Seabass

Alright well I have less than an hour to write myself a Media Spot for theme week due to me leaving for a backpacking trip very soon. Honestly when the topic for the theme week was announced, I couldn't come up with anything to write about. I don't really pay attention to the VHL Awards much, it's always the same names winning it I find and I just don't follow who wins what every year. 
 
However one specific season came to mind while I was looking for inspiration to write this Media Spot. I'm talking about back in Season 71 when @BladeMaiden wrapped up her career with her goaltender, Brick Wahl (Brick Wahl II II in portal).  
 
Wahl arrived to the Prague Phantoms the season before in a trade with the Calgary Wranglers that sent a first round pick (Jacques LaFontaine) and inactive goaltender Owen May back to Calgary. It turns out that was a good deal as Wahl solidified a position in which the Phantoms were weak at and Blade helped install a fun culture to the locker room of a expansion team that had just joined the league just 2 seasons before. Hell she was more like the queen of that locker room as she really did drive the activity in the team discord during those two season. Yeah she arrived a little sour and was thinking of quitting the VHL but she quickly found a home in the Prague Phamily and we were very fortunate to have somehow convinced her to stick around a little longer ;). 
 
Season 71 was suppose to be her curtain call for Wahl. It was his eighth season and he was set to retire at the end of it. Wahl ended up ending his career with a career year, posting a insane save percentage of .931%, recorded 7 shutouts and had a Goals Against Average of less than 2. Not one goaltender since has posted a better save percentage over 60+ games since. Wahl essentially carried that year's Phantoms team on his back and all the way to the playoffs where the team ended up being ousted in the first round by the Riga Reign in 6 games. That was heartbreaking as we really wanted to get Wahl at least a cup since he had never won anything prior in his career. However Wahl did end up making up for in by cleaning it up at the VHL awards winning a total of 4 Awards. She ended up winning both MVP awards, the Brett Slobodzian trophy and the Scotty Campbell trophy as well as winning the Aidan Shaw trophy for best goaltender and the Greg Clegane for best GAA in the league. 
 
It's too bad we got ousted in the first round as I really had thought that we'd go deeper in the playoffs after finishing that year 2nd in the European Conference since I'm sure Wahl would've traded all those individual awards for a single Continental Cup ring. That single season is the best performance I've seen from a goaltender in the VHL and it will always come to mind when I talk about goalies in the future. 
 
That's over 500 words, I did it! With 20 minutes to spare.

1. I think the league should moderate the league's announcement comments more strictly. One of the things new members first see when they first join the league is the league's most recent announcements. Childish quarrels and drama paints the league in a bad light and can turn away first joiners. 
 
2.  I would to see less of people ganging up on certain members to poke fun of. Kinda why Beavis left the league no? Nobody should be bullied no matter the stupid comments/decisions they've made in the past and I see a lot of that here. Everyone should feel comfortable here, not bullied. I get there's no easy solution to this though. 
 
3. I don't like certain aspects of the portal. Ex: when your looking at team's scoring chart and click on a specific player and go back, you have to reselect the team as it resetted. Or player searches, when you go back it resets and you gotta put in your search parameters all over again)

1. We just need to stop partying the day before a game, were showing up to games hungover and it hasn't been working out in our favour.
 
2.  I spark up a a joint and the stress just dissapears.
 
3.Moreau has been a solid addition and has been almost a PPG player for us since his arrival. 
 
4.Recently, that Paccioretty trade is starting to look good now that Suzuki is taking the next step.  The Fleishmann/Weise return worked out very well too for the habs. 
 
5. I'd rather win 1-0 in OT and give our goaltender a shutout. Plus defensively it shows that you've been doing everything right if the opponent can't score a goal.
 
6. Ra-ra rasputin?

I very much appreciated my time in Prague and I consider it an honor to have my player's jersey retired by the franchise. I got drafted by the Phantoms during their inaugural year and have got the pleasure of seeing this expansion franchise grow into what it is today. Just wish I could've helped bring more success to the team during my stay.
 
  I also got to play with every name retired today during my 7 year stay in Prague and that's what made the team special in my mind, it was the teammates I got to play with. I loved my team, we had a good locker room going there and a lot of us got to play together for a real long time. 
 
Congratulations to my other Phamily members who also was also fortunate enough to get their jerseys retired.  @Cornholio  @omgitshim  @Doomsday
 
 
 
 

Promotion? I apply 

I apply 👀

Well I wouldn't say that my player has had a good season this year but he's done well enough this year to be able to hit his career high of 29 points in 23 less games. For a top six forward however more is expected out of the young Menace player as the team needs offensive across all three lines. When asked about reaching his career high set in his rookie season this is what the Seabasstard had to say,
 
"I should be happy about reaching that mark but I'm not. I got a lot more playing time this year compared to the last and still I haven't been consistent enough to produce at the rate that I want to produce. 30 points in a season just doesn't cut it if I want my team to succeed. I have to do more for my team and just play better. It's just frustrating I'm trying a bunch of new things and nothing seems to be working out for me. "
 
-The Seabasstard

Well I wouldn't say that my player has had a good season this year but he's done well enough this year to be able to hit his career high of 29 points in 23 less games. For a top six forward however more is expected out of the young Menace player as the team needs offensive across all three lines. When asked about reaching his career high set in his rookie season this is what the Seabasstard had to say,
 
"I should be happy about reaching that mark but I'm not. I got a lot more playing time this year compared to the last and still I haven't been consistent enough to produce at the rate that I want to produce. 30 points in a season just doesn't cut it if I want my team to succeed. I have to do more for my team and just play better. It's just frustrating I'm trying a bunch of new things and nothing seems to be working out for me. "
 
-The Seabasstard

Hi folks, I’ve been putting this piece off for quite a while since it’s taken a decent amount of work, and we all know I’m lazy. However, VHFL is something I’m quite passionate about. Back in my freshman year of college, a couple years before I joined the VHL, I took a course that taught me some pretty nifty Excel skills. I decided to mess around mid-season in S73 to make a spreadsheet that could calculate VHFL scores so that anyone could calculate their fantasy team’s scores, or check on the score for any player in the league at any given time. It was initially designed just to be a fun project for me to test out my skills on, and maybe have it used by the general community once I made it nice enough.
 
As luck would have it, Twists, the then VHFL manager stepped down during playoffs and left the league. Suddenly there was a need for a spreadsheet that could calculate VHFL scores quickly, and my file was soon adopted as the official VHFL calculation/management spreadsheet. All player rankings, user rankings, group rankings/scoring, and team tracking has all occurred in that sheet. I’ve tried to keep modifying and upgrading that spreadsheet to make life as easy as possible for whoever the current manager is, but it’s also allowed me to keep an eye on the state of VHFL over the past 5-6 seasons. I’m not liking what I’m seeing.
 
Warning
I'll preface this piece by saying there are a lot of statistics and numbers explained in here. There are also a lot of words. If you don't want to read it, just skip to the very bottom where I've written out a TLDR. 
 
So What's the Issue?
 
Before we get too deep into the issue at hand, let’s quickly look at VHFL scoring, just to be familiar with it: 

 
It’s pretty standard, 2 points for a goal, 1 point for an assist, 0.2 for hits, 0.8 for shots blocked. At a glance, it makes sense. Goals are worth double an assist, points per hit are pretty low since some folks can get over 300 hits in a season, and shots blocked can be hard to come by, especially for forwards. Makes sense to make them more valuable, right?
 
Well, as time has gone on, and we’ve seen seasons of skater rankings come out, there’s a very clear trend. Defensemen are simply way too good in VHFL. Take a look at this table, where I’ve tracked positional averages of the top 190-ish players in each season (190 chosen since that’s around the end of user controlled players in each season who put up any sort of stats):
 
S79 Positional Averages   S78 Positional Averages   S77 Positional Averages   S76 Positional Averages C 61.98695652   C 131.7755102   C 130.7137255   C 134.5555556 LW 58.81428571   LW 133.3517241   LW 122.4064516   LW 114.16875 RW 62.29090909   RW 125.369697   RW 120.7028571   RW 116.6648649 D 86.5038961   D 198.1835616   D 216.9731343   D 194.7685714  
Looking at these tables, the disparity is quite clear. Consider that around 190 skaters are in each sample size. Even in S79, where the data is as of mid-season - about 32-33 games in, defensemen already have about 24 more points over any other skater position. Going back before S79, the gap is more pronounced. 65 point gap in S78, 86 points in S77, 60 points in S76. Sure, we’ve had some extraordinary defensemen in the league, such as Condor Adrienne in recent seasons, but those sort of defensemen should be outliers. Defensemen shouldn’t be this far ahead of forwards. So where is the problem starting?
 
Brace Yourself, a Shit Ton of Statistics Incoming
 
Before we dive into some of the graphs I have coming up, I’d like to briefly explain a few statistics I’m going to use. In order to see exactly why there was this point disparity between forwards and defensemen, I decided to create a “point share” statistic inspired by the win share statistic that’s used in hockey generally, which is some breakdown of player value to their team. Value of a cog in the machine and all that, it’s super complex and just the inspiration to what I did. Instead of calculating player value to their team, I broke down the point share of each VHFL scoring attribute - goals, assists, hits, and shots blocked - to their final VHFL score.
 
---
 
Let’s use the gorgeous Alex Letang as an example. So far in S79, through 32 games, he has a VHFL score of 133.2, good enough to be the top player in fantasy. He has 10 goals, 48 assists, 106 hits and 55 shots blocked. In order to figure out his Hit Point Share and Shots Blocked Share, I individually calculated the amount of points generated by his hits and shots blocked.
 
Hits: 106 hits -> 21.2 points
Shots Blocked: 55 SB -> 44 points
 
When calculating the point share, we simply divide the points per attribute by the overall score of the player:
 
Hit Point Share: 21.2 hit points/133.2 total points = 15.92%
SB Point Share: 44 SB points/133.2 total points = 33.03%
Combined Hit+SB Point Share: 48.95%
 
So this shows a pretty normal point share of these statistics, for Alex Letang at least. Around 50% of his points are coming from 2 out of 4 scoring stats, which isn’t anything to worry about. But that’s only for Letang, who’s had the benefit of allowing his scoring on the ice to carry his VHFL score.
 
---
 
Let’s shift over to the 3rd best VHFL player this season: Mikeal Keef, a defenseman on the openly tanking Helsinki Titans. His combined Hit+SB Point Share is 75.57%. Over 75% of his 131 points are coming from hits and shots blocked! He has 8 goals on the season which is pretty good for a defenseman, but also only 16 assists. For comparison, he has more VHFL points than Red Lite, who has 29 goals and 33 assists. That just doesn’t make sense to me. The graphs even show the issue in scoring.
 

S79 Data (through 32-33 games)
 
I’ll be the first to admit that I should have broken the graph up into forwards and defensemen to make my point a bit more obvious, but I’ll just hope you take my word for how I break it down. I calculated the Hit Point Share and SB Point Share for every skater in the 190-200 sample from each season, and then graphed it out to see the distributions on a larger scale. There are two obvious clumps of red, which are the SB Point Shares. The lower group, which largely falls under 25%, are just about all forwards. The sole red dot under 25% between 120-140 VHFL points belongs to the aforementioned Red Lite. The entire clump that largely falls around or above 50% belong to defensemen. In the 120-140 range, there are 6 defensemen who are getting a significant chunk of their points from shots blocked. That’s a massive problem in my opinion, and the trend continues in all the seasons I observed. Take a glance:
 

S78 Data
 

S77 Data
 

S76 Data
 
In every single one of these seasons, there is a significantly large chunk of red hovering above 50% made up of defensemen, leeching a majority of their points from shots blocked. There’s also a bit of a parallel observation to be made here that forwards simply aren’t getting enough value either, outside the 2 or 3 outlier forwards that exist every season. The Boulet candidates for example who have massive amounts of hits, such as Groovy Dood, Christian Mingle, Mikko Lahtinen, and then the best players with checking on the worst teams who get a nice boost in shots blocked. It’s a very clear trend and it’s making VHFL too predictable. Don’t believe me? Let’s show you how the current scoring is creating a clear-meta in VHFL drafting that’s ruining the game.
 
Is There Really a Clear Meta?
 
In order to see if there’s a meta that users follow to win VHFL, I went back through the top users of S79 (as of 8/8) through S76 and pulled the top 5 in each season. I then went to their groups for drafting and noted down what positions they selected with their first, second and third picks of the draft. 
 
Here’s that breakdown:
 
S79 Top Users First pick Second pick Third Pick Doomsday (filler) Vaakanainen - F Letang - D Nilsson - D Fishy Dood - F Odinsson - F Lite - F Leafsman Dood - F Letang - D Campbell - F Tate Lite - F Letang - D Lamb - F Esso2264 Dood - F Lamb - F Pines - D         S78 Top Users First pick Second pick Third Pick Thunfish Mingle - F Kankkunen - D Dear - F Juice Sandstrom - F Mingle - F Winter - F Dasboot Mingle - F Sandstrom - F Hornet - F Renomitsu Sandstrom - F Elsby - D Tsujimoto - F GustavMattias Hornet - F Tsujimoto - F Winter - F         S77 Top Users First pick Second pick Third Pick GustavMattias Lahtinen - F Dood - F Walker - D Victor Killinger - D Brown - F Dood- F Kylrad Lahtinen - F Killinger - D Brown - F gorlab Letang - D Dood - F Marsh - D leafsman Lahtinen - F Dood - F Killinger - D         S76 Top Users First pick Second pick Third Pick OrbitingDeath Lahtinen - F Graves - F Mitchell - D Dasboot Lahtinen - F Mitchell - D Bob - F Juice Lahtinen - F Mitchell - D Krishna - G Esso2264 Dood - F Hylands - F Davis - D Patrik Tallinder Vikingstad - F Hylands - F Davis - D  
Let’s all point and laugh at the poor folks in Doomsday's filler group. Must suck to suck. But charting out the picks made by each user and in each round, you get this table:
 
  Round 1 Round 2 Round 3 F 18 12 11 D 2 8 8 G 0 0 1  
In the first round, 18 out of 20 users picked a forward first. The two exceptions were in S77, where Erik Killinger and Alex Letang were selected first, and they were 2nd and 4th overall in that season respectively - so really not a bad decision if you’re confident in landing a top 5 player, and also confident in your ability to find a top forward with your next few picks. Keep in mind, you have to select 3 forwards and 2 defensemen though. In all other situations where forwards were selected first, the forwards selected by these teams ended up top 3 in VHFL forwards. There’s a significantly higher emphasis on selecting a top forward with your first pick, as high end forwards are difficult to come by. There are usually only 2 or 3 forwards that land in the top 20 of overall skaters, and our top 20 users have prioritized those forwards with the first pick of their drafts.
 
Exactly half of them (10) also went back to selecting a forward with their 2nd pick as well. Common names here have been Groovy Dood in S77, Chris Hylands in S76, and Onde Sandstrom/Taro Tsujimoto in S78. The third round pick is usually one of the more crucial picks, and also similar to round 2 where most people go back to selecting a forward. Top scorers such as Robin Winter in S78, Grooby Dood in S77, Jim Bob in S76 have all been selected with the third pick of a user. One person, Juice, took Ajay Krishna with his third pick in S76, but also had Latrell Mitchell and Mikko Lahtinen with his first two picks to bail out that decision :P. Krishna was a top goalie that season anyways, so I suppose we can let it slide. 
 
The emphasis on forwards is undeniably clear. Out of the 60 picks made by the top 20 users in the past 4 seasons, over 66% of those picks are forwards. People know that they need to get the best forwards possible if they want a chance to win in fantasy. Defensemen are, as I like to say in Moscow, “a dime a dozen” simply because there are always 20-25 defensemen who will outscore the 5th best forward - VHFL-wise. The people who do select defensemen in the 2nd or 3rd rounds get it right though. They consistently selected defensemen who landed top 5 in the final rankings. Doomsday’s filler so far in S79 has both the #1 and #2 skater, in Letang and Nilsson. That kind of power can make up for a weak 3rd forward. And Vaakanainen, his 1st overall pick, was certainly the weak 3rd forward in the group as he went on to select Red Lite, the top forward in VHFL right now. But again, the argument here is that Nilsson shouldn’t be the 2nd best VHFL player just because he’s on a horrible defensive team that gives up plenty of shots against, that he can just stand in the way of.
 
---
 
This piece is already around 2,000 words, so I’ll save my “solutions” article for another day. I’ve thought of a few different ways to fix fantasy, but I’d love to hear suggestions from the community in case someone can think of something that I haven't. I’m happy to run testing on any kind of idea!
 
---
 
TLDR for you bums who skipped to the end: VHFL is broken because scoring favors the best defensemen on bad/average teams who block shots. Defensemen as a whole score way too much, with even average defensemen scoring up to 60-70 more fantasy points than the average forward. Therefore, VHFL success depends on how well a user can follow the meta of selecting the best forwards with their first few picks, and simply picking passable defensemen and an average goalie to finish out their team, since the top 20 skaters in every season have like 17 defensemen in them anyways. I think it's an issue, and will propose solutions to fix this down the road. If you have any thoughts, please comment them .
 
(2.4k+ words, 4 weeks claim)
 

I very much appreciated my time in Prague and I consider it an honor to have my player's jersey retired by the franchise. I got drafted by the Phantoms during their inaugural year and have got the pleasure of seeing this expansion franchise grow into what it is today. Just wish I could've helped bring more success to the team during my stay.
 
  I also got to play with every name retired today during my 7 year stay in Prague and that's what made the team special in my mind, it was the teammates I got to play with. I loved my team, we had a good locker room going there and a lot of us got to play together for a real long time. 
 
Congratulations to my other Phamily members who also was also fortunate enough to get their jerseys retired.  @Cornholio  @omgitshim  @Doomsday
 
 
 
 

I very much appreciated my time in Prague and I consider it an honor to have my player's jersey retired by the franchise. I got drafted by the Phantoms during their inaugural year and have got the pleasure of seeing this expansion franchise grow into what it is today. Just wish I could've helped bring more success to the team during my stay.
 
  I also got to play with every name retired today during my 7 year stay in Prague and that's what made the team special in my mind, it was the teammates I got to play with. I loved my team, we had a good locker room going there and a lot of us got to play together for a real long time. 
 
Congratulations to my other Phamily members who also was also fortunate enough to get their jerseys retired.  @Cornholio  @omgitshim  @Doomsday
 
 
 
 

I very much appreciated my time in Prague and I consider it an honor to have my player's jersey retired by the franchise. I got drafted by the Phantoms during their inaugural year and have got the pleasure of seeing this expansion franchise grow into what it is today. Just wish I could've helped bring more success to the team during my stay.
 
  I also got to play with every name retired today during my 7 year stay in Prague and that's what made the team special in my mind, it was the teammates I got to play with. I loved my team, we had a good locker room going there and a lot of us got to play together for a real long time. 
 
Congratulations to my other Phamily members who also was also fortunate enough to get their jerseys retired.  @Cornholio  @omgitshim  @Doomsday
 
 
 
 

With the recent retirement of Thomas Landry II, I remembered something I'd intended to do a few seasons back, and actually can add one more to it at the same time. Three of our biggest names from the prior era of Prague, plus one more recent, should be sent up to the rafters of the arena in remembrance of their careers spent either entirely (2 of them) or mostly (the other 2) with us.
 
Seabass Perrin @Seabass #8

Wolf Stansson Jr @Cornholio #69

Cinnamon Block @omgitshim #17

Thomas Landry II @Doomsday #48

When you get a chance @Beketov can I get templates done for these

hello everyone, it's me, birb. I am here to announce that this current season will be my last one as the GM of the New York Americans. It's been a wild ride in the 12 seasons i've GMed here and i think it's time for me to give the wheel of this ship to someone else. I'd like to thank the good people of the blue to have given me this opportunity back in S67, it was a fullfilling experience. I'm not going anywhere tho, you'll still have my garbage jokes to deal with, just as a player only.
 
okay goodbye
 

 
PS: im still doing the draft stream you cant get rid of me you doofus

Man, things aren't looking very good for the Menace right now. We seem to be stumbling down the VHL standings at a alarming pace and after two more losses on Saturday we're now 7 points back from a wildcard spot. We we're anticipating a season where we'd see us improve, which on paper we have but on the ice we just haven't been able to figure things out as we're now sitting on a 11-18-5 record.
 
Aurelien Moreau was acquired in hopes to turn this season around for the Menace. Moreau has played very well going almost a point per game (8 in 9GP) since his arrival but it hasn't been enough to push to Menace to win some games. The team has been losing quite a few 1 goal games as of late and that stings as those are all missed opportunities to acquire points in the standings. 
 
What do you think the Menace have been doing wrong and how do you think they can improve their game?

Review: I really like how every player gets their own color for  their section. It really gives the article a visual pop. The only downside is that I had a little trouble reading Emeritus' and Lemiuex's sections due to the lack of contrast on my laptop. I really like in depth review of how they got to the team and what makes them stand apart. There is a good variety and none of the sections feels too repetitive. Solid 8/10 from me.

TheCHEESE has accepted a Signing Offer from HC Davos:

S80: $2,000,000

S81: $2,000,000

S82: $2,000,000

S83: $2,000,000
Option: Mutual

Hello VHL!
 
Today I'll be focusing the subject of this week's media spot on the Menace's new blood. That's right I'm talking about our new faces to this season whether it be rookies making their VHL debuts, players who have been traded to the team or seasoned veterans that have been around the VHL for year and have signed on during the Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) season. 
 
The Moscow Menace last season didn't do all too well as they spent most of their season near the bottom of the VHL standings. At the end of the year they had the honors of participating in the end of season VHL lottery tournament after missing out on the playoffs by five points. The team failed at finding any consistency on the ice and would let in too many goals against at times. However, that is expected considering the team also featured a young core of players and a total of seven rookies on the roster. Considering this team's inexperience I think they actually did pretty well, they only finished 5 points shy of a wildcard slot and were able to score some big goals. Their downfall was they just let in more goals than they scored. The GM was tasked with trying to solve this problem and improve his team further this offseason and continue building his team around his two stars, Paul Atreides and Duncan Idaho. 
 
The GM made acquiring a defender one of his top priorities for this offseason and it seemed like he had found it right away in a deal with the D.C. Dragons. In the deal the Menace gave up their starting netminder, Kevin Malone to the Dragons in return for a 2nd round pick and defender Alex Letang. Letang was Spartan's returning player that had previously been drafted by the Menace in S72 and played 4 seasons as member of the Menace before moving on to the Dragons in S77. In the end it made a lot of sense, the Menace improved their roster by acquiring a talented and familiar blue liner and considering they had Andrew Bowman who had great numbers in S78 to fall back on in net so this seemed like a great deal to make. However, the GM had somebody else specifically in mind that he desperately wanted to add to his team.
 
Papa Emeritus
@Beketov
 
As soon a Letang was reacquired he was off yet again to another team as Moscow had decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Stars in order to move up 4 positions in the draft from the 5th overall selection to the 1st overall selection of the S79 VHL Entry Draft. Seemed like a steep price to pay at the time just to move up 4 spots but Spartan had someone specific in mind for that first overall selection and he went ahead and drafted goaltender, Papa Emeritus of the S78 Founder's Cup Winning Yukon Rush. Emeritus backstopped the Rush to a VHLM best record of 57-11-4 last year and posted a respectable .892 save percentage. He seems at his best and thrives on the big games. He brings a winning resume, not only did he elevate his game in the Rush's trip to the cup but he also managed to played very well in the World Juniors and scored himself a gold medal at the event beating out me and my Canadian Team (fuck you Bek). So yeah this guy is clutch af and will be a very important core piece for the Menace moving forward in their chase for another championship. Keep in mind goalies usually take more time for a team to develop and Emeritus may have to spend more time playing behind veteran goaltender and learn the ropes before we see him backstopping this team to what is hopefully another Continental Cup.
 
Now lets move on the S79 UFA Frenzy. The Menace were poised to win big that day either way as they didn't really lose any prominent players after S78 ended. They only managed to lose winger Owen Taylor who only scored 6 points after going inactive at the beginning of his rookie season and defenseman Bahram Kamkar who retired half way through his rookie campaign. Neither of them were really members of the team by the end of the year so no big loss there. 
 
Silas LeFriend
@yevty
 
Due to being still weak on the blueline after the departure of Letang the team's big and only free agent signing this year was defender Silas LeFriend who was previously a member of the Prague Phantoms for 3 seasons after being drafted by the team in the 3rd round of the S75 Entry Draft. LeFriend came to Moscow after having a poor season with the Phantoms that seen him only posting up 11 points for the year. That was mostly due to being under utilized by the Phantoms as he played the least amount of minutes on the team that year as he fell down the Phantoms depth chart since coming into the league as a rookie in S76. Before getting his ice time cut in S78 he was actually a good two way defender posting two 30+ point seasons and going +16 in S77. So far LeFriend has been a great addition to the team and not only had LeFriend returned to form but I'd like to say he's been playing the best hockey of his career here in Moscow. He's already scored 11 points this season, which is only 6 shy of him reaching his last season's point total despite this season not even being close to being over. He's also been steady and responsible in his own end and has thrown his body in front of a ton of shots. This guy was seriously a solid low-key pickup by @Spartan to fill a hole he had in his roster.
 
 
Jaromir Lemiuex
@hockeyis66
 
Lemiuex is the only rookie to make his debut for the Menace this year else than backup goaltender Papa Emeritus and already looks to be a steal of a pick so far. Lemiuex was selected 18th overall in the S78 Entry Draft and has absolutely torn it up offensively in whatever league he's been in since being drafted by the team. Last season in the VHLM he hit triple digits in points ( 108 ) and was among the league's top 10 scorers. He was also among the top 10 players in plus/minus (+48) and he accomplished all that while playing mostly on the Yukon Rush's 2nd line. Like Emeritus, Lemiuex adds some winning pedigree to this team as he too managed to both win a Founder's Cup and a WJC Gold Medal. He seems to have transitioned to the VHL very well and has even worked his way up to the Menace's 1st forward line. He currently has 5 goals and 22 points in 27 games and his been one of the team's best offensive contributors out of the gate this season. He's currently also 3rd in rookie scoring and has become an early contender for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. Lets hope the kid can stay hot!
 
Aurelien Moreau
@Frank
 
Literally as I was writing this media spot Moscow completed another big trade bringing in one last new face to this year's Menace team, defender Aurelien Moreau. Moreau was acquired for a 1st round pick in S80 and a 2nd round pick in S81 and has immediately committed himself to Moscow for a good chunk of his career, signing a huge 4 year extension after the trade. This is now the 2nd time Moreau has been moved this season. During the offseason, he was traded along with Vick Fairchild to Toronto from Helsinki in hopes to help turn Toronto into a competitive team. That obviously hasn't worked out as Toronto is at the bottom of the North American Conference and this most recent trade was a way for Toronto to recoup some of the cost they paid to first acquire the pair. Moreau had a solid start for the Legion posting up 19 points in 24 games and wasn't no slouch the season before in Helsinki putting up 60+ points. Moscow is adding a very capable defender who is responsible in his own zone and has confidence while handling the puck. This gives Moscow another defender to go to for offense and a powerplay partner for Hard Markinson. I think this move gives Moscow a much better chance at improving their 10-14-3 record and perhaps challenge for a playoff spot at the end of the year but Moreau not only helps the team now but figures to be a important piece in the future as well. We'll have to keep an eye out and see how well Moreau's transition to the Menace turns out.
 
I want to welcome all our new players to Moscow and wish all the best of luck to my new team mates. I hope to eventually share some success stories with you guys in the future and i'm looking forward to get to know you guys.
 
 
Other Mentions: @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @STZ
 
1500+ words
 
 
 
 
 

Hello VHL!
 
Today I'll be focusing the subject of this week's media spot on the Menace's new blood. That's right I'm talking about our new faces to this season whether it be rookies making their VHL debuts, players who have been traded to the team or seasoned veterans that have been around the VHL for year and have signed on during the Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) season. 
 
The Moscow Menace last season didn't do all too well as they spent most of their season near the bottom of the VHL standings. At the end of the year they had the honors of participating in the end of season VHL lottery tournament after missing out on the playoffs by five points. The team failed at finding any consistency on the ice and would let in too many goals against at times. However, that is expected considering the team also featured a young core of players and a total of seven rookies on the roster. Considering this team's inexperience I think they actually did pretty well, they only finished 5 points shy of a wildcard slot and were able to score some big goals. Their downfall was they just let in more goals than they scored. The GM was tasked with trying to solve this problem and improve his team further this offseason and continue building his team around his two stars, Paul Atreides and Duncan Idaho. 
 
The GM made acquiring a defender one of his top priorities for this offseason and it seemed like he had found it right away in a deal with the D.C. Dragons. In the deal the Menace gave up their starting netminder, Kevin Malone to the Dragons in return for a 2nd round pick and defender Alex Letang. Letang was Spartan's returning player that had previously been drafted by the Menace in S72 and played 4 seasons as member of the Menace before moving on to the Dragons in S77. In the end it made a lot of sense, the Menace improved their roster by acquiring a talented and familiar blue liner and considering they had Andrew Bowman who had great numbers in S78 to fall back on in net so this seemed like a great deal to make. However, the GM had somebody else specifically in mind that he desperately wanted to add to his team.
 
Papa Emeritus
@Beketov
 
As soon a Letang was reacquired he was off yet again to another team as Moscow had decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Stars in order to move up 4 positions in the draft from the 5th overall selection to the 1st overall selection of the S79 VHL Entry Draft. Seemed like a steep price to pay at the time just to move up 4 spots but Spartan had someone specific in mind for that first overall selection and he went ahead and drafted goaltender, Papa Emeritus of the S78 Founder's Cup Winning Yukon Rush. Emeritus backstopped the Rush to a VHLM best record of 57-11-4 last year and posted a respectable .892 save percentage. He seems at his best and thrives on the big games. He brings a winning resume, not only did he elevate his game in the Rush's trip to the cup but he also managed to played very well in the World Juniors and scored himself a gold medal at the event beating out me and my Canadian Team (fuck you Bek). So yeah this guy is clutch af and will be a very important core piece for the Menace moving forward in their chase for another championship. Keep in mind goalies usually take more time for a team to develop and Emeritus may have to spend more time playing behind veteran goaltender and learn the ropes before we see him backstopping this team to what is hopefully another Continental Cup.
 
Now lets move on the S79 UFA Frenzy. The Menace were poised to win big that day either way as they didn't really lose any prominent players after S78 ended. They only managed to lose winger Owen Taylor who only scored 6 points after going inactive at the beginning of his rookie season and defenseman Bahram Kamkar who retired half way through his rookie campaign. Neither of them were really members of the team by the end of the year so no big loss there. 
 
Silas LeFriend
@yevty
 
Due to being still weak on the blueline after the departure of Letang the team's big and only free agent signing this year was defender Silas LeFriend who was previously a member of the Prague Phantoms for 3 seasons after being drafted by the team in the 3rd round of the S75 Entry Draft. LeFriend came to Moscow after having a poor season with the Phantoms that seen him only posting up 11 points for the year. That was mostly due to being under utilized by the Phantoms as he played the least amount of minutes on the team that year as he fell down the Phantoms depth chart since coming into the league as a rookie in S76. Before getting his ice time cut in S78 he was actually a good two way defender posting two 30+ point seasons and going +16 in S77. So far LeFriend has been a great addition to the team and not only had LeFriend returned to form but I'd like to say he's been playing the best hockey of his career here in Moscow. He's already scored 11 points this season, which is only 6 shy of him reaching his last season's point total despite this season not even being close to being over. He's also been steady and responsible in his own end and has thrown his body in front of a ton of shots. This guy was seriously a solid low-key pickup by @Spartan to fill a hole he had in his roster.
 
 
Jaromir Lemiuex
@hockeyis66
 
Lemiuex is the only rookie to make his debut for the Menace this year else than backup goaltender Papa Emeritus and already looks to be a steal of a pick so far. Lemiuex was selected 18th overall in the S78 Entry Draft and has absolutely torn it up offensively in whatever league he's been in since being drafted by the team. Last season in the VHLM he hit triple digits in points ( 108 ) and was among the league's top 10 scorers. He was also among the top 10 players in plus/minus (+48) and he accomplished all that while playing mostly on the Yukon Rush's 2nd line. Like Emeritus, Lemiuex adds some winning pedigree to this team as he too managed to both win a Founder's Cup and a WJC Gold Medal. He seems to have transitioned to the VHL very well and has even worked his way up to the Menace's 1st forward line. He currently has 5 goals and 22 points in 27 games and his been one of the team's best offensive contributors out of the gate this season. He's currently also 3rd in rookie scoring and has become an early contender for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. Lets hope the kid can stay hot!
 
Aurelien Moreau
@Frank
 
Literally as I was writing this media spot Moscow completed another big trade bringing in one last new face to this year's Menace team, defender Aurelien Moreau. Moreau was acquired for a 1st round pick in S80 and a 2nd round pick in S81 and has immediately committed himself to Moscow for a good chunk of his career, signing a huge 4 year extension after the trade. This is now the 2nd time Moreau has been moved this season. During the offseason, he was traded along with Vick Fairchild to Toronto from Helsinki in hopes to help turn Toronto into a competitive team. That obviously hasn't worked out as Toronto is at the bottom of the North American Conference and this most recent trade was a way for Toronto to recoup some of the cost they paid to first acquire the pair. Moreau had a solid start for the Legion posting up 19 points in 24 games and wasn't no slouch the season before in Helsinki putting up 60+ points. Moscow is adding a very capable defender who is responsible in his own zone and has confidence while handling the puck. This gives Moscow another defender to go to for offense and a powerplay partner for Hard Markinson. I think this move gives Moscow a much better chance at improving their 10-14-3 record and perhaps challenge for a playoff spot at the end of the year but Moreau not only helps the team now but figures to be a important piece in the future as well. We'll have to keep an eye out and see how well Moreau's transition to the Menace turns out.
 
I want to welcome all our new players to Moscow and wish all the best of luck to my new team mates. I hope to eventually share some success stories with you guys in the future and i'm looking forward to get to know you guys.
 
 
Other Mentions: @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @STZ
 
1500+ words
 
 
 
 
 

Good looking team in Moscow with some great users. Enjoy your season. 

Hello VHL!
 
Today I'll be focusing the subject of this week's media spot on the Menace's new blood. That's right I'm talking about our new faces to this season whether it be rookies making their VHL debuts, players who have been traded to the team or seasoned veterans that have been around the VHL for year and have signed on during the Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) season. 
 
The Moscow Menace last season didn't do all too well as they spent most of their season near the bottom of the VHL standings. At the end of the year they had the honors of participating in the end of season VHL lottery tournament after missing out on the playoffs by five points. The team failed at finding any consistency on the ice and would let in too many goals against at times. However, that is expected considering the team also featured a young core of players and a total of seven rookies on the roster. Considering this team's inexperience I think they actually did pretty well, they only finished 5 points shy of a wildcard slot and were able to score some big goals. Their downfall was they just let in more goals than they scored. The GM was tasked with trying to solve this problem and improve his team further this offseason and continue building his team around his two stars, Paul Atreides and Duncan Idaho. 
 
The GM made acquiring a defender one of his top priorities for this offseason and it seemed like he had found it right away in a deal with the D.C. Dragons. In the deal the Menace gave up their starting netminder, Kevin Malone to the Dragons in return for a 2nd round pick and defender Alex Letang. Letang was Spartan's returning player that had previously been drafted by the Menace in S72 and played 4 seasons as member of the Menace before moving on to the Dragons in S77. In the end it made a lot of sense, the Menace improved their roster by acquiring a talented and familiar blue liner and considering they had Andrew Bowman who had great numbers in S78 to fall back on in net so this seemed like a great deal to make. However, the GM had somebody else specifically in mind that he desperately wanted to add to his team.
 
Papa Emeritus
@Beketov
 
As soon a Letang was reacquired he was off yet again to another team as Moscow had decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Stars in order to move up 4 positions in the draft from the 5th overall selection to the 1st overall selection of the S79 VHL Entry Draft. Seemed like a steep price to pay at the time just to move up 4 spots but Spartan had someone specific in mind for that first overall selection and he went ahead and drafted goaltender, Papa Emeritus of the S78 Founder's Cup Winning Yukon Rush. Emeritus backstopped the Rush to a VHLM best record of 57-11-4 last year and posted a respectable .892 save percentage. He seems at his best and thrives on the big games. He brings a winning resume, not only did he elevate his game in the Rush's trip to the cup but he also managed to played very well in the World Juniors and scored himself a gold medal at the event beating out me and my Canadian Team (fuck you Bek). So yeah this guy is clutch af and will be a very important core piece for the Menace moving forward in their chase for another championship. Keep in mind goalies usually take more time for a team to develop and Emeritus may have to spend more time playing behind veteran goaltender and learn the ropes before we see him backstopping this team to what is hopefully another Continental Cup.
 
Now lets move on the S79 UFA Frenzy. The Menace were poised to win big that day either way as they didn't really lose any prominent players after S78 ended. They only managed to lose winger Owen Taylor who only scored 6 points after going inactive at the beginning of his rookie season and defenseman Bahram Kamkar who retired half way through his rookie campaign. Neither of them were really members of the team by the end of the year so no big loss there. 
 
Silas LeFriend
@yevty
 
Due to being still weak on the blueline after the departure of Letang the team's big and only free agent signing this year was defender Silas LeFriend who was previously a member of the Prague Phantoms for 3 seasons after being drafted by the team in the 3rd round of the S75 Entry Draft. LeFriend came to Moscow after having a poor season with the Phantoms that seen him only posting up 11 points for the year. That was mostly due to being under utilized by the Phantoms as he played the least amount of minutes on the team that year as he fell down the Phantoms depth chart since coming into the league as a rookie in S76. Before getting his ice time cut in S78 he was actually a good two way defender posting two 30+ point seasons and going +16 in S77. So far LeFriend has been a great addition to the team and not only had LeFriend returned to form but I'd like to say he's been playing the best hockey of his career here in Moscow. He's already scored 11 points this season, which is only 6 shy of him reaching his last season's point total despite this season not even being close to being over. He's also been steady and responsible in his own end and has thrown his body in front of a ton of shots. This guy was seriously a solid low-key pickup by @Spartan to fill a hole he had in his roster.
 
 
Jaromir Lemiuex
@hockeyis66
 
Lemiuex is the only rookie to make his debut for the Menace this year else than backup goaltender Papa Emeritus and already looks to be a steal of a pick so far. Lemiuex was selected 18th overall in the S78 Entry Draft and has absolutely torn it up offensively in whatever league he's been in since being drafted by the team. Last season in the VHLM he hit triple digits in points ( 108 ) and was among the league's top 10 scorers. He was also among the top 10 players in plus/minus (+48) and he accomplished all that while playing mostly on the Yukon Rush's 2nd line. Like Emeritus, Lemiuex adds some winning pedigree to this team as he too managed to both win a Founder's Cup and a WJC Gold Medal. He seems to have transitioned to the VHL very well and has even worked his way up to the Menace's 1st forward line. He currently has 5 goals and 22 points in 27 games and his been one of the team's best offensive contributors out of the gate this season. He's currently also 3rd in rookie scoring and has become an early contender for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. Lets hope the kid can stay hot!
 
Aurelien Moreau
@Frank
 
Literally as I was writing this media spot Moscow completed another big trade bringing in one last new face to this year's Menace team, defender Aurelien Moreau. Moreau was acquired for a 1st round pick in S80 and a 2nd round pick in S81 and has immediately committed himself to Moscow for a good chunk of his career, signing a huge 4 year extension after the trade. This is now the 2nd time Moreau has been moved this season. During the offseason, he was traded along with Vick Fairchild to Toronto from Helsinki in hopes to help turn Toronto into a competitive team. That obviously hasn't worked out as Toronto is at the bottom of the North American Conference and this most recent trade was a way for Toronto to recoup some of the cost they paid to first acquire the pair. Moreau had a solid start for the Legion posting up 19 points in 24 games and wasn't no slouch the season before in Helsinki putting up 60+ points. Moscow is adding a very capable defender who is responsible in his own zone and has confidence while handling the puck. This gives Moscow another defender to go to for offense and a powerplay partner for Hard Markinson. I think this move gives Moscow a much better chance at improving their 10-14-3 record and perhaps challenge for a playoff spot at the end of the year but Moreau not only helps the team now but figures to be a important piece in the future as well. We'll have to keep an eye out and see how well Moreau's transition to the Menace turns out.
 
I want to welcome all our new players to Moscow and wish all the best of luck to my new team mates. I hope to eventually share some success stories with you guys in the future and i'm looking forward to get to know you guys.
 
 
Other Mentions: @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @STZ
 
1500+ words
 
 
 
 
 

1. I think it gives us another offensive weapon on d and gives Markinson a partner on the PP. Good addition.
 
2. This team has now core pieces at every position which is awesome and it's the start to building a contender. We just need everyone to stay on board and work hard and I think we can make this work.
 
3. Risk is another good board game. But a simple deck of cards has to be the good to a road trips.
 
4. I don't know we're blessed by the hockey gods?
 
5. I'm not meeting my expectations, yeah i'm doing better than I did last season but I was hoping to be scoring more goals. I'll never be satisfied though i'm always going to want more out of myself. 
 
6. I'm doing okay. I'm supposed to go on vacation at the end of the month and I'm hoping the forest fire situation calms itself down by then. Right now it sure looks like i'll go on a backpacking trip during a fire ban, joy. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Hello VHL!
 
Today I'll be focusing the subject of this week's media spot on the Menace's new blood. That's right I'm talking about our new faces to this season whether it be rookies making their VHL debuts, players who have been traded to the team or seasoned veterans that have been around the VHL for year and have signed on during the Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) season. 
 
The Moscow Menace last season didn't do all too well as they spent most of their season near the bottom of the VHL standings. At the end of the year they had the honors of participating in the end of season VHL lottery tournament after missing out on the playoffs by five points. The team failed at finding any consistency on the ice and would let in too many goals against at times. However, that is expected considering the team also featured a young core of players and a total of seven rookies on the roster. Considering this team's inexperience I think they actually did pretty well, they only finished 5 points shy of a wildcard slot and were able to score some big goals. Their downfall was they just let in more goals than they scored. The GM was tasked with trying to solve this problem and improve his team further this offseason and continue building his team around his two stars, Paul Atreides and Duncan Idaho. 
 
The GM made acquiring a defender one of his top priorities for this offseason and it seemed like he had found it right away in a deal with the D.C. Dragons. In the deal the Menace gave up their starting netminder, Kevin Malone to the Dragons in return for a 2nd round pick and defender Alex Letang. Letang was Spartan's returning player that had previously been drafted by the Menace in S72 and played 4 seasons as member of the Menace before moving on to the Dragons in S77. In the end it made a lot of sense, the Menace improved their roster by acquiring a talented and familiar blue liner and considering they had Andrew Bowman who had great numbers in S78 to fall back on in net so this seemed like a great deal to make. However, the GM had somebody else specifically in mind that he desperately wanted to add to his team.
 
Papa Emeritus
@Beketov
 
As soon a Letang was reacquired he was off yet again to another team as Moscow had decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Stars in order to move up 4 positions in the draft from the 5th overall selection to the 1st overall selection of the S79 VHL Entry Draft. Seemed like a steep price to pay at the time just to move up 4 spots but Spartan had someone specific in mind for that first overall selection and he went ahead and drafted goaltender, Papa Emeritus of the S78 Founder's Cup Winning Yukon Rush. Emeritus backstopped the Rush to a VHLM best record of 57-11-4 last year and posted a respectable .892 save percentage. He seems at his best and thrives on the big games. He brings a winning resume, not only did he elevate his game in the Rush's trip to the cup but he also managed to played very well in the World Juniors and scored himself a gold medal at the event beating out me and my Canadian Team (fuck you Bek). So yeah this guy is clutch af and will be a very important core piece for the Menace moving forward in their chase for another championship. Keep in mind goalies usually take more time for a team to develop and Emeritus may have to spend more time playing behind veteran goaltender and learn the ropes before we see him backstopping this team to what is hopefully another Continental Cup.
 
Now lets move on the S79 UFA Frenzy. The Menace were poised to win big that day either way as they didn't really lose any prominent players after S78 ended. They only managed to lose winger Owen Taylor who only scored 6 points after going inactive at the beginning of his rookie season and defenseman Bahram Kamkar who retired half way through his rookie campaign. Neither of them were really members of the team by the end of the year so no big loss there. 
 
Silas LeFriend
@yevty
 
Due to being still weak on the blueline after the departure of Letang the team's big and only free agent signing this year was defender Silas LeFriend who was previously a member of the Prague Phantoms for 3 seasons after being drafted by the team in the 3rd round of the S75 Entry Draft. LeFriend came to Moscow after having a poor season with the Phantoms that seen him only posting up 11 points for the year. That was mostly due to being under utilized by the Phantoms as he played the least amount of minutes on the team that year as he fell down the Phantoms depth chart since coming into the league as a rookie in S76. Before getting his ice time cut in S78 he was actually a good two way defender posting two 30+ point seasons and going +16 in S77. So far LeFriend has been a great addition to the team and not only had LeFriend returned to form but I'd like to say he's been playing the best hockey of his career here in Moscow. He's already scored 11 points this season, which is only 6 shy of him reaching his last season's point total despite this season not even being close to being over. He's also been steady and responsible in his own end and has thrown his body in front of a ton of shots. This guy was seriously a solid low-key pickup by @Spartan to fill a hole he had in his roster.
 
 
Jaromir Lemiuex
@hockeyis66
 
Lemiuex is the only rookie to make his debut for the Menace this year else than backup goaltender Papa Emeritus and already looks to be a steal of a pick so far. Lemiuex was selected 18th overall in the S78 Entry Draft and has absolutely torn it up offensively in whatever league he's been in since being drafted by the team. Last season in the VHLM he hit triple digits in points ( 108 ) and was among the league's top 10 scorers. He was also among the top 10 players in plus/minus (+48) and he accomplished all that while playing mostly on the Yukon Rush's 2nd line. Like Emeritus, Lemiuex adds some winning pedigree to this team as he too managed to both win a Founder's Cup and a WJC Gold Medal. He seems to have transitioned to the VHL very well and has even worked his way up to the Menace's 1st forward line. He currently has 5 goals and 22 points in 27 games and his been one of the team's best offensive contributors out of the gate this season. He's currently also 3rd in rookie scoring and has become an early contender for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. Lets hope the kid can stay hot!
 
Aurelien Moreau
@Frank
 
Literally as I was writing this media spot Moscow completed another big trade bringing in one last new face to this year's Menace team, defender Aurelien Moreau. Moreau was acquired for a 1st round pick in S80 and a 2nd round pick in S81 and has immediately committed himself to Moscow for a good chunk of his career, signing a huge 4 year extension after the trade. This is now the 2nd time Moreau has been moved this season. During the offseason, he was traded along with Vick Fairchild to Toronto from Helsinki in hopes to help turn Toronto into a competitive team. That obviously hasn't worked out as Toronto is at the bottom of the North American Conference and this most recent trade was a way for Toronto to recoup some of the cost they paid to first acquire the pair. Moreau had a solid start for the Legion posting up 19 points in 24 games and wasn't no slouch the season before in Helsinki putting up 60+ points. Moscow is adding a very capable defender who is responsible in his own zone and has confidence while handling the puck. This gives Moscow another defender to go to for offense and a powerplay partner for Hard Markinson. I think this move gives Moscow a much better chance at improving their 10-14-3 record and perhaps challenge for a playoff spot at the end of the year but Moreau not only helps the team now but figures to be a important piece in the future as well. We'll have to keep an eye out and see how well Moreau's transition to the Menace turns out.
 
I want to welcome all our new players to Moscow and wish all the best of luck to my new team mates. I hope to eventually share some success stories with you guys in the future and i'm looking forward to get to know you guys.
 
 
Other Mentions: @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @STZ
 
1500+ words
 
 
 
 
 

Hello VHL!
 
Today I'll be focusing the subject of this week's media spot on the Menace's new blood. That's right I'm talking about our new faces to this season whether it be rookies making their VHL debuts, players who have been traded to the team or seasoned veterans that have been around the VHL for year and have signed on during the Unrestricted Free Agent (UFA) season. 
 
The Moscow Menace last season didn't do all too well as they spent most of their season near the bottom of the VHL standings. At the end of the year they had the honors of participating in the end of season VHL lottery tournament after missing out on the playoffs by five points. The team failed at finding any consistency on the ice and would let in too many goals against at times. However, that is expected considering the team also featured a young core of players and a total of seven rookies on the roster. Considering this team's inexperience I think they actually did pretty well, they only finished 5 points shy of a wildcard slot and were able to score some big goals. Their downfall was they just let in more goals than they scored. The GM was tasked with trying to solve this problem and improve his team further this offseason and continue building his team around his two stars, Paul Atreides and Duncan Idaho. 
 
The GM made acquiring a defender one of his top priorities for this offseason and it seemed like he had found it right away in a deal with the D.C. Dragons. In the deal the Menace gave up their starting netminder, Kevin Malone to the Dragons in return for a 2nd round pick and defender Alex Letang. Letang was Spartan's returning player that had previously been drafted by the Menace in S72 and played 4 seasons as member of the Menace before moving on to the Dragons in S77. In the end it made a lot of sense, the Menace improved their roster by acquiring a talented and familiar blue liner and considering they had Andrew Bowman who had great numbers in S78 to fall back on in net so this seemed like a great deal to make. However, the GM had somebody else specifically in mind that he desperately wanted to add to his team.
 
Papa Emeritus
@Beketov
 
As soon a Letang was reacquired he was off yet again to another team as Moscow had decided to trade him to the Los Angeles Stars in order to move up 4 positions in the draft from the 5th overall selection to the 1st overall selection of the S79 VHL Entry Draft. Seemed like a steep price to pay at the time just to move up 4 spots but Spartan had someone specific in mind for that first overall selection and he went ahead and drafted goaltender, Papa Emeritus of the S78 Founder's Cup Winning Yukon Rush. Emeritus backstopped the Rush to a VHLM best record of 57-11-4 last year and posted a respectable .892 save percentage. He seems at his best and thrives on the big games. He brings a winning resume, not only did he elevate his game in the Rush's trip to the cup but he also managed to played very well in the World Juniors and scored himself a gold medal at the event beating out me and my Canadian Team (fuck you Bek). So yeah this guy is clutch af and will be a very important core piece for the Menace moving forward in their chase for another championship. Keep in mind goalies usually take more time for a team to develop and Emeritus may have to spend more time playing behind veteran goaltender and learn the ropes before we see him backstopping this team to what is hopefully another Continental Cup.
 
Now lets move on the S79 UFA Frenzy. The Menace were poised to win big that day either way as they didn't really lose any prominent players after S78 ended. They only managed to lose winger Owen Taylor who only scored 6 points after going inactive at the beginning of his rookie season and defenseman Bahram Kamkar who retired half way through his rookie campaign. Neither of them were really members of the team by the end of the year so no big loss there. 
 
Silas LeFriend
@yevty
 
Due to being still weak on the blueline after the departure of Letang the team's big and only free agent signing this year was defender Silas LeFriend who was previously a member of the Prague Phantoms for 3 seasons after being drafted by the team in the 3rd round of the S75 Entry Draft. LeFriend came to Moscow after having a poor season with the Phantoms that seen him only posting up 11 points for the year. That was mostly due to being under utilized by the Phantoms as he played the least amount of minutes on the team that year as he fell down the Phantoms depth chart since coming into the league as a rookie in S76. Before getting his ice time cut in S78 he was actually a good two way defender posting two 30+ point seasons and going +16 in S77. So far LeFriend has been a great addition to the team and not only had LeFriend returned to form but I'd like to say he's been playing the best hockey of his career here in Moscow. He's already scored 11 points this season, which is only 6 shy of him reaching his last season's point total despite this season not even being close to being over. He's also been steady and responsible in his own end and has thrown his body in front of a ton of shots. This guy was seriously a solid low-key pickup by @Spartan to fill a hole he had in his roster.
 
 
Jaromir Lemiuex
@hockeyis66
 
Lemiuex is the only rookie to make his debut for the Menace this year else than backup goaltender Papa Emeritus and already looks to be a steal of a pick so far. Lemiuex was selected 18th overall in the S78 Entry Draft and has absolutely torn it up offensively in whatever league he's been in since being drafted by the team. Last season in the VHLM he hit triple digits in points ( 108 ) and was among the league's top 10 scorers. He was also among the top 10 players in plus/minus (+48) and he accomplished all that while playing mostly on the Yukon Rush's 2nd line. Like Emeritus, Lemiuex adds some winning pedigree to this team as he too managed to both win a Founder's Cup and a WJC Gold Medal. He seems to have transitioned to the VHL very well and has even worked his way up to the Menace's 1st forward line. He currently has 5 goals and 22 points in 27 games and his been one of the team's best offensive contributors out of the gate this season. He's currently also 3rd in rookie scoring and has become an early contender for the Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy. Lets hope the kid can stay hot!
 
Aurelien Moreau
@Frank
 
Literally as I was writing this media spot Moscow completed another big trade bringing in one last new face to this year's Menace team, defender Aurelien Moreau. Moreau was acquired for a 1st round pick in S80 and a 2nd round pick in S81 and has immediately committed himself to Moscow for a good chunk of his career, signing a huge 4 year extension after the trade. This is now the 2nd time Moreau has been moved this season. During the offseason, he was traded along with Vick Fairchild to Toronto from Helsinki in hopes to help turn Toronto into a competitive team. That obviously hasn't worked out as Toronto is at the bottom of the North American Conference and this most recent trade was a way for Toronto to recoup some of the cost they paid to first acquire the pair. Moreau had a solid start for the Legion posting up 19 points in 24 games and wasn't no slouch the season before in Helsinki putting up 60+ points. Moscow is adding a very capable defender who is responsible in his own zone and has confidence while handling the puck. This gives Moscow another defender to go to for offense and a powerplay partner for Hard Markinson. I think this move gives Moscow a much better chance at improving their 10-14-3 record and perhaps challenge for a playoff spot at the end of the year but Moreau not only helps the team now but figures to be a important piece in the future as well. We'll have to keep an eye out and see how well Moreau's transition to the Menace turns out.
 
I want to welcome all our new players to Moscow and wish all the best of luck to my new team mates. I hope to eventually share some success stories with you guys in the future and i'm looking forward to get to know you guys.
 
 
Other Mentions: @OrbitingDeath  @Mr_Hatter @STZ
 
1500+ words
 
 
 
 
 

Welcome to da team dude