Motivation
Over the past year or so, @Fire Hakstol has been constantly asking me why I don't update my player. The truth was, I had no motivation to do so. I know doing welfare and updating takes maybe 20 minutes a week, but if I don't care to check the game threads to see how my player or team is doing, what is the point? I haven't followed the VHL much at all over the past 10 seasons, and have no idea who has been good over the past few seasons, other than knowing that Calgary finally broke its cup drought. The league went through a rough patch over the past 2 years, with every member of blue team taking turns disappearing for 3 months, the removal of the stupid 2 player system, and the VHL shifting from 10 to 8 teams, in a clear sign of a downward slope. The league was so inactive at one point that I held on for seasons as Calgary's GM openly looking to step down, only to be temporarily replaced by Kesler before taking reigns of the team again after being pissed at Kesler's stupid trades that crippled the franchise. On top of that, I felt as though there was nothing exciting going on in the league, and figured why should I bother to continue putting effort into a dying fake hockey league.
I am happy to see that the VHL is once again on the upswing, thanks to some great moves made by the league's leadership. I haven't been following things too closely and I am probably missing a lot of important contributors. @Will and anyone else who helped have done an outstanding job modernizing the VHL with the league portal, as updates are so much less of a pain than before, and doing everything else like signing contracts and trades on the portal helps expedite all league moves and puts less of a burden on the commissioners. Additionally, the league desperately needed some new members to step up with many of the old guard hanging on for years, and @Beaviss has gotten the job done with some outstanding recruitment drives on reddit along with being a great VHLM commish, so hats off to him as well. Like I said, I am probably missing many other key contributors, but I am happy to see the league has a ton of active new members, with drafts being historically deep and changing the entire GM game from how it was for me 20 to 30 seasons ago. There is once again competition and excitement to be a VHLM or VHL GM, rather than a lack of candidates like before, which is great to see.
I used to be that guy, as in someone who was super active and helped the VHL grow. I was a very active VHLM commish for 2 years and implemented a lot of new changes to help league activity. I was also one of the most active VHLM and VHL GMs for a number of years, creating some really fun teams to play on in Yukon and Calgary. I also was a member of the Board of Governors, and did lots of little things to help the league grow, like creating the new member guide, and organizing ads for the VHL on reddit, twitter, and elsewhere. I hope I get the motivation back to turn into that guy again, because it was a lot of fun, and I hope I was a helpful cog in the league's growth.
P.S. @diamond_ace was the only @VHLM GM to give me a contract offer, so I now have motivation to make the rest of you pay come playoff time.