Spartan

For the DQ team, please tag me to replace their picks F - Molly the Cat

HBD @badcolethetitan

Took me a few weeks/couple months to really get into a groove in terms of processing all the new information and getting into an earning habit. You'll be ok, you've got good friends who know what they're doing and will help out. Reach out if you ever need anything, and welcome to the league!

Only bc you asked Ronan Lavelle OTB

Happy birthday OD!

I know people joke about me not scouting, and I do leave it fairly late in the draft process. But it boggles my mind how I can be chatting with a prospect just a day or two before the draft and they're thanking me for even talking to them since I'm the first or second team to reach out to them. That's the real joke in the league, how little some GM's do to go beyond just winning (which straight up, they do not do) and to give members a good experience and a fun time. As Gus said in his piece, the M GM's know we've spoken to them about ensuring they have the resources to help their players, but the buck doesn't stop with the M. We're going to start calling out failures in the E and the VHL too, we're just fixing our own issues first. And yes, there will still be league changes coming soon to give some of the lower earning players some value back. I think the larger issue is still that we have perfectly capable and curious members not being given fundamental resources to be the best player they can be, but we will make sure every player has a home.

God bless VSN for giving us the motivation we really didn't need

Better than the going rate for a player at that level and earn rate

CGY really got a 1st so Davos could get 15 more DF and 9 less SC, well done Ricer

Bit late but I'd take my boy Steezy's, would love to write the recap on a Moscow lifer's career

D - Hammar Voss F - The Board Game Clue on Skates @Johnny_HX

For having lost 5 finals, I'm arguably a bit too happy about still being in this role. I'd point the finger at @hedgehog337 tbh

@N0HBDY skipped again, that'll be 50% payout. If skipped again, it's a DQ. @Philis up

F - Hulk Hogan 2 @Webberj

G - Henry Tucker Jr @JB123 I believe

Yes. No player vote, have never done it tbh. Always decided by management.

1. I'm most looking forward to playing alongside newcomers Ronan Lavelle and rookie The Mediocre One. I think it'll be a great season with the new faces, including rookie Murdock kicking off his career as a starter. 2. I really liked one of @Quik's old players, or at least I think it was his. ACL Tear, just a great name. 3. It's a weird mix of busy and boring. Some days felt like they were super chaotic and I was spending more time than I wanted around the VHL. Some days felt like the canary in the coal mine was about to go off. Either way, glad to be starting the season in just 2 days. 4. I think Warsaw usually gives us a bit of a challenge, though it's been mixed in recent seasons. Sometimes we smash them, sometimes they smash us. We'll find out I suppose. 5. Pie, I don't like cake icing. I'd go with a nice apple or cherry pie. 6. Sidney Crosby is back to being the default answer since John Marino was traded to New Jersey.

After a breakout S84 with the Helsinki Titans, winger turned center Nico Pearce had all eyes on him. After failed contract negotiations with the Titans sent the 5th year player into Free Agency, the Vancouver Wolves secured his services for S85 where Pearce put up 99 points, 21 fewer than the 120 point MVP and Goal-lead season before. Despite that, Vancouver chose to offer a contract to renew Pearce's tenure, hoping he would continue to thrive alongside a young team that had developed for another season. S86 started off horrendously, with both Pearce and Vancouver struggling to consistently hold on to a playoff spot in the NA Conference, while Pearce simply averaged a point per game - a lower metric than one would expect from a former MVP and goal leader. Near the trade deadline came a trade - Moscow and Vancouver swapping struggling first line centers with the prayer that the shake up would lead to different results. The move helped, as Moscow climbed to first place in the EU standings by the end of the season. Vancouver on the other hand, went on to win the Continental Cup. The disappointment of the situation is clear, with Pearce missing out on his closest chance to win a championship after the S81 finals appearance. Now with Moscow, the veteran signed a 2 year deal, but a player option on S88. If Moscow isn't pleased with the Greek's performance, it wouldn't be surprising if Moscow threatens the winger to either decline the option or face a trade to an unwelcome destination.

Alex just posted it in the announcement thread, signed the FA and then released the IA. I went in and made the penalty 0 after that, so you can do the same. Partly will be mitigated by depreciation change kicking in and slapping some folks fairly hard. Mainly looking at S80/S81 players who will be eating 8/12% depreciation on their super bloated builds. But yes there's other stuff in the works that don't involve cap raising or expanding to address the issue, we'll see how it goes. Maybe I'm a bit of an oddity, but I don't really mind if you end up testing FA or not. I think loyalty is earned, I don't just need to demand it. You gave me expectations when we drafted you and when we re-signed you, I said we'd meet them. I don't think it's absurd if you end up going "hey yeah I don't think this is working and I want to look elsewhere," because that's just me not meeting your expectations. I'd obviously want a head's up and a chance to resolve the frustration mid/post-season first, but I get going to FA. Either way though, we'll have a fun season this year

@Acydburn skipped, @NSG is up

@N0HBDY skipped, @KaleebtheMighty on the clock

Won't be expansion, nor does it seem to be raising the cap, for now.

Well one of us has to lose a finals here.....nose goes

Well we'd think the active free agents without a home would care, since any immediate rule change was geared towards them. But genuinely speaking, let's say we raise the cap by a nice happy 45 million from 42 million. Moscow would basically retain Harkat Mulds, an IA defenseman, instead of allowing him to go to IA FA. We'd also call up Ilya Bryzgalov (whose cap hit I definitely didn't miscalculate as 2.5 instead of 2 before trading him away) and he'd serve as our backup goalie. So we basically just get an extra 441 TPA defenseman to finish up our 6-4-2 vs our current 6-3-1, and the actives in FA looking for a home get nothing. Especially since almost all the actives in FA were forwards. Also regarding parity, personally I don't care if there's more of a gap between competing teams and rebuilding teams. As you mentioned in your post, Moscow has been competitive for like 8 seasons in a row due to decent management. I'd say it's because of my focus on constant replenishment of our team and drafting replacements to aging players. Wallace for Seabasstard, AK92 for Markinson, Murdock for Papa, Sogaard for Idaho, etc. Even adding in Voss and Pearce via trade helped. Us moving folks like Idaho, Atreides, Moreau was because we overloaded our team the way you're asking for. We had what, 6-7 5.5 million players on the team? If we do follow your suggestion and gave Moscow an extra 5-6 million in cap space, I'd happily go and keep adding 5.5 players in FA or via trade. I doubt we'd have an issue with running into cap hell since I'd just keep managing it as I have been with a 42 million cap. But because I know that it's very easy to overload teams and also maintain those teams, it makes no sense to change our cap situation to enable it. It feels like teams like Davos, New York, Helsinki and Los Angeles haven't even sniffed a significant playoff run since I've joined the league. I really don't think enabling those teams to ruin their futures by selling their assets for 1-2 seasons of mismanaged competitiveness is worth it. And as a final thought without oversharing too much of other people's work - I've seen some folks' analysis over the seasons of how teams should be rated/ranked using various STHS attributes and weighting of what people consider important. Even with a 40 and 42 million cap, there are very clear rebuilding teams, very clear competing teams, and very clear "stuck in the mid" teams. STHS can be a bitch sometimes and make some absurd results, but teams also remain active during the season. We saw around 9-10 mid-season trades last season to shake up the competitive field, and one of those active teams (Vancouver) went on to win the cup. I think parity exists in the league to the degree there aren't superteams that can dominate for seasons in a row, and that's about it. But maybe I'm biased from being one of the constantly competitive GM's, dunno. Good article and I love discussion-provoking stuff like this. 10/10.