Tagger

Good listen I wish more people did pods

Very well though out and spoken. 

So, it's official now - Werbenjagermanjensen won the Labette and the Wylde, while @Dil's player who isn't noteworthy enough to list his actual player name won the Valiq by like 1 point/1 goal. I came very close to sweeping all three defenseman trophies. Don't know if that's been done before, and I would think it has been, but not 100% sure. I know players won top offensive and top overall defenseman, but not sure if someone won all three. So, GM change in Davos. On the whole, I can't say I 100% disagree with the decision itself, but I don't necessarily agree with the way it was handled. I've said my piece on what happened while I was there. I will say though that this is sort of a wake up call to all GMs that there is a shorter leash than there was previously. Been playing a lot of Football Manager lately and am finally watching "Sunderland Till I Die" on Netflix. In the past, someone, (I think either @Victor or @Tagger, but not 100% sure) suggested/brought up/said "would it be nice" if we could somehow implement promotion and relegation into the VHL. With money not meaning enough in a PT league, I don't think it would be feasible for the VHL, but for any sort of money based league, I do think it would be interesting to at least explore a little more. 

When you see you've done a lot of these jobs but then realise your HOF article still isn't done yet

Welcome, everyone! With the draft now past us, and my first S71 Draft Profiles already done, it's time that I reflect on this past season, and most importantly, the draft. I will be looking at who I think could be steals at their positions, and some of the more interesting moments of the draft. After discussing the draft, I'll move on to talk about how great this experience has been, with the draft profiles series and its progression.
 
Anyways, let's move on to my steals; these aren't the players who I think will become the best of the bunch, but who I think were most valuable relative to the slot they were selected.
 
23 D. Cheezy , TPE: 128   After earning steadily for 12 weeks, one poorly timed week of inactivity may have scared some GMs away from Cheezy, but he has already proven said week was a fluke with an impressive 23 TPE so far this week. Although he is a welfare player, he has proven to be extremely reliable in earning TPE, and while he doesn't have superstar potential, I see his chances of making the VHL as high. To me, this was a good value pick from Toronto that gives them more organizational depth and a player they can count on to eventually find a role on their team.   17 I. Bennett , TPE: 91 Since being drafted, Bennett has already earned 32 TPE. He has consistently put up around 10 to 12 TPE per week prior to the draft, falling behind in total TPE solely because of his late entry into the league. When looking back on this draft, we may be praising Helsinki for making this pick at 17, since his earning rate is up there with some of the first round talent. I think he has a lot of potential, and can't wait to see if he can become one of the best players to come out of this draft.   35 N. Kulikovich , TPE: 69 This one was very interesting to me. In my opinion, Kulikovich was just flat out better than some of the names ahead of him. While he did go inactive for two weeks, he did update with 6 TPE prior to the draft. There were entirely inactive players with less TPE that went above him, and that is what makes it puzzling to me why he wasn't an early or even mid third round pick. This week, he has 4 TPE so far as well. I don't necessarily see star potential, but I do think this was a high quality pick for 35th overall.   Interesting Moments of The Draft 1. Encarnacion picked #1 A well-deserved title, Edwin THE Encarnacion was crowned the first overall pick of the draft. Shoutout goes to Lahtinen as well for being close behind.   2. Risteneen picked #6 The first first-gen player to be picked, Risteneen was chosen sixth overall to New York   3. Davos BPA's After acquiring Magnum, Hextall and Wolfe through BPA, all three were dealt to Toronto yesterday.    4. Gutzwiler twins united Selected 16th and 18th overall, Gabriel and Leon Gutzwiler are sure to be happy with landing on the same team. It will be interesting to see each of their progression for New York.   My Thoughts Overall, I'm extremely happy with the way this whole season turned out, covering the draft. I started this series as something I thought would be cool for a quick 2 TPE every week, and it has turned into somewhat of my identity in the league. It's been fun making the articles, keeping everything updated, and making improvements to the series along the way. The reception of the draft profiles series has been great, and I've gotten so much support from plenty of members with and without draft eligible players. I'd like to thank everyone who's supported it, because it's helped turn point tasks into point activities for me, and now I'm always excited to work on my next article.   Now, it's time I fully shift my focus onto S71 prospects. I wish all of the S70 draftees luck, and I'll have an article around the trade deadline next season with an update on all of their progress to that point. Stay active, and have fun!

When you see you've done a lot of these jobs but then realise your HOF article still isn't done yet

I wanted to see some statistics on Builders in the Hall of Fame, so I created this spreadsheet.
 
Some interesting things of note:
This data isn't perfect, so please don't crucify me if the person who wrote your HoF Builder article forgot a position League Job you had It seems like the two most common League Jobs that HoF Builders have had are VHL GM and Grader, so if you want to make it into the Hall of Fame as a Builder one day, I suggest starting with those two positions. We have a tie for 1st in terms of total league jobs, with Chris Miller (@Advantage), Conner Low (@Smarch), and Jim Gow (@flyersfan1453) all with 8. There is also a tie for least amount of league positions to make it into the HoF as a builder, with Lucas Tannahill (@PensFan101) and Sandro Desaulniers (@Sandro) only having 2 league positions held. This is obviously only based on statistics, there is much more that goes into being inducted into the HoF as a builder than just how many league jobs you had. This is pretty interesting to me, as there are a few members who I thought were builders, but apparently they were not. I may make a media spot in the future about possible members who should be considered.

I don’t intend this article to be a “woe is me” story or something similar, I intend this to be more of an airing of grievances/explanation of why I did the things I did in my time as GM of Vasteras (S31-S39). By the time I stepped down at the end of S39, I was so burnt out from the constant negativity surrounding the franchise for so many seasons that I had no desire to even remain active, but I’ll get more into that later; I have been meaning to write an article like this for awhile, and I kept putting it off and off for whatever reason, but regardless, here it is.
 
Author’s Note
I guess I should start from the beginning of my entire sim league experience; my first ever foray into sim leagues was in the SHL, as I joined the site in ~September of 2011 at the ripe old age of 14. I created a goaltender in S5, Tom Corcoran, who actually ended up in the SHL Hall of Fame. The SHL was my only league for a few months, before I heard some members talking about the VHL; still being in high school and having all the time in the world to do anything, I joined the VHL in late January of 2012 (S26), also creating a goaltender named Tom Corcoran. And I HATED the VHL at first; I had no idea of how the PT structure worked, and I felt that the members were much more standoffish and snooty compared to the SHL (funny how perspectives work). I only earned 26 TPE with Tom Corcoran in the VHL before going inactive and fully focusing on the SHL again. I wouldn’t return to the VHL until June of 2012, creating a forward, Thomas Corcoran, who would end up being selected 2nd overall by the Vasteras Iron Eagles in one of the worst VHL drafts of all-time, Season 29; and that, is where my VHL story truly begins.
 
Prologue 
When I was drafted, Vasteras was amidst a stagnating rebuild. Despite being only 3 seasons removed from breaking the curse in S26, the team was a shell of its former self; the Iron Eagles had missed the playoffs in the 3 seasons following their S26 championship. Tyler Owens (@Tyler), the GM responsible for bringing the Continental Cup back to Vasteras, stepped down following the S26 season and handed the reigns of the organization over to Damien Walec (@.sniffuM and his star player, Tukka Reikkinen. Walec wasn’t left with much to work with in his early days as GM, as the only returning players for the Iron Eagles in S27 from the S26 squad were Walec’s own player Reikkinen and Lasse Milo, a player from the agency that founded the entire franchise itself (@PensFan101 - Lucas Tannehill). The cup run had broken the 25 season curse, but at what cost? 
Before the start of S26, then-GM Tyler Owens [rightfully] traded away Vasteras’ S28 1st pick in a deal with Toronto to acquire key members of the S26 run, Phil Gerrard and Clint Guite; in an interesting piece of trivia, that pick would eventually turn out to be Owens’ own player, Connor Evans. You make that deal 10 times out of 10 if you’re Owens, as you’re getting two star players for a few throw-in players and a 1st round pick that’s two drafts away. Owens also traded away Vasteras’ S28 2nd round pick in a rental deal that brought another impact player, Kevyn Hesje, on board for the S26 run; once again, another deal that’s an easy no-brainer for Owens, as that pick turned into Pekka Svenson, who only ever reached 1B goalie status at his peak, and without even checking I’m pretty sure he didn’t even eclipse 400 TPE. That would be Owens’ last move as GM of Vasteras, as he would step down after the cup win, promoting 1st-time GM Walec to his old position. Walec was handed a pretty decent situation in my opinion; coming off a championship victory needing to rebuild, and you still have your 1st round pick (8th overall) in the draft, not too shabby. But alas, Damien decided to delay his rebuild, and in his 1st big move as Vasteras GM, sent the S27 VAS 1st to Davos in exchange for Davos’ S28 1st round pick and winger Jesse McGahn. I can only guess that this was a deal to acquire a depth piece for S27, should Vasteras somehow be able to contend that year (they did not), while basically getting a draft pick at the same spot or better in the next draft. If I had to guess, I would say that this move was likely thought of as a good trade for Vasteras at the time, as they really didn’t seem to lose much in this deal, although that S27 8th overall pick did end up being Ying Qin, a member of the esteemed tfong agency, and a player of his pedigree certainly would have helped Vasteras’ image and coming rebuild. But again, not a bad trade at the time. Damien’s next trade is where I begin to wonder what happened to cause him to make said move; towards the end of that offseason, Walec shipped off four members from the championship team to the Riga Reign (Kevyn Hesje, RJ Stafford, Clint Guite, and Andreas Bjorkman) in exchange for Riga’s S29 1st & 2nd round picks as well as two prospects, JaMarcus Simmons and Jesper Jakobsen. Since the forum where this trade occurred is gone, I have no idea what the public perception of this trade was, but personally I don’t think I agree with it (there are likely reasons it happened that I’m just unaware of). The four of those players had a combined 8 seasons left in the league before auto-retirement and still had some gas in their tanks; given that Vasteras only finished 20 points behind New York for the last playoff spot in S27, I don’t think it’s crazy to assume that had they kept those 4 players, they could have made the postseason despite the retirements of Gerrard/Guite and the departure of Jenstrom. In terms of value though, I don’t think the deal was bad at the time, as in return Vasteras received the JaMarcus Simmons, a S26 draftee who had been drafted 3rd overall the season before, and an eventual lottery pick (which eventually turned out to be the 1st overall pick) in Riga’s S29 1st. At the time Simmons’ agent, Spangle, was coming off the retirement of his 1st (and to-date best) player of his career, Hall-of-Famer Mathias Chouinard, so really this trade seemed to be setting up Vasteras quite nicely for the future. But boy, if you thought that the trade would actually work out for the Iron Eagles, you could not be more wrong.
 
Simmons would turn into the 1st bust in what would end up being a long line of draft/prospect failures for Walec; Simmons would play two seasons for Vasteras before leaving via Free Agency, never really becoming more than a 2nd-liner in his VHL career, and thus did nothing to improve the rebuilding situation in Vasteras. Walec would make no more trades during S27, as the Iron Eagles would miss the playoffs; thankfully for Vasteras,their S28 1st round pick that was property of the Toronto Legion as part of the aforementioned Gerrard/Guite trade, did NOT win the lottery, instead ending up being the 4th overall pick. Despite not having their own 1st rd pick in S28, Vasteras did have Davos’ 1st round pick via the aforementioned Jesse McGahn trade, and said pick would turn out to be 3rd overall! With a draft class that included Volodymyr Rybak (Slobo), Alexander Labatte (@sterling), Ryan Sullivan (@Advantage), Miles Larsson (@sherifflobo), Theseus Athera (@DGFX.), Brody Hodgson (@Tylar) and more, surely Vasteras would connect on that pick right? Wrong. Walec decided to continue to push the rebuild back another season, as Vasteras would send the S28 3rd overall pick (the pick that turned out to be Hall-of-Famer Ryan Sullivan) to the Calgary Wranglers in exchange for NYA’s S29 1st round pick and Calgary’s S28 2nd round pick (10th overall). It really hurts to see what Vasteras ended up doing with those picks, drafting goaltender Vincent Vega (@Maxy) with the 10th overall pick from Calgary and packaging the S29 NYA 1st in another deal I’ll get to later; Vega was a promising young goalie, and was expected to be the starter in Vasteras for a long time, but Maxy flamed out at around 300 TPE a few seasons later, basically leaving Walec chained down with an inactive goalie of the future while Ryan Sullivan began to put together his Hall of Fame career in Calgary. I’m not really sure why Damien kept pushing the rebuild back, but I can only guess that it was to have a plethora of picks and prospects in the S29 draft, and he obviously didn’t know it at the time, but he could not have picked a worse draft to stockpile picks in. After not making any moves during the S28 season, Damien had the following assets available to him going into the S29 Entry Draft: RIG 1st (1st OV), VAS 1st (2nd OV), NYA 1st (7th OV), VAS 2nd (9th OV), & RIG 2nd (11th OV). At the draft, Walec made a trade, sending the S29 NYA 1st (7th OV) as well as Vasteras’ S30 1st rounder (4th OV) to the Seattle Bears in exchange for Toronto’s S29 1st (4th OV) and Seattle’s S29 2nd (16th OV). I’m not sure if Damien intended to compete in S29, making the S30 1st a non-lottery pick (Hint: They didn’t), but regardless, he overpaid slightly to move up 3 spots in the draft. Of his 6 picks in the first 16 spots of the S29 draft, only three ever made it to the VHL, and of those three, only one ever made it past 400 TPE (me). At the time, I recall it not being too bad of a haul though, as 1st overall pick Al Wilson (mutigers) was coming off a successful career with Keon Henderson, and 4th overall pick Brandon Merritt (Brandon Holmes) also had a few successful players before Merritt. Walec’s final move as Vasteras GM would come in S29, as he traded his own player to the New York Americans in exchange for New York’s 1st round pick in S31 and his replacement at GM, Troy Athera (@8Ovechkin8). I still have a great amount of respect for Damien as a member, but I don’t think I would be very wrong to say that his attempted rebuild of Vasteras was a failure; obviously hindsight is 20/20, but of all of the picks/trades he made, the only one who ever made an arguable impact at the VHL level statistically for Vasteras was myself. To review, during his tenure as GM Damien:
  It doesn’t look horrible at 1st glance, but it gets worse the deeper you dig, especially when you consider how much success Qin, Sullivan, and Reikkinen would go on to have in their careers. Like I said, hindsight is 20/20 and there’s not a doubt in my mind Damien would undo most of those trades if given the chance with the information he has now, but at the end of the day, the franchise wasn’t really in that much better of a position when he left versus when he was handed the GM job. 
 
Before GMing

Thomas Corcoran was my 1st real VHL player, drafted 2nd overall in S29 by Vasteras
 
I rejoined the VHL in late May of 2012 after getting tired of SHL drama. Although I wasn’t technically a 1st-gen player, I felt like I was, since I really only stayed on the VHL for about a week in my 1st go around with my player in S26. I felt like the SHL was more about community, while VHL was more about the actual sim/statistics, which I preferred, and I was as active as someone can be in their draft season, earning my max TPE, posting on the forums, etc. 
I remember how excited I was when Damien messaged me before the draft asking about my feelings towards joining Vasteras; I was still getting to know all the teams/members in the league, so I  didn’t really have any idea of what team I wanted to go to in the draft. I recall hearing murmurings that Vasteras was a bad franchise, but I thought nothing of it at the time; I was just happy to be considered a top prospect. I stayed in the VHLM the season after the draft (S29), but Vasteras was still unable to find success with new GM Japinder Singh (8Ovechkin8), missing the playoffs again. 
In his 1st season as GM, Singh shipped off homegrown hero Lasse Milo to the Seattle Bears in exchange for Toronto’s S30 1st Rd pick & Seattle’s S31 2nd & 3rd round picks; at the deadline Singh also acquired two depth pieces in (S22) Dan Jones and (S23) Nick Fisher in exchange for Vasteras’ S31 3rd. Even in hindsight, these were not terrible deals; Milo was Vasteras’ best player at the time, but he was aging and didn’t have a place on a team that needed younger talent, and the S31 3rd Singh traded away for depth/cap floor reaching predictably ended up being a nothing-pick. Singh would continue to wheel & deal in the offseason, making three trades in the S29 offseason. The 1st trade he made was a bit of a head-scratcher, as he sent the 1st overall pick from a season before, Al Wilson, to Riga in exchange for Seattle’s S30 1st (6th overall) and Calgary’s S30 2nd (12th overall); I can’t recall how I felt about this trade, or even why 8O8 did it. Maybe Wilson requested a trade or something of the like, but regardless, Vasteras would eventually lose this trade (surprise surprise). The player selected, Roberto Martucci (Otrebor13), would go inactive for a few seasons after the draft, only to come back to the league at full activity for the Quebec City Meute, after I traded him there prior to S31 for Calgary’s S32 2nd. Singh’s 2nd deal of the S29 offseason was re-acquiring Lasse Milo from the New York Americans in exchange for Seattle’s S31 2nd round pick; when you factor in the trade that sent Milo out of Vasteras and this one, Vasteras had a net gain of a 1st round pick and a 3rd round pick basically for free, not bad. In his last move of the offseason, Singh sent Seattle’s S31 3rd round pick to the Toronto Legion in exchange for Toronto’s 3rd rounder in S31 and depth defenseman, (S26) Lars Strundman.
 In his relatively short stint as Vasteras GM, 8O8 only really made one questionable deal (the Al Wilson trade), but even then, in hindsight the deal was basically a wash as Wilson would never reach the expectations of a 1st overall pick, earning less than 400 TPE in his career. Outside of that deal, Singh actually did a pretty decent job in my opinion, given the situation he stepped into; I think he just didn’t feel like dealing with the negative attitudes towards the team from members outside the organization. 8O8 would made no trades during S30, and would eventually step down at the conclusion of the S30 playoffs (Early December 2012) due to disinterest, naming me as his successor.
 
Rookie GM-ing
If I remember correctly, the reason I was chosen as the next GM was because nobody else really wanted to do it, and I was one of the few members who actually enjoyed playing for Vasteras. I believe the league asked PensFan about taking the job, but he declined, as his activity level was already fading. Outside of myself, there was really no other option in-house; all other roster players were inactive, and I was the most qualified of our “prospects”. Even saying I was the most qualified is a stretch, considering that my management experience in all sim-leagues up to that point was one season as GM of the VHLM’s Oslo Storm during S30. I was a 16-year old kid with minimal experience who was just thrown into one of the worst possible situations a seasoned VHL GM could be thrown into, let alone one with basically no experience. I don’t want to point fingers and put the blame on anybody else, since I did want the position and was excited to get it, but it probably wasn’t the smartest decision by league management to allow a 2nd season member to become a GM after only one season of VHLM GM experience, especially considering the franchise I was taking over.
This media spot would be tens of thousands of words long if I went over every trade I ever made, so I’ll try to only go over the most notable ones. I made quite a few small trades in my first offseason as GM, with the most major being a trade with Ryan Power’s (@Devise) Americans that sent former GM player (S28) Troy Athera and disgruntled recent Vasteras draftee (S31) Samu Heiskanen to New York in exchange for NYA’s S33 1st rounder, two 3rd round picks, aging forward (S24) Gunnar Axelson and the 6th overall pick a season removed, (S30) Jeff Phinney. I felt like this was pretty fair value at the time, as Athera had requested to move on from Vasteras and there was a miscommunication between myself and Heiskanen’s agent regarding his desire to play for Vasteras, so really, Devise gave me pretty fair value knowing that my hands were tied. There would be a few smaller trades made during that offseason (the Martucci trade being the next-most notable), but my first big notorious trade wouldn’t happen until the trade deadline of S31.
At the deadline, Vasteras was where they had been for the last 5 seasons - out of the playoff race and in the doldrums of VHL mediocrity. At this point I was starting to take note of how many prominent VHL members seemed to just shit on Vasteras, the sole reason being “lol/fuck vasteras”. In the four seasons since the Continental Cup, the Iron Eagles had went a combined 88-175-26, and I desperately wanted to shift that trend. I was stuck between a rock and a hard place though; I was the only prospect that had panned out for the team in the past 5 seasons, and very very few free agents wanted to join what seemed to be a ship that was sinking and on fire at the same time. I saw there being no end in sight if I maintained what had been the status quo for the previous half-decade, so I decided that my best course of action would be to make a trade. The trade that follows is what would turn out to be the 1st of many huge gambles that I took as GM, none of them ever panning out. My only real good player on the team was my own, so I basically needed to acquire an entire team if I wanted to compete; luckily for me, Seattle was in the business of selling off most of their aging core. I jumped at the opportunity, acquiring future Hall-of-Famers (S25) CAL G (@JardyB10), (S26) Jarvis Baldwin (@CoachReilly), and 2nd-pairing defenseman (S24) Genghis Khan (@Shyft) in an attempt to go all-in for S32. In return, I practically gave up the farm, trading away Vasteras’ 1sts in both the S32+S33 drafts, Calgary’s S32 2nd round pick, and some depth players. At the time, the trade was met with mostly apprehension, as the team would certainly be better, but the roster only had two good forwards, one defenseman, and a top-tier goalie; I still needed to make more moves to put the team in a position to contend, and I was willing to do whatever it took to make people respect Vasteras again. 
My first order of business in the offseason was to acquire fan-favorite defender Vladimir Boomchenko (@BOOM™) from the Express in exchange for Vasteras’ S34 2nd round pick and (S27) Luukas Laaksonen. Continuing to add to the roster, I acquired journeyman depth defender (S26) Lars Strundman for Brandon Merritt, now nearly a complete draft bust. I believe Quebec City GM Koradek intended on getting Merritt to return to the league, but that never panned out. That same offseason, I made perhaps one of my biggest free agent signings of my entire GM career, signing under-the-radar defenseman Klaus Muller (@solas) to join my ragtag team of contenders. This would be the beginning of what I would consider to be a long partnership between lightning25 and the franchise, as it seemed like he enjoyed playing for Vasteras just as much as I did, with his next player, Willem Janssen, being the face of the franchise starting a few seasons later. I don’t recall us ever talking about it much in depth, but I think he enjoyed being part of the franchise for the same reason I did, in that he wanted to be part of a team that would prove people wrong, having a soft spot for the eternal underdog. 
If I can remember correctly, the most prevalent league-wide opinion of my attempts to bring Vasteras in contention was one of wary scepticism. I can recall a few members who applauded my efforts to make VHL hockey in Vasteras exciting again, whilst some others giddily anticipated the likely-negative results of my acquisitions *cough* @Kyle *cough*. I never understood why he hated Vasteras so much, and if he did ever say why, I don’t recall what it was. Regardless, I acquired a few other depth pieces during the season to round out the roster, most notably Nikolai Chershenko (@Munk), and went into the S32 postseason campaign with a state of nervous excitement; this would be my 1st time in the VHL on a competitive team, and the stakes were higher than ever. There was only one problem; the rest of the European Conference was a bloodbath that year; four teams had winning records, the top 3 all having over 100 points. Even the last-place Cologne Express, who finished with 55 Points, would have made the playoffs if they were in the North American Conference. The Iron Eagles were led by both of their star acquisitions the previous season; Jarvis Baldwin had a 101-point season to lead the offense, whilst CAL G had a Shaw-caliber season, posting a .934 SVPCT, 1.79 GAA, along with 9 SOs. CAL G would ultimate lose out on the Shaw Trophy due to an even more stellar season from his counterpart in Riga, Alexander Labatte, who sported a sparkling .935 SVPCT & 1.64 GAA, as well as 8 SOs. 
Although Vasteras ultimately finished 3rd in the European Conference that season, I wasn’t super nervous about our 1st round opponent, the Helsinki Titans. While they concluded S32 with 10 more points than us, I thought we matched up against them decently well; they certainly had us beat in the Forward department, in depth and skill, as their 2nd line of Qin-Hodgson-Schwarz Esq. had 250+ PTS while ours of Mason-Strundman-Noel only tallied 152 PTS. Defense was a closer, with Helsinki’s top 4 of Nic Riopel, Theseus Athera, Till Lindemann, & Dmitry Baurzahn scoring 243 PTS between them, whilst our defense of Vladimir Boomchenko, Klaus Muller, and Blake Knight tallied 193 PTS; when averaged out per defenseman, Titan defenders scored an average of 61 PTS, while Iron Eagle d-men averaged out to 64 PTS, I’d say it was about a wash. Our biggest advantage in my opinion was at goaltender; I already spoke about CAL G’s fantastic season, but future Hall-of-Famer Tuomas Tukio’s (@Higgins) stats that season were nothing to scoff at either: .927SVPCT/1.80GAA/7SOs. Despite being close statistically to CAL G, Tukio was not nearly as high in TPE at the time, with most of his attributes being in the 80s as opposed to CAL G’s, which were mostly in the 90s. I believed that all we had to do to beat them was to score some timely goals, and get the same goaltending from CAL G that we had been getting all season.
I was wrong. Although we took the Titans to 7 games, it would not be the goaltending that got us there; in fact, both teams had lackluster performances in comparison to the regular season from their netminders in the series, CAL G having a .911SVPCT & 2.72 GAA and Tukio posting a .912SVPCT & 2.14 GAA. The away team would not win a single game the whole series, making our 3rd-place finish in the Euro sting even more. Even if we won, I’m not sure we would have been able to beat 1st place Riga in the next round, as the Titans would go on to be swept by them, but who knows? We finished the regular season 3-3-2 against them, so maybe we would have had a shot. Alas, we were sent home, and I was left with a 1st round exit and no 1st round picks in the next two drafts; time for Vasteras to rebuild...again.
My intend with going all-in on S32 was to bring some legitimacy back to Vasteras’ name, but the end result was far from my intentions; my failure to bring the team deep in the playoffs only continued the stigmata of the franchise. The game thread from Game 7 isn’t available anymore since that site died, but I remember seeing “fuck vasteras”, “typical vasteras”, and comments of the like, and I couldn’t even be mad because they were right! Despite how disappointed I was though, I had to suck it up and attempt to rebuild now, without two of my future 1st round picks. Boomchenko and CAL G were auto-retired, so there was no possible return on them; I sold off depth piece Jack Mason for a 3rd rounder, traded Klaus Muller to Cologne for a 3rd rounder and journeyman goaltender (Rock Star) to fill in whilst the rebuild was going on, retired my S29 player and sent him to Riga for a S34 2nd, shipped Baldwin off to Calgary for arguably the best (of that offseason) return, depth player Andrei Zhirenkov and a S33 2nd, which turned into a loyal Vasteras player in Adam Kylrad. The returns were not great because the market was extremely saturated at the positions I was selling; Muller was the most valuable asset, and I wasn’t able to trade him away before other teams jumped on trades for defenders of similar caliber, such as Radislav Mjers, Troy Athera, Theseus Athera, Cody Inko, and Malcom Spud. My other big trade chip, Jarvis Baldwin, was in his final season and getting hit with depreciation hard, but he ended up having a 138 point season for the Wranglers in S33, so Calgary certainly got the better end of the deal, even if they didn’t win the cup that season. I was disappointed that I had to retire my own player so early in his career; he was going into his prime with 650+ TPE, and there is no doubt in my mind I would have reached the 1,000 TPE plateau with him had he played out his entire career. It was bittersweet that he ended up winning a cup with Riga in S33, as I was excited to have a Continental Cup victory for one of my players so soon in my VHL career, but it felt hollow, as it wasn’t with my team. 
 
The Rebuild

Willem Janssen was one of the few Vasteras success stories during the S30's
 
My hands weren’t completely empty entering the S33 draft that offseason though, as I owned New York’s 1st round pick (10th overall), thanks to the trade that sent Troy Athera to the Americans a few offseasons prior. Despite it being 10th overall, the S33 was stacked, having eventual VHL players all the way until the end of the 2nd round. I selected David Collier with the 10th overall selection, and this pick still annoys me to this day. Collier was a 1st-gen sensation in the SHL at the time, and I still had a player in the SHL at that time so I figured he was a sure-bet to have a similar impact in the VHL. He did not, what I will describe next is to the best of my ability, this happened right before the smf forum broke, so I’m unable to access the PMs/posts from that time; his activity began to drop after being drafted, but Cologne’s GM at the time, Joey Kendrick, remained interested in him. During S33, I traded Collier to Cologne for Cologne’s S35 1st round pick, with the condition that if Collier stayed inactive/didn’t reach a certain TPE threshold (250 or something?), the pick would turn into a future 2nd round pick. Collier’s development stagnated that season, and he did not end up not reaching the TPE threshold Kendrick and I agreed upon, so a deal was made during the S34 offseason that sent Cologne’s S35 1st back to them in exchange for their S36 2nd round pick. At this point the trade was lose/lose for both sides, as Vasteras basically received a S36 2nd rounder for a 1st-round player who was supposed to be a key cog in the rebuild and Cologne traded a semi-valuable pick for a depth player at best… Only Collier didn’t stay inactive for long. As I recall, a few weeks after the trade where I gave Cologne their S35 1st back, Collier returned to the league in full force, earning his TPE and being everything I had hoped he would be, just not for Vasteras (he even became a Co-GM for Cologne a few seasons later); there was nothing I could do except wallow in my own misfortune; here was another case of that typical Vasteras luck. Seasons 33 and 34 were typical VHL rebuilding seasons, with the team losing 50+ games both seasons, but overall, things finally began to turn after S34.
I still owned Vasteras’ 1st in the S34 draft, which I used to select the future face of the franchise, Willem Janssen (solas/lightning25), at 2nd overall. While it wasn’t like there was a another player I wanted as much as Janssen in that draft that would have made my choice tough, I still consider this pick probably my best draft selection of my entire tenure. Janssen was dedicated to Vasteras through and through, and one of his main career goals was to win a cup with Vasteras. The S35 draft would not be nearly as kind to Vasteras, as the player we selected 3rd overall, Leon Leitner (@scotty), would barely pass 200 TPE before disappearing after the smf forum crashed. I attempted to contact him in a variety of ways, but to no avail. It seemed like the perfect marriage; the agent of the greatest VHL player of all time & key cog of both Vasteras cup-winning teams returning to the franchise at a time when they desperately needed one more big name to help them take it to the next level. I’m not sure if scotty just lost interest, couldn’t find the new site, or whatever, but the him not becoming our #1C of the future slowed down our rebuild considerably. Instead of having three powerhouse TPE-whores on the team, we only had two, in my own goaltender (Bagelface) and lightning25/solas’ Janssen. I know it’s kind of pointless to think about now, but I truly believe that things would have turned out different for the Iron Eagles had Collier/Leitner not gone inactive. Take S36 for example, Bagelface and Janssen were entering their primes and leading Vasteras to an unexpected playoff berth at the midway point of the season, 17 points ahead of the supposedly-contending Cologne Express. I didn’t expect to contend that season, so I was pleasantly surprised at how pretty we were sitting at the deadline; I decided to buy at the deadline, acquiring Cody Inko and Lauris Prikulis from Cologne in exchange for a 1st and two low-level prospects. Of course, I can’t talk about that deadline without talking about the one trade I made earlier that season that I was criticized for arguably just as much as the CAL G/Baldwin trade in S32 - the Keiji Toriyama (@street) trade. When you look at who was selected with the 1st rounder I traded for him, Tom Slaughter, it looks like the worst trade of all time. However, Slaughter was only taken 3rd overall to appease a 1st-gen player, Jakub Linholm, who wanted the honor of being drafted high. Had I kept the pick and not traded it, I would have selected Travis Boychuk or Logan Laich. The reason the pick ended up being so high is that somehow the team forgot how to play hockey in the second half of the season, ultimately losing the 17 point lead we had over Cologne and missing the playoffs by three points. Same shit, different day. The harshest trade reaction I think I’ve seen from the general public was indeed the Inko trade. I’ll admit it, I definitely overpaid, but I was the kind of GM who would much rather go for it and overpay, than sit back and just never even attempt to go in at all. People were calling for me to step down because of the trade, even though the 1st I traded ended up turning into a relatively forgettable player in Simon Tremblay (@Megster); if there was ever a trade where both teams lost, this was it. Vasteras would eventually make the playoffs in three straight seasons from S37-39, but we would never make it past the 1st round, losing to the Riga Reign every single time. By S39 I was burnt out; no matter what I did the team couldn’t find meaningful success, and the league was no longer fun for me. Looking back on my messages from that time, I definitely developed a chip on my shoulder early on from what felt like half of the league wanting me to fail; I became a bit ornery about trade negotiations near the end of my tenure (more on that later), but most of all, I just didn’t care anymore. I made my final trade in the S39 offseason, sending Leon Leitner, Devin Sundberg (@gregreg, who ironically actually wanted to be part of Vasteras, but didn’t fit the contention window), and a S41 1st to the Toronto Legion in exchange for star HOF #1C Niklas Lindberg (@boubabi) and #2D Ville Sixten. I acquired Lindberg not only to improve the roster, but to be my replacement as well, since being GM was the only thing tying me to the league at that point, and even then, that tie was hanging on by a thread. I stuck around during S39 to help boubabi out with transactions and showing him the ropes, but that was about it. I created a welfare player after Bagelface retired (Rift Pajodcast), but I didn’t pay too much attention to the league with him, going inactive ~Spring 2015 after a few seasons. 
 
Turning Over a New Leaf
When I stepped down from the GM position, I thought I would have felt sad or upset, but instead I felt nothing; seasons and seasons of having the weight/pressure of trying to succeed with Vasteras wore me down. I wasn’t upset that the franchise was being moved either, I knew that not only was it was inevitable, but that it was mostly my own fault as well. That’s where I actually felt a little sad, knowing that one of the VHL’s most notable (albeit infamous) franchises was going to be relocated because of my failures. I felt kind of dumb for even feeling sad about it, because it’s an online sim hockey league, it’s supposed to be fun; why did I care enough to feel sad that something was happening in an online community? Even if I didn’t want to admit it, the VHL had been something I took pride in and enjoyed for a few years, and while I wasn’t physically upset or anything, I was definitely sort of bummed at how those 9 seasons turned out. It certainly helped that boubabi made a sick logo for the new location, but I still was partial to Vasteras, which is why I asked to be traded when Rift Pajodcast was selected by the now-Stockholm Vikings in the S41 draft. Pajodcast would never play for the Vikings, being traded to the Seattle Bears after the draft; he would win a Continental Cup in one of the biggest finals upsets in S43, but that was pretty much the only highlight of his otherwise boring career. I took the VHL a lot less seriously in my short time of activity with Pajodcast, and it gave me a temporary renewed interest in the league; it wouldn’t last though, as shitposting can only get you so far. I would stay away from the league for around two real-life years, rejoining the league again in S53 with Rudolph Schmeckeldorf in Spring 2017, and stuck around a bit longer than I did with Pajodcast. I lasted for a little over half of Schmeckeldorf’s career, before being a VHLM Commish, VHLM GM, WJC Commish, the extra work of having a Project Player 2 (Boner), and real life led me to burn out again around in early October 2017. Hopefully this time I break the cycle of two-year gaps.
 
Trade Reputation
I would be remiss if I didn’t address my trading reputation in this article. Early on in my GM career I gained a reputation for hoarding late-round picks. This was valid, as I did usually request them in trades. At the time I was still semi-active in the SHL, and I did draft players who had joined from the SHL and went inactive, attempting to convince them to come back to the VHL. I didn’t really see anything wrong with this, as there was nothing stopping other VHL GMs from doing this. I would usually ask for late round picks as add-ins for trades, and most of the other GM’s usually didn’t care, and would throw the picks into the deals. Somewhere along the line me doing that somehow morphed into members thinking I would specifically tell SHL players to not update before the draft so other teams wouldn’t draft them, that I had handshake agreements with draftees who would only update for me, etc., none of which was true. I guess the reputation came from me actively recruiting a bunch of SHL players (as in, they would put me as their recruiter in their Create-A-Player thread) who would come to the VHL and usually stick around for a few weeks before deciding it wasn’t for them, and going inactive. I can see why some other members thought I was purposely telling the recruits to go inactive, but at the end of the day it just wasn’t true. In the latter half of my GM career I recall not even drafting anybody in the later rounds, often whoever was running the draft to give me the BPA, but nevertheless, the reputation persisted.
The other negative reputation I had in terms of trades was my willingness to trade 1st round picks. This criticism is also valid, but you have to understand the position I was in. I know it’s been awhile and my numbers could be off, but I can recall the number of people who actively wanted to play for Vasteras in the S30s on two hands. I doomed myself from the start with the CAL G/Baldwin trade; I think that made a lot of people think that I had no idea what I was doing, and that they would rather sit and watch the dumpster fire than try to help. And honestly, at the beginning, I really didn’t know what I was doing, I had to learn on the fly. I don’t remember a single big FA really giving us that much of a shot in free agency (outside of Muller in S32), but believe me, I tried. I went after Odin Tordahl (BOOM), Chico Salmon (@xDParK), Felix Zamora (@frescoelmo), and more, but the responses were all the same, “Thanks for the offer but…”. Also it certainly didn’t help that many of the older, more influential members of the league would just shit on Vasteras because it was “the cool thing to do”, letting that attitude rub off on younger members; I felt that because of Vasteras’ past reputation, as well as my own, my only real way to actually acquire a decent player was to overpay, and some GM’s knew this and would use it to their advantage. I could have easily sat back and kept all of my draft picks, but would doing that really have helped? I felt that we would have been in the same situation we were in from S28-S31, a perpetual rebuild that seemed like it was just spinning tires in the mud, and that just wasn’t the way I wanted Vasteras to be known. I could certainly write more here, but I think I'm done. I'm also not trying to call anybody out or anything, but I never felt that I was able to truly get my side of the story out.
 

Likewise. I would love to move forward, with a common ground of trying to improve this league more as we go along. I appreciate your response

Hello everyone, if you do not know who I am you may not have figured it out or heard through the grapevine. My is Kendrick and I used to be a member here under that username. I left on terms that weren't what I would have preferred to go out on. I have left a few leagues on better terms than this one, and I find that disappointing because for a large chunk of my time online; this was the place to be. For a while there there seemed to be some people I clashed with for whatever reasons they may be (every interaction with some users was a different experience). I won't deny that I got into it with some people when I could've either avoided it or simply bit my tongue. I owe a bunch of people apologies and a public airing of those seems the best way so they can see it here for reference. I tend to usually make private discussions to do so, but some of those people don't have discord so I don't know how to find them. Anyways, figured I'd get to the nitty gritty.
 
First off, @Beketov. I was hard on you in the days/weeks leading up to me leaving as I was also overwhelmed with the lack of respect from others and putting pressure on you was unfair on my part. I should've handled that better and you do a stand up job at making sure things are running smoothly around here.
 
@Tagger I think in the past I've been hard on you and it bugs me a bit because you've shown to be a man of integrity and class. I apologize for anything that I may have let get away from me.
 
@Beaviss for a while we worked hand in hand in trying to pump this website full of new members. We saw a bunch of things fail and a bunch of things turn a recruiting profit. You're committed to it and that should tell me all I need to know about you. You really do have the VHL as a thing that you pride yourself on positively promoting.
 
@Banackock At times I was very hard on you. I would never personally attack you as I didn't often do that with people on here (more of a passive aggressive type). You re good shit and do a standup job. Your commitment to your team and the leagues growth is something this league is lucky to have.
 
@Victor We have gotten into it from time to time. There were periods of your reign that irked me a little because of the wishy washy rules or what not, but you also never attacked anyone and seemed to have the VHL's growth at the top of your list.
 
@flyersfan1453 I'm not sure what exactly I did, but there was a time when you started to dislike my actions. I would appreciate  a private message so I can begin to understand what it was that set us apart because when I brought you to Cologne, I was very excited and for a long period of time we worked like a good tandem.
 
@Devise I have no clue if you will see this (because I don't know if this is your username) but I respect you, appreciate your knowledge on many different things and can always get behind your ideas when it comes to this league.
 
@boubabi We clashed a lot. Many people have heard about the clash. It was like an oil and water sort of things. I think you're a dedicated member when you're here and you taught me a bit about graphics (something I still have room for improvement on). You've said somethings that I scratch my head at, and at times touch topics that are better left in the mud but I honestly feel that maybe it's just a bunch of different personalities that don't see eye to eye. I honestly don't feel like that pits us against each other though, you have a view on things as you are opinionated and I appreciate that. To be honest, if you didn't state your opinions on matters I'd probably be pissed because "if you have a voice, use it".
 
To anyone else that may feel slighted by no personalized note, feel free to get ahold of me to hash things out, shoot the shit, take the piss or whatever you want to address. I've met some pretty talented, knowledgable, generous (the recent donation fund was great to see!) & inspiring people here and I don't think that will change.
 
For some that may need some air to be cleared. In relation to my voting habits, for a long period of time I was a very unbiased voter for league awards and trophies. A few times I did vote biased because I did see some other members pump their own tires when I felt it wasn't justified. Not saying it was a reactionary thing, but I let my own emotions get in the way of voting. There were times when my personal life seemed like it was raked over hot coals for some to destroy; which I felt pretty disappointed in. I'm a good man, work hard and yes at times wear my heart on my sleeve but I do think this site has grown and I still feel there is more positive growth coming it's way. Thank you for reading, enjoy your day!

Intro Notes:
-  This is the first of four parts. I will also be doing the worst picks of the S60’s for the EU Conference and the best picks for both the NA and EU conference. I've got a WIP spreadsheet here where I shortlisted some of the other potential options for this article and also potential options for best NA picks. 
- These are not necessarily bad picks on the part of the General Manager, in fact most of these players were selected in the rounds that pretty much everyone expected them to be picked in.
- Some of the criteria that go into my selections are as follows
           o   Pick the player was taken with
           o   How well the player did for the team
           o   If the player was relatively quickly moved to another team, what value they got for them
           o   Strength of the Draft Class
           o   Any miscellaneous issues I feel are relevant to the selection
- As mentioned in the D.C bit, it's obviously a bit early to be analyzing the prospects of Season 68 and Season 69 players. However, I feel I have good candidates (at least for now) for all teams and, if there are any significant changes, I will probably do a follow-up article to address those.
 
 
Calgary

Donat Szita
Season 65 – 20th Overall (3rd Round)
 
When I was writing this article, I did not think that I was going to writing that a third rounder was going to be a team’s worst draft pick of the S60’s, but here we are. Donat Szita (who had the username Famished Blanket) had a very promising start to his career, earning ten capped TPE in each of his first three weeks in the league and passing the 100 TPE plateau in his fourth week. However, that fourth week would also be his final week as an active member of the VHL as he was permanently banned for inappropriate language and behaviour in the league’s discord channel. Despite the fact that the Season 65 Draft took place over two months after this ban was put into effect, the Wranglers decided to select him in the third round of the Season 65 Draft even though there were still active members on the board (in fact six of the eight picks immediately following Calgary’s selection of Szita would go on to make the VHL). While I think some in the Calgary organization felt that his ban should be overturned, that was never going to be the case and Calgary essentially wasted their pick on someone who would never play a single minute for them. The bit that makes this Calgary’s worst pick of the S60’s though is because of what they did with Brian Strong, a player who was selected two picks later than Szita by the Vancouver Wolves. Just a couple of weeks after the draft, the Wranglers acquired Strong in a trade. However, the piece they had to send was a Season 66 2nd round selection, despite the Season 66 draft being widely regarded as a much more promising draft class than the Season 65 one and Strong having only been selected a round later a few weeks previous in a supposed weaker draft class. If Calgary valued Strong that much, why did they not just draft him instead of Szita and save the Season 66 2nd rounder to strengthen their roster elsewhere?
 
D.C.

Kaspars Claude
Season 68 – 14th Overall (2nd Round)
 
It’s obviously very early to be talking about the success (or I guess in this case, lack of) of the players selected by the D.C. Dragons and the Prague Phantoms given that they’ve only been in two VHL Drafts and there’s a chance I will come back at a later date should things change, but I think both teams already have solid candidates for best and worst selections so I’ll at least share them for now and maybe make some amendments if things change.
 
I remember back in mid-October when I talked with Enorama on our podcast that we did together that every player who he had taken in the Season 68 Draft had updated within the last week and how that was an impressive feat for a team, especially an expansion team in its first season that will obviously not be set to compete with the other VHL teams for a few seasons. Unfortunately however, some of those players have now fallen off and probably the highest profile of these players is Kaspars Claude. Claude’s earning started off real strong and he was frequently earning 10-12 capped TPE per week and his first season on the Dragons was a fairly productive one, finishing fourth on the Dragons in points. However, real life issues have prevented Claude from progressing his player further since the start of Season 69 and he now only sees minutes on the fourth line of the Dragons offense.  On the positive side however, if he is able to come back, he’s still got a potential six seasons to go, which is more than enough time to make up any deficit.
 
New York

Carles Puigdemont
Season 65 – 1st Overall
 
When Ryan Kastelic was taken first overall in the Season 63 Draft, it had ended an over-thirty season wait for a first gen to be taken with the first pick in the VHL Draft. However, we didn’t have to wait nearly as long for the next instance as, just two seasons later, the New York Americans followed suit and selected the Spanish center Carles Puigdemont with the first overall pick in the Season 65 Draft. The pick was not considered to be a surprise as Puigdemont was the highest TPE player entering the draft and had a considerable 100 TPE lead over his nearest forward rival Gritty, who went fourth overall. While Puigdemont certainly didn’t have a terrible first season on the ice (putting up 28 goals and 28 assists), the work rate that saw him get selected first overall was no longer there.  Prior to the draft, Puigdemont had recorded 13 weeks where he had earned the maximum possible 12 capped TPE, but after being drafted to the Americans, his first week on the team would be the only week he would record 12 capped TPE as a player on a VHL roster. After a couple of months of weekly earnings that varied between 2 and 8 TPE per week, he looked like he was finally getting back on track with a 10 TPE week at the start of May entering Season 66, but those were actually some of the last posts we would see from Eudaldkp, as he has not posted on the site at all since then. After another season of similar production, New York elected to cut their losses and traded Puigdemont to the Seattle Bears for Chace Trepanier, who was a third-round selection in Season 63. The Bears would move Puigdemont to defenseman and he even wound up playing a part in their S68 Continental Cup winning season, albeit a very limited part (he played 5 mins per game over the course of the playoffs). Now in his fifth season, he’s currently playing as a second-line defenseman for the Toronto Legion although with free agency and regression both on the horizon, I wouldn’t be surprised if this was his last season in the VHL. 
 
Quebec City/Vancouver

Samuel Gate
Season 61 - 2nd Overall
 
In terms of actual production based on the pick they were taken with, this definitely isn’t Quebec City/Vancouver’s worst pick. Back in Season 63, they selected Jose Gonzalez with the eighth overall pick (the last pick of the first round), but he clearly didn’t want to play for Quebec City and only gave them seven points in his rookie season before being sent off to Davos. At least they got some VHL minutes out of him though, Season 66 second rounder Kyle Sabertooth retired from the VHL before the Wolves even got chance to put his name on a jersey. It’s also not like Gate was a terrible player for them either; while he never broke a point per game for the Meute/Wolves (although he did when he got traded to Seattle in Season 66, his final VHL season), he was hitting just short of that more seasons than he wasn’t. Finally, while Gate’s 610 TPE isn’t exactly what you want out of your second overall pick, it’s certainly serviceable enough to make a decent player. So why is Gate their worst pick of the S60’s? Well, quite simply, he wasn’t Podrick Cast, who was the player selected with the pick immediately after Gate's. A future (potentially first-ballot) HOFer, Cast was a free-scoring center who recorded over the double the points that Gate did in his career and finished his career with over 1000 more TPE. Looking at the Meute consistently ranking around the middle of the standings in goals in the four/five seasons following the draft, you could see how a player like Cast could have really given them a proper shot at the Continental Cup in those earlier seasons, especially while Rauno Palo was developing (Palo, while possessing a high TPE count, had a lot of early struggles given his unique initial build that had him start with very little offensive capabilities).
 
Seattle

Shane Mars
Season 66 – 3rd Overall
 
This was a close call between two players Seattle picked with the third overall selection, Season 66’s Shane Mars and Season 68’s Thorny Underyew. While both went inactive very early on in their careers, their careers with the Bears went in different ways. Mars had an exceptional rookie season that saw him win the Rookie of the Year Award in a period where Seattle was starting a proper rebuild but saw extremely limited minutes once the Bears were ready to compete and they wound up letting him walk in Free Agency once his rookie deal expired. Underyew on the other hand didn’t even register a full season with the Bears before being sent off to the Wranglers as part of a package that allowed the Bears to bring in Joel Ylonen. The one thing that they do have in common though is that, despite both being on rosters, neither of them feature on any of their current team’s lines. Ultimately I decided to go with Mars as the worst pick for the Bears in the S60’s for a couple of reasons. One is that while they did trade Underyew for value, they didn’t really get any value out of keeping Mars. The second reason was that while Underyew was undoubtedly a disappointing pick for the Bears, if we say that they were definitely after a forward, there weren’t really any other good options taken in the first round (you’d have to go down to Owen Nolan in the second round for the best forward in the class as both Frans Eller and Teemu Lehtinen Jr. have gone inactive) whereas in the Season 66 Draft’s first round, Jet Jaguar and Mikko Aaltonen were also taken in the first round and they both feature prominently in the VHL at this minute (as of writing, both are in the top 10 in goals).
 
Toronto

Mikhail Vega
Season 61 – 9th Overall (2nd Round)
 
As has been well-memed previously, Devise does not do drafts, so there really isn’t that much to play with when it comes to picking out specific draft picks, as most of them were selected in the three seasons of the S60’s when DollarAndADream was the Legion’s general manager. While you could maybe make an argument that Johnny Havenk Carison’s career as a whole didn’t justify being selected as high as third overall (especially given the next pick wound up being one of the best forwards of the last few seasons), he justified his selection with his Playoff MVP performance in Season 65, one of only two seasons he played as a starter in his four seasons with the team. So instead, I will go with the player who went with the first pick in the second round of the Season 61 VHL Draft Mikhail Vega. Vega very nearly joined some of the other players in this article on the list of players retiring before they made it to the VHL, as he declared his intent to retire prior to the start of Season 62 having spent Season 61 down in the VHLM. His reasons at the time for retiring stood out as bizarre; citing his dislike of the portal update system which he had yet to even try and in fact hadn’t even earned any TPE through PT’s to use it for anyway along with insisting, despite his retirement, that he’d stick around as VHLM GM (which was never going to happen as, obviously with the role, you’re required to have at least some knowledge of the basic league systems). Vega did end up unretiring, but still never used the portal update system in his VHL career, although he has gone on to do much better things with Denver Wolfe (a contender for one of Vancouver’s best picks). Curiously enough, Vega wound up winning the Continental Cup with the Legion in Season 65 despite the fact that Wolfe had already been drafted in the VHL, which technically isn’t allowed, so I will be demanding that the Toronto Legion be stripped of their Continental Cup and it be given to Riga and EdwinCast. Thank you and goodnight.
 
2000+ Words. Using for weeks ending 12/29, 1/5, 1/12 and 1/19 (barring other circumstances)

Yeah, he's certainly in my top three for sure.
 
I only know about 10 hockey players though, so I don't know how big of an achievement that is. 

Yeah, he's certainly in my top three for sure.
 
I only know about 10 hockey players though, so I don't know how big of an achievement that is. 

@Tagger

Great article, just wanted to say thanks as well for your work throughout the season covering the draft, it's been a fun series to follow!

Well, here we are. After following the S70 VHL draft this entire season, it feels weird to say it's actually here. Nevertheless, it's time I reveal my final rankings. I'll be showing my top 24 prospects, which would make up the first two rounds. It's important that I clarify that this is not a mock draft, it is who I believe are the best picks at each spot without any connection to the teams making the selection. Hopefully you all enjoy.
 
#1 - Edwin THE Encarnacion - 366 TPE: No trend, Low risk, High potential
Edwin THE Encarnacion has been a player who has spent most of his time at number one in my rankings, and never falling out of the top two. He has consistently earned high amounts of TPE, never really slowing down much. With 75 TPE in his last 3 full weeks, it is clear that he is not taking his foot off the gas at all. It is also notable that he is the only player in this draft to earn every possible capped TPE. Encarnacion is a star player at both ends of the rink, being the two way defenseman that so many teams covet. He put up a mind boggling 122 points in the regular season, and had a +91 rating. I know he was on Saskatoon, but that is incredible. In the playoffs, he led all S70 draftees with 24 points in 14 games, ultimately winning the Founders Cup. I expect Encarnacion to become a star.
 
#2 - Mikko Lahtinen - 342 TPE: No trend, Low risk, High potential
Lahtinen is the other half of the top two that has never once been broken in my rankings, and for good reason. He is a speedy centerman with top tier goal scoring ability, and he showcased that with his 44 goals this season. He, like Encarnacion, has consistently earned high amounts of TPE, never once letting up. The Finn earns a minimum of 10 capped TPE per week for his jobs as a commissioner and simmer, so that further lowers the risk of taking him. Another key piece in the cup winning Wild, he put up 18 points in 14 games to help his team win it all. I could see a team opting to choose Lahtinen first overall because of his potential as a number one centerman, and I think they would be very happy with what they got. There is no right or wrong pick concerning the top two.
 
#3 - Odin Omdahl - 302 TPE:  No trend, Low risk, High potential
Here's a fun fact: Since joining the league, Odin Omdahl has earned the most TPE out of anyone in this draft (excluding this week, as it is incomplete). Not Encarnacion, not Lahtinen. Although I think they have the advantage right now, my bold prediction for this draft is that Omdahl becomes the best player to come out of it. He is the perfect powerplay defenseman, with a cannon of a shot from the point which scored him 48 goals this season. This is not to take away from his defensive game which is by no means lagging behind. The 21 year old blocked 102 shots this season alone, and posted a +48 rating with Mexico City. Omdahl is sure to become a great player for the team that drafts him.
 
#4 - Jacques Lafontaine - 258 TPE: No trend, Low risk, High potential
The top goalie in the draft, Lafontaine led Saskatoon to their dominating Founders Cup victory. He posted a near impossible 68 wins in 72 games on the season, and a .900 save percentage. Characterized by great reaction time and rebound control, the Canadian netminder has a calming presence in the net that instills confidence in his teammates shift after shift. His TPE earning has been steady, and he has earned most of it in the form of capped TPE. This means that he takes care of his weekly tasks extremely well, but doesn't necessarily make the most of TPE opportunities on the forum, like theme week for example. Despite this, Lafontaine is still an elite goalie with a bright future ahead of him.
 
#5 - Chad Magnum - 229 TPE: Trending up, Low risk, High potential
Magnum has been earning TPE at magnificent rates since joining the league, being our first first-gen player on the rankings. This means he started with just 30 TPE in mid November, and is already catching up to the top prospects. He led the draft class in TPE earned in a single week on three separate occasions, and has definitely earned his spot on the list. The big center put up a fair 25 points in 67 games, though preferably those numbers would be higher. He did show his ability to hit like a truck,  with 149 total this season. His build is based on a high energy, hard hitting style of play with some added scoring prowess. He is sure to be one to watch once this draft is all said and done.
 
#6 - Iangenere Risteneen - 212 TPE: No trend, Low risk, High potential
Risteneen has shown a lot of potential over the course of this season, earning TPE steadily, and even getting a job as the VHL News Manager. Averaging 24 TPE in his last 5 full weeks, he has proven his dedication to building a top tier player. He scored 39 goals in the regular season, helping the Lynx to a 7th place finish, and demonstrated his ability in all zones, with a +30 rating on top of his remarkable 91 points. The teenager is the top ranked winger on the list, and deservedly so.
 
#7 - Shawn Glade Jr - 245 TPE: Trending down, Moderate risk, High potential
These last few weeks before the draft have not worked to Glade Jr's advantage, but he is still 5th in TPE and has shown glimpses of immense potential. After earning 120 TPE across the span of 6 weeks, he fell down to a concerning 16 TPE in his last 3 full weeks. His stats in the regular season were the best among S70 draftees, with 129 points as a defenseman in Ottawa. His defensive stats were also dominant, recording a +22 rating, 145 shot blocks and 112 hits. There is a lot of potential here, and I really hope the American defenseman can make the most of it.
 
#8 - Jaxx Hextall - 186 TPE: Trending up, Moderate risk, High potential
Hextall has burst onto the scene lately, earning massive amounts of TPE for the past 3 weeks, 4 if you include this week in which he has already earned 20. He has lightning quick reflexes, and they will only get better with time. He had an .879 save percentage in the playoffs, helping Halifax advance to the second round. The only real concern with Hextall is that hopefully he can keep earning at an elite level, and not fall back into the 8 TPE per week he began with in his career. I believe he will keep up his fantastic work as of late, and become a really good goalie in the VHL in a few seasons. Expect him to be a force next season in the VHLM.
 
#9 - Lewis Dawson - 207 TPE: No trend, Low risk, Moderate potential
Lewis Dawson is a player who I think will break out next season if he stays in the VHLM. His offensive stats were acceptable, but this season his offensive tools are sure to shine, and I expect him to be among the league's best. Although his defensive game could use work, only blocking 2 shots all season, his offensive game is more than enough to make up for it. He is a quick skater with brilliant vision and a sneaky good shot. I put moderate potential for him, but he could very well prove me wrong and become a star in the VHL. 
 
#10 - Jared Spaz - 165 TPE: No trend, Low risk, High potential
Spaz came into the league rather late, and as a first-gen, had a steep hill ahead of him to climb in order to catch up to the top prospects. He has climbed with ease, landing at number ten in my rankings. I think he has a ton of potential, but his TPE suggests that he still needs another season to prepare for the VHL. During this extra season, expect him to showcase his elite scoring talent and improve upon his 24 points in 54 games from this season.
 
#11 - Kyle Andersen - 173 TPE: No trend, Moderate risk, Moderate potential
Andersen is a player which I would have called low risk, but his 5 TPE earned this week raises some concern. He performed well for Philly this season, with 65 points in 72 games. Even more impressive was his 12 points in 6 playoff games. The defender is very well rounded, with his only real weakness being his passing. I could see him becoming a real nice piece for a team that drafts him come draft day.
 
#12 - Justin Graves - 143 TPE: Trending up, Moderate risk, High potential
Graves joined in the last week of S70 draft eligibility, and like Spaz, had a steep hill to climb. He still has a ways to go, but he is catching up extremely quick. Earning over well over 100 TPE in his first 6 weeks, he is on a path to much success. His offensive numbers were not great, but joining that late in the season in a limited role with Mississauga didn't give him much opportunity. Next season he is sure to be great wherever he ends up, where he can use his nearly unmatched vision.
 
#13 - Derek Eriksson - 150 TPE: No trend, Low risk, Moderate potential
Eriksson has shown glimpses of higher potential, but it seems as though his baseline for TPE per week is 8. I think he could end up being better than expected, but as of right now his potential doesn't seem to be as high as those above him. This being said, he has been very consistent in earning TPE, and he posted some really nice numbers in the VHLM last season, with 55 points in 62 games with the Reapers. He is an offensive threat with notable defensive awareness as well.
 
#14 - Gabriel Gutzwiler - 150 TPE: No trend, Low risk, Moderate potential
Along with his brother, Leon, Gabriel Gutzwiler has been a force to be reckoned with in Halifax. With 73 points in 72 games and 35 goals, Gabriel is dangerous in the offensive zone, and uses his elite shot to his advantage. He also had a fantastic +54 rating, so his defensive game is also polished and effective. His TPE earning has been unwavering and steady, although not extremely high. While some players have consistency issues, that is the last of his worries. I see it as a very high possibility that he makes the VHL and is a valuable player, but I don't think at this point that he has shown star potential.
 
#15 - Damien Wolfe - 161 TPE: Trending down, High risk, High potential
Not too long ago Wolfe was a staple in the top 5 for this draft. His TPE production dipped for two weeks before going completely inactive for two more weeks, and he has just come back this week. I still see a lot of potential, but he needs to get back to where he was a month ago before I can consider him a top prospect again. Despite his lack of activity, Wolfe really came alive in the playoffs for Saskatoon, with 8 goals and 9 assists in 14 games. I hope he gets back to being the exciting prospect he was a month ago, because he could be a steal if he falls this far in the actual draft.
 
From here, I'm just going to be listing my picks rather than profiling them. Hope you enjoyed, and good luck to everyone in the draft tonight!
 
#16 - Aleelee Kiak - 125 TPE:  No trend, Moderate risk, Moderate potential
#17 - Leon Gutzwiler - 141 TPE: No trend, Low risk, Low potential
#18 - Dick Cheezy - 128 TPE: No trend, Moderate risk, Low potential
#19 - Ike Bennett - 89 TPE: Trending up, Moderate risk, Moderate potential
#20 - Alex Bridges - 97 TPE: Trending up, Moderate risk, Moderate potential
#21 - Jimothy Frost - 130 TPE: Trending down, High risk, Moderate potential
#22 - Vladimir Shaposhnikov - 77 TPE:  No trend, Low risk, Low potential
#23 - JaredN - 74 TPE:  No trend, High risk, Moderate potential
#24 - Aleksandra Olsen - 96 TPE:  No trend, Moderate risk, Low potential

Hello everyone! You all know who I am (or, rather, most of you know who I am at least), so although a brief introduction is in order, I'll keep it to a VSN introduction rather than an autobiography. Recently, I've had the privilege of joining the VSN staff as a sort of long-term-projects guy, pretty much writing whatever I want, whenever I want, so long as it's quite the undertaking. You certainly won't see me putting out VSN content every week, and not every article I write will be a VSN article, but just know that I am here and (somewhat) dedicated to bringing top-quality content to the masses. That's more than enough about me, though. Right now it's all about the draft, and with all the hype, what's better than another mock? 
 
You'll notice that this mock follows the same format as the big mock drafts you've seen in previous seasons--first, in S68, run by @McWolf, and second, last season, run by yours truly. Each player's placement was predicted by four people in this case--not just myself but @Doomsday, @Erik Summers, and our editor-in-chief, @FrostBeard. Overall order was determined by ranking the placement of the averages. At a certain point (read: when all these trades were only about halfway through), the teams were locked in, as everything was simply happening too quickly to adjust everything and make changes to every pick that had been traded. TPE numbers, too, are as of a couple days ago, and though they're generally accurate they may not be completely so. So, if your team is shown here picking in a spot where they shouldn't be picking, feel free to yell at me about it, but please understand that we didn't have much choice.
 
Onto the mock!
 
 
ROUND 1
 
 #1. Calgary Wranglers 
Edwin THE Reincarnacion | @Tagger | D | Saskatoon Wild | TPE: 351
Frostbeard: 1 | Gustav: 1 | Doomsday: 1 | Erik: 1
Calgary's plans for the Season 70 draft were hardly a secret: get Bek and Tagger. Or was it Tagger and Bek? Either way, thanks to the lottery awarding them the top two picks of the draft, it really doesn't matter as the Wranglers will be adding the new players from both builders. Edwin THE Reincarnacion gets the nod for first overall due to coming into the draft with over 350 TPE, which will easily slide him into Calgary's defensive core as their fifth defenseman. He'll immediately become a Top Four quality defenseman right off the bat with his elite work ethic, which was on full display during the Saskatoon Wild's thorough whipping of the VHLM this past season, in which the 50 year-old racked up 122 points and another 24 in the playoffs. Calgary is walking away with an absolute stud on and off the ice in Edwin THE Reincarnacion.
-Doomsday
 
 
 #2: Calgary Wranglers (from Davos via Vancouver) 
Mikko Lahtinen | @Beketov | C | Saskatoon Wild | TPE: 343
Frostbeard: 2 | Gustav: 2 | Doomsday: 2 | Erik: 2
It's really a no-brainer what Calgary should do with the first two picks in the draft, and whether it's Encarnacion and Lahtinen or vice versa doesn't really matter. The Wranglers know exactly what they're getting here, and it's hard to imagine that any team wouldn't--our commissioner has been an active member of this league since its inception on July something-or-other, 2007, and regardless of his Hall-of-Fame luck, whoring TPE for 69 68 whole seasons (of course, I can't write about Bek without also annoying him about the whole S1 debacle) is very significant, and certainly doesn't suggest that things will change anytime soon. So, whether it's first or second, Lahtinen to Calgary.
-Gustav
 
 
 #3: DC Dragons 
Odin Omdahl | @zepheter | D | Mexico City Kings | TPE: 302
Frostbeard: 3 | Gustav: 4 | Doomsday: 4 | Erik: 3
The only non-Calgary pick in the top four, DC has a lot of solid options. After picking forwards almost exclusively in the S69 draft, I expect that they will favor defensive prospects in this draft. Among the top defenseman last season in the VHLM was Odin Omdahl. With 48 goals, 68 assists, and 102 shots blocked, Omdahl made a difference every time he was on the ice. He was 10th overall in scoring and 4th among defenseman. Odin seams to be developing into an power play specialist, with the second most power play goals in the VHLM last season with 28. Also of note, Omdahl was tied for first among defenseman in game winning goals, making it clear that he can turn it on when it matters.
-Erik
 
 
 #4: Calgary Wranglers (from Prague) 
Jacques Lafontaine | @SlapshotDragon| G | Saskatoon Wild | TPE: 258
Frostbeard: 4 | Gustav: 4 | Doomsday: 3 | Erik: 6
The best goaltender in the draft, a goaltender that just won Founder's cup, what is there not to like?  Lafontaine was a true backbone to what we saw in Saskatoon's incredible playoff run. An active member of our community, weekly 12 TPE guaranteed, probably even more. This is a guy you really want to replace your goal-tending core that you just traded away. Calgary is going to be rebuilding and for that, they will be in need of some talented players to help them grow and become something more than just a bottom-feeding, hopeful playoff team.
-FrostBeard
 
 
 #5. Davos HC Dynamo (from Toronto) 
Chad Magnum | @Corco | C | Yukon Rush | TPE: 210
Frostbeard: 5 | Gustav: 5 | Doomsday: 5 | Erik: 5
The Davos HC Dynamo come into the draft holding several first round picks, but despite a rough season, they don't get their first selection until now. For a team in need of considerable help, VSN is projecting them to select a player that scored 25 points in 67 games between Mexico City and Yukon last season in the VHLM. While that is a surprisingly low total, Chad Magnum did score 12 goals on just 51 shots. With advanced statistics being all the rage, perhaps General Manager Katie Warren envisions Magnum becoming the VHL's next elite sniper. But regardless of what you feel about his lack of statistical production in the minors, the fact remains that Chad Magnum is a talented player that absolutely is worth the top five pick being used here to take him. With a strong off-season, he will be in Davos making his mark this year instead of returning to the VHLM. 
-Doomsday
 
 
 #6: New York Americans 
Iangenere Risteneen | @Maasa | LW | Ottawa Lynx | TPE: 201
Frostbeard: 6 | Gustav: 6 | Doomsday: 6 | Erik: 4
Risteneen is the first great first-gen player in the draft class (unless you'd like to count Omdahl, whose agent had a previous player, albeit with limited success), and sees himself breaking well into the first round after being drafted into the VHLM with 32 TPE. New York's alternative at this position, Lewis Dawson, has similar TPE and, as a recreate, much more experience--but with recreation comes carryover, and with that comes the fact that Risteneen has a higher earn rate and is on pace to pass Dawson, possibly for good. Drafting first-gens is always much riskier than taking the safe road with a proven vet, but here Maasa's active Discord presence, earn rate, and great enthusiasm in general make the decision for the Americans, who pick up a player with loads of potential and a great future.
-Gustav
 
 
 #7: Malmo Nighthawks 
Lewis Dawson | @monkeywrench15 | C | Mexico City Kings | TPE: 207
Frostbeard: 7 | Gustav: 7 | Doomsday: 7 | Erik: 7
The VSN prediction committee was unanimous on this one. Malmo will be looking to refill their prospect pool soon, as they are quickly running out of potential players in their farm system. Lewis Dawson is an excellent candidate for this, as he had an excellent finish to his S69 season in Mexico City. Dawson will need to spend another season in the VHLM to develop, but he is a steal for a team like Malmo who doesn't need the help immediately. They say not to trust someone with two first names, but I think that must also go for the numbers of someone with two last names. Lewis Dawson had 30 points this season, but his stats don't tell the whole story. Dawson might be the most improved player of S69 in the VHLM, highlighted by the amazing shorthanded goal he scored late in the season.
-Erik
 
 
 #8: Helsinki Titans  
Jaxx Hextall | @ROOKIE745 | G | Halifax 21st | TPE: 184
Frostbeard: 8 | Gustav: 8 | Doomsday: 10 | Erik: 10
An important piece on Halifax roster, another goaltender in our top 10. In this case, this is a pick of plain need. Helsinki are very well aware that their star goaltender in Alexander Pepper is not going to be there for much longer so they need to find a quality replacement and why not go for a guy who has been an active member of community from his day one and who is as active as you can be in terms of claiming TPE and building his player to the standard you would want your future Number 1 goaltender be.
-FrostBeard
 
 
 #9: HC Davos Dynamo (from Moscow) 
Kyle Andersen | @Cusemode | D | Philadelphia Reapers | TPE: 170
Frostbeard: 11 | Gustav: 10 | Doomsday: 8 | Erik: 8
In a draft class that's thin on defensemen, it's difficult to say what exactly will happen with Andersen. Will someone reach for him out of positional need, or will BPA-type strategy take over and lead to a more realistic placement? To put it short and sweet: Andersen is the last defenseman for quite a while, and though he's (usually) more of a welfare guy, he regularly completes extra tasks and earns a solid 8 TPE or so per week. For a rebuilding (?) team like Davos, this is just fine--not only do they capitalize on the best defenseman on the board by far, they end up with a player who will be in his prime right along with Glade, making the future look bright for the Davos blueline.
-Gustav
 
 
 #10. Toronto Legion (from Vancouver) 
Jared Spaz | @Spaz | RW | Yukon Rush | TPE:158
Frostbeard: 9 | Gustav: 11 | Doomsday: 9 | Erik: 13
 
With GM changes in Toronto, you can finally see a true rebuild happening . With so many acquired draft picks and more, the team is looking solid and will be a contender once their draftees from next few seasons will be ready to tear up the league. One of these very well might be Jared Spaz. Even though his stats are not really showing much in terms of on-ice production, we are looking at a guy who is a hard worker, who constantly gains at least 12 TPE weekly and is growing rapidly for a first-gen player.
-FrostBeard
 
 
 #11: Helsinki Titans (from Riga)  
Damien Wolfe | @Laflamme | LW | Philadelphia Reapers | TPE: 161
Frostbeard: 10 | Gustav: 9 | Doomsday: 17 | Erik: 9
Well then, a player who just recently got traded away from Saskatoon Wild, a team that won the Founder's cup, to Philadelphia Reapers. A welfare player that many might think is not worth such a high pick, but I beg to differ as he has proven himself to be a proficient scorer and a true playoff contender. All what his new GM has to do is inspire Wolfe to spend more time in practice facility and get extra few TPE weekly as that will make this pick extremely reasonable.
-FrostBeard
 
 
 #12: H.C. Davos Dynamo 
Shawn Glade Jr. | @ShawnGlade | D | Ottawa Lynx | TPE: 245
Frostbeard: 12 | Gustav: 12 | Doomsday: 12 | Erik: 12
The first of the GM plays to be subject to the new rules, the VSN prediction committee unanimously agreed that Shawn Glade would be using Davos' first round pick on Shawn Glade Jr. The Dynamo have been in dire need of reinforcements for some time and it looks like they finally have some coming. Shawn Glade Jr. was the second highest scoring defenseman in the VHLM this season, with 38 goals, 91 assists, and 145 shots blocked. He is also the highest scoring player available in the S70 draft, despite playing with much less support on the Lynx than many other available players. The Drafting of Shawn Glade Jr. might finally signal a change in the fate of HC Davos. 
-Erik
 
 
ROUND 2
 
 
 #13: H.C. Davos Dynamo 
Gabriel Gutzwiler | @DaftRaincloud | LW | Halifax 21st | TPE: 150
Frostbeard: 14 | Gustav: 15 | Doomsday: 11 | Erik: 11
This first pick of the second round and the first of the Gutzwiler brothers. With the best defenseman locked down with the 12th pick, expect Davos to be in search of some offensive prospects as well. Gabriel Gutzwiler managed just over a point per game with 73 points in S69 and an impressive 13.25% shooting percentage. The Gutzwiler brothers will likely stay in the VHLM another season. Not only will it benefit them to develop a little longer, but the 21st may make a deep cup run this coming season, giving Gabriel some much needed big-game experience.
-Erik
 
 
 #14: DC Dragons 
Derek Eriksson | @DirtyDerek | RW | Philadelphia Reapers | TPE: 150
Frostbeard: 15 | Gustav: 14 | Doomsday: 13 | Erik: 14
If Eriksson is on the board at 14 (and only one of our pundits believes that he won't be), I can practically guarantee that he'll be heading to the Dragons. Why is that? Well, first of all, he's a good pickup at this point, consistently earning 6-8 capped per week and looking like a solid future option for any team willing to take a chance. And, second of all, it's hard to name a player in this draft more closely connected with DC management than Eriksson--originally joining the league discord for a gaming hangout with a few friends, one of which is Dragons GM Enorama. Today, he's seen not only there but on our forum as well, where he likely figures to be available when (guess who) DC is up on the clock.
-Gustav
 
 
 #15. Moscow Menace (from Prague) 
Justin Graves | @JDGraves | RW | Mississauga Hounds | TPE: 137
Frostbeard: 13 | Gustav: 13 | Doomsday: 15 | Erik: 16
Early in the second round, the Moscow Menace are finally on the clock for the first time. The impact prospects are off the board, but there is still plenty of value to be had with this class. Justin Graves is a young winger who had limited playing time in the VHLM with Mississauga, but quickly emerged as a selfless, pass-first type of player. While he will more than likely require another season in the minors before he’s ready for the pros, Graves still is a perfect fit for a Moscow team with two aging wingers in Jorgon Weyed and Dan Bailie. He will be able to take that extra season to develop without hurting the Menace one bit, and when Weyed retires following Season 70, Graves will be ready to go to take his place on the roster. Regardless of who selects him, Justin Graves will be a very nice pickup at this point of the draft for any team.
-Doomsday
 
 
 #16: New York Americans 
Leon Gutzwiler | @Gwdjohnson | C | Halifax 21st | TPE: 139
Frostbeard: 19 | Gustav: 18 | Doomsday: 14 | Erik: 15
The second Gutzwiler brother is expected to go just slightly later in the draft than Gabriel. The New York Americans have a lot of good prospects in the works and Leon Gutzwiler should keep the pipes stocked with new, high-quality recruits. Leon actually outscored his brother in S69 with 81 points in the regular season and another 13 in the playoffs. This is pair is going to be dominant in the VHLM this year and hopefully, with the extra experience, they will be ready to make a big splash in the VHL in S71.
-Erik
 
 
 #17: Helsinki Titans (from Toronto)  
Dick Cheezy | @goldenglutes | C | Mississauga Hounds | TPE: 128
Frostbeard: 17 | Gustav: 16 | Doomsday: 16 | Erik: 17
Dick Cheezy is an interesting choice as he has been a welfare taker for all his career and now it almost seems he will out on some extra TPE as he hasn't updated this week yet. For Helsinki this is a huge bet in the dark - will this player turn out to be anything valuable or he will end up being a bit of a bust.  He spent his last season on Mississauga and had a decent season statistically, nothing to write home about but a strong showing by a rookie in VHLM.
-FrostBeard
 
 
 #18. New York Americans 
Aleelee Kiak | @Grant | RW | Houston Bulls | TPE: 121
Frostbeard: 18 | Gustav: 20 | Doomsday: 18 | Erik: 18
After spending his season with the Houston Bulls, in which he put up 28 points (10 goals, 18 assists, -26), Aleelee Kiak is a guy that is, fair to say, rather under the radar. He is a skilled scorer, but unfortunately that ability is held back by his skating, which quite simply isn’t good enough for this level yet. His work ethic leaves something to be desired, but Kiak is still improving on a consistent basis and that alone will get him drafted into the VHL as a solid flyer. The New York Americans are a team that has considerable depth at forward, which is something that Kiak could fit into nicely if he makes the jump to the VHL. If he finds his way onto a team with a general manager that believes in him and can motivate him to work harder, Aleelee Kiak has the potential to develop into a very dangerous role player.
-Doomsday
 
 #19: Seattle Bears (from Malmo) 
Alex Bridges | @Alex Bridge | C | San Diego Marlins | TPE: 97
Frostbeard: 16 | Gustav: 17 | Doomsday: 20 | Erik: 24
Bridges is a diamond in the rough, and if he's available here, Seattle picks up the best prospect of the late second round. Joining the league later on in the season, Bridges is one of very few left at this point who has recently maxed out, earning 12 capped last week and doing graphics--not welfare!--for the last two. Take this, along with the fact that he was recently named AGM of the Marlins after making what must have been quite the first impression, and you've got a bright spot in a thin draft class that teams will be willing to reach for, first-gen riskiness aside. Look for Bridges to be picked ahead of a few with higher TPE, and look for him to prove his worth to the defending champions.
-Gustav
 
 
 #20: Helsinki Titans  
Ike Bennett | @Caboose30 | LW | San Diego Marlins | TPE: 87
Frostbeard: 20 | Gustav: 19 | Doomsday: 21 | Erik: 19
One of the most intriguing young player coming into their 2nd VHLM season probably has to be Ike Bennett who was brilliant and yet unpolished player for San Diego last players and at the end of the season. 10 TPE a week and who knows, this guy might actually be a steal this late in the draft. For Helsinki, they need new blood and many of their current players will be retiring and leaving Helsinki soon.  With 17 points in 27 games played last season, we might see a huge resurgence in production for this young man. 
-FrostBeard
 
 
 #21: Moscow Menace
Jimothy Frost | @Frostbite | C | Mississauga Hounds | TPE: 130
Frostbeard: 23 | Gustav: 24 | Doomsday: 19 | Erik: 21
Moscow should be a force to be reckoned with in S70, and getting sleeper picks like Jimothy Frost is only going to keep them competitive for even longer. Frost developed slower than expected in his first season in the VHLM, but he received some very valuable experience with the Mississauga Hounds deep playoff run. Jimothy didn't quite reach a point per game with only 56, but that may have been due to a lack of shooting opportunities. He regularly capitalized on his shots with an 18% shooting percentage and he often came in clutch with 7 game winners.
-Erik
 
 #22. Vancouver Wolves 
Vladimir Shaposhnikov | @ng1291 | RW | San Diego Marlins | TPE: 71
Frostbeard: 21 | Gustav: 21 | Doomsday: 22 | Erik: N/A
A Russian in Vancouver? Absolutely, according to VSN, which would be quite the move from his current home in San Diego with the Marlins. Vladimir Shaposhnikov didn’t exactly set the VHLM on fire with his statistical output (9 goals, 14 assists, -11) or his work ethic (77 TPE at the time of print), but for a late second round pick in this draft, Shaposhnikov can give you something rather unexpected: consistency. He may not be maximizing his practice hours, but he is consistently improving at a steady rate and taking advantage of some opportunities along the way. That being said, this is still a flier pick all the way. It may be quite some time before he could crack any VHL roster, but at this point of the draft, you’re looking for a prospect that has the potential to potentially blossom into something useful, and that’s exactly what you’re going to get with Vladimir Shaposhnikov.
-Doomsday
 
 
 #23. Toronto Legion (from Riga) 
JaredN | @jared | C | San Diego Marlins | TPE: 74
Frostbeard: 22 | Gustav: 22 | Doomsday: 23 | Erik: N/A
It’s late in the secound round and the Toronto Legion are looking for a diamond in the rough. Suddenly, they stumble across a prospect in JaredN who earned 10 TPE last week, including making a graphic! Jackpot! Well, there’s a reason that JaredN is still here, and that’s the weeks before that in which he only got 2 TPE a week. He also brought in less than full marks on a career point task, bringing home a 2 on his Junior Review. On the bright side, at least he has shown he can at least be capable of doing those point tasks. JaredN is also a very raw prospect and will likely be spending at least two more seasons in the VHLM at his current pace. He could be a diamond in the rough, but it’s going to take a lot of work to smooth this one out. 
-Doomsday
 
 
 #24: Calgary Wranglers (from Seattle via Helsinki) 
Aleksandra Olsen | @GlowyGoat | D | Mississauga Hounds | TPE: 96
Frostbeard: 24 | Gustav: 23 | Doomsday: N/R | Erik: 22
It's safe to say that Olsen's position in the draft will certainly be called into question, no matter where it ends up being--on one hand, she's the last active blueliner in the class, and positional need and general value placed on defense this season may cause a GM or two to reach up the board and see what they can do to develop her into a solid VHL player. On the other hand, though, Olsen's earning has been somewhat inconsistent as of late, and should she reach the VHL, she'll be the first of GlowyGoat's three players to do so. Our predictions may be just about right here, but they also may be dead wrong.
-Gustav
 
 
HONORABLE MENTIONS
 
 
Rede Kachur | @Reverb | RW | Philadelphia Reapers | TPE: 74
Frostbeard: N/A | Gustav: N/A | Doomsday: N/A | Erik: 20
Kachur is an interesting selection made by one of our guys, but it could simply be that he knows something that I don't. Originally signed by my team, the Hounds, he showed high activity levels at first and then simply disappeared, having not been seen on the forum since late October. Though Reverb only joined in early October, though, he's an alt account of Kachur, an early member of the league (since, I believe S4) who found his way back recently under the Reverb name. Whether he'll come back again remains to be seen, and for now the future doesn't look bright. He could be a chance some GMs are willing to take, though, so we'll see just what happens.
 
Mikeal Cuddy | @cjc_24 | C | Saskatoon Wild | TPE: 95
Frostbeard: N/A | Gustav: N/A | Doomsday: N/A | Erik: 23
Cuddy's earning was a solid 6-10 capped each week, along with almost daily logins during the Christmas giveaway to claim each day's prizes. Though doing welfare, he was certainly a promising welfare guy--until he stopped. Last seen in late December, he hasn't claimed since. Though his disappearance is puzzling, we shouldn't dwell on the past and instead inquire about the future, where the question of whether or not he'll make a return is floating out there. Should he do so, he'll be a steal in the draft, and at least one of us believes that a team within the first two rounds is willing to take that chance.
 
Elias Ostling | @Elias Östling | LW | Yukon Rush | TPE: 57
Frostbeard: N/A | Gustav: N/A | Doomsday: 24 | Erik: N/A
Ostling's earning isn't good, but at the very least it's consistent. Joining the league as a part of this past season's infamous YouTube recruitment drive, he earned a decent amount at first but has since slowed, claiming practice facility and only practice facility for the past six weeks. Though this isn't a particularly encouraging sign, the consistency is absolutely there, and it's possible that the learning curve of the league, which in some cases is a monumental challenge, has yet to be overcome here. If his development takes a positive turn, he'll be a steal for whoever is willing to have a go at drafting him.
 
 
Get ready for the draft!

Season 69 VHLM Playoffs Review
 
We wanted to get a series of previews for the VHLM the same way we did for the VHL -- the first round at least, then that went south too -- but found ourselves lacking the staff to actually do all of that. We still could not not talk about the minor league postseason, so I'll try to talk about every series quickly, as we make our way from the first round to the Founders' Cup Finals, the conclusion of this historic season.
 
 
First Round
 
5 Halifax 21st vs 4 Philadelphia Reapers
The series between the 5th-seeded Halifax 21st and the 4th-seeded Philadelphia Reapers was expected to be the closest of all first-round series and it definitely didn’t disappoint. The Reapers looked like they were in total control after Kyle Andersen carried the team to a 5-1 win right out the gate with a four-point night, but Ben Storm answered with 3 goals and an assist in game 2 to tie the series. Halifax then took full advantage of the home-ice advantage, winning two one-goal games on their own rink, including a game 4 overtime win in which Leon Gutzwiler played the hero, scoring the overtime game-winning goal and adding two assists. With their backs against the wall, the Reapers gave themselves one more game by winning game 5, but couldn’t find a way to get past Jaxx Hextall, who earned a 24-save shutout to seal the series in game 6.
 
The Halifax 21st wins the series in 6.

 
6 San Diego Marlins vs 3 Mexico City Kings
The Mexico City Kings entered this first-round series as the favourites after they finished 3rd in the VHLM and 43 points ahead of the San Diego Marlins. The two Season 66 expansion teams were looking to get their first-ever series win. The Marlins looked like they could be the one to achieve it this season, as they won the opening game of the series in Mexico, thanks to five different goalscorers and Toppi Attakallio holding the fort. This was, however, the only game the Marlins managed to win in this whole series, as the Kings ran the table from this point forward. Oskar Lagesson, Jaxon Walker, Shush Nyko and Erik Summers combined for 26 points in the 5 games of the series as they unknowingly write a new page in the franchise’s history book. For this San Diego, this represents a fourth straight first-round exit in as many seasons of history.
 
The Mexico City Kings win the series in 5.

 
7 Ottawa Lynx vs 2 Mississauga Hounds
Just like the Marlins and the Kings, the Mississauga Hounds were the third team added to the minor league in Season 66 and they were also still looking for their first series win up until this year. They were the overwhelming favourites in this first-round matchup against the 7th-seeded Ottawa Lynx, making them hopeful they’d finally reach the semi-finals, which is exactly what they did. The Hounds outscored their opponents 19 to 5, letting them score two goals only once. Jimmy Spyro held a .931 save percentage throughout the 4 games, while Kris Rice led the team with 8 assists and 9 points. He was mainly supported by Patrik Tallinder, Finnegan MacBurn and Kyl Oferson. Joakim Sakic had a great series for the losing team, scoring 4 of their 5 goals, but he couldn't stop the Hounds by himself.
 
The Mississauga Hounds win the series in 4.

 
8 Yukon Rush vs 1 Saskatoon Wild
The Saskatoon Wild were back in the playoffs for the first time since Season 66 and they were ready to make everyone forget that they’ve spent 2 seasons retooling for this. They finished the regular season with an absolutely ridiculous record of 68 and 4 losses, giving them a point percentage of .944. I could go through their first-round matchup with the Yukon Rush in details, but there’s really not much to say, except for the fact that the Wild displayed the same insane level of play in the playoffs than they did in the regular season, destroying the Rush by a combined score of 30 to 5, capping it off with a convincing 10-1 win in game 4. Mikko Lahtinen was the team’s star in this first round as he paced all forwards with 5 goals and 10 points. Jesse Nyman notched 10 points as well, while Edwin THE Encarnacion, David OQuinn and Danny DeYeeto finished the four-game series with 9, 9 and 8 points, respectively. The Saskatoon show continues.
 
The Saskatoon Wild wins the series in 4.

 
Semi-Finals
 
3 Mexico City Kings vs 2 Mississauga Hounds
Both the Mexico City Kings and the Mississauga Hounds are just coming off the first series win in their respective franchise history and they get to dance with each other in the semi-finals, meaning the winner of this series will get to continue writing new chapters in the book of their history by reaching their first-ever Founders’ Cup Finals. The Hounds quickly took a two-game lead as Jimmy Spyro continued his strong play, giving a chance to his team in these two home games. The Kings took advantage of the next two games being played south of the border, as Odin Omdahl and Jaxon Walker both scored twice to help their team win twice and tie the series up at 2 games apiece. Back in Mississauga, Kyl Oferson scored his 5th and 6th of the playoffs to put the Kings' back against the wall. They had to win game 6 to force a game 7, but a strangely slow-paced game in which Oferson scored yet again and Spyro only needed to stop 10 pucks to earn the shutout ended up being their downfall. The Hounds advance to the Founders' Cup for the first time since they joined the league four seasons ago.
 
The Mississauga Hounds win the series in 6.

 
5 Halifax 21st vs 1 Saskatoon Wild
The Halifax 21st were the only teams to win their first-round matchup as the underdogs, giving them the opportunity to faceoff with a Saskatoon Wild team that won 72 of the 76 games they played up to this point, season and playoffs combined. After beating a Reapers squad that looked better on paper, the 21st were hopeful that they’d be able to upset the Wild and carry on to their fourth Founders’ Cup Finals in 8 seasons of existence. A game 1 in which Erik Killinger played the hero with two goals, including the game-winning goal, as the Wild came on top in a very close 6-5 overtime win kept the hopes up for Halifax. The hopeful were quickly dismissed after the favourites won the next two, putting Halifax down 3-0. The 21st were finally able to steal a game from Saskatoon in game 4, knocking their 16-game winning streak, but it only took the Wild one more game, in which Danny DeYeeto, Edwin THE Encarnacion and David OQuinn combined for 9 points, to close the books and make their way to the Finals of the Founders’ Cup. The Saskatoon show continues, yet again.
 
The Saskatoon Wild wins the series in 5.

 
Founders' Cup Finals
 
2 Mississauga Hounds vs 1 Saskatoon Wild
From the very start of the season, I expected the Saskatoon Wild to make it to the Founders' Cup Finals. Their opponent's spot was a bit more up in the air, with the Mexico City Kings and the Mississauga Hounds alternating as the Wild's most competitive opponents throughout the season. It was fitting that the two faced off in the semi-finals that decided which team would get to play the Wild in the finals and when all was said and done, it was the Hounds that got to play in the first finals of their short history. The Hounds quickly showed that they weren’t the 2nd-seeded team in the league for nothing, upsetting the Wild in Saskatoon in game 1, thanks to a 3rd-period rally, coming from the sticks of Kyl Oferson and Patrik Tallinder. Sadly for them, it was the only bright spot in otherwise a tough series for the Ontarian team. From this point forward, the Saskatoon Wild ran the table, winning four straight, thanks to Danny DeYeeto’s 8 points, Edwin THE Encarnacion’s and Damien Wolfe’s 7 points, Uhtred’s 5 points, Jacques Lafontaine’s respectable .873 save percentage and Jesse Nyman’s Cup-clinching goal. It was the Wild’s toughest competition yet in these playoffs and still, even they couldn’t do much against them. Following strong performances in all 3 series, THE Encarnacion finished the playoffs as the leading scorer with a haul of 6 goals, 18 assists, 24 points.
 
The Saskatoon Wild wins the finals in 5 and lifted their 9th Founders' Cup, their first since Season 63.
 
 
This playoffs pretty much went down the way everyone expected them to. The Saskatoon Wild waltzed throughout the season, scoring double digits on numerous occasions, and they came into the playoffs with that same energy, disposing of the Yukon Rush, the Halifax 21st and the Mississauga Hounds in the finals in a total of 14 games, the least from any team since the VHLM adopted the 8-team playoff formats. Night after night, General Manager Rylan Peace has dressed one of the most dangerous rosters in the history of the minor league and deservedly capped it off with his second Founders’ Cup since he’s at the helm. So, congratulations to you, to your team, and to everyone involved in these playoffs. Good luck with your new team, next season.
     
Players mentioned: @Cusemode @BigBallerFromDownUnder @Gwdjohnson @ROOKIE745 @Bobby Bummhole @fever95 @hewasajazzman @SDCore @Erik Summers @Spyro @Krice13 @Patrik Tallinder @DizzyWithLogic @Nykonax @Gscx420 @Beketov @Jesse Nyman @Tagger @JohnOQuinn @Cran @zepheter @Peace @Laflamme @leafsman @SlapshotDragon
     
VSN Writer McWolf

It’s been over six years since I joined the VHL and, despite having several players make their way out of the VHLM comfortably enough, they never found themselves drafted into the pros on the back of a Founders Cup victory. Whether that be from finding myself on bad teams (My stint on the Wild in S34 had myself and Smarch as the only actives on the roster and with Oslo in S51, I was the only active), bad/lazy management (The first GM of the S43 Bratislava Watchmen got sacked and his replacement never tried to get any of the deadline recreates) or actually GMing myself out of a chance of winning with a player (I was GM of the S55 Aces team that knocked out the heavily-favoured Storm team that featured Aackckqz Ky), a Founders Cup opportunity just never really came to pass. 
 
So luckily I found my way onto the Wild for Season 69 and, well based on our roster, if we didn’t win this time then I think it’s be fair to say that the higher powers were just conspiring to fuck me over for that time I theorised about removing the VHLM back in S49. I certainly played my part as well, leading the VHLM in playoff points, so thanks to @Peace for setting this opportunity up!
 
Also, this is the first time writing a PT on my phone and it sucks!

1. We won! The sweep would’ve been super awesome, but I guess we’ll have to settle with just awesome!
2. Toronto’s a tough situation to jump into, seems like a long-term retooling is in order. I wish him the best with it though
3. I’m not staying down but I think you’ve shown you’d be more than good enough for the role!
4. Just covering VHL, whether she’s still interested I don’t know, but I think BladeMaiden has done more than enough to earn a role.
5. Not sure, but if success is still being pursued, a new goalie is a must.
6. I think I did! Thank you VHL community!

It’s been over six years since I joined the VHL and, despite having several players make their way out of the VHLM comfortably enough, they never found themselves drafted into the pros on the back of a Founders Cup victory. Whether that be from finding myself on bad teams (My stint on the Wild in S34 had myself and Smarch as the only actives on the roster and with Oslo in S51, I was the only active), bad/lazy management (The first GM of the S43 Bratislava Watchmen got sacked and his replacement never tried to get any of the deadline recreates) or actually GMing myself out of a chance of winning with a player (I was GM of the S55 Aces team that knocked out the heavily-favoured Storm team that featured Aackckqz Ky), a Founders Cup opportunity just never really came to pass. 
 
So luckily I found my way onto the Wild for Season 69 and, well based on our roster, if we didn’t win this time then I think it’s be fair to say that the higher powers were just conspiring to fuck me over for that time I theorised about removing the VHLM back in S49. I certainly played my part as well, leading the VHLM in playoff points, so thanks to @Peace for setting this opportunity up!
 
Also, this is the first time writing a PT on my phone and it sucks!

It’s been over six years since I joined the VHL and, despite having several players make their way out of the VHLM comfortably enough, they never found themselves drafted into the pros on the back of a Founders Cup victory. Whether that be from finding myself on bad teams (My stint on the Wild in S34 had myself and Smarch as the only actives on the roster and with Oslo in S51, I was the only active), bad/lazy management (The first GM of the S43 Bratislava Watchmen got sacked and his replacement never tried to get any of the deadline recreates) or actually GMing myself out of a chance of winning with a player (I was GM of the S55 Aces team that knocked out the heavily-favoured Storm team that featured Aackckqz Ky), a Founders Cup opportunity just never really came to pass. 
 
So luckily I found my way onto the Wild for Season 69 and, well based on our roster, if we didn’t win this time then I think it’s be fair to say that the higher powers were just conspiring to fuck me over for that time I theorised about removing the VHLM back in S49. I certainly played my part as well, leading the VHLM in playoff points, so thanks to @Peace for setting this opportunity up!
 
Also, this is the first time writing a PT on my phone and it sucks!

Congrats and well deserved, I only have one as well with about 10 players.

It was an honor, @Tagger, I'm glad I was the one to finally help you get your first VHLM cup.