Beketov

Jumping way ahead this time but the Toronto cup win with White in S29 as well as taking home the scoring title, even if it was with the lowest point total ever. Season 29 is one of my more memorable cups simply because so few saw it coming. We were a band of underdogs that swooped in and stole the cup away. It was a hell of a season to say the least and I think the only time I've won a cup and an individual award in the same season.

You took the name Sharpe, you should have known you'd be cursed from the start.

I see absolutely no advantage to doing that.

That's more active than Sokolov has been thus far haha

Gotta get through these a bit quicker if I'll ever get to my later players so jumping right ahead to the end of Beketov's career. After capturing the Continental Cup in his final season with the Bears I had the honour of having Beketov added into the Hall of Fame as a First Ballot introduction. For some reason during his entire career I had never considered the possibility of making the hall so to get there, especially in my first season of eligibility, felt pretty amazing.

Not the first time haha

Really just wanted to rag on you. Couldn’t point how how few awards I have without pointing out how many you have haha. I honestly doubt Miller would have gotten much even without O’Malley and Tordahl around.

The Beketov Agency Player Review - Part 2 Welcome back! In my last MS I discussed my first four players in the league from the all-star Alexander Beketov to the Black Sheep Kristensen and, you know, the other two. In this one I’ll be covering my last 5 players including my current 2 active ones. So sit back and enjoy yet another Beketov retrospective. ---------- Player #5: Jason White - 506 TPE Drafted: Season 25 - 3rd Overall Awards: Continental Cup - Season 29 Szatkowski Award - Season 29 Statistics: 432GP, 143G, 284A, 427P, +201 Coming off Niklas Kristensen (quite early I might add) I felt as if I had something to prove with my next player and White...kinda did that. I still got drafted high which was nice to see; and quite surprising since NY gave me another chance. I think a GM change had happened or something. In any case, it was nice to have a bit of a comeback with White. He never got the kind of statistics Beketov did; in fact while writing this I realized that (spoilers) none of my forwards ever really did. But I digress. I managed to get my name on the cup again thanks to a Surprise Toronto Legion team in Season 29 and I also snagged my only Szatkowski award that season. Unfortunately the season holds the record for the lowest points total to ever win the award (107) but I still won it so that felt really cool. In general I found White’s career to be kinda lacklustre. That season with Toronto was really fun since the team was so active and no one really expected us to play as well as we did. However that was the only season I felt like I was more than just a depth forward. White was definitely an okay player, don’t get me wrong, but not really top 3 if I were to list out my personal favourites. Player #6: Evgeni Chekhov - 675 TPE Drafted: Season 32 - 4th Overall Awards: N/A Statistics: 322GP, 151-145-26, 0.914SV%, 2.51GAA, 31SO Oh Chekhov, poor Chekhov. First off, yes, that is how you spell the name. This was my first player with a trickier name and it shows with how often the name was miss-spelled. In any case, Chekhov was chosen early on in Season 32 in order to become the first real star goalie for Cologne. He stuck out his entire career on a Cologne team that could never quite get the pieces they needed to compete which unfortunately led to an earlier retirement than I had initially planned. Cologne just wasn’t working out for me but there was no goalie market to do anything so I wound up retiring rather than wasting away. All of that aside though, Chekhov wasn’t a bad goalie really. I continued my trend of improving with my goalies (somewhat the opposite as my forwards) and Chekhov’s stats are respectable. I won’t be making the Hall of Fame with him any time soon and I never managed any awards but I would argue that Chekhov still stands as one of Cologne’s better goalies over the years that they’ve been a team. It is unfortunate that I retired him early because I think I could have done a lot more but it’s the decision I made and I stand by it. Player #7: Jackson Miller - 825 TPE Drafted: Season 39 - 5th Overall Awards: Continental Cup - Season 44 Continental Cup - Season 46 Statistics: 576GP, 268G, 348A, 616P, +182 Miller is a bit of a weird player for me to review. I remember when he was my active player that I deemed him a pretty strong forward and thought his stats were really quite good. Like for some reason I was thinking he might be able to land in the Hall but was surprised when he didn’t. Surprised, that is, until I actually looked at his stats to write this. Though I managed 2 cups with Miller (the only time any of my players have done that) and he has respectable stats they still aren’t great. At the end of the day I still had better all around stats with Beketov and I played fewer games with him. I know I probably shouldn’t compare all my forward to my best one but I can’t help it. In any case, Miller was my most active player up to that point in time and, until my current player, had the most TPE I had ever earned. He also had huge hype enterting the league as he was part of the Big 3 drafted by Helsinki in S39. I don’t recall who the other two were but I know @Higgins had one of them. Sadly things didn't pan out as planned for that Helsinki team and Miller wound up moving around a lot... like really a lot. His player page for moving around never got fully updated but if I recall correctly Miller was traded from Helsinki to Toronto, Toronto to Calgary, Calgary to Cologne, Cologne back to Calgary, and then from Calgary back to Helsinki. There may have been an extra one in there somewhere as well. Point is I never had much time to settle anywhere as Miller but the places I did land were sometimes very good fits for me. Specifically my second stint in Calgary and Helsinki as I won cups with both of those. At the end of the day Miller is no Beketov, I recognize that, but I had fun with the player. His stats are still decent and he did get two cups which is nice. Who knows, maybe some individual awards would have been possible if not for @Green and @BOOM winning everything around that time-frame. He also had one of the best sigs I’ve ever had in my opinion which is the one from above. Player #8: Jakab Holik - 1000 TPE (In Progress) Drafted: Season 48 - 3rd Overall Awards: Shaw Award - Season 53 Statistics: 500GP, 292-178-30, 0.922SV%, 2.00GAA, 88SO The first of my two current players. As a quick note before I get into this, the TPE is listed as “in progress” since I’m still earning for Holik but the statistics above are my final Regular Season stats, I calculated my last season in there as well. Anyway, I had some pretty high expectations of myself with Holik and overall I’m pretty happy with how he turned out. My main two objectives were things I had never done before: 1000 TPE and a Shaw. I managed to do both of those with Holik while managing some really impressive statistics at the same time. Unfortunately my first couple of seasons (after being drafted by a rebuilding Davos and then traded to a rebuilding Seattle) were rather poor statyistics wise which probably kept my back from a few all-time records but I made up for it later. I’ll admit, I got lucky in regards to teams with Holik. About half my seasons in Seattle we were expected to do really well and then joining New York as a Free Agent we were still one of the top teams. With that said, I was also unlucky in a way: the amount of competition against me. When I was first coming into the prime of my career the goalie market was dominated by the Clegane brothers (@JardyB10 and @Victor) as well as Ariel Weinstein (@Smarch). Once they retired I was set up to be the dominant goalie for a few seasons but Apollo Skye (@Velevra) and later Rhett DeGrath (@STZ) had other plans. I did manage to get the Shaw I so coveted in Season 53 but sadly that would be my only one (assuming I don’t win one this season which I won’t). My statistics did actually improve from that point in both aSeason 54 and Season 55 but DeGrath was just too strong. Anyway, I’m rambling. We’ll see how the playoffs go this season in regards to me potentially getting the cup that has so long eluded me with Holik. If I could pad my trophy cabinet a little bit more, in all honesty, I think Holik could be my second Hall of Famer. His playoff stats may not be the best (they really aren’t as a matter of fact) but in the regular season Holik was quite good. Tied for 13th all-time in wins, 19th in S%. Both decent but not amazing. However he’s also 7th in GAA (with two of those above him having played far fewer games) and 2nd to only Hall of Famer Greg Clegane in Shutouts. I don’t know if that’s enough to get Holik into the hall but in my opinion they are stats I can be pleased with. At the end of the day Holik has been my best goalie, hands down, and I’ll be sad to see him go. Player #9: Roman Sokolov - 315 TPE (In Progress) Drafted: Season 53 - 4th Overall Awards: N/A Statistics: 144GP, 46G, 94A, 140P, -52, 426SB Honestly, this section might be a bit shorter than most. Sokolov is my newest player, having been created with the 2nd player rule. He’s only played 2 seasons on a rebuilding Toronto so obviously his award cabinet is currently empty. However, as my first defenseman ever, so far I’m pleased with Sokolov. He’s easily (in my opinion) in the discussion for the Labatte award in only his second season after an amazing 245 shots blocked campaign. He also has a respectable 140 points in 144 games which isn’t bad at all for a D-man. I’m not sure Sokolov will ever reach insane levels of play (or a positive +/- at this point) since I’ve mostly been giving him Welfare but he’s still interesting to me. It’s much different to be a defenseman when I never have before and so far I’ve been enjoying it more than I assumed I would. I thoroughly hope the future is as bright for Sokolov as his Sophomore year implied it could be. ---------- So, that’s everything. 7 players with careers ended, 1 that will be ending soon, and 1 just starting. In that time I’ve only managed 1 Hall of Fame introduction and 4 individual awards. I may not make superstars every time, and honestly this might prove to people that I don’t make many great players at all but it’s been a hell of a ride over the past 10 years and I can’t think of anything I would rather be doing with my time. Here’s to the next 10 years and the next generation of Beketov agency players. *For Sokolov

A really unfortunate end to a few careers in Stockholm (or in general) but good on you Davos. I don’t think anyone saw this result coming.

Playoffs just started so I don't think they'll be letting VHLM teams grab guy's anymore, I could be wrong though. Worst case you have to wait until the draft which should be in a couple of weeks. Unfortunate timing but lots you can do in the meantime. And yeah, the Europe thing would be the World Juniors. Anything with country names would just be something done during the off-season to keep things interesting.

Weinstein (the 2nd) was honestly pretty decent, I definitely deemed her as major competition to Holik when I was hitting my prime. I think the main thing that was unfortunate is that you were directly competing with the Clegane's and they were on stronger teams most of the time so it was tough to deal with.

The GM for the Rams wasn't Miller, it was Chris Julien. I don't remember his username mind you, or Miller's for that matter.

Apparently it's the popular thing to do

It was pretty close tbh. I had left the league completely for a couple of days with the intention of not returning. Scotty got to talking to me on MSN and convinced me to come back. Honestly the ban wasn't hard to get over, though it did cripple Sharpe's progress pretty bad. What was tough was dealing with the members who were, shall we say, less than accommodating.

Let's finally get away from Sharpe shall we? Gotta move through these a bit quicker haha Winning my first assist award with Beketov, back before the award had my name. I had been (mercifully) traded from Hamilton to Vasteras and was playing alongside @Mike and tearing things up. I believe he surpassed me right at the end of the season for the scoring title but the point is we were both playing absolutely amazing. I was feeding him the puck, he was putting it in. The team overall wasn't great but the two of us were unstoppable. I went on to win the award again a few years later (was only the third player to ever win two of them with the others being slob and scotty) but that first one just felt more special. Not only was it my first individual award in the league but it was kinda validation that I had come back from what a disaster Sharpe was to actually make a very solid second player.

The Beketov Agency Player Review What is this madness? Beketov, writing a media spot? Where’s the CoDCast? Where’s the GFX? Well, 1 MS in 10 years isn’t really so bad, right? In order to celebrate the VHL’s historic birthday and get that sweet sweet bonus TPE I decided to write an MS going through all my past players and reviewing how their careers went as well as what went wrong. So sit back, ignore the awful grammar, and enjoy a Beketov retrospective. ---------- Player #1: Robert Sharpe - 188 TPE Drafted: Season 1 - 1st Overall Awards: Continental Cup - Season 3 Statistics: 274GP, 144-100-21, 0.889SV%, 3.10GAA, 14SO Alright, let’s get this out of the way early: Sharpe is a scrub and a bust. He was banned from earning TPE for an entire season way back in Season 1 right after being drafted and never quite recovered. However, we can’t ignore that he was the first player ever drafted in the VHL. It was an awful draft choice at the end of the day but the fact remains that Sharpe was drafted before Scotty Campbell so...yeah, I’ve got that. Sharpe’s TPE level is pretty low however he existed in a far different time. You have to remember how low TPE levels were back in Season 1. His stats are also mediocre by today’s standards but, again, that’s kinda how things were back then. I can’t really justify his S%, that just sucks, but Sharpe’s GAA and Shutouts are both better than Hall of Famer Maxim Desny and he has the same amount of wins in significantly fewer games. Plus I still managed to get a cup in Season 3 with Calgary so...yeah. Obviously I regret how things went with Sharpe in regards to the suspension; I think without that he may have actually been a decent player. Would he have made the Hall of Fame? Probably not but it’s entirely possible when you consider that Desny managed it with similar stats. Player #2: Alexander Beketov - 593 TPE Drafted: Season 6 - 4th Overall Awards: Continental Cup - Season 12 Beketov Award - Season 8 Beketov Award - Season 11 Hall of Fame Inductee - Season 13 Statistics: 506GP, 291G, 461A, 752P, +299 Look at my username. Now go look at the name of the assist award. Have you done that? Good, you should have seen how I feel about Beketov from those two things. My plan was originally to change my username for every player I made but Beketov was so good that I just left it as that. It’s no surprise that Beketov is one of my best players ever. He’s the only player I’ve ever had that has entered the HoF (first ballot I might add) and he’s also the only player I have that has won two individual awards. Yes, I know that fact is sad compared to some members, but it’s what I have. His TPE levels were actually pretty solid given the time period he played and 752 points, while not impossibly high, is good for 32nd all-time. At the time he was also one of only 3 players to ever get 2 Beketov awards (not what they were called then obviously). That’s likely not still the case but it was then. On top of it all I managed to get a Continental Cup in my last season so, yeah, decent amount of awards by my standards. Statistically speaking and in regards to TPE he’s likely not my best player ever. However the Hall of Fame, the award name, the cup, and the 2 awards are enough for me to say that Beketov is my most successful player. Sadly things did not exactly continue in that trend afterwards but I still love Beketov and still deem him my best player. Player #3: Alex Young - 481 TPE Drafted: Season 14 - 8th Overall Awards: Continental Cup - Season 17 Statistics: 266GP, 177-74-14, 0.911SV%, 2.53GAA, 20SO First off, yes, I know that’s not a sig for Young. All my old links are broken for his sigs though and I love that sig. Plus Alex Evans was supposed to be his name before I decided to change it over to Young so...yeah. Moving on! Alex Young was my second kick at the can of making a goalie after everything that happened with Sharpe. All in all I think he’s a straight up improvement. While he never managed the TPE levels that Beketov did Young managed to prove to myself, and others, that I could create a successful goalie. His stats are respectable for a goalie of that time period and he managed a Continental Cup only 3 seasons after being drafted. If I’m not mistaken I stayed in Seattle for the entirety of Young’s career which was also a first for me after moving around quite a bit with both Sharpe and Beketov. I could be wrong on that as my memory is a little hazy but I believe that’s how it went. Obviously coming right off of Beketov I was a little disappointed with Young’s production in all regards but he wasn’t bad. His TPE numbers weren’t great, he didn’t make the Hall of Fame, but he has respectable stats and is top 50 in most categories. Plus the winning percentage, while team based, is pretty impressive. Player #4: Niklas Kristensen - 217 TPE Drafted: Season 21 - 2nd Overall Awards: N/A Statistics: 215GP, 68G, 87A, 155P, -135 I could be wrong on this fact but I believe everyone who has been around this league as long as I have has one player they are ashamed of. Even if I’m wrong, that doesn’t change the fact that I’m ashamed of Niklas Kristensen. He shouldn’t exist, quite frankly, and is a stain on my legacy as far as I’m concerned. While I don’t have all Hall of Fame players by any means I try to pride myself on at least making good players. Niklas Kristensen is not a good player. I don’t recall who was NY’s GM in Season 21 but I do recall having them hate me for quite some time after they wasted the 2nd overall kick on this waste of skin. To put it into perspective, in Beketov's VHLM season I had more points than Kristensen had his entire career. He’s one of few players that I have with no continental cup and easily was the biggest tarnish on my reputation since the season 1 ban. So, what happened? Simply put, I got busy, I got burnt out, and I got inactive. By the time Kristensen came around I had been in the VHL for quite some time and was looking to branch out so I was in several other sim leagues at the same time. I was also very busy with work and life and just wasn’t in the mindset to be focussing on multiple leagues. Sadly the VHL was the odd one out for me and Kristensen got more or less ignored. Without a doubt he was my lowest activity player. He had more TPE than Sharpe but just barely and Sharpe couldn’t earn anything for an entire season. Honestly if anyone is still around that brought Kristensen onto their team (I was on several I know that) then I’m honestly sorry about how bad he was. ---------- On that less than cheery note I’m going to end this first part because, honestly, I had had a lot of players and I want to make this last. In the next part I’ll go in depth on my return to the VHL with Jason White and continue through to my current 2 players so look forward to that. *For Holik

Not my best game of the series but it gets it done. Bring on Quebec!

No need to go off the rails about it; how was I supposed to know you weren't actually claiming the things you were posting for? I just mean it would be like me finding 7 different ways to say "I was drafted before Scotty" and taking the TPE for it. If you aren't actually claiming it and are just doing it for fun that's fine but I couldn't be expected to automatically assume that.

Nothing but you're grabbing a good chunk of TPE by basically just posting the same thing every day.

You seriously just gonna use all of these for "I drafted / traded for X and got the three-peat"?

I don't think going chronologically will get very far since I'm still in the first 5 seasons, oh well, a lot of memories back then haha. My third memory is winning my first continental cup back in Season 3 with the Calgary Wranglers (1 of 2 cups I've won with the team). A cup is a good memory in general but what makes this one so special for me (aside from being my first) is that, I had quite the rivalry going that season. On account of the season 1 suspension I had a lot of people on my case and few were worse than a guy named Joseph Baker (pretty sure that was his player anyway, don't recall the user). He was a S2 goalie if I recall and loved to give me shit for how "awful" I was. Well, I was traded in the S2 off-season (or early S3, I don't recall) to his team the Wranglers. I don't recall if he left or we benched him behind me, but either way the team was dominant and I went on to have EASILY my best season with Sharpe while putting Baker in his place. It may sound vendicitive to have that make the cup in S3 all the more sweet but boy did it ever.

I'll take that shutout thanks. 1 win away from my arch nemesis: the conference final.

Must embrace my inner Sandro Clegane.

If by "shitting the bed" you mean "leading in every major goalie category" than sure. Might be worth checking the stats before talking shit

You leave my drug habit out of this, rehab is expensive and I had to go without a salary