badcolethetitan

The beginning

Way too early VHL S99 standings prediction NA Conference 1. Vancouver Wolves - Back on top 2. Toronto Legion - New year same playoff team 3. New York Americans - Hey no wildcard 4. Calgary Wranglers - Wildcard run loading 5. D.C. Dragons - Congratulations on a wildcard --- 6. Los Angeles Stars - Moving up a spot 7. Seattle Bears - Welcome to the bottom pal 8. Chicago Phoenix - Year 2 of the tank EU Conference 1. HC Davos Dynamo - Enjoy the first seed curse 2. Moscow Menace - Assuming they get their roster together 3. Prague Phantoms - If they can sign Victor, they'll be scary 4. London United - On the up, watch out 5. Malmo Nighthawks - Welcome back to the wildcard --- 6. Riga Reign - If they sell, time for high draft pick 7. Helsinki Titans - Rebuild time 8. Warsaw Predators - Battle for first overall I'll say Davos wins the cup. However, I said Moscow would win and they lost to Calgary. I think the best underdog will probably be London, where they could go on a run with the wildcard buff and win some games. Who knows, anything can change before the beginning of the season anyway.

No way this guy doing press conferences now

Mega deal

@Velevra Thank you for your time in Chicago. Unfortunately, we couldn't get you a cup, but I think on Davos you have a very good chance at getting one. @Alex Thanks for the talks pt2. @Bigb33 Welcome to the squad!

YEP YOGURT

An Inside look at the VHL S98 Playoff Predictions Special thanks to @youloser1337 for the data! Play-Ins New York Americans vs. Vancouver Wolves The New York Americans took on the Vancouver Wolves in the first play-in for the playoffs. In total, 53.2% had the Vancouver Wolves winning the first round and moving onto the next round, with the other being 46.8% for the New York Americans, showing that the public (79 total voters) slightly favored the Wolves. Interestingly enough, the most common picked length was 4 games, with 53.2% of the total people picking it to only go four games. It's interesting because I didn't expect the gap to be so close between VAN/NYA, where I personally thought that Vancouver had the edge over New York, but it seems the public perceived it differently. Outcome: NYA in 4 HC Davos Dynamo vs. London United This one was a bit more one-sided, with the total being 93.7% favoring Davos to win. I guess London had some loyal believers, as they still had 6.3% of the total vote picking them, which is funny. I mean, if they got it right somehow, they would've looked like geniuses. I will say that the most common picked being 4 games at a total of 48.1% is interesting, because Davos on paper was better than London, but almost half of the voters actually believed that London could take a game, and well they did. Regardless, this one was basically a free pick, as it was clear Davos was going to win. Outcome: DAV in 4 First Round Toronto Legion vs. New York Americans Now we've actually gotten to the real playoffs, with the Toronto Legion taking on the New York Americans. The Legion were HEAVY favorites in this matchup, totaling 87.3% of the voters deciding to pick them. Vancouver had 8.9% and New York had 3.8%, which is actually pretty low. Personally, I had felt that Toronto had overperformed during the season and that one wildcard was due to win a series. With Moscow being as strong as they were, I believed that Toronto was ultimately going to fall, and they did, however I thought it was going to be Vancouver taking them out. The most common amount of games was 6, with 59.5% of the people voting it. It's kind of crazy that people despite heavily favoring Toronto to win, that the series would actually be a very close one, going 6 games. In the end, Toronto ended up falling to New York in five games which was probably the craziest outcome. Over half of the people had NYA losing round one, and then only 3.8% had them winning the second round. Bracket buster. Outcome: NYA in 5 Seattle Bears vs. Calgary Wranglers On the other side of the NA bracket, we had Seattle taking on Calgary. Of course, we now know that Calgary won the cup against Moscow, but I don't think many people expected them to go that far. 69.6% voted Seattle to take down Calgary, and rightfully so. Seattle had been looking good most the season and seemed like one of the favorites to make it out of NA, but they fell in 6 to Calgary. On top of that, people again believed that it would be a 6 game series, with 51.9% choosing that as an option. It's crazy that Toronto vs. New York was voted six games, despite being the first seed vs wild card, but then second seed vs third seed is also six games. People believe that the wildcard buff is real! Outcome: CGY in 6 Moscow Menace vs. HC Davos Dynamo Now we flip to EU, where we have Moscow taking on Davos. For the most part, people believed that Moscow was going to win this series, with 72.2% of the total vote. Davos was able to pick up 26.6% of the vote, with some people still believing London could pull off the impossible, the London faithful! Regardless, I guess the most common choice so far is going to be six game series, with 44.3% of the votes. I am seeing a trend that most of the majority is picking games to go to six. Regardless, this was one series that was extremely fast, with Moscow deleting Davos in 4 games. Outcome: MOS in 4 Helsinki Titans vs. Riga Reign The last first round matchup, we have Helsinki taking on Riga. This series was actually quite close voting wise, with 57% of the people tallying towards Helsinki, and 43% towards Riga. I think this series was going to be a lot closer than what was actually indicated from the voters, saying that Helsinki has a 57% chance to win. I think it was more like 50-50 for both teams, as they had both similar seasons and ultimately anyone could've won. In the end, Riga ended up besting Helsinki and was going onto the next round to meet Moscow. Also, this is the first time that the most common amount of games wasn't six (excluding wild card games), where 38% voted for 7 games. Six was right behind it though, with a total of 36.7% of the voters picking it. Outcome: RIGA in 6 Conference Finals Calgary Wranglers vs. New York Americans We're finally getting to the good parts, with the Calgary Wranglers taking on the New York Americans. I just want to point out, that 89.9% had neither of these teams winning the conference finals. In fact, 0 people had chose NYA to make it to the finals, and well, they obviously didn't. However, it's still crazy that out of 79 voters, that only 8 people chose Calgary to make it to the finals, I thought it would be a bit more. On top of that, that includes nobody choosing NYA to make it. Also, yeah, of course 6 games was the most chosen with 58.2% because at this point, it just should be the most common chosen. One thing I will say is that 64.6% of voters had Toronto winning and making it to the finals, with second being Seattle at 20.3%. We also had some voters for Vancouver, with 5.1% to make it to the finals. Very interesting to see and that Calgary was one of the least chosen options for NA, but made it all the way. Outcome: CGY in 5 Moscow Menace vs. Riga Reign Onto the EU side, we have Moscow vs Riga. More people predicted Moscow to win, with a majority actually. They had 53.2% of voters assuming Moscow would make it out of EU and make it to the finals. On the flip side, Riga was able to pull 8.9% of the voters to vote for them to win and go to the finals, the only team less than them was London with 1.3%. After that, the second most common was Davos (wildcard buff I guess) with 20.3% and then Helsinki with 16.5%. Regardless, it seems that the majority had Moscow winning and moving on, and they did, so no real crazy datapoints here. Oh yeah, 6 games, 57%, you should know by now. Outcome: MOS in 6 VHL Finals Moscow Menace vs. Calgary Wranglers We have finally made it to the finals! The most common cup winner was the Moscow Menace with 30.4%, which is almost 1/3 people voting for them, kind of crazy. Calgary was able to have only 2.5% of the voters vote for them, which is literally two people. They had the odds stacked up against them yet were able to pull it out in the end! I'll post below the odds of every team and some more takeaways. Also, 59.5% for six games in the finals. Congratulations to Calgary! Outcome: CGY in 7 What can we takeaway: -The most predicted games in playoffs was "6" with a majority picking it every series, besides wildcard. (3/7 of the series were six games in total, so it is the most likely to occur based off of this playoff series lengths) -People for the most part will always favor the #1 seed (Moscow had 30.4% of the voters pick them, despite having the "Victory Cup" curse) -The "higher seed" went 5-4 in playoffs, meaning they have a higher chance of winning, but not by as much as you think (picking "all higher seeds" usually will never work) -A random wildcard will most likely take down the one seed (happened past two seasons, with Toronto losing to New York and last season both wildcards winning) Most likely cup winner and amount of games: -Moscow (30.4%) in 6 games (59.5%) Reseeding the playoffs based on who people voted to win the cup (higher votes mean higher seed): NA: 1-Toronto Legion (26.6%) 2-Seattle Bears (12.7%) 3-Vancouver Wolves (3.8%) 4-Calgary Wranglers (2.5%) 5-New York Americans (0.0%) EU: 1-Moscow Menace (30.4%) 2-HC Davos Dynamo (13.9%) 3-Helsinki Titans (7.6%) 4-Riga Reign (2.5%) 5-London United (0.0%) Advice for next time: Don't always pick the higher seed to win, because STHS does STHS things and some random team will go on a run and probably win it all. 1500+ words

London made some big moves though!

Pretty sure there was another one with 3 centers on the roster, don't know now as the season rolled over. And I was more talking about the S91. Obviously you are not retiring

There goes 6 and 7 overall for a "massive haul". Guess I knew?

Thanks for the talks @Alex Welcome to the squad @xNJDevilsFanx, happy to have you!

Answers 1. I hope to take NYA to the cup and win should I stay there for this upcoming season. 2. Who knows. Maybe give us 100 TPE for free for 100 seasons! 3. I think the answer is Boxing as there's no field, and you don't use a ball, yet someone has to win. Questions 1. Why do you think Hellebyuck is such a big playoff choker? 2. What team that missed the playoffs in the VHL do you think has the highest chance at making the playoffs next season? 3. Who do you think is going to win the NHL draft lottery?

S99 VHL Mock Draft - Top 10 Disclaimer: If you're looking at this wondering who Chicago is going to pick, I'm obviously not going to leak who and I will just be giving Chicago the highest TPE player in the class as of 5/3/2025, which is @Komrad. Pick: 1st Overall Selection: D - Krister Von Casar Tzesar - Projected 1st - @Komrad Biggest Needs: Skaters Description: The Chicago Phoenix despite not being the worst team in the league lucked out and secured first overall. It's fairly obvious which direction the team is going to go in, as they literally need anything and the top three picks in the draft are all defenseman *hint*. The Phoenix will be looking to add a nice piece to their prospect pool before the upcoming S100 draft where they'll shape most of their team moving forward for the rebuild. Regardless, there are a lot of great players in this draft and picking up Komrad would be a huge add to their team moving forward. Pick: 2nd Overall Selection: D - Titus Cunningham - Projected 2nd - @thadthrasher Biggest Needs: Skaters Description: Things could already get interesting at pick 2, because Warsaw already has a franchise defenseman in Peter Venkman. However, with the top three in this draft being defenseman, I think ultimately they'll end up selecting another one to help round out the D core. They've got some prospects who are forwards and a very shallow D prospect core, so I think they'll lean defenseman. If they don't end up taking a D man, I think there is a very high chance that they'll take Igor Sokolov at 2nd, as he has history with Warsaw and he's also the best forward prospect in this draft. Regardless, Warsaw is starting to build up their team and should be able to start peaking in a couple seasons. Pick: 3rd Overall Selection: F - Igor Sokolov - Projected 4th - @Kisslinger Biggest Need: Forward Description: LA is at a spot where they are only a piece or two away from being able to slip into the playoffs and start making some noise. They've got a perfect chance to draft the biggest need for their team, a forward, and that so happens to be Igor Sokolov. LA already has a great young D core with Bubbles LaFleur and Mikko Tuomala leading the charge. On offense however, they really need a game changing forward that can help out Wally Lose, hence why I have them taking a forward. Unlike Chicago and Warsaw, LA is further along in their rebuild and could very well make the playoffs next season if they go out and buy. I also think this is the first pick in the draft that could end up being moved to another team come draft day as LA needs to start competing soon. Pick: 4th Overall Selection: D - Additional Pylons - Projected 3rd - @courtjestr19 Biggest Need: Everything Description: Malmo is at the beginning of a rebuild and will most likely just take the best option available, that being Additional Pylons. Malmo already has Beketov in the system who is a great forward, so they could use a stud defenseman to help lead the charge defensively. This is a perfect pick for Malmo, as they're most likely going to have one of the top three defenseman slide to them at 4, leaving them with whoever is left over. Regardless, Malmo can start to build up a prospect pool moving forward in what should be a fairly long rebuild. However, with Lucy at the helm I'm sure she'll be able to get out of it and get Malmo back to their competing ways. Pick: 5th Overall Selection: D - David David - Projected 5th - @Knight Biggest Need: Defense Description: Vancouver lucked out with Prague being a lotto team and them having the 5th overall pick in the draft. With this pick, I have them taking a defenseman as Vancouver will need to fill their holes on defense in a couple of seasons. By the time David David is ready for the VHL, he'll have a spot on the team that lines up perfectly and this is why I think this is a fairly obvious pick. Vancouver could decide to go forward if they want, but I doubt it's going to happen as defense is needed bad in the long term for this team. David David will slot in great for Vancouver moving forward. Pick: 6th Overall Selection: C - Zara Wolf - Projected 6th - @Banackock Biggest Needs: Skaters Description: London has secured back to back picks in the draft and honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if one or even both get shipped away to upgrade the roster now. They're in a spot where they can start competing in a season and I think these picks might be gone come draft day. However, if they do keep this pick, I think they'll go Zara Wolf as they'll need a center in a couple seasons with both of theirs retiring in a bit. Zara Wolf is a great fit for the team and should do just fine in London especially with the young core they have. Pick: 7th Overall Selection: D - Chase Breeze - Projected 10th - @C-Breeze Biggest Needs: Skaters Description: Again, back to back and I have London taking a defenseman. They're gonna need someone to fill the spot when Scrungle Bungle retires and their D core is a bit on the older side, so they can just pick up one right here. Chase Breeze is also a very active first gen and I think he is going to go higher than he's projected. He will be able to slot into the D core and make an immediate impact for London as they should be a playoff team by the time he is ready to play in the VHL. Pick: 8th Overall Selection: LW - Florida Man - Projected 9th - @Florida Man Biggest Needs: Skaters Description: Another pick that realistically will probably get traded, but if DC was to select I think they'll take Florida Man. DC at this point could use a D man, but with the D man being so far down in the draft I think they'll just end up BPAing a forward. Nothing wrong adding a solid forward to the prospect pool and potentially someone you could end up moving later on if the right situation arises. Like LA and LDN, DC is a team on the rise and I think they'll be buying this off-season, including potentially trading their pick away. Pick: 9th Overall Selection: RW - Boing Boing - Projected 7th - @slothfacekilla Biggest Needs: Skaters Description: Not much to say here, but Davos will be adding a nice forward to their group who is a first gen. I know Davos likes to select first gens and honestly, this is probably the best pick remaining at their selection. I think it will be a nice addition to the team, but they probably won't make that much of an impact until later in their career. Boing Boing is a great player and Sloth is a great member, but Davos is already stacked and seems to be for a while moving forward. Regardless, a good pick and someone that can help the team down the road. Pick: 10th Overall Selection: C - John Cowgill - Projected 8th - @FlyingWV Biggest Need: Forward Description: LA will be taking another forward at 10, but I wouldn't be surprised if also this pick is gone. They need to compete now and should probably look at moving this pick, but if not John Cowgill is a good addition to the pool. Another forward which LA desperately need and can make an impact down the line with Igor Sokolov. A good dynamic duo that could bring lots of offense to LA is something they should be ready for, because it probably will happen unless the pick is gone. Picks I think have a chance at being traded: 3rd Overall: LA could look to add to their young core now and have lots of value in this pick. They can add a top tier caliber player to help them compete now, or add a younger piece with this pick. Regardless, high chance of being shipped off with lots of value. 6th & 7th Overall: Both picks that London owns and could either trade separately or package for a massive haul. The top 10 in this draft is fairly good and they can get players that can help them compete ASAP, including next season where they could punch very high into the standings depending on who they get in return for these. 8th Overall: Again like LA/LDN, DC can add to their team now. Their pick has value and can add to their young core in the push for the playoffs. I think they'll be able to add some top tier talent with this pick, even if it's only for a couple seasons. 10th Overall: LA can use this as well to add another player, however, it won't have as much value as 3rd and honestly, probably has a less likely chance of being moved. 3rd overall you can dangle in front of GMs and they'll want to pay up to secure a top 3 pick, but 10th is not as valuable of course. Regardless, you can still get a decent piece to help your team make the playoffs. A week from now, we'll probably see at least 2/3 picks gone and in the hands of other teams, which will completely change the mock draft. However, that's what makes it all fun, because you cannot predict the unpredictable and it'll be very interesting to see what movement we have come draft day! 1500+ words

George Richmond OV

surely they won’t.. right?

LA will be next team. I'm fine looking at Seattle + Moscow as how they're so successful. I kind of already know, but TLDR: They are extremely smart and actually aren't afraid to move people/assets to get what they want. Great culture, great GMs and they know how to win.

I will either be a genius and a reason why Moscow has won, or I will be the eternal curse on Moscow that they can’t win with you as GM unless I’m somehow on the team..

to be fair, I said they could win a game!

Or you repeat

My playoff tree prediction (very short) (incase you just don't want to read) Wildcard matchups: NYA vs. VAN - VAN in 5 Description: VAN is literally just NYA, but slightly better. DAV vs. LDN - DAV in 3 Description: Extreme skill gap. Maybe LDN can sneak out a win. First Round Matchups: TOR vs. VAN - VAN in 7 Description: A one seed has to go down. I think both one seeds could fail to reach the next round. Tough draws for both of them. VAN's goalie gets hot and they go on a run taking down the first seed from NA. SEA vs. CGY - SEA in 6 Description: Seattle is extremely good and on paper, skill gaps Calgary in most important attributes. I think they pull this one out. MOS vs. DAV - MOS in 7 Description: Since I have Toronto losing, I'll give MOS the win here. They are a scary team and will just barely take down Davos. HSK vs. RIGA - RIGA in 6 Description: Very close series between these two teams. I'm going to give the edge to v2, who has a solid team. Goalie gap could become a thing though. Conference Finals VAN vs. SEA - SEA in 7 Description: Seattle is built extremely well. I think Vancouver will give them a run for their money and it'll be a great series. I could honestly see Vancouver being the one wildcard that wins it all. If they didn't have a bad start to the season, they'd be towards the top of NA. MOS vs. RIGA - MOS in 5 Description: If Moscow can get through Davos, they shouldn't really have a problem with Riga. I think this'll be a pretty easy series for Moscow, but if Simon decides to do some crazy stuff, Riga could eliminate them. VHL Finals MOS vs. SEA - MOS in 6 Description: An extremely close series in my eyes. Moscow gets over the curse and wins it all. I think they could either bounce out round one to Davos, or make it to the finals, no in between. Seattle could upset though, but I think Moscow will overcome the curse and get Spartan his second cup.

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