Dom

When the Toronto Legion won the finals last season, it marked the ninth unique champion in nine seasons. This is the longest stretch of unique champions in VHL history, and I would love to see it continue to extend (or be snapped by Malmo winning year after year). Of course, the longer it goes on, the more unlikely it is to last. Season 92 has just begun, but considering what we know about the teams right now, what do the chance look like for it to reach a 10th unique champion?
 
First, let's take a look at the North American Conference. Which teams have won a championship during this streak? Seattle, D.C.,Vancouver, Calgary, and Toronto. We don't want any of them to win this season. Luckily, both Seattle and Vancouver are almost assuredly non-playoff teams. The other three will likely make it in along with Los Angeles and New York, though Chicago has started the season winning a lot of games against these expected playoff teams. Perhaps Chicago could keep one of D.C. or Toronto out of the playoffs to increase our odds. For now, though, I expect we will be relying on Los Angeles and New York, which doesn't sound that bad. Los Angeles has been the best team in the VHL thus far, and New York is look.
 
Over in Europe, there are four teams we won't want to see succeed: Warsaw, London, Davos, and Prague. Again, two of these teams (Warsaw and Davos) are likely to miss the playoffs. London and Prague are both probably playoff teams, though the Phantoms missed out on the playoffs after having high expectations last season. For now, though, let's assume they will make it. So too will Malmo, Helsinki, and Moscow, if the predictions hold true. Any of those three teams winning the championship would keep the streak alive, and those are the top three in the conference standings at the moment.
 
As things stand, the expected playoffs will have five teams who have won within the last nine seasons, and five who have not. I do think overall, the teams without recent championships are better, with London being the prime candidate to upset the streak. Honestly, I give it about a 50/50 chance of the streak continuing. For those who want to see it extend further and further, Los Angeles winning would probably be the best possible outcome, because unlike some of the other teams, this is probably their last chance at a Cup for a while.

You left that position leaving no good picks in bank and an old roster needing a rebuild. Thats so easy to compare and look good when you throw the next GM under the bus. At least, don’t be the loudest one about Warsaw’s situation because you do have your part in this.

So the season has begun, and to the notice of many Warsaw has not started off well. Dealing with the slander and criticism each day is tough but I won’t let some of you assholes win and bully myself out of the position, I’ll tank for 20 more seasons if it means I don’t let them win. I understand now why Cow in the most recent case, stepped down from his position in New York. It is so much easier to throw this criticism and meme on the decisions of a GM than it is to receive them. I feel I definitely played a part in destroying his mental state as a GM by joining in on the meme and joking about his time as a GM. But this is just my thoughts so far into the season, I will refuse to give up until at least TDL, if you were in my locker room you would know how much effort I’m putting in to try and make this a competitive team. Anyways I’ll get into what I wanted to write this article about, kind of justifying my decisions (some bad yes) but also how Warsaw semi got screwed over in our rebuild process on part of myself and other factors.
 
I took over Warsaw a few seasons ago, was handed a playoff caliber team with many notable players, made the playoffs twice but lost the 1st round each time. After that I blew up the team to try and get picks. S87’s draft was the last remnants of what previous GM Dlamb had set up. 2 1st round picks and 2 2nds for a draft that would go 4 rounds. From that I selected Hannibal Barca (206tpe), Tim Riggins(182tpe), Mac Dre (128tpe), and Tyler Swift(161tpe). Not terrible picks for the time, though the callup minimum then from the VHLE was 350 so a little ways to go.
 
Now forgive me my memory isn’t entirely clear but in the S88/89 drafts Warsaw didn’t really have many early round picks, I believe I was trying to still fight for the team to stay competitive with the roster I came into. If you’d like to know that story line and are more interested in digging it up then me, please go for it.
 
Season 90 now, Warsaw headed into the draft with 2 1sts, 2 2nds, and 2 3rds. Sure the 2nds were relatively late but not a terrible draft stock to have in the history of VHL drafts. From that we drafted Maxim Anisimov (311tpe), King Kisslinger (261tpe),Jorji Costova(176tpe), Joseph Jec(226tpe), Aeschylus Jigglejawns CXXXVII II(128tpe), Joseph Dubois (180tpe), and a couple other players but I’m not looking to go past the 3rd right now. The draft would go 4 rounds, we’d snag a few hopefully franchise players that would spend some development time in the E so that we could go for another high pick the next season.
 
S91 was a very good draft to have 1st round picks in if you wanted a high earning player, I could’ve drafted myself, however I felt Warsaw was lacking future depth to back up the cornerstone pieces we drafted the season before. Therefore I traded away 2oa to go back to 13oa and pick up 2 2nds. In terms of picks that draft Warsaw had 1 1st, 4 2nds, and a high 3rd. From that we would draft Spanish Moth (292tpe), Behrens Minion(214tpe), Jacob Smith Jr (155tpe), Dietrich Reingaard (131tpe), Pipo Popa (195tpe), and Anasari Reingaard (121tpe) in a draft that would only go 3 rounds.
 
This in this most recent draft Warsaw traded away 2oa for my own player (2oa the season before lol) and had 3 2nds in total for a draft that would literally only go 2 rounds (not even). If you haven’t caught on the what I’m trying to get at don’t worry here it is. In the time Warsaw went into a rebuild the quality of draft classes/picks decreased so much. In total over the season’s covered if I did my math right Warsaw had 5 1sts, 11 2nds, and some other amount of 3rds (didn’t calculate since i didn’t include it in every season covered). In past seasons that kind of draft capitol would be pretty impressive. But on my own part and to the shrinking classes most of the picks just didn’t pan out.
 
So now this leads me to the future picks. I wanted a short sort of buy while future big player such as myself, anisimov, and the king finished getting up to that sort of top player tpe range. I brought it Wallob, Champagne, Rex, Maple, some players that if I can figure out how to put together, might get the job done and make the season a little bit more fun. After this past draft having only 2 rounds I was less than enthusiastic for seasons to come, especially with the state of recruitment. Yes I knew there was a recruitment drive coming well in advance to where I didn’t have to make these decisions to sell my picks, but having been on the wrong side of quite a few failed ads the prospect of “oh this ad is coming out and is going to be different than the last few” didn’t excite me. So essentially I bet on the ad panning out to around the same amount of recruitment as the past few. That bet has obviously not played out and you could say I’ve lost.
 
I still have hope in my team, like I said I will not give up. Many people have asked me if because of these moves I will be stepping down after the season, I will absolutely not. Like I said earlier fuck all of you that criticize me and meme on my team, I’m not going anywhere and will tank until S200 if I have to. Members of this league can be such assholes to the GM’s. Yes I’ve made bad moves, but in my opinion it’s just the perfect shit storm of poor recruitment and my own decisions. I have no one other than myself to blame for the state of the team, nor would I try to pawn it off on anyone else. But to the members that are constantly, daily, after each sim, and each move, in every thread, criticizing me, fuck off. You’re destroying the morale of a highly productive member of this league and despite wanting more members, try to destroy the loyal ones. That’s all.

Wolves Prospects Ready to Start Their Respective Seasons
 
It’s hockey time in the Victory Hockey League, along with the Victory Hockey League Europe and Victory Hockey League Minors. After a very successful draft a few weeks ago for the Vancouver Wolves, many of those Season Ninety-One draftees and previous years draftees will not be hitting the ice tonight when Vancouver faces-off against the Calgary Wranglers, instead many Wolves prospects will be hitting the ice in the VHLE. Today we will take a quick look and see where some those prospects will be playing this season in the VHLE.
 
Mikko Borisyuk @Minebro: Season Eighty-Nine draftee Mikko Borisyuk will be once again back in Bratislava in the VHLE for what he hopes is his third and final season. Borisyuk had an amazing opening night with three goals in two games today.
 
Logan Ninefingers @Scurvy: The First Overall pick from the Season Ninety-Two VHL Entry Draft will be playing this season with the Oslo Storm. Another strong start to the VHLE season for Ninefingers as he had one goals and two assists in the Storms first two games.
 
Vlad Von Carstein @Dom: Von Carstein was a hot commodity in the VHLE draft as most teams were seeking defense and will be spending the season in Bratislava. Von Carstein put up three assists in the teams first two games in Season Ninety-Two and will look to keep the pace up all season
 
Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts Another members of the Wolves who will be spending the season in Sweden with the Vikings, Gavilrovs has the best start to the season of all VHLE players, as he currently leads the league in points with his five assists in Stockholm's first two games
 
DB IV @wcats: One of two wolves’ prospects to be drafted to Cologne this season in the VHLE, DB was able to put up a balanced attack in his first two VHLE games, with one goal and one assist.

Elias Lampi (Pifferfish) has announced their retirement.

Have you ever asked yourself which VHLM franchise provides the best pathway to becoming a VHL GM? No? Well I did, a while ago in fact, but let the potential article idea sit there through Rara Rasputin's career and my recent second semi-hiatus. Now it is time to answer the eternal question however.
 
How does one quantify such a broad subject? A successful VHLM GM is not necessarily one who spends a season with their team and uses it as a springboard to a VHL career. Getting appointed in charge of a VHL team does not necessarily reflect VHLM GM success either. Furthermore, not every VHL GM tenure lasts long and/or goes well so are those GMs really a good reflection on their VHLM franchise? Finally, given our long and storied history, there are more than a handful of GMs who have managed in the VHLM on multiple occasions, often both before and after their (frequently multiple) VHL stints. How do we handle those? And these days, how do we handle time spent in the VHLE as well?
 
You'll be pleased to learn that I didn't bother tackling most of these quite complex questions. What I have produced instead is effectively a statistical analysis and ranking of VHLM franchises through the years based on the future employments of their GMs. I don't think it is necessarily a best-to-worst VHLM team list or even a best-to-worst GM list, but rather a fun way to look at the long and disorganised history of the M. Whilst this introduction has made it all look quite chaotic, there have been a few basic principles I followed in putting the ranking together:

 
All VHLM franchises ever to exist have been included, meaning 17 teams in total, including those which haven't been around for nearly 50 seasons
If a team has had the same GM multiple times, they are counted as 1 GM, with an exception or two which is explained separately
For the five franchises which existed both before and after the start of the “modern” VHL (I used as a cut-off the expansion to Halifax in S62 as most of the other expansion teams followed shortly after), some consideration has been given both to their performance before and after that date
This is mostly about VHLM GMs who subsequently worked their way up to the VHL but some teams have had good representation from experienced heads who did their stints in the big leagues and then came (back) down later on so that's been incorporated as well
The VHLE has been ignored entirely in keeping with public opinion

 
Without further ado then, let's count down the best franchises for an aspiring VHL GM, probably.

 
17. Vasteras IK J20 / Moscow Red Wolves (defunct S51)
Total GMs: 17
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Jochen Walser, Tyler Edgar)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Frank Chadwick, Sterling Labatte)

At the bottom of the list is a franchise that always seems to be at the bottom of VHL lists. There is not much left to be said about Vasteras that hasn't been said before, other than that by association it seems to have cursed both Moscow and the Red Wolves (the former having won 1 of 6 Continental Cup finals as the Menace, the latter being contracted in the VHLE in its Istanbul incarnation). As for the purposes of this article, the most relevant piece is Tyler Edgar being the J20's longest-serving GM, finally getting his cup in S27, and then having a successful spell in Toronto in the 30s – but the franchise has not much of a lasting legacy otherwise.

 
16. Miami Marauders
Total GMs: 6
Future VHL GMs: 1 (Kris Rice)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Zack Gagnon)

The VHLM's youngest franchise is next on the list which surprised me slightly, given its early success. But most of that came under the two names above, with Rice then going onto a very successful time as Calgary GM. As for Gagnon, Miami was his last gig before getting the Los Angeles job, but that was neither his first VHL role nor his last appearance in this article.

 
15. Las Vegas Aces (formerly Toledo Scorpions and Bern Royals) 
Total GMs: 34
Future VHL GMs: 8 (Matt Defosse, Zach Arce, Sam Helberg, Chad Murphy, Conner Low, Sachimo Zoidberg, Julian Borwinn, Euron Leonidas)
Former VHL GMs: 6 (Zack Gagnon, Tyler Barabash, Vince Wong, Sterling Labatte, Robbie Zimmers, Ron Dayne III)
Since S62, 11 GMs of whom 2 were future VHL GMs (Borwinn and Leonidas)

As you'd expect for a team that's been in the VHLM since the start (although in a wide range of locations), it's been a turbulent history for the Aces. There will be those that have fond memories of the franchise and those that think it's a forgettable one. In truth, recent history punishes Vegas a bit – unfortunate that its most successful modern era GM (Anthony Pratt) disappeared before getting a VHL job most expected him to get. Other than Borwinn and Leonidas who went onto long-term careers with Helsinki and Moscow, there's a lot of recent names which fizzled out way too quickly.

 
14. Mississauga Hounds
Total GMs: 9
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Jerry Garcia, Cole Pearce)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Dominic Gobeil)

The team founded by the Gus/Berocka tandem has seemed to attract GMs who are happy staying at the VHLM level – lots of current actives but other than Garcia's stint in Davos, only Warsaw's Cole Pearce represents the Hounds in the VHL. However, after finally breaking the Founder's Cup duck in S90, maybe fortunes will be changing for Mississauga going forward.

 
13. Houston Bulls
Total GMs: 8
Future VHL GMs: 2 (John Frostbeard, Nils Godlander)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Zach Arce, Vince Wong)
 
Similar proportion of VHL GMs to the Hounds with one difference – Houston's alumni have both won championships with Frostbeard's Malmo in S75 and Godlander's Toronto most recently in S91. Four different GMs have won the VHLM Top GM trophy while at Houston, so the Bulls are clearly doing things right at the minors level anyway.

 
12. Philadelphia Reapers
Total GMs: 7
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Victor Grachev, Alex Johnston)
Former VHL GMs: 0

Ranking higher than its fellow expansion franchises purely based on percentages, Philadelphia has had lots of VHLM success and provided the current Davos and Malmo GMs, with Alex in particular finally turning around the Dynamo's years of despair. A theme in this article now will be that I have increasingly little new insightful information to say about each franchise beyond the information already provided at the top.

 
11. Minnesota Storm (formerly Gothenburg Eagles, Oslo Screaming Seamen, and Oslo Storm)
Total GMs: 33
Future VHL GMs: 8 (Vladimir Kliment, Damien Walec, Zack Gagnon, Mitch Higgins, Thomas Corcoran, Thomas Landry, William Shaw)
Former VHL GMs: 7 (Brett Slobodzian, Joey Kendrick, Greg Harbinson, Jason Glasser, Tyler Barabash, Jim Gow, Matthew Boragina)
Since S62, 4 GMs of whom 1 was a future VHL GM (Funk), before moving to the VHLE and back to Oslo in S81

If you thought Las Vegas' history was tumultuous, spare a thought for the fans of the Storm. Three cities, two leagues, and screaming seamen, but also an impressive list of former GMs. Oslo peaked probably from S24 to S30 during the streak of Gagnon, Higgins, and Corcoran managing the team immediately before taking over Riga, Helsinki, and Vasteras respectively, although Higgins had by far the most success. There's been some dry spells followed by the Oslo reincarnation doing very well in the E, and overall the team's done good enough for midtable.

 
10. Minot Gladiators (briefly Syracuse Wolfpack) (defunct S42)
Total GMs: 15
Future VHL GMs: 4 (Matt Bentz, Chad Murphy, Jardy Bunclewirth, Tyler Edgar)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Greg Harbinson, Zack Gagnon)

A blast from the past franchise brings a blast from the past in terms of VHL GMs too. Other than the ever-present Gagnon, none of the men listed has managed a VHL team since the 50s at the latest but several will be recognisable to the average reader. Minot did well when it was affiliated with Calgary, including producing two future Wranglers GMs and in the eyes of many did not deserve its contraction, although its name lives on in Rome today.

 
9. Saskatoon Wild (formerly Fresno Bulls and Buffalo Jr Bears)
Total GMs: 33
Future VHL GMs: 7 (Greg Harbinson, Jack Reilly, Jack Sixten, Spencer Flammer, Rylan Peace, Roger McWolf III, Thomas Landry)
Former VHL GMs: 5 (Brett Noiles, James Assayag, Brett Slobodzian, Thomas Corcoran, Vladamir Komarov)
Since S62, 10 GMs of whom 3 were future VHL GMs (Peace, McWolf, Landry)

A storied franchise, still adding to its impressive list of championships to this day, has also predictably churned through a fair few GMs, most famously the namesake of the VHLM's Top GM trophy, Jack Reilly. The Wild fall surprisingly low on the list, in part due to the lack of huge success either side of Reilly, but also few GMs making the leap in the modern, post-S62 era.

 
I sadly have nothing insightful to say about San Diego, Turku, and Brampton so am skipping my commentary straight to the top 5.
 
8. San Diego Marlins
Total GMs: 7
Future VHL GMs: 2 (Thadius Sales, Jacob Carson)
Former VHL GMs: 3 (Zack Gagnon, Frank Chadwick, Zach Arce)
 
7. Turku Outlaws (formerly Jonkoping Warriors, Kolari Wolves and Kolari Panthers) (defunct S42)
Total GMs: 18
Future VHL GMs: 6 (Matt Bailey, Tyler Edgar, Chris Miller, Pavel Koradek, Zack Gagnon, Clinton Chevy)
Former VHL GMs: 0
 
6. Brampton Battalion / Blades (defunct S53)
Total GMs: 22
Future VHL GMs: 7 (Scotty Campbell, Tyler Owens, Tyler Barabash, Bryan Svec, Ryan Power, Steve Smeall, Conner Low)
Former VHL GMs: 3 (Jochen Walser, Joey Kendrick, Matthew Boragina)

 
5. Yukon Rush
Total GMs: 22
Future VHL GMs: 5 (Austin Gow, Daniel Anderson, Josh Da Silva, Jordan Tonn, Dominic Gobeil)
Former VHL GMs: 3 (Sam Helberg, Victor Alfredsson, Conner Low)
Since S62, 5 GMs of whom 3 were future VHL GMs (Da Silva, Tonn, Gobeil), before moving to the VHLE and Geneva in S81
 
It's no surprise there was uproar when Yukon was the franchise stolen by the VHLE (Minnesota was less of an issue given Oslo was its home before) and moved to Geneva where it had a short and unsuccessful life. Up to that point, Yukon was a hugely successful and popular franchise, producing multiple future VHL GMs from the 40s through to the 80s at an impressive rate given the Rush were only founded in S31. Alas, they are no more, just like their fellow S31 expansion brothers below.

 
4. Bratislava Watchmen (defunct S53)
Total GMs: 8
Future VHL GMs: 3 (Vince Wong, Blake Campbell, Benjamin Zeptenbergs)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Sachimo Zoidberg)

Ah Bratislava, back now in the VHLE, but never likely to reach the heights it climbed in its short 23-season spell in the VHLM. 7 cups, 8 GMs, of whom 3 are managing in the VHL today – Vince Wong in his third stint, Campbell and Zeptenbergs meanwhile in their roles pretty much since the Watchmen went extinct the first time, the longest VHL tenures ever, by a distance. A model VHLM franchise so no surprise to see it high on the list.

 
3. Mexico City Kings
Total GMs: 9
Future VHL GMs: 4 (Nyko Nax, Christopher James, Cole H, Mickey Dickson)
Former VHL GMs: 2 (Chris Miller, Christopher James)
 
A modern day Bratislava? The Kings are the first of the three teams rounding out this list which have one thing in common – a GM who did the VHLM stint, went to the VHL, and came back to the same minor-league franchise. In Mexico City's case that is Christopher James, who led Malmo to the Continental Cup and is now back with the Kings. With a threepeat winner in Nyko Nax and the current GMs of Chicago and Helsinki, it's a good return on investment so far.

 
2. Halifax 21st
Total GMs: 9
Future VHL GMs: 6 (Shawn Glade, Roger McWolf III, Ted Mosby, Dylan Wallace, Jeffrey Pines, Mickey Dickson)
Former VHL GMs: 1 (Shawn Glade)
 
Shawn Glade is Halifax's returning GM, with bonus points for being the first GM of the franchise as well, although his VHL stint was not quite as successful. Glade did open the door to a host of VHL GM hopefuls and whilst the 21st hasn't won a championship of their own, 66% of this GMs have graduated to the big leagues – maybe more than a coincidence?

 
1. Ottawa Ice Dogs / Ottawa Lynx
Total GMs: 33
Future VHL GMs: 12 (Tyler Owens, Brandon Best, Sandro Desaulniers, Victor Alfredsson, James Assayag, Jason Glasser, Jim Gow, Keaton Louth, Esso Drunkmann, Acyd Burn, Dakota Lamb, Nils Godlander)
Former VHL GMs: 6 (Sam Helberg, Frank Chadwick, Zack Gagnon, Jardy Bunclewirth, Joey Kendrick, Jason Glasser)
Since S62, 7 GMs of whom 4 were future VHL GMs (Burn, Lamb, Godlander)

And finally, to the surprise of no one probably, the VHLM's most successful franchise, and the only to be in the same city since S2, is top of the list. Percentage-wise, Ottawa is not actually ahead of Bratislava, Mexico City, and Halifax, but that gets overlooked as a lot of the early numbers are noise from the VHLM's affiliate era. Since Jason Glasser took over and gave the team its own identity, it's been a a very steady run of success both for the franchise and its GMs – 10 of the 12 future GMs listed above have won at least one Continental Cup. Glasser of course came back for a second stint, completing the cycle and keeping Ottawa as a model team into the modern era and very much the type of team I had in mind when coming up with this article.
 
@Ricer13 @InstantRockstar @Arce  @scoop @Smarch @Spartan  @STZ @MubbleFubbles  @Gustav  @N0HBDY @Dom @FrostBeard @Moon @KaleebtheMighty @Alex @Doomsday @JardyB10 @Ahma @McWolf @thadthrasher @jacobcarson877 @Frank @Toast @eaglesfan036 @Josh @MexicanCow123 @Banackock @hedgehog337 @Nykonax @hylands @badcolethetitan @samx @Advantage @ShawnGlade @fonziGG @Dil @rory @Esso2264 @Acydburn @dlamb

Howdy

Probably a bit of a chill Media Spot this time. Few things to talk about - firstly Grimgor, his time in VHLE, expectations for season with Helsinki, then about D.C. Dragons, the trade that brought in Henry Tucker Jr and my place in VHL now and going forward.

Firstly, about Grimgor - really liking the character, love that fact that I can roleplay a character and I through that I don't feel bad about sometimes being an arse. That said, I know no one here actually would take any thrash talk seriously. I do have some serious expectations from this season, that also will influence my career in Helsinki - I am expecting 1st line time, if I do get that even in my first season, there is a chance in resigning after my rookie contract is over. I am also expecting to become a true hired gun with Grimgor at some point as I have always wanted to have FA experience. 

Secondly, about D.C. Dragons. I feel like we are in a really good spot going into S93. Honestly, I really feel strong about our players, roster, sure, don't know what S93 will bring in terms of chemistry on ice but we can for sure work with that and the goal is to get to playoffs, prove that D.C. squad has what it takes to win some serious playoff games. I do have to say, I did rush the rebuild a bit too quickly but then again, have had lots of fun with our team, have lovely on the team so that is incredibly huge thing. The biggest gap in our roster of course was our missing goaltender and having a chance to acquire and resign Henry Tucker Jr. was absolutely massive. Now we have a true starter for 2 seasons. I am incredibly excited to see ourselves on ice. I know, there probably will be a ton of people doubting D.C. but I have full faith in our team.

Thirdly, the more I think about it, the more I understand that Grimgor might be my last player in VHL. At least for a while. This is my 4th one and I feel I am getting to a nice point where I can go and rest for few seasons. Will that include me stepping from D.C. Dragons GM position? I am not yet sure, I do love D.C. Dragons, I love the team and people there but will just need to wait and see how it goes. I am looking forward to seeing that S100 for VHL, for sure it is going to be absolutely magical. I do like number 104, that might be a season to return? Well, whatever happens, we shall see. I am still fully commited to see my player finish a strong career and still do my duties to my full capacity in D.C. I am a little bit excited about recruitment drive for VHL, always happy to help new people in the VHL, hopefully quite a few will stick around and have fun with all of us!

Well, in any case, that is it - a small media spot to talk about what matters to me right now.  

 

Welcome to the new season of VHFL! Below is the randomly assigned draft order for your group. 

The draft is conducted in a snake order, meaning that each round goes in reverse order of the last. There is a time limit of 12 hours per pick. If the person ahead of you has not picked within their 12-hour slot, you may make your selection, and they can make up their pick anytime after the skip. If a member misses two picks without communicating to me or the GM - not necessarily consecutive, they will be disqualified and the team will be drafted by me or a filler I appoint. If someone has two picks in a row and fails to do the first one before 12 hours pass, tag them and give them another 12 hours for the second pick in a row. Once you have made your selection, tag the person following you. 

Group Manager: It is your responsibility to make sure that picks are made within 12 hours, and if not, that the clock keeps going for the next pick. Please also have a complete roster within the first few posts of the thread - this saves me time later so that you get your results faster! Please also be sure of each player’s position, and that they are not retired nor in the VHLM before adding them to your roster! When maintaining the updated roster, please copy the roster template below, exactly how it is. Make sure also to spell player names properly when updating your group. Do NOT copy the roster for every single pick.
 
THIS IS A DISCORD DRAFT. JOIN THE VHFL SERVER.
➡️ https://discord.gg/8XNgAvQDs7 ⬅️

Here are some useful links:
VHFL Rules
S91 VHFL Top Skaters
S91 VHFL Top Goalies

If there are any issues, tag the group manager or me. The draft is now live - good luck! Tag me when all the rosters are complete!

1. @VattghernCZ
F - Mac Atlas
F - Larry Abass Jr
F - Jason
D - Liv Slater
D - David Jokinen
G - Henry Tucker Jr

2. @UnknownMinion
F - Daryl Dixon
F - Francesco Mancini
F - Steve Lattimer
D - Ben Laas
D - Tord Yvel
G - Lachlan Summers

3. @Banackock
F - FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY Analfist
F - Yaroslav Bogatyrev
F - Severus Targaryen
D - Kronchy Kardashian
D - Pierre Emile Bouchard
G - Merome Dilson

4. @Spartan  (GM)
F - AK92 Wit da Hoodie
F - Henry Eagles
F - Dogwood Maple
D - Jacob Stone
D - Mark Calaway
G - Jesse Teno

5. @sliceruser
F - Todd Cooke
F - Legacy Gaming
F - Wann Kerr
D - Elias Lampi
D - Rex Wolffe Gregor
G - Fuukka Rask

6. @Dom
F - John Jameson
F - Molly the Cat
F - The Frenchman
D - Skor McFleury
D - Bobby Bob
G - Joel Castle

wtf now the fans will connect and ruin my bandwidth !!!!!

thank you for the wifi password @rory 🙏

HI! And welcome to my idea of looking into every time now. I did something like this a few seasons ago but trades and shit happens so we will be looking at every VHL team and I’m gonna rate every side of their team so offense then defense then goalie. (by the way this is just for fun and tpe so let's begin shall we?)
 

Calgary Wranglers
Offense 7/10
First we see a well balanced offensive core with a few young players at high tpe, a player that shows the most potential of being a future star is Raimo Tuominen with only being a s90 player he has a shit ton of tpe and with this he can lead this team for a while,
 
Defense 6/10
For their defense they are gonna have to rely a lot on Skor McFleury but even then their defense is quite alright but I can see improvements being made to solid it out a bit more.
 
Goaltending 7/10
With two goalies and playing a backup they have a decent set up with a good starter and alright backup so I can see them push far with a group with this many high earners.

 

Chicago Phoenix
Offense 5/10
I think this group can be upgraded a bit more with most of their players being below 500 tpe it might be hard to even have a chance at playoffs but maybe at the TDL they could get a decent forward to get a slim chance.
 
Defense 3/10 
Defense is very low tpe and only 1 youngster doesn’t help the offense much. They really would need to rely on Lionel Collberg who is a s91 but I can see future stardom from this guy.
 
Goaltending 4/10 
Without a backup they are gonna have to use a bot which isn’t bad but their goalie being such a low tpe will hurt the team now. Maybe Simon will bless Ryan Artyomov but I don’t see this team going far sadly.

 

D.C Dragons 
Offense 7/10
Actually a pretty decent offense with a few players being over 1k tpe and some other players being near the 800ish mark makes this squad dangerous if they get a scoring streak happening.
 
Defense 4/10
Sadly their defense don’t show the same promise Mark Calaway will be heavily relied upon and there might be a chance that this 3 defensemen play could work but with such low tpe and young players I don’t know if this season will be a good one.
 
Goaltending ?/10
As of writing D.C doesn’t have a goaltender so I can’t really rank on nothing and I know they will get a goalie later on so our first ? rank.

 

HC Davos Dynamo
Offense 5/10
It’s an old forward core with low tpe not giving a good first sight but if they can earn in a decent manner next season could be better for this forward group.
 
Defense 6/10 
A Bunch of decent players with their combined average of tpe is around 600ish which isn’t bad but isn’t ideal making it really tough to even reach playoff chances like this
 
Goaltending .7/10 
It’s close to wranglers goaltending situation which is pretty good, a decent backup to make sure not all games are losses and a really good starter which is quite ideal.

 

Helsinki Titans
Offense 6/10 
Honestly it isn’t that bad and can work and after going to the finals this forward group can still be very dangerous. I can see a lot of players from this group score a shit ton if they can play their cards right.
 
Defense 7/10
Well balanced defensive players who can help their forwards score and protect the next. I wouldn't be shocked if one of these D-men get an award in a season or two.
 
Goaltending 6/10
Again a 1000 tpe goaltender can help a lot even if your forwards aren’t the most they will score so if you can make sure they can’t score against you it’s a win no backup sucks but hopefully we can see this group do much more.

 

London United 
Offense 9.5/10 
With how much these 3 players can do I won’t be shocked if london gets into the playoffs and considered a finalist with this good forward core I can see them winning a lot of games/
 
Defense 6/10
3 decent defensive men who can push the offensive side even more making this team a good pick, it would have been a 7 though if they had more than 3 so they can balance it out with 4 but we will see if this works.
 
Goaltending 7/10
Almost a 1.2k tpe goalie with no backup I can see him getting a shit ton of shutouts and raking an award if he does it enough. London seems to be a dangerous team all around so it would be hard to fight these guys.
 
 
Los Angeles Stars
Offense 8/10 
A well balanced offensive squad with every area being a decent good player making this team stand out as also a dangerous scary team who can outscore you if not careful
 
Defense 3/10
Now sadly with such a good offensive core they have a bad D group which can blunder their success if they can’t get more. It's not even about tpe only having 2 D-men won’t end well.
 
Goaltending 6/10
Alright goaltending decent backup and an okay starter who can earn and get better over time but with their defensive core being not the best the goalies will have to work overtime to secure some wins.
 

Malmo Nighthawks
Offense 7.5/10
Not the best of forwards groups but one of the better promising ones seeing all their young players like RJMW Rave and Tzesar they could earn and balance their offensive a bit more.
Defense 6/10
Again it’s very well rounded with some youngsters so it only gets better over time right now though seeing players like Jacob Stone and the two rookies Jebediah and Conference being really good earners while also having Reese McFluery be a dangerous group.
 
Goaltending 7/10
Now I know I’m being a bit biased but eh, Ash sparks even though growing old has been effective at being a brick wall for Malmo and doesn’t seem like he is going to slow down while also earning quite well the only problem is not having a backup.
 

Moscow Menace
Offense 5.5/10
Decently young group with a big push of tpe from axle gunner I can see this group being upgraded a bit more but in all is okay and can still pack a punch.
 
Defense 5/10
Again their defensive place isn’t bad nor good so it’s a mixture of mid which isn’t bad at all but can use a bit of work.
 
Goaltending 4/10 
Not gonna lie not the best this team is gonna be in the rebuilding mode and I’d said for about 2 seasons they are close with their forward group but everything else is bland
 

New York Americans
Offense 7.5/10
Pretty good offense and with how young their best players are I can see a lot promise from this growing group which I believe can make it to the playoffs
 
Defense 6/10
Decent group could use some work but if not it’s still good enough to help their forwards and goalie be productive and can maybe even carry the teams at times. 
 
Goaltending 4.5/10 
I can see some growth but both goalies not being so good might hinder this time quite a lot. Hopefully they can earn and keep the pipes blocked for New York.
 

Prague Phantoms
Offense 7/10 
With a bunch of high tpe players this team can be powerful against teams with bad defense and honestly could continue to grow into a much better group.
 
Defense 8/10
Pretty good defense and well roundedness from this core being able to help your forwards while also being a defensive anchor is quite important and some teams can’t really achieve this but I think Prague has it.  
 
Goaltending 6.5/10 
Murdock is a decent goalie near 1k tpe which will make this team very dangerous and maybe a chance in the finals isn’t a far off thing. 
 

Riga Reign
Offense 6.5/10
Again decent offense with a chance to grow into a better group overall and an okay amount of younger players who will grow and maybe shape up this offense
 
Defense 4.5/10
Not good really but still decent enough to help their forwards push and show some hitting on ice while being okay at the blue line.
 
Goaltending 7/10 
A really good starter and young backup so this rating might go up a lot after a while since I can see Red Panda earn a ton and continue to be a problem for some teams. 
 

Seattle Bears
Offense 5.5/10 
Young core with a few vets it’s a mediocre group that needs improvement if any chance at playoffs is wanted.
 
Defense 3.5/10
3 Defense and all on the lower tpe side which doesn’t help much as they will struggle against much more offensive focused teams who will rail against them.
 
Goaltending 2/10
Sadly I don’t think their goalie will help their case. I don't see this team being the worst in the VHL but near it is for sure they will heavily need to upgrade their goaltending and defense if they want a chance.
 

Toronto Legion 
Offense 6.5/10
Most of their players are high tpe but they have so little, only 4 players in the entire group which means bots are gonna be used which are never nice to have.
 
Defense 6/10
Again running a 3 man defensive squad but they seem to be earning quite well so I don’t think that this will cause them much issue. 
 
Goaltending 7.5/10 
Joel Castle has been a great goalie with a ton of promise and a ton of success and while also having a good backup to win games this team has a good chance at playoffs
 

Vancouver Wolves 
Offense 5/10
Not a good squad but with how much they are earning I don’t think that this will lead to many issues for the future.
 
Defense 6/10
Close to Toronto’s defense only being a bit older which isn’t the best but if they can draft or trade for another decent D man I can see this group going to maybe wildcard.
 
Goaltending 5/10
With Dalkr being a young goalie he will need a ton of help from his Dmen but then again if Dalkr keeps earning he can be a future problem to a lot of teams.
 

Warsaw Predators 
Offense 6.5/10 
Very good offensively and making sure they can stay like this will be deadly as they work together. I can see this forward group causing trouble.
 
Defense 6/10
This defense might not help much but still a good 4 style of play can help their offense go to new heights.
 
Goaltending 5.5/10
A lot of aging and so I don’t see this ending well in a few seasons but as for now they are able to stop most shots which in the end that’s all that matters.
 
Words: 1911
(now ik this is kinda of a shitty review but to be fair I tried to use my entire ability of speech a lot of teams had a similar group so there will be a little bit of copying but I tried my best to give every team a unique look over)

yea really didn't want to  rank on something without knowing ngl i kinda feel like i didnt do a good job since so much of using the same word but hell i tried 

I have opinions on the VHLE draft and I think I can get TPE because of it. Let's talk about the first round!
 
1. Vanellope von Schweetz - High risk, low reward selection from KOLN here in my opinion. Went nearly completely mia, dropped from a top pick in the majors to almost outside the first round in one of the worst drafts in 20 seasons. If Arce does return they'll have to earn like an absolute MAD LAD to get back on track after missing 2 weeks of TPE. I reckon if Arce doesn't comes back within another 2 weeks they'll simply retire and recreate, ruining Sjin's plan of having a 200 TPA inactive for 3 seasons
 
2. Vlad Von Carstein - Absolute gift getting the best D in the draft at 2nd! Will be capped by the start of the season, active user inside and outside the locker room, YOINK! I feel like Z trading with Oslo
 
This has been my review of the first round thank you

Just a tad bit of an overreaction here I'd say. This voting was done by E GMs. M voting is M GMs. Most VHL award voting is the BoG which sees new faces join every 2-3 seasons with no commissioner votes. I don't think there's a systemic "fuck that member" baked into the voting system at any level.
 
And I don't see where anyone is ganging up on anyone. People in this thread have explained that Rin is not a first gen to clear up that area, and also discussed their own opinions on how close the award was. The fact that he's won 4 championships now is definitely does not support your idea that the league is holding him down.
 
Could this frustration possibly stem from your goalie not being eligible for RotY awards due to how many times you were played during your first season? And then not qualifying for the award when you became the starter? Nothing in this thread is anti-Plate but this suddenly flies in with no examples or references.

hi, this is the intro
 
the draft is coming soon, it is always fun to live the mystery of not knowing where you end up. I don't think Vlad will be a top 3 pick but he could be top 5, nonetheless, if he fall I don't really mind.
 
I think the donation drive has been a success this year again and we can be proud of our little community, I have seen some huge donations, especially in @Enorama and @Baozi's raffle. Shoutout to them for this auction.
 
Vancouver has all the S92 picks, wtf @Frank
 
When is @Lemorse7 becoming VHL GM?
 
congrats to @Moon for the cup, when he took that team, it was in a pretty bad state with nothing promising for the future, yet he managed to make the right moves to make it a champion team and end a long cup drought for this city.
 
yes I'm a little drunk but I'm posting this mess anyway, thanks and happy new year all!
 

Logan Ninefingers is officially a Vancouver Wolf after being picked #1 overall in the S92 draft.  Ninefingers confirmed he was scouted by a few teams and was extremely pleased to not only go first, but to a storied franchise with a winning history.  Vancouver also picked up some amazing pieces with subsequent picks. 
 
The lead up to the draft was tense with so many great players like George Richmond, VV Carstein, Dassler, and Riley Martin.  Vancouver chose the hulking right winger first and then followed up with a very capable offensive talent in Riley Martin @Smarch at #4, an amazing two-way defenseman V.V Carstein @Dom #6, and defensive beast Guntis Gavilrovs @Girtsat #7.   
 
To round out the first round the Wolves also picked up Houston Bull’s stud defenseman DBIV @wcats who scored 21 goals last year in the M.  They also snagged Miami standout Joe Shmo @matt sovick in the #15 spot to shore up some offensive depth.  
 
The future is bright for the Wolves with these pickups with the hopes of raising the Continental Cup in their future. 
 
Thanks for a fun draft
 
 

Same with myself and @hedgehog337

@Quik was long a proponent of purchasing additional seasons with no set limit. The issue with having it be possible to endlessly go is mostly trying to balance how depreciation would work for them but it also removes a lot of the cyclical nature of the draft classes so you could get seasons with basically no marquee recreates because they are still just running past careers.
 
Its an idea that has been brought up before though, could certainly be revived.

@Beketov I'd be willing to have some of my YT videos sponsored. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
 
@badcolethetitan I fully agree. The experience with Saka showed me just how different the experience on different teams can be from a player perspective.

I’d like to see light restrictions applied to general areas or channels on the forum and discord. 
 
For example, people have been in general chats (discord) talking badly about the league. This is a bad look for new members when they join the league. I do respect peoples opinions and don’t want to take that away but would rather redirect it into its own channel. The same goes on the forum.

This is the perfect thread for everyone who wants to be vocal about anything in the league that they think could be improved or fixed. Take it like a public BOG and GMs share it in your locker room please.

Personally, I would like GMs to reach out to players more and create that personal bond.
 
I’m not necessarily talking about myself, but I’ve heard stories where players get tossed around, (specifically clickers), that have been active and they just get launched from one team to another. I have two friends in the VHL that are clickers who literally look at every single game they’re in and post their scores, with stats to me every simulation. Their GMs barely have any communication with them at all and it really takes away from the experience. Just reach out to your players, even if it’s a simple “Hello.” Keep in touch with your players, especially if they are forum only and don’t have discord. Send them a message! It’s going to go a long way and I think GMs should actually be held accountable for doing their job. I know we are around the holidays and people are busy, but it shouldn’t take that much time to do so.
 
At the end of the day, this is about the experience. We all have made up players that don’t exist, but behind every player is a real person. This isn’t some AI that doesn’t have emotions that you can ignore, or use as trade pieces. We should be getting to know the person behind the screen and ensure that they have a great experience, which then would help with retention overall.
 
I am not saying that every GM doesn’t already do this, because some do. I’d just like a collective effort that should already be the standard.
 
The community is what makes the VHL great, we should continue to welcome people into our community!

This is the perfect thread for everyone who wants to be vocal about anything in the league that they think could be improved or fixed. Take it like a public BOG and GMs share it in your locker room please.

I’ll even start.
 
I would like to see our YouTube ads branch out. I’ve long wondered if we haven’t over-saturated a small market of NHL YouTubers and basically, despite using multiple different ones, reached the same target audience each time. What I mean is that every ad we’ve run basically, regardless of who it’s been with, has provided diminishing returns. I would wager that the people who see one of the YouTubers in that category probably see’s many of them so having the ad on 4 different channels but reaching the same audience is no different than having it on 1 channel, does that make sense?
 
What I have in mind is, oddly, ignoring the hockey aspect. Yes the VHL is a hockey sim league but it’s also a game in a sense and gamers come in all varieties. I didn’t join sim leagues because of a specific sport I joined them for the game aspect and found different sports within the “game” that was sim leagues. So why don’t we try some non-hockey related channels? Try breaking into a different market audience than what has already seen our ads. There are tons of different gaming channels of varying sizes on YouTube that we could approach.
 
Would it work? Not sure. But I would definitely like to give it a try.

New Year, New you right? Or rather new year new us? I don’t really know where I’m going with that. What I am doing is writing what that pesky OBC never does right: Asking what the community wants.
 
Okay that’s enough sarcasm I reckon. So here’s the deal, the VHL has needed to constantly evolve since it was created 16+ years ago. It was an evolution of the sim league model at the time and it has continued to re-invent itself over the years in order to stay relevant and at the forefront; I have no intention of stalling that evolution and I know none of the others on the RGB teams or the @BOG does either. That doesn’t mean, however, that we think we exclusively have all the ideas.
 
So, here we are with me going rogue and posting this without chatting with anyone else. I wanna know what your New Year’s Resolutions for the league would be. What do you want to see improved in 2024? Try to be constructive about it and come up with solutions instead of just vague issues as best you can, any kind of just meaningless complaining will likely be hidden and I don’t really feel like doing that.
 
We’re going to be damn near S100 when we finish 2024 (S97 finishing up by my right estimate) and I for one want that kind of insane milestone to be something really worth celebrating so let’s make the league a better place together shall we?
 
Signed,
@Commissioner, @VHLM Commissioner , @VHLE Commissioner
(even though I never mentioned this to any of them)