leandrofg

Welcome back, @nurx!

Maverick would know! You've got a friend in @Thunder! Also, cheers on that. I had fun coming up with silly metrics.

Scoring is cool, but winning is cooler - and that's where the Scott Boulet Trophy contenders shine. These players shut down top lines, kill penalties, throw hits, and still light the lamp when it matters. No flash, no fluff - just relentless, hard-nosed hockey. This season's race is heating up with a handful of standout players emerging as frontrunners for this coveted award. Who's taking home the hardware? Let's get into it. -- Toby Kadachi @ROOKIE745 Stats: 66 Points, +1 Plus/Minus, 397 Hits, 29 Shots Blocked, 189 PIMs, 0.75 P/20 ABM (Advanced Boulet Metrics): 66 Points/(Plus/Minus), 2.10 Hits/PIM It would seem the leading player in hits would be a favorite for the award, but Kadachi's season hasn't been his best. With 0.75 Points per 20 minutes played and the ABM showing below-average numbers, they won't be a frontrunner. Predictions: 1/63, @rory -- Antonia Bucatini @CowboyinAmerica Stats: 97 Points, +25 Plus/Minus, 265 Hits, 26 Shots Blocked, 162 PIMs, 1.01 P/20 ABM (Advanced Boulet Metrics): 3.88 Points/(Plus/Minus), 1.64 Hits/PIM See what the Points per Plus/Minus should look like? Under 4. Bucatini is an unlikely leader for the Dynamo in this category, but she's overtaken Ironhide in this department. Her season has been instrumental in the team's efforts but I'm worried her Hits/PIM is too low. Predictions: 4/63. @Corco, @CowboyinAmerica, @AJW, @Oatex -- Axle Gunner @Steve Stats: 91 Points, +20 Plus/Minus, 231 Hits, 26 Shots Blocked, 108 PIMs, 0.93 P/20 ABM (Advanced Boulet Metrics): 4.55 Points/(Plus/Minus), 2.13 Hits/PIM S95 Scott Boulet trophy winner Axle Gunner shows it's possible to be physical and keep yourself out of the penalty box. With the same Hits/PIM as Kadachi, he shows a much better offensive presence with slightly below-average Points per Plus/Minus, but reasonably within limits! Predictions: 3/63. @LucyXpher, @Frank, @Steve -- Maverick Goncalves @leandrofg Stats: 99 Points, +50 Plus/Minus, 250 Hits, 41 Shots Blocked, 86 PIMs, 1.03 P/20 ABM (Advanced Boulet Metrics): 1.98 Points/(Plus/Minus), 2.91 Hits/PIM What can you say about a superstar playing for one of the best teams in the league? The stats look incredible and his ABM is off the charts. Surely a favorite to win the coveted award. Predictions: 7/63. @Ricer13, @minman, @youloser1337, @Aimee , @Dabnad, @leandrofg, @badcolethetitan -- Spanish Moon Moth @Renomitsu Stats: 95 Points, +42 Plus/Minus, 215 Hits, 24 Shots Blocked, 81 PIMs, 1.01 P/20 ABM (Advanced Boulet Metrics): 2.26 Points/(Plus/Minus), 2.65 Hits/PIM It seems a Dark Horse has entered the conversation. No one expected Spanish Moon Moth to be featured, but they've worked their way into this conversation, and with the season-ending stretch where Chicago has to fight for a place in the playoffs remaining, things could just go the Chicago player's way. Predictions: 0/63. -- Incredibly, the most predicted player to win the award isn't heavily featured in this article. Grimgor Ironhide was selected by 15 different people to win, but it seems that isn't going to happen. The second most selected player was George Richmond with 10 votes, but with his ABM being somewhere between Bucatini and Gunner, it seems unlikely for him to be in contention for the award since the overall stats aren't up to par. Maverick, the third most predicted to win, seems like the safer bet at the moment. -- Votes below

Answering three questions gets you 1 Capped TPE Answering six questions gets you 2 Capped TPE -- 1. How did you enjoy this season's Trade Deadline? 2. Two-thirds into the season, how do you feel about your individual efforts? 3. What about the team's efforts? 4. What's your biggest surprise of the season? 5. Other than the Continental Cup, is there anything you look forward to accomplishing individually this season? 6. Pineapple on pizza. Elaborate. -- Player Ping

Goddamnit.

In a shocking turn of events that surprised absolutely no one, this year's trade deadline is trending towards an ending with... well, nothing. Zero trades. Nada. Not even the ceremonial swapping of fourth-round draft picks. Fans and analysts had been bracing themselves for a flurry of moves fueled by these past weeks of baseless rumors, media spots, and the occasional "league source" who clearly just wanted attention. Instead, what they got was a masterclass in standing pat. "We Almost Did Something" General Managers around the league, when pressed for an explanation, offered a range of excuses: "The market just wasn't there." "We had some conversations, but nothing made sense." Translation? Nobody wanted to risk being roasted for a poor deal. After all, it's far easier to criticize other teams' trades than to make your own. The true victims of this uneventful trade deadline were the social media managers and digital creators around the league.With no trades to announce, they were forced to post filler content. Fans were treated to photos of "today's practice," quirky facts, and the dreaded edits with players photoshopped onto other team's jerseys that screamed, "We've got nothing to report." The Winners and Losers Winners: The teams that didn't overpay for mediocrity. Journalists and creators who can now recycle their "winners and losers" template for next year. Losers: Everyone. With no trades to dissect, the focus is already shifting to next season's deadline. Maybe then, someone will remember that trades are supposed to actually happen. Until then, we can only dream of a day when "deadline day" lives up to its name and create countless, reality-overstretched and creative trade possibilities. So... let's do one now. Warsaw is a team in dire need of help. They have one of the shortest rosters in the league, and the team is starting to look worse than it should. Instead of dragging the situation out, why not look for players to put on the ice. Calgary is a competitive team in a strong North American conference, currently featuring seven forwards. This makes them an ideal candidate for a potential trade with Warsaw. The latest trade deadline reports have shown an intense increase in player price - could it be inflation? But, the situation creates the perfect situation for Warsaw to get an extra forward and Calgary to get their S98 1st-round draft pick back. This is the projected farfetched trade that could take Nikita Yolishev to Europe: Warsaw receives: Nikita Yolishev Calgary receives: S98 CGY 1st Does this trade seem realistic considering both teams' situations? Probably not, but that's what you get when you reach a trade deadline without the scent of people moving around. It just seems more and more like teams either get ready in the offseason or they'll fall behind the rest of the league. This piece was written across two different days and still... no new notifications of a trade being processed around the league. It seems more and more likely that literally nothing will happen.

I appreciate that. Hopefully, those who listen will take some extra knowledge from it!

This looks both menacing and f-ing brilliant! I appreciate you!

Let me clarify something right from the start: this isn't typical for me. I'm not ordinarily someone who talks a lot or opens up about himself for the whole world to read. I prefer to lead by example rather than being vocal. But this season has been special - and meaningful to me. I felt it was the perfect time to share a little bit of myself and give our amazing fans an inside look into this incredible team and organization. Before I dive into what drives our team and the playoff journey that lies ahead, I want to take a moment to share a story that I hold dear to me. It was about five seasons ago I turned professional. I came into the VHLM as an overhyped, unproven prospect who wasn't prepared for the reality of the minor leagues, coming from junior hockey. Yet it seemed like my family name turned me into one of the most polarizing prospects in the prospect pool. Thankfully, I have managed to stay the course and surround myself with beautiful individuals. Some have believed in my skill more than anyone else, and others couldn't care less about what I do on the ice. This has allowed me to stay grounded, focused, and motivated on self-improvement. I'm thankful for the opportunity in San Diego for all the help and love the city gave me during my time there. We weren't successful, and I was a shade of myself, but it showed me what my path should look like, and I decided to return to Europe. Cologne. That city, that team... they gave me two of the best years of my life. The greatest franchise in VHLE history, the greatest GM in VHLE history... it was fantastic. They provided me with the platform to show everyone what I could do, and I tried to be the best player I could for them. Those seasons and that mentality continue to endure in me, and I have maintained that since. If I have something to reflect on, it's that. I've done that for the past seasons in Moscow, and I turned myself into the best version I could be at any given moment. Today, I feel like I'm the best player in the league. That's not enough. I want to leave a legacy - one on this team and in the league. That's my motivation moving forward: to be the best player I can be. The best for myself, my teammates, for Moscow's history, and for the league.

Just use the "follow" function for the Fantasy thread: https://vhlforum.com/forum/87-vhl-fantasy-zone/. Easy and simple without worrying about missing out - unless you're like me and forget. So many users on that list are IA, and it's an extra task for whoever does that job.

Yeah, I see how that distraction helped. In truth, even without one, you can be more efficient and concise, but doing that in real time creates obstacles, which is normal. A voiceover would have been a better choice. Well, I have feedback that is close to that. Mine does tell me that when I'm speaking casually (with you, for instance), I have a better accent compared to when I'm talking with work colleagues. But, yes, it is a weird feeling hearing yourself speak, and I would think that the whole situation and hearing the clips over and over exacerbated the filling around the filler words. I will take your words onward, while keeping close tabs on any future conversation I may have.

The ultimate GM guide!

I like the conference split.

Last week, I joked about making a podcast. This week, I have a newfound appreciation for those who talk about whatever VHL subject it may be alone. Don't get me wrong, it was fun. Creating the Spotify account, idealizing the podcast, getting a poorly made AI graphic that you have to manually edit, writing the introduction... but then, you have to talk to the microphone. Alone, with no script to guide me and no one to bounce ideas off, I had to try stringing together coherent sentences and keep them coming. It felt like I had to fight for the words to come out. Thankfully, I started the introduction with a couple of pre-written paragraphs. After that... weird? Hearing yourself speak... holy shit. At least I can have some takeaways, but the amount of filler words was too much. Do I talk like that in real life? I would think not, but now I'm not as sure. Anyway, that was a fun challenge. Hopefully, I can get better at that.

Disclaimer: I have nothing interesting to say. Should have done an MS instead.

This is an informal, quick, midseason checkpoint or review for me. If you aren't an updater, make sure you don't stick around for the filibustering that's about to take place. After Josh's 2024 Holiday Celebration prize announcements were published, I thought this could be a great week to max out that TPE, write a Media Spot, and create a supporting graphic to be claimed as a dot com. Instead, I couldn't even give our backup an extra start in Calgary, creating a need to review the backup schedule. Back to the TPE. With that in mind, I thought it would be a great way to put an extra 18 TPE on the board. 6 from the Point Task, and another 6 from its Doubles, plus 2 from the dot com, with another 4 coming from the uncapped TPE Package I have going on with Maverick. I failed. No worries there! This will give me the extra TPE I need to increase Maverick's SH to 95. Next week, I shall create a PT for that sweet Holiday Celebration Doubles! At this point, I reckon I could extend this to 500 words, but no time! Maybe a podcast next week!

THIS IS NOT A PAYOUT THREAD. CLAIMING THIS WILL LEAD TO A PAYOUT REDUCTION. -- Direct Link -- Direct Link -- Direct Link

THIS IS NOT A PAYOUT THREAD. CLAIMING THIS WILL LEAD TO A PAYOUT REDUCTION. -- Direct Link

F - Antonia Bucatini F - Raimo Tuominen

50% payout for @cLoWn G - WWWWWWWWWWWW WWWWWWWWWWWW

Answering three questions gets you 1 Capped TPE Answering six questions gets you 2 Capped TPE -- 1. The offseason is over... how did you enjoy it? 2. With the season about to start, what's your personal goal? 3. What's the key to achieving the Continental? 4. Are you following the VHLM this season? 5. What's your favorite holiday sweet? 6. What are you looking forward to the most in the New Year? -- Player Ping

Corrected! Thank you! It's exactly what Jacob is saying. I took the data on Monday/Tuesday, so whatever the stats are at that time are final for the season. I then adjust the TPA & Player Cost to account for some banking discrepancies.