Shindigs

Welcome to the S87 DJHL (Daniel Janser Hockey League) Award show! @Daniel Janser

Welcome to the S87 DJHL (Daniel Janser Hockey League) Award show! @Daniel Janser

Graphic courtesy of Leandrofg
(Marcel's stats/Daniel's stats)
 
It has been a while since we last reported from our local hockey export. While Marcel is discretly doing his job, mainly patrolling Calgary's own end of the ice, Daniel is leaving his mark in the league.
 
Dan also joined the Babylon Wonders in the ProAm Tournament and got the second place with his team.
 
Here are his stats for the Round Robin:
40gp, 38g, 40a, 78pts, +33, 64 PIM, 113 hits, 19sb, 7gwg, 7ppg, 68.13FO% and 14 First Star distinctions
 
In the playoffs his record was as follows:
12gp, 10g, 10a, 20pts, +6, 26 PIM, 32 hits, 10sb, 1gwg, 2ppg, 67.47FO% and 2 First Star awards
 
Impressive as this numbers may be, the highlight of the season is the annual VHL Awards Gala, where Bonnie and Dan had their first public appearance after their engagement. The Swiss Center already knew of course that he bagged the Kevin Brooks and the Mike Szatkowsi Awards for the highest goal/point scorer respectively. He was also nominated by his peers for the Brett Slobodzian as the most outstanding player together with a very tough competition in the Swedish Uber-Defender Bo-Ingvar Johansson, Cole Pearce and Dusty Wilson, both of which carried their team with their performance between the pipes. The fifth nominee was Baby Bob who tallied also 54 goals like Galvins and Janser.
 
For once, the players could make small talk rather than trash talk. It was a nice change of pace for the players to show mutual respect and to exchange pep talk without been considered to fraternize with the 'enemy' by their supporters. A lot of the players present congratulated the couple to their engagement and wished them health and happiness. There was also the occasional good natured joke aimed at their new status. After the initial drinks and the ensuing dinner, the players and their spouses were asked to get to the auditorium for the actual awards ceremony. Once the nominees, press and guests were seated, the awards hosts, Alex Johnston, Euron Leonidas and singer Jimmy Spyro, opened up the show. 
 
Daniel ended up getting the Brooks, Szatkowski and Slobodzian for the second time in a row. He also won the Scott Boulet Award for the best two-way forward as well as the Scotty Campbell Award for the league's MVP. It goes without saying that he was also a First Team All-Star alongside Baby Bob, Girts Galvins, Bo Johansson, AirRig GoodBrandSun and Dusty Wilson.
 
The trophy he was most pleased to receive was the Scott Boulet, as this is the one he was chasing since the start of his career (and the elusive Continental Cup, but we do not talk about that). The haul of trophies received in the last two seasons makes Dan the arguably best Swiss born player, since HOF netminder Sandro Clegane graced the ice of the VHL. 
 
The gritty forward could not stick around for too long, as he had to catch the plane to Europe, where he is playing in the World Cup dressing for the Western Europe team. At the time of writing this article, his team is at the top of the table and Dan shows the following stats:
 
8gp, 5g, 6a, 11pts, +0, 6 PIM, 26 hits, 4sb, 2gwg, 1ppg, 57.70FO% and 1 MotM award
 
We will follow up on the Jansers in due course.
 
 
https://vhlforum.com/topic/131337-a-tale-of-two-brothers-another-early-exit/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/131798-21st-annual-unofficial-vhl-regular-season-awards-–-s86/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/131718-western-europes-s86-world-cup-announcement/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/131833-a-tale-of-two-brothers-outlook-on-s86-off-season/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/131956-a-tale-of-two-brothers-a-call-to-istanbul/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132298-on-time-s86-calgary-wrangler-awards/
https://vhlforum.com/topic/132368-vsn-presents-s86-vhl-awards/
 
 

The minute I leave you go and grab it, not unexpected. 😅 Congrats, well deserved.

The Jack Reilly Trophy is awarded to the general manager deemed to be the best in the VHLM.
 
Before announcing this award, I would like to first thank all of the VHLM GMs for all the hard work they’ve done this season. We have had a lot of changes to the league in the past two seasons, and you all have been on the ball running your teams and guiding the newer members of our league. You are all amazing and deserve the credit, thank you.
 
@Lemorse7 @jacobcarson877 @Bulduray_1 @nurx @ShawnGlade @badcolethetitan @a_Ferk @Grape @Blazzer
 
This season’s winner of the Jack Reilly Trophy took over their team three seasons ago in S84. They were given a broken down team with not many assets to work with. This GM has since then built their team for success and given their team’s name more attention throughout the league. This general manager is one of the most active in the VHLM and works very well with the new members of the league. A VHLM GM should be patient, hard working, and all around a good teacher. This GM checks all the boxes off and I would now like to congratulate...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Who will it be...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
This is getting suspenseful...
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
I'm sweating.....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 @jacobcarson877 of the San Diego Marlins for winning this season’s Jack Reilly Trophy. Thank you for everything you do Jacob, hold that Founder’s Cup high and proud for us!


 
This concludes the S86 VHLM Awards. Thanks for following along and congratulations to all of this season’s winners!

The ones in that list is everyone that was nominated and received votes. I believe. The actual ballots may or may not have significantly more players on them. Funk always has a fair few candidates. A lot of them will have somewhat similar increases and not gain any traction in the voting unless they have some it-factor to their season.
 
S82 Bratislava really did a number on the league this season. 6 (9 if we include All-VHL team) awards to players on that roster: 2x Girts Galvins @Girts1x Brian Payne @Scurvy and 3x Bo Johansson. That was quite the draft we put together @FrostBeard

The ones in that list is everyone that was nominated and received votes. I believe. The actual ballots may or may not have significantly more players on them. Funk always has a fair few candidates. A lot of them will have somewhat similar increases and not gain any traction in the voting unless they have some it-factor to their season.
 
S82 Bratislava really did a number on the league this season. 6 (9 if we include All-VHL team) awards to players on that roster: 2x Girts Galvins @Girts1x Brian Payne @Scurvy and 3x Bo Johansson. That was quite the draft we put together @FrostBeard

Yup, it is honestly a great feeling knowing how many of our boys are there. It is beautiful - they deserve all the praise as they are wonderful and truly focused members of this community! 

The ones in that list is everyone that was nominated and received votes. I believe. The actual ballots may or may not have significantly more players on them. Funk always has a fair few candidates. A lot of them will have somewhat similar increases and not gain any traction in the voting unless they have some it-factor to their season.
 
S82 Bratislava really did a number on the league this season. 6 (9 if we include All-VHL team) awards to players on that roster: 2x Girts Galvins @Girts1x Brian Payne @Scurvy and 3x Bo Johansson. That was quite the draft we put together @FrostBeard

D - Bo Johansson
 
@Bobcat

D - Bo Johansson
@MubbleFubbles

S87 Payouts
@jacobcarson877-2
@Ricer13-1
@MubbleFubbles-1
@Shindigs-2
@Gaikoku-hito-2
@N0HBDY-1
@Alex-2
@animal74-2
@Rhynex Entertainment-1
@rory -1
@Spartan -2
@Beketov-1
@eagle_3450-2
 
To submit more questions you haven't already submitted please fill out the form found here: https://forms.gle/rj3pXLH66bJaoU858

It’s a new year, a new season, and time for a new episode of Thunder’s wordcast for the impaired podcaster.  Who knows, 2023 could be the year that Thunder’s balls drops and he actually does a podcast instead of these wordcasts.  To start the 2023 wordcast, the topics are going to include:  past season takes, off-season boredom, predictions, and of course, Brian Payne.  What wordcast could be done without mentioning him, but this might surprise you.
 
Starting with the VHLM, congratulations goes out to the San Diego Marlins.  It should have been a no brainer for me to predict the Marlins to win it all, considering they ended the season with a +96 goal differential.  The only thing is that I have a soft spot for Mexico City and GM Cole, @badcolethetitan, has continued to amaze me with decision making with the Mexico roster.  I truly expected Mexico City to stomp San Diego in the semi’s but that never happened.  And it never donned on me that their star defenseman was none other than David Jokinen, @Ahma.  Ahma is a Davos legend and was instrumental in any success Jake Thunder has had at Davos, even after retiring, Ahma helped with encouragement and advice.
 
I also have to give Ahma credit for my continued interest in podcasts, even though I haven’t done one yet, as Ahma is quite skilled with podcasting.  Every season he and Frostbeard do a lengthy podcast doing a recap of the previous season.  We are due to be hearing one from them soon, I hope.
 
Oslo Storm took home the VHLE trophy again.  This one was a surprise to me, but it shouldn’t have been.  @JB123 is a super GM and I should have had more confidence in Oslo’s success, but when Cologne finishes the season with a +112 goal differential, I gotta say it battled with my feeble brain coming up with someone other than Cologne.  And to consider it was Rome who played Oslo in the finals, was an even stranger event.  I’m not sure what’s going to happen to Oreo McFleury, but I can venture to bet that McFleury is going to shine in the VHL.
 
Now onto the VHL, where all season I secretly wanted Davos to win it all, but didn’t want to jinx us by predicting us to win.  Looking at the other teams, something told me to put Chicago on the forefront, mostly because of Shindigs.  @Shindigs had a dynamite season and gave me some good points in fantasy.  It was an easy choice to pick Chicago, since I couldn’t pick Davos.
 
And talking about a jinx, the one time I step out on the ledge and pick Davos to advance in the playoffs, is the time we get our ass kicked by Prague.  And to top it all off Prague goes into the finals against Vancouver and loses.  It could have been Davos.  Of course, it could have been Moscow or Warsaw for that matter.  All of the teams were capable of representing the European Division.
 
But Vancouver?  They proved to be the best in the VHL when it was all said and done.  Chicago, Calgary, and DC finished higher than Vancouver in the regular season.  It just goes to show you that season hockey and play off hockey are two different games.  Apparently Vancouver players can grow much better beards.
 
On to the next topic.  It’s off-season time.  Once the playoffs are over, there seems to be quite a lull in activity for me to wrap my fingers on.  The pro/am is always something fun to look forward to but that goes by quickly.  And then there is always the podcasts, but those seem to be quiet these days.  I have purposefully delayed listening to two podcasts so I can listen to them tomorrow while I’m on the road.  The next big exciting thing coming up is the World Cup.
 
Regarding the World Cup, I finally learned that it doesnt start until the 18th.  So for about five days, I checked discord and the forum about a hundred times looking for scores, hoping to see some game results.  Now that I know its the 18th, I only look on discord and the forum around twenty times a day for new information.  I have already checked out the rosters of other teams and as much as I want to say how good Team USA is, I dont want to jinx us!  This will be the first chance that Jake Thunder gets to play on the same team as Brian Payne.  That being said, don’t expect any shit talk about the light fingered defender who is too afraid to drop the gloves against Thunder, until after the World Cup.
 
The drafts are in progress right now.  I must say that the live draft I listened to when I first joined was quite exciting, even though I didn’t get drafted in the VHLM.  It wasnt until the draft was over that I got to interact with potential teams.  I’m not sure what is going on with this draft, but it seems to be taking quite a long time.  Cole has been working on Mexico City draft selections for days, waiting for a turn to make a selection.
 
Alex wrote an article predicting the VHL draft and I gotta say, his information seems to have quite a bit of merit.  I especially like his prediction that David Jokinen will be drafted by Davos.  Here’s hoping Jokinen makes it that deep into the draft.
 
The next topic is my predictions for season 87.  I’m going to start with the VHLM.  Last season, it was clear that the top team in the season wins it all, but I’m going back out on that limb and I’m going to predict this is the season for Mexico City to win the championship.  I’m not sure how well they will do in the season, but GM Cole has some experience and he’s come up with some ingenious decisions throughout the seasons to help the team.  I know he’s thinking two and three steps ahead to take the Kings to the championship and I believe this is the season he does it.
 
Can Oslo three-peat?  I am predicting them to do it.  Cologne invested everything they have to dominate the season only to fall in the playoffs, while Oslo was consistent all season and did their dominating in the playoffs.  All you have to do is pay close attention to the Oslo mascot and you’ll see they do playoff beards to a new limit.  They have to win it again.
 
Without going to deep into the prediction for the VHL championship, I will keep it right to the point.  HC Davos has all the talent in the world to make it this season and bring home the trophy.  The forwards are steadily getting more pucks in the net and the defense is lining up to be solid, especially if David Jokinen joins the team.  And of course, there’s no getting around the best goalie in the league in Xavier Booberry, will be in net once again this season.  All three of you reading this who want to say, “Wait a minute here, no way Davos is going to win it,” just remember who’s the GM for Davos, Alex.  @Alex studies all you opponents like no other and has a schematic set up to isolate your strengths and turn them into a weakness.  So expect to get your ass kicked!
 
With the predictions over, I’m left with one more topic.  You got it, Brian Payne.  But this isn’t going to be a shit talk of Payne, or @Scurvy.  He’s my teammate on Team USA, so my comments are going to be favorable.  If you want the shit talk, you’ll have to wait until the World Cup is over and I can get back to trashing him and his Warsaw Predators.
 
Let’s talk about Brian Payne’s skills.  I can describe it in three words, “He’s a beast.”  He prides himself in being a bone crusher and punisher.  He averages 246 hits per season.  That is an impressive number, and he is currently ranked 4th on the Warsaw all time list.  And that is with fewer games played than the top three on the list.  If Payne keeps up this pace, he will be Warsaw’s leader sometime in season 88.
 
Looking at the Warsaw leaderboard, Brian Payne is currently ranked 3rd in shots blocked.  This impressive number bolsters Payne’s description of a solid defenseman.  And when you add the fact that he’s ranked second in the plus/minus category, its easy to see why Brian Payne is the top defenseman in the league.
 
Looking at all of these stats, one can’t help but being impressed with the overall play by Payne, especially considering that in four seasons with Warsaw, he has been in the penalty box about 19.4% of the time.  He’s a consistent leader in PIMS, and competes at the top of his game.  I’m not sure, but something tells me that he would be off the chart if he didn’t spend so much time in the sin bin.  But, that’s what makes him a complete player.
 
Now, I read a recent article by Scurvy and smiled at the comment that he couldn’t hold out any longer and updated his TPE.  I had to jump on and see what he did to improve himself, because I’m not sure how much more room for improvement there is.  Judging by the recent additions to his attributes, you can expect Brian Payne to call the penalty box home!  He’s definitely going to be getting a few more hits, shots blocked, and even his fighting as bumped up to a respectable level.  Given the current status of Payne’s attributes, I’m going to predict that he engages in some fighting more often as well as winning the fights.  His scoring attribute is through the roof and he’s likely to lead all defensemen in goals this season.  For those who play fantasy, you might want to select Brian Payne in the first round.  Pay attention @ScottyP, because you can learn from scurvy!
 
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Claim 1/3

A bit of unnecessary dramatics as I started off using the sheet from last year but we got there in the end! So here are your winners for the annual Donation Drive Raffle:
 
Tier 1 - 5 Winners: 5 uncapped TPE
@AJW @JetsGoalie101 @leafsman @STZ @PhoebeIsQueen
 
Tier 2 - 5 Winners: $15 donation equivalent
@Elman Diablo @fishy @Hogan @Nykonax @Vkobe-v
 
Tier 3 - 3 Winners: Video Game of your choice (up to a max of $90 CAD, on any system)
@Dom @GoodLeftUndone @Mongoose87
 
Tier 4 - 1 Winner: Nintendo Switch (OLED) console OR an NHL Jersey of the winner's choice.
@wcats
 
Congrats to all the winners, we will be in touch shortly

Bo hit peak build at 1337 TPA in S86 and will now be partaking in the oh-so-interesting art of banking TPE for the rest of his career. Bo is going with a very stupid depreciation plan. Which is to say he won't be doing shit other than banking to fight it. That's the luxury being a 8 season player vs. a 9 season player gives you. Since we don't get that final 12% hit, and I've optimized Bo's build for minimal depreciation possible (more or less). It means I can actually just chill at 1337 TPA for the rest of his career(ish).
 
Bo will actually start his final season with quite a bit less than 1337 TPA, but he will earn it all back by the end of the season, which I'm perfectly fine with. The reason Bo won't buy any %fighters isn't because it's ideal. It's actually really damn stupid, and I fought for that to be the case in the BOG. % fighters were way too bad for their cost post hybrid, so a big point I made in the discussion leading up to the depreciation change was that we had to make the fighters good again, and they are. Especially "Old But Not Forgotten" and "Jagr's" are super good. "Still Kicking" isn't as good, though it's still 100% worth it over a 4x5 if your build has at least one attribute hitting 95 or 99.
 
But since Discipline and Leadership are exempt from depreciation, Bo actually only has about 1230 TPA that is affected by depreciation, not 1337, and since Bo doesn't have any attributes over 90. He takes baby deprecation despite that high TPA. It's only when you get into the 90+ TPE brackets that you really start getting hammered by the depreciation, unless you go the Ronan Lavelle @Arce route and get 99 OV and just Jagr it every depreciation, because that's super cost efficient.
 
So why am I doing something I know is "stupid" for Bo's depreciation? Simple, I'm going for the TPE record, so I will just use all my money on 4x5s instead of depreciation fighters, and because of how hard I've been earning and having spent the one season in the VHLE. I can get away with doing so. But it's very much a "don't try this at home" kind of deal.

As always with lists like these, they will be subjective. You won't agree with some of them, and that's fine. We all have bias towards if we value goals over assists, or if we acknowledge that forwards naturally score more than dmen etc. That's just how it is. I'll primarily base this list off of z-scores that are pretty much anything but subjective and give a very solid empirical score on how far away from average a player's season is. Compared to other players who play the same role (forward/dman). But that still leaves room for the goals vs. assists argument, unless you just have a god season in there where both are so elite it's not even a trade-off. As well as other circumstances that may push one season above another in my eyes.
 
1. Aurelien Moreau @Frank S83 - G: 20 (1.15) / A: 92 (3.10) / P: 112 (2.77)
 
The number in parenthesis is the Z-score compared to all non-bot dmen in the hybrid era for that attribute, with 1+ being good, 2+ being elite and 3+ meaning you're basically a god.
 
S83 for Moreau was simply an insane season, putting up an actual honest to god competitive dman point record in the very first hybrid era season. The one thing you can point out about this first season, however, is that a lot of players had very bad builds, and we were in a goalie drought. So naturally offensive numbers among the elite players in this season *should* be slightly inflated. But that doesn't change the fact that a 112 point season from a dman blows anything any forward has achieved offensively in the hybrid era out of the water. Until S86 Moreau also held the Assist record for the hybrid era with those 92, being beaten by Bo Johansson (94).
 
The one knock on this season is the goals, it's the one thing that makes this record beatable. As the top dmen of this era have put up 30+ goals, so realistically it's only a matter of time before all the stars align and we get 30+ goal 90+ assist season from a dman to eclipse the 120 point plateau. The question is how long will it take? Because for every season Frank keeps this record, it becomes more impressive. No one cares about a record that gets beaten the very next season. But a record that stands for 5, 10 or 20+ seasons. Now that's where it starts getting the recognition of a "true" record.
 
2. Paul Atreides @Mr_Hatter S83 - G: 61 (2.79) / A: 59 (1.75) / P: 120 (2.38)
 
The fact that the top two players on this list are both on S83 Toronto tells you a lot about how insane their partnership was. There are really 5 forward seasons that are nearly identical offensively, all 5 being at 120 or 122 points. But Hatter's season is the only one with 60+ goals, meaning it's holding onto the goal record for the Hybrid era, giving it that tiny extra bit of prestige to push it above the others. Atreides and Moreau both had played together on the stacked meta era Moscow team, but due to sharing the ice with monster's like Idaho and Markinson. They never had free reign to score as much as they perhaps could have. Well the S83 season in Toronto told us there was no "perhaps" involved. When made the unmistakable star players they put that Toronto team on their shoulders and went on to form the most iconic hybrid era partnership thus far.
 
The same arguments from Moreau also apply here, obviously, since it was the same team and same season. Namely that due to the weaker goaltending and slightly weaker overall compete level in the VHL due to potato hybrid builds, their stats were probably a bit inflated compared to what they should have been. But so was Scotty Campbell's records from playing against 200 TPE players most of his career, and we still acknowledge those records. So sometimes we just have to tip the hat to the players who end up fortunate enough to have their best season in the best possible season to have it. If your best offensive season is in a season that has some of the best goaltending of all time. Well, that's just very unfortunate. But if you have that same season in the meta era, you're probably having a Justin Lose S81 type deal on your hands. I won't hold the fortunate timing against either of them.
 
3. Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream  S83 - G: 59 (2.64) / A: 63 (2.03) / P: (2.46)
 
Another S83 entry, how unexpected! I mean at this point it's probably hard to argue against S83 having kinda bloated stats for the players who actually went straight into good builds at high TPA. But whatever, this is one of only two 122 point seasons in the era. The other came from Duncan Idaho on a very strong DC team, where he had all the support he could possibly ask for to help make his season the best one possible. Playing with arguably the best offensive playmaking defenseman in the league that season (Sova) and the Funk winner (Lavelle) there was no lack of supporting pieces to push him up there. Whereas in Calgary, Kotkakoivu was primarily supported by the sound of crickets and carried so hard he pulled Lazar, a clicker, up to a 99 point season alongside him. That's actually insane, there was no reason for Kotka to have a 122 point season with that supporting cast. He just had to will it to be in one of the hardest carries of a team I've ever seen outside of the Edmonton Oilers and their perennial attempts to make McJesus go into a rage induced coma at the vast incompetence of just about everyone else in the org apart from Draisaitl.
 
He was only a single goal off being the other player to hit that 60 goal plateau as well and had he done that, odds are he would have been at least 2nd, possibly 1st on this list. Not because of the raw numbers of what he did, but because of the circumstances under which he did it. I doubt we'll see another season like this anytime soon. The closest one is probably Jerome's hardcarry of London in S85. But since that fell short of the 100 point plateau and the 30 goal plateau both, it diminishes it's value by a fair bit. Just for completion I should note that on goal tie-breaker this season is the Hybrid era point total record, as Idaho had 52 and 122 points.
 
4. Bo Johansson @Shindigs S86 - G: 11 (-0.19) / A: 94 (3.22) / P: 105 (2.45)
 
Now I am biased towards assists, that's why I made a pass first dman to begin with. So I understand that this season probably doesn't make top 5 for most people. But the fact of the matter is that it is the highest assist season in the Hybrid era, and were it not for an absolutely abysmal 4.38% Shot conversion which is the lowest S% of any dman who hit PPG, let alone over 100 point in the entire hybrid era, this would have set the point record too. The only other player to hit PPG with 4.xx% shot conversion was Hari Singh Nalwa in S84 with a 4.63% conversion and exactly 72 points. The lowest S% of another top 5 hybrid era dman is 7.81% for Jerome Reinhart in S83 (Yes, the dman goal record for the hybrid era came off a 7.81% S% season, that's how bloated his shot totals were on that gutted NYA team). So really, Bo had the unluckiest seasons by a top dman in the hybrid era offensively. And still ended the season with 105 points, which is good for 4th among hybrid era dmen. That adds a bit of that "against all odds" touch that Kotka's season had, though for other reasons.
 
Had Bo matched the worst other top 5 S% he would have ended up with 20 goals and 114 points and had he matched Moreau's 10.10% from S83 he would have ended up with 25 goals for 119 points, just one away from that 120 point plateau. So assuming Bo puts up another season like this, but without the cursed S% Moreau's record might very well fall in the next 4 seasons. Though now that I've mentioned it in a MS, Simon will stop it from happening for sure.
 
5. Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 S85 - G: 24 (1.74) / A: 69 (2.09) / P: 99 (2.17)
 
This one is quite the hot take as well, because the raw stats aren't even the best Jerome himself has put up in the hybrid era. Those came in S83 due to some insane stat bloat on NYA, like I touched on before. Which is why I don't rate that season. Also if this was the most impressive season period, not just the most offensively impressive season, then this would go miles below Hard Markinson's S84 campaign. But seeing as we're strictly looking at offensively impressive seasons. I can't in good faith make a hybrid era top 5 and leave this season out. Since it's the dman version of what Kotka did in Calgary S83, on a team that isn't just a shell, setup to make Jerome score as much as possible to bloat his trade value (see S83 NYA). This was actually a real London team, sure it was a pretty mediocre London team. But not bad enough that it's stat bloat central, just the kind of team you expect to putter along and not do a lot of anything all season. But Jerome had other plans, putting the team on his back and willing them into some level of relevance. His consistency this season was scary, and the stat about how many of the game London won Jerome had points in was actually nuts. He *was* London in S85, everyone else was just along for the ride.
 
Had he been able to elevate his teammates to the heights that Kotka elevated Lazar in S83 Calgary, this season would have been contending for 2nd/3rd, as if he had done that it would have automatically resulted in at least 10+ more assists putting this up there as a ~110 point season and making it a mark for excellence to anyone that came across it. But as it stands, if someone just stumbled across this season and didn't know about all the circumstances, it wouldn't even make the top 5 list of dman offensive seasons in the hybrid era. That's what lowers its ranking for me, even though I do find the achievement impressive as hell. The other thing that would likely exclude this pick from just about everyone's top 5 is that most of the league still just hates Jerome for his part in the Metawolves, and that kind of bias is hard to beat.
 
 
This list would have a lot of honorable mentions, but likely I will just make a part 2 of this with 6-10 at a later date. I know a lot of people won't like how dman heavy this list is. But I can tell you that currently, we have 6 dmen over 2.4 Point production Z-score and only 2 forwards. Simply put, the best dmen in the hybrid era have been better than the best forwards in this era. Which is why the common theme in VHFL winners has been an insane d pairing. The gap between the best dmen and average dmen is simply bigger than the gap between the best forwards and average forwards. And I like to highlight that in this top 5, since usually the casual observer just goes "Forward has bigger number! Forward more better! Ooga boga!" which I just find a bit silly and as a result I want to showcase that it's a questionable way of looking at stats. But don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out the VHL userbase in particular, this is just a human thing. We see the same thing in NHL award voting and the like. We just like big numbers, and we rarely want to take the time to find proof that we're wrong in liking those big numbers. Since that goes against confirmation bias.
 
2040+ words, claiming for almost half a season.

As always with lists like these, they will be subjective. You won't agree with some of them, and that's fine. We all have bias towards if we value goals over assists, or if we acknowledge that forwards naturally score more than dmen etc. That's just how it is. I'll primarily base this list off of z-scores that are pretty much anything but subjective and give a very solid empirical score on how far away from average a player's season is. Compared to other players who play the same role (forward/dman). But that still leaves room for the goals vs. assists argument, unless you just have a god season in there where both are so elite it's not even a trade-off. As well as other circumstances that may push one season above another in my eyes.
 
1. Aurelien Moreau @Frank S83 - G: 20 (1.15) / A: 92 (3.10) / P: 112 (2.77)
 
The number in parenthesis is the Z-score compared to all non-bot dmen in the hybrid era for that attribute, with 1+ being good, 2+ being elite and 3+ meaning you're basically a god.
 
S83 for Moreau was simply an insane season, putting up an actual honest to god competitive dman point record in the very first hybrid era season. The one thing you can point out about this first season, however, is that a lot of players had very bad builds, and we were in a goalie drought. So naturally offensive numbers among the elite players in this season *should* be slightly inflated. But that doesn't change the fact that a 112 point season from a dman blows anything any forward has achieved offensively in the hybrid era out of the water. Until S86 Moreau also held the Assist record for the hybrid era with those 92, being beaten by Bo Johansson (94).
 
The one knock on this season is the goals, it's the one thing that makes this record beatable. As the top dmen of this era have put up 30+ goals, so realistically it's only a matter of time before all the stars align and we get 30+ goal 90+ assist season from a dman to eclipse the 120 point plateau. The question is how long will it take? Because for every season Frank keeps this record, it becomes more impressive. No one cares about a record that gets beaten the very next season. But a record that stands for 5, 10 or 20+ seasons. Now that's where it starts getting the recognition of a "true" record.
 
2. Paul Atreides @Mr_Hatter S83 - G: 61 (2.79) / A: 59 (1.75) / P: 120 (2.38)
 
The fact that the top two players on this list are both on S83 Toronto tells you a lot about how insane their partnership was. There are really 5 forward seasons that are nearly identical offensively, all 5 being at 120 or 122 points. But Hatter's season is the only one with 60+ goals, meaning it's holding onto the goal record for the Hybrid era, giving it that tiny extra bit of prestige to push it above the others. Atreides and Moreau both had played together on the stacked meta era Moscow team, but due to sharing the ice with monster's like Idaho and Markinson. They never had free reign to score as much as they perhaps could have. Well the S83 season in Toronto told us there was no "perhaps" involved. When made the unmistakable star players they put that Toronto team on their shoulders and went on to form the most iconic hybrid era partnership thus far.
 
The same arguments from Moreau also apply here, obviously, since it was the same team and same season. Namely that due to the weaker goaltending and slightly weaker overall compete level in the VHL due to potato hybrid builds, their stats were probably a bit inflated compared to what they should have been. But so was Scotty Campbell's records from playing against 200 TPE players most of his career, and we still acknowledge those records. So sometimes we just have to tip the hat to the players who end up fortunate enough to have their best season in the best possible season to have it. If your best offensive season is in a season that has some of the best goaltending of all time. Well, that's just very unfortunate. But if you have that same season in the meta era, you're probably having a Justin Lose S81 type deal on your hands. I won't hold the fortunate timing against either of them.
 
3. Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream  S83 - G: 59 (2.64) / A: 63 (2.03) / P: (2.46)
 
Another S83 entry, how unexpected! I mean at this point it's probably hard to argue against S83 having kinda bloated stats for the players who actually went straight into good builds at high TPA. But whatever, this is one of only two 122 point seasons in the era. The other came from Duncan Idaho on a very strong DC team, where he had all the support he could possibly ask for to help make his season the best one possible. Playing with arguably the best offensive playmaking defenseman in the league that season (Sova) and the Funk winner (Lavelle) there was no lack of supporting pieces to push him up there. Whereas in Calgary, Kotkakoivu was primarily supported by the sound of crickets and carried so hard he pulled Lazar, a clicker, up to a 99 point season alongside him. That's actually insane, there was no reason for Kotka to have a 122 point season with that supporting cast. He just had to will it to be in one of the hardest carries of a team I've ever seen outside of the Edmonton Oilers and their perennial attempts to make McJesus go into a rage induced coma at the vast incompetence of just about everyone else in the org apart from Draisaitl.
 
He was only a single goal off being the other player to hit that 60 goal plateau as well and had he done that, odds are he would have been at least 2nd, possibly 1st on this list. Not because of the raw numbers of what he did, but because of the circumstances under which he did it. I doubt we'll see another season like this anytime soon. The closest one is probably Jerome's hardcarry of London in S85. But since that fell short of the 100 point plateau and the 30 goal plateau both, it diminishes it's value by a fair bit. Just for completion I should note that on goal tie-breaker this season is the Hybrid era point total record, as Idaho had 52 and 122 points.
 
4. Bo Johansson @Shindigs S86 - G: 11 (-0.19) / A: 94 (3.22) / P: 105 (2.45)
 
Now I am biased towards assists, that's why I made a pass first dman to begin with. So I understand that this season probably doesn't make top 5 for most people. But the fact of the matter is that it is the highest assist season in the Hybrid era, and were it not for an absolutely abysmal 4.38% Shot conversion which is the lowest S% of any dman who hit PPG, let alone over 100 point in the entire hybrid era, this would have set the point record too. The only other player to hit PPG with 4.xx% shot conversion was Hari Singh Nalwa in S84 with a 4.63% conversion and exactly 72 points. The lowest S% of another top 5 hybrid era dman is 7.81% for Jerome Reinhart in S83 (Yes, the dman goal record for the hybrid era came off a 7.81% S% season, that's how bloated his shot totals were on that gutted NYA team). So really, Bo had the unluckiest seasons by a top dman in the hybrid era offensively. And still ended the season with 105 points, which is good for 4th among hybrid era dmen. That adds a bit of that "against all odds" touch that Kotka's season had, though for other reasons.
 
Had Bo matched the worst other top 5 S% he would have ended up with 20 goals and 114 points and had he matched Moreau's 10.10% from S83 he would have ended up with 25 goals for 119 points, just one away from that 120 point plateau. So assuming Bo puts up another season like this, but without the cursed S% Moreau's record might very well fall in the next 4 seasons. Though now that I've mentioned it in a MS, Simon will stop it from happening for sure.
 
5. Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 S85 - G: 24 (1.74) / A: 69 (2.09) / P: 99 (2.17)
 
This one is quite the hot take as well, because the raw stats aren't even the best Jerome himself has put up in the hybrid era. Those came in S83 due to some insane stat bloat on NYA, like I touched on before. Which is why I don't rate that season. Also if this was the most impressive season period, not just the most offensively impressive season, then this would go miles below Hard Markinson's S84 campaign. But seeing as we're strictly looking at offensively impressive seasons. I can't in good faith make a hybrid era top 5 and leave this season out. Since it's the dman version of what Kotka did in Calgary S83, on a team that isn't just a shell, setup to make Jerome score as much as possible to bloat his trade value (see S83 NYA). This was actually a real London team, sure it was a pretty mediocre London team. But not bad enough that it's stat bloat central, just the kind of team you expect to putter along and not do a lot of anything all season. But Jerome had other plans, putting the team on his back and willing them into some level of relevance. His consistency this season was scary, and the stat about how many of the game London won Jerome had points in was actually nuts. He *was* London in S85, everyone else was just along for the ride.
 
Had he been able to elevate his teammates to the heights that Kotka elevated Lazar in S83 Calgary, this season would have been contending for 2nd/3rd, as if he had done that it would have automatically resulted in at least 10+ more assists putting this up there as a ~110 point season and making it a mark for excellence to anyone that came across it. But as it stands, if someone just stumbled across this season and didn't know about all the circumstances, it wouldn't even make the top 5 list of dman offensive seasons in the hybrid era. That's what lowers its ranking for me, even though I do find the achievement impressive as hell. The other thing that would likely exclude this pick from just about everyone's top 5 is that most of the league still just hates Jerome for his part in the Metawolves, and that kind of bias is hard to beat.
 
 
This list would have a lot of honorable mentions, but likely I will just make a part 2 of this with 6-10 at a later date. I know a lot of people won't like how dman heavy this list is. But I can tell you that currently, we have 6 dmen over 2.4 Point production Z-score and only 2 forwards. Simply put, the best dmen in the hybrid era have been better than the best forwards in this era. Which is why the common theme in VHFL winners has been an insane d pairing. The gap between the best dmen and average dmen is simply bigger than the gap between the best forwards and average forwards. And I like to highlight that in this top 5, since usually the casual observer just goes "Forward has bigger number! Forward more better! Ooga boga!" which I just find a bit silly and as a result I want to showcase that it's a questionable way of looking at stats. But don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out the VHL userbase in particular, this is just a human thing. We see the same thing in NHL award voting and the like. We just like big numbers, and we rarely want to take the time to find proof that we're wrong in liking those big numbers. Since that goes against confirmation bias.
 
2040+ words, claiming for almost half a season.

1. Probably not, I feel like he's got too many animals for him to keep them all healthy at this point.
2. Very uneventful, not much has happened for my player or the team in general.
3. Usually dmen follow up 100+ point season with 80 point seasons. So probably one of those.
4. idk, maybe Bek's player?
5. Honestly haven't even really checked who all is in this draft class. Now that I don't have to pay attention to that anymore.
6. Food. Obviously, what else would I pick?!

Bo a big paint drying enjoyer eh?

As always with lists like these, they will be subjective. You won't agree with some of them, and that's fine. We all have bias towards if we value goals over assists, or if we acknowledge that forwards naturally score more than dmen etc. That's just how it is. I'll primarily base this list off of z-scores that are pretty much anything but subjective and give a very solid empirical score on how far away from average a player's season is. Compared to other players who play the same role (forward/dman). But that still leaves room for the goals vs. assists argument, unless you just have a god season in there where both are so elite it's not even a trade-off. As well as other circumstances that may push one season above another in my eyes.
 
1. Aurelien Moreau @Frank S83 - G: 20 (1.15) / A: 92 (3.10) / P: 112 (2.77)
 
The number in parenthesis is the Z-score compared to all non-bot dmen in the hybrid era for that attribute, with 1+ being good, 2+ being elite and 3+ meaning you're basically a god.
 
S83 for Moreau was simply an insane season, putting up an actual honest to god competitive dman point record in the very first hybrid era season. The one thing you can point out about this first season, however, is that a lot of players had very bad builds, and we were in a goalie drought. So naturally offensive numbers among the elite players in this season *should* be slightly inflated. But that doesn't change the fact that a 112 point season from a dman blows anything any forward has achieved offensively in the hybrid era out of the water. Until S86 Moreau also held the Assist record for the hybrid era with those 92, being beaten by Bo Johansson (94).
 
The one knock on this season is the goals, it's the one thing that makes this record beatable. As the top dmen of this era have put up 30+ goals, so realistically it's only a matter of time before all the stars align and we get 30+ goal 90+ assist season from a dman to eclipse the 120 point plateau. The question is how long will it take? Because for every season Frank keeps this record, it becomes more impressive. No one cares about a record that gets beaten the very next season. But a record that stands for 5, 10 or 20+ seasons. Now that's where it starts getting the recognition of a "true" record.
 
2. Paul Atreides @Mr_Hatter S83 - G: 61 (2.79) / A: 59 (1.75) / P: 120 (2.38)
 
The fact that the top two players on this list are both on S83 Toronto tells you a lot about how insane their partnership was. There are really 5 forward seasons that are nearly identical offensively, all 5 being at 120 or 122 points. But Hatter's season is the only one with 60+ goals, meaning it's holding onto the goal record for the Hybrid era, giving it that tiny extra bit of prestige to push it above the others. Atreides and Moreau both had played together on the stacked meta era Moscow team, but due to sharing the ice with monster's like Idaho and Markinson. They never had free reign to score as much as they perhaps could have. Well the S83 season in Toronto told us there was no "perhaps" involved. When made the unmistakable star players they put that Toronto team on their shoulders and went on to form the most iconic hybrid era partnership thus far.
 
The same arguments from Moreau also apply here, obviously, since it was the same team and same season. Namely that due to the weaker goaltending and slightly weaker overall compete level in the VHL due to potato hybrid builds, their stats were probably a bit inflated compared to what they should have been. But so was Scotty Campbell's records from playing against 200 TPE players most of his career, and we still acknowledge those records. So sometimes we just have to tip the hat to the players who end up fortunate enough to have their best season in the best possible season to have it. If your best offensive season is in a season that has some of the best goaltending of all time. Well, that's just very unfortunate. But if you have that same season in the meta era, you're probably having a Justin Lose S81 type deal on your hands. I won't hold the fortunate timing against either of them.
 
3. Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream  S83 - G: 59 (2.64) / A: 63 (2.03) / P: (2.46)
 
Another S83 entry, how unexpected! I mean at this point it's probably hard to argue against S83 having kinda bloated stats for the players who actually went straight into good builds at high TPA. But whatever, this is one of only two 122 point seasons in the era. The other came from Duncan Idaho on a very strong DC team, where he had all the support he could possibly ask for to help make his season the best one possible. Playing with arguably the best offensive playmaking defenseman in the league that season (Sova) and the Funk winner (Lavelle) there was no lack of supporting pieces to push him up there. Whereas in Calgary, Kotkakoivu was primarily supported by the sound of crickets and carried so hard he pulled Lazar, a clicker, up to a 99 point season alongside him. That's actually insane, there was no reason for Kotka to have a 122 point season with that supporting cast. He just had to will it to be in one of the hardest carries of a team I've ever seen outside of the Edmonton Oilers and their perennial attempts to make McJesus go into a rage induced coma at the vast incompetence of just about everyone else in the org apart from Draisaitl.
 
He was only a single goal off being the other player to hit that 60 goal plateau as well and had he done that, odds are he would have been at least 2nd, possibly 1st on this list. Not because of the raw numbers of what he did, but because of the circumstances under which he did it. I doubt we'll see another season like this anytime soon. The closest one is probably Jerome's hardcarry of London in S85. But since that fell short of the 100 point plateau and the 30 goal plateau both, it diminishes it's value by a fair bit. Just for completion I should note that on goal tie-breaker this season is the Hybrid era point total record, as Idaho had 52 and 122 points.
 
4. Bo Johansson @Shindigs S86 - G: 11 (-0.19) / A: 94 (3.22) / P: 105 (2.45)
 
Now I am biased towards assists, that's why I made a pass first dman to begin with. So I understand that this season probably doesn't make top 5 for most people. But the fact of the matter is that it is the highest assist season in the Hybrid era, and were it not for an absolutely abysmal 4.38% Shot conversion which is the lowest S% of any dman who hit PPG, let alone over 100 point in the entire hybrid era, this would have set the point record too. The only other player to hit PPG with 4.xx% shot conversion was Hari Singh Nalwa in S84 with a 4.63% conversion and exactly 72 points. The lowest S% of another top 5 hybrid era dman is 7.81% for Jerome Reinhart in S83 (Yes, the dman goal record for the hybrid era came off a 7.81% S% season, that's how bloated his shot totals were on that gutted NYA team). So really, Bo had the unluckiest seasons by a top dman in the hybrid era offensively. And still ended the season with 105 points, which is good for 4th among hybrid era dmen. That adds a bit of that "against all odds" touch that Kotka's season had, though for other reasons.
 
Had Bo matched the worst other top 5 S% he would have ended up with 20 goals and 114 points and had he matched Moreau's 10.10% from S83 he would have ended up with 25 goals for 119 points, just one away from that 120 point plateau. So assuming Bo puts up another season like this, but without the cursed S% Moreau's record might very well fall in the next 4 seasons. Though now that I've mentioned it in a MS, Simon will stop it from happening for sure.
 
5. Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 S85 - G: 24 (1.74) / A: 69 (2.09) / P: 99 (2.17)
 
This one is quite the hot take as well, because the raw stats aren't even the best Jerome himself has put up in the hybrid era. Those came in S83 due to some insane stat bloat on NYA, like I touched on before. Which is why I don't rate that season. Also if this was the most impressive season period, not just the most offensively impressive season, then this would go miles below Hard Markinson's S84 campaign. But seeing as we're strictly looking at offensively impressive seasons. I can't in good faith make a hybrid era top 5 and leave this season out. Since it's the dman version of what Kotka did in Calgary S83, on a team that isn't just a shell, setup to make Jerome score as much as possible to bloat his trade value (see S83 NYA). This was actually a real London team, sure it was a pretty mediocre London team. But not bad enough that it's stat bloat central, just the kind of team you expect to putter along and not do a lot of anything all season. But Jerome had other plans, putting the team on his back and willing them into some level of relevance. His consistency this season was scary, and the stat about how many of the game London won Jerome had points in was actually nuts. He *was* London in S85, everyone else was just along for the ride.
 
Had he been able to elevate his teammates to the heights that Kotka elevated Lazar in S83 Calgary, this season would have been contending for 2nd/3rd, as if he had done that it would have automatically resulted in at least 10+ more assists putting this up there as a ~110 point season and making it a mark for excellence to anyone that came across it. But as it stands, if someone just stumbled across this season and didn't know about all the circumstances, it wouldn't even make the top 5 list of dman offensive seasons in the hybrid era. That's what lowers its ranking for me, even though I do find the achievement impressive as hell. The other thing that would likely exclude this pick from just about everyone's top 5 is that most of the league still just hates Jerome for his part in the Metawolves, and that kind of bias is hard to beat.
 
 
This list would have a lot of honorable mentions, but likely I will just make a part 2 of this with 6-10 at a later date. I know a lot of people won't like how dman heavy this list is. But I can tell you that currently, we have 6 dmen over 2.4 Point production Z-score and only 2 forwards. Simply put, the best dmen in the hybrid era have been better than the best forwards in this era. Which is why the common theme in VHFL winners has been an insane d pairing. The gap between the best dmen and average dmen is simply bigger than the gap between the best forwards and average forwards. And I like to highlight that in this top 5, since usually the casual observer just goes "Forward has bigger number! Forward more better! Ooga boga!" which I just find a bit silly and as a result I want to showcase that it's a questionable way of looking at stats. But don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out the VHL userbase in particular, this is just a human thing. We see the same thing in NHL award voting and the like. We just like big numbers, and we rarely want to take the time to find proof that we're wrong in liking those big numbers. Since that goes against confirmation bias.
 
2040+ words, claiming for almost half a season.

As always with lists like these, they will be subjective. You won't agree with some of them, and that's fine. We all have bias towards if we value goals over assists, or if we acknowledge that forwards naturally score more than dmen etc. That's just how it is. I'll primarily base this list off of z-scores that are pretty much anything but subjective and give a very solid empirical score on how far away from average a player's season is. Compared to other players who play the same role (forward/dman). But that still leaves room for the goals vs. assists argument, unless you just have a god season in there where both are so elite it's not even a trade-off. As well as other circumstances that may push one season above another in my eyes.
 
1. Aurelien Moreau @Frank S83 - G: 20 (1.15) / A: 92 (3.10) / P: 112 (2.77)
 
The number in parenthesis is the Z-score compared to all non-bot dmen in the hybrid era for that attribute, with 1+ being good, 2+ being elite and 3+ meaning you're basically a god.
 
S83 for Moreau was simply an insane season, putting up an actual honest to god competitive dman point record in the very first hybrid era season. The one thing you can point out about this first season, however, is that a lot of players had very bad builds, and we were in a goalie drought. So naturally offensive numbers among the elite players in this season *should* be slightly inflated. But that doesn't change the fact that a 112 point season from a dman blows anything any forward has achieved offensively in the hybrid era out of the water. Until S86 Moreau also held the Assist record for the hybrid era with those 92, being beaten by Bo Johansson (94).
 
The one knock on this season is the goals, it's the one thing that makes this record beatable. As the top dmen of this era have put up 30+ goals, so realistically it's only a matter of time before all the stars align and we get 30+ goal 90+ assist season from a dman to eclipse the 120 point plateau. The question is how long will it take? Because for every season Frank keeps this record, it becomes more impressive. No one cares about a record that gets beaten the very next season. But a record that stands for 5, 10 or 20+ seasons. Now that's where it starts getting the recognition of a "true" record.
 
2. Paul Atreides @Mr_Hatter S83 - G: 61 (2.79) / A: 59 (1.75) / P: 120 (2.38)
 
The fact that the top two players on this list are both on S83 Toronto tells you a lot about how insane their partnership was. There are really 5 forward seasons that are nearly identical offensively, all 5 being at 120 or 122 points. But Hatter's season is the only one with 60+ goals, meaning it's holding onto the goal record for the Hybrid era, giving it that tiny extra bit of prestige to push it above the others. Atreides and Moreau both had played together on the stacked meta era Moscow team, but due to sharing the ice with monster's like Idaho and Markinson. They never had free reign to score as much as they perhaps could have. Well the S83 season in Toronto told us there was no "perhaps" involved. When made the unmistakable star players they put that Toronto team on their shoulders and went on to form the most iconic hybrid era partnership thus far.
 
The same arguments from Moreau also apply here, obviously, since it was the same team and same season. Namely that due to the weaker goaltending and slightly weaker overall compete level in the VHL due to potato hybrid builds, their stats were probably a bit inflated compared to what they should have been. But so was Scotty Campbell's records from playing against 200 TPE players most of his career, and we still acknowledge those records. So sometimes we just have to tip the hat to the players who end up fortunate enough to have their best season in the best possible season to have it. If your best offensive season is in a season that has some of the best goaltending of all time. Well, that's just very unfortunate. But if you have that same season in the meta era, you're probably having a Justin Lose S81 type deal on your hands. I won't hold the fortunate timing against either of them.
 
3. Saku Kotkakoivu @DollarAndADream  S83 - G: 59 (2.64) / A: 63 (2.03) / P: (2.46)
 
Another S83 entry, how unexpected! I mean at this point it's probably hard to argue against S83 having kinda bloated stats for the players who actually went straight into good builds at high TPA. But whatever, this is one of only two 122 point seasons in the era. The other came from Duncan Idaho on a very strong DC team, where he had all the support he could possibly ask for to help make his season the best one possible. Playing with arguably the best offensive playmaking defenseman in the league that season (Sova) and the Funk winner (Lavelle) there was no lack of supporting pieces to push him up there. Whereas in Calgary, Kotkakoivu was primarily supported by the sound of crickets and carried so hard he pulled Lazar, a clicker, up to a 99 point season alongside him. That's actually insane, there was no reason for Kotka to have a 122 point season with that supporting cast. He just had to will it to be in one of the hardest carries of a team I've ever seen outside of the Edmonton Oilers and their perennial attempts to make McJesus go into a rage induced coma at the vast incompetence of just about everyone else in the org apart from Draisaitl.
 
He was only a single goal off being the other player to hit that 60 goal plateau as well and had he done that, odds are he would have been at least 2nd, possibly 1st on this list. Not because of the raw numbers of what he did, but because of the circumstances under which he did it. I doubt we'll see another season like this anytime soon. The closest one is probably Jerome's hardcarry of London in S85. But since that fell short of the 100 point plateau and the 30 goal plateau both, it diminishes it's value by a fair bit. Just for completion I should note that on goal tie-breaker this season is the Hybrid era point total record, as Idaho had 52 and 122 points.
 
4. Bo Johansson @Shindigs S86 - G: 11 (-0.19) / A: 94 (3.22) / P: 105 (2.45)
 
Now I am biased towards assists, that's why I made a pass first dman to begin with. So I understand that this season probably doesn't make top 5 for most people. But the fact of the matter is that it is the highest assist season in the Hybrid era, and were it not for an absolutely abysmal 4.38% Shot conversion which is the lowest S% of any dman who hit PPG, let alone over 100 point in the entire hybrid era, this would have set the point record too. The only other player to hit PPG with 4.xx% shot conversion was Hari Singh Nalwa in S84 with a 4.63% conversion and exactly 72 points. The lowest S% of another top 5 hybrid era dman is 7.81% for Jerome Reinhart in S83 (Yes, the dman goal record for the hybrid era came off a 7.81% S% season, that's how bloated his shot totals were on that gutted NYA team). So really, Bo had the unluckiest seasons by a top dman in the hybrid era offensively. And still ended the season with 105 points, which is good for 4th among hybrid era dmen. That adds a bit of that "against all odds" touch that Kotka's season had, though for other reasons.
 
Had Bo matched the worst other top 5 S% he would have ended up with 20 goals and 114 points and had he matched Moreau's 10.10% from S83 he would have ended up with 25 goals for 119 points, just one away from that 120 point plateau. So assuming Bo puts up another season like this, but without the cursed S% Moreau's record might very well fall in the next 4 seasons. Though now that I've mentioned it in a MS, Simon will stop it from happening for sure.
 
5. Jerome Reinhart @MexicanCow123 S85 - G: 24 (1.74) / A: 69 (2.09) / P: 99 (2.17)
 
This one is quite the hot take as well, because the raw stats aren't even the best Jerome himself has put up in the hybrid era. Those came in S83 due to some insane stat bloat on NYA, like I touched on before. Which is why I don't rate that season. Also if this was the most impressive season period, not just the most offensively impressive season, then this would go miles below Hard Markinson's S84 campaign. But seeing as we're strictly looking at offensively impressive seasons. I can't in good faith make a hybrid era top 5 and leave this season out. Since it's the dman version of what Kotka did in Calgary S83, on a team that isn't just a shell, setup to make Jerome score as much as possible to bloat his trade value (see S83 NYA). This was actually a real London team, sure it was a pretty mediocre London team. But not bad enough that it's stat bloat central, just the kind of team you expect to putter along and not do a lot of anything all season. But Jerome had other plans, putting the team on his back and willing them into some level of relevance. His consistency this season was scary, and the stat about how many of the game London won Jerome had points in was actually nuts. He *was* London in S85, everyone else was just along for the ride.
 
Had he been able to elevate his teammates to the heights that Kotka elevated Lazar in S83 Calgary, this season would have been contending for 2nd/3rd, as if he had done that it would have automatically resulted in at least 10+ more assists putting this up there as a ~110 point season and making it a mark for excellence to anyone that came across it. But as it stands, if someone just stumbled across this season and didn't know about all the circumstances, it wouldn't even make the top 5 list of dman offensive seasons in the hybrid era. That's what lowers its ranking for me, even though I do find the achievement impressive as hell. The other thing that would likely exclude this pick from just about everyone's top 5 is that most of the league still just hates Jerome for his part in the Metawolves, and that kind of bias is hard to beat.
 
 
This list would have a lot of honorable mentions, but likely I will just make a part 2 of this with 6-10 at a later date. I know a lot of people won't like how dman heavy this list is. But I can tell you that currently, we have 6 dmen over 2.4 Point production Z-score and only 2 forwards. Simply put, the best dmen in the hybrid era have been better than the best forwards in this era. Which is why the common theme in VHFL winners has been an insane d pairing. The gap between the best dmen and average dmen is simply bigger than the gap between the best forwards and average forwards. And I like to highlight that in this top 5, since usually the casual observer just goes "Forward has bigger number! Forward more better! Ooga boga!" which I just find a bit silly and as a result I want to showcase that it's a questionable way of looking at stats. But don't get me wrong, I'm not calling out the VHL userbase in particular, this is just a human thing. We see the same thing in NHL award voting and the like. We just like big numbers, and we rarely want to take the time to find proof that we're wrong in liking those big numbers. Since that goes against confirmation bias.
 
2040+ words, claiming for almost half a season.

@Shindigs

Matthew Kai, Elfon Ashelf and Ian Smith
Jack Todaro and Haydyn
Chet Foreals and barry bigman
Dirty Caufield
Greg Santos
Majestic Buffalo
Dawson Thibert
Ches Morrison
Kiefer Leclerc
John Smith
Danny dimes
Evgeni Shevkov
Titomir Pukshuuter
Laser Brewer
George Patton
Calix Pearce
Cameron Elsby
 
 
Leaderboard
1: Matthew Kai
2: Calix Pearce
3: Cameron Elsby
4: Evgeni Shevkov
5: George Patton
6: barry bigman
7: Greg Santos
8: Elfon Ashelf
9: Kiefer Leclerc
10: Chet Foreals
11: Dirty Caufield
12: John Smith
13: Majestic Buffalo
14: Jack Todaro
15: Titomir Pukshuuter
16: Ches Morrison
17: Ian Smith
18: Danny dimes
19: Dawson Thibert
20. Haydyn
21. Laser Brewer
 
Wow, it’s been exactly one month and one day since I’ve given this an update, I’d best get back up to speed or I will never get up to date (Note: Regardless of what speed I’m going, I will never get up to date). So Whiskey Malone is the candidate today. Malone, with the username mollymcdeath, joined the VHL on July 9th 2019 at 11:24 AM EST and, do yourself a favour, check their creation thread out in dark mode because it serves as a beautiful white collage of all that is copy-and-pasted when it comes to VHLM offers along with the piece de resistance of the thread, Acydburn not only executing the rare “copy-and-paste we don’t need you” but also bringing to the table the incorrect use of “there”. Back to Malone though, they got stuck right into the heart of TPE earning and within three hours of creating had themselves a Rookie Profile to claim for 8 TPE and a practice facility claim for 2 TPE, not bad at all! So of the six teams that bid on Malone, who acquired their services? Well none, Malone never accepted a bid. And how did they follow up on their Rookie Profile point task? Well, they didn’t, they left the site for good just 49 minutes after writing their first 500-word essay on their player, which is certainly an interesting point for them to end their short VHL stint on. So as for where they rank, my immediate thoughts came to the tenth best player in the portal Chet Foreals, who retired within 17 hours of creating and, even though Malone didn’t sign with anyone, it would only make sense to put them above Foreals given they did earn more TPE in three hours than Foreals did in seventeen (plus Malone didn’t retire, they just left, so eight season longer career). However, it would also be crazy to consider Malone better than the ninth best player in the portal Kiefer Leclerc because Leclerc actually played hockey. Therefore, I deem Whiskey Malone to be the tenth best player in the VHL Portal.
 
New Leaderboard
1: Matthew Kai
2: Calix Pearce
3: Cameron Elsby
4: Evgeni Shevkov
5: George Patton
6: barry bigman
7: Greg Santos
8: Elfon Ashelf
9: Kiefer Leclerc
10: Whiskey Malone
11: Chet Foreals
12: Dirty Caufield
13: John Smith
14: Majestic Buffalo
15: Jack Todaro
16: Titomir Pukshuuter
17: Ches Morrison
18: Ian Smith
19: Danny dimes
20: Dawson Thibert
21. Haydyn
22. Laser Brewer
 
Eh, while we’re here, let’s do one more actually, let’s cover Nicholas Corrigan. Corrigan (username scottisheyebrow) joined the league a week prior to the start of the off-season so weren’t able to join a team right away, but were entered into the upcoming Season 79 VHLM Draft that would take place two weeks later. While Corrigan didn’t earn any TPE in their first two weeks in the league, they opened up their TPE earning account two days prior to their VHLM Draft with a Junior Review and a couple of reviews of media spots and that effort was enough to convince the Las Vegas Aces to select Corrigan with the 48th overall pick in the draft. Unfortunately we only see one more week of earning out of Corrigan in the form of another couple of reviews and a press conference for 4 capped TPE, which means despite being willing to type out several words for TPE, never actually claimed Welfare. Begs the question whether the term “welfare” just has too much of a negative stigma to it that makes some people avoid it even if they don’t write media. Maybe we should change the button’s name to “Casual Friday”, because everyone loves Casual Friday. The most exciting thing about Corrigan though is that they played a sport called hockey and actually have some stats that I can report on that allows me to rank them among the portal’s best players (although clearly a lack of stats hasn’t stopped me before). Corrigan played all 72 games for the Aces which, based on their TPE earning, is a surprise because by the end of the season they’d long past the point at which they should have been released for activity. It could be that Corrigan slipped under the radar as they had been playing fourth line minutes, which is a very curious role to have Corrigan (a human being who likely devoted most of their entire life to that point with the sole ambition of playing center) in when you consider that, for their last 26 games of the season the Aces gave the first line center role to a robot that was not only programmed to specifically play hockey at a very basic level, but also programmed to play on the wing, While the Aces made the playoffs, Corrigan’s activity meant that they couldn’t join the rest of the team for the post-season and thus Corrigan’s two goals and six assists wound up being their only statistical contribution to the VHLM, so they’re probably due consideration for being among the top ten players in the VHL Portal. However, I think tenth is also as high as they can go as, while Kiefer Leclerc only had eleven games at the VHLM level, they did at least have a huge impact in those 11 games getting 1.2 points per 20, nearly a point per 20 more than Corrigan (0.24). So forgot what you may have read earlier in the article, science demands that Nicholas Corrigan is the tenth best player in the VHL Portal.
 
 
New Leaderboard
1: Matthew Kai
2: Calix Pearce
3: Cameron Elsby
4: Evgeni Shevkov
5: George Patton
6: barry bigman
7: Greg Santos
8: Elfon Ashelf
9: Kiefer Leclerc
10: Nicholas Corrigan
11: Whiskey Malone
12: Chet Foreals
13: Dirty Caufield
14: John Smith
15: Majestic Buffalo
16: Jack Todaro
17: Titomir Pukshuuter
18: Ches Morrison
19: Ian Smith
20: Danny dimes
21: Dawson Thibert
22. Haydyn
23. Laser Brewer
 

Well deserved, you've probably been one of the most hands on VHLM AGMs so really the change from AGM to GM shouldn't be too big in your case. @Pifferfish

Hi all,
 
First of all, I'd like to congratulate both @Lemorse7 and @UnknownMinion for being hired as VHLE GMs. I hope both of you have a fantastic tenure up in the E. I'd also like to express my appreciation to both users for their time and dedication to the VHLM, in their various roles as GM and AGM, to help new players adapt to and grow in the VHLM. While Houston has hired a new AGM to replace Minion, @Gustav  and I have taken some time to review the applicants for Philadelphia and have come to a decision.
 
Please congratulate:
 
We have seen his contributions to Philadelphia as their AGM and he has shown continued interest in taking over the GM position since lemorse hinted at stepping away. We're excited to have him on the team! 
 
- @VHLM Commissioner