Vancouver vs. Davos Finals
The Wolves had their second trip to the Continental Cup finals in the last four season. Unfortunately in Season 89 they came up short. Jake Thunder @Thunder won the Daisuke Kanou Trophy as playoff MVP after leading the Dynamo offensively throughout the post season and helping end Davos' long cup drought. Lachlan Summers @kirbithan might have been the sole reason the series didn't reach seven games, absolutely shutting down Vancouver's offense in the final 3 games of their season. Vancouver heavily out shot Davos in those 3 games so we have to tip our hat to Summers and their inspired performance between the pipes. It was a well earned victory for Davos and a long time coming for the franchise. Davos GM @Alex after putting together a strong team season after season finally saw the fruits of his labour in Season 89. On the Vancouver side, things ended disappointingly. The Wolves did see internal growth from their young players and are optimistic about the team's trajectory in future seasons. Wann Kerr @VattghernCZ led the league in playoff scoring in both points and goals. It was truly a coming out party for Kerr and hopefully a sign of things to come for the feisty Czech. After being selected 9th overall in the Season 86 VHL draft Kerr has been playing in the shadow of Dogwood Maple for the start of his career. His showing in the Season 89 playoffs may be a sign that Kerr will over take the grizzled vet Maple as the number one center in Vancouver. A player who has become a fixture on the ice and off the ice in Vancouver, he has really molded himself into a leader within the locker room and on the ice. Pierre Emile Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito was playing behind Payne for most of the season but really took off in the second half as he does quite often. Bouchard lead the Wolves in points on the back end during the playoffs and lead the league in assists. He now enters his seasons of harsh depreciation, but has shown that won't slow him down and he has plenty of game left in the tank. After a tough loss in the finals Vancouver would have to make some decisions in the coming weeks.
This One Stings
Nico Pearce @Spartan became the all-time TPE leader in VHL history during Season 89 and had one wish, to finish his career with a cup. Something that alluded him throughout his career. During Season 86 Vancouver traded Pearce for Preobrazhensky and went on to win the cup. In season 89 Vancouver fell to Davos in six games. A dejected Pearce looked on after the final buzzer of game 6 in Vancouver as fans began chanting his name out of respect for an all-time great.
Off-Season Moves
After the loss to Davos, Vancouver management decided the attempt at maximizing TPA over player depth was what likely cost them against a deep Davos team in the playoffs. The Season 84 Warsaw Predators are the only team in the hybrid era to win with 3 defensemen. Despite the hybrid era only having a small sample size of seven seasons, six of those seasons the champion sported a complete roster of 11 players including their goalie. Thus the decision was made to free up cap space and allow the team to maximize their roster flexibility. Unfortunately Vancouver would move long time player and former 1st overall pick Henry Eagles @Greg_Di, to the dismay and anger of many fans. After a strong showing in the Season 89 playoffs for Eagles and a player with a lot of game left in him and many seasons yet to be played. "Difficult decisions need to be made in the a cap world, unfortunately moving Eagles was the best scenario for Vancouver to re-coup assets and cap space. I really didn't want to move Eagles but he garnered a lot of interest around the league and Malmo made us an offer that we couldn't pass up. Henry has been a consummate professional throughout his time in Vancouver and we wish him the best in Malmo. We also want to thank him for his contributions on and off the ice, helping Vancouver capture a Continental Cup in Season 86. He will be dearly missed in the locker room as well." - GM Frank Chadwick.
During the off-season Vancouver would look to maximize players on their rookie contracts and players in their final season to get full value for players with their TPA.
Signings
Brian Payne - D
S90: $6,000,000 (NTC)
After being acquired by Vancouver in the Season 88 Off-Season. Payne @Scurvy has solidified Vancouver's blue line alongside Bouchard and it will be a group to be feared in Season 90. Payne has been a fixture in Vancouver's locker room and players are rallying around him, saying win it for Payne in his final season. This being his final season means he no longer has to bank and can maximize his TPA.
FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist - RW
S91: $1,500,000 (NTC)
S92: $1,500,000 (NTC)
S93: $1,500,000 (NTC)
S94: $1,500,000 (NTC)
S95: $1,500,000 (NTC)
Option: Player
Analfist was selected 2nd overall in Season 88 by Vancouver who traded a haul of picks to Helsinki to acquire the 2nd pick. @STZ has a long relationship with Vancouver GM Frank and locking him up was top priority for the team going into the Season 89 Off-Season. Analfist enters his third season still on his rookie contract with the hopes of breaking out and becoming the face of the Wolves franchise going forward. The team is betting on the player and the player is betting on the franchise. Vancouver fans were thrilled to see the young winger locked up long term and jersey sales have spiked since the announcement.
Trades
To Vancouver :
Girts Galvins - LW @Girts
To Warsaw :
S92 Van 2nd
Galvins is a player Vancouver has long coveted and with Warsaw entering their rebuild Vancouver couldn't pass up the price paid. Girts has been a top line scorer throughout his career and is now re-united with Payne for one last run at the cup. At the time of writing this Galvins has had a slow start to the season but Vancouver management and fans aren't worried. The work ethic has been there and we all know the skill will take over.
To Vancouver :
Hockley Mann - LW @Sen
Clark - G @cl4rk
S92 Mal 1st
S91 Sea 2nd
S90 Mal 3rd
To Malmo :
Henry Eagles - RW @Greg_Di
This was probably the most difficult trade GM Frank had to make right in line with moving @Lemorse7 to New York after their cup win. Which likely extended Vancouver window beyond their Season 89 finals appearance. As I mentioned earlier Eagles was fixture in Vancouver and will be dearly missed much like Leduc was. In the trade the Wolves brought in Mann who is entering his final season but has shown a great enthusiasm for doing everything he can to go out on top. Mann has been the saving grace of the Eagles trade and has taken some sting away from losing Eagles. From Vancouver's perspective they replace Eagles with a cheaper winger to help complete a full roster and acquire a much needed goaltending prospect in Clark who could be the dark horse in this trade. The picks are currency to a team in Vancouver's position.
To Vancouver :
Sigma Freud - D @CODENAMEJIMMY
To Moscow:
S92 Van 3rd
Another important move to complete a full roster for Vancouver. Freud enters his rookie season thus he'll carry the cheapest cap hit in the league at 1.5M while having over 400 TPA. Freud is a valuable piece for a Vancouver team looking to contend. The addition of both Slater and Freud at a combined 3.5M will allow Vancouver to run a formidable defense corps.
To Vancouver :
Liv Slater - D @Subject056
S92 Chi 2nd
To Chicago :
Reinhard von Kongming - D @Kylrad
S91 Van 1st
S92 Mal 1st
S90 Mal 3rd
The true blockbuster of the off-season as two 1st round picks are moved for one player. Vancouver paid a high price to acquire one of the top young defenders in the league. With a retiring Payne and an aging Bouchard. Acquiring Slater for futures was a no brainer for the Wolves. Slater provides increased value this season since they're still on their rookie contract and are earning at maximum capacity. The player value wasn't the only important aspect of this trade. @Subject056 is also a great member who has a good rapport with Vancouver's GM. The young core in Vancouver is growing stronger with Wann Kerr, $nubbed Analfist, Oreo McFleury and now Liv Slater. All that's missing is a replacement for Fuhr in the coming seasons.
Season 90 Preview and Outlook
Depth Chart
Forwards:
Girts Galvins - Dogwood Maple - $nubbed Analfist
Hockley Mann - Wann Kerr - Oreo McFleury
Defense:
Pierre Emile Bouchard - Liv Slater
Brian Payne - Sigma Freud
Goaltending:
Brandt Fuhr
Break-Out Candidates
Wann Kerr @VattghernCZ - We have to start off by mentioning the Wolves Funk nominee and leading playoff scorer as our top break out candidate for Season 90. Kerr proved a lot of doubters wrong in Season 89 and will look to do even greater things in Season 90.
$nubbed Analfist @STZ - After a flaming hot start in Season 89, Analfist plateaued a bit and while finishing with more points than his rookie season has still higher expectations for himself and the team in Season 90.
Oreo McFleury @JB123 - McFleury was a little bit more consistent than Analfist in Season 89 but still finished around the same mark as him points wise. He's another player looking to break out and pass the point per game barrier in his third season. With the Eagles trade and departure of Pearce there will be plenty of opportunity for both Analfist and Oreo to show off their offensive flare.
Liv Slater @Subject056 - Playing behind both Bouchard and Payne might make it difficult for Slater to have a break out season. Season 91 might be the season Slater rocks the VHL world. Learning from both Bouchard and Payne this season will do wonders for the youngster.
Swang Song for Three
This is it for Payne @Scurvy, Galvins @Girts and Mann @Sen. All three enter their final seasons with the hope of finish out on top. "All three players are extremely motivated in closing out their careers as champions, they've been training hard all off-season and are hoping the strides they made will bare fruit this season. I can't speak enough about the character of each one of these players and the impact they have on their teammates." GM Frank stated. Girts Galvins and Hockley Mann will look to add to their trophy case while Payne hopes to cement himself in the HOF.
Wolves Legends and Future HOFers?
Brandt Fuhr @Tate - After capturing both the all-time regular season wins and playoff wins as a Wolf last season he looks to continue his legacy this season. Will father time finally catch up with Fuhr after a few seasons of depreciation? Or will having one of the strongest bluelines in front of him help him carry the load.
Pierre Emile Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito - The current Captain of the Wolves proved his worth yet again last season. Leading the league in defensemen playoff scoring and cracking the top 10 in all-time points among Wolves player. What will he do for an encore this season?
Message to the Fans
"After a disappointing end to Season 89, we won't be satisfied with anything less than a championship in Season 90. We've made changes this off-season that we hope pay off on the ice this season and in future seasons. Though we saw the departure of a fan favourite we want to assure the fans that the team is not re-tooling and is one hundred percent committed to bringing more championships to Vancouver and it's great fans."
Don't have the activity at the minute to consistently update rankings, but maintaining a visualizer doesn't take as much time so I'll keep updating that without job pay.
High Framerate Version At https://public.flourish.studio/visualisation/14869881/
Old hands of the league have surely been waiting for this but for any youngin’s out there that aren’t aware July 18th, 2007 is the day the VHL opened. That means today marks the league's official 16th birthday. Our little league can officially drive! Fucking wild. Anyway, it’s been an absolute wild time over the past 16 years but we know you all didn't click on this to read about how fucking ancient I am. You came in for the TPE and I intend on delivering it!
To commemorate the league's 16th birthday, we are giving all members a Triples Week, which adds 12 Uncapped TPE to any 6-TPE Point Task (Welfare/Pension/Affiliate PT are not included but as usual if your pay covers your PT that counts), as well as 4 Uncapped TPE. To claim these perks, which naturally add up to 16 Uncapped TPE (aren’t we so clever) all you need to do is post in this thread and then link to that post in your update; that's it! No scavenger hunt, no clues, no catches! Do a PT, make one post, and the sweet TPE is all yours.
That’s not all though! We’re gonna also put everyone who claims this birthday TPE into a draw for even more TPE, we know what you all like after all. At the end of this season we’ll draw for 16 prizes of 10 more uncapped TPE each.
So, to summarize quickly, that's 16 uncapped TPE just for commenting and doing a PT with the possibility of even more later curtesy of the VHL. All you have to do is post in here and you're good to go!
Notes:
• This thread will remain open until 11:59PM PST on Monday, July 24th.
• All claims for the birthday bonus must be made by the end of the playoffs this season.
• Birthday perks may only be claimed on one player per member (IE if you are re-creating you can't claim them on your current player, re-create, and claim them again, pick one or the other).
A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, I was offered a job with VSN. I got maybe a third of the way through this article, helped out the crew with a mock draft in S69 (I think?) and then just disappeared from the VSN life. I still had 3,000 words written already, so why not go and finish it? Eventually? It’s been a HOT minute since then, but this will end up as the longest article I’ve ever written. Anyway, this article will run through the best player from every single draft class, from the entry of @Beketov and the Day One Crew to the new players of the present day.
Note: this article does not take into account players who were chosen through the old GM rule, as I have no idea who was selected where, when, and by whom. Names like CAL G in S25 come to mind, but I’ll keep this list limited to people who were actually selected in the draft.
Another note: it’s been about 15 seasons since I started this, and I don’t intend to correct any numbers or statements which have changed since I wrote them...mainly because I had to research most of these things and don’t feel like going back through to fact-check them. There’s a joke somewhere in here about @Quik going inactive, and in that time he’s come back, built a successful player, gone inactive again, and come back again. So, it’s truly been a HOT minute, and for that I apologize. But, since we’re at the VHL’s 15th anniversary (can you believe it? I can’t either), there’s no better time to grind out the rest.
So, sit back, grab yourself something good to eat, and get ready to read, because I’m about to write you a thesis.
Without further ado…I present this monstrosity.
SEASON 1
Scotty Campbell 2nd overall / Vasteras IK
Anyone who has ever heard Scotty Campbell’s name around the forum could take a very good guess at this one off the top of their head, and chances are you’d be getting it right. We see his name all over--go to any league history-related theme week of the past (and inevitably of the future as well) and you’ll see articles upon articles upon graphics upon even the occasional podcast singing the praises of Scotty, O Scotty, great leader of VHL past and greatest player to ever grace this lowly league of heathens with his presence.
If you think any part of the previous sentence was sarcastic, then you’re (almost) completely wrong. Our league MVP trophy is named the Scotty Campbell trophy for a reason, and that reason is that Scotty was all of these things and more--to this day, his records remain unbroken and virtually unbreakable. He’s the only player to ever break 500 goals (oh, and by the way, he scored 600 goals), and he’s also on top of the all-time list in assists, points (obviously; do the math), plus-minus, game-winning goals, and points per game (averaging over two points each sim). It doesn’t take much detective work after a casual look at these credentials to determine that Campbell was the single greatest player of all time, and will very likely remain so for VHL eternity.
SEASON 2
Sterling Labatte 7th overall / Calgary Wranglers
Labatte is another name that many around the league will instantly recognize--his name is also attached to an award, this award being, you guessed it, the Sterling Labatte trophy, given each season to the league’s best defender. The reason for this is that, you guessed it again, Labatte was the greatest defenseman of the early days of the league, and arguably the greatest defenseman of all time (more on this later; pay attention). The first of @sterling's record six Hall of Fame players, Labatte stuck with Calgary for all eight seasons of his career, leading the team to three championships and picking up many individual awards on the way, winning the early equivalent of the Labatte trophy three times. He leads all defensemen in career points and plus-minus, and deserves every bit of his association with great defenders through the years.
SEASON 3
Mike Szatkowski 2nd overall / Avangard Havoc
Check it out! Three seasons, three players whose names the casual observer of the modern era will recognize on some level. Easily the most notable player ever created by @Mike (and just about everyone else), Szatkowski’s name appears on the VHL’s point leader trophy, and with good reason. The name “Scotty Campbell Trophy” could appear in many different contexts, but since it’s already taken, it’s necessary to look at the next player in line (much like many discoveries made by Leonhard Euler had to be named after the next guy to come along and figure it out, as he already had so much named after him). In this case, “next in line” is Szatkowski, second on the VHL’s all-time point list with 971 (for the curious, that’s about 121 points per season for 8 seasons). Szatkowski was dominant throughout his career, no matter where he played--bouncing around the league and moving five times between four different teams, he hit at least 113 points in each season after his rookie season, he was the player to feed the puck to if he was on your side, and to double-team if he wasn’t.
SEASON 4
Derek Harland 2nd overall / Seattle Everblades
Season 4 was the league’s first draft class without a Hall of Fame player (and it was also home to the first player named Gustav to ever be drafted, inactive goalie Gustav Frastk to Avangard--now Davos!--at #16 overall). There isn’t really much debate as to the best player in the class, though--other notables including Alec Miller and Alex Kachur notwithstanding, Harland stands out from the pack. Sitting at #66 on the all-time points list, he could be considered a borderline snub--Hall-of-Famer Dust’n Funk played just as many games as Harland and only beat his point total by two. While unlikely that he’ll ever get the nod at this point, he can rest confident that he finished off on top of the class.
SEASON 5
Jochen Walser 1st overall / Vasteras IK
After S4’s class with no Hall of Famers, what’s better than a class with three? I’ll tell you what, it’s a class with four. Walser came into the S5 draft as by far the most highly touted prospect--think HHH 61 seasons later--but unlike HHH lived up to expectations immediately (man, it really has been a while since I wrote this). Putting up 70 points and an unreal 239 blocked shots in his first season with Vasteras, he set the scene for the rest of his career, one which saw him reach 10th on the all-time blocked shots list with 1170. His career point total wasn’t too shabby, either--breaking 600 points in 503 games, he registered a significant 1.23 points per game throughout seven seasons, one more than runner-up Alex Gegeny, a Hall-of-Fame goalie whose selection in the third round proved to be one of the greatest draft steals in league history.
SEASON 6
Kevin Brooks 3rd overall / Toronto Legion
Flash back to the good old days, back when we ate soup with our hands out of our military helmets and Toronto still had draft picks (yes, I started this article back when Devise still ran Toronto--and this parenthetical remark was left over from the last time I left this article alone about a year ago). The name “Kevin Brooks” should sound familiar to anyone who’s poked their way around the site for any decent length of time, and that’s because his name is attached to the trophy given each season to the league’s goals leader. It’s for good reason, too--while he’s actually third on the all-time list with 396 goals, the names Campbell and Szatkowski are taken. Brooks was originally drafted by Toronto, and stayed with them for the first five seasons of his career, finishing off this time with an MVP performance and a Cup in S9, racking up 157 points during the regular season. He was then traded from Toronto to Vasteras, and though his production took a hit after that point, he continued to play at an elite level as his point totals decreased each season to “only” 84 by S13. The league didn’t hesitate after his retirement to induct him into the Hall of Fame, as he was introduced a season later in S14.
SEASON 7
Layken Heidt 1st overall / Stockholm Vikings
Heidt, also known as Lazarus Hatzifotiou-Kyriakos, was the lone Hall of Fame selection from the S7 class. Playing only six seasons, and in that time not receiving many individual awards, Heidt put together some great seasons, breaking 100 points in four of them and taking home a career points-per-game rate of 1.43. Arguably as important as his stats (and his name), if not more, Heidt was one of the first players in the league’s second generation, and one of the second generation’s figureheads--as the second player made by Slobo, his presence was an important representation of the league’s continued success, then and for years to come.
SEASON 8
Blake Beukeboom 3rd overall / Riga Reign
Beukeboom is a relatively little-known Hall of Famer--in fact, the other Hall of Fame player from the S8 draft class, Matt Bentz, is a more recognizable name to most, by virtue of having been created by our recently disappeared, “have you seen this man?” overlord @Quik (yes, again, I’ve had this sitting in Google Drive for a long time). Beukeboom, however, not only played two more seasons, but provided the defensive backbone for whoever he played for, whenever he did it. Consistently underrated, he reached 111 points and 169 shots blocked at his peak, demonstrating his ability on both ends of the ice by breaking the career point-per-game mark despite being noted as a defensive-minded player. Though he never managed to win an individual award and was never the single best player around, his consistent high-level production was eventually recognized with a Hall entry.
SEASON 9
Zach Arce 14th overall / Avangard Havoc
Drafted in the second round in S9, @Arce is the only Hall-of-Fame player in the class, and is one of the league’s finest examples of a player overcoming early struggles to find success later on in their career. First spending his full rookie season in the VHLM, he entered the VHL in S10, where he took a backseat to super-hot prospect Tomas Jenskovic. He responded by posting a whopping +91 the next season, and then in each of the two seasons to come exceeded 125 points. Though he only played five seasons in the VHL, his story was a great one and in that time he proved himself to be a true star, winning three cups and being inducted into the Hall of Fame a season after his retirement.
SEASON 10
Grimm Jonsson 2nd overall / New York Americans
Who wrote Jonsson’s HoF article? Was it sterling? Whoever did write it described him as the “next Campbell” and said that it is arguable that Jonsson, not Campbell, was the league’s greatest player of all time. Though virtually the entire league today would be quick to voice their disagreement, such an intro goes a long way to explain Jonsson’s impact on the league as @sterling's second player, breaking 800 points on his way to 25th on the all-time point list while also flashing two-way brilliance with 1100 hits. Named league MVP three times, the first player since--guess who--Scotty Campbell to do so, he was also the four-time winner of the now-defunct Top Leader trophy, to which his name eventually became attached. Greater than Scotty or not, his presence was undeniable--and so was the fact that he finished on top of his class.
SEASON 11
Carl Jacobs 3rd overall / Helsinki Titans
Jacobs was almost like an underrated Jonsson--he never won an individual award and was certainly never compared to Scotty Campbell. But, he did put up similar numbers to Jonsson--while Jonsson is 25th on the list with 807 points, Jacobs is 27th with 796. Jacobs even beat Jonsson in hits, with 1165 in total contributing to his reputation as an elite two-way forward. It was tough to point to any one season as significantly better than the rest, though, which may have contributed to his lack of individual recognition--though he broke 100 points in six of his seasons, none of those seasons exceeded 112. His consistency, though, rocketed him up the all-time point lists, with 1.39 points per game putting him in the Hall on the first ballot.
SEASON 12
Matt Bailey 1st overall / Helsinki Titans
After creating Hall-of-Famer Matt Bentz just four seasons before, @Quik came back with another. Bailey is certainly noted for his production, but he’s especially noted for having changed position halfway through his career--and continuing to produce after he’d moved to the blueline. In just four seasons as a forward, he’d put up 366 points, and broken 1,000 hits, and he was hardly done. After becoming a defenseman, he actually beat his first-half point total, finishing up his career with 742. To add to this, he put up an impressive 534 shots blocked in his last four seasons, which would have put him significantly higher up the list had he played his full career on defense. All in all, we’ve got a player who showed Hall-of-Fame levels of production on both ends of the ice--in even more of a sense than ability as a two-way forward.
SEASON 13
Alexander Sauve 1st overall / Calgary Wranglers
The S13 draft class was home to goalie Blocka DaPuck in the third round, a player who I don’t think amounted to much but whose name I somehow recognize from somewhere. Moving up the list, though, my little first-gen brain (what the hell? Yeah, I wrote this a while ago) can’t pick out any familiar names until we hit #1 overall, where defender Alexander Sauve went to Calgary. In seven seasons, during which two separate stints with Calgary bookended a couple seasons in Toronto, Sauve managed to pile up a very respectable 1.2 points per game, while breaking 1,000 hits and finishing with just under 1,000 shots blocked. Winning a Labatte in S15, Sauve wasn’t inducted to the Hall of Fame until S34, after mistakenly being left off the ballot after retirement.
SEASON 14
J.D. Stormwall 5th overall / Calgary Wranglers
Like Helsinki just before them, the Wranglers managed to make the best pick in the class two seasons in a row. Stormwall, created by former longtime member @Zero and drafted 5th overall, wasn’t particularly known for his scoring ability (though he broke 100 points four times) so much as he was known for his ability as a two-way forward. He broke 200 hits in six seasons, and even broke 300 hits in two of them–numbers that we can and do see today, but that weren’t all too common in the early days of the league. Stormwall managed to collect his share of trophies along the way, winning both the cup and the Boulet three times. It’s not a large stretch of the imagination to imagine that, had Stormwall been around near the league’s beginnings, our two way forward award would have a different name on it--Scott Boulet’s 772 hits pale in comparison to Stormwall’s 1,865.
SEASON 15
Max Kroenenburg 1st overall / Riga Reign
The S15 class is without a Hall-of-Fame player, but Kroenenburg is certainly in the Hall of Pretty Good Borderline People. He currently sits at #59 on the all-time points list with 717, and with over 1,200 hits he proved his two-way ability within good reason. To boot, he picked up three cup wins in his career, in S16, S20, and S21. The main knock against Kroenenburg seems to be that he reached numbers comparable to other Hall-of-Famers (think Carl Jacobs or J.D. Stormwall) in a full eight-season career, picking up his stats through longevity and pretty decent play rather than pure dominance and best-in-the-league status for a few seasons. Still, there’s no denying that Kroenenburg was a great player, since forgotten in the sands of time.
Sound familiar? It should. @JardyB10 is a name familiar to most around the league, even if he was before your time (dear lord, it’s been a long time since I wrote this). The first-gen player picked up in the third round by Calgary would go on to be commissioner and longtime simmer, but personal history and league impact aside, his player proved himself to be the best of the season, becoming the season’s only Hall-of-Famer after being drafted with only 12 TPE earned. After spending two seasons in the minors, Bunclewirth finally made it to Calgary, where he enjoyed four straight seasons above 120 points and led the team to three cups. In later seasons, his point totals dropped off somewhat, but his checking ability went up--he finished his career with over 1,200 points in six seasons, an average of over 200 in each.
SEASON 17
Cam Fowler 9th overall / Seattle Bears
The S17 class was home to two Hall-of-Fame players, and both could have easily made the list here. The class was also home to Markus Strauss at 9th overall, who actually scored more career points than Fowler at 748 compared to Fowler’s 722. Fowler, though, was much more effective on defense with over 1,000 more hits, and he was able to lead his team to a Cup win in his prime, an achievement never put up by Strauss. Hitting 100 points six times in his career, and taking home a number of individual awards, notably a Boulet in an era saturated with two-way players, the @CoachReilly-created Fowler would go on to become a first-ballot induction in S25.
SEASON 18
Aidan Shaw 10th overall / Toronto Legion
Holy Hall-of-Famers, Batman, what happened in S18? Just about every class in times recent to these had one, maybe two, Hall of Famers, and sometimes none. S18 had six, and it’s even more impressive that Shaw stands out from the rest. The first goalie to make our list, Shaw was the second Hall of Fame goalie to be selected in the draft, after first-overall Daisuke Kanou (@Baozi), both recognizable names as we see the Kanou go to the playoff MVP (Kanou won three cups in net), and we see the Shaw go to...the top goaltender. Wondering why? Take a look at Shaw’s 315 wins in only 452 games. Look at his career GAA of 2.06. Look at his career save percentage of .923. Those last two aren’t just for an MVP season, they’re for an entire career--though he was practically in that position his entire career, winning the top goaltender award (then the Tretiak) four times. His career numbers are even more impressive when considering the fact that he took a couple seasons to truly develop--he was a monster in S22, when he went 57-4-2 while posting a .933 SV% and a GAA of only 1.62.
SEASON 19
James Bencharski 1st overall / Toronto Legion
The S19 class is today perhaps more well-known for the presence of @Phil's player, Phil Gerrard, one of two in the class to make the Hall of Fame. It’s debatable who was better, but Bencharski gets the call here as he managed to put up the point numbers of a solid forward while also excelling at his natural position on the blueline. Here, we see the third player created by @sterling, and the third player to make the list, entering the draft as the consensus #1 choice (because, really, who else was there who would be better, in theory, than the guy who’d found tremendous success with two players right off the bat?) and being picked at that point by Toronto. Bencharski was never atop the league in any one category, but there was never a season when he didn’t produce good, consistent numbers, piling up the stats on both ends of the ice and finishing his career with over 600 points and 1,000 hits. Though it took a while for his induction to come along in S30, it was well-deserved.
SEASON 20
Japinder Singh 1st overall / New York Americans
Singh belongs on the league’s list of all-time great defensemen, just a little bit behind Sterling Labatte on the points list (with 751, good for #42 all-time) and with better defensive numbers. While not an instantly recognizable name to newer members, Singh, created by @8Ovechkin8, should at least come across as familiar to anyone who’s had a look at a history article or two, and with very good reason. He kicked it off with 113 points and 260 blocked shots in his rookie season, and simply never looked back--by the end of his career, he’d amassed a hugely respectable point total to go along with his defensive numbers, finishing off with 751 as well as breaking 1,200 career hits and shots blocked, both highly notable. Arguably one of the more underrated all-time greats, Singh was inducted in S28 and remains one of the league’s best.
SEASON 21
Pavel Koradek 7th overall / HC Davos Dynamo
Koradek got his career off to a fairly slow start, spending most of his first season in the VHLM and then putting up two mediocre seasons after that. In his last five, though, Koradek absolutely tore it up, breaking 100 points in each of his last four seasons and playing right on top of the league in each. Originally acquired as a piece in an intended Davos rebuild, he instead proved to be right in the middle of a retool as the team remained competitive throughout its transition. His 1.25 points per game are all the more impressive when it’s taken into account that he started slowly and really only had the second half of his career to redeem himself. @Koradek, too, would go on to be one of the more influential members of his era, being responsible for the design of many logos current and former.
SEASON 22
Matthew Boragina 4th overall / Helsinki Titans
S22 is another class without a Hall-of-Fame player, and it will very likely never get one. @Boragina created one of just a few half-decent players in the class, which was also home to quite a few who didn’t find much success (including arguably the worst goalie of all time, Fernando Garcia Jr.). Drafted fourth overall by the Titans, Boragina’s career was short-lived, but he made the most of it. A scorer by trade, he piled up 211 goals and 477 points in only 360 games, a rate of 1.33 points per game which might have seen him inducted had his career been longer. He was also one of two players in the draft class to win two cups, a mark only otherwise reached by defensive defenseman Jeff Dar, who somehow managed to put up a -230 over 359 games with good teams.
SEASON 23
Leeroy Jenkins 1st overall / HC Davos Dynamo
Two seasons after Koradek, Davos once again found themselves winning big in the draft after picking up a noted graphics guy (@Squinty), and this time to an even greater degree. Jenkins’ Hall of Fame article is yet another which starts off by drawing comparisons to Scotty Campbell, and though he wasn’t exactly on that level, the fact that Campbell’s name was invoked in the first place says a good deal about Jenkins’ ability. Checking in at #24 on the points list, Jenkins’ career started out in relatively humble fashion, as he finished S23 with 41 points. After then, though, he worked his way into the league’s elite quickly, checking in at 79 points the season after and putting up four different 100-point seasons, including a remarkable 152-point MVP performance after being traded to Helsinki in S26. Racking up a stunning 2,182 hits, too, taking J.D. Stormwall’s mark of most on this list and surpassing it significantly, Jenkins was one of the greatest two-way players in league history, and easily the best forward during his time in the league.
SEASON 24
Daniel Braxton 3rd overall / New York Americans
Braxton’s agent is a name many around the league will recognize: now-inactive @Jericho (who's come back and disappeared again since I wrote that sentence). He never won a cup (and, in fact, only three players from the S24 class ever did), but his four Labatte trophies in a row, plus two Slobodzian Trophies (an outstanding achievement for anyone, let alone a defenseman). In eight seasons, he finished six with over 80 points, while piling up over 1,000 blocked shots and 1,500 hits. He also managed to break 100 points twice, being a player to be feared in S28 and S29 in particular with back-to-back 100-point, 200-hit seasons right in the middle of his four straight Labattes. Picked behind two goalies (one of whom, Mathieu VanCoughnett, went first overall to Riga and also ended up being one of the worst of all time--what’s with the early S20s and bad goalies?), Braxton capped off his career smoothly with an induction into the Hall of Fame, the only player in the class to receive the honor.
SEASON 25
Tukka Reikkinen 4th overall / Vasteras Iron Eagles
Both Hall of Fame players from the S25 class are still around in the league today--Ansgar Snidijer, created by @Kyle, went first overall in the draft and made his way up to #39 on the all-time points list while piling up over 1,900 hits. As great as Snidijer was, he would forever be overshadowed by Reikkinen, a player from the early days of @.sniffuM. Breaking 100 points four times in his career (including a remarkable 152-point, 78-goal campaign in S27), Reikkinen won two cups and a slew of individual awards, among them a Campbell, a Kanou, and a Slobo on a way to a career which, according to his Hall of Fame article, could be readily compared to that of Leeroy Jenkins and placed him in consideration for the time’s “top five” of all time. Currently at #20 on the points list, Reikkinen’s career was one for the ages.
SEASON 26
Jarvis Baldwin 1st overall / Seattle Bears
Well, I’ve heard of Baldwin. That means he’s good, right? Absolutely! Seattle owned the top two picks in S26, but went for @CoachReilly's player with the first. Putting up numbers that were consistently near the top of the league, Baldwin’s HoF article states that he ended up with a “frustrating lack of individual awards,” and while any player today would be ecstatic to pack away a Campbell, a Slobo, a Szatkowski, and a Brooks, the fact that those awards and their combined power is considered an understatement speaks to the significance of Baldwin’s career. Breaking 100 points on five occasions, he finished with 854 points--good enough for 14th all-time--and put up over 1,400 hits, forming a historic career that made his first-ballot selection a no-brainer.
SEASON 27
Alexander Chershenko 2nd overall / Calgary Wranglers
What to do, what to do...the S27 class was spectacular. @Victor's Alexander Chershenko makes this list over three others to make the Hall of Fame, among them defenseman Elijah Incognito at 4th, David Smalling, one of the greatest two-way forwards of all time, at 5th, and Phil Rafter, sixth on the all-time points list, at 6th. So, what puts Chershenko on this list above a player who broke 750 points and 2,600 hits on his way to four (yes, four) Boulet trophies--not to mention Rafter, who’s five spots above him on the all-time points list? A case could be made for Rafter or Smalling here, and, in fact, I initially had Rafter in this spot with a whole lot of insecurity, and now I’ve got Chershenko in this spot with a whole lot of insecurity. Winning two cups--one more than linemates Rafter and Smalling, who won one in S31--the difference between Chershenko and Rafter here comes not because of points but because of awards and individual contributions. While career linemates Rafter and Smalling complemented each other perfectly (as Rafter’s 80 career hits would suggest), Chershenko thrived in many different environments, putting up a Campbell, two Slobos, a Brooks, and a Szatkowski along the way, as well as some team awards in an era where Incognito made such things hard to come by. One of the toughest decisions in this article, and one Victor would probably kill me if I didn’t make, Chershenko is my choice.
SEASON 28
Ryan Sullivan 3rd overall / Calgary Wranglers
There’s a lot to like about the S28 class, too! Why do the 20s have to do this to me? The S28 class is home to three Hall-of-Fame players, among them Volodymyr Rybak, eighth on the all-time points list, and Alexander Labatte, yet another great goalie of the 20s. It’s hard to compare these three because each of them played different positions, but here we go with the player described as “a perfect picture of the balance between offense and defense” in Sullivan. Though he spent one season down in the minors, Sullivan managed to finish off his career 15th in points and 16th in hits all-time among defenders (as well as 3rd and 4th among defenders with fewer than 8 big-league seasons played). That parenthetical stat gives us a good picture of Sullivan’s impact across his career, which included three Labatte trophies, a Stolzschweiger, a Beketov, and a cup. Though a reincarnation came around in the S60s when @Advantage brought about Sullivan Jr., the original will forever be remembered as an all-time great.
SEASON 29
Al Wilson 1st overall / Vasteras IK
I distinctly remember Muff talking about being Vasteras GM and getting the first two picks in some draft class, so I’m going to assume this was that class. I also remember him complaining that it didn’t work out, and to his credit, there wasn’t really a way to make that work in S29. This draft class is wholly unimpressive. Looking up the stats of each player, I’m really not finding anything, so let’s just get into it. Wilson finished off his career with 406 points, the most out of any S29 player, and won two cups in his career, also the most of any S29 player. This put him at exactly...395th in all-time points, a number which might be a good bit lower if I take long enough to finish this.
SEASON 30
Alexander Valiq 3rd overall / Riga Reign
Yes, this is the namesake of the league’s top offensive defenseman award. Yes, it’s for a good reason, as you will see. Awards actually really threw me off and made this a tough decision, though, as #1 pick Ethan Osbourne took home stacks of awards to Valiq’s three. That may be a reason to put Osbourne on the list instead, but we’ll go with Valiq because of a more significant contribution as far as career stats are concerned. Valiq ranks 5th in all-time points among defenders, as well as #1 all-time in goals as the only defenseman to ever hit 300. At the time of his retirement, he held four of the top ten spots for single-season goals for a defenseman, twice cracking 50 goals with one 59-goal performance in S31. So, as arguably to this day the greatest-ever offensive defenseman, Valiq, a product of past great @Koradek, earns this spot on the list.
SEASON 31
Kameron Taylor 2nd overall / Cologne Express
S31 is home to two HoF players in Taylor and goaltender Remy LeBeau of Toronto, and though I’d heard of LeBeau and assumed he’d be the better choice, upon looking I think I like Taylor a bit better (though they’re close). Taylor is yet another player from the vaunted @Kendrick agency, which was a big go-ahead signal for just about every GM heading into the draft. Breaking 100 points five times and breaking 80 points seven times, Taylor was a consistent and dynamic player in every season, most notably a Brooks-winning 54-goal S37 and a 60-goal, 123-point effort in S36. Though Taylor’s numbers were consistent enough so as to potentially harm his chances at winning an award in any particular season, his agent’s success as a leader led to two wins of the Grimm Jonsson Trophy in S35 and S36. Though he may have been somewhat forgotten in the history of the league, he produced on par with the league’s best for just about his entire career and is well deserving of this recognition.
SEASON 32
Anatoli Zhumbayev 3rd overall / Helsinki Titans
The S32 class is another without a Hall-of-Fame player, but at least players like Zhumbayev found their place in the Hall of Pretty Good. With seven seasons to his name, Zhumbayev may have had an argument to sneak in with one more decent one. Finishing off his career with 613 points, good enough for #132 on the all-time points list and #112 in all-time goals (with 270), he put up a good 1.22 points per game for his career and ended up winning two cups, more than any other S32 player.
SEASON 33
Odin Tordahl 3rd Overall / Toronto Legion
What a draft S33 was for Toronto--not only did they pick up Tordahl, straight out of the @BOOM agency, at #3, they landed Niklas Lindberg at #12. Both went on to make the Hall of Fame, and they were in fact the only two players from the class to do so. Though Tordahl took a few seasons to truly blossom--he only cracked 80 points once by the start of his fourth season--he never looked back, stringing together five consecutive seasons over 100 and even breaking 120 twice in S38 and S39. He led the league in points three times, goals twice, assists once, won one MVP award, one Slobo, one Boulet, and led many teams to success, winning three cups in his career with Helsinki, Davos, and New York. Though he never gave his first team in Toronto any success (and, in fact, was traded away from them early on in an absolute grand larceny of a deal by Helsinki), every season he had after he’d developed was dominant, making him a surefire first-ballot choice and the best player S33 had to offer.
SEASON 34
Willem Janssen
2nd Overall / Vasteras Iron Eagles
No Hall-of-Fame players again means a harder draft class to sort through. But after some digging through stats, Janssen is another player deserving of the Hall of Pretty Good. Digging through some forum history, I actually found that Janssen was created by present-day Vasteras buff @solas, who has a long history in the league with a few players in the Hall. Janssen never won a cup, but he did finish his career at over point-per-game pace, #104 all-time in points and #69 all-time in goals. It’s fair to say that he finishes outside the ranks of the greatest players, as he’s behind players who have made it in in many categories (especially when recent low career numbers are taken out of the equation), but he’s also not far behind and certainly beats anyone else from his class.
SEASON 35
Conner Low 6th Overall / New York Americans
This one was very easy as far as decisions go because of one fairly decent defining metric: Conner Low is the greatest defenseman in VHL history and the greatest player ever created by all-time great @Smarch. He’s not the namesake of any award, because the main awards had been named by the time his career came around, but he certainly would have been deserving of such an honor had league leaders dragged their feet a bit in that regard. Though he only played 7 seasons, and only 5 on the blueline, he finished his career fourth on the all-time points list among defenders--and presumably would have been #1 with six or seven seasons there (even above the best-defender award’s namesake, Sterling Labatte, who had the rare 9-season career of the early days). Speaking of Labattes, actually, Low won five of them. Five seasons, five Labattes--the best defenseman in the league in all of them. And if we want to talk about his career after the switch to forward? Those were only his two highest point totals--112 in S41 and 120 in S42, with 55 and 56 goals, respectively. As a bit of a cherry on top, he was great for his team on top of just being great for himself, winning two championships with New York as an integral part of the great Americans squads of his era.
SEASON 36
Xin Xie Xiao 3rd overall / New York Americans
From one New York great we go to another, and from one longtime VHL great we go to another as well--this one being @Baozi. It was fairly easy to pick out the greatest player from S36, since the player known as XxX is its lone Hall-of-Famer. Never leading the league in any category and spending the entirety of his career on the second line, it’s safe to say that XxX fought an uphill battle to greatness. That said, none of that should exclude a player from consideration, and XxX earned it–as a mainstay on New York’s perennial Victory Cup squads of the late 30s and early 40s, XxX broke 100 points and won the Boulet twice en route to a 786-point career that places him among the greats of his era.
SEASON 37
Tom Slaughter 3rd overall / New York Americans
It’s easy to see why New York managed to pull off some of the greatest regular-season play we’ve ever seen in the seasons immediately following this class, as this is their third consecutive player on this list and the second in a row who managed to be the only HoFer of the class, showing off a masterclass in drafting by GM @Advantage. Another player from the @sterling agency, Slaughter came onto the scene right away with two Founder’s Cups and a top rookie-worthy performance in S37 and never looked back. Particularly, Slaughter’s play kept New York’s run of greatness going in its back half, stepping up significantly in S40 and never again dipping below 100 points in a season. After S42, he would move to Stockholm, where he would win MVP with his second 122-point season in S43. When all was said and done, Slaughter’s career finished up with 838 points, good enough for 16th all time and making him the only player from the S30s to break 800.
SEASON 38
Bruno Wolf 2nd overall / Seattle Bears
Here we end our streak of New York’s drafting dominance by hitting a class where Cologne had five first-round picks…and the best player was not one of them. Wolf is again the only HoF-worthy player from S38. The first three seasons of his career were relatively nondescript, but he took off in S41 shortly after moving to Quebec and enjoyed a career that from then on was very comparable to that of XxX. Winning the Brooks and the Boulet twice (both in S41 and S42) and a Slobo in S42 to cap off a 67-goal, 137-point season, he wasn’t short on awards during that time. Finishing off his career with a brief return to New York, Wolf compensated very well for a lackluster start with a career total of 744 points and nearly 2,300 hits.
SEASON 39
James Faraday 1st overall / Helsinki Titans
No, nobody from S39 made the Hall of Fame. There’s also a player from S39 with a higher point total than Faraday (Jackson Miller), though Faraday played only 7 seasons and his per-game mark is higher. Winning a championship in S43, it’s at least safe to say that Faraday makes the Hall of Pretty Good, as modern-day comparisons to players at similar point totals (Justin Lose, Timothy Brown, and Scott Greene) yield some recognizable names.
SEASON 40
Thomas O’Malley 1st overall / Cologne Express
Ask a lot of newer members about O’Malley’s accomplishments, and it’s incredible how little some may know. There’s no award named after him, he isn’t really brought up in any articles, and it’s a bit strange to think that something like that would happen to…well, the player who won 4 championships and who’s 4th all-time in points. Straight from the @OrbitingDeath agency, O’Malley immediately put up 110 points as a rookie before taking a bit of a step back into “just pretty good” territory for the next few seasons. After that point, though, we can forget about talking about breaking 100–he would break 120 in each of the next four seasons, split evenly between Cologne and Helsinki, before finishing his career in New York with a third consecutive Cup win. In total, O’Malley would record 913 points, just one ahead of fifth and one back of third, a mark which has not been beaten by any player since. Perhaps most telling is that his HoF article is one of a handful which speculates that its player is greater than Scotty Campbell–a notion that with time would likely be met with a good deal of disagreement, but nonetheless demonstrates the impact generated by the player involved.
SEASON 41
Nestor Hughes 10th overall / Toronto Legion
It’s always interesting (albeit aggravating) to find a class with no players in the Hall of Fame because this is still long before my time and I have no clue who to look for, so I just have to comb my way through some stats. Hughes doesn’t lead the class in points (that honor, as far as I can tell, belongs to Gifford Shock at #3 overall), but as a defenseman that wouldn’t have been expected anyway. Over the course of his career, played mostly in Toronto, he put up 492 points and 960 blocked shots, numbers which do represent a little bit of a break from our stretch of all-time greats but are still respectable.
SEASON 42
Bismarck Koenig 1st overall / HC Davos Dynamo
Davos’ first appearance on this list since S23 comes with the selection of Koenig, a can’t-miss prospect from the @BOOM agency at a pick where there is no excuse for missing. At first glance, his point total (605) seems slightly misleading, but that’s before considering the fact that his career only lasted 6 seasons–leading to 1.40 points per game at a second glance. After a generally unremarkable rookie season, Koenig put up 100 points in S43 and only dipped below that mark once thereafter. Capping off his career in S47 with Helsinki, where he would win league MVP while being the league’s leading scorer, his career took a turn for the Barry Sanders as he retired with plenty left in the tank. It would be a mistake to look at Koenig and wonder what could have been, though, because what the league was able to see was great by itself.
SEASON 43
Hans Wingate 3rd overall / Calgary Wranglers
Wingate is one of those players whose name has survived quite well despite not being attached to anything (based solely upon my own metric of “how much do I know about this player”). Created by @CowboyinAmerica, Wingate was by far the leading player in TPE heading into the S43 draft, but slipped to 3rd due to his position in net. That wouldn’t stop him from blowing away the others in production, though, as he would go on to front many successful squads throughout his career, winning a championship with Calgary in S44 and then going on to anchor Toronto’s legendary threepeat. He would also win the Shaw three times, the Kanou twice, and a Campbell and a Slobo in his last season in S50, which included a record of 49-10-4 with a .935 SV% and a GAA of 1.52 with 13 shutouts. Currently, he’s 6th all-time in wins, 9th all-time in shutouts, and 14th all-time in GAA, and one of the best players of the S40s.
SEASON 44
Edwin Reencarnacion 1st overall / New York Americans
There’s probably been no bigger draft sweepstakes than in S44, when Reencarnacion came in with 325 TPE and the next player in line had 188. His selection at 1OA came as a no-brainer for New York, who stopped at nothing to take a player from the @MubbleFubbles agency and were not at all surprised when Reencarnacion won Top Rookie in S44. Leading the league in goals in S47 and S48, along with an MVP in S48, wasn’t all there was to it, either–Reencarnacion won the Kanou in S47 as the most valuable player in New York’s cup-winning effort that season. Retiring after 7 seasons, at the end of which he would play a valuable part in Toronto’s third championship, he established himself as one of the faces of the S40s with a 638-point career.
SEASON 45
Greg Clegane 2nd overall / Helsinki Titans
The one player stopping Wingate from being the greatest goalie of the S40s was Clegane, quite possibly the greatest goalie of all time. Another player out of the @Victor agency, Clegane was drafted a pick behind fellow Hall-of-Famer Phil Hamilton and rose to the occasion game after game throughout his career, carrying the Titans to back-to-back championships in S45 and S46 and almost making Toronto’s threepeat into a fourpeat in S51 in a 1-0 loss in Game 7 of the finals. The all-time leader in wins (364), GAA (1.80), and shutouts (93), and one of the all-time leaders in SV% (.926), no one was up to Clegane’s standard before or since.
SEASON 46
Zach Parechkin 1st overall / Toronto Legion
Created by @DollarAndADream , Parechkin beats out 2nd-overall choice and fellow Hall-of-Famer Jeff Hamilton for a spot on this list. The league got a sign of things to come in S45, when he won VHLM MVP, and he would be all over the scoreboard for quite a while after that. The distinguishing feature of his career, and probably where I knew his name, was that he was yet another player who was part of–you guessed it–the threepeat, which started while he was still young as a player and led to a win of the Kanou in S49. Overall, Parechkin put up 787 points and over 2,700 hits–both numbers worthy of induction in any era.
SEASON 47
Sir William Covington III 4th overall / HC Davos Dynamo
As sour as Robbie’s reputation may be in the VHL community, he has been in it for a very long time and manages to crack the list here with Covington. In a class with no Hall-of-Famers, Covington played 7 seasons at over point-per-game pace, finishing up his career with 612 points (comparable to Hall-of-Famer Brennan McQueen, though in a different era). Though he wasn’t part of the threepeat, he’s yet another player on this list lately (and the only player from the S47 class) to win the Cup three times, in S51, 52, and 54. Overall, while not an all-time great, he’ll at least be remembered by those who played with him.
SEASON 48
Unassisted 2nd overall / Quebec City Meute
This class was very tough to pick from. Unassisted would be a no-brainer in most cases, but so would #1 overall pick Black Velvet. In the end, it was mostly a tossup, but I’m going to go with Unassisted here. Since his career ended, Unassisted’s 402 goals is a mark that has only been beaten once, and he managed to win just about every major award at least once–Funk, Szatkowski, Brooks, Slobo, Kanou, and Campbell, along with two championships with New York in S52 and 53. With 6 straight seasons over 100 points and 3 straight over 120, Unassisted currently sits 7th in all-time points (886), even beating Thomas O’Malley for the most goals out of any player from the S40s.
SEASON 49
Pietro Maximoff 5th overall / Cologne Express
After O’Malley’s career came to an end, @OrbitingDeath wasted no time in creating another great player. Though his first three seasons were spent at close to point-per-game status, he truly erupted in S52 with 69 goals and 139 points, leading the league in both categories and earning a Funk in recognition of it. Winning two championships in his career, in S51 and S56, Maximoff contributed to four different teams and left behind a powerful legacy of 789 points–yet again a career for the ages from his agent.
SEASON 50
Diana Maxwell 1st overall / Stockholm Vikings
2nd overall choice Theo Axelsson was very tempting for this spot, but I decided to let historical precedent be the tiebreaker–Maxwell was voted into the HoF in S58, while it took Axelsson another season. Offensive power by itself is probably enough to take it home, though–she led the league in points and goals in S54 and S55, after championship wins with New York in the two seasons previous. With four straight seasons over 110 points, she would end her career with a total of 755, more than worthy of the top choice in the S50 draft and more than worthy of a spot in the Hall.
SEASON 51
Apollo Skye 1st overall / Riga Reign
In a very weak draft class, Skye (built by @Velevra) led the pack with just 182 TPE–imagine that number today–and was selected at the very top of the board. Originally drafted by Riga, his HoF article is incorrect in that it states that he was selected by Davos, though it appears that he did move to Davos very soon thereafter. At first, Skye’s career didn’t look like it was off to a very promising start, as Davos was in a tailspin and the team’s success wasn’t there to support the play in net. After just two seasons with Davos, though, Skye was traded to Quebec, where he would spend the rest of his career. Over that time, his SV% would never dip below .920, and was above .930 more often than not. One might think that starting (and ending) his career on teams that simply weren’t good enough to win enough would have tanked his overall numbers, but a winning record and a career GAA of 2.14 show his ability to keep moving through the tough times–both in his career and in a difficult era for the league.
SEASON 52
Rhett DeGrath 2nd overall / Stockholm Vikings
The classes of the early S50s were marked by low activity and great goaler play, and there is almost no better example of the latter than DeGrath, who represents another player added to this list in quick succession by @STZ. Much like Skye, DeGrath spent the early portion of his career on a rebuilding team and took a while to hit his stride, but by his third season, his numbers were immaculate and his team, at least in the regular season, was powerful. Some of his career highlights include a 58-4-2 S58, a .941/1.25 S55, and an MVP win in S57, helping to add up to over 300 wins in total and a career GAA barely over 2. Though, given his teams’ regular season success, he achieved less in the playoffs than he ever would have hoped or expected, there’s no denying that he was a player to remember.
SEASON 53
Franchise Cornerstone 1st overall / Helsinki Titans
The classes of this era, thin as they were, led to most of the talent that could be found being concentrated right at the top of the first round, with an early 1st being a surefire talent and a late 1st being questionable at best. Though S53 has HoF player Fredinamijs Krigars going with the first pick in the 2nd, it’s mostly no exception, with 38-TPE SkateFast McChunky going a pick before Krigars and the first pick of the draft being none other than @boubabi and Franchise Cornerstone. There’s no better example of a player living up to their name than Cornerstone, who spent an entire career with Helsinki and was nothing short of a superstar for it. Never having a season below point-per-game pace and playing S55-60 at or above 109 points every season, he finished up with 855 points in total–a mark which has never been beaten since. While that in itself is Hall-worthy, it’s far from an exhaustive description of Cornerstone’s career with the franchise (or the franchise’s time with the Cornerstone). Helsinki would win the Cup with Cornerstone three times, and the player would lead the league in goals twice, win two Boulets and an infamous Slobo, and take home MVP three times. Arguably the best player of the S50s, Cornerstone would defy the likes of Skye and DeGrath on the way to some truly ridiculous numbers.
SEASON 54
Markus King
9th overall / Calgary Wranglers
One may think that players like Cornerstone (and the three other HoF skaters on S53) might disrupt the run of great goalies from the S50s, but that’s simply not the case here. One more great player from @Kendrick, there was somehow enough room in the awards cabinet for two Shaws (S56-57), two Cups (S57-58), a Kanou (S58), and three times leading the league in GAA (S56-57 and S59). In the same way as Skye and DeGrath, King’s start in the league was less than spectacular as the team needed time to build itself up, but he would take off once this happened, going from 15 wins in S55 straight to 53 in S56 and boasting an incredible 56-2-2 in S57. The only HoF talent from S54, King somehow managed to turn two bad seasons at the start of his career into an overall record of 313-159-34, with a .924 SV% and a 2.11 GAA. Though he would last until the second ballot for induction in S63, it was every bit as deserved as any other player.
SEASON 55
Felix Savard 1st overall / Calgary Wranglers
Savard is a much less recognizable name than those above him on this list, but the Wranglers still made the best possible choice in selecting him in this draft. His career numbers are surprisingly balanced and leave some amount of wondering to be done about what could have happened had he stayed in one place–switching to forward after 4.5 seasons in the VHL and only playing 7 seasons up, he managed to record 539 points, 721 blocked shots, and 956 hits. As a defenseman, though, he was one of the league’s better offensive players, scoring 24 goals or more in 3 of his seasons on the blue line. Extending his goal-scoring pace as a defenseman over 8 seasons, that’s on pace for 194 goals–which would be good for 15th all-time among defenders.
SEASON 56
Gabriel McAllister 1st overall / Seattle Bears
If Cornerstone has a case against him for “player of the S50s”, it’s McAllister, with the only knock against that case being that McAllister’s career rode its way a few seasons into the S60s. It’s true that McAllister didn’t come up with the point total of Cornerstone (with “only” 826) and had a couple relatively down seasons (his 4th season was his worst, and his point total stayed the same when some of the rest of the league was going off the charts in S62). That said, his greatness relative to era was just as great as anyone else’s. He won three Boulets, two Slobos, two Kanous, and three MVPs, all while leading the league in points twice. He was also (when I started) one of the league’s all-time leaders in TPE with 1613, a mark which I personally still have never hit despite TPE being generally more available in the modern era of the league.
SEASON 57
Norris Stopko 18th overall / Stockholm Vikings
This season is largely a tossup between Stopko and defenseman Mats Johnsson, both of whom are important players who saw the VHL out of its almost-dying era and into the S60s. Created by @Bushito initially for the purpose of helping his VHLM team only, Stopko ended up making it to the big show, playing in Stockholm’s disastrous final season in S57 before moving to Calgary. The retirements of Skye and DeGrath left some room at the top for goaltenders, and Stopko was happy to take over–from S61 through S64, he was the league’s best, with three Shaws, two Cups, two Kanous, two Cleganes, and a Slobo. In the end, his overall record (269-207-32) would be somewhat marred by mediocre team performance in the first part of his career, but the best parts of his play simply could not be beaten.
SEASON 58
Adam Warlock 7th overall / Toronto Legion
S58 is the single worst draft class the VHL has ever seen. Not a single player managed to even break point-per-game pace, and I don’t believe that any player had a full career in the VHL. Warlock, who makes this list due to three Cups and not much else (at least, not on the VHL level), is yet another player from the @OrbitingDeath agency. With a career high of 75 points in S63, and a career point total of 348, he’s much better known today for his legendary 255-point performance in the VHLM with Ottawa in S58.
SEASON 59
Joseph Bassolino 1st overall / HC Davos Dynamo
Thought we were out of the league’s dead era? Think again! If S58 is the worst-ever draft class, S59 is just a hair behind. Bassolino, built by @Smarch, did manage to almost make it to a point per game (427 in 432), and did put up 110 points in S63 with Riga in a season that led to wins of the Beketov and the Valiq after a switch to defense, but that’s about all that can be said. What can be said, though, for a decade that ended on very uncertain terms for the league as a whole? Classes like S58 and S59 didn’t promise much for the road ahead…
SEASON 60
Oyorra Arroyo 2nd overall / Calgary Wranglers
…though S60 showed some glimpse of it. A hugely experienced sim leaguer, @omgitshim created Arroyo at the best possible time for the league and ended up making the first truly great player of the VHL’s modern era. He didn’t find himself at the very top of the league for extended stretches of time like many of his counterparts of the S50s, but had a very solid career overall which was defined by three championships and a dominant MVP-winning performance in S65 during which he recorded 125 points and also took home the Slobo and the Cup for Toronto. He’s also the first player on this list who I remember being in the league when I started–so seeing as it’s taken over two years for me to write this article up to this point, imagine what the 15 years of the VHL has brought us!
SEASON 61
Matt Thompson 1st overall / Seattle Bears
I don’t even have to look at this one, because Matt Thompson, built by @Beketov, is the greatest player of the VHL’s modern era, hands-down. Though S61 also boasts Podrick Cast (15th on the all-time points list, while Thompson is 19th with 825), I can speak from personal experience and say that Thompson was consistently recognized as the league’s best player for a large part of his career. This included a Funk, three times leading the league in goals, four Boulets, two Slobos, and an MVP performance in S68 that saw him carry Malmo almost singlehandedly to the Cup finals. Constantly compared to Cast, Thompson managed to do it all on both ends of the ice and was consistently selected at the top of VHFL boards throughout the decade–and will be remembered for a very long time after that point.
SEASON 62
Maxim Kovalchuk 2nd overall / Seattle Bears
The second time in a row that we see Seattle on this list, it’s @Banackock drafting his own player near the top of S62, a season when scoring numbers mysteriously jumped. Ironically, his rookie year would be his best, as he hit 117 points in S62 in one of the finest first-season campaigns the league has ever seen. By the end of his career, too, the dead-puck era would be in full effect, and he only scored 44 points in S69–not a mark one would expect from a Hall-of-Famer. Over the S60s, though, and particularly in the early part of the decade, Kovalchuk was one of the best players to have on defense, winning a Valiq, two Wyldes, and a Labatte, and even leading the league in assists in S65. And though the end of his career wasn’t marked with much individual success, he was a valuable part of the Bears’ back-to-back championships in S68 and S69.
SEASON 63
Julian Borwinn 3rd overall / Helsinki Titans
It’s always interesting to track who wins the top rookie award and see what comes from it. In both S62 and S63, we’ve got a winner, as Borwinn (@Jubo) took it with an 84-point S63 with the Titans to lead off one of the league’s first truly great draft classes of the modern era. Much like Helsinki was powerful in the S50s, they were right on top of the EU conference for much of the S60s, and Borwinn stuck with them the entire time. On top of a Slobo, a Boulet, and a Funk, he also managed to win MVP twice in a career largely overshadowed by those of Cast and Thompson. In the end, he would break 700 points–very impressive for the era–and show huge two-way ability in his last few seasons, giving the league a look at what a forward can do on both ends of the ice.
SEASON 64
Brick Wahl 12th overall / Calgary Wranglers
Wahl, whose name has been changed to Brick Wahl II in official league records to avoid conflict with the coincidentally-named Hall-of-Famer Brick Wahl of the S30s, was the first goaltender selected in S64 after a strong S63 class in net. That aside, @BladeMaiden and her first player became one of the most notable faces of Calgary during the S60s, a period of time when the team managed to be decent but not much more. When then-new team Prague was ready to compete, and Calgary was not, though, Wahl was traded to the Phantoms and won every goaltending award under the sun in S71–including being recognized as league MVP. Wahl’s record is pretty close to even, and no one from S64 will make the Hall of Fame, but 229 wins is still good enough for #42 all-time, and the outstanding last season pushes Wahl just past fellow S64 goalie Finn Davison for a spot here.
SEASON 65
Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen 2nd overall / HC Davos Dynamo
Not only do I pity whoever wrote Smitty’s HoF article and had to repeatedly spell “Werbenjagermanjensen”, I pity those who had to play against Smitty in the middle part of his career. The best player ever created by @Fire Fletcher, Smitty enjoyed a 3-season stretch between S68 and S70 when he was the best defenseman in the league, being recognized for it with a Labatte each season, along with two Valiqs and one Wylde–along with a Beketov and a Slobo, both uncommon wins for someone on defense. With 533 points as a defenseman during the dead puck era, Smitty was a player to be feared, and his efforts would pay off with a Cup win in S70 with Moscow.
SEASON 66
Julius Freeman 2nd overall / Vancouver Wolves
FINALLY, we get to my first draft class. @rjfryman came into S66 as one of the most high-powered first gens ever, near the top of the most high-powered draft class ever. I was very hung up between Freeman and fellow S66 draftee Jet Jaguar here (HHH was inducted a season later than these two, so I’ll let historical precedent decide again there), but Freeman gets the nod for being a bit better as a goal-scorer despite lower point totals–he led the league in goals three times between S69 and S72. In total, he would put up 593 points over the course of his career, even adding a Boulet to his resume as he took a two-way dimension to his game later on, and was part of Vancouver’s cup-winning squad in S67.
SEASON 67
Rayz Funk 2nd overall / Seattle Bears
I did mention earlier on in this article that Funk’s performance in the regular season probably wouldn’t warrant induction by itself. He finished with a pretty-good .917 SV% and a GAA of 2.56, and his record was good but not astonishing. What truly set him apart, though, was his performance in the playoffs year in and year out, which made him the greatest playoff goalie of all time. There, he was .930 overall with a 2.09 and a record of 55-20-10–and that’s against all good teams, too! With his playoff performances, he would rack up four Cups and four Kanous, which amounted to an easy Hall of Fame induction for @Rayzor_7's first player.
SEASON 68
Condor Adrienne 1st overall / Malmo Nighthawks
Smitty’s going away after a while left the door open for someone else to take over on defense, and that’s exactly what Adrienne did starting in S72. Recording three Labattes, three Valiqs, and three Wyldes, it’s safe to say that Adrienne, yet another @OrbitingDeath player to make this list, was the best defenseman of the early S70s–and that’s not even counting a Slobo, a Beketov, and a Cup. There was simply no better player Malmo could have taken with their first pick than Adrienne, who spent his entire career with the team and gave fans of the team in green something to cheer for after their historic run in S68 came to an end.
SEASON 69
Benny Graves 2nd overall / DC Dragons
We’re seeing a few users pop up again and again on this list, and @STZ is one of them. Graves is a close contender with Cinnamon Block (1st overall) for this spot, but we could go on and on trying to compare stats across positions when we could just PICK ONE and be done with it. Falling just short of breaking 600 points for his career during a time when that was a super impressive mark to hit, Graves even broke 100 points in S73. Starting in S72, too, he put up about 250 hits per season for the rest of his career, earning a reputation as one of the league’s top power forwards over that time. Though he never made the Hall of Fame, his name still deserves to be remembered–and will be by anyone active in the S70s.
SEASON 70
Mikko Lahtinen 2nd overall / Calgary Wranglers
After @Beketov was done with Thompson, there wasn’t much else to do but build a neo-Thompson. Lahtinen didn’t catch on very quickly in Calgary, where he spent the first half of his career, but would soon be moved out to Moscow, where in S74 he would establish himself as the league’s new best player with an MVP-winning, 123-point performance which also saw him winning the Slobo and the Boulet. He wouldn’t let go of the Boulet until S77, and won MVP again in S75, fully rounding out his case for the Hall of Fame before his career was even over. Though he would never win a championship, Lahtinen may be the best player of the S70s, and was certainly the best of the middle of the decade.
SEASON 71
Roque Davis 2nd overall / HC Davos Dynamo
My first-ever draft pick as a GM–through no intervention of mine, and perhaps despite it–makes the list as the best pick of S72. @Josh came into this class as a second-gen member and did not disappoint, putting in a top rookie performance right away. His career had its ups and its downs, but when Davis was on his game, he was great–winning two Valiqs, a Labatte, and a Beketov, he never managed to win a Cup but was still one of the league’s best defenders season after season. Though he’s still on the HoF ballot, with his potential of being inducted up in the air, he’s made it at least to borderline status and enjoys some recognition here as a player to remember.
SEASON 72
Andrew Su 13th overall / Vancouver Wolves
It’s not often on this list that we see one-and-done performances from one player or another, but that’s exactly what happened (or, rather, what has happened so far) to @Da_Berr, who was taken in other directions by real life near the end of Su’s career. A bit of an underdog for this spot given his draft position and the fact that he lagged a bit behind the leaders in TPE throughout his career, Su made the most out of his build and the situations he was placed in far too many times for it to be called a coincidence. This was especially evident in the middle of his career, when from S74-77 he would break 100 points every season. Along the way, he would lead the league in points twice, assists once, win a Cup in S74, and win MVP twice. Inducted into the Hall of Fame before a couple others from S72, his agent’s name is currently unfamiliar to some, but we hope that it may become familiar again in the future.
SEASON 73
Groovy Dood 1st overall / DC Dragons
Speaking of mostly one-and-done members, @bigAL scratched a few heads upon being selected with the top pick in S73 despite a lower TPE level and far less experience than many others in the class. DC knew what they were doing, though, as the member they selected was a commissioner by the time his player’s career was over–and his player would go on to be one of the best power forwards of the late S70s. By S75, Dood was putting up 95 points, and would only dip below that once in the remainder of his career, finishing up with 120 points in S80 when scoring started to blow up around the league. Sticking out his entire career with DC, Dood never won a Cup, but picked up the Boulet three times in a row from S77 through S79 and, given his performance as a whole, likely narrowly missed out on a whole lot more.
SEASON 74
Aloe Dear 1st overall / Warsaw Predators
After hanging around the VHL off-and-on for a long time, @Renomitsu finally got what he was looking for with Dear, who went at the top of the class in S74 and never let go. Dear never dipped below 108 points in S77 and the four seasons following it, and finished with a huge career total of 784 points (in part signifying the end of the dead puck era). If you’re wondering where all of Groovy Dood’s awards went in S78, look no further–Dear won the Beketov, the Slobo, and the Campbell while leading the league in points and bringing Warsaw its first-ever championship. She would win another in S81 with Vancouver, capping off a career worthy of any top draft choice and earning a spot in the Hall of Fame on the first ballot.
SEASON 75
Taro Tsujimoto 9th overall / HC Davos Dynamo
That’s right, I’m talking about ME! The player also known as MYSELF was first in the class in TPE coming into the S75 draft, and spent the first few seasons of his career building up and improving before making it to true star status. Once he was there, though, he stayed there–after 92 points in S77, he was well-established as a household name around the VHL. Taro never won a Cup and never led the league in any category, but he consistently earned public recognition in doing all he could to make Davos the team it once was around the turn of the S80s. He would win MVP twice, in S80 and S82 (and curiously was never even nominated for anything else), and went on to post a total of 724 points for his career. I know Taro is a player I’ll always remember, as my first good player, and I hope you will too!
SEASON 76
Battre Sandstrom 2nd overall / Prague Phantoms
From one member’s second player we go to another, and here we talk about @Acydburn and Sandstrom, who will likely at least be on the Hall of Fame ballot this season. Curiously, Sandstrom managed to record an improved point total in each of his first seven seasons, ultimately ending up with 124 in S82 which only dropped down to 104 when the shift was made to hybrid attributes. Though Sandstrom was already a massive talent by S82, it was there that he managed to turn the corner in terms of awards, winning the Beketov and the Valiq then and going on to take the Labatte for a great all-around performance in S83. His 669 points, combined with over 1,400 hits and 1,200 blocked shots, should make him a name to remember for decades to come.
SEASON 77
Duncan Idaho 3rd overall / Moscow Menace
Just when you thought you’d seen enough of @OrbitingDeath on this list, the hits just keep on coming–and I mean that in more than one sense. Idaho is arguably the greatest physical forward of the VHL’s modern era, standing at over 2,500 hits already and still playing (the first time in this article we come to a player who’s still around). On top of that, he’s recorded 735 points to date, has won the Boulet every season since S80 (where he co-won MVP with Taro), and is currently piecing together a fine season in DC, where he looks to add to his already-HoF-worthy resume.
SEASON 78
Hard Markinson 2nd overall / Moscow Menace
Noticing anything yet? If you’re not…it’s yet another @STZ player. Markinson has been one of the league’s premier offensively-minded defensemen in recent seasons, with two 100-point efforts under his belt and already sitting at 579 points in total. He’s taken home the Labatte twice as well (in S81 and 82) and hopes to push Moscow over the line and finally win the Cup that has escaped them consistently for the past few seasons.
SEASON 79
Jerome Reinhart 3rd overall / Vancouver Wolves
I debated whether or not to include Reinhart on this list for being one of the main faces of Vancouver’s meta era, but I suppose I should try to be as objective as possible (and I also suppose that I believe Barry Bonds should be in the Baseball Hall of Fame). Reinhart (one of many, this one the product of @MexicanCow123) was the league’s top rookie in S79 and went on to be one of the premier faces of Vancouver’s own threepeat, winning the Kanou in their S81 run and posting four straight seasons over 100 points (including a 141-point S82) before switching to defense and moving out to New York. Regardless of what the rest of his career brings, he’ll be remembered for his offensive ability and the part his squad played in causing fundamental changes to the league.
SEASON 80
Xavier Booberry 1st overall / Helsinki Titans
I originally thought I’d be giving this to last season’s MVP in Saku Kotkakoivu, but after seeing Kotkakoivu’s relative decline this season and Booberry’s continued solid performance, I’m giving this to @CowboyinAmericaagain (though Dollar has made the list already as well). Booberry did get some votes for MVP last season when he almost singlehandedly carried Helsinki into the playoffs. Last season, too, he managed to take home the Shaw and the Slobo while also leading the league in GAA. He’s also managed to turn his record into a winning one this season after two seasons of mediocre play in Helsinki, and figures to have a strong remainder of his career as the Titans are a well-built team. It’s too early to project a lot for him at the moment, but signs are promising.
SEASON 81
Nico Pearce 10th overall / Moscow Menace
After falling to 10th in the draft under controversial circumstances, @Spartan followed through on his promise to move out of Moscow after Pearce’s rookie contract expired and now plays for Helsinki, where he’s taken his career above point-per-game pace and is carving out a career season in S84. Though he hasn’t won an award yet, we’ve seen what his agent can do, and his career is trending upward by the minute as he’s currently breaking through.
SEASON 82
Vasile Lamb 1st overall / New York Americans
After @dlamb missed out on recognition in this article in S73, he’s back and determined to make up for it in S82. Lamb, as far as I can tell with my cursory glance at a few pages of players who I think are doing well, leads the S82 class in points (229 to date, with 82 and 94 in his first two seasons) and it’s not even close. Not only that, but he’s put up impressive hit totals so far. Could we be seeing our next Duncan Idaho? I’m not sure yet, but it’s going to be a very interesting career to track.
SEASON 83
Brandt Fuhr 2nd overall / Vancouver Wolves
Some might not expect Fuhr, a goaler on what’s now a losing team and one with the record to match, to be my pick for this one, but he’s shown great potential already and may end up putting together a career like some of our early-S50s picks if Vancouver manages to turn themselves around soon. Last season, he put up a .929 SV%, and currently sits at .927 for this one–something that is very impressive given the circumstances and figures to make @Tate and his third player something to look at for the future.
SEASON 84
Art Vandelay 1st overall / Los Angeles Stars
Art Vandelay
I hope you LOVED reading this article, because it’s my longest…by far. It’s probably the longest I’ve ever seen by far, too (I’m on page 33 of my Google Doc). It’s sat at the back of my mind for a couple years now, and I’m glad I finally got around to writing the second half of it. For those wondering–no, I don’t have problems, and if you think I do, then I say YOU DO.
Seriously, can I get some money back on my donations or something? My fingers are tired.
In the shadows of @Beketov's dark, damp (but child-proofed) basement, a Spartan lurked for the better part of the past two years. Soon after he joined the VHL in March 2020, his aspirations were set high - with the hopes of one day holding significant roles in the league to affect positive change, for the betterment of the league as a whole. But the path would be difficult - spending time waiting in Beketov's dungeon, which was designed to drive even the most patient man insane - along with a steep cost to gather the big lad's favor.
The price to pay? Becoming a convert to Satanism, fully immersing oneself in the works of Ghost. Joining - and surviving - the seedy organization called VSN, known for sending hyperactive members to their demise, never to be seen again. Willingly choosing to take on more and more responsibility (and league blame) in the hopes of one day overthrowing those at the top and creating a loyal cult of Spartan worshippers being able to take on a coveted position: a commissioner.
Since the last World Cup back in S80, both the former commissioners in @Ricer13 and @bigAL moved on with their lives. BigAL literally.....moved halfway across the globe to become a hermit in the mountains of Hungary, teaching children how to attain enlightenment or something like that. Ricer took over other offseason tournament roles in the ProAM and WJC, which left the WC without leadership and without any interest from the greater community.
One fateful day, the light at the top of the basement stairs turned on. Inviting, beckoning, for an opportunity never available before. As the Spartan rose from his dank corner, the floor exploded with a bright fucking yellow creature flying out of it, and immediately racing up to the top of the stairs. In bewilderment, the Spartan crept towards the stairs, only to see a googly-eyed, bald creature clinging to the foot of Beketov, screaming "GIVE ME THE COMMISSIONER JOB."
Beketov, with a look of disgust and irritation, simply said "You two can deal with it together. Never bother me about the World Cup again."
---
And that's a 100% accurate depiction of how @Minion and I got the WC commish job! In all seriousness, it's going to be a fun tournament to run and get our fingerprints on, while also trying to revive the competitive spirit that the tournament seems to have lost in recent iterations. We're very happy with the GMs hired, and think that it'll be a fantastic tournament to watch - especially with all the S75's lacing up for one final set of games before retirement.
Few people expect a 2nd round draft pick to develop into one of the best forwards of a generation, but Andrew Su always exceeded expectations and made history in the process. Even with rumors of early retirement swirling around the draft that Su may retire early, Vancouver took a chance on the young center in the S72 draft and was rewarded with four 100+ point seasons, a championship, and a two-time MVP winner along with many other individual awards. Coming off of an era of low scoring, Su seemingly broke through and set the stage for the high scoring mid-S70’s into the S80’s, becoming the first player since S70 to record over 700 points in a career. At the end of the day, Andrew Su might just have been one of the best players of the VHL decade, and one who will be entrenched in the history books due to the immense success he had in the league.
S71 Ottawa
Regular Season
73GP / 51G / 48A / 99P / -3 / 340 SHT / 38 PIM / 107 HIT / 67 SB / 6 GWG / 3 PPG
Postseason
14GP / 7G / 13A / 20P / 0 / 76 SHT / 6 PIM / 23 HIT / 4 SB / 0 GWG / 2 PPG
In Andrew Su’s debut VHLM season, he chose to sign with one of the favorites to win the Founder’s Cup - the Ottawa Lynx. Despite playing behind three of the eventual top point scorers in the VHLM, Su managed to carve out a role of his own in his first foray into VHL-affiliated hockey. Playing alongside Iangenere Risteneen and Izzy Valencia on the second line, the wide-eyed rookie scored 51 goals and notched a total of 99 points. Su and the Lynx would continue their dominant streak, starting and finishing their playoffs with sweeps, dropping only 2 games total in the playoffs. Su pitched in as much as you can hope for from a rookie, with 20 points in 14 games to secure the first piece of hardware of his soon-to-be legendary VHL career.
S72 Vancouver
Regular Season
72GP / 9G / 10A / 19P / -2 / 110 SHT / 33 PIM / 38 HIT / 16 SB / 0 GWG / 0 PPG
Despite a mild pre-draft scare where rumors circled that Su may leave the VHL entirely, the Vancouver Wolves managed to pick one of the top prospects of the VHL draft with the first pick of the 2nd round, 13th overall. Vancouver was a young team in S72, featuring rookies Joe Proto, Jungkok, and Gino DiGiannantonio alongside Su, and the team struggled as such - finishing with 69 points in the NA conference, barely missing on the playoffs by 1 point. Su struggled in his debut season, posting just 19 points in 72 games mostly playing alongside Joe Proto and Dalton Wilcox. Regardless, all experience is good experience and Su had shown enough potential for the Wolves to continue to build a team around him.
S73 Vancouver
Regular Season
72GP / 34G / 43A / 77P / +3 / 363 SHT / 32 PIM / 38 HIT / 31 SB / 2 GWG / 10 PPG
Playoffs
5GP / 0G / 1A / 1P / -3 / 20 SHT / 4 PIM / 10 HIT / 1 SB / 0 GWG / 0 PPG
With a season of experience under his belt and a disappointing end to the S72 season, Su went into S73 looking to help Vancouver make the playoffs. With the addition of one of the top defensive prospects of Micah Adrienne and adding on veteran defenseman Griff Manzer, the Wolves were able to make the playoffs as the fourth seed. Su took a major step forward, improving from 19 total points in S72 to 77 points in S73. Clearly a season learning from veteran superstar Brock Louth paid off, as Su broke a point per game in just his second VHL season. In the first playoffs of the new expansion format, Vancouver found themselves facing off against the D.C. Dragons in the wild card round. Su seemingly faced his own share of playoff jitters, recording just 1 assist in 5 games as the Wolves were eliminated.
S74 Vancouver
Regular Season
72GP / 44G / 56A / 100P / +29 / 444 SHT / 36 PIM / 67 HIT / 34 SB / 7 GWG / 8 PPG / 2 SHG
Playoffs
19GP / 9G / 13A / 22P / +6 / 51 SHT / 2 PIM / 7 HIT / 1 SB / 0 GWG / 1 PPG
S74 may have been the turning season in Andrew Su’s career. In just his third season, he recorded his first 100 point season, notching 44 goals and 56 assists. Su’s efforts alongside captain Jeff Downey and superstar Brock Louth helped the Wolves go 43-20-9, finishing in first place in the NA Conference. Despite being the anchor of the team’s second line, Su showed just how underrated he was, leading the way for the next generation of superstars to take over the league. The Wolves met the Dragons for a second straight season in the playoffs, this time with the Wolves taking the series win, and then advancing to a tight 7 game series with Toronto where they would eventually end up victorious. In the finals against Helsinki, the series was split 2-2 after the first four games, but Vancouver would take the next two, along with a 2 point game 6 from Su to win the Continental Cup - the first VHL hardware in Andrew Su’s career.
S75 Vancouver
Regular Season
72GP / 43G / 63A / 106P / +27 / 450 SHT / 58 PIM / 79 HIT / 25 SB / 6 GWG / 8 PPG
Playoffs
7GP / 2G / 3A / 5P / -2 / 51 SHT / 2 PIM / 7 HIT / 1 SB / 0 GWG / 1 PPG
With both Jeff Downey and Brock Louth departing the team after the S74 championship season, Vancouver needed both a new leader and a new face of the franchise. Coming off a hundred point season, it was clear that the homegrown talent, Andrew Su, was ready to step up into big shoes. Named captain of the team and also promoted to first line center, Su continued his fantastic production despite playing against top competition. Playing alongside Onde Sandstrom and sophomore Gregg Stallion, Su scored 43 goals and 63 assists for a total of 106 points, continuing his trend of increasing his point totals each season. The Wolves narrowly missed out on first place in the NA, falling 4 points short to the Victory Cup winning Calgary Wranglers. In the playoffs, the Wolves ran into the red hot Dragons yet again - a team that finished the regular season on an 8-1-1 run. In a hard fought 7 game series, the Dragons got their revenge over the prior year’s defeat, eliminating the Wolves and holding Su to just 2 goals and 3 assists.
S76 Vancouver
Regular Season
72GP / 47G / 74A / 121P / +20 / 483 SHT / 43 PIM / 84 HIT / 37 SB / 10 GWG / 14 PPG
Playoffs
9GP / 5G / 2A / 7P / +2 / 50 SHT / 15 PIM / 8 HIT / 7 SB / 0 GWG / 1 PPG
Not content to settle with just playoff appearances, Vancouver acquired the former first overall selection in Andrew Su’s S72 draft, SS Hornet in an effort to add another level of firepower to their roster. Despite the addition, it was clear that Su remained the face of the franchise - and performed as such on the ice. Su sniffed a 2 point per game pace, scoring 47 goals and 74 assists for a total of 121 points in 72 games, tying for first in the league for point scoring and receiving his first Mike Szatkowski trophy. For the fourth straight season, the Wolves faced off against the Dragons in the playoffs, winning handily in a quick 5 game series. One of the recent expansion teams, the Chicago Phoenix, shocked the league with a 4 game sweep of the Wolves team most predicted would be the favorites for the championship. Su struggled as per his usual lofty standards, recording only 7 points in 9 games, failing to elevate his team past Chicago as he had done for the Wolves organization all season. Despite the playoff loss, his superhuman efforts resulted in the fifth year forward winning the Scotty Campbell MVP Trophy.
S77 Vancouver
Regular Season
72GP / 47G / 73A / 120P / +8 / 475 SHT / 43 PIM / 84 HIT / 37 SB / 10 GWG / 14 PPG
Playoffs
4GP / 0G / 4A / 4P / -1 / 24 SHT / 0 PIM / 1 HIT / 0 SB / 0 GWG / 0 PPG
Going into S77, Vancouver had cause for concern - the team lost both SS Hornet and forward Venus Thightrap, leaving just Andrew Su and a handful of other homegrown talent to then continue the pursuit for another championship. Hurting the cause was also the loss of starting goalie Jimmy Spyro, leaving Markus Emerson Jr between the pipes for S77. With the loss of so much talent, the team seemed to need yet another MVP-esque performance from Andrew Su. And MVP performance they received, with Su topping 100 points for the fourth straight season, solely leading the league in points and assists as well. Despite the superhuman efforts that merited Su the Beketov, Szatkowski, Campbell and the Slobo MVP as voted by the players, Vancouver just squeaked into the playoffs as the 5th seed in the NA and were eliminated in 4 games by the LA stars in the wild card round. However, this season cemented Andrew Su as one of the best forwards of the era, amassing an impressive collection of individual hardware and leading the league in points in back to back seasons.
S78 Calgary
Regular Season
72GP / 36G / 46A / 82P / +6 / 316 SHT / 14 PIM / 18 HIT / 32 SB / 5 GWG / 15 PPG
Playoffs
7GP / 4G / 5A / 9P / +3 / 27 SHT / 0 PIM / 2 HIT / 3 SB / 0 GWG / 1 PPG
With Vancouver just barely stumbling into the playoffs in S77, Vancouver management decided it was time to make some changes to their roster. Su was the first domino to fall, being sent along with VAN’s S78 1st rounder to Calgary in exchange for Sheldon Juniper and CGY’s S78 1st and 3rd round selections as well. With Calgary, Su who was approaching his twilight years, no longer needed to be the sole performer on the team. Captain Luke Thornton had established himself as one of the better wingers in the league, and the Wranglers team was well rounded, eliminating the need for a sole standout member. The depth showed, with 15 players recording points in the season, and 8 players topping 50 points. Su didn’t reach the 100 point plateau for the first time since S73, but maintained his point per game pace with an 82 point season. The Wranglers headed to playoffs with the 3rd seed, but eventually fell in a tight 7 game series to the Seattle Bears with Su recording 9 points.
S79 Seattle
Regular Season
72GP / 41G / 47A / 88P / +18 / 330 SHT / 7 PIM / 28 HIT / 15 SB / 5 GWG / 8 PPG
Playoffs
18GP / 8G / 15A / 23P / +7 / 83 SHT / 21 PIM / 10 HIT / 1 SB / 0 GWG / 3 PPG
After being defeated in the S78 playoffs by the Seattle Bears, Andrew Su found himself entering his final season as a Bear after the Wranglers accepted a 4th round pick in compensation for him. With the former superstar getting ready for retirement and the Wranglers looking to retool with some younger players, Su was granted the ability to play for a championship contender. The Bears were one of the hottest teams in the league featuring fellow S72 stars Valtteri Vaakanainen and Timothy Brown, along with former Vancouver teammate Jungkok. Arguably even deeper than the S78 Calgary team with 8 players topping 60 points, Su was able to produce one final season at over a point per game pace, finishing with 88 points. Seattle steamrolled their way to the top seed in the NA, where they headed off to the playoffs hoping to send Su off as a champion. Yet again, Su faced off against the D.C. Dragons where he easily dispatched them in 5 games, closing the chapter of the unspoken rivalry between himself and the organization. In a nailbiter of a series, the Bears were able to topple the LA Stars in the semifinals in 7 games, but were dispatched in the finals in 6 games by the Victory Cup winning Malmo Nighthawks. To his credit, Su was consistently one of the best players on the ice, finishing the playoffs with 23 points in the 18 games he played, finishing both his regular season and postseason career at over a point per game pace and closing his VHL career as one of the most talented players of the 70’s.
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Congratulations on a fantastic career and the well deserved HOF nod, @Da_Berr!
@Da_Berr Congrats! You had an astounding career and the induction is so well-deserved. I suspect there may be an spot on the All-Decade Team waiting for you as well...
@hylands What can I say. You were a fine example to us young Nighthawks as we came up the ranks and you pointed us to the path of glory. Then you tested us in battle when you left Malmo so we knew how a winner played. Congratulations, my friend. It was an honor to share the ice and locker room with you albeit for a short time.
Welcome one and all to the S80 Hall of Fame induction! This season we have a double first ballot induction, a fairly impressive distinction for 2 of the finest players of the past decade.
C - Andrew Su, S72-S79
RS: 576 GP, 301 G, 412 A, 713 P, +109, 260 PIM, 396 HIT, 234 SB, 41 GW
PO: 69 GP, 28 G, 43 A, 71 P, +12, 72 PIM, 58 HIT, 25 SB, 0 GW
S76 Scotty Campbell Trophy (Most Valuable)
S76 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)
S77 Scotty Campbell Trophy (Most Valuable)
S77 Brett Slobodzian Trophy (Most Outstanding)
S77 Mike Szatkowski Trophy (Most Points)
S77 Alexander Beketov Trophy (Most Assists)
3x All-VHL First Team (S75, S76, S77)
One Continental Cup (S74)
First up, it's the man who jokingly tanked his own draft stock and fell to the 2nd round in S72, only to rise as the best forward of a generation. Su kept flying under the radar for the first part of his career but by his 3rd season was a key cog of a young Vancouver Wolves team that surprised the league by winning the Continental Cup in S74. As the team's veterans retired, Su became the focal point of the Wolves attack and rose to the occasion, posting 4 straight 100+ point seasons. After an era of the lowest scoring the league has ever seen, Su's rise was a throwback to a different time, with his pinnacle being two straight 120-point seasons in S76 and S77, in which he also filled out his trophy case with the VHL's most prestigious awards. Su stayed in the west with two 1-season stops in Calgary and Seattle to end his career, coming within 2 wins of a second championship while also breaking the 700-point barrier - the first player to do so since Julian Borwinn's retirement in S70. Congratulations @Da_Berr!
S73 Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy (Top Rookie)
S75 Daisuke Kanou Trophy (Playoff MVP)
S78 Sterling Labatte Trophy (Top Defenceman)
S78 Alexander Valiq Trophy (Top Offensive Defenceman)
1x All-VHL First Team (S78)
1x All-VHL Second Team (S75)
Two Continental Cups (S75, S78)
Conner Low, Matt Bailey, Black Velvet - we can now add Chris Hylands to the unique list of Hall of Famers who excelled both on offence and defence. Hylands didn't do a slow start - he was top rookie in S73 and hit 100 points by S75, a season in which he led Malmo to the franchise's first Continental Cup, being crowned playoff MVP (he would later become the Nighthawks' GM and masterminded their second championship in S79). As Malmo entered a rebuild, Hylands' points totals didn't dry - halfway through S76 he was probably his draft class' best Hall of Fame hope, before Su's big breakthrough. Many of us thought he wasted that chance by moving to defence once he was sold to the high-flying Warsaw Predators, but Hylands' talent transferred to the back easily. By S78, he was known as the VHL's best defenceman and a key contributor now to Warsaw's first ever championship. Like Su, a 2nd rounder who broke down barriers and accumulated unique accomplishments - congrats @hylands!
VOTING RESULTS:
Andrew Su - 11/12
Chris Hylands - 11/12
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Alex Letang - 2/12
Tyson Kohler, Jakab Holik, Alexander Pepper, Roque Davis, Erik Killinger - 0/12
I think only the 9 season players will add any complexity to HOF discussion but in any case we've had to adapt to very different stat lines in the modern VHL so I think we've got experience of dealing with this now. Realistically it will still depend on who you're up against and how eras compare.
No immediate plans for a VHLE HOF, seems like a lot of work for a fairly niche addition.
2. Depreciation is going to be officially based off VHL seasons, not seasons since the draft. So if someone spends, for example, 3 seasons post draft in the VHLE they will only get hit with the first stage of depreciation (which is now 6th season) so it’s actually easier on mid-range earners. So the only people who get hit 4 times are the few who play 9 seasons in the VHL. 3 times for the 8 season guys (same as now), 2 for 7 seasons, etc.
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