Seabass

Camden, NJ (PP) - Our universe has been around for an untold amount of time. Throughout the aeons of our existence, few things have stayed entirely constant. That being said, one of the things that has managed to stay persistent throughout our entire history is the coolness and hilarity of the number "69". The mere utterance of the integer will result in at least someone believing it is "nice."
 
As a league that tracks statistics, the VHL is rife with 69 opportunity. Just today, @okochastar Julian Nousianen of the Chicago Phoenix managed to be the first player in S80 to net 69 assists. Hockey experts unanimously agreed that this was nice, and it will likely be a handful of games before another player can manage this feat. Here are some other important nice figures from around the league at this exact moment.
 
- There are currently two players in the VHL that are sitting at 69 points, and appropriately enough, that honour belongs to sexual duo of @rory Jeffrey Pines and @Quik Christian Mingle.
 
- @Mistxh J Nicholas Mariani, the league favourite to win the Dustin Funk Trophy this season, has been doing so by scoring at a 9.69% rate. Nice.
 
- Speaking of stellar young players and award favourites, rookie of the year candidate @MattyIce Matty Fire currently sits at 69 shots blocked as a forward. Very nice.
 
- Keeping up the theme of excellent young players, but this time one who ISN'T a little bitch, Moscow Menace standout @Seabass The Seabasstard is slugging up the league with 269 hits. Nice.
 
- The second most overworked forward in the league is @Tate Red Lite, who is averaging 30.69 minutes per night. Nice.
 
Most impressively of all, however, is the production of @16z Kasper Kankkunen. As was exposed on the latest Chodesode, the Swedish defender has posted 69 assists in the past THREE SEASONS, and his current pace puts him within range of a 4th. Speaking with General Manager @JeffDowney, the team's plan is to have the defender on the ice as much as possible until he reaches the milestone, and then scratch/rest him for the rest of the season to have him in prime shape for playoffs, and also to keep this illustrious achievement intact.

Well i'm excited to announce that The Seabasstard has become my first player ever to reach the 30 goal milestone after he posted up a goal and a assist in his last game against H.C Davos. The Seabasstard played well enough to earn himself the honor of being named the 1st star of the game. It was too bad that it was all in a losing effort as the Menace lost their 3rd straight game and 2nd in a row to the Davos squad. 
 
"It felt good to hit that milestone after only playing 48 games. I feel like I've really come into my own this year and this is turning out to be quite the career year for me. I'm just happy that all my hard work is finally paying off. It was pointed out to me that my player may have a good case for being a candidate to win the Dustin Funk Award for most improved player. Which would of course be icing on the cake for the year i'm having but truly the one trophy i'm most interested in is the coveted Continental Cup."
-The Seabasstard
 
Now I only need to pick up one more goal and I officially have scored just as many goals this year as the two seasons prior put together. 
 

Seabass Perrin was a former VHL defender who played 576 games for a full 8 season career. He wasn't a superstar by any means but he ended up being one of the early building blocks of the Prague Phantoms franchise that got created in S68. He was a solid two way defender and gathered up over 400 points in his playing days and carved out a respectable career over his 7 seasons in Prague and his jersey is now hanging from the rafters of the 02 arena.
 
During his curtain call season in Prague, Perrin announced to the press that he was opening up a night club/restaurant in downtown Prague in a joint venture with former Phantoms teammate Alex Pearson @Jayrad28
 
Seabass however was still playing hockey for the Phantoms so he let Pearson take on most of the duties during their first year in business. Turns out that it was an unwise decision to trust a well known alcoholic and party animal to run a nightclub. The business bled money and didn't even last a year before closing down during the beginning of the pandemic. Pearson used the business to fuel his partying lifestyle and ended up turning the business into a front for moving cocaine and other drugs. Eventually Pearson got pinched and he's now serving time in the big house.
 
Perrin had planned his post hockey career around running this club but the nightclub had shuttered down before the his last season even ended. So when he retired he didn't have anything to immediately fall back on. 
 
"I went through a rough patch after my hockey career ended. I was still reeling from the loss of my club and the legal bullshit afterwards but there was also the culture shock, I didn't know what to do with myself without hockey. I stopped going to the gym and gained some weight as I started not eating right anymore. Also after 6 years of sobriety and I relapsed and started drinking again. Just like that, after a hard time, the demons that I thought I had conquered came back to haunt me again and I was a wreck."
-Seabass Perrin
 
Eventually Perrin found the courage to jump back on the wagon and has cleaned up his act once again. He's now been sober once again for 3 years and has since founded his own agency and currently represents former 3rd overall pick, The Seabasstard.
 
He also recently opened up his own marijuana dispensary and has been a big advocate for marijuana and made claims that weed was critical in his road to sobriety and continues to help him manage pain from old hockey injuries. His dispensary is in his hometown of Calgary, Alberta in a old Royal Bank location and he conveniently named his store Royal Dank and only made slight modifications to the bank old signage. The dispensary has been a hit and Seabass is convinced to have found his calling.
 
"I really love everything about this plant the smell, the medical benefits, the high, everything. Weed has really helped me in life and to be able to grow it, sell it and talk about it all day, man I feel like i'm living the dream. Darren McCarty was on to something there. "
-Seabass Perrin
 

I just wanted to let you guys know that Jack Hughes is winning the Hart this year.
 
Thank you for your entry, but please try again next year.

1. I'm pretty confident we can, we got a good crew here this year and I think we're gonna go far.
 
2.Malmo obviously, theyre the returning champs and are the closest to us in the standings. 
 
3. Maybe, but I feel like they're in the weaker conference so maybe not.
 
4.I'd like to hit the 50 point mark, almost there!
 
5. I don't know they're both having good years. Stein has been stellar though and there no indication that he'll let up anytime soon.
 
6. Slapshot hands down

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW
 
excited to be a part of the second dynasty 👀

There's a level of relief to finally see the plans created in the S76-S77 offseason finally come to fruition. When @Victor announced that he would be stepping down as Moscow GM at the conclusion of S76, I, as his unofficial AGM, mentioned that it could be time to blow up the team and start a rebuild. @Josh had made it obvious well in advance that he wanted to send Roque Davis to LA, where they had built a young, budding core of their own to become competitive, and both Nate Telker (@Telkster) and Kris Rice (@Ricer13) were retiring, leaving massive holes in the 2-time Victory Cup winning organization.
 
Even though who the next Moscow GM would be was unknown, we felt it was best to give the organization a clear direction regardless of who was taking over, and decided to send out Alex Letang to DC for more assets. Once I was officially named the GM, I took it a step further, trading Mikko Lahtinen (@Beketov) and Jacob Tonn (@MexicanCow123) to London for a massive package including Philip Stein (@IHateBobNutting) and the 3rd overall pick in the S77 draft. Combined with the 1st pick in the draft which came from LA, we were able to select Duncan Idaho (@OrbitingDeath ) and Paul Atreides (@Mr_Hatter), effectively putting the rebuild in motion with the first pieces of our future.
 
The transition from one of the most competitive and successful teams in the regular season to a team that missed the playoffs in 3 straight years was.....difficult to say the least. Anyone who knows me also knows that I am very impatient. My attention and focus is lost easily, and if something doesn't engage me, I will move on without hesitation. Sitting through 3 straight seasons of regular season losses after losses was absolutely horrible for me, and I hated it. The only thing that kept me going was the plan I had in S76, and the people that came in because of it such as Hard Markinson (@STZ), The Seabasstard (@Seabass) and Papa Emeritus. Piece by piece, the core kept coming together, but the losses came as well.
 
At some point last season, I got fed up of losing and made a bit of a rash decision by trading for Aurelien Moreau (@Frank) from Toronto. Granted, I wanted Frank regardless of whether we made playoffs that season or not, but my greed for my own player in S81 meant we gave up a top 5 pick in S80. We probably won't even get my own player in S81 at this point. But we missed the playoffs again and at that point, I was just pissed. Then the new plan came into play, where we were going to swing for the fences and just go for it in S80, no matter what it took. Except out S81 1st, that was off-limits (I've learned, Victor, we don't trade all our picks!). We also traded for the rights of Tyler Walker (@Advantage) in an attempt to shore up our blue line in his swan song season, and Lexi Glass ( @AW13) to give us a scoring threat alongside Seabass. Those moves and their signings took us to about the edge of the salary cap which was dropped to 40 million from the old 45 million, which meant we had to do some cap finagling to get Rara signed in free agency. 
 
Honestly, I usually find sim leagues fun, even when updating or doing menial work within updating the VHFL spreadsheet. Trade chats are fun even when I want to bash my head into a fucking wall because the other GM is playing hardball and I just want to get a trade done so I can eat dinner. But working out the financials to get Rara on the team and keep the team cap compliant was the first time I actually felt stress. Depreciation hadn't been run, so updated player salaries weren't finalized either. Add on that we had like 4 players on the edge of salary thresholds, and even 1 miscalculation or projection error would leave us over the cap and ready for a swift spanking from the commissioners. Luckily, the calculations were on point due to some help from @BrutalBoost in the 11th hour, and everything went about exactly to plan, and we even had 500k in space left over as a buffer.
 
But we're finally not in the basement of the EU, instead 6 points in the lead in the conference with 2 games in hand on everyone. STHS is a bitch in the playoffs but for now, I'm satisfied with where our team is at. I'm very appreciative to everyone on the team for sticking it out through the painful seasons, and I appreciate your trust most of all. Hoping we can ride this momentum into a deep playoff run! 
 
MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW
 
(I've written too many words for a VHL.com again, you happy @N0HBDY?)

Hello @Members!
 
Wooo it’s Theme Week!! The only thing that people love to criticize more than awards. Too bad folks, theme week is great and we’re going to do it forever. 
 
First off, that means that the Trade Deadline is Monday, October 18 at 3pm EDT. If your agent is going to go on the radio, rip the GM, and demand a trade, now’s a great time to do it. This also means that anyone wishing to re-create for the S82 draft can do so starting at midnight that same day.
 
**
 
Theme week is always a great time to explore the word outside our VHL bubble, and this year we’re going to go beyond hockey:
 
So you’ve played eight or nine seasons in the VHL, earned some dough, lived the great life of a professional athlete. 
 
Then, it’s over. Now what?
 
This is a great time to check in on some old players or plan ahead for the current player’s future. Are you going to write about Condor Adrienne’s post-playing adventures? Will we see a campaign poster for Jeffrey Pines’ run for Prime Minister of Canada? Is Alex Letang chilling on a beach, or continuing to chase the dream in some third tier hockey league in Malaysia? You tell us. 
 
To earn your Theme Week TPE, write an article, create a graphic, or record a podcast with some connection to “Life after the VHL”. 
 
**
 
In order to claim the theme week bonus of 6 Uncapped TPE, simply submit your Themed PT (Graphic, Media Spot or 6-TPE Podcast), and claim it as normal. After claiming the PT portion, you can use the same link, and claim the uncapped portion as follows: Claim Uncapped > Other > Doubles Week. (Note: you do not need to post your link in this thread to claim either portion of TPE) 
 
Make sure to tag your articles with “theme week” so we can collect all the great work in one easy-to-find spot. 
 
If you have already submitted a Point Task for this week, or are in the midst of claiming a multi-week Media Spot/Podcast, you may still submit a Theme Week PT this week, and claim the capped portion on the next available week, following your multi-week claim.
 
Also, if you have a single job that pays 6+, you may claim the theme week bonus as long as you complete your duties for the week. If you are in the EFL or SBA and have completed their most recent Media Week, you may use that to claim the Uncapped theme week bonus, but a PT must be completed this week in order to claim the Capped portion, whether that is completed here or through Affiliate Welfare.
 
Note: Only players who are S81 or older may claim the theme week bonus.
 
@VHL GM
@VHLE GM
@VHLM GM

i swear if a quarter of everyone says their guy died like that hasnt been done a million times already

1. I'm pretty confident we can, we got a good crew here this year and I think we're gonna go far.
 
2.Malmo obviously, theyre the returning champs and are the closest to us in the standings. 
 
3. Maybe, but I feel like they're in the weaker conference so maybe not.
 
4.I'd like to hit the 50 point mark, almost there!
 
5. I don't know they're both having good years. Stein has been stellar though and there no indication that he'll let up anytime soon.
 
6. Slapshot hands down

@Ricer13
 
With the season approaching the mid way point of the season (wow that happened quickly) it’s time to look at the VHL award races and reflect on the predictions made prior to the start of the season. Throughout the article any value in brackets following a team or player name signifies the total number of people who predicted that they would win the aforementioned award. While you’re here feel free to check out some of the other recent VSN articles below!
Under 200 Power Rankings | S79 VHLM Awards! | The S79 VHL Awards Recap
 
Continental Cup
The award that everyone wants to win is still up for grabs for just about any team except for Toronto. The predictions went as most would expect with last season’s champion receiving the most predictions with 40 of the 103. The team with the second most is an interesting one with the Los Angeles Stars (17) who currently sit on the outside of the playoffs with a 11-14-2 record. Another surprising prediction total comes with the Chicago Phoenix (0), who are currently 2nd in the North American conference with a 19-6-3 record. Prediction totals for the remaining teams are as follows; Moscow (11), Warsaw (11), New York (7), Calgary (6), D.C. (2), Vancouver (2), Riga (1), and everyone else (0).
 
Terence Fong Trophy
The Terence Fong Award is similar to the Continental Cup as it is still up for grabs for pretty well any of the European teams as to have a chance at it all you have to do is make the playoffs. With this trophy only 3 teams received a significant amount of players' predictions and 1 of them had way more than every other team combined and that is Malmo with 64 total predictions! The other 2 teams who received a significant amount of players’ predictions were Moscow (15), and HC Davos (7).
 
Devon Marlow-Marta Trophy
Similar to the Terrence Fong Trophy the eventual winner of this award remains wide open, in contrast to the Fong Trophy 5 of the 8 teams in the North American conference received at least 10 predictions, those being; D.C. (21), Los Angeles (21), New York (19), Calgary (16), and Vancouver (10).
 
Victory Cup
The Victory Cup is awarded each season to the team with the most regular season points, as of right now it’s a clear battle between 4 teams with Vancouver (3) establishing a 4 point lead over Moscow (13) with 50 and 46 points respectively, just back from them is Chicago (1) with a 21-6-3 record and lastly 9 points back of the Vancouver is Malmo (44) with a 20-10-1 record. Other teams who received a considerable amount of predictions to win the Victory Cup include; New York (9), HC Davos (6), Calgary (5), D.C. (5), and Los Angeles (5).
 
 
Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points):
 
Rank
Player Name
Points
Player Name (predictions)
Prediction total
1
Philip Stein @IHateBobNutting
55
Gunnar Odinsson
30
2
Jivere Zolnek @Sixersfan594
53
Aloe Dear @Renomitsu
20
3
Gunnar Odinsson @BOOM
53
Red Lite @Tate
18
4
Lee Xin @Blazzer
53
Pistil Stamen @DMaximus
8
5
Nathan Perry @tinafrombobsburgers/Henry Tucker @NSG88
52
Brendan Telker @Telkster/Taro Tsujimoto @GustavMattias
4

 
Kevin Brooks Trophy (Most Goals):

 
Rank
Player Name
Goals
Player Name (predictions)
Prediction total
1
Lee Xin
25
Gunnar Odinsson
32
2
Philip Stein
25
Red Lite
15
3
Henry Tucker
24
Aloe Dear
11
4
Asher Reinhart @rjfryman
24
Duncan Idaho @OrbitingDeath
10
5
Aloe Dear/Pekko Viitanen @Xdjk93
23
Brendan Telker
6


 
Alexander Beketov Trophy (Most Assists):

 
Rank
Player Name
Assists
Player Name (predictions)
Prediction total
1
Julian Nousiainen @okochastar
35
Aloe Dear
21
2
Nathan Perry
34
Scotty Kaberle
14
3
Gunnar Odinsson
34
Red Lite
12
4
R @Kylrad
34
Gunnar Odinsson
9
5
Scotty Kaberle @fromtheinside/Christian Mingle @Quik
33
Kasper Kankkunen @16z
9

 
Greg Clegane Trophy (Lowest GAA):

 
Rank
Player Name
Goals
Player Name (predictions)
Prediction total
1
Rara Rasputin @Victor
2.68
Artem Tretiak
26
2
Sirkants Klamasteris @hedgehog337
2.70
Rara Rasputin
25
3
Jean Pierre Camus @solas
2.73
Doug Dimmadome @Esso2264
13
4
Artem Tretiak @Molholt
2.75
Thadius Sales @thadthrasher
13
5
Markus Emerson Jr @Xflexz
2.89
Kevin Malone @WentzKneeFan036/Sirkants Klamasteris
5
 
Scotty Campbell (MVP):
The MVP race this season is very close with the point spread between the top is so small that anyone could run away with it at any given moment. Of note with the MVP the team you play on makes an impact in the MVP vote as players who typically lead their teams by a wide margin have the best chance to come away with the award. As of right now Philip Stein (0) of Moscow leads the league in scoring with 55 points. Right behind them is Gunnar Odinsson (20) who will look to capture the award after just missing out on it last season. Other players who received a considerable number of predictions are; Red Lite (18), Duncan Idaho (13), John Merrick @Steve (7), and Brendan Telker (6).

 
Brett Slobodzian (Most outstanding): 
Similar to the previous award any player could run away with this award at any given moment, the favourites at this given moment would correspond directly to the point leaders with Philip Stein (0), Jivere Zlonek (0), Gunnar Odinsson (32), Lee Xin (0), and Nathan Perry (0). Some players who received player predictions are Red Lite (16), John Merrick (9), Aloe Dear (6), Brendan Telker (6), and Groovy Dood @bigAL (5).

 
Sterling Labatte (Top Defensemen): 
The race for the top defensemen award is much closer than last season where Alex Letang @Spartan ran away with it. This season Matty Socks @fishy (0) has returned to form and currently leads the league in defensemen scoring, closely followed by Kristof Welch @Juice (16) and Scotty Kaberle (12). This award usually goes to a defenseman who has shown that they excel at both ends of the ice, something that each of these 3 has shown and it could come down to any one of them or even another player who steps it up in the second half. Predictions for this award were very diverse as no 1 player received substantially more than any other as 6 players received at least 5 predictions, those being Kasper Kankkunen (13), Jeffrey Pines @rory (12), Battre Sandstrom @Acydburn (10), and Cowboy Prout @Prout (5) in addition to Welch and Kaberle.
 
Alexander Valiq (Offensive Defensemen): 
In contrast to the previous award this award goes to the leagues most offensive defensemen and the defensive scoring race is surprisingly close relative to last season as there is 7 players within 10 points of the lead those being Matty Socks (1) with 48, Kristof Welch (12) with 47, Scotty Kaberle (19) with 43, R (1) with 41, Reylynn Reinhart @Ricer13 (0) with 39, and Robin Galante Nilsson (1) and Jiggly Gumballs (1) both with 38. The only other two players to receive a considerable amount of prediction votes were Jeffrey Pines (19) who currently has 35 points and Kasper Kankkunen (12) with 36.
 
Jake Wylde (Defensive Defensemen): 
The Jake Wylde award is likely one of the most subjective awards for VHL players as it goes to the best defensive defensemen, as a result of that 7 different players were predicted to win the award by at least 5 different people, these were; Jeffrey Pines (13), Kasper Kankkunen (12), Robin Galante Nilsson @RomanesEuntDomus (12), Scotty Kaberle (12), Zeedayno Chara @Jubis (10), Jiggly Gumballs @JigglyGumballs (6), and Matty Socks (5). Chara is the only one of these players in the top 10 for blocked shots with 93, 10 back of the leader Vladimir Mlinski @Brrbisbrr (0) who has certainly thrown their hat into the race.
 
Aiden Shaw (Top Goalie): 
The Aiden Shaw award recognizes the top goalie in the league every season and with that it is always an interesting race to watch. Currently Markus Emerson Jr. (1) is leading the league in both wins with 25 and SV% with a 0.929. Right behind him is Jean Pierre Camus (1) and Rara Rasputin (23). Lastly Artem Tretiak (27) is having another great season for Malmo. The other three goalies who received at least five people’s predictions are Thadius Sales (16), Doug Dimmadome (24), and Sirkants Klamasteris (6).
 
Christian Stolzschweiger (top Rookie): 
At this point in the season the award for the top rookie is a one horse race as Matty Fire @MattyIce (41) has established a 19 point lead over Corey Kitson @Nykonax (10), a lead so significant retired player Matty Ice (1) received a prediction to win this award. In a season with only 6 rookie skaters in the league this season due to the introduction of the VHLE, this race is Fire’s to lose. Other players who received player predictions are as follows; AJ Williams @ajwllmsn (29), Vinny Detroit @dasboot (3), Sigard Petrenko @SlapshotDragon (3), and Mikey Markov @JetsFan81 (1).

 
Scott Boulet (Top two way forward): 
The Scott Boulet award is given to Groovy Do… sorry, the top two-way forward every season and with that Groovy Dood (51) has now won it in 3 consecutive seasons. However this season looks to be anyone’s for the taking as Groovy Dood’s physical stats haven’t been where they need to be. As of right now Phil the Rock Johnson @Phil (2) leads the league in hits with 194 and is on pace to have by far their best season as well offensively. Henry Tucker (3) is also currently in contention as they have had a great season offensively and racked up the hits as well. Lastly, we shouldn’t overlook what John Leclair II @Fire Vigneault (0) has done this season as they are having a great season on both sides of the puck. The only other players who received more than 5 prediction votes were Duncan Idaho (9), and Druss Deathwalker @animal74 (6).
 
David Knight (top GM):
The David Knight Award is presented to the top GM in the league, as of right now it appears that it is likely going to end up in the hands of @Spartan (32), the GM of the Moscow Menace following their incredible turn around from last season where they only won 23 games, so far this season Moscow has 20 wins and sits only 14 points back of the previous season a mark they should pass in the coming days. Other GMs who were predicted to win the award by at least 5 people include; @hylands (15), @Enorama (11), @Ricer13 (8), @GustavMattias (8), and @MexicanCow123 (5).
 
Dustin Funk (Most improved):
The final award we’ll look at today is the Dustin Funk Award, this award is given to the player who shows the greatest amount of improvement and as expected had more players be predicted to win it than any other award. Of those nominated only 3 have surpassed their previous career highs, those being; Alex Johnston @Alex_J32 (3) [182% increase], Erlantz Jokinen @jRuutu (3) [180% increase], and Nicholas Mariani @Mistxh J (4) [154% increase]. The race will likely come down to these three at this point in time with it really being anyone’s to win. Other players to be predicted to win by at least 5 people include; Henri Le Massif @Garsh (13), The Seabasstard @Seabass (10), and Asher Reinhart (6).
 
Thank you for reading and stay tuned as we watch how these races develop throughout the season! Best of luck to everyone in the race!

This is allowed actually, they just can't be 2 articles or 2 graphics. You can mix and match 2 out of the three in each week.

(I'm sure @Victorwill love this thread.)
 
I think it's time to get rid of trivia.  While the positives that come from it are teaching members about some of the history/records/HOFers of the league, it's a bit of a cake walk in terms of justifiably earning TPE.  It's known that everyone just "cheats" and waits for the answers to be posted in the discord LRs, with maybe a handful of members doing some actual research and digging for the correct answers each week.  This was very evident about a month ago when practically everyone only earned 1 TPE for an incorrect answer.  Another issue (and I am in no way pinning any blame on Victor or anyone) is that when trivia is late, delayed, or in the off season, members get stuck in 2TPE limbo unsure of when they can earn the final 2 capped on the week.
 
My suggestions for a replacement include the following:
- Allow for 4 reviews a week (I personally hate reviews so this is not my #1 fix)
- Allow for 2 .com's per week, whether its 2 GFX, a graphic and an article, etc.  Whatever adds up to 4 capped .com TPE.
- To preserve the purpose of trivia, allow members to submit a "History fact" or some "League Lore" for 2 TPE.  Essentially this would be each individual member who does this providing their own trivia style question and answer based on some homework they've done themselves on the forum or portal.
 
Ultimately I'm just trying to drum up some discussion here and see what some other sentiments toward this are.
 

Over the weekend, Moscow Menace forward , The Seabasstard was caught taking advantage of the sunny weather by hosting a little pick up street hockey game in a open parking lot in downtown Moscow. Locals who were simply passing by joined in and eventually word got out that a Menace player was there playing and signing autographs and the parking lot just filled right up with obsessed hockey fans and kids wanting to get in on the game of street hockey. It started as just the one game being played to having 4 games being played simultaneously as people started to swarm in to play. 
 
Turns out, The Seabasstard was fundraising and taking donations for the local hospital fund and raised over 10 000$ for the cause over the weekend. 
 
"We as players have to do more to give back to the communities in which we play. Our fans idolize our team and our players and without them buying tickets and showing interest in the games I wouldn't have a job. This is the least I can do for the city of Moscow who has welcomed me with open arms since I first got here.  "

Giving the guys a breather this week. 
 
Presser Questions for my beloved team mates. 
 
 
1. The season has started and we've opened it up with a hell of a run. How does it feel to finally have a winning record?
 
2. Who on your team has surprised you the most with their good play so far? (btw the answer should be idaho he's killing it)
 
3. Which one of our many offseason additions have impressed you the most? 
 
4. Name a tune you are finding yourself jamming out to lately?
 
5. Does the Moscow Menace have a mascot? Seriously I don't know i'm asking here. If not create an idea for one.
 
6. Are you a fan of any other sport other than hockey? If so I want to know what your into!

Giving the guys a breather this week. 
 
Presser Questions for my beloved team mates. 
 
 
1. The season has started and we've opened it up with a hell of a run. How does it feel to finally have a winning record?
 
2. Who on your team has surprised you the most with their good play so far? (btw the answer should be idaho he's killing it)
 
3. Which one of our many offseason additions have impressed you the most? 
 
4. Name a tune you are finding yourself jamming out to lately?
 
5. Does the Moscow Menace have a mascot? Seriously I don't know i'm asking here. If not create an idea for one.
 
6. Are you a fan of any other sport other than hockey? If so I want to know what your into!

1. First off, my mind was blown to just how many moves were made, that takes quite a bit of planning and talks in a short period of time to make it all work. I think someone didn't get much sleep that week. I feel good about the changes thought, I think we're heading down the right path.
 
2.Oh yeah i'm ready for it. Been working on my game all offseason and I think it's paid off and im eager to show my teammates how much i've improved.
 
3. I think we'll compete for the cup with these most recent veteran additions. But I feel like any team from the European Conference will have to go through Malmo to get to the finals and that's a hard task to accomplish. They are the reigning champs after all, they have a good team what can I say.
 
4. Pre-season doesn't really interest me, talk to me when the real games start. I'm excited for the season however, and I'm excited to get fantasy hockey going.
 
5. Cheese? can't go without the cheese it just wont be a pizza anymore.
 
6. I don't know if theres a real loser yet but the winners are the Toronto Legion. Not only did our traded 1st round pick turn into a top 5 selection but the Legion had a total of 3 top 5 selections. That should help them compete in a few years, kinda like what we went through.

bump @Seabass, under 3 hours left on this pick

@Beketov looks like the draft is complete, toss up the roster in the OP and lmk when it's all done!

Alright it's opening week of Season 80 and every VHL team has gotten around 8 or 9 games under their respective belts. The Malmo Nighthawks and the D.C. Dragons were expected to both be strong teams this year and it seems like both teams have made good on those expectations by starting out the year with the early lead of their respective conferences. The Dragons (6-2-0) are currently leading the North American Conference with 12 points and the defending champion Nighthawk team (8-1-0) is currently the top team in the league and are leading the European Conference with 16 points.
 
Some team's like the Toronto Legion and the Helsinki Titans however have only recorded a single win so far are showing early signs that they're going to have to go through a rough times this season. The Seattle Bears who lost in last year's finals against the Nighthawks haven't been much better than the Legion/Titans and have had quite the fall from grace since making the finals and are struggling out of the gate and have only managed to pick up a couple of wins so far this season. 
 
Then there's the Menace. After being a VHL bottom feeder for years the Menace have come flying out of the gate with a 7-1 record and a suddenly explosive offense. They are currently trailing the Nighthawks by only two points for top team in the league standings. This is such a drastic transformation has got the league talking and the Menace bringing on a bunch of new bandwagon fans.
 
The Menace team went through quite a few changes during the last offseason and were hoping to make more of a impact this year as they are chasing their first ever playoff berth in 4 seasons. Their GM, Spartan made a lot of moves to pick up core pieces for his team during the last few years and I bet he's really hoping that those moves start paying off for him, now. Today I'll be highlighting Spartan's offseason changes to his Menace squad and I'll be touching base with him to gain some insight on some of these moves straight from the source.
 
Trading Kyle Glass for Kevin King
@Tbeez99 @IamMOOSE
Yeah yeah I know this wasn't a offseason move, but I felt I should talk about this trade deadline acquisition anyways since it did affect a future move made by the team. The Menace acquired veteran centerman Kevin King from the London United as well as a third round selection in S81 in return for a younger winger in Kyle Glass. Glass was drafted in 22nd Overall by Moscow in the S77 draft and wasn't getting much ice time with the Menace and was having a poor year scoring only 20 points in 62 games and going -10. He was given a change of scenery and has since broke out with the United team scoring 23 points in 21 games. King at the time of the trade was already a PPG player scoring 67 points in 59 games for London. Moscow's chances to make the playoffs were on the verge of being over and King who only had another season left to his career was a last ditch effort by the Moscow GM to make a cinderella run to a playoff berth. That obviously didn't work out as King only scored a single point for the Menace and went -3 to close off the year. At this point you just gotta hope that King still has enough left in the tank to return to form for his last season in the VHL.
 
Acquiring Tyler Walker
@Advantage
Spartan didn't fuck around and the day the trade freeze was lifted he made his first move of the off season and acquired veteran defender Tyler Walker in return for a third round selection in the S80 draft. Walker is a veteran of 7 VHL seasons and spent his last two years playing for the Calgary Wranglers before the trade. The Menace will be the fourth and last team he will play on as this will be his last season before retirement as he's been in the league a while and Walker will soon find himself needing a walker himself cus he's old as shit. Walker showed last season that he can still play at a elite level and is coming off a 62 point season playing on a mediocre Wrangler's team. Walker definitely improves this team as Moscow is still for the most part a younger team and veterans like Walker might be needed to push this team to the next level. Also, for the last few seasons the Menace has been pretty thin on the blueline and adding Walker to the group of Bob Tristan, Hard Markinson and Aurelien Moreau might now make this one of the best bluelines in the league.
 
Trading away King for Lexi Glass
@AW13
Remember that King guy I talked about earlier? Well turns out he didn't end up staying in Moscow after that 9 game trial run at the end of S79. Shortly after the Walker trade went down, King along with a 3rd rounder was traded to Warsaw in return for winger, Lexi Glass who is a year younger than King. A good thing to note is that Glass is a player that  has already played a total 67 career playoff games and has won the Continental Cup in S78 so Moscow is getting a boat load of playoff experience in this trade. Also this is a player that was just a single point shy from reaching the 100 point milestone last year. What Moscow is getting here is a prime time elite winger that knows how to win games and they only gave up a player that just wasn't gelling with the Menace's style of game for some odd reason. Hopefully Glass can experience a hell of a season here in Moscow and I hope we can convince her to stay here for another year after this one. 
 
Trading away captain Tristan for Johansson:
@N0HBDY @Gwdjohnson
All of a sudden, out from left field the Menace decided to surprise all their fans by continuing the habit of trading away their captains by trading Bob Tristan to Los Angeles in exchange for a cheaper defender in Arvid Johansson. This left people scratching their heads as Tristan was a vocal member of the team's locker room atmosphere. Spartan assured his team to have patience and that more moves were in the works and a drop in salary was necessary for future plans. Still Tristan will be missed as he was a steadying presence on a rather poor blueline for a few years while the team was going through their hard rebuild years. Still Johansson is no slouch he plays a very responsible game and already has the composure level of a VHL pro despite being a young defender. Johansson just finished out a solid rookie campaign with the L-A Stars scoring 29 points and going +24. Johansson still has time to grow as a player where Tristan was pretty much at his peak so this wasn't a bad trade to make at all. Yeah it's a slight downgrade but it might be a good move for the team long term and who knows Johansson with hard work can always end up becoming a better defender than Tristan ever was. After seeing how Moscow has the tendency to trade their captains I'm convinced the captain's seat in Moscow is in fact cursed and if that's the case new captain Philip Stein should be looking to sell his home in Moscow soon enough. 
 
When asked about the Menace Captaincy curse:
 
"I've joked around a bit that the captain role is a curse on this team, and I suppose there is some merit to it. The last time I named a defenseman, Fat Palloon, as team captain in S76, he was traded to Prague mid-season in exchange for cap relief and future assets. The captaincy in Moscow generally works in a simple way, where one of the longest tenured, active members of the team receives the C. It's been that way since before I even took over this team. It also sort of works in a negative way, since older players with a lot of tread on their tires end up as prime candidates for trades to acquire more draft picks, and to free up cap space."
-Spartan, Menace GM
 
Trading away Bowman and Lemiuex to Toronto:
@BrutalBoost @hockeyis66
This big trade didn't involve the acquisition of anybody really it was more of a move to get rid of a few contracts to free up some cash to make a gamble on some other moves and maybe acquire a UFA or two. The contracts the team decided to part with was Andrew Bowman and Jaromir Lemiuex and this trade must've hurt to make as Bowman is the AGM here in Moscow and this move must've tugged at some of Spartan's heart strings. But it ain't all bad. With S79 1st Overall pick, Papa Emeritus surpassing Bowman in TPE , Bowman was going to be relegated from the team's starting role to that of the backup. This trade gives Bowman a chance to continue being a starting netminder in the VHL. Jaromir Lemiuex who was also given up in the deal was a rookie coming off a spectacular rookie season in which he was third in rookie scoring with 50 points and was a contender for the Stolzschweiger trophy which is awarded to the league's rookie of the year. Unfortunately Lemiuex has vanished from the VHL hockey scene and is currently considered an inactive player, hence why Moscow could all of sudden want to part ways with him. 
 
When asked about how hard it was to trade Bowman away:
 
"It's usually quite difficult to trade away any active player, let alone someone who I rely on as my AGM and have a good relationship with. However, trading Bowman away in this instance was actually easier than you might imagine. We'd actually spoken about this quite a while ago, where he even brought up the idea of sending Bowman to another team for assets, or some cap help. Toronto was a great fit since they had no starting goaltender at all, so he'd get quite a large number of minutes which would be good for his development" 
-Spartan, Menace GM

 
The Acquisition of Rara Rasputin
@Victor
Once the UFA season came about it finally all made sense why the Menace was dropping all that salary. They were planning all along to make a free agency pitch to bring back goaltender Rara Rasputin who the Menace drafted 16th Overall back in Season 75 before trading him after his rookie season to Seattle in return for an older and more experienced netminder at the time Jacob Tonn. Rasputin of course then went on to have a pretty successful 4 seasons in Seattle and has won a Continental Cup and a Daisuke Kanou trophy with the Bears in S77 and has backstopped his team to three straight finals appearances. Rasputin like Glass is bringing in tons of playoff experience to a team who hasn't made the playoffs let alone play in them in a long time. This of course relegates Papa Emeritus to the backup role once again but @Beketov sees what's best for the team has been nothing but professional and accepting to his backup role.
 
When discussing the Rasputin trade the GM had this to add:
 
"We had our eyes on signing Rara Rasputin to the team from the time we knew he planned to leave Seattle. He was a former top pick by our organization years ago, and bringing him back in his prime was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. Unfortunately, we were in quite the cap bind, and our plan was to trade just Bowman and Lemieux away to make room for Rasputin. However, that would have left us with 5 forwards, 4 defensemen and 2 goalies, and we really wanted to run a proper 6-4-2. That meant that we had to send away Tristan and his $3 milllion cap hit and bring in two players on rookie contracts who would combine for $3 million - Johansson and Markov. A difficult decision to make, but one that was necessary for our organization, and also sets us up nicely for the future with two young players coming in to replace some veterans."
-Spartan, Menace GM
 
All this playoff experience will be highly valuable to this young team and I think the odds of this team making the playoffs this season has greatly improved with this years additions. The Menace just didn't have much when it came to experience and our team was consistently cracking under pressure last year and moves were made to address the problem. Now it's up to the younger players on the team to take in as much as they can from these veteran leaders while they're here and apply the new found wealth of knowledge to their own games. If that happens this year, the Menace might finally be a real Menace to the VHL standings in S80.
 
@Spartan

We all know what happens to inactives right? They get kicked off the team because they weren't getting enough TPE. Yeah, those inactives.
The question we are asking right now is "Why they aren't getting TPE?". The real question should be "What happened to those people?"
A good example is Leafs. He was drafted just behind Andy Nexber, a guy who back then, wasn't known for his scoring, nononono. He was known for checking and fighting. he soon was one of the best goal scorers in Vegas at the time. He then decided to go to the ECHL with very good playing in Vegas. He would do pretty okay. But that isn't the point. The point is that a player right behind Nexber, was inactive for a very long time. By very long time, I mean this much. Almost an entire year. He just recently gained depreciation. That's how long ago this was. Back when I wanted to be traded. So now, the question is, what happened to Leafs? Could he have died? Could he have quit from the league and never told anybody? If you have information about this, please reply. But now, the investigation begins. Me and my friend @Ledge and Dairy will find out everything we can about this guy. His discord, his DMs, if you would like to join the call to find out what happened to Leafs, please reply. It would really help out. No matter what, we will find out what happened to this.
 
Fallen Leaf.

Alright it's opening week of Season 80 and every VHL team has gotten around 8 or 9 games under their respective belts. The Malmo Nighthawks and the D.C. Dragons were expected to both be strong teams this year and it seems like both teams have made good on those expectations by starting out the year with the early lead of their respective conferences. The Dragons (6-2-0) are currently leading the North American Conference with 12 points and the defending champion Nighthawk team (8-1-0) is currently the top team in the league and are leading the European Conference with 16 points.
 
Some team's like the Toronto Legion and the Helsinki Titans however have only recorded a single win so far are showing early signs that they're going to have to go through a rough times this season. The Seattle Bears who lost in last year's finals against the Nighthawks haven't been much better than the Legion/Titans and have had quite the fall from grace since making the finals and are struggling out of the gate and have only managed to pick up a couple of wins so far this season. 
 
Then there's the Menace. After being a VHL bottom feeder for years the Menace have come flying out of the gate with a 7-1 record and a suddenly explosive offense. They are currently trailing the Nighthawks by only two points for top team in the league standings. This is such a drastic transformation has got the league talking and the Menace bringing on a bunch of new bandwagon fans.
 
The Menace team went through quite a few changes during the last offseason and were hoping to make more of a impact this year as they are chasing their first ever playoff berth in 4 seasons. Their GM, Spartan made a lot of moves to pick up core pieces for his team during the last few years and I bet he's really hoping that those moves start paying off for him, now. Today I'll be highlighting Spartan's offseason changes to his Menace squad and I'll be touching base with him to gain some insight on some of these moves straight from the source.
 
Trading Kyle Glass for Kevin King
@Tbeez99 @IamMOOSE
Yeah yeah I know this wasn't a offseason move, but I felt I should talk about this trade deadline acquisition anyways since it did affect a future move made by the team. The Menace acquired veteran centerman Kevin King from the London United as well as a third round selection in S81 in return for a younger winger in Kyle Glass. Glass was drafted in 22nd Overall by Moscow in the S77 draft and wasn't getting much ice time with the Menace and was having a poor year scoring only 20 points in 62 games and going -10. He was given a change of scenery and has since broke out with the United team scoring 23 points in 21 games. King at the time of the trade was already a PPG player scoring 67 points in 59 games for London. Moscow's chances to make the playoffs were on the verge of being over and King who only had another season left to his career was a last ditch effort by the Moscow GM to make a cinderella run to a playoff berth. That obviously didn't work out as King only scored a single point for the Menace and went -3 to close off the year. At this point you just gotta hope that King still has enough left in the tank to return to form for his last season in the VHL.
 
Acquiring Tyler Walker
@Advantage
Spartan didn't fuck around and the day the trade freeze was lifted he made his first move of the off season and acquired veteran defender Tyler Walker in return for a third round selection in the S80 draft. Walker is a veteran of 7 VHL seasons and spent his last two years playing for the Calgary Wranglers before the trade. The Menace will be the fourth and last team he will play on as this will be his last season before retirement as he's been in the league a while and Walker will soon find himself needing a walker himself cus he's old as shit. Walker showed last season that he can still play at a elite level and is coming off a 62 point season playing on a mediocre Wrangler's team. Walker definitely improves this team as Moscow is still for the most part a younger team and veterans like Walker might be needed to push this team to the next level. Also, for the last few seasons the Menace has been pretty thin on the blueline and adding Walker to the group of Bob Tristan, Hard Markinson and Aurelien Moreau might now make this one of the best bluelines in the league.
 
Trading away King for Lexi Glass
@AW13
Remember that King guy I talked about earlier? Well turns out he didn't end up staying in Moscow after that 9 game trial run at the end of S79. Shortly after the Walker trade went down, King along with a 3rd rounder was traded to Warsaw in return for winger, Lexi Glass who is a year younger than King. A good thing to note is that Glass is a player that  has already played a total 67 career playoff games and has won the Continental Cup in S78 so Moscow is getting a boat load of playoff experience in this trade. Also this is a player that was just a single point shy from reaching the 100 point milestone last year. What Moscow is getting here is a prime time elite winger that knows how to win games and they only gave up a player that just wasn't gelling with the Menace's style of game for some odd reason. Hopefully Glass can experience a hell of a season here in Moscow and I hope we can convince her to stay here for another year after this one. 
 
Trading away captain Tristan for Johansson:
@N0HBDY @Gwdjohnson
All of a sudden, out from left field the Menace decided to surprise all their fans by continuing the habit of trading away their captains by trading Bob Tristan to Los Angeles in exchange for a cheaper defender in Arvid Johansson. This left people scratching their heads as Tristan was a vocal member of the team's locker room atmosphere. Spartan assured his team to have patience and that more moves were in the works and a drop in salary was necessary for future plans. Still Tristan will be missed as he was a steadying presence on a rather poor blueline for a few years while the team was going through their hard rebuild years. Still Johansson is no slouch he plays a very responsible game and already has the composure level of a VHL pro despite being a young defender. Johansson just finished out a solid rookie campaign with the L-A Stars scoring 29 points and going +24. Johansson still has time to grow as a player where Tristan was pretty much at his peak so this wasn't a bad trade to make at all. Yeah it's a slight downgrade but it might be a good move for the team long term and who knows Johansson with hard work can always end up becoming a better defender than Tristan ever was. After seeing how Moscow has the tendency to trade their captains I'm convinced the captain's seat in Moscow is in fact cursed and if that's the case new captain Philip Stein should be looking to sell his home in Moscow soon enough. 
 
When asked about the Menace Captaincy curse:
 
"I've joked around a bit that the captain role is a curse on this team, and I suppose there is some merit to it. The last time I named a defenseman, Fat Palloon, as team captain in S76, he was traded to Prague mid-season in exchange for cap relief and future assets. The captaincy in Moscow generally works in a simple way, where one of the longest tenured, active members of the team receives the C. It's been that way since before I even took over this team. It also sort of works in a negative way, since older players with a lot of tread on their tires end up as prime candidates for trades to acquire more draft picks, and to free up cap space."
-Spartan, Menace GM
 
Trading away Bowman and Lemiuex to Toronto:
@BrutalBoost @hockeyis66
This big trade didn't involve the acquisition of anybody really it was more of a move to get rid of a few contracts to free up some cash to make a gamble on some other moves and maybe acquire a UFA or two. The contracts the team decided to part with was Andrew Bowman and Jaromir Lemiuex and this trade must've hurt to make as Bowman is the AGM here in Moscow and this move must've tugged at some of Spartan's heart strings. But it ain't all bad. With S79 1st Overall pick, Papa Emeritus surpassing Bowman in TPE , Bowman was going to be relegated from the team's starting role to that of the backup. This trade gives Bowman a chance to continue being a starting netminder in the VHL. Jaromir Lemiuex who was also given up in the deal was a rookie coming off a spectacular rookie season in which he was third in rookie scoring with 50 points and was a contender for the Stolzschweiger trophy which is awarded to the league's rookie of the year. Unfortunately Lemiuex has vanished from the VHL hockey scene and is currently considered an inactive player, hence why Moscow could all of sudden want to part ways with him. 
 
When asked about how hard it was to trade Bowman away:
 
"It's usually quite difficult to trade away any active player, let alone someone who I rely on as my AGM and have a good relationship with. However, trading Bowman away in this instance was actually easier than you might imagine. We'd actually spoken about this quite a while ago, where he even brought up the idea of sending Bowman to another team for assets, or some cap help. Toronto was a great fit since they had no starting goaltender at all, so he'd get quite a large number of minutes which would be good for his development" 
-Spartan, Menace GM

 
The Acquisition of Rara Rasputin
@Victor
Once the UFA season came about it finally all made sense why the Menace was dropping all that salary. They were planning all along to make a free agency pitch to bring back goaltender Rara Rasputin who the Menace drafted 16th Overall back in Season 75 before trading him after his rookie season to Seattle in return for an older and more experienced netminder at the time Jacob Tonn. Rasputin of course then went on to have a pretty successful 4 seasons in Seattle and has won a Continental Cup and a Daisuke Kanou trophy with the Bears in S77 and has backstopped his team to three straight finals appearances. Rasputin like Glass is bringing in tons of playoff experience to a team who hasn't made the playoffs let alone play in them in a long time. This of course relegates Papa Emeritus to the backup role once again but @Beketov sees what's best for the team has been nothing but professional and accepting to his backup role.
 
When discussing the Rasputin trade the GM had this to add:
 
"We had our eyes on signing Rara Rasputin to the team from the time we knew he planned to leave Seattle. He was a former top pick by our organization years ago, and bringing him back in his prime was an opportunity we couldn't pass up. Unfortunately, we were in quite the cap bind, and our plan was to trade just Bowman and Lemieux away to make room for Rasputin. However, that would have left us with 5 forwards, 4 defensemen and 2 goalies, and we really wanted to run a proper 6-4-2. That meant that we had to send away Tristan and his $3 milllion cap hit and bring in two players on rookie contracts who would combine for $3 million - Johansson and Markov. A difficult decision to make, but one that was necessary for our organization, and also sets us up nicely for the future with two young players coming in to replace some veterans."
-Spartan, Menace GM
 
All this playoff experience will be highly valuable to this young team and I think the odds of this team making the playoffs this season has greatly improved with this years additions. The Menace just didn't have much when it came to experience and our team was consistently cracking under pressure last year and moves were made to address the problem. Now it's up to the younger players on the team to take in as much as they can from these veteran leaders while they're here and apply the new found wealth of knowledge to their own games. If that happens this year, the Menace might finally be a real Menace to the VHL standings in S80.
 
@Spartan

Well it seems like I'm having a good start to the season for the first time ever, which is great to see. I've gotten used to slow starts and usually my player has not played well in the first half of a season, usually he gathers most of his points once the Moscow Menace is already out of playoff contention, useless.
 
The Seabasstard has been real hot for his standards and has been a point per game player for the first time of his career, collecting 13 points in 10 games so far. His line along with Lexi Glass and rookie Mikey Markov stumbled for the first two games of the season but it's been on fire ever since.
 
When asked about his performances the Seabasstard had this to say:
 
" Well if you do all the things your supposed to do as a professional like work out, eat right and practice hard, good things will eventually happen. For me it's taken 2 seasons but good things are finally happening."

Press Conference
Week Ending 9/26
 
1. A lot has happened this week in a rapid succession. One of those things is several trades. What are you thoughts on the trades that did happen?
2. New season is starting right up, are you ready for it?
3. What are you prediction for this season? Will we compete in the playoffs? Do you think we have a chance at the cup?
4. Along with VHL starting this week, the NHL preseason is also starting this week. Are you excited about it? What team you cheering for?
5. What is your favorite pizza toping?
6. Finally, the draft was this past weekend. Welcome the new kids to the block. What is you thoughts on the VHL draft? Who were in your opinion the winners and the losers of the draft?