Advantage

I have said this time and time again, but Devise has the communication skills of Stephen Hawking's computer - he has good stuff to say but never reins it in and ends up spitting out rambling paragraphs.
 
He means no harm though. How people get offended and/or involved in arguments with him is beyond me.

So I just started thinking about this, and man we got ourselves a super healthy podcast run going on right now in the VHL. Schedule wise things aren't always every week for everyone, but we are consistently seeing a ton of podcasts go up per season. I think it's great for the league but one thing that does kind of bum me out is having to go and ask questions in twenty five different questions threads. Not that it really is that much of a hassle, but I figured why not put this out here. 
 
Post questions for anybody on any cast to take their chance at answering. Could give a range of topics for people to discuss and give a better idea of some of the differing opinions on the board in a more clear cut way. Plus imagine all the inter-cast smack talk people like my Hombre, @Jericho could get into. So yes casters I encourage you come to this thread and thief questions for all of us. 
 
 

Good stuff!
 
Nice work TO!

Good stuff!
 
Nice work TO!

Sure, though I never cheered against Toronto in previous seasons.

Good stuff!
 
Nice work TO!

This week I want to look forward to Season Fifty-Three and more specifically the draft that will take place.  It will our second draft with the ten player rule, and I for one am very excited to see who will rise to the top and become elite players in the Victory Hockey League.  This week I want to look at some facts about this illustrious draft.
 
75 - Franchise Cornerstone is undoubtedly the top prospect in this draft.  There are some other really great ones, but Cornerstone has both an agency with elite history and far more practice hours than anyone in his draft class.  Cornerstone comes from the Boubabi agency who ran the Lord Karnage show and has had success previous to the Hall of Famer as well.  While at times, the agency generally represents controversial clients, there is no doubting the elite production that comes from them.  Cornerstone looks no difference at this juncture.  The smooth skating Mongolian pivot has a knack of getting into open areas and burying the biscuit in the basket.  While there is a long way to go for Cornerstone to hit the levels of a Lord Karnage, there is also the clear case that he probably has the best chance to hit such levels of anyone in this draft.
 
2 - Two GM Players have so far been created for this draft.  While those players, Jacob (created by Higgins) and Brock Dragonslayer (created by Advantage), will not be in the draft specifically, they will be a reflection on how much great talent may just come out of this class. The Higgins agency has a ridiculously consistent and long history of creating excellent players with Hall of Fame goalie Tuomas Tukio being his most famous.  The Advantage agency too has quite a history with both Ryan Sullivan and Brick Wahl being inducted for them.  With that being said, while Higgins has been consistent, Advantage's agency has been representing clients of late who just don't seem to have the long-term devotion to the sport.  Both Benjamin Dupont and Atticus von Braxton IV retired early, despite clear talent and a defined place in the VHL.  When asked about this, an agency representative had this to say: "While Ben and Atty did not work out as planned, they still improved quite a bit and showed off great talent.  With that being said, we see Brock in a very different light.  He is excited to go to the VHL and be a Hall of Famer.  Neither of the previous two players ever showed that kind of ambition and just wanted to make the league.  Brock wants to do more than make the league."
 
14 - There are currently fourteen players in this draft class, with twelve eligible to actually be in the draft.  Among this is four centers, four wingers, two defenders and two goaltenders.  The top prospects at this moment are likely Cornerstone, Xander Finn (who is from the illustrious Jericho agency), Sharpe (who also comes from a strong agency) and Locke.  Dragonslayer and Jacob also figure into this conversation which gives this class quite a group of top end talents.  However, not to be overlooked are the two goaltenders.  Mist4ke is a bright looking goalie with loads of potential.  While raw at the moment, his agency (which has produced Hall of Fame goalie, Benjamin Glover) seems to believe a lot in his future.  Glover himself has actually been working with the young netminder, and this could be a valuable teacher for a goalie that has dreams of being an elite netminder in the VHL.  Rubber Band too shows potential and it would not surprise me to see both of these goalies among the very best in practice hours come draft time.

MY BOY

@Advantage

CHOO CHOO MOTHA FUCKAS

And there it is...
 
For real....
 
And I need a third take to remind myself we are not on a reality TV show...
 
I present to you ladies and gentlemen, a WWE Hall of Famer is President of the United States of America. And I know people are like "but Regan was a celeb" but he was of a total different time an era. Trump isn't the celeb in the way Edward Norton is a celeb. It's not like he's a celeb recognized for his presence in something amazing in a craft that happens to be popular. He was rich, filled with plastic surgery, fake, was on reality TV and by product of the fact that you see him associating with WWE in a serious capacity, a joke. He's a B celeb. Congrats, the Khardasians or Paris Hilton, I mean it's the same level of celeb here we are discussing. That is what is the President of a Country. For real. 
 
Huh.

I hope he's not as bad as it seems he's going to be.
 
Although part of me hopes he's worse. Serves you fucking right for moving to Texas and dumping me, you stupid whore!

If you remove me I'll just come back and ban you

I doubt people will be offended over a privately sent list

The best thing to come out of this was some proper discussion about how we can fix the cap floor, so hopefully we can get something sorted over the playoffs to make the floor mean something.
 
Only thing I'm unsure about is the "2nd round selection of their choosing", I feel like a lot of times we've talked about teams who are giving up picks in the draft (whether that be getting a replacement GM or going over cap floor), it's been that team's next selection (so in this case, S52 HSK 2nd), so I'm not sure why in this instance, Helsinki get a choice in the matter? Let's just make it simple here people.

Devise, Streetlight, Phil, Advantage, Kendrick and YEAH should all stay

Also guys! pick a train gifs and throw it in your sig! Playoff rally is real!! @tfong @Advantage @brovy @gregreg

This years All-Star Game promises to be one filled with lots of high scoring and the usual strong play from some of the league's top players.  However, this week I want to look at three players who could be the dark horses to put out a MVP performance in this season's mid-season classic.
 
48 - Thor Odinsson is having a second consecutive blistering year to start his career in the Victory Hockey League.  The winger has recorded 48 goals and 97 points in 68 games, leading the Meute in points and just one goal back of Sleeman.  However, what really fuels this writer's opinion that he could tear up the ASG, is just how hot he is lately.  The sophomore has recorded 14 goals and 31 points in the 18 games he has played since being traded to Quebec.  Additionally, he will have a chance to potentially be teamed up with fellow Meute All-Star, John Sleeman, who currently sits first on the team in goals with 49 and second in points with 94.  The Meute are looking like a two player offense going forward this season, and Thor Odinsson is a big part of that.  Lucky for Thor, he won't be counted on quite as heavily in the All-Star Game.  With that being said, I think his young legs and incredible skill could feature well in an event that generally sees a lot of goals scored.
 
98 - Tom Lincoln is another forward that I feel will break out and dominate the All-Star Game.  The Cologne forward has had a tremendous season with 45 goals and 98 points to his total, while playing for a solid Express roster.  Lincoln is one of our main picks because of how effective he has been at even strength play.  With 39 goals and 85 points at even strength, Lincoln has been one of the league's best five-on-five producers.  In a setting that generally doesn't see a lot of penalties, this could very well work in Lincoln's favor, as he will see a lot of even strength situations in the offensive zone.  Additionally, Lincoln is someone who generally does not like to get hit, so this environment could serve him well here as well.  With less hits going around, I expect Tom Lincoln will find more room than usual and that should allow for his skating and his hands to take over against these high-powered squads.  While some may not consider him a dark horse, I feel that Lincoln will get overlooked given his team not standing out like the Wranglers squad does, leading him to be a potential dark horse MVP in the game.
 
.940 - Most wouldn't say that the clear front runner for a major award would be a dark horse for the MVP.  However, with how offense is almost always the star in these All-Star Games, I believe that Greg Clegane, who is by many a favourite to win multiple awards, could very well steal the game for his team.  Clegane has recorded a .940 save percentage and 1.50 GAA to go along with 45 wins and 15 shutouts.  His numbers are impeccable and he is definitely a potential League MVP favourite given how well he has performed, and how much he has helped the Legion overcome issues with their offensive depth.  Clegane will be in tough against some of the league's best offensive players, but I do feel that if any goalie can impact the game in a way where they steal the show, it has to be this guy.  His track record is too strong and his season is too hot.  Like goaltenders of the past, Greg Clegane has the ability to steal games in ways where you may just not expect it.  Look for him to put together a strong performance this year.

Good deflection technique.  Literally everything you said has nothing to do with why it was brought up.
 
But if you really think we only use the BOG to improve our teams..well thats a pretty big accusation. 
 
I thought it should be brought up...I dont have a basic punishment but like i said, the cap floor itself needs to either be abolished or have other rules come in to alter it.

Did anyone ever pay attention to you?  
 
Anyway, I just read this entire thread. There's many good points being thrown around here and some random nonsense. @Kendrick, I could probably find the stats they show us that @Advantage probably is the GM with the highest % of seasons competing for a Cup, and anyway, this thread's about CAP not tanking, and Advantage's comment about everyone going to CGY is about Parity which are two different subjects, but whatever I digress)
 
I think that we do need to re-assess the salary brackets to not allow inactives or 40 TPE players to be signing for the maximum. @Streetlight I'd love to hear more about this idea. I would also suggest that inactive that are in their 6-8th season (depreciated) also have a separate set of brackets, as their TPE would technically be even less in those instances.
 
I also say no-way to axing two teams atm. The timing would be fucking terrible, which our first slew of second-player players coming into the league next season, we should see some more distribution of talent around the league and within 3 seasons we'll hopefully never have a season with such terrible parity. 
 
So to set the story straight: Streetlight noticed that Helsinki were under the cap, and he let Daniel know. Nothing was done. Then @Higgins stepped in as GM and streetlight also informed him of this situation. He increased his cap but it still was not over the cap minimum?
 
I think it was @Mr. Power or @YEAH!stlemania who suggested locking Helsinki in at 4th OA and honestly I think that all it should be. Helsinki was in shambles from the beginning of the the season and I'm just glad that Higgins has taken over the franchise. 
 
 
But now I do believe we need to look at the salary brackets to make sure we can sign an inactive player to max contract. That's ridiculous. 
 
Please let me know if I've misunderstood anything in here. 
 

Helsinki being under the cap for the whole season is an absolute disgrace.

It has been a tough start to the campaign of Brock Dragonslayer in the VHLM.  One of the newest recruits to the league was claimed by the Yukon Rush who would quickly trade the young winger to the Bern Royals, a team who currently sits one point back of the Moscow Red Wolves for the top spot in the European Conference.  Dragonslayer joins the top offensive team in the league, with the Royals scoring a league-best 226 goals in 64 games.  However, Brock has not provided much offense since joining the European squad.


 
While playing over 24 minutes per game, Dragonslayer has recorded just one assist and zero goals in the seven games he has played.  Additionally, he is a -1 and has recorded ten hits.  “I just am still getting used to the league, and while I think my time is coming, I also believe at times I feel a little out of my element.”  The words show the frustration Brock is having with adjusting to the league, and it probably doesn’t help with how fellow recruit Franchise Cornerstone has faired.  Franchise has 7 points in 7 games and has looked every bit as good as advertised, while Dragonslayer struggles.  One scout had this to say on the situation: “We all knew Brock was a bit more raw than someone like Cornerstone.  Franchise has this skill-set built in already while Brock has all this potential that we do think he will eventually fulfill.  With that being said, he is also a bigger risk for that reason and will take longer to develop as well.”

The Case for an Awards Committee
 
The idea of taking the privilege to cast the most important votes in the league away from General Managers is something that has been floated often over the past several seasons but came to renewed interest in recent weeks following the return of Jericho and his subsequent calls for award reform. In the past, the discussion on this particular issue usually came after a controversial awards ceremony but it never gained much traction.
 
The truth is that there are indeed cases of GM's making questionable votes that can be reasonably attributed to bias. I don't think that is actually news to many people in the league, but I have had the unique perspective of collecting the award votes for many seasons. That said, I don't think it's exactly rampant. The vast majority of GM's have cast votes honorably, in my opinion. In fact, there's even been some who have even tried to avoiding voting for their own players where possible. Although I appreciate those facts, it's unfortunate that our voting system is so easily called into question that these considerations have to be made in the first place. 
 
And that is the problem that I believe most people have with the current award voting - why have the General Managers voting when their votes are inevitably so easily questionable? And again, that isn't to say all GM's are the devil, but rather what's the logic in having them cast the votes when there are alternatives that could be seen as more legitimate. Hall of Fame voting, for example, has been questioned little. Another point is the fact that a GM's award voting is limited to a single PM with a Commissioner, where GM's are presented with stats for the players on the ballot and they simply cast a vote for each award. There's no discussion and, as we've seen in the past, there is sometimes little consideration of factors aside from the statistics presented on the ballot. 
 
Now, the main problem with a committee setting is that when thinking of the people who have proven their qualified to be casting the votes, there are GM's that comes to mind. Personally, I don't think that's a major problem but I can see how the optics of it would be strange. In the committee setting where there would be discussion and public voting, there wouldn't be room for obvious bias without getting called out. Obviously any GM's considered for the committee would have to have a solid track record to look back on. Deciding who should be on it and how it's structured is the number one hurdle facing an award committee. 
 
For now, those are my thoughts. None of this has come to fruition yet but the possibility of moving away from GM voting is being discussed. As usual, let us know your thoughts by commenting in the magazine thread. 

So weighing myself, over the last two weeks of working out I have lost 25 lbs!  Still eating a good amount but have cut out some things I dont want to be eating as much.
 
Looking to keep it up!

For Mag 306 - Since I will be in Alberta
 
Season Fifty-Two continues to look ever so impressive as many players have continued to progress at a very high level.  This article will look at three players to watch out for going into this year's draft class.
 
183 - Phil Shankly is undoubtedly the top player in this draft at the moment.  With 183 TPE, he is about 30 TPE ahead of Jokinen and the rest of the pack.  The Englishman is looking at the possibility of playing for the Stockholm Vikings, who own two potential top four picks, and he has been vocal about having some interest.  With that being said, he also feels the Vasteras Iron Eagles were the better location and name.  Regardless of all that, Shankly should definitely go top-two with potentially Jokinen going ahead due to positional need.  Both are top end prospects and they should both be potential future Hall of Fame talents.  This draft is loaded with elite talent, and Shankly leads the pack to say the least.
 
0 - Edwin Threencarnacion was the goalie I felt was the top one going into this draft, but it does seem he has been passed by Rhett DeGrath.  Threencarnacion has seemed to stall a bit in his progression with 0 TPE earned this past couple weeks, and has fallen to number eight in the draft rankings.  Some speculate that this is because he wants to go to an elite team rather than someone like Stockholm or New York, while others feel that he is recovering from an injury and will get his training back up to an elite level soon enough.  Whatever is the case, Threencarnacion is my pick for the prospect to watch right now.  Either he will make a case for himself to go ahead of DeGrath, or I could see him completely stumbling and falling potentially close to the end of the first round.  In all reality, expect this guy to pick it back up and become elite once again.
 
30 - Lee King Snatch is a very interesting player to watch.  Not only is he a member of the famous and very successful Smarch agency, but he has been training a lot with Hall of Famer Conner Low, who in my opinion is the greatest defenseman of all-time.  With that being said, Snatch seems to be more of a raw prospect and there are a lot of people who seem to feel that he could easily fall out of the first round, and maybe even down to the third.  With just thirty TPE, Snatch finds himself tied for twenty-second, but we also know that this is not how we measure a raw talent like Snatch.  His potential is among the highest in this draft, and while he is a bit of an unknown, that could mean that a real solid team will take a chance on him if he falls towards the latter half of the first round or maybe even the first few picks of the second round.  That is where GM's will take chances and move on someone like Snatch.