Garsh

The "Avoid The Wildcard" Race
 
While Stockholm currently hold second place in the VHLE, whether they can keep hold of that position will be more dependent on how the teams below them than their own performances. While Stockholm do hold a two and four point advantage over Geneva and Oslo respectively, both of the teams immediately below Stockholm have a two game advantage which would allow them to close and surpass the deficit and both Geneva and Oslo are guaranteed to finish the season with a win in the primary tiebreaker of wins, which means that even if Stockholm do beat Geneva in their final game of the season, they cannot guarantee that they will finish in the top three in the standings and subsequently avoid the Wildcard round unless Geneva and Oslo falter in their last three games. 
 
The Playoff Fight
Istanbul are potentially regretting starting the season without a goalie for the first eighteen games given the current situation they find themselves in, needing to win both of their final games of the season against strong competition (Geneva and Cologne) to give themselves any shot at the playoffs, while also hoping that Oslo will defeat Vasteras in regulation (which will bring Vasteras and Istanbul level on points, but Istanbul will overtake Vasteras based on total wins). Interestingly, both of these teams have fared far better against the league-leading Cologne Express than either the Vikings or the Rush as while those two teams only combine for three victories over 22 games against the Express (Geneva 2, Stockholm 1), Istanbul have beaten Cologne four times and Vasteras six times. 
 

I was going to do a full piece on the playoff chase but god there’s so many teams involved in that I’d be here forever, so instead I decided to focus on four teams who hadn’t yet played their backup this season and see how their chances might (or might not) be affected by that.
 
Los Angeles Stars
 
It wouldn’t be a stretch to say that Los Angeles were probably the most disappointing team of Season 86. Having only just missed out on the playoffs in the final sim the previous season and keeping around a lot of players for Season 86, the Stars were expected to improve on their previous season, but surprisingly wound up much worse, finishing bottom of the North American Conference behind a rebuilding Toronto Legion, with the most notable portion of the season unfortunately being their streak of fifteen consecutive games without winning a single point towards the very end of the season. The follow-up in Season 87 however has been a dramatic improvement, and sees the Stars in second place in the conference and, while they aren’t mathematically guaranteed playoffs yet, it’s a struggle to see all those teams battling to make the playoffs in the NA completely wipe out the 16-18 point advantage that Los Angeles currently has on them.
 
It's actually interesting that Los Angeles haven’t given their current goalie a start as of yet as, unlike the other three teams in this article, they actually have a human backup goalie in Alexander Minion, who is comfortably above the VHL’s 400 TPE cap, so should be capable of putting on some decent performances for the Stars when they call upon them. It’ll be interesting to see how Los Angeles fare towards the end of the season as they have one of the tougher schedules to close out the season, largely because they have no more games to play against Helsinki or Toronto (although in fairness, STHS did already bless them with one extra game against the Legion this season), so I wouldn’t be surprised if they dropped some points down the stretch, but I’d also be very surprised if they fell into the Wildcard round.
 
Moscow Menace
 
It’s no surprise to see the Menace once again leading the European Conference. Unquestionably the best run team in the VHL has finished on top of the European Conference in the regular season in three of the last four seasons (their one miss being when they finished second to the Predators in Season 85). However, by no means are they out of the woods yet as, while they do indeed hold the top position in the European Conference, they are only 12 points ahead of sixth place and, as evidenced by them being in this article, they do still yet have to take a dip in potential performance as Matt Murdock (who has had a sensational first season as a starting VHL goalie) will have to give way to a BOT goalie who has conceded 3 goals out of just 28 attempts for eight of the remaining games of the season.
 
Moscow is helped by having a slightly easier remaining schedule than most of the teams in the European Conference (bar London who definitely have the easiest). While they do still have two games to play against the Vancouver Wolves, they have no more games to play against the Calgary Wranglers, nor do they have any more against a Seattle Bears team that improved significantly at the trade deadline. They also have games against quite a few teams that have thrown in the white flag on playoff competition, with a couple of games against a now significantly weaker D.C. Dragons and Helsinki along with one more game against Toronto. While I think the gap between Moscow and whoever finishes second in the conference may not wind up as large as it is currently, I think Moscow’s current form combined with their slightly easier schedule should be more than enough to off-set the eight BOT goalie starts and see them finish top of the European Conference.
 
London United
 
London have obviously had a challenging first 15 seasons in the VHL, having failed to win a single playoff series since they joined the league and they will be hoping that this season, but first and foremost, they’ll have a tougher task than they maybe originally expected to get into the playoffs. Heading into the season, I had London down as the fifth-best team in the EU conference, but I anticipated them to be quite a bit better than Malmo and Riga, but in defense of London, this season’s result is less London failing to meet expectations and more Riga and Malmo exceeding expectations, as I didn’t expect either Riga or Malmo to be over .500 at this late point of the season.
 
While there are some problems ahead for London in this run to the end of the season with the stronger competition for the playoff places than originally intended and the eight remaining backup games to play, London does have one of the easiest schedules to close out the season, as they have three games left to play against the bottom of the standings Helsinki Titans (only Seattle has more games to play against Helsinki), but they also have no more games to play against both the North American and European Conference’s strongest teams in the Vancouver Wolves and the Moscow Menace, a situation no other team in the VHL finds themselves in. However, the key to making the playoffs will require them to make an improvement, as they have four very important games against the Dynamo ahead, a team they haven’t beaten so far this season in their two previous encounters.  
 
Warsaw Predators
 
Of the teams that are stuck in the EU playoff race, I think Warsaw will probably be the team most surprised to be involved. Coming off a couple of seasons in Season 85 and Season 86 where they finished over 35 points clear of the top EU team to miss the playoffs, Season 87 has been much more of a struggle for the Predators despite the incredibly strong play of Brendan Marner (who currently leads the league in points despite having played two games less than some of their competitors), as Warsaw currently find themselves just one point ahead of the sixth-placed London United. One of the notable moves of last season saw Warsaw try to improve at goalie by acquiring Oskar Lindbergh at the trade deadline and while that fell through due to Warsaw not having the cap space, you have to wonder if Warsaw could have benefitted from that stronger goalie this season, as (while they would have had to make some skating adjustments to be cap compliant) Wumbo currently ranks among the worst of the playoff-competing goalies in save percentage and this would potentially suggest why a team that has the best shots for/shots against differential in the league finds themselves in this precarious situation.
 
Not only does Warsaw have eight backup games to play though, they also have easily the toughest remaining schedule of all of the teams in the VHL. 13 of Warsaw’s 21 remaining games this season are against teams in the top 5 of the VHL in points, playing each of those five teams at least twice with three games against Vancouver and Davos and 10 of those 13 take place in the final 11 games of the season. Given the talent on their team, you would think that Warsaw would be able to overcome this challenge, but at the same time, looking at that last run of games, it might not be as big of a shock as originally thought if Warsaw don’t wind up making the playoffs. If there is one thing in their favour, at least right now, they have a solid advantage over most of the EU teams in the second and third tiebreakers in ROW and Goal Difference, but if they do wind up in a situation where a tie for the playoffs could wind up happening, they’ll need to hope they’ve improved their win rate as they sit seventh In the EU conference in the primary tiebreaker.   

Hi there, a lot of you probably already know but figured I’d make a post about it anyways: due to being very busy with real life things for the foreseeable future and not having any real time/motivation to do VHL things I’ve resigned from my jobs.
 
Ill still be around until the end of the season and/or till a new gm is hired
 
ok bye love you 

The Geneva Rush are on the upswing, moving into second place in the VHLE.  A team effort has seen the rush pick up 8 straight wins.  An effort like this takes an entire team putting in the work, but one player has been leading the charge.  That player is Kronchy Kardashian, who is currently on fire NBA Jam style.  Now I don’t have any numbers to give, but trust me when I say that the last 15-20 games have been a lot better than the 45-50 games that came before.  The young socialite has been picking up 2 or more points in most games.  They have taken the lead for points for defensemen, and are tied for the assists lead, with 3 less games played than their direct competition.  
 
With 7 games left the celebrity has stated that they are going after the Geneva Rush record for points in a season, which is currently 101 points scored by Rush legend Ronan Lavelle @Arce .  They will need to get 7 points in those 7 games to break the record.  With how they have been putting up points recently, a point per game is certainly doable.
 
(193 words)

The Geneva Rush are on the upswing, moving into second place in the VHLE.  A team effort has seen the rush pick up 8 straight wins.  An effort like this takes an entire team putting in the work, but one player has been leading the charge.  That player is Kronchy Kardashian, who is currently on fire NBA Jam style.  Now I don’t have any numbers to give, but trust me when I say that the last 15-20 games have been a lot better than the 45-50 games that came before.  The young socialite has been picking up 2 or more points in most games.  They have taken the lead for points for defensemen, and are tied for the assists lead, with 3 less games played than their direct competition.  
 
With 7 games left the celebrity has stated that they are going after the Geneva Rush record for points in a season, which is currently 101 points scored by Rush legend Ronan Lavelle @Arce .  They will need to get 7 points in those 7 games to break the record.  With how they have been putting up points recently, a point per game is certainly doable.
 
(193 words)

The Geneva Rush are on the upswing, moving into second place in the VHLE.  A team effort has seen the rush pick up 8 straight wins.  An effort like this takes an entire team putting in the work, but one player has been leading the charge.  That player is Kronchy Kardashian, who is currently on fire NBA Jam style.  Now I don’t have any numbers to give, but trust me when I say that the last 15-20 games have been a lot better than the 45-50 games that came before.  The young socialite has been picking up 2 or more points in most games.  They have taken the lead for points for defensemen, and are tied for the assists lead, with 3 less games played than their direct competition.  
 
With 7 games left the celebrity has stated that they are going after the Geneva Rush record for points in a season, which is currently 101 points scored by Rush legend Ronan Lavelle @Arce .  They will need to get 7 points in those 7 games to break the record.  With how they have been putting up points recently, a point per game is certainly doable.
 
(193 words)

Following the trade deadline and the arrival of Tavish DeGroot and Vasille Lamb to the Seattle Bears roster, Bears fans were seemingly worried when the new offensive dynamo team had one of the limpest offense in the VHL. In the early stretches following the trade, the Bears were consistently kept to below 2 goals per game, with goalers Dusty Wilson and Ash Sparks having the battle hard to ensure the team remained in playoff contention. Recently, however, the Bears have managed to turn it around. Stringing together 3 wins in a row, and new forward DeGroot proving to be game changing player, including a five point night in one of his first games back as a Bear.
 
The change of scenery hasn't been as kind to Lamb. The perennial Boulet contender hasn't found his stride ever since leaving the Warsaw Predators. Perhaps the weak European conference teams gave Vasille an easier way to use his big body and find the back of the net, as through 10 games as a Bear he has yet to score a goal.

Kakapo Bushtit (Esso2264) has announced their retirement.

https://anchor.fm/jacob-carson

So as some of you know, I've been dealing with some family stuff. Well I guess now is as good as a time as ever to fill the league in on what's been going on. So November of 2021 my father had a massive stroke and ended up passing away. This was the same time that I was made the GM of Prague. So while I was implementing my plan for the future of the franchise I was spending most of my days in the hospital seeing if he was going to recover or if he was going to pass. He ended up passing 6 days later. It was definitely a tough time for me but I had something to look forward to. Fast forward almost a year, my Mom was diagnosed with Leukemia she spent about 6 weeks in the hospital receiving chemo treatment. I was there everyday dealing with that as I'm her only caregiver. As this was going on I was made a Blue in the league (sensing a theme?). She's still undergoing treatment and we're
currently in her second round of chemo. So that's what I've been dealing with for the past 3 months just to give you guys some insight into my life and why I've really only been active with the other Blues and within the Prague discord. She's doing well and we're about to head to the city to meet with some Cancer specialists for the next steps and to hopefully find a "cure" instead of her having to be on a form of Chemo in a pill for the rest of her life. So with all of this negativity I had to do something positive. Well on Saturday I decided to propose to my girlfriend of almost 6 years. I had the ring for almost a month and just decided it was now or never. So with all of the negative things that have happened I have something positive to look forward to. Well, this concludes my update and just to give some folks a bit of insight into what's been going on recently. 
 
 

its kinda covered under STHS but just one for Simon and how he is a fickle deity would be a worthy addition.

Tavish DeGroot has quickly found himself a home with the Riga Reign, as the veteran defender has found himself quarterbacking one of the most lethal powerplays in VHL's history. Sitting at a whopping 27%, the Riga Reign find themselves a whole 5% better then the second best powerplay, in the Prague Phantoms, which is certainly helping the Reign's dynamite start. Following his 3 assist performance when the team scored 4 unanswered in Warsaw, DeGroot had this to say, wearing the team's man of the match crown:

"We're all having fun out there. Feeding apples to the kids has become a staple of my game and we got good kids on the roster and everything is clicking right now. Frenchy and Weavs are both stallions on the first line, and Ablar and Pearcey are both playing an underappreciated brand of hockey that really works for the team. Tucks is also such a battler. Once he get's settled in there is no goalie better in the league."
 
 

Grats to you both!

For Fox 39 News, I'm Chris Rock.
 
Helsinki Titans D Reid Johnson has shown some activity in the offseason, portraying for what hopes to be a huge season for him.
 
"Being a team at the bottom this year, we definitely have a chip on our shoulder. We have new weapons and didn't lose too many players, so we're geared up to have a competitive season." Says Johnson. 
 
Along with keeping a majority of the old team, the Titans selected Kronchy Kardashian ( @Garsh), who played on the Las Vegas Aces while Johnson was the AGM. 
 
"Having Kronchy is a huge asset to our team. He's very active within the locker room, and we needed to expand on the D core. He's someone that should be with this organization for years to come."
 
As many are aware, Helsinki struggled to find a rhythm and ended up falling short in the playoffs. I asked Reid what they should be focusing on to have a more successful season.
 
"We just have to compete. If we need to rebuild, then we rebuild. I'm here to win, and I will give it my all."
 
I asked Reid what his plans are for the following season, as his rookie deal with Helsinki is expiring once the S87 window passes.
 
"I'm not sure. I love Helsinki. But I want to be successful. I need to re-evaluate my options during this year, and I'll listen to all offers. I think I can be that piece that fits the puzzle for most teams."
 
As many rumors swirled about an early retirement, it seems as if Johnson is planning to stick around. The question is, where will he be come next season?

Grats to you both!

So recently the Board of Governors has reduced their numbers, and is looking to bring in some new faces. I’m not privy to their discussions, and I actually have no idea who is in it outside of the commissioners and the ones with the BOG tag on the forum and some/all of the VHL GMs?
 
But anyways I wanted to come forward with some people that I think should be in that group.
 
(they may already be, but how am I supposed to know)

(this should really be a publicly available list to be honest, and it might be but I don’t know where it is)

@MubbleFubbles
Mubbles has been around for a long time, is a very active member, especially when it comes to forum content. He has picked up rjfryman’s draft class ranking project, and the visualizers and a super fun series on randomly picking players from the portal and ranking them. Has been a huge part of the turnaround of the VHLE, and has proven to be one of the most avid earners in the league.
 
@badcolethetitan
Cole hasn’t been around as long as some, but that doesn’t always matter when it comes to BOG membership. Cole has been reliable, running Mexico City for some time now, with a reputation of being one of the best mentors this league has to offer. Cole is a role model for new members and is a name with some authority among the VHLM community.
 
@Lemorse7
Lemorse is the pinnacle of activity in sim leagues, and is always out and about spreading cheer on Discord. Lemorse is also notorious for being a great mentor, and an incredible bridge across the various sim leagues out there. Lemorse has a wealth of experience across multiple leagues, and has been a GM for all of them at both a developmental and top-league level. There is no one who has seen more than Lemorse, and bringing that wealth of experience to the BOG is key.
 
@leandrofg
Another one of those people that has been key to rebuilding the reputation of the VHLE. Not only has Leandro proven to be a winning GM, but also a key contributor to the VHLE’s rules, proposals and general discourse. Leandro has proven that the VHLE has a purpose, separate from the VHLM and VHL, and should be one of the voices that gets to decide its path. Don’t let this detract from Leandro’s ability to manager the other leagues as well, as a very active and intelligent member in the VHL, and a developmental wizard, with bright ideas about the VHLM.

Alright this is a fun game I like to call “How many players in the VHL have I GM’d at some point or another”. I’m sure I’m bound to forget a few players and I’m sorry I promise I still love you, but my brain doesn’t work and I need to write some words so I can get TPE next week. I’m not counting Pro-Am sorry I really don’t remember those.
 
Calgary
 
Vincent Laroche-Gagnier (San Diego Marlins VHLM, and Brigade JST for a moment)
Landon Wolanin (Team World WJC, Team USA WC)
Larry Abass Jr (Brigade JST)
Sax Justice (Team World WJC)
Phil Strasmore (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Brigade JST)
Lloyd Braun (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Brigade JST)
Karl Pedersen (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
 
Chicago
 
The Board Game Clue On Skates (Team USA WC)
Sam Tombstone (Team World WJC)
 
D.C
 
Loki Baker DMD (Team World WJC)
 
Davos
 
Noodles Marconi (Team Europe WJC)
John Richards (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Brigade for a moment JST)
Alfred Champagne (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
Jake Thunder (Team USA WC)
David Jokinen (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
Xavier Booberry (Team USA WC)
Lachlan Summers (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
 
Helsinki
 
Daryl Dixon (Brigade JST)
Juan Sano III (Team Europe WJC)
Rick Grimes (Brigade JST)
Tater Tottingham (Brigade JST)
 
London
 
Molly the Cat (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
 
Los Angeles
 
Vinny Detroit (Team USA WC)
Scoish Velociraptor Maloish (Team World WJC)
Callum Murray (Team World WJC)
Art Vandelay (Team USA WC, Team World WJC)
Alexander Minion (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Brigade JST)
 
Malmo
 
Max Torq (Team USA WC)
 
Moscow
 
Fraser Wallace (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
AK92 Wit da Hoodie (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
Hammar Voss (Team World WJC… eventually)
 
New York
 
Napoleon Dynamite (Team USA WC)
Babay Shrimp (San Deigo Marlins VHLM)
Malum Maellard (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
 
Prague
 
John Jameson (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
Jani Karppinen (Brigade JST)
Faith Hope Love (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
Velociraptor Greg (Team Europe WJC)
Clueless Wallob (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
 
Riga
 
Daniel Weaver (Team World WJC)
Sadie St-Louis (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
Henry Tucker Jr (Team World WJC, Brigade JST)
 
Seattle
 
Florida Man (Team USA WC)
Left Alone (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Pickles JST)
Randy Bobandy (Pickles JST)
Deron Nesbitt (Team World WJC)
Elias Lampi (Pickles JST)
 
Toronto
 
Dens Oden (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
Mac Atlas (Pickles JST)
Babushka (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
Joel Castle (Pickles JST)
 
Vancouver
 
Dogwood Maple (Team World WJC)
Henry Eagles (Team World WJC, Team Europe WJC, Brigade JST)
Svatopluk Puk (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team Europe WJC)
 
Warsaw
 
Tom Creeg (San Diego Marlins VHLM)
Brian Payne (Team USA WC)
 
FA
 
Benjamin Franklin Chang (Team World WJC)
Cole Caufield Jr (San Diego Marlins VHLM, Team World WJC, Brigade JST)
Calen McKay (Team Europe WJC)
 
This means I’ve GM’d in some capacity just under 31% of the players in the league. Which is honestly pretty crazy to me, and I know that number is just going to keep going up with the awesome S86 Marlins team I just had, so get ready for me to infiltrate all of your LRs. Also cool that there is someone on every team that I’ve GM’d.
 

It took me longer than I thought it would but I have finally finished!  I wanted to immortalize my player hoisting the Founders Cup over his head as a San Diego Marlin.  Facial posing took awhile but reference of Stanley Cup winners helped!  That is the Founders Cup I created as well up there.


 
4K on Youtube at 50fps.
 

A bit of unnecessary dramatics as I started off using the sheet from last year but we got there in the end! So here are your winners for the annual Donation Drive Raffle:
 
Tier 1 - 5 Winners: 5 uncapped TPE
@AJW @JetsGoalie101 @leafsman @STZ @PhoebeIsQueen
 
Tier 2 - 5 Winners: $15 donation equivalent
@Elman Diablo @fishy @Hogan @Nykonax @Vkobe-v
 
Tier 3 - 3 Winners: Video Game of your choice (up to a max of $90 CAD, on any system)
@Dom @GoodLeftUndone @Mongoose87
 
Tier 4 - 1 Winner: Nintendo Switch (OLED) console OR an NHL Jersey of the winner's choice.
@wcats
 
Congrats to all the winners, we will be in touch shortly

Bo a big paint drying enjoyer eh?

As always with lists like these, they will be subjective. You won't agree with some of them, and that's fine. We all have bias towards if we value goals over assists, or if we acknowledge that forwards naturally score more than dmen etc. That's just how it is. I'll primarily base this list off of z-scores that are pretty much anything but subjective and give a very solid empirical score on how far away from average a player's season is. Compared to other players who play the same role (forward/dman). But that still leaves room for the goals vs. assists argument, unless you just have a god season in there where both are so elite it's not even a trade-off. As well as other circumstances that may push one season above another in my eyes.
 
1. Aurelien Moreau @Frank S83 - G: 20 (1.15) / A: 92 (3.10) / P: 112 (2.77)
 
The number in parenthesis is the Z-score compared to all non-bot dmen in the hybrid era for that attribute, with 1+ being good, 2+ being elite and 3+ meaning you're basically a god.
 
S83 for Moreau was simply an insane season, putting up an actual honest to god competitive dman point record in the very first hybrid era season. The one thing you can point out about this first season, however, is that a lot of players had very bad builds, and we were in a goalie drought. So naturally offensive numbers among the elite players in this season *should* be slightly inflated. But that doesn't change the fact that a 112 point season from a dman blows anything any forward has achieved offensively in the hybrid era out of the water. Until S86 Moreau also held the Assist record for the hybrid era with those 92, being beaten by Bo Johansson (94).
 
The one knock on this season is the goals, it's the one thing that makes this record beatable. As the top dmen of this era have put up 30+ goals, so realistically it's only a matter of time before all the stars align and we get 30+ goal 90+ assist season from a dman to eclipse the 120 point plateau. The question is how long will it take? Because for every season Frank keeps this record, it becomes more impressive. No one cares about a record that gets beaten the very next season. But a record that stands for 5, 10 or 20+ seasons. Now that's where it starts getting the recognition of a "true" record.
 
2. Paul Atreides @Mr_Hatter S83 - G: 61 (2.79) / A: 59 (1.75) / P: 120 (2.38)
 
The fact that the top two players on this list are both on S83 Toronto tells you a lot about how insane their partnership was. There are really 5 forward seasons that are nearly identical offensively, all 5 being at 120 or 122 points. But Hatter's season is the only one with 60+ goals, meaning it's holding onto the goal record for the Hybrid era, giving it that tiny extra bit of prestige to push it above the others. Atreides and Moreau both had played together on the stacked meta era Moscow team, but due to sharing the ice with monster's like Idaho and Markinson. They never had free reign to score as much as they perhaps could have. Well the S83 season in Toronto told us there was no "perhaps" involved. When made the unmistakable star players they put that Toronto team on their shoulders and went on to form the most iconic hybrid era partnership thus far.
 
The same arguments from Moreau also apply here, obviously, since it was the same team and same season. Namely that due to the weaker goaltending and slightly weaker overall compete level in the VHL due to potato hybrid builds, their stats were probably a bit inflated compared to what they should have been. But so was Scotty Campbell's records from playing against 200 TPE players most of his career, and we still acknowledge those records. So sometimes we just have to tip the hat to the players who end up fortunate enough to have their best season in the best possible season to have it. If your best offensive season is in a season that has some of the best goaltending of all time. Well, that's just very unfortunate. But if you have that same season in the meta era, you're probably having a Justin Lose S81 type deal on your hands. I won't hold the fortunate timing against either of them.
 
3. Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream  S83 - G: 59 (2.64) / A: 63 (2.03) / P: (2.46)
 
Another S83 entry, how unexpected! I mean at this point it's probably hard to argue against S83 having kinda bloated stats for the players who actually went straight into good builds at high TPA. But whatever, this is one of only two 122 point seasons in the era. The other came from Duncan Idaho on a very strong DC team, where he had all the support he could possibly ask for to help make his season the best one possible. Playing with arguably the best offensive playmaking defenseman in the league that season (Sova) and the Funk winner (Lavelle) there was no lack of supporting pieces to push him up there. Whereas in Calgary, Kotkakoivu was primarily supported by the sound of crickets and carried so hard he pulled Lazar, a clicker, up to a 99 point season alongside him. That's actually insane, there was no reason for Kotka to have a 122 point season with that supporting cast. He just had to will it to be in one of the hardest carries of a team I've ever seen outside of the Edmonton Oilers and their perennial attempts to make McJesus go into a rage induced coma at the vast incompetence of just about everyone else in the org apart from Draisaitl.
 
He was only a single goal off being the other player to hit that 60 goal plateau as well and had he done that, odds are he would have been at least 2nd, possibly 1st on this list. Not because of the raw numbers of what he did, but because of the circumstances under which he did it. I doubt we'll see another season like this anytime soon. The closest one is probably Jerome's hardcarry of London in S85. But since that fell short of the 100 point plateau and the 30 goal plateau both, it diminishes it's value by a fair bit. Just for completion I should note that on goal tie-breaker this season is the Hybrid era point total record, as Idaho had 52 and 122 points.
 
4. Bo Johansson @Shindigs S86 - G: 11 (-0.19) / A: 94 (3.22) / P: 105 (2.45)
 
Now I am biased towards assists, that's why I made a pass first dman to begin with. So I understand that this season probably doesn't make top 5 for most people. But the fact of the matter is that it is the highest assist season in the Hybrid era, and were it not for an absolutely abysmal 4.38% Shot conversion which is the lowest S% of any dman who hit PPG, let alone over 100 point in the entire hybrid era, this would have set the point record too. The only other player to hit PPG with 4.xx% shot conversion was Hari Singh Nalwa in S84 with a 4.63% conversion and exactly 72 points. The lowest S% of another top 5 hybrid era dman is 7.81% for Jerome Reinhart in S83 (Yes, the dman goal record for the hybrid era came off a 7.81% S% season, that's how bloated his shot totals were on that gutted NYA team). So really, Bo had the unluckiest seasons by a top dman in the hybrid era offensively. And still ended the season with 105 points, which is good for 4th among hybrid era dmen. That adds a bit of that "against all odds" touch that Kotka's season had, though for other reasons.
 
Had Bo matched the worst other top 5 S% he would have ended up with 20 goals and 114 points and had he matched Moreau's 10.10% from S83 he would have ended up with 25 goals for 119 points, just one away from that 120 point plateau. So assuming Bo puts up another season like this, but without the cursed S% Moreau's record might very well fall in the next 4 seasons. Though now that I've mentioned it in a MS, Simon will stop it from happening for sure.
 
5. Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 S85 - G: 24 (1.74) / A: 69 (2.09) / P: 99 (2.17)
 
This one is quite the hot take as well, because the raw stats aren't even the best Jerome himself has put up in the hybrid era. Those came in S83 due to some insane stat bloat on NYA, like I touched on before. Which is why I don't rate that season. Also if this was the most impressive season period, not just the most offensively impressive season, then this would go miles below Hard Markinson's S84 campaign. But seeing as we're strictly looking at offensively impressive seasons. I can't in good faith make a hybrid era top 5 and leave this season out. Since it's the dman version of what Kotka did in Calgary S83, on a team that isn't just a shell, setup to make Jerome score as much as possible to bloat his trade value (see S83 NYA). This was actually a real London team, sure it was a pretty mediocre London team. But not bad enough that it's stat bloat central, just the kind of team you expect to putter along and not do a lot of anything all season. But Jerome had other plans, putting the team on his back and willing them into some level of relevance. His consistency this season was scary, and the stat about how many of the game London won Jerome had points in was actually nuts. He *was* London in S85, everyone else was just along for the ride.
 
Had he been able to elevate his teammates to the heights that Kotka elevated Lazar in S83 Calgary, this season would have been contending for 2nd/3rd, as if he had done that it would have automatically resulted in at least 10+ more assists putting this up there as a ~110 point season and making it a mark for excellence to anyone that came across it. But as it stands, if someone just stumbled across this season and didn't know about all the circumstances, it wouldn't even make the top 5 list of dman offensive seasons in the hybrid era. That's what lowers its ranking for me, even though I do find the achievement impressive as hell. The other thing that would likely exclude this pick from just about everyone's top 5 is that most of the league still just hates Jerome for his part in the Metawolves, and that kind of bias is hard to beat.
 
 
This list would have a lot of honorable mentions, but likely I will just make a part 2 of this with 6-10 at a later date. I know a lot of people won't like how dman heavy this list is. But I can tell you that currently, we have 6 dmen over 2.4 Point production Z-score and only 2 forwards. Simply put, the best dmen in the hybrid era have been better than the best forwards in this era. Which is why the common theme in VHFL winners has been an insane d pairing. The gap between the best dmen and average dmen is simply bigger than the gap between the best forwards and average forwards. And I like to highlight that in this top 5, since usually the casual observer just goes "Forward has bigger number! Forward more better! Ooga boga!" which I just find a bit silly and as a result I want to showcase that it's a questionable way of looking at stats. But don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out the VHL userbase in particular, this is just a human thing. We see the same thing in NHL award voting and the like. We just like big numbers, and we rarely want to take the time to find proof that we're wrong in liking those big numbers. Since that goes against confirmation bias.
 
2040+ words, claiming for almost half a season.