KaleebtheMighty

I'm all for this, gives us an image to associate with a player!

Alright, commissioner for a day! Where do I start? Well, the easy answer is the E. That’s the hot topic right now, and there is a good amount of people who want to see it gone. So I’ll use this opportunity as one of the first E GMs who stuck with Istanbul for a few seasons to give my comments and provide a fix that I think would benefit not only the E but the community as a whole. But first, I’ll provide some background that lead me to my decision I’d implement as a commissioner. ISSUES WITH THE E Inactives throughout the E on many teams This is a problem that needs to be fixed. It’s not a great look for the community as a whole to have teams that allow a lot of IAs to play good minutes that can go to an active member. I get wanting to be competitive, but as was stated many times before, the E is supposed to be a developmental league. Not a competing league, but more like the AHL in real life. But this issue needs to be fixed by recruitment. We didn’t have a good basis for new members coming into the league. I think we can definitely improve here and love to see the new social presence now being developed on Instagram, Twitter, and now Threads! Teams without a complete roster Even with IAs, I still see teams unable to field players in positions of importance, including goalies. I’m not calling anyone out here, but the goal again for the E was development and not competition. But I get why it’s done given the structure of this league and I’m hoping to provide a situation to rectify this. The E is the afterthought of the community This one hurts the most for me. I’m not a die hard “The E is the greatest league in VHL history” person, but as one of the first GMs and a proponent of the league in the first place I can’t help but feel bummed out that so many people hate the league. However, I can absolutely set personal bias aside and take a look at an issue that many members continue to bring up. Something needs to be fixed here. There needs to be a system in place for all players to excel, have fun, and get what they want out of the league. The current state of the E - I believe - detracts from a player’s desire to continue earning TPE especially if they only earn welfare. They realize there’s a mountain ahead of them in the VHL and are told from multiple sides the E is garbage but they won’t do well in the VHL with the amount of TPE they earn. They spiral, and then they leave. And then we are left with a void full of IAs. The system needs to propagate an image of continuity that allows these players to feel like they got the most out of their career. Tiring to have to go through 2 developmental leagues and then go to the VHL. It has turned into quite the grind to earn up through the M, up through the E, and then make your presence known in the VHL. I think this grind is just a tad bit too long now, and also pushes new players away after being told twice “Ok you earned too much now for this league, now you get to move up to another league where you have to earn more to be good.” Let’s face it, a lot of people who do sim leagues don’t have a whole lot of time in their lives and just want to join something where they have a community that they enjoy and get to see their player excel. CHANGES TO LEAGUE STRUCTURE While this is a short quick list of current issues, I want to do my best to try and provide some background that leads me to start making changes as a “commissioner”. As it stands, here is the structure of the community for players: While the possibility of being sent down does exist, it hardly ever happens and I don’t find it necessary to include it in this diagram. This is where my changes come into play. From my point of view, having GMed in both leagues and now having the experience of being here for a time (not as long as some of you folks but still), the structure of the developmental path and the leagues needs to be altered. This is a monumental task, but I think it needs to be done. We need two separate paths, one for those who earn a lot of TPE and want to seriously compete and a second one for players who want to earn welfare and enjoy their entire career. From my rudimentary math, a welfare only player would earn something in the ballpark of 700-750 TPE in their entire career without factoring in depreciation. While it may look like a lot, in the current system, they are spending 2 seasons in the VHLM, 2-3 seasons in the VHLE, and then 3-5 seasons in the VHL, They have 1 great season in the M and the E separately, and then do ok in the VHL before they are done. Not gonna lie, it doesn’t look appealing to keep pushing yourself if the end goal is to be a bottom forward on a VHL team and then you retire. So we need a system that can cater to those players and push them to compete on a team for a longer period of time for their enjoyment, but still maintain a path for players who max earn to go to the VHL quickly. So here’s a structure I would propose for our leagues that wouldn’t require any folding of any league: This initially looks the same, but there are differences. The caps have all been changed for the M and the E. And the focus of the E shifts from being an AHL equivalent team to a proper KHL equivalent team. The VHLM shifts back to being a combined juniors/AHL league where players develop. From this, let’s look at the career progression of two players: player #1 who is a max earner, and player #2 who earns welfare. Let’s assume that no change in earning is seen throughout both player’s careers. And then let’s assume both players create a player at the exact same time at the first opportunity and move through a similar model of progression, one with 12 TPE every week and one with 6 TPE every week. PLAYER #1 We’ll call this player Earnest Max purely for fun. Earnest Max creates and joins the VHLM on a team of their choice, having a pretty good season and earning up to 275 TPE in that season. They still spend another season in the M but are drafted in all 3 leagues. Their second season in the M is a career season for them and they begin banking in the middle of that season. At the end of their second M season, they have a choice on where to play. It’s a very similar situation to what is in play now, but the leagues are different. The E isn’t a stepping stone, it is a league where this player can compete, fully earn, and apply that TPE instead of banking for an entire season. But if they choose to forgo it, they can go right to the VHL and gun for a long career that we normally see. After a long career in the VHL, depreciation hits. With how depreciation is set up now, we can realistically expect to see a player dip around or below the 700 TPE mark. With this, we can also help these players by offering them a chance to be sent over to the VHLE as a veteran to play their final season there and still produce at an elite level. Not only would this offer Max a chance at a good final season, but it would offer the VHL a chance at cap relief since they would not be responsible for fielding that player. While this option does exist in the current model, the likelihood of it happening is extremely low. This new model increases that chance, allowing the VHL teams to compete more as well as offering VHLE teams to field a veteran superstar to compete for a season. For this player, there isn’t much change. But it does provide an increase in flexibility and a better end career for these players who are hit hard by depreciation. PLAYER #2 This is where the big changes happen. We will call this player Malcom Mid. Mid creates and earns through welfare and practice for a full season in the M and earns up to 120 TPE. They are drafted in all leagues, and then spend 2 more seasons in the M competing at a level where they can produce and enjoy the history of the M. Friends are made, GMs who excel with retention keep them going and prep them for their careers. After those 2 seasons, this player is at roughly 300-320 TPE. They move up to the VHLE to play for the team that drafted them where they can be offered an extension since they would be in the final season of their rookie contract from their draft. They would primarily stay in this league since they would earn about 700-750 max tpe before depreciation. For this, depreciation would also have to affect players in the VHLE after a set number of seasons, meaning total seasons played in the majors would also include seasons in the VHLE. This also means that draft picks in the VHLE hold value on players who will play in this league longer, giving other players a chance of being a top draft pick. They would have the functionality of a league where they can compete without being blocked out by players max earning. DISCUSSION While this is a rough explanation for the change, I think this change is vital to retention and providing each player with the opportunity to pursue the career they’d want while maintaining competitiveness across all 3 leagues. Every player would have a chance to excel and work to earn to compete without a constant grind through multiple leagues. The E is relevant and doesn’t feel like another stepping stone. And those who don’t want to partake in the E likely won’t have to while they get to enjoy the M and the VHL. This all faces issues if league recruitment doesn’t bring in more members. Granted, this would initially lead to teams folding I believe, but this structure works when we have enough welfare players, enough max earners, and players in between who can keep teams filled. Additionally, this plan doesn’t explore any IAs along the point of a career and how we can go about that issue, but I’ll save that ordeal for another time since this whole media spot is getting very wordy. Also, this proposition does not mention changes to current players’ careers if a change like this is implemented. That should be explored if something along these lines is actually considered. To help the community as a whole and improve the careers for all players, I think a structural change to the leagues as proposed above would bring about a good direction forward that allows for all 3 leagues to be relevant and constructive to a player’s career regardless of how much they earn. As commissioner for a day, this is a change I would make. While it is only one issue tackled in a sea of posts for this theme week that explore other issues, I felt that this current dilemma required some serious thought and focus. Also, the fact that I have hit 2000 words on just this topic means I really don’t have a need for exploring other topics . Thank you for reading, and I’d love to explore this more in additional comments if possible. If it’s a terrible idea, let me know! If you like it, let’s discuss more! Cheers! word count: 2032 words - claiming for weeks 7/9, 7/16, 7/23, and 7/30

F - James Teekrique @hedgehog337

G - Cole Pearce @Otaznik

D - AK92 Wit da Hoodie @hedgehog337

I'm looking forward to seeing MacWallace wear Malmo green soon!

F - John Jameson @Otaznik

D - Brian Kowalski @hedgehog337

F - Daniel Janser @Otaznik

S89 MALMO NIGHTHAWKS CAPTAINS Hello everyone! I am very pleased to announce our next group of leadership for the Malmo Nighthawks in S89!! CAPTAIN - Jacob Stone - @scoop ASSISTANT #1 - Viktor Jensen - @Advantage ASSISTANT #2 - Ivan Retoslav - @eagle_3450 We've got a great team and a great locker room this season, and I'm excited to watch this team perform with our new leadership group motivating our new core. Here's to a great season for Malmo!!

Why not just turn the hard cap of the VHLE into a soft cap and allow those lower TPE FAs in the 400s to be able to still play in the VHLE? If we are treating this like a sim league, should a player be able to play on a team where they will excel and not just ride the 4th line the entire time?

Congrats @scoop and @oilmandan on the nominations!!

Welcome back buddy!!!

Bottom line, a GM needs to reach out and at least speak with those active in their draft around their pick range. I’m like @jacobcarson877, I’m overkill. I send out a message with a link to a form to fill out containing questions I use to gauge a prospect. Heck my draft board excel sheet is nuts, ask @Spaz. It’s probably annoying to some of our veteran players and I try to not spam them with the form and stuff, but that’s the image new VHLers want to see when they come into this league, that there is a scouting system. There needs to be a requirement for GMs to do their job. Maybe we need to instill a complacency period where a GM is selected for an off-season to have their process watched and critiqued

Nighthawks of course!!

IS COMING SOON

Thanks for the chats as always @jacobcarson877! @eagle_3450 welcome to the Malmo Nighthawks! We're excited to add you to the team!!

Perry Laperriere - OV

Thanks again for the talks @Banackock! @oilmandan and @Devise, thank you for your time with Malmo, we wish you all the best! @DarkSpyro, welcome to the Nighthawks! We’re glad to have you on board and are excited for your future here!

Thank you again for the nomination! Lot's of great people mentioned and I'm happy to be among them!

Down to the wire lol thanks for the talks @Rayzor_7! Welcome back to Malmo @TopTiddee2!! @DollarAndADream it was a pleasure having you in Malmo, now go chase that cup!

Thanks @Banackock for the chats! @ShawnGlade we enjoyed having you in Malmo for a partial season, but you’ll get a great chance to compete this season in Seattle. Good luck!!