here, I still appreciate them, their presence and everything that they bring to the league because of those 2 things. Keep up the great work VHL and keep on keeping on!

 

Shall we go on a journey to find the true VHL Heavy-weight Champion?
 
The VHL is a wonderful place where our members get so many experiences and what not. You get to live out your dream of playing hockey in a big league that matters - the equivalence to the NHL, maybe you're a massive hockey fan/nerd and bleed hockey to the point that this is your kind of thing (mostly for me), or you like to meet new people, like the concept and such and are here more for the personal experience. I don't know and I don't care but it's awesome that you're here, okay? Don't ever let anyone tell you any different. ALL MEMBERS LIVES MATTER! People should apply that statement to a real life movement. ALL. It's they keyword there. Moving along, this league allows you the freedom to create whatever player you want, however you want to and blah blah. Scorer. Passer. Goalie that does goalie stuff - shout out to @Sonnet and @Poptart for being my 2 favourite goalies outside of the big pay cheque bad boy of Seattle, AKA @Rayzor_7. One thing you don't really see ever in this league is the enforcer and that's sad. Now I get it. It's probably a shitty build to go through. What team wants a player that doesn't put into PA/SC really and just drops the mitts and racks up the penalty minutes? It's shit. I don't want that on Seattle. But the concept is awesome and It would be neat to see it be a part of the league. That's exactly the purpose of Ice Chips. Let's shine some light on the baddest of the bad in the VHL. Do you punch out teeth for a living in the VHL? Do you consider yourself a champion in terms of fighting or toughness when on the ice? Are you the gooniest of all goons? And no, we don't mean @Gooningitup and @Goon.. although, if you looked at their profile pictures and such, you'd argue against that. Ice chips is going to be all about you... the enforcer.
 
Unfortunately, I'm a lazy piece of shit who just got done a day of work. I recently smoked the silly grass and am now relaxed. I wrote a massive chunk today and yesterday so I'm going to have to leave you with the wonderful cliffhanger of wondering where this exciting, bad ass, new little series called ICE CHIPS is going to go. Stay tuned my friends. It's time for us to crown a league heavy-weight champion. 
 
Weekly Breakdown: To be continued
A small little project I have on the go that will further allow us to look deep inside our weekly reviews. Of course I will be looking at ways to improve this in the future but for now I think this is a good start. I'll be bringing you a spreadsheet each week that will be updated with the current Monday to Sunday simulation statistics, as well as all previous weeks of that season included in the spreadsheet for comparison purposes. Something along those lines anyway. Can't really release too many specifics and whatever as it still is under construction and likely will be for a few weeks. We want to make sure it's awesome when it comes out. Just was excited and had to leak some info. HYPE! But until then, I'm going to put this bad boy down to rest and do some other things until we can come out with this full charge. YA!
 
Weekly Stats: Coming soon. It's going to be magic. @rjfryman + @VanCanWin wink
 
Final Message
Not every one of these is going to have a final message - I don't think. However, I did want to say that I've been very excited for Campbell's Corner - watching it grow and evolve into a fun little project (pretty massive if we do the word count). In fact, I think my last article topped a good chunk of work previous VSN management did in total... alone... That one article, hehe. Anyway, exciting stuff coming forward. Pumped about the Weekly Breakdown, despite being quite some time away from that. Ice Chips is going to be an adventure too. Always feel free to drop your opinions in here and start up some discussion and never be afraid to send me your suggestions on improvements and what not. Thanks VHL and have yourselves a great week. See yah next week  
 
Executive President of the VSN 
Bana
 

 

This MGS guy is whack 

Welcome to the second edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------
 

 
Weekly Recap
 
The first full week of Season 68 has come and gone. This past week brought with its usual excitement on the ice, some interesting happenings off of it as well. Between surprising teams, a potential tampering case, a pair of trades, and a league job opening there is plenty to talk about.
 
Out of nowhere, with his team-leading the league, Michael Gary Scott publicly demands a trade! Pulling a self-described page out of Antonio Brown’s book, MGS declares to the league he cares more about himself than his teammates. Making matters worse, he singled out Seattle as his only destination of choice. Will GM Beavis comply and come to terms with Seattle? In a recent poll, Seattle and HC Davos were listed as his most likely destinations although most still believe he won’t be moved at all. 
 
The week started with a minor trade between DC and Riga but the more intriguing news came Helsinki when the Titans announced they were sending talented forward ACL Tear to Vancouver in exchange for Ben Hafkey and a pair of picks.  A common thought is that Helsinki came out on top of this deal getting an improving Hafkey and two picks for a player who’s development has stalled considerably. 
 
Amid all the surprises this season, what in the heck has happened in New York? No one expected the Americans to be world beaters but with that much talent especially on the back end, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who thought they’d push HC Davos for the bottom of the standings.
 
In our last bit of news, word around the league is that there is a GM opening in Las Vegas of the VHLM after previous GM Matt-O suddenly stepped down from his position.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars
 

 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley has himself a week. With 16 goals and 27 points, HHH is finally fulfilling his untapped potential.
 
Randoms is our primary set up man this week dishing out a league-high 20 assists. Adding to that he potted 7 goals of his own earning him a second star
 
Steady Elias Dahlberg had himself an all-around stellar week registering 13 goals and 13 assists as a rare bright spot on a struggling Riga team.
 
-----------------------------------
 Between Extremes


 

Welcome to the second edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------
 

 
Weekly Recap
 
The first full week of Season 68 has come and gone. This past week brought with its usual excitement on the ice, some interesting happenings off of it as well. Between surprising teams, a potential tampering case, a pair of trades, and a league job opening there is plenty to talk about.
 
Out of nowhere, with his team-leading the league, Michael Gary Scott publicly demands a trade! Pulling a self-described page out of Antonio Brown’s book, MGS declares to the league he cares more about himself than his teammates. Making matters worse, he singled out Seattle as his only destination of choice. Will GM Beavis comply and come to terms with Seattle? In a recent poll, Seattle and HC Davos were listed as his most likely destinations although most still believe he won’t be moved at all. 
 
The week started with a minor trade between DC and Riga but the more intriguing news came Helsinki when the Titans announced they were sending talented forward ACL Tear to Vancouver in exchange for Ben Hafkey and a pair of picks.  A common thought is that Helsinki came out on top of this deal getting an improving Hafkey and two picks for a player who’s development has stalled considerably. 
 
Amid all the surprises this season, what in the heck has happened in New York? No one expected the Americans to be world beaters but with that much talent especially on the back end, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who thought they’d push HC Davos for the bottom of the standings.
 
In our last bit of news, word around the league is that there is a GM opening in Las Vegas of the VHLM after previous GM Matt-O suddenly stepped down from his position.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars
 

 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley has himself a week. With 16 goals and 27 points, HHH is finally fulfilling his untapped potential.
 
Randoms is our primary set up man this week dishing out a league-high 20 assists. Adding to that he potted 7 goals of his own earning him a second star
 
Steady Elias Dahlberg had himself an all-around stellar week registering 13 goals and 13 assists as a rare bright spot on a struggling Riga team.
 
-----------------------------------
 Between Extremes


 

Randomsssss

Great job! Interesting to see the Bust himself proving me wrong... I might be okey with HHH if he keeps this up for at least 2 more seasons.

Love reading these.

Welcome to the second edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------
 

 
Weekly Recap
 
The first full week of Season 68 has come and gone. This past week brought with its usual excitement on the ice, some interesting happenings off of it as well. Between surprising teams, a potential tampering case, a pair of trades, and a league job opening there is plenty to talk about.
 
Out of nowhere, with his team-leading the league, Michael Gary Scott publicly demands a trade! Pulling a self-described page out of Antonio Brown’s book, MGS declares to the league he cares more about himself than his teammates. Making matters worse, he singled out Seattle as his only destination of choice. Will GM Beavis comply and come to terms with Seattle? In a recent poll, Seattle and HC Davos were listed as his most likely destinations although most still believe he won’t be moved at all. 
 
The week started with a minor trade between DC and Riga but the more intriguing news came Helsinki when the Titans announced they were sending talented forward ACL Tear to Vancouver in exchange for Ben Hafkey and a pair of picks.  A common thought is that Helsinki came out on top of this deal getting an improving Hafkey and two picks for a player who’s development has stalled considerably. 
 
Amid all the surprises this season, what in the heck has happened in New York? No one expected the Americans to be world beaters but with that much talent especially on the back end, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who thought they’d push HC Davos for the bottom of the standings.
 
In our last bit of news, word around the league is that there is a GM opening in Las Vegas of the VHLM after previous GM Matt-O suddenly stepped down from his position.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars
 

 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley has himself a week. With 16 goals and 27 points, HHH is finally fulfilling his untapped potential.
 
Randoms is our primary set up man this week dishing out a league-high 20 assists. Adding to that he potted 7 goals of his own earning him a second star
 
Steady Elias Dahlberg had himself an all-around stellar week registering 13 goals and 13 assists as a rare bright spot on a struggling Riga team.
 
-----------------------------------
 Between Extremes


 

Welcome to the second edition of VSN’s Weekly recap.  We’ll cover a host of things in this recap each week including highlights of important VSN happenings, three stars of the week, power rankings, and anything else of importance.
 
-----------------------------------
 

 
Weekly Recap
 
The first full week of Season 68 has come and gone. This past week brought with its usual excitement on the ice, some interesting happenings off of it as well. Between surprising teams, a potential tampering case, a pair of trades, and a league job opening there is plenty to talk about.
 
Out of nowhere, with his team-leading the league, Michael Gary Scott publicly demands a trade! Pulling a self-described page out of Antonio Brown’s book, MGS declares to the league he cares more about himself than his teammates. Making matters worse, he singled out Seattle as his only destination of choice. Will GM Beavis comply and come to terms with Seattle? In a recent poll, Seattle and HC Davos were listed as his most likely destinations although most still believe he won’t be moved at all. 
 
The week started with a minor trade between DC and Riga but the more intriguing news came Helsinki when the Titans announced they were sending talented forward ACL Tear to Vancouver in exchange for Ben Hafkey and a pair of picks.  A common thought is that Helsinki came out on top of this deal getting an improving Hafkey and two picks for a player who’s development has stalled considerably. 
 
Amid all the surprises this season, what in the heck has happened in New York? No one expected the Americans to be world beaters but with that much talent especially on the back end, you would be hard-pressed to find someone who thought they’d push HC Davos for the bottom of the standings.
 
In our last bit of news, word around the league is that there is a GM opening in Las Vegas of the VHLM after previous GM Matt-O suddenly stepped down from his position.
 
-----------------------------------
 
Seeing Stars
 

 
Hunter Hearst Helmsley has himself a week. With 16 goals and 27 points, HHH is finally fulfilling his untapped potential.
 
Randoms is our primary set up man this week dishing out a league-high 20 assists. Adding to that he potted 7 goals of his own earning him a second star
 
Steady Elias Dahlberg had himself an all-around stellar week registering 13 goals and 13 assists as a rare bright spot on a struggling Riga team.
 
-----------------------------------
 Between Extremes