Shindigs

There is lot of discussion on discord regarding bots.  Which bots are good, which bots are not so good?  Which bot deserves the attention or recognition?  In the end, there is only one bot that stands out and actually deserves to be recognized as “The Best Bot Ever.”  To top it off, this particular bot is a captain and is rightfully named “Captain Best Bot Ever.”As the leader of the Las Vegas Aces discord, @dylanjj37 controls what is said by Captain Best Bot ever, known around the world as CBBE.
 
CBBE is a humanitarian.  He has facilities around the world for kids and adults.  CBBE owns casinos, zoos, amusement parks, skyscrapers, yachts, planes, hospitals, training facilities, sports complexes, and more.  CBBE is in charge of the WC, “World Ceson.”
 
And it just so happens that I have offended this particular bot, not intentionally at first due to spell correct.  Typing CBBE changed to CUBE without my knowing and I paid the price because CBBE is sensitive.  Because of this minor error, CBBE reached out to @Jason kranz to present the case to Judge Judy.  Luckily for me, Shindigs cleared the confusion and identified CBBE as Cube and El Cuadrado.  Either is acceptable.  Thanks @Shindigs!
 
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🤦‍♂️ I probably rival Arce in being myopic
 

21st Annual Unofficial VHL Regular Season Awards – S86
Another exciting regular season has come to a close. That means we can dole out some regular season awards! Welcome everyone to the 21st Annual Unofficial VHL Regular Season Awards honoring the highs and lows of S86! Thank you to everyone that reads this.
 
These awards have been created by me. There is no voting process and they are not officially recognized by the VHL Board of Governors.
 
For each award, I list the winners from the last 5 seasons. If you want to check out the award winners from every season, use this link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1sAZtX3bxVpPTIsKe1rSRVOenH1-iyWzbQEdR9ZvYOdU/edit?usp=sharing
 
I also document the “all-time” record for each category. Of course, by that I mean all-time for the existence of these awards, not all-time, all-time. Clear? Ok, good. Let’s get things underway!
 
 
The Pylon Award (worst +/- rating) – Daniel Clarke @Danzo 
 
For the first time in the history of this award, we have a repeat winner! Daniel Clarke tied with teammate James Marino @Adrest245 with a -55 rating. Clarke takes home the award because they played less minutes than Marino.
 
All-time record: S82 – creed -156
 
Last 5 Pylon Award Winners:
 
Season
Player
+ / -
S86
Daniel Clarke
-55
S85
Daniel Clarke
-65
S84
Ryan Li
-60
S83
Barron Kruulenstien
-66
S82
creed
-156
 
 
 
The Gandhi Award (least penalty minutes, min 1,000 minutes played) – Mason Jones @Masu Chan
 
Mason Jones wins the award for the 2nd time in their career. Thanks in part to what I assume is increased anger across all of the VHL, Jones is able to claim the award with 6 PIM. Johnny Xavier @Johnny_HX also recorded 6 PIM, but Mason Jones played more total minutes.
 
All-time record: S81 - Brendan Telker - 0 PIM, 2211 Minutes Played
 
Last 5 Gandhi Award Winners:
Season
Player
PIM
Minutes Played
S86
Mason Jones
6
2175
S85
Girts Galvins
6
2153
S84
Florida Man
2
1880
S83
Mason Jones
2
2146
S82
Omi Aberg
2
2132
 
 
 
The Major2 Award (most major penalties) - Jared Carter the 2st @jaredc7
 
Jared Carter the 2st showed the entire league they can successfully count to 10. Their 10 Major penalties was 1nd in the league.
 
All-time Record: S77 – Randy Marsh - 14 Majors
 
Previous Major2 Award Winners:
Season
Player
Major Penalties
S86
Jared Carter the 2st
10
S85
Vinny Detroit
12
S84
Cadmael Ixazaluoh
9
S83
Brian Payne
11
S82
Owen Taylor
12
 
 
 
The Timex Award (received most hits) – Perry Laperriere @KaleebtheMighty
 
Our first repeat winner since Hunter Hearst Helmsley repeated in S70+S71. Perry Laperriere may be made of water because they appear to flow with all these hits they get. The 337 hits they received led the league this year and were 2 shy of their previous season winning total.
 
All-time Record: S82 – Bogdan Trunov - 408 Hits taken
 
Last 5 Timex Award Winners:
Season
Player
Hits Taken
S86
Perry Laperriere
337
S85
Perry Laperriere
339
S84
Duncan Idaho
316
S83
Saku Kotkakoivu
346
S82
Bogdan Trunov
408
 
 
 
The John Wayne Award (most shots on goal) - Brendan Marner @MetalToday
 
Marner was the only player to record over 600 shots this season. They totaled 602 shots.
 
All-time record: S82 – Jerome Reinhart - 713 Shots on goal
 
Last 5 John Wayne Award Winners:
Season
Player
Shots on Goal
S86
Brendan Marner
602
S85
Zaza Colors
566
S84
Duncan Idaho
621
S83
Saku Kotkakoivu
692
S82
Jerome Reinhart
713
 
 
 
The “Hit the Broadside of the Barn” Award (most own shots blocked) - Landon Wolanin @jacobcarson877
 
Landon Wolanin fired a lot of shots this season, unfortunately for his opponents, many of those shots hit them. Wolanin led the league by having 171 of their shots blocked.
 
All-time record:  S81 – Jerome Reinhart - 204 Own shots blocked
 
Last 5 HtBotB Award Winners:
Season
Player
Own Shots Blocked
S86
Landon Wolanin
171
S85
Alex Johnston
168
S84
Alex Johnston
187
S83
Saku Kotkakoivu
189
S82
Taylor Mourning
195
 
 
 
The “Can’t Hit the Broadside of the Barn” Award (most own shots missed) – Brendan Marner @MetalToday
 
It doesn’t happen every season, but it’s pretty standard fare for the John Wayne winner to win this award. It makes sense, they take a lot of shots, lots of those shots are going to miss. Marner claims this award with 436 shots missed.
 
All-time record: S81 – Jerome Reinhart - 532 Shots missed
 
Last 5 CHtBotB Award Winners:
Season
Player
Shots Missed
S86
Brendan Marner
436
S85
Zaza Colors
406
S84
Baby Bob
415
S83
Saku Kotkakoivu
509
S82
Jerome Reinhart
489
 
 
 
The New Shin Pads Award (most blocked shots) – James Marino @Adrest245 
 
Congrats to James Marino for winning this award after losing the Pylon Award on a tiebreaker. No need for a tiebreaker here, Marino beat the next closet player, George Sanderson @SpicyGecko, by 29 shots blocked.
 
All-time record: S82 – creed - 460 Shots blocked
 
Last 5 New Shin Pads Award Winners:
Season
Player
Shots Blocked
S86
James Marino
243
S85
Deron Nesbitt
222
S84
Jaromir Lemiuex
268
S83
Barron Kruulenstien
261
S82
creed
460
 
 
The Tired Legs Award (most minutes played) - James Marino @Adrest245 
 
Back-to-back award wins for James Marino! Marino played 2,422 minutes, more than anyone else in the VHL.
 
All-time record: S82 – Chicken Wing – 2,512 Minutes played
 
Last 5 Tired Legs Award Winners:
Season
Player
Minutes Played
S86
James Marino
2422
S85
Florida Man
2221
S84
Jerome Reinhart
2400
S83
Rhys Trenton
2374
S82
Chicken Wing
2512
 
 
 
The Snap! Award (most power play minutes) - Brendan Marner @MetalToday
 
Marner finished 1st in the league with 335 minutes on the powerplay. Their next closest teammate was Vasile Lamb @dlamb who finished 63rd in the league with 246 PP minutes. Did they lock the door to the bench and not allow Marner to get off the ice?
 
All-time record: S79 - Muffbeav - 454 power play minutes
 
Last 5 Snap! Award Winners:
Season
Player
PP Minutes
S86
Brendan Marner
335
S85
Bo Johansson
344
S84
Napoleon Dynamite
369
S83
Battre Sandstrom
339
S82
Tyler Reinhart
397
 
 
 
The 1 vs. 100 Award (most time on penalty kill) - Doug Matchett @jacobaa19 
 
Matchett wins the award with a total of 336 minutes on the penalty kill.
 
All-time record: S79 - Gustislav Nasherov - 447 penalty kill minutes
              
Last 5 1 vs. 100 Award Winners:
Season
Player
PK Minutes
S86
Doug Matchett
336
S85
Hari Singh Nalwa
317
S84
Deron Nesbitt
335
S83
Zeedayno Chara
340
S82
Hulk Hogan 2
359
 
 
 
The Sean Archer Award (highest face-off win %, min 1,000 faceoffs) – Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser 
Whatever issues that existed with the Face Off statistics in the index appear to have corrected themselves (or someone did something to fix them, thank you to that person). Congratulations to Daniel Janser for winning this award with a fantastic 62.90% of their 3,342 face-offs won.
 
All-time record: S74 - Brock Louth - 63.72% face-offs won
               
Last 5 Sean Archer Award Winners:
Season
Player
Face Off Pct
S86
Daniel Janser
62.90%
S85
N/A
  S84
Paul Atreides
61.22%
S83
Zeedayno Chara
63.17%
S82
Pistil Stamen
62.10%
 
 
 
The Castor Troy Award (lowest face-off win %, min 1,000 faceoffs) – William Futch @Futch
 
Futch had the rare honor of being traded twice in this season. Was it the poor face-off performance that led to the trades? Futch had a league-worst 34.87% face-off win percentage.
 
All-time record: S79 - Gustislav Nasherov – 29.60% face-offs won.
               
Last 5 Castor Troy Award Winners:
Season
Player
Face Off Pct
S86
William Futch
34.87%
S85
N/A
  S84*
Pistol Pete
43.73%
S83
Gregory Bates
31.86%
S82
Eeli Rantanen
30.47%
 
 
The Triple Deke Award (most penalty shot goals) - Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser 
 
Daniel Janser proved they are the most skilled player in the VHL multiple ways including dazzling penalty shot goals. Not only did Janser lead the league with 9 penalty shot goals this season, they set the all-time record for this award! Amazing!
 
All-time record: S86 – Daniel Janser - 9 penalty shot goals
              
Last 5 Triple Deke Award Winners:
Season
Player
Penalty Shot Goals
S86
Daniel Janser
9
S85
Hammar Voss
6
S84
Zach Kisslinger II
7
S83
Zeedayno Chara
7
S82
Baby Bob
4
 
 
 
The Rocky Award (most fights won) – Jared Carter the 2st @jaredc7
 
Jared Carter the 2st is really showing they are one of the top fighters in the league. They were runner-up for this award last season and come right back and win the award this season with 5 fights won.
 
All-time record: S83 Brian Payne – 7 fights won
              
Last 5 Rocky Award Winners:
Season
Player
Fights Won
S86
Jared Carter the 2st
5
S85
Vinny Detroit
5
S84
Paul Atreides
4
S83
Brian Payne
7
S82
Owen Taylor
4
 
 
 
 
The Glass Joe Award (most fights lost) – Jason Argos @Insypher 
 
Jason Argos argot beat up a lot. They lost 5 fights on the season, which ties the all-time mark.
 
All-time record: S86 – Jason Argos, S74 - Lee Xin, and S69 Rusty Shackleford - 5 fights lost
              
Last 5 Glass Joe Award Winners:
Season
Player
Fights Lost
S86
Jason Argos
5
S85
Henri le Massif
3
S84
Deagun Rust
3
S83
Kyle Glass
3
S82
Vasile Lamb
2
 
 
 
The Stars Award (most stars won) – Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser 
 
No real surprise here as the top performer in the league also led the league in total number of stars. Janser’s 17 first stars also led the league, along with his award winning 33 total stars. Shoutout to Dusty Wilson @dustywilson22for leading all goalies with 24 total stars.
 
All-time record: S76 - Mikko Lahtinen – 34 total stars
              
Last 5 Stars Award Winners:
Season
Player
Total Stars
S86
Daniel Janser
33
S85
Saku Kotkakoivu
28
S84
Duncan Idaho
33
S83
Zeedayno Chara
31
S82
Taylor Mourning
33
 
 
 
The “Always a Bridesmaid” Award (most stars without winning 1st star) – The Frenchman @OrbitingDeath
 
The Frenchman beat Sock Monkey @chikn on the tiebreaker for this award. The Frenchman had 6 2nd starts, one more than Sock Monkey.
 
All-time record: S85 – Hard Markinson - 16 stars
              
Last 5 Bridesmaid Award Winners:
Season
Player
Stars
S86
The Frenchman
9
S85
Hard Markinson
16
S84
Asher Reinhart
13
S83
Tui Sova
12
S82
Gustav Hjalmarsson
9
 
 
The Biggest Backpack Award (player with the largest difference in points from the rest of their team) - Daniel Janser @Daniel Janser 
 
Another award for Janser their 21 points more than their next teammate was larger than the difference on any other team. It’s tough for teammates to keep up with someone scoring 120 points in a season!
 
All-time record: S82 – Taro Tsujimoto - 52 points more than nearest teammate
          
Last 5 Backpack Award Winners:
Season
Player
Point Difference from nearest teammate
S86
Daniel Janser
21
S85
Jerome Reinhart
20
S84
Nico Pearce
32
S83
Saku Kotkakoivu
23
S82
Taro Tsujimoto
52
 
 
 
The Anniversary Award (rank in total points matches season number) - Callum Murray @Berocka 
 
This is season 86, so the award goes to the player in 86th place in total points. Congratulations to Callum Murray! They recorded 49 points this season, good enough for 86th place.
 
Last 5 Anniversary Award Winners:
Season
Player
Points
S86
Callum Murray
49
S85
Sting Chameleon
51
S84
DB III
51
S83
Robert Wilk
54
S82
Jakub Brozik
71
 
 
 
 
The Eggshell Award (goalie with most overtime losses) - Ben Dahl @Ben 
 
Ben Dahl may go on a ben der after winning this award. Their 10 OT losses was one away from the all time record.
 
All-time record: S82 - Sirkants Klamasteris, S78 – Calvin Harvey, S75 - Doug Dimmadome, and S71 Jaxx Hextall - 11 OT games lost
 
Previous Eggshell Award Winners:
Season
Player
Overtime Games Lost
S86
Ben Dahl
10
S85
Boris Tsezar
8
S84
Cole Pearce
9
S83
David Davis
9
S82
Sirkants Klamasteris
11
 
 
 
The Jason Voorhees Award (most PIM by a Goalie) - Augustus Kennedy @InstantRockstar 
 
Augustus used his glove to slap the faces of many opponents. In total, they recorded a league high 16 PIM.
 
All-time record: S76 - Doug Dimmadome - 29 PIM
 
Previous Jason Voorhees Award Winners:
Season
Player
PIM
S86
Augustus Kennedy
16
S85
Oskar Lindbergh
12
S84
Oskar Lindbergh
16
S83
Ben Dahl
14
S82
Thadius Sales
18
 
 
 
The Poke Check Award (highest % of penalty shots stopped, min 10 penalty shots against) - Matt Murdock @Acydburn 
 
I’m not sure how Murdock does it, but he seems to be completely in tune with the puck and everything around him. He stops penalty shots so well, he could probably do it blindfolded. Not only did Murdock pull off the amazing feat of stopping every penalty shot they faced this season, they also set the all-time record by facing more shots (12 in total) than the previous record of 10.
 
All-time record: S86 – Matt Murdock – 100% penalty shots stopped (12 shots faced)
 
Previous Poke Check Award Winners:
Season
Player
Penalty Shots Stopped
S86
Matt Murdock
100.0%
S85
Oskar Lindbergh
88.5%
S84
David Davis
80.0%
S83
Dexter Vaughn
80.0%
S82
Tater Tot
88.2%
 
 
 
That wraps it up for this season! Another year, another successful award ceremony! Congratulations and/or condolences to all the winners! As always, please provide any suggestions, insights, or thoughts in the comments. Thank you all for reading and continuing to make this a successful column!
 

So what you're saying is Moreau for HOF. 

Definitely was a fun season to watch for me. Thanks for the kind words.

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.

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.

Sometimes it be like that, but with @Spartan it always be like that.

Sometimes it be like that, but with @Spartan it always be like that.

I’m quite capable of winning things other than the continental cup haha. Papa has a founder’s cup as well as gold in WJC and WC haha

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.

1. Getting rid of that bum Nico Pearce, literally impossible for you to win the finals if you still had him. It is known.
2. Dogwood Maple, probably. He didn't quite have the Funk season I was hoping for. But he did work against us in Chicago in the playoffs.
3. Brandt Fuhr. He was absolutely massive for you all season, especially in the playoffs. You didn't get that cup without him.
4. Same as above, Cheese had an insane playoffs. But the consistency from Fuhr is what got you that W.
5. Probably Dogwood Maple again, didn't improve as much as I hoped he would, as a Vegas alumni. But he took a really good step forward.
6. Vancouver Wolves are Continental Cup Champions if Frank beats himself.

S86 Team Nordic World Cup Team Announcement!

Forwards:
Saku Kotkakoivu (@DollarAndADream )
Nils Godlander (@Moon)
Tomas Sogaard (@Brandon)
Scotty Sundin (@fromtheinside)
Kyosti Karjalainen (@UnkemptCL4PTP)
Tyler Reinhart (@Zetterberg)

Defensemen:
Jerome Reinhart (@MexicanCow123)
Bo Johansson (@Shindigs)
Sven Eightnine (@BarzalGoat)
Velociraptor Greg (@samx)

Goaltenders:
Papa Emeritus (@Beketov)
Oskar Lindbergh (@Doomsday)

GM: @Moon
AGM: @Brandon

Yup, if Bo had ~average S% he would have essentially matched DJ point for point, but obviously with less goals more assists. If anything getting a 100+ point season with that S% makes me hopeful that Bo has even more potential than what he showed this season.

I am still waiting to fall off a cliff and with the depreciation looming on the horizon, I am hesitant to give any positive outlook on DJ's future performance

Just for reference for the stat nerds. I compiled the hybrid era stats for all players and calculated the Z-scores for forward production and dman production. I filtered out all bots as they would skew the data and not really be relevant data points to what we're looking at.

Janser @Daniel Janser G: 2.24 / A: 2.23 / P: 2.38
Johansson G: -0.19 / A: 3.22 (hybrid era record) / P: 2.45
 
Now a lot more goes into what does/doesn't make an MVP than just raw offensive production. I'd just like to point out that forwards naturally score more than dmen in STHS, this isn't exactly news. So technically Bo's season offensively was more of an outlier than Janser's. But Bo also sucked absolute ass at scoring goals this season, literally having less goals than average for non-BOT dmen in the Hybrid era. So with people generally favoring goals over assists, there is that. The actual snub was Markinson not getting the Slobo in S84 tbh, he had a 3.07 Goal Z-score to Idaho's 2.08. But he's a dman so smaller numbers = less votes, cause who cares about forwards naturally farming more stats?
 
Some other notable standouts from this season:
 
Torq @Steve G: 2.62 (tied 3rd best in hybrid era)
Kisslinger @Kisslinger A: 2.44 (3rd best in hybrid era)
 
For those that don't know/remember what a Z-score is. It's simply how many standard deviations away from average a performance is. Assuming a normalized distribution, which we can assume for VHL scoring. The empirical rule states that 68% of all players end up +/- 1 or less Z-score, 95% are within +/- 2 and 99.7% are within +/- 3 So essentially anything above 2.0 is elite AF anything above 3.0 is pretty much inhuman.
 
The players closest to completely average this season were:
F - Henry Eagles at -0.03 Z-score and D - Logain Ablar at -0.01 Z-score
The fact neither was on DC upsets me greatly, would have made for good MID jokes tbh.
 
Interestingly enough 2 of the 3 worst forward seasons belong to Toronto, while Malmö has the questionable honor of holding 2 of the 3 worst dman seasons offensively.

And you to yours, any insider info on it your player is going for the threepeat? Asking for a friend who needs to do predictions soon. 😅

Not going to argue empiric data... I think BoJo is a worthy candidate for the Slobo and from a fact based POV should get the nod imo... however, I am an egoistic bastard and hope to win regardless (and if it is just to keep you at bay TPE wise)...
 
Also: Why should the VHL be different from the NHL(Ted Lindsay/Lester B. Pearson Award): In the last 20 years all but once (2015 Price) the trophy went to a forward and never to a defender (even though last season Makar as well as Josi had valid claims on it). In fact, the last (and only) time the award was given to a defender, was when Bobby Orr won it in 1975. I mean in the NHL there is at least footage you can look at and see how amazing players are... we do not have the luxury of that in the VHL and have to go by obscure data, some of which are clearly a team stat more than a individual one (yes +/- rating, I am looking at you).
 
Anyway congrats to your amazing season and to more to come...

the fewest indeed... which makes your sb stat all the more remarkable... chapeau as the Italians say

I find the choice of colors very offensive to my poor virgin eyes. I don't even want to know what they will do to @Arce! 👀

You monster

You need to channel you inner Spartan and be cross at them. Could have easily been a 15m podcast if you did.