CowboyinAmerica

But on the bright side, the fantasy league where he's refused to draft his final two players makes it easier for me

I'd say not as many high-TPE players in general, regardless of number of total players. Outside of the three S48 guys (Velvet, Kohler, Unassisted), there isn't a single player over 1000 TPE, and not even that many pushing 900. Weaker draft classes in S49, S51 and S52 mean that no teams have really had to have cap issues. (I'd argue possibly a function of the two-player system meaning that TPE isn't as concentrated, but that's an article for a different time.)

I tried finding a post from the MSFL (which ran 2006-2008) a bit ago about it opening, but all I could find was people really liking the 1 point XM Radio concept Crazy that it's lasted this long though. I'm not sure what 16 year old me would say that I'm still doing these things a decade later.

Marko goal and two for me. Good stuff.

I've been going through Binge Mode (highly recommended as a recap for book readers) while walking the dog and they've made some Lannisters-as-Sith comparisons. So when I saw that I laughed and thought "well, that Jedi reference is a bit on the nose." But yeah, a kick ass trailer right there. Loved that they used the Cersei trial music too.

Yeah. I feel like we need to change something here.

Gah, one shot allowed in OT and it's a goal. That sucks.

Still don't know what's up with these low shot totals

McAllister and What He Likes About Current Lottery Teams Why do a team rankings when you can keep it positive, top prospect asks If I were a betting man, I’d say that Gabriel McAllister, the third player in the Warren agency, will be on the Toronto Legion, Seattle Bears, Cologne Express, or Riga Reign at this time next season. Now, it’s certainly possible that McAllister slips out of the top four, or some team tanks and wins the lottery, or there’s a trade for a top pick, or he gets hit by a bus. But for all intents and purposes, McAllister’s probably a lottery pick with one of the teams currently in the lottery. Now, many prospects going into the draft create a top list of teams they’d most like to play for. However, when the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix reached out to McAllister to do the same, he said that’s not his style. Honestly, he’d play with most franchises in the VHL, including all four of those in the lottery. As a result, he decided to share his thoughts about each current lottery team and what excites him the most about each one. In alphabetical order… Cologne Express: The Local Star Gabriel McAllister: I’m a student of history in the VHL, but out of all of the league’s franchises, the Express is probably the one whose history is least written. The team has one title, but all the stars of that S42 team – O’Malley, Richardson, Brookside – are more associated with other franchises than with Cologne. In fact, the team only has two retired numbers, and only one of them, Kameron Taylor, is a Hall of Famer. More than any other team, Cologne would be an opportunity for me to establish a team legacy and perhaps become one of the best players in team history. Especially given the current talent on the team, I think I’d be one of the stars and top scorers from day one, and if I were to stay with the team all eight seasons, perhaps I could even pass Taylor as the team’s all-time leading scorer. There haven’t been many Cologne-centric stars; the fans there need one. I'd have a great opportunity to be one of the first real ones. Riga Reign: Unfinished Business GM: I’m the third player from my player agency, and given the success of the last guy, I have a lot to live up to. [Hans] Wingate, of course, won titles with both Calgary and Toronto, and he’s beloved in both cities. But I think some people already forget that there was a middle team – the Riga Reign, with whom he had high hopes, but only managed one playoff win between two runs for the cup. Since then, Riga and my agency have had success separately, but not together. A return to Riga for the agency would be an opportunity to right some wrongs, and to bring success to a place that has previously been a spot of bad luck. And especially given some of the players on the team like Krigars, King, and Bogdanovic that I think I’d have fun with, it’d be entertaining to try and piece together a run for the Cup with those guys. Seattle Bears: The Team and Franchise Fit GM: I’ve spoken a lot with Wingate in the past couple of months, especially about his Cup runs in Calgary and Toronto. And in our chats, one common thread has come up: fun. Not only was he able to win in those cities, but he was able to do so with some players that were similarly motivated and hadn’t won much in the past. Players like TebowGow, Hurley, Hill, Jakobssen, Molholt, Parechkin and World Peace dotting his championship teams rather than the “old guard” of the league made those wins that much sweeter, he said, because many thought they couldn’t do it. That’s already informed my thinking in my young career and was a big reason why I signed with Saskatoon last year over Vegas or any other team. And I see a lot of that same potential in Seattle and players like Laflamme, Perought and Raven who it’d be fun to bring to success. Also – and I’m being straight here – I think I’d rather play for Seattle’s management and GM than any other in the league. He’s put in his time for seven seasons, even retiring his own players for the good of the team, and I’d like to see him have some success in turn. Toronto Legion: Getting Them Cups GM: Bo Boeser, Verner Reinholdt, Daring Do, Roman Sokolov, Dexter Lane and Torstein Ironside. Now, add me to that mix. Forget down the road, could that team take on an aging Americans franchise and a Quebec team that’s going to have some hard cap decisions here shortly? I think it could. Straight up, if my goal is to experience championships, both in the beginning and as the start of a potential dynasty, I don’t think I could ever find a better landing spot than Toronto. And that’s not to say that I’d be piggy-backing onto a title team either; I feel like I could be an integral piece. Already, I’m right there is Boeser and Reinholdt in terms of practice hours, and I’d be expected to help score right away. Boeser and I already showed we can play well together last season in Saskatoon, and with Reinholdt and Lane being pass-first players, I feel like I’d get plenty of scoring opportunities here. The talent mix is all there, but will I be?

3-2 Dynamo

HC Dynamo Titans Americans Vikings

Regardless of how it ends up, I do think it's cool we have a lot of the same team for multiple title runs. Don't see that too often in the VHLM. Love the piece, thanks for writing!

3-2 Wild

Storm Wild Storm

2 for 3, that's one way to game the shot percentage statistics.

NOW MAYBE THE DAMN TEACHER WILL REMEMBER YOUR NAME

Toronto first looking like a lottery pick

I'll take it!

It's been more than 12 hours, so I'll go ahead and take Franchise Cornerstone, thank you. @HearnNation67, alongside @Pablo and @Will still being up.

Wranglers only a point behind the Americans a quarter of the way through the season (and New York has a game in hand!). If Calgary finishes second in the conference, I'll laugh my ass off.

Scheel and O'Tarth coming up clutch! Also... six shots? The fuck?

What's with the Dynamo? A slow start may have some fans worried, but the schedule gets easier from here. Almost a quarter of the way through the VHL season, we’ve seen Season 55 go mostly to form. The Meute, Titans and Vikings are really good, the Bears and Express are really bad, and the Legion and Wranglers are having a fun fight for the final North American playoff spot, with both teams doing perhaps a bit better than expected. The final playoff spot in Europe, though, has been where all eyes have been so far this season. Right now, Davos is there, as expected. But, that’s a recent development, and before last night’s OT win against Riga, the Dynamo were actually out of the playoffs, sitting with the third-worst record in the league, only one point ahead of Seattle. For many, Davos was the scrappy underdog pick, perhaps expected to make noise in a conference where some thought Helsinki overachieved and Stockholm continues to get older. Why is this team sitting with only 9 points through 15 games? Here are three stats that tell the story: 1. The Rookie Blues Take a look down preseason predictions, and you’ll see two names come up over and over: Rusty Trombone and Takashi Fujimoto. And this isn’t exactly a surprise, given how they performed for the dominant Las Vegas Aces that won the VHLM championship last year, with both on the shortlist of top two-way forwards in the league. With both wingers entering the season right around 300 TPE, a lot of people expected a leap. So far though, it just hasn’t happened. With only 5 goals and 3 assists to his name so far, Trombone sits a mere tied for eighth in total rookie points, behind such luminaries as Lyle Smallwood and JourneyMan. With only 4 goals and 1 assist, meanwhile, Fujimoto doesn’t even make the top ten. A lot of Davos’ projected success was on how these rookies played, but so far, they only serve as a cautionary tale from those who might expect too much, too early from new players. 2. You Don’t Have to Turn on the Red Light But it’s not just Trombone and Fujimoto who are having trouble putting the puck in the net; in a sad state of affairs, Trombone is actually the team’s leading goal scorer with 5. As a whole, Davos has only scored 25 goals in 15 games, ahead of only Cologne (21) and Seattle (24) to this point. Part of that issue is scoring being down across the board in recent VHL days, but when your supposed playoff competition in Helsinki and Stockholm has double your goal total, that’s not a good. The issue is, outside of the rookies, I don’t see this changing anytime soon. Shawn Gretzky was supposed to be the do-everything center for the team, but that only includes scoring on occasion – his Scoring rating is only an 80. Both Dotran and Pablo are pass-first defensemen, as is winger Ted Doughty. And nobody else on the team is quite developed enough to be a true difference maker. If the rookies weren’t going to turn it on in the early going, Davos never really had the depth for a second option. 3. … but Sunny Skies are Ahead One thing that’s important to remember, though, is that the VHL doesn’t play a uniform schedule. Sure, it will ultimately be balanced, with each team playing every other 8 times over the course of the season, but it doesn’t start that way. That’s how you get an early season where Davos plays Helsinki a ridiculous 8 times in its first 15 games, while playing the Vikings and Americans 2 times a piece as well and the Meute once. The Dynamo acquitted themselves halfway decently as well, going 1-6-1 against Helsinki and beating the Americans once as well. For those of you not counting, though, that means Davos has played the bottom five teams in the league exactly twice – wins over Calgary and Riga (in OT). As more of those bottom-feeder games begin to populate the schedule, I’d expect the points to follow in short order and Davos to make a run up the standings. While Riga has played tough so far, they’ve only played 7 of their 16 games against the top flight teams, and a rapidly improving Davos squad will be tough to beat as well.

@Pablo because was no tag here

Really getting that goal total up, I love it

2 goals on 3 shots, not a bad average