JeffD

Holy overpay Batman

The Board Game Clue On Skates's option with the Chicago Phoenix has been declined.

Were officially at the 20-game mark so there is lots to chat about. So for this weeks Around the League in 500 words I wanted to talk about Chicago’s surging, the loss of a legend, THE Helsinki Titans, and maybe some other random stuff. 
 
CHICAGO SURGING
 
Chicago started the season on fire and part of me thought that it would taper off a bit when other top clubs started changing strategies.  This Chicago club did a little re-tooling after the loss of their goalie (COLE PEARCE).  They added some up-front talent in DB III @wcatsand Ryan Vidot @Enorama who have paired nicely with Chicago vets Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside and The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles.  
 
On D they have legend, BoJO (MORE ON HIM LATER) and some decent help with Wattson Power.   In net they have a great replacement for Pearce in Alexander Minion @UnknownMinionwho already has 4 shutouts this year and a 1.76 GAA.  INSANE
 
This team has all the tools to make a deep run so I am interested to see how teams in the NA adjust when playing them.  There are great teams in the NA such as Calgary, Seattle, LA who are all within reaching distance of Chicago.  I don’t count out struggling clubs like Vancouver and NY as well.  Either way the NA conference Is exciting to watch. 
 
LOSS OF A VHL LEGEND (HOPE IM WRONG)
Part of the way early last season VHL legend @Shindigs dropped away from the league without anyone really knowing why.  His last update was Jan 29, 2023 with his normal Max TPE points and then….nothing. Efforts to reach him have been futile and we can only hope everything is ok with BoJo.  
 
Now, for those of you who are not familiar with Shindigs I am sorry you were never blessed with knowing him.  He was a huge motivator and student of the VHL.  He cared about not only making his player great but with mentoring all those new players trying to navigate the somewhat confusing path to VHL stardom.   I had the privilege of playing in the VHLE with Shindigs for Bratislava.  I credit him with a lot of the success I have had with Payne as he helped me truly craft my player.  
 
There are countless stories of people who were helped by Shindigs and the league is a little less special without him here. He was a constant in the forum with great articles and thought-out responses that showed his love for this league.  I know I speak for everyone when I say we hope all is well with him and we hope to see him back someday. 
 
HELSINKI ON FIRE
As of the time of this writing the Titans on a 2-game win streak, have scored at league leading 76 goals, and are holding on to a 1 point lead over Prague for Division leader. The EU conference is known for having some evenly matched tough teams to claw through and we usually see the league leading team change numerous times throughout the season.  That being said, the Titans have come out swinging!  
 
Up front, they are stacked with talent.  With the likes of Nils Godlander @Moon, Daryl Dixon @Ricer13, Matty Fire @MattyFired, Rick Grimes @tinafrombobsburgersthey are tough to keep off the scoresheets.  Godlander is currently in #3 spot overall is 31 points.  
 
On Defense they have my favorite defenseman to watch, Mo Probert.  The undrafted warrior @Yahtzee gives you exactly the type of game you'd expect from his namesake.  However, in addition to hits, blocked shots, and grit you also are getting some decent scoring, including 7 power play goals this year.  
 
Very exciting team to watch.   CYA next week

We have run the same captaincy group here in Chicago the past couple of seasons but with some new roster turnover and some other changes in circumstance we are proud to announce a new group to lead the team on a deep run in season 88!
 
 Team Captain: The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles 
 Assistant Captain: Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside 
 Assistant Captain: Wattson Power @Tape-to-Tape 
 
I'd like to welcome those new to their roles and cannot wait to see the S88 version of the Chicago Phoenix hit the ice!

The draft came as quickly as it went; however it did exceed my expectations. When I first joined the league I had been told the drafts were a fun and exciting time which was indeed true. Draft time did not disappoint! 
With the help of my Houston GM and AGM I was able to build my first player as a solid offensive defensemen that played well and caught the eye of a few GMs across the league. 
The JST tournament was a place where I was able to really get my player's name out there and I'm glad I got the opportunity to be part of the JST. Slater continued to dominate the JST and it's been fun to watch the progress of my first player. The first draft up was the VHL where Slater was pick 7th overall and drafted to Chicago Phoenix! This was a big surprise! I thought Slater would most likely get picked in the 2nd round but I did not anticipate a 1st round pick. Especially being up against some higher TP earners and other players who have bigger names in the league that have been around longer. I wasn't expecting to be picked at 7th overall so it was an exciting moment when it happened.
The VHLE draft was a few days later but it did not disappoint either. Slater again was picked 7th overall and drafted to Oslo Storm! I got a couple of lucky number 7 comments! I wasn't sure if Slater would be picked during the 1st round again but lo and behold it happened. 
All the streams for the VHL, VHLM and VHLE were extremely entertaining to watch. I wish we had a monthly stream where the hosts of these could get together and do an update on the happenings in the league! They all had some great commentary and chemistry together. A big shout out and thank you to the hosts, GMs, AGMs and players who were part of the streams. Thanks for keeping it fun and for the great stream! 
I'm looking forward to seeing how Slater continues to play in both the VHLE and VHL. Hopefully the momentum can keep going and we'll continue to see great things from Slater! 
 
Word Count: 373
Claiming for week ending 4/9
 

Chicago could not be happier to have @Subject056, @AColdCanadian and @WithARevelYellin the organization. We have high hopes for them!

We have run the same captaincy group here in Chicago the past couple of seasons but with some new roster turnover and some other changes in circumstance we are proud to announce a new group to lead the team on a deep run in season 88!
 
 Team Captain: The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles 
 Assistant Captain: Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside 
 Assistant Captain: Wattson Power @Tape-to-Tape 
 
I'd like to welcome those new to their roles and cannot wait to see the S88 version of the Chicago Phoenix hit the ice!

We have run the same captaincy group here in Chicago the past couple of seasons but with some new roster turnover and some other changes in circumstance we are proud to announce a new group to lead the team on a deep run in season 88!
 
 Team Captain: The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles 
 Assistant Captain: Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside 
 Assistant Captain: Wattson Power @Tape-to-Tape 
 
I'd like to welcome those new to their roles and cannot wait to see the S88 version of the Chicago Phoenix hit the ice!

Chicago could not be happier to have @Subject056, @AColdCanadian and @WithARevelYellin the organization. We have high hopes for them!

Chicago could not be happier to have @Subject056, @AColdCanadian and @WithARevelYellin the organization. We have high hopes for them!

We have run the same captaincy group here in Chicago the past couple of seasons but with some new roster turnover and some other changes in circumstance we are proud to announce a new group to lead the team on a deep run in season 88!
 
 Team Captain: The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles 
 Assistant Captain: Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside 
 Assistant Captain: Wattson Power @Tape-to-Tape 
 
I'd like to welcome those new to their roles and cannot wait to see the S88 version of the Chicago Phoenix hit the ice!

We have run the same captaincy group here in Chicago the past couple of seasons but with some new roster turnover and some other changes in circumstance we are proud to announce a new group to lead the team on a deep run in season 88!
 
 Team Captain: The Board Game Clue on Skates @MubbleFubbles 
 Assistant Captain: Scotty Sundin @fromtheinside 
 Assistant Captain: Wattson Power @Tape-to-Tape 
 
I'd like to welcome those new to their roles and cannot wait to see the S88 version of the Chicago Phoenix hit the ice!

What are picks anyway?
 
Good talks @FrostBeard. Not sure we could have asked for a more mismatched schedule but we got it done.
 
Welcome to the squad @Enorama, @Nykonax and @wcats. Let's try and make a run.

What are picks anyway?
 
Good talks @FrostBeard. Not sure we could have asked for a more mismatched schedule but we got it done.
 
Welcome to the squad @Enorama, @Nykonax and @wcats. Let's try and make a run.

Well, here we are... @JeffD thanks for the trade talks - took us a while but here we are! 

@Enorama - your legacy for DC is everything. Now go and get another cup under your name with Chicago!
@Nykonax - same goes to you, go and show that even an older player like Kitson still has a bit of style there and win it all! 

And @wcats - our time on the team was not super long but here we are - good luck in the season and show everyone that you are eager to win and dominate! 

Liv Slater has accepted a Signing Offer from Chicago:

S88: $3,000,000

S89: $1,500,000

S90: $1,500,000

Thanks for the three seasons in Chicago @N0HBDY. Unfortunately we couldn't lock down a cup but that is the way things go.
 
Good luck!

- This is the first point in The Board Game Clue On Skates' career where I'm going to have to give serious consideration to which teams I may want to play for in the future, because with an aging roster and no prospects of note coming through having been one of only two teams to not have picked in the first round in each of the last 4 seasons (the other being D.C) I get the impression that this era of Phoenix making the playoffs will be over before the end of my career or maybe even before the end of my contract. 
 
- I can't think of anything current for the remaining 50 words so I'll talk about two ideas I'd had for players in the VHL. One idea I had that pre-dated the Board Game was "A6 Lined Hardback Notebook" that, in a similar way to Clue would inexplicably find it's way into the VHL, and my media spots were basically going to be amazon reviews based on it's hockey performance. The other idea I had for a player after Clue was "Someone hacked my twitter.com" which was going to be accompanied by a podcast named "The 15 Minute Apology Hour" bringing up theoretical tweets that were on the player's account and apologise for the ones that were put up by hackers. E.g. I would not apologise for tweeting "Tomato Juice is the GOAT juice, don't @ me" because that is the truth. 

SEATTLE - Puzzling news came out of Seattle on Wednesday at quarter to 1 PM EST when the Bears publicly announced that they had declined the team option of starting goaltender and Season 86 Scotty Campbell Trophy winner Dusty Wilson, suddenly ending his four season tenure with the team. Nine hours later, an absolute bombshell was dropped on the VHL when the Bears acquired veteran goaltender Xavier Booberry in a trade with the HC Davos Dynamo.
 
Wilson seemed to have options in free agency, with several teams likely looking to free agency for a goaltender, but those teams will not have the option of Dusty Wilson, who nearly a day later announced his retirement and became the first player to hang up their skates in Season 88. A career with such promise had been wiped out for seemingly no real reason at all.
 
"Hopefully can find a home!" Seattle General Manager Blake Campbell stated at the press conference announcing his release. "Great player and better person. Any team would be lucky."
 
However, if that was the case, why was Wilson not good enough for Seattle? It's not like their series defeat to the eventual champion Calgary Wranglers was on him, especially not after his strongest postseason to date with a .930 save percentage. Wilson has shown himself capable of dragging the Bears kicking and screaming into the playoffs, and has shown himself to be a loyal teammate capable of elite performances. However, that didn't stop him from being cast aside by Campbell as if he was garbage.
 
Dusty Wilson deserved better.
 
Jethro Novacek is a writer for the MSFL Times, the premium purveyor of simulation sports news. He enjoys the buzz in the air the VHL Draft season brings, freshly baked pizza, and being a valued member of his team.

100%

If you know me at all, you know I am terrible at any kind of long winded speeches so I'll keep it short.
 
Huge thank you to @Daniel Janser and @MubbleFubbles for their care of the Stockholm and Istanbul franchises for the past few seasons.
 
As for our new faces, please welcome:
 

Hits have to be the most overrated forward stat

Hello everyone,
 
Welcome to the last chapter of Baby Bob's life story. In this life story we talked about the life of Baby, when he was young, his thoughts and his impressions before the drafts, during the seasons and during the playoffs. Baby Bob also answered to questions from the fans, from the GMs and from the leaders of the VHL, the VHLE and the VHLM. I know, I know, and I am very sorry guys. A lot happened in my life in the last couple of months and making media spot was not in my priorities. I stayed active in the VHL and with Baby Bob, but I lowered my earnings. However, we are not here to talk about me, but we are here to talk about the incredible career of Baby Bob.
 
S77 
 
Everything started in S77, when Baby Bob first joined the league and joined the Mexico City Kings. The Kings were not a really good team, and they did not make the playoffs, so Baby only played two games with them, but did not get any point. However, he still got a shot and finished the two games with a differential of +1.
 
S78 
 
After the playoffs ended and the winners were determined, it was now draft time. Indeed, it was time for Baby Bob’s first draft ever in the league. As his draft, Baby did not know what to expected and where he would get drafted. Bob joined the league a little late, so the teams did not know his potential, so therefore he only got drafted in the third round, 28th overall by the Mississauga Hounds. In S78, when he joined the team, the Hounds were entering a rebuild and the expectation were vey low. Indeed, Mississauga finished with only 15 wins and third last in the league. Baby Bob still scored 32 goals and added 43 assists for a total of 75 points in his first full season. He shot 322 pucks on the net this season and he had a differential plus/minus of -72. You can explain this atrocious differential with a lot of reasons, but mainly because the team in general was really bad and because he was still a young naïve little boy.
 
VHL draft 
 
At the beginning of S79 was Baby Bob’s first VHL draft and it was time for him to get drafted in the big league. Again, Baby did not know what to expect, but he was ranked in the top 10 on the prospects ranking list and his chance of being drafted in the 10 first picks were pretty high. Baby Bob was finally drafted 9th overall by the Prague Phantoms and right after the draft he also signed his first professional contract. The contract was 3,000,000$ in S79, 1,500,000$ in S80 and 2,500,000$ in S81.
 
S79 
 
S79 was a completely different story. Indeed, the Mississauga Hounds had a lot of draft picks in this draft, and the management team did a really good job drafting the players. The Hounds finished the S79 alone in first place with 11 points more than the team in second place. When you look at Baby Bob’s stats, you can clearly see that he improved his game during the off-season. Indeed, Baby finished the season with 30 goals and 67 assists for a total of 97 points in 72 games. The number of points he scored is really impressive, but what is really impressive is how he improved his defensive side of the game. He went from a differential of -72 to a +56 one. In the playoffs, the Mississauga Hounds won their first series against the San Diego Marlins 4-1 and their second against the Mexico City Kings 4-3. It was now time for the final of the Founder’s Cup between the Miami Marauders and the Mississauga Hounds. The series was not long and in only five little games the Marauders upset the Prime Minister’s Cup champion to take home the Founder’s Cup. Even though Baby Bob did not win the Cup, he had pretty good series scoring 8 goals and adding 12 assists in 17 games. The loss in the fifth game of the Founder’s Cup final against the Miami Marauders was at the same thing ending Baby’s VHLM career. In 146 games, he scored 62 goals and a total of 172 points. These stats are allowing him to be in the Mississauga’s record book. In fact, he is currently 6th in the number of assists and points in all the history of the Mississauga Hounds.
 
S80 
 
S80 was an historical season in the history of the VHL and Baby Bob was part of it. In S80, it was the birth of the VHLE, and Baby Bob took part in the first ever VHLE entry draft. Baby really improved his game in the S79 and the off-season of S80, so he was almost ready to make the jump and play in the VHL in S80, but he did not make his decision before the draft, so the VHLE’s team did not know if it was a good idea to draft him. Therefore, Baby Bob only got drafted in the third round, 17th overall by the Rome Gladiators. When the season started, no one knew what to expect and which team would be good and which team would be bad. The Rome Gladiators finished second in the standings with 36 wins, 28 losses and 8 overtime losses for a total of 80 points in 72 games. Baby Bob had an incredible season in this first one. He scored 46 goals and 104 points in the first VHLE season. These incredible stats helped him finish 5th in the number of points in the entire league and 3rd in the number of goals. The Rome Gladiators made the playoffs, and they made it to the final by defeating the Bratislava Watchmen in four little games. They faced in the Vasteras Iron Eagles in the final and after taking the lead 3-1 in the series, the Gladiators saw the Iron Eagles come back in the series and win it 4-3 and take home the first ever Renaissance Cup. The lost in the final marked the end of the short, but successful career of Baby in the VHLE. This lost meant that Baby Bob just lost his second final in a row against the underdog team.
 
S81 
 
After two full seasons in the VHLM and one full season in the VHLE, it was time for Baby Bob to make his debut in the VHL with the Prague Phantoms. In S80, the Phantoms finished 5th in their Conference and won the wild card game 3-2 against HC Davos but lost in four to Moscow. In S81, in Bob’s rookie season, the objectives were the same, making the playoffs and going as far as possible. Prague finished the season in 3rd place in the European Conference with 43 wins and 88 points in 72 games. During his rookie season, Baby Bob scored 33 goals, 59 assists and 92 points in 72 games and that makes him the 10th player with the most point in his rookie season and the 9th with the most assists in all the history of the VHL.  Even though, with the arrival of the VHLE the players are coming in the VHL a little bit later, so they are better and more prepared to play with and against the biggest star of the league, these records are still very impressive. Again, in the playoffs, the Prague Phantoms faced the Moscow Menace in the first round and this time they lost in five games. In five games, Baby Bob only scored a goal and finished -4.
 
S82 and S83 
 
In the end of the S81, Baby Bob signed an extension contract with the Prague Phantoms of 3,500,000$ and 5,000,000$ for the seasons S82 and S83. S82 and S83 were pretty similar seasons, Baby scored 38 and 39 goals and did 96 and 83 points. Prague finished second and fourth in their division with each time 95 points. They both time ended up losing in the first round again and Baby Bob finished the playoffs with 5 points in 5 games in S82 and 11 points in 10 games in S83 and each time with a differential of 0. In the middle of the last season of his contract, the management team of the Phantoms offered him a contract, but the team was starting to be old, and Bob did not want to be part of a rebuild, so he agreed to a one-year contract for the maximum amount of 5,500,000$. However, during the following off-season, the direction decided to take another turn and to enter a rebuild, so they decided in a common agreement to trade Baby Bob. So, in three seasons with the Prague Phantoms, Baby Bob scored 110 goals, added 161 assists for a total of 271 points in 216 games and an incredible cumulative differential of +120.
 
S84 and S85 
 
The only condition of Baby Bob was that, if possible, the Phantoms could trade him to a contender. They finally traded him to the Chicago Phoenix for the CHI 1st in S85. Fun fact, in the following days, Chicago and Prague did trade two more times. After, a couple of seasons of misery, Chicago was finally ready to compete and go for the Cup. It was a new beginning with a new team for Baby Bob and he wanted to impress the fans and the team management, and he did just that. Indeed, he beat his personal record of goals (49) and points (100) and he was even named on the second team of the season. However, the team made the playoffs, but they were not much different than the ones with Prague, because Chicago also lost in the first round and Baby Bob had 8 points in 7 games. Even after the poor performance of the team in the playoffs, Baby Bob saw the potential of the team and decided to extend his contract with Chicago for two more seasons at 5,500,000$ per season. As much as the first season with the Phoenix was incredible, the second was disastrous. Baby Bob only had 71 points in 72 games, his first season without a point per game, and the Chicago Phoenix finished in 5th place of their Conference. The playoffs were a little different because Baby Bob passed the first round for the first time in his career, but the Phoenix still lost in the second round.
 
S86 
 
Baby Bob is currently playing his ninth season in the league and during the off-season he had a big talk about his future in the VHL with his wife and his family. Yesterday, he finally made a press conference, and he announced that S86 would be his last season. As of now, Baby scored 46 goals and added 52 assists 98 points in 56 games. He his only at two points of his personal record and he still has 16 games to play and if he continues like that, he is on pace to score 59 goals and 126 points. He is currently leading the league in goals, in points and he is 8th in assists and 4th in the plus/minus category (+37). Baby is doing incredible, but we know that the regular season never was the difficult part for him. Indeed, is Baby Bob going to be able to lead his team to the promised land? Baby Bob also never won a trophy, is it the year where he takes home everything and finish his career with the best season he ever had? And finally, is the career he had enough to earn a place in the hall of fame of the league or maybe in the best player the league has seen?
 
Finally, this is Baby Boomer talking, I wanted to thank everyone who makes this league possible, because I really enjoy it and I hope it will never die. Now that Baby Bob is retired, it is time for his brother, Bobby Bob the 6’0” offensive defensemen, to show what he his capable of.
 
Thank you for reading and Viva Bobby Bob!
2020 words (my longest media spot ever)