Shindigs

At least it will get 50% less infuriating next season.

Random Ravings about GM Qualities There are a lot of really good GMs in this league, and there have been and without a doubt still are some less stellar ones. Not to mention that depending on which exact league you're in means what makes a good/bad GM are completely different. With something that may make you an excellent GM at the VHL level being quite likely to be more of a hindrance at the VHLM level. For a VHL level GM you may put greater value on skills like getting new GMs to perpetually pay you 1st for your cap dumps, or other such highly useful skills. Whereas in the VHLM, completely screwing over your fellow GMs arguably just means you make the developmental experience worse for the poor souls that end up on that GMs team. What's a good VHLM GM in my Eyes? So what makes a good VHLM GM then? Well, basically the exact same traits that make a good teacher. Because in reality your primary job in the VHLM isn't to fleece the shit out of other GMs in trades, or making the sweatiest lineup possible to purely maximize play time of your best players. That's just not really what translates into success at that level, not long term at least. What you instead look for it a willingness to connect with your players, the patience to babysit them and lead them along until they reach the point where they no longer need that support and are autonomous as members of the VHL. You need to be able to help keep the LR active, and make each of your players feel as though they are seen and appreciated. Because when you first join this league it's so easy to feel like no one knows/cares who you are. And getting proof to the contrary just feels good, getting recognition for going the extra mile with earning and seeing other people getting hyped over what your player is doing on the ice is a pretty powerful tool to getting someone invested in the league. All the above takes a lot of effort though, so really it has to be something you actually enjoy. Don't do all that stuff because it's what gives you success, do it because helping others is the reward. That's ultimately the mindset I see as key to doing well in the VHLM. You're there to develop talent, and you have to see that development as the win. Because it really is, doesn't hurt that it's also what actually wins you games too. Because that helps reward your players for putting in that extra effort. Most of us prefer winning over losing. Some VHLM Storylines Some GMs do truly embody this style and you can usually see it both in the amount of higher earning prospects they produce and the morale of their teams, regardless of success levels. @badcolethetitan's Mexico being an interesting example this season. By any and all metrics they are having an awful season compared to expectations on the ice. But they are still having a blast in the LR, so they're on point. @jacobcarson877's SDM last season were in a similar situation down the stretch. They didn't really have a snowball's chance in hell of competing. But the atmosphere in the LR was still great, to the point where many GMs went out of their way to try and draft that LR onto their teams this season. Vegas has really been on both sides of that situation already this season, because of the drafting strategy I went with. We started out being quite low in the table. But we still had good morale and the LR was popping off most the time, so it was still a good place to learn and grow. With that growth the results have also come, which I love to see. It wouldn't have been possible without the massive performance all my awesome players have put in this season. Our internal weekly award for most TPE earned has never been more hotly contested than it has been this season, despite us being in the season that by common VHLM wisdom is supposed to be our "tank" season. So I'm ever so grateful that I was able to get this group together to show that the 2 season compete window boom-bust cycle of the VHLM doesn't have to be a thing. The Spartan Effect The one thing I haven't really touched upon, other than mentioning it once is the LR activity side of things. Honestly, @Spartan is the one who probably has done this best. When it comes to consistent LR activity Moscow really can't be beat. It's not uncommon for the general chat there to have more messages in a day than the league general chat (but with a lot less toxicity, unless you're @Arce). Not only because Spartan spams messages like nobody's business. But because he's invited a lot of chill "neutrals" who have similar interests and personalities. Which means it's really self sustaining at this point, as could be seen by it still being one of the most active LRs while he was away on vacation earlier this year. So if you're a GM and you know a bunch of cool people around the league. Do invite them to your LR and cultivate an "open" general chat in your LR where anyone and everyone in the server is invited to join in. Because especially in the VHLM it can be hard for newer members to "put themselves out there" and start up conversations on their own. It's a lot easier to just join in on existing, chill conversations. Thanks to those I learned from So overall in my experience here both before picking up a management role myself, and after. The two LRs that shaped me and my approach the most are probably @AJW/ @MubbleFubblesera LVA LR. Which was the first LR of a team I wasn't on that I got invited to, and ultimately why I ended up GM of Vegas eventually. As well as Spartan's Moscow LR. They showed me what level of activity and player involvement was possible, and it set a goal for me to strive for both as AGM in Bratislava and later as GM in Vegas. It was also @FrostBeard's occasional sim "reviews" in the LR that gave me the idea to flesh out my stat nerdy scatterplots with more writing to help engage my players in the sims. So thanks to all of you for showing what could be done. I wouldn't be where I am with Vegas rn without you all. 1082 words or so, claiming for 2 weeks.

I found this a lot funnier than I should have.

Everyone's favorite Las Vegas Aces legend and, after this season, also the longest ever serving member of the Aces. Juan Ceson is off to another strong season as the Captain of the Aces. At the time of writing this article our master of BEEPing opponents has just come off a 1st Star performance against Houston, where he put up 2 points (1+1) as well as 8 soul-crushing BEEPs (Hits). Leading the team to their 12th win in a row in relatively safe fashion with a 4-2 win over the Bulls. We have found out that Mr. Ceson (in an attempt to play Juan More Ceson) has actually somehow managed to further lower his development rate by now only attending practice sessions at his own Juan Ceson Practice Facility in Vegas every other week, instead of weekly. This all to keep his powers from growing too strong, too soon. As Mr. Ceson is dead set on never ever leaving the VHLM ever. Because as his name implies, he must always play Juan More Ceson in it. It's just the way of things. As part of his role as Vegas Captain, he's also taken to "initiating" any new player signed to Vegas. The last victim of this being Edward Traverse @Python_Starbuzz yesterday. I've seen Mr. Ceson initiate dozens of players at this point, and I have to admit I still have no idea what his initiation even is. I know he asked if they like bots once, but that's the only part of it I've ever seen. Maybe it's one of those things they do away from the prying eyes of management? I wouldn't know. But whatever it is, it appears to be working as we're playing great hockey right now in Vegas (just don't look at your PP%, please). As Juan Ceson is on a FA contract that will lapse at the end of the season, it's still uncertain where he will play next season. And with it already having been reported that GM Anthony Pratt will step down at the end of the season, who knows if Mr. Ceson will be able to come to terms with the new management team? If current Vegas AGM @TopTiddee2 ends up taking over, he's already working as Mr. Ceson's personal assistant. So it's quite possible he could be convinced to stay. I guess only time will tell.

Welcome to the VHL @Python_Starbuzz I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd pairing minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 4 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Traverse Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

Vegas on a 10 game win streak, still only 2nd in power rankings. FISTED ANALLY BY A CIRCUS MONKEY

Welcome to the VHL @SpecralyBad I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd line minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn, as well as a potential opening in our lineup withing a week or so, there's every opportunity to crack the Top 6 as well as special teams sooner rather than later. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#McFenzay Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

The main reasons I actually started getting Scoring on Bo was because since he's skate first he gets hit A LOT. And you need SK+ST+PH all 80+ to really deal with that at the VHL level, and the only thing Bo could really get that would give him that without trolling and getting FO is SS. Also the one thing that sucks about pure pass first, which Bo was until this season. Is that it's godawful on the PP, you need like 80 or so SC to actually do anything from the point. So two birds with one stone for backing up your Passing with some SC. And at this point the only thing that does anything for Bo due to diminishing returns is BC. So that's what I'm doing now.

You will be missed S87 3rd and S87 6th, we had so many nice memories together. But it's time to welcome S86 3rd to the Vegas organisation. Thanks for the quick talks @jacobcarson877

Yeah the difference between dmen and forwards is clearly much bigger, but looking at both forwards as a whole and wingers/centers split could be interesting. Since if you do split them and still see basically the same results, it proves the hypothesis that the difference isn't relevant. But if it *does* massively skew the output you get, then it is instead some degree of proof that the difference does matter. Remember that we're looking at the whole sample of all wingers vs. all centers. Not just individual ones, so assuming a large enough sample size we expect to see a roughly equivalent TPA spread in both sets. With there then being effectively a -100 TPA modifier applied to one set, but not the other. For the graphs, as long as we ignore the clear outliers (bots/very low TPA IAs) then the distributions are all roughly normalized, with the 62 one being somewhat right-tailed. But there's some test you can do to make sure it isn't too right-tailed for z-score to still be applicable, but i sadly can't remember the details. Haven't had to do it for a hot minute. It's a bit hard to tell since the outliers screw up the scale. If you still have sets that are too irregular and don't seem to be applicable with z-score, I think you can still do basically the same analysis using Chi Squared instead, which if you just got to z-score, you probably won't get to until the end of the term or so.

Just Simon things, the FO% leaderboards at least pull the correct value. Also that FO% bug is only in the VHL index, the VHLM index doesn't have it and the stat works.

The distribution should be very close to normalized for VHL scoring, so using z-score should be valid, and since you have access to the whole population you obviously don't need to use t-score to correct for only working off a sample. Anything that involves a very large numbers of randomized events (like a VHL season) should inherently end up with a normal distribution, it won't be perfect. But good enough that there shouldn't be any issue with using this. Also since you have access to all data points, you can simply create a graph of it in excel/sheets and visually confirm that's it is/isn't normal. I actually used to use z-score as part of the sheet I run to evaluate Vegas' performance, it's a pretty useful tool to have when dealing with any stats. Though for my specific use case it didn't really show anything beyond what my scatterplots already do visually. Will reiterate what's already been mentioned that you really should split not only forwards and dmen, but if you ever take a look at hybrid era only in the future, you also have to split centers and wingers, since the quite substantial investment in FO these days means they really aren't on an even playing field. There's a reason wingers make up almost all the Boulet finalists every season. Cause they don't need to spent ~100 TPE on FO and can spend it on more SC/DF/CK instead making them stronger than their Center peers by default, unless you care about FO% which the VHL usually doesn't.

Welcome to the VHL @Lbjalek I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd line minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 6 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Bjalek Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

The meme answer is that you get docked draft picks.

Good change, I assume this is at time of draft. Not just a general "you may never drop below 4 picks in any future draft" deal. Cause that would really hamstring your ability to stay consistently decent by leveraging future picks, but only enough of them that you can still refill in time for the draft.

Welcome to the VHL @Plix I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd line minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 6 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Clermont Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

Welcome to the VHL @GoalPlays I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd line minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 6 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Odinson Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

I'm glad we all went with completely reasonable names.

So what's been going on in Vegas? Well, thanks to Simon the Terrible's skills at making schedules. We've just kept playing Mexico, Miami and San Diego on repeat. So that's been *very* exciting. Results have been mostly decent, but not really exciting. @CrookedAnt is leading the way offensively with 28 points at the time of writing this, followed by @VattghernCZwith 23. They've been quite the pairing, so it may seem odd that starting next sim I'm splitting them up. I just feel like we're not quite getting the favorable matchups we should be with the current setup, so I'm making some moves with the forwards to try and get us a bit more consistent. Overall though, our growth has been amazing. The High Roller Award is actually highly contested in Vegas and we have multiple max earners as well as a fair few Welfare+ players on the team. Meaning that we are quickly catching up in TPE to the teams that went for high TPE drafts, rather than high growth drafts. @Bobcat is looking poised to have back to back 20+ TPE weeks, we have multiple players getting into Fantasy Zone as well having got their Predictions in and overall it's just a nice atmosphere in the LR. Our lovely "mascot channel" is more active than I think it's ever been. The only downside for me is that I'm asleep for when a lot of the activity happens, due to the TZ I'm in. All in all though, I feel like between all the effort the players are putting in, and me slowly getting closer to more optimal lines. We'll be able to do a lot the later half of this season, which was always the plan. Start off upper-middle table and work from there. Between unsustainable goalie performances and a probable looming goalie retirement ahead of us in the table. I think it's only a matter of time before we work our way into contention for the top seed.

Claim 4/4 Week ending 9/25

The VHLE draft in its current implementation is a source of constant confusion for 1st gens and recreates alike (since most of them never had to deal with it in previous careers). So having it only actually happen when needed for a player does make a lot of sense to me as well.

Welcome to the VHL @QcjetsQc I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd line minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 6 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Forsberg Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

Welcome to the VHL @Raij I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd pairing minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 4 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Brown Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.

Welcome to the VHL @etang I'm Shindigs the GM of the Las Vegas Aces in the VHLM. We're currently coming off winning back to back cups and looking to go for the first threepeat in VHLM history. We already have a very well rounded roster in going for it, so I'm afraid I could only offer you 3rd line minutes for the time being. Though based on how you earn there's every opportunity to crack the Top 6 as well as special teams as the season goes along. Vegas is a team focused on developing our young new players and maintaining an active and funny locker room where we help each other get ahead. So if you want to join us in Sin City for a chance at making history, just reply to this message with "#Cantrel Is All In!" and we'll get you setup with a 1.5m contract as well as an invite to the Discord LR.