jacobcarson877

fraudulent organization

I don't think I know this autocorrect! or did they replace the one for elderly male association and get rid of the social distancing?

My take on stats has always been that Simon offers a range of team values across a season that is relative to the total "talent" a team has. From that, the points, hits, whatever, are generally proportionally assigned based on relevant attributes compared to those other players you are on the ice with. Thats why big trios tend to have less monumental individual success than big duos. You might end up as a unit on the top end of Simon's magic distribution, but if your teammates are just as good as you, the stats will be split 5 ways instead of 2 or 3. So good teams still do better overall, but are less likely to have the top scorers in each category, since they're likely sharing the load.

Banger

This has been the longest that I have gone without GMing in well… years. Ironically, I was way better at managing my time in University than in College. But, College is coming to an end, and once again, it appears as though I will be without gainful employment, so it’s back to planning some VHL projects to fill my itch for analysis and spreadsheets. Thanks to a resurgence and renewed commitment by the entirety of the Board of Governors, we’ve managed to put together some moderately exciting ideas, that while I can’t share, I can say we are at least working on things. Pairing that with the JST hopefully making a triumphant return this offseason, Jacob may be back on the upswing in activity! I’m hoping to be able to take some of the fun things I’ve learned in my Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning program and find some fun new insights about our league, and try to figure out all of the ways to realize that nothing matters. It’s great to see some new and new from the past names floating around the forum, especially after a slower recruitment period over the last few seasons. I’ve tended to lean in opposition of big Youtube drives, based on their lack of fantastic long-term member retention, but considering the work that Recruitment has been doing for more organic and sustainable channels, it’s only fair to let them have a couple big days here and there. With Leandro stepping down from Calgary, it’s got me thinking about GMing again. Wow surprising I know. I thought that with the E being dissolved that the increase of overall players would help drive more engagement in the M, but I really struggled to get new blood in my Locker Room, and spent most of my time in people’s individual DMs reminding people to earn. Between that and vastly underestimating how much College was going to be super inefficient when it comes to time. The league was super grindy, I had a million players to figure out how best to give minutes, and nobody outside of the goaltenders were living up to the expectations we’ve historically had for M players. Overall, it just didn’t hit the spot. Which sucks, because I was really hoping I would be able to get some San Diego level experience. So who knows whether I’ll apply for something again soon. I hope to build some nice sheets and tools to help support me if I ever do, and maybe I’ll just take the AJ avenue and just become a super fantastic AGM for a fantastic visionary of a GM. But either way, I want to get back into doing projects of all kinds, and hopefully the VHL can gain some benefit from that. I hope to get to interact with new, and new old members, and enjoy the back half of Jillian Woods’ career. Speaking of whom, Woods has been fine. Just fine. She looks like she’ll hit 80ish points, which of course is lower than the 100 and some odd she’s done in the past, but also will probably end up being somewhere in the top section of defenders. Moscow has done a fantastic job this season, and obviously the results are coming!

One too many passers can ruin a team unless they have a Jesse Teno. A tale as old as time.

the toughest guy

What a fantastic stint, that inspired me to realize I wasn't able to keep up with your talents in the GM chair! You kept the best of the Ricer era (which was fantastic!) and found your own way to improve it. I would love to see Ricer back in the seat and find his own ways to build on your work!

bars

yes

Here are some Guys, and I will decide whether they are or are not tough. First off, A Red Guy. This player is a goaltender, who played for New York, and did pretty decent. Tough to survive New York, but not exactly a tough player. Next is QuantumPiGuy CKTigerstar. This player has never earned or applied TPE. They never played a game. I hear Quantum mechanics are tough, and although they do have CK in their name, they never applied any. Fake tough. Next is Bald Guy. A short and squat defender, who played around the league for 3 seasons and randomly summoned to DC for an 8 game stint. 110 PIMs in 217 games doesn’t scream tough. They only got above 100 hits in their final real season, so never really showed what it takes to be tough. Bill Nye the Puck Stopping Guy never made it to the VHL, but did have some pretty decent VHLM seasons as a goaltender. Tough to score against, but not tough. Bill Nye the Science Guy also never played any games, but at least applied some TPE. Only offensive vision and deking though. Anti-tough. Goalie Guy applied 5 TPE, all to leadership. It does take guts to lead, and that is tough, but Goalie Guy was not tough. Guy Fieri, goated, but not tough. Guy Lambert, our first forward to actually play a full career! Had 4 seasons with at least 100 hits, and one with 248! 760 total hits is moderately tough! Guy LaGuy and Guy LaDude both didn’t amount to much, and both applied mostly offensive TPE in their limited time. Should’ve been tough, weren’t. Guy LeGrande played a solid amount, got a ton of TPE and managed to be very not tough. Highest hits in a season was 61. Anti-tough. Guy Lesieur is much of the same. A ton of TPE, and overall, very few hits to show for it. They even had as low as 11 hits in a season. PIMs much the same. Very not tough. And finally, I think I may have found a tough Guy. Guy Saskamoose played a ton of games in Riga and Malmo. Two seasons above 200 hits, with 3 more above 100. Some major PIM and SB seasons in there too. 1000 hits, 1000 shots blocked in their career. Still managed to get 462 points across that span too. I would say, as far as Guys go, this really does seem to be as tough as they get. Shoutout to all of the Guys out there in league history, and I hope that people like Guy Saskamoose and Guy Lambert can inspire the toughness in the next generation of Guys. But also the earning and activity of players like Guy LeGrande and Guy Lesieur can inspire the overall earning prowess of what a Guy can be. Perhaps one day we will see a Guy capable of being so tough that they are deserving of an entire Theme Week dedicated to their glory. For now, as much as we found our toughest Guy, there is still work to be done.

Look at me being pro-active about my earning again! Just kidding, I’m actually just playing with the Statistics page while in a nice Friday afternoon class. But, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate @Banackock on becoming the greatest goal scorer among non-cheaters in the hybrid era. Tying Landon Wolanin’s 331 goals, but in 550 games, instead of Wolanin’s 576. He should have no problem also becoming the greatest goal scorer of the hybrid era among cheaters as well. And by cheaters, I of course mean 9 season players. With 6 goals to go in 26 games, Targaryen should be cleaning up a career that I honestly had not anticipated, due to my lack of checking, to be as good as it has been. We shall see whether it will be enough to get on the HOF Ballot, but I for one, think this is a feat, or at least should end up being a feat, that should be recognized and celebrated!

I didn't even know we had an automated post for this cool

1. Honestly nothing, I think it was more of a case that too much was going right before and we're settling into the kind of team that we actually are. Which is still the top EU team, still in contention for the Victory Cup, and still capable of having individual league leading performances. 2. Honestly, I don't expect much to happen at all. There really isn't much spare talent kicking around, and most of the fighting over it happened before the season started. Maybe we'll see some flash sales from Vancouver and Seattle, but that'll depend on buyers having the room to buy. 3. Well I certainly will, and I plan on doing something like I always do, which is skirt the line of what technically counts as the Theme but isn't at all what the Blues meant. 4. I think I'd probably split Checking into Hitting and Stick Checking. That way I we could still have dominant defensive players who would be able to do so separately from Hitting, which is prone to discipline. 5. I would get Gold Drafting set up, I would bully Josh into giving us a Portal API, I would set up farm teams in the M, and create a Co-GM job that gets paid 2 Capped/Week to get practice on the Farm Team's STHS, while helping with the culture and logistics of the whole franchise. I would drop Welfare to 2TPE and Pension to 4TPE. I would introduce some Goaltender Hybrid Attributes, assuming I couldn't get us a new sim engine. 6. I try to mind my own business but there is always one person who makes choppy video calls on speakerphone literally the entire flight, and the person on the other side sounds like they're running through a nursery that is on fire and also stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic. That's unacceptable.

purposefully trying to keep things vague, because those inspire the best content in my opinion! - Prospects - Predictions - Teammates - Highlight Reel - Personality - Leadership - Anticipation - Growth - Portal - Forum - Inspiration - Goaltenders

This trade tree is bananas

1. Well, Toronto is in my books the other top dog. Maybe not as star-powered, but I'd say they're likelier than any other team to make the finals this season. 2. I feel like it is always safest to bet against anyone winning any award ever. So I'll say that to complete the narrative, Obuz will win 0 awards this season. 3. The team is required to lose at least once a week so we have something to say other than college sports and declaring Spartan's suckiness. 4. Position Switching 5. If we're going by standings right now its definitely HSK and NYA. Both feel like a strong conference finals option. 6. I can assume their top 2 units even out any other opponent's top 2 units, but I can't say I guarantee they'll outperform. From there it comes to depth and goaltending, and again, I'm not certain that group can grind out some hard-earned goals. I say they fall apart to a scrappier squad!

2

I did not get the result I expected, but that's the power of the bracket!

done

1. Honestly, this really needs to be a bigger year than it has been and also than it was last season. Roster spots and cap room are limited, and there are only so many seasons to make your mark in this league before you age out! 2. I'd say 100.5, but I would also probably take the over. 3. I've been listening to a lot of Huberman Lab the last couple years, learning about how the ol brain and body work and how to make them do that better! 4. Lets throw it in Tokyo just for funsies, I think they could put on a great event. 5. I'm kinda of a smile and nod kind of fella, and smiling is wholesome! 6. I can't believe how much traction and how prevalent those old "Keep Calm and ..." memes were back in the day. Keep Calm and Jacob On!

Guess who actually got around to making some reasonably decent decisions about Super Coach and Predictions this season? This guy right here! I don’t want to spill all of my secrets, which are generally pretty decent when I actually try, but I do want to give some predictions I do have about this season, and how I think I did with my VHFL picks, my predictions, and maybe a couple of sleeper Super Coach picks in my opinion. Guntis Gavrilovs Might Have a Shot at the Trifecta of Defenseman Trophies Missing out to now teammate CGY Janser @Daniel Janser last time around, Gavrilovs @Girts may get to cash in on the signature New York Trap Game and pick up the Jake Wylde Trophy. And I feel as though despite not putting up a ton of assists in my vision of this season, I feel as though this may be another example of winner by goals, on top of a fantastic defensive game. Maverick Goncalves is a Head Above Everybody Else While the young phenom is off the leaderboard as of right now, I fully expect Maverick @leandrofg to lead the race by upwards of 10-15 points by the end of the season. With the perfect balance of league-best talent and strategic depth placement, Mav looks set to be maxed out, in a season with such turnover in old-guard awards nomination lock-ins. Chicago’s Forward Group is a Disproportionate Source of Fantasy Magic This must be one of the most interesting lineups I have ever seen. A just-as-likely-as-anyone-else-to-be-the-best goaltender, a genuine top-fantasy-potential forward, and an odd collection of pretty well-built depth players, there will be a hugely increased number of shot blocks, and someone will have to be picking up points as long as Schwarzer @Velevra is around. Treat these forwards as if they were defensemen scoring forward points, so long as the roster remains untouched. Every game this group plays together is a payoff on someone’s bets! The Rookie Race is London’s to Lose After a well-executed re-asseting of the London United, it’s time for some of those assets to make their way through the ranks. Most of the roster is less than 4 seasons into their careers, but between Bolivar @SMYLS4 and Carti @v.2, one of those two will have to be picking up a lot of pointage for the United, in an otherwise pretty underwhelming rookie class. The NA Conference is going to be Bone-Crushing While the EU is (almost) all skill, speed, and scoring, the NA division is gritty, gruesome, and gladiatorial. Toby Kadachi @ROOKIE745 should have a decent run at two-way forward assuming they can outscore their close competition, and on defense, there should be massive physical affairs from the likes of Boris Bone-Breaker @RileyL, Callum Gary Yannick Janser, and Guntis Gavrilovs. Look for Martin Kemp @leafsman, Erik Thorvaldsson @Tetricide, Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage, Grimgore Ironhide @Grape, Matteo Stefano @mmrs617, and defenders Pan Daffleck @OrbitingDeath and Tommy Sleeves @dasboot, to try to even out the beating. The Real Race is 3rd through 6th Based on what I can see, regardless of current standings, is there should be very few ways Moscow and Helsinki don’t win their divisions and the top 2 spots in the EU. On the other side, Toronto and Calgary should have pretty easy paths in their own divisions. But, while we have some of the most egregious tanks in my VHL lifetime this season, we also have some pretty interesting depth races. Davos may have a harder road out of the wildcard than they may expect. Riga, and even teams like London and Prague certainly have a shot at taking up some of those spots. In North America, Vancouver, New York, Seattle, and perhaps a sneaky Dragons team will be throwing down for the final spots. I could definitely see a very talented team having a bad stretch and missing to a much scrappier team, perhaps one that could even go on to win a Continental Cup! Basically, a Goalie is a Goalie This is probably a freezing cold take at this point, but a goalie is probably a goalie this season. Awards will probably feature some of the same names as usual, but the gap between 1 and 16 is getting smaller and smaller. The regular season is long, and averages all kind of squish together. The playoffs are a different beast though, so look for some of those top TPA goaltenders to show their worth then. An EU Top 4? With how tight the NA race is, there will be lots of teams losing points to their close competition. And with EU having the more aggressive of the tanks, expect some more certain points being awarded to the top teams. I definitely see a decent potential for a MOS, HSK, RIG, DAV top 4, with TOR right in the mix there. Extra Shutouts on the Radar With a distinct drop in player counts this season, there is definitely a possibility that we may see less goalful efforts from a few more teams this season. There is also an over-abundance of goaltenders, and an underabundance of strong depth. If the stars aren’t scoring, I’m not sure who will be. I’m not sure whether we’ll get to Clegane’s 22, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see like 15-18 shoutouts from any goaltender on a top team. VHFL Review As for my VHFL, I think I have a pretty decent shot. @minman almost definitely has the top spot locked in, but as long as Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty and Dassler @BOOM pull their weight, I should be able to hold off the likes of @Dabnad and @scoop. In my opinion @tcookie missed on one too many picks (which may be exactly one), and @Lemorse7 probably loses to homerism, but it should be an incredibly decent group, which I never like, because I love my TPE! I kept getting my picks nabbed really close to my picks, or having to 50/50 one player over another and seeing the other one immediately getting picked. I also broke the number one rule, which is to never pick yourself, since that’s one less person you can yell at to do better.

@leandrofg

1. @Dabnad F - Maverick Goncalves F - Spanish Moon Moth F - Joshua Schwarzer D - Felicia Hardy D - Alagsantere Groenvold G - WWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWW 2. @jacobcarson877 (GM) F - Logan Ninefingers F - Adi Dassler F - Erik Thorvaldsson D - Bollos de Trueno D - Jillian Woods G - Dalkr Vidarsson 3. @scoop F - Antonia Bucatini F - Gianfranco Del Rocco F - Riley Martin D - Mina D - Lazlo Holmes G - Soju 4. @tcookie F - Axle Gunner F - George Richmond F - Grimgore Ironhide D - Andrew Skilton D - Narnia Shaw G - Spider Panda 5. @Lemorse7 F - Pierre Marc Bouchard F - Kimi Raikkonen F - Severus Targaryen D - Lucy Leitner D - Guntis Gavrilovs G - Red Panda 6. @minman F - Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage F - Jarmo Ruutu F - Toby Kadachi D - Callum Gary Yannick Janser D - YaBoi Oven G - Deadpanda