CrookedAnt

The Las Vegas Ace's drafted Antoine Barksdale at 125 TPE, and so far he's exceeded expectations. In contention for top five centers in the VHLM putting on a scoring, assist, and points display that few players could do on the ice. He's now sitting at 204 total TPE with four banked, and capped for the league. He has gone on record to say he think he was a steal at that spot, and that he will make the team's above him pay. He proved that today against Houston Bull's putting up four goals, and six points showing them they were wrong for picking high earners over him. Demonstrating his wrath as he checks team after team off his little notebook for scorning his legacy. In the post game presser he said Bull was on the Menu tonight, and this would be a regular occurrence. They lost a few times to them in the beginning of the season, but haven't lost since. The Vegas squadron rallying around their center as he tries to raise, and compete for the #1 spot in the League Center's position.

The Las Vegas Ace's drafted Antoine Barksdale at 125 TPE, and so far he's exceeded expectations. In contention for top five centers in the VHLM putting on a scoring, assist, and points display that few players could do on the ice. He's now sitting at 204 total TPE with four banked, and capped for the league. He has gone on record to say he think he was a steal at that spot, and that he will make the team's above him pay. He proved that today against Houston Bull's putting up four goals, and six points showing them they were wrong for picking high earners over him. Demonstrating his wrath as he checks team after team off his little notebook for scorning his legacy. In the post game presser he said Bull was on the Menu tonight, and this would be a regular occurrence. They lost a few times to them in the beginning of the season, but haven't lost since. The Vegas squadron rallying around their center as he tries to raise, and compete for the #1 spot in the League Center's position.

Back to back VHLM champions Las Vegas Aces are now facing a once in a lifetime opportunity - achieving the first ever VHLM threepeat. The one asked to direct such a feat is none other than Shindigs. As we're approaching this season's trade deadline, let's look back and reflect on his season so far.
 
At the draft table
 
The dispersal draft is arguably the most crucial step for the success of any VHLM team. Shindigs's job was made harder by the lack of 1st round pick, but multiple late rounds picks gave him more shots at potential draft steals. Let's look at each of his selections, their stats and their starting and current TPE.
 
Round 2, 13th overall: Joel Castle (G; 171 ➡️ 224 TPE). Nothing wrong with drafting a great earner goalie close to 200 TPA cap in the second. With .912 SVS%, 2.39 GAA ans 5 shutouts in 36 games played, and with most of the hardest matchups already behind them, he should be in the Benoit Devereux Trophy conversation when all is said and done.
 
Round 2, 16th overall: Jens Lekman (D; 88 ➡️ 150 TPE). Second lowest TPE player drafted in the second round, but one of the better earners of the whole draft. Scoring 28 points (4+24) in 43 makes him the highest scoring Aces defenseman.
 
Round 2, 20th overall: Antoine Barksdale (C; 125 ➡️ 204 TPE). With his.last 2nd round selection, Shindigs took another player with TPE on the lower side compared to other 2nd rounders, but one of the best earners of the draft class. Sensing a pattern? What a steal by Shindigs.
 
Round 3, 23th overall: Sigma Freud (D; 76 ➡️ 119 TPE). A defender with one of tht best names in the draft class. He's probably not developing as quickly as Shindigs hoped he would, but he's still an active, very solid contributor on the Aces' blue line.
 
Round 4, 31st overall: Kobe Johnson (RW; 90 ➡️ 109 TPE). A nice depth player to round out the forward group, but not really tipping the scales.on ice at this point.
 
Round 4, 33rd overall: Wann Kerr (C; 76 ➡️ 156 TPE). Okay, I'm biased towards my player, let's just say it's a 4th round selection who's grown 80 TPE since the draft and is poised to hit 200 TPE in the postseason.
 
Round 4, 36th overall; Grigoris Polyhronidis Jr (D; 129 ➡️ 151 TPE). A solid bet on higher TPE defenseman. He's established himself as a strong sefensive force. Unfortunately, there have been some rumors about losing him due to inactivity, but that's hardly something a GM can predict.
 
Round 7, 70th overall: Shadow Thompson (G; 48 ➡️ 78). Drafting an active player with the last pick of the draft has to be a hit by default. He's showing glimpses of some upside and solid growth eatly in his career. Efen though he's not a part of the LVA organisation anymore, we're just looking at the draft selections themselves in this section, and it was a pretty good one.
 
All things considered, Shindigs did a great job drafting and scouting. Acquiring 2 players who have already capped at 200 TPE and a couple more players potentially doing so before the past puck drop of the postseason - without having a 1st round selection at his disposal - is a marvelous example of great scouting.
 
Trading
 
(Note: trades involving S85 draft picks are not included in this article)
 
Pick trades are worth mentioning, but they're ultimately non-factors for this season. LVA has acquired S86 SDM 3rd in exchange for S87 LVA 3rd and 6th; this trade took place to improve LVA's position in the S86 draft, after Shindigs's planned departure.
 
The only trade including a player Shindigs made this season so far is trading Shadow Thompson to Houston for their S86 6th round draft pick. Shadow looked really promising and probably deserves the opportunity to get more ice time than he would get backing up Joel Castle. Trading him to get another S86 draft pick was the right call. 6th rounder is a better value than 7th rounder Thompson was selected with, however with the promise he's shown, I believe acquiring maybe a 5th rounder would be doable.
 
Waiver pickups
 
Waiver pickups are basically always a win in this league. Shindigs was able to sign Viktor Hasek (goaltender) and Edward Traverse (defenseman), both are well on the track to become good earners and high S86 VHLM draft picks. And especially Viktor is really active in the locker room.
 
Overall grade: A-
 
Word count: 754
Claiming 6 uncapped for week ending 10/2, and 6 capped for week ending 10/9 as allowed by the theme week topic, because I'm currently claiming TPE from multi-week MP.

It's beautiful!

also I would like to put my opinion on something here. I signed up last week. I am technically new. After I created my player, I had no idea teams offered me contracts. I see many new players who sign up and do not reply to contracts due to it being confusing and no guide for them. It took me about 30-40 minutes if I remember correctly, to actually figure out I got offered contracts. I think, the recruiting team needs to get involved in this with the owners and make the guiding system much easier for newer players. somethign as simple as an inbox message that you got offered a contract.

Man's doing lord's work with this gah darn detective work, and y'all out here slandering him oh g' danger, man.
 
real talk, seems like a serious problem, but also a necessary one. there isn't enough active users likely to field full rosters. 

This thread.
 

Hello @Members!
 
It's been an exciting few weeks of S85, and we're at the point where we celebrate Theme Week!
 
Additionally, that means that the Trade Deadline is Monday, October 3rd at 3pm EDT. This also means that anyone wishing to re-create for the S87 draft can do so starting at midnight that same day.
 
---
 
For this season, we've decided on a theme of:
 
It's a pretty general theme and you have plenty of creative freedom. For anyone who might need them, we can give you some ideas for your Point Tasks. For our graphics folks, consider creating a sig for a current GM, or make a graphic celebrating a GM's accomplishments. For our writers or podcasters, discuss what makes a good GM, or reflect on your old GMs and what they did that you appreciated and enjoyed. There's plenty of opportunity for reflection and appreciation for the group of members that do their best to give you all a great player experience.
 
To earn your Theme Week TPE, write an article, create a graphic, or record a podcast with some connection to “GMs / Team Management”. 
 
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In order to claim the theme week bonus of 6 Uncapped TPE, simply submit your Themed PT (Graphic, Media Spot, or 6-TPE Podcast), and claim it as normal. After claiming the PT portion, you can use the same link, and claim the uncapped portion as follows: Claim Uncapped > Other > Doubles Week. (Note: you do not need to post your link in this thread to claim either portion of TPE). 
 
Make sure to tag your articles with “theme week” so we can collect all the great work in one easy-to-find spot.
If you have already submitted a Point Task for this week, or are in the midst of claiming a multi-week Media Spot/Podcast, you may still submit a Theme Week PT this week, and claim the capped portion on the next available week, following your multi-week claim.
 
Also, if you have a single job that pays 6+, you may claim the theme week bonus as long as you complete your duties for the week. If you are in the EFL or SBA and have completed their most recent Media Week, you may use that to claim the Uncapped theme week bonus, but a PT must be completed this week in order to claim the Capped portion, whether that is completed here or through Affiliate Welfare.
 
Note: Only players who are S86 or older may claim the theme week bonus.
 
@VHL GM
@VHLE GM
@VHLM GM

Man's doing lord's work with this gah darn detective work, and y'all out here slandering him oh g' danger, man.
 
real talk, seems like a serious problem, but also a necessary one. there isn't enough active users likely to field full rosters. 

Man what did welfare users do to you

New York Americans, 19 players in the system - all welfare earners or inactive. Every single one, I clicked through all of them. In the VHL roster, you can find four or five GMs and active users. The funny thing is that New York was not even the worst team in the league.  New York finished  6th in NA with 61 points. Los Angeles had 51 points.  Los Angeles has 15 players in the system, 13 of them are welfare earners or inactive. In the VHL roster, you can find 4 or 5 active users. Vancouver Wolves finished last in NA with 43 points.  Vancouver has 9 players in the system, and all of them are welfare earners or inactive. In the VHL roster, you can find maybe 3 active users.
 
After analyzing these three teams, I want to ask: who is making sure those who fight against multis are not creating multis themselves? Who is making sure these welfare users are not controlled by the league?
Go look at the rosters and prospect pools of these three teams. Look at the names. Who are these people? Quite a few show up, just to click a few buttons. Common to see that there is very little activity on the forum.  They do not read anything. They do not react to anything. Do they even follow the sims? It is odd to think so many enjoy the "community" but do not react to anything on the forum. Some might browse VHL without logging into their accounts, but you would think at some point they stumble on content that is just "too good" to not react to, maybe even comment. Still, so few do that. That is odd.

It is obvious that so many show up to click those few buttons after receiving ping from a GM in the Discord locker room. Is that not technically like controlling multiple users? The GM or assistant GM, directly or via a bot, has to remind the users to come in and click a few buttons.  That is one step away from the users just giving their login information away and the GM's login to push those buttons themselves.
Even if they are considered rebuilding or tanking teams, it is crazy to think that New York, LA, and Vancouver struggle to have 10 active players combined. Why are these teams in the league? Why do we have so many teams in the league? These welfare players should be in another league. These teams should be in another league.  They do not belong to VHL.
 
 

 
VHL should be a competitive league, where every team has a good chance to win and compete. Some teams are always better, but maybe it is time to ask for more if three teams on average have 4 active players. What kind of user experience is that? Can you imagine spending months and months earning TPE in a team that is going absolutely nowhere, NOWHERE. The icing on the cake is that your GM is playing in some other team, competing while you sit there next to an army of welfare users and maybe a few other active users.  
 
If you are a relatively new user, let me ask you this: why? Why would you join this experience now? The user experience is at the all-time low. Nobody reads anything. Nobody listens to anything. Nobody comments on anything. This league is full of bots.  You are far better off starting a TikTok channel right now. If you can't dance or speak. It does not matter. Starting the TikTok channel is still a better use of your time. I will bet anything that I own that you are able to have more discussion about hockey in your TikTok comments section than anywhere in VHL. On top of that, you will learn more about yourself on TikTok.  You will learn valuable skills. You will have a way better time than in VHL.  If you are an experienced user, maybe on your second or third player, time to call it a day. This will be your last player. Use what you have learned so far on something else. Start a graphics career. Get a writing job of some sort.  Whatever. It is time to leave.
 
 

 
If you want to be a GM in VHL, let me ask you this: why? Why would you want to GM a welfare team, you just want the prestige of being a GM and ignore the competing part completely? Do you think you will turn the team around? It's impossible. There are not enough truly active users.  This league is full of bots. You will get absolutely nowhere with welfare players. Anyone who says that is lying to you. Welfare players are useless. Welfare players are good for lazy general managers who only care about their own GM experience. They want it easy. They do not care about the league. If they cared about the league they would actively shame welfare players for being what they are - useless. General managers who say welfare players are useful are like the cryptocurrency promoters you see in every single cryptocurrency forum. They will push the cryptocurrency of their choice down your throat, hyping it up, making you believe it's a valuable and smart investment.  In reality, everything is a lie. All based on potential and what if. Just like welfare players.  You will hear these lines: "The welfare player could turn it around, I know plenty of examples. Welfare does not mean inactive user.  The welfare player is still a useful player, I know a team that did well with welfare player".  All lies. Useless. Terrible for the team. Terrible for the league.

I think the league should remove the welfare button from the portal and bring claiming welfare back to the forum. That way independent researchers, like myself, are able to collect data and facts about these users to analyze whether they are real people, or fake accounts created by the league to keep numbers up.  I want to see when these users claim welfare. I also want to make it illegal for GMs to send any type of reminders about TPE earning to their players, anywhere in any way. Who is going to police that? The moderators. For once, make them do some actual work.

VHL, the beautiful garden of the past is now full of weeds. What used to be fertile ground is now covered in rainbow-colored concrete. What used to be a pretty lake where you were able to catch fish is now a graveyard full of computer parts removed from old welfare users. What used to be a park where ideas and thoughts were discussed is now a public toilet where users, like myself, talk about nothing to nobody.
 
1000 words
 
22. 8 - 28.8
29.8 - 4.9
 

Henry Eagles today has announced he will be donating a portion of his salary to help open a new ice rink in his community. This arena will be used to junior hockey games as well as other ice activities such as family skating, competitive ice skating and curling. This new arena was much needed as the current facility was over 40 years old and starting to fall apart.
 
"I think every community needs a arena where everyone can learn to skate or even play their favorite sports " Henry said "I always like to be involved in the community and this was a great way to help out and help bring a new and improved arena. The town wanted to name the arena after me but I declined. This isn't about having your name on a building but it's about helping out all the kids who one day may grow up to be great athletes"
 
It is rumored Henry will be funding 75% of the costs of the arena but we were unable to verify the number. We look forward to the grand opening which is slated to happen by the start of next year.

One of the best GMs in the M, if not the best. You are an example of how a team should be ran in the M, the Aces are a dynasty and you’re for sure one of the greats. I’ll miss ya when you decide to step down. 😧

Goat GM Shindigs

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

A good GM in my eyes: Shindigs

Interested 👀

Is it okay if I keep running my own accounts?

That's what I'm talking about. Letting the hater's burdens build up, and overwhelm you.
 
Crush your spirit. YES!!!!
 
(also I'm just mad we aren't on any of the same teams. LR always popping with Jacob in it.  )

I need that good good carryover TPE so I gotta commit to the bit but maybe I just start dumping TPE into some really dumb stats and call it quits

Wolanin will never be as good as his EFL counter part. Just end his career here.
 
Sincerely, the haters.