Spartan

@Will3 bump @Dom can we get updated rosters please

C - The Board Game Clue on Skates @Kisslinger Sorry for the delay, slept in

@Beketov, @kelvi and @Banackockboth have AJ Williams

@MMFLEX is skipped, @DMaximus is on the clock. Flex can pick anytime.

I edited the roster post, no need to do it CIA. Thanks folks!

@Banackock will get 50% payout, I'll just make his final pick for him instead since we're this far in. F - Nico Pearce

We did drop a couple games in the preseason as did DC I think, but appreciate the kind words!

G - Papa Emeritus @Esso2264

ngl I went and checked your predictions and scotty's to see if you guys had put jerome in defenseman awards LOL, was ready to flame the fuck out of you

Updated link to S83 Groups will show as they are completed

Yes, this is an article purely targeting @MexicanCow123. If you haven't been paying attention, our favorite cow decided to reroll his player from forward to defense on the first day of the season. Now, he's certainly allowed to do so, and technically, it was still the offseason. However it messes up VHFL and predictions as well, and I think there should be a cutoff. I'd say it should be the day VHFL begins, which is usually the first day of free agency in a normal season. That way, teams have the legal tampering period to discuss potential position swaps with a FA, or they have more than a week of pure offseason to discuss position swaps with existing players. There's really no reason for a position swap to occur so late in the offseason. Teams (and players) should be prepared for the season before the day of the regular season, or at least a couple days into FA. I would see VHLM/VHLE teams complaining about the call-up cutoff as well, especially since it can happen on the first day of the season as well. I think that since those call-ups depend on a TPE mark for players to hit, they inherently need more flexibility. However, if a player was actively trying to hit a soft/hard cap, I would think all the GM's impacted would be aware.

@KaleebtheMighty is skipped, @BOOM is up

@animal74 is skipped, @Baby Boomer is up I'll give animal a couple more hours to make his picks before DQ'ing

I'll support Orlando

No, it wasn't, was just trying to point out that this piece is showing trades while identifying how much of an impact the players involved had on Halifax or some other organization from a statistical point, without actually factoring in any of the community or interactive portions. It's not really a fully accurate depiction of what is mainly considered successful in the M, which is user happiness, retention and development. Trades not leading to wins doesn't mean that users aren't getting developed, nor that a lack of championships means that an M team isn't doing what it's meant to do. I also strongly disagree with solely putting newer members at the forefront of the new user experience. It's pretty time intensive, between waivers and checking on players and providing assistance, and you'd hope that someone who is teaching new members is familiar with the league and all of its mechanics. I like having the mix of veterans and "fresh" users that we have now, even though the fresh users are ones who are some of the most active in the league as well and can clearly do the job. Regarding the last point of gutting the future and @Plate's point of the cyclical nature of the M, I agree that it's pretty stupid to see the insane highs and lows. With the changes now, 100 TPE and 200 TPE players really don't have an insane difference, you're right. When we realized that in the BoG, it wasn't much of a concern because it 1. meant that users would want to get out of the M so they could apply more TPE, and 2. teams wouldn't have the urge to sell their future for capped players since they're no longer significantly better, compared to back in the old system when you compared a 250 TPE player to a 100 TPE player. I still think that having trades can give GM's the freedom to make roster moves as they please, if they want to swap out builds, or shift peaked assets for future assets, or even swap players of different positions. A lot of the changes over the past 2-3 seasons has gone towards reducing the extreme cyclical nature of the M and frequency of barren M rosters, but when you start in S72/S73, you're going to get a lot of the data under the old systems and rules.

Jerome is defense

But what is this piece really assessing? Obviously the trades have gone to show that Halifax has not enjoyed success when it comes to the playoffs, nor have their management ended up on the favorable side of trades when you look at what the end pieces accomplished. But for all the players that put up "franchise leading numbers" for their teams, that means that they were career VHLMers. That's not development. Sure there have been stints where management didn't develop and sold the farm to try and compete and failed horrendously, but that's just shitty GM'ing and a perfect reason why the M shouldn't be an entry level position. Also I made plenty of trades as LVA GM, and we didn't win any championships. I probably made trades that I "lost" as well when it comes to who won playoff series. But LVA had a good locker room and we sent plenty of first gens into the VHL. The trades didn't work out in the sense that we didn't win championships or playoff series consistently, but that doesn't mean I wasn't still mentoring players, helping with builds and making sure they moved on in the league and earning the best they can. Edit/Addition: I made 23 trades in about 4 seasons (since I was hired at S72 TDL, I'm not counting S72 as a 5th season), so a rate of 5.75 trades per season. 48/10 for 4.8 isn't really excessive "volume" trading either.

The part right after that mentioned that winning is a way to keep engaging people. I'm fine with trades in limitation, as long as one franchise isn't completely crippling themselves to compete in a single season. If I traded a younger player as LVA GM for a capped player, that signaled to the players on the roster that I was committed to furthering the collective experience by pushing towards a championship. The younger player would get to spend another season with their new franchise, and become a core player for the future and likely get more minutes as well.

Helps with the friends part.

I'm here for no trophies and no friends.

It is a development league first and foremost, but obviously winning helps players stay engaged. But also every player gets engaged in different ways, some folks prefer to be playing top minutes even if they lose, others want to win even in depth roles. Regardless though, having 2-3 actives on a team is frowned upon and that's what recent changes have been trying to avoid.

Pick between Jerome and your other two defensemen, and then pick a new forward to replace Jerome. Tag @Gustav once you're done so he can edit the roster.

@Alex

It happened less than 30 minutes ago, you're finding out relatively immediately. And yes, you'll have to repick a forward and one of your d-men will be released.

@kelvi Jerome is a defenseman now, please decide whether you want to move him to defense, or release him and pick a new forward. Tag @Beketov once you decide.