Spartan

Don't stress it, it'll be 12 hours per pick and I'll try to make sure you're not first pick in your group when the draft starts tonight.

We're pretty deep into the offseason at this point and all the interesting things have just about finished. All three drafts are over, FA has opened and basically ended, and the HOF inductions have been announced. All that's really left is to participate in VHFL and wait for the season to start next Wednesday. So while we wait, let's see what all happened this offseason. - Moscow's draft went pretty well I think, we got two of our top choices at D and C in @hedgehog337 and @Hoopydog. We went into the draft planning to draft some long-term replacements and feel like we came out with exactly what he hoped for. Rest of the draft is promising as well, as @Otis Boudreaux was someone we feel was a nice steal down at 23. I think he could have been a first round selection without some of the life stuff he had going on. @Plate is someone I've always enjoyed having around, and while life has been kicking his ass a bit as well, I just wanted to have him around for whenever the comeback starts. We also figured we could land one of either @Matt thunder or @Devise in the draft, so we traded a prospect with a tough road to make the roster here in exchange for Bryzgalov. Snagging @StephenCurry5806N late was a nice little grab of an affiliate user - if he's active, lovely. If not, we traded a pending IA FA for him. No loss whatsoever. - FA was dull as hell, only Jonathan Ori really ended up there after Brendan Marner decided to re-sign with Warsaw and Bob Vlad-I can't spell the rest went to LA. Toronto and Riga are over the cap and it'll be interesting to see where they clear cap. I hope they go to NYA or VAN, one of them could probably sneak into playoffs somehow. - @Gustav and @dlamb made HOF, congrats to y'all. Long overdue for Gus to have a good player and Taro had some great moments. Lamb was a fantastic playoff performer and both were very deserving nods. Will be interesting to see who next season's nominees will be, it seems like the remaining pool of nominees (before the new ones are added) is pretty shallow. Not even sure who becomes eligible next season, but that's a Victor problem. Sign up for VHFL if you haven't yet!

Stud.

Two ties off the bat, jeez

#2

1. Anytime we can bring in an excellent player, it's something to appreciate and look forward to. Will be excited to see how she complements our roster! 2. Moving to center is tough, and that's from first-hand experience. It'll take a lot of work to get used to face offs, but I think it's easier for a veteran like her to handle to move since she's had to take face offs occasionally in the past anyways. 3. I'm a huge fan of Burns as a player and his agency. He's very skilled and a great person as well. Very excited that we got him and looking forward to working with him in the future! 4. It's disappointing to see someone leave for sure, especially someone as good a player and person as @ROOKIE745. He had awesome insights in the locker room and was a leader on the ice. It's a tough move to see but we'll adapt and I hope he enjoys Seattle. 5. A bit of relaxation, a bit of preparation. I want to make sure I'm the best I can be going into the season. 6. I'm a fan, I think they've worked as intended. We see a lot of build variance and different builds doing well. That's what we hoped to achieve. It has certainly impacted teams and their ability to manage the cap though, so we'll have to look into that for the future.

Welcome to the start of S84! We are back yet again for another glorious season of fantasy hockey within a fantasy hockey league. As always, please take a few minutes to familiarize yourself with the VHFL rules. There have been no changes since they were implemented. Reply below to sign up! Please also note if you would like to apply to be a group manager. Unlike previous seasons when group manager selection has been randomized, I will be selecting group managers based on historical performance in the position. While the bonus 1 uncapped TPE is coveted, I also need GM's to....actually manage their groups. As always, DM me with any questions/comments/concerns. This thread will lock automatically at 6 PM (Eastern Time) on June 23rd. I aim to start drafts on June 23rd as well.

Welcome back!

Congrats again on the accomplishment Steez, it's been awesome having you and Hard play for Moscow all these seasons. You've been a huge part in why we've been able to make the deep playoff runs we did, and it's extremely appreciated

@Garsh you know what to do

Nico Pearce PF Physical Sparta Spartans

Just to be clear, these grades are on the teams - not the players. Every player can do well in the right situation, it's up to those respective teams to make the rights picks and that's what I grade

Would have been difficult for that to have been me, I joined the VHL a couple seasons before Scott Greene retired . But at the end of the day I'm sure you're back and motivated, and the team you went to had a role in it as your MS this week indicated. But from an outside perspective, you've been welfare+PF for a while and suddenly started earning this week. Anyone would naturally have doubts, but it's Seattle and you're back there so I expect you'll end up like top 5 in TPE for this class by the time everyone retires. Good luck with your career!

Anytime I say "rumors" I'm emulating @Arce and just spouting my thoughts that are completely speculative and not actual fact . I didn't actually think you wanted out, but it seemed logical that your final season on your ELC would be a good time to get traded back to Warsaw, especially with the current state of NYA.

I don't like giving out A+ in general as it assumes the pick was perfect. Davos went into the draft very, very clearly displaying they wanted Thad. They didn't win the lottery and still managed to take Thad. For them, that was perfect. For Prague, it was a little more shaky and I could have very easily given them just an A, but they started off their rebuild with the 1B goalie in this draft who has been very consistent in the past, and would be a great LR fit there too. Plus, I think Prague should have taken Dmax in this draft no matter what, so it was an A+ that they got him. Otherwise I felt like if there was ambiguity at a pick or if I didn't 100% believe a team should have taken a player there, then it was an A/A-. If I had doubts about the player long term, or the fit with the team was shaky, then it was in the B range. Picks I straight up didn't agree with or didn't think it made sense for long term success with got a C or lower. Hope that makes sense!

I considered writing a media spot to recap Moscow's draft solely, but that doesn't engage nearly as many people as if I actually graded all the picks in the first round. I'll admit, with recent controversies in mind, it's dangerous for a current GM to talk about other team's players without being questioned for tampering. But for the sake of glorious forum content and engagement, it's a risk that must be taken. Don't get mad if I don't like the pick, just go prove me wrong or something. Or block me on Discord, either works. Enjoy! LA Stars - 1st Overall G - Art Vandelay - @Gustav I'll admit I was quite surprised when the pre-draft rumblings had Vandelay going first overall especially considering Davos' fixation with center Napoleon Dynamite. With Davos also having traded for an S80 goalie, it doesn't make sense for them to be looking at a replacement for about 3 seasons at the least. Maybe they wanted to show commitment to their franchise goalie at 1oa, or really wanted a specific user pairing with 1oa and 3oa. But knowing they could have taken Dynamite 1oa or held the pick hostage over Davos for more assets and then still manage to get Vandelay at 3oa means this pick has to get penalized a bit. Draft Grade: A- HC Davos Dynamo - 2nd Overall C - Napoleon Dynamite - @thadthrasher In a draft where Davos' intentions were not really hidden, moreso blatantly out there, they still managed to land just about who they wanted in the top two rounds. With Davos' defense being pretty set for the future, and a trade for a goalie, all they really needed was offense. They made some trades to bring in established veterans, but the draft is where you make your future. Dynamite was the safest center in this pick with an excellent floor. He should be able to serve as a solid 1C. Draft Grade: A+ LA Stars - 3rd Overall D - Callum Murray - @Berocka Anytime you can get the top TPE player in the draft at 3rd overall, you're doing things right. Mainly due to LA having 1st overall and Davos being hyperfocused on a positional need, Murray drops to 3 and projects to be LA's franchise defenseman. From a user standpoint, Berocka and Gus have a nice history with each other as Berocka was Gus' AGM in Davos, while also playing for him as a goalie. Both users should be happy to have some familiarity brought in this draft. Draft Grade: A Helsinki Titans - 4th Overall LW - Cobalt Burns - @Ledge While I was a bit confused with LA's choice to prioritize a goalie at 1oa, I'm more confused about Helsinki prioritizing winger at 4oa. With Jonathan Ori heading to free agency and Reylynn Reinhart coming in for a final season at center, there's simply no long-term center on the roster right now. While Burns is a great prospect and seems to be on a vengeance for being one of the prospects pundits had concerns about in this draft due to supposed passion for the game, it seems like Helsinki was more worried about replacing the retiring Nasherov. It could even be argued that Burns is the insurance plan for former first round picks Nico Pearce and Nezuko who have expressed willingness to go to FA in the past. Still though, it seems like a choice like Dogwood Maple would have filled the more pressing need at hand despite the caliber of Cobalt Burns. Draft Grade: B- New York Americans - 5th Overall D - Pierre Emile Bouchard - @Gaikoku-hito New York basically needs everything except goalie, so they're happy to select the best player remaining on the board. Bouchard has grown extremely well, and was sort of hidden in Callum Murray's shadow at the top of the draft board. While Murray struggled making the jump from the VHLM to the VHLE, Bouchard exploded for 72 points in 72 games on Stockholm, showing his ability to hang with players at his skill level and higher. Regardless, it was a solid pick for NYA and the best one they could have made without having to trade up. However, with how many holes New York had on their roster, it seemed more prudent to trade down in this class, potentially to a team like Calgary with multiple additional first round picks and pick up more players to speed up their rebuild. Without a supporting cast for Bouchard, there's risk that yet another face of the franchise will become disgruntled. Draft Grade: B+ Prague Phantoms - 6th Overall G - Clueless Wallob - @DMaximus After the trade with Davos that sent David Davis out of Prague in exchange for a return centered on the 6th overall pick, it was pretty clear that Wallob would be strongly considered at this pick. Despite few teams between 6oa and 11oa (Prague's next pick) needing a goalie, there was a risk that a team with a shaky goalie situation like London at 10oa would snatch up Wallob if he was there. Selecting him at 6 shows commitment that he is their guy for the future and starts off their rebuild on the right foot - with the most important player on the ice. Draft Grade: A Vancouver Wolves - 7th Overall C - Dogwood Maple - @dogwoodmaple Frankly, I didn't expect Frank to have Maple available at 7 so I was pretty curious to see who he thought was the best player remaining on the board to fill all of Vancouver's holes. With Maple still at 7, it was difficult for Vancouver to pass on one of the highest ceiling players of the draft. Maple has some concerns about whether he can continue his impressive rate of development in the VHL, but only time will tell. Draft Grade: A Calgary Wranglers - 8th Overall D - Scoish Velociraptor Maloish - @youloser1337 After the top 7, the draft list was mostly defensemen as far as the eye can see. Calgary has also been pretty open about their desire to select a defenseman to complete their core alongside GoodBrandSun and recent acquisitions Erlantz Jokinen and Asher Reinhart. Seems like a perfect situation for them, which made the choice understandably difficult to choose which of the remaining defensemen to select. With Maloish as the selection, Calgary took probably the highest ceiling defenseman remaining, but also one who could have the lowest floor. He's had some hitches in his development in the past, but I'm sure Calgary hopes that their training program would situate Maloish in the VHL grindset again. Draft Grade: B+ Toronto Legion - 9th Overall C - Tyler Busser - @lll I have to admit, I was a bit shocked when I saw Toronto select a center here. While Paul Atreides is retiring after this season, Matty Fire and Armani Calamari have both shown their ability to play center at a strong level. While rumblings are that one of the two could be considering a move to the wing to open up the Legion's offense to supplement their solid defense, it was just surprising that Toronto chose to overlook one of the neglected wingers at this point, or even another defensemen to project as a future top pairing with Ryuji Sakamoto. While Busser is an excellent prospect, there have been concerns about motivation at times. The last player in this agency retired shortly after the draft, and there were concerns about whether Busser would retire if he didn't like his situation. While he's signed his ELC at the time of writing this, it just seems like Toronto could have filled a more pressing need, instead of adding on to their strongest position group at the moment. Draft Grade: B- New York Americans - 10th Overall D - Malum Maellard - @frescoelmo Everything about what happened with this pick during the draft was simply bizarre. First Warsaw trades up from 12 to 10 with London, and then Warsaw flips the pick over to NYA in exchange for Vasile Lamb - a player who has been rumored to have wanted out of New York and onto Warsaw for a little bit now. It seems like New York absolutely wanted 10th overall to get a specific player in exchange for a budding star like Lamb, so you'd expect a slam dunk here - potentially the free-falling Noodles Marconi, the rising star in Molly the Cat, or even offensive defensemen Faith Hope Love. Instead they go with a defensive defenseman - Malum Maellard. It's a bit of a head scratcher for New York to prioritize a defensive defenseman over any sort of scoring that they simply don't have right now, but it gives them a future first-pairing between Maellard and Bouchard. We'll have to check back in after three seasons to see how many of them are still on the team, but for now, I'm just skeptical about the selection. Draft Grade: C+ Prague Phantoms - 11th Overall D - Faith Hope Love - @MMFLEX Personally, I had Faith Hope Love and AK92 Wit da Hoodie as the top defensemen after Murray and Bouchard, so this grade could be a bit biased simply based on that. But FHL going 11th to Prague who sat there and waited to see who they could get to spark their rebuild is fantastic value for them. There's not too much else to say about this pick, it was a solid one for Prague. Draft Grade: A+ London United - 12th Overall RW - Molly The Cat - @JCarson Molly The Cat rose up the draft boards quickly over the course of this season, especially since she's been training extensively with fellow young VHLer, Landon Wolanin. The development has been excellent, and London sorely needed a winger to replace Nils Godlander for the future. With only Zaza Colors remaining on the roster as a legitimate first line winger, and Ablar and Avens serving as solid second line wingers, London will hope that The Cat can eventually fill that role. While it's certainly doable, it's a large ask for someone who just joined the VHL system this past season, so there's a healthy dose of skepticism. Prove me wrong though! Draft Grade: B+ Moscow Menace - 13th Overall D - AK92 Wit da Hoodie - @hedgehog337 I was pretty close to giving this pick a D simply because of how annoying the name is to type, and because I don't know what the last name is here. Is it Hoodie? Da Hoodie? Wit da Hoodie? Too much confusion here. But out of the options remaining and with Moscow's desire to replace both Hard Markinson and The Seabasstard, who have indicated a desire to retire in the next couple seasons, it only made sense to grab the Latvian defenseman who could easily step up into Markinson's shoes alongside Wattson Power. The only real risk here is Hoodie's commitment long term, if he would stick around with Moscow despite his Latvian roots and implied ties to the Riga Reign. Draft Grade: A- Calgary Wranglers - 14th Overall C - Sax Justice - @Eso Probably the largest reach of the draft especially with Velociraptor Greg and Noodles Marconi at larger positions of need for Calgary, but Calgary really wanted Justice and without a 2nd round pick, had to reach here. It's a bit difficult to see what really excited Calgary here, as they already have Saku Kotkakoivu, Daniel Janser and Leandro Goncalves at center, all three presumably sticking around for at least 4 seasons each. Add on that Justice has been slow to develop and doesn't have much of a ceiling, it's difficult to see where he fits in with this roster, and what his timeline looks like. Draft Grade: D Moscow Menace - 15th Overall C - Fraser Wallace - @Hoopydog As mentioned at 13th overall, Moscow had a plan. They wanted a long-term replacement for Hard Markinson and got that replacement in AK92 Wit da Hoodie, and now all they really needed was a center to replace The Seabasstard. Enter Fraser Wallace, a severely underrated player in this draft class but who has been developing extremely well. There were concerns that his agency didn't set up players for lengthier careers, especially after their last player ended up moving back down to the VHLE after not being able to endure VHL competition through his older years, but they seem to have addressed those concerns and are firmly behind Wallace and his long-term success. Paired with Moscow's historical success at developing centers into quality contributors, Wallace might just be ready to take the league by surprise. Draft Grade: A Seattle Bears - 16th Overall LW - Chip Stone - @DoktorFunk I'd call this the biggest weird reach of the draft, but it's Seattle and a player from an agency they're very friendly with. The player suddenly started showing up to additional workouts and training sessions the week leading up to the draft, and rumors are swirling that the player was already following Seattle's training regiment this week. While on the surface it seems like a ridiculous reach for a player who seemed half-interested in the league, there's probably communication behind the scenes that led to Stone's renewed vigor in the league solely contingent on his drafting to Seattle. We'll have to see if this is more than a temporary burst in activity, or if Stone regresses to the mean in his development. Draft Grade: C 2,229 words, 4 weeks claim

Did you even offer him a 2 year extension?

Excellent hires all around, congrats to all

Shouldn't be listening to mine then

Nice to be reunited with you Ricer! Hope we can get the S76 magic again

@BOOM I think he needed a sig too . Maybe one for FA?

Thanks for your time in Moscow @SpicyGecko, hope you have the chance to come back again while on Prague Cheers @Acydburn, treat him well!

@Bigb33 I didn't mention you in the other thread because of this other trade lined up. As much as I would have loved to bring you back to Moscow for good, the cap meant we had to make another move to send you to Vancouver. They should be able to offer you more significant minutes in a larger role. Take care of him please @Frank and thanks for the chat

You deserved better @OrbitingDeath . Thanks for sticking around and being a great player, advisor and friend. I'll always appreciate the trust you had in me. Best of luck winning the cup in your final season with DC Thanks for the chats @Enorama, win him the cup he deserves please.

1. Well standard stuff so far, just making sure conditioning is good and developing strength to hang with the big boys for another season. 2. A big improvement was in the locker room, adding to the youth movement with Voss and Nesbitt coming up. Bringing back guys like Nezuko and Nasherov was big in my own decision to re-sign with the team. 3. I think that Bouchard is one of the best defensemen in the class and could join Voss as one of the best pairings in the league very quickly. If we're looking to boost the forward group, it'd be nice to bring in a natural center like Dogwood Maple to allow me to play more wing, a bit more in a freestyle method. 4. I wish them all the best, and hope they have success on their new teams. Jokinen will play a big role in Calgary while Remy is going to Moscow who has had success everywhere but in the finals. Hope he can carve out the role over there that he couldn't here with younger players making him expendable. But they were great teammates and I am very happy to have played with them. 5. Well personally, it's just the overall mindset of the organization and everyone in it. We all want to win and the letdown of last season is fresh on our minds. We want to prove that we're contenders for the cup and we've all been working towards that collective goal. Seeing the efforts everyone was putting in made me want to come back as well. 6. I'll always root for Europe after playing there during my own WJC season. It's a great way to meet fellow Europeans who will grow alongside you as professionals.