Pifferfish

Sorry, had to stick mainly with the top teams and goalies are just tough because like there aren't bad ones so are the good ones really that good ya know?

You were probably 4th in points then hahaha.

(Credit: @ace_five_) Race to the Top Written by @Pifferfish Here we are at the all wonderful trade deadline in both leagues and now seems as good a time as any to peek at the points race and see who has the best odds to go home with the coveted Mike Szatkowski Trophy! The obvious name to shoutout first is Spanish Moon Moth @Renomitsu of the Chicago Phoenix who currently leads the VHL with 86 points so far on what has been a really good offensive team. Chicago sits at 6th league wide in Goals For and this 5th year player is a huge part of that success, following up their breakout 104 point campaign with another stellar season, having already tied their 33 goals from last season thus far. Much of this production comes alongside another 5th year star in Joshua Schwarzer @Velevra who has 75 points so far and is tied 7th on the overall points leaderboard. Both these players hope to continue their success heading towards the postseason and plan to keep Moon Moth on top from now until the season wraps up. Another player who is coming out of nowhere it seems like is Riley Martin @Smarch from the Vancouver Wolves. Martin enters year 4 as a pro and already have career highs in goals and assists at only 52 games in. Boasting the VHL's 3rd highest point total at 77 right now. The Wolves sit 4th in the North American Conference standings and this player is a major reason why they are holding strong. Being the lone Wolf in the top 10 of the points leaderboards must be a bit of an annoyance as you'd love to see a little more team wide production. Very curious to see if the coach tries to get the boys to spread the love a little more of keeps the boys feeding their hottest player. Either way, the Dustin Funk Trophy is calling this player for sure even if he can't crack the top of the points. The last couple players I want to look at are from the reigning Victory Cup winners in the Moscow Menace. Last season, this team was dominant on both ends of the ice and that seems to be continuing this season. Offensively, this team is led by Jarmo Ruutu @jRuutu and George Richmond @badcolethetitan. Ruutu currently sits 2nd overall in points with 79 and Richmond is tied for 4th with 76. The Menace lead the league in goals for with other key contributors helping boost these forwards in Maverick Goncalves' @leandrofg playmaking with 50 assists and David Rashford's @Knight wicked shot with 37 goals. Neither of them crack the top 10 but their support is a big factor in Ruutu race to the top against Spanish Moon Moth. Moscow is leading the league in the standings and I'm sure that's their top priority but a little individual hardware (again) wouldn't hurt the energy of their players. ----- VHLM MVP Written by @Pifferfish Now I have been vocal in the past on VHLM awards and my feelings on what deserves these honors and what doesn't. I'll start this piece with this, my criteria for winning MVP; if you don't meet these minimums, you don't deserve even a nomination in my opinion. First, you must be on a playoff team. 80! of the VHLM doesn't immediately break out their golfing bags at the end of the season, if you are the MVP, you shouldn't be in the 20% that is. Next, you have to be the best player on your team. How could a person be the 2nd best player on their team but the leaguewide MVP, it doesn't make sense and it shouldn't have to be said... but I'm here saying it... again. That's all I require, so without further ado, the best cases for MVP right now. This season has been a little crazy after the VHLE was disbanded and goalies have reaped the benefits as most of them are just brutally dominant. With that said, I'm going to try to keep that context in mind when making these selections. Chazz Michael Michaels @Xflexz from the Mexico City Kings while not the single most dominant goalie in the league has been the star of his team as they lead their conference. The Kings have a -16 goal differential right now mainly due to a lack of goal scoring boasting the 4th lowest total in the M. With the 5th best record in the league as a whole its a shock they even lead the West but this team's defensive identity is taking them a long way. 4 of their 5 highest point scoring players are defensemen and Chazz has benefitted a ton from that dominant blue line. An 1.80 GAA and .926 SV% both look like career marks for the young netminder and carry a strong case for MVP consideration. In Ottawa, Brandon Petan Jr. @sadie and River Harrington @kirbithan continue to be an amazing duo but only one is truly the MOST valuable. I'm giving it to Harrington with a 66 point campaign as a Dman. River led the VHLM in point until just about a week ago and the Lynx held the league's top record until about then as well. While the offensive production is awesome, we also have to see the defensive upside as well. +15 with 50 shots blocked are big parts of helping Vladimir Trunov's @qripll 1.57 GAA (something I tend to see as a team stat more than just a goalie one). Ottawa currently has the least goals against in the VHLM as a team. Next up we have to talk about Anthony SImmons II @Starchychaff in Miami. This is a really strong case where individual production compared to his teammates really sways my opinion. Only 53 points and a +3 this season but when lined up against the 40 points and +2 of Luc Moreau @minman (who is #2 in points on the team) you can see why I think this player deserves major consideration. Simmons has a 35 plus goal pace right now and has 7 game winners (tied for 2nd in the VHLM). Simply put, Miami is battling hard in a tough Eastern conference and have struggled defensively with the 2nd worst goals against mark in the VHLM but Simmons is the biggest reason they are managing the 2nd best goals for number. This is the player that I would be voting for if I had a say and the season ended right now. Now I do quickly want to mention the VHLM's top team in Philadelphia really fast. They have three players at or just above 70 points right now so shouting out one would seem silly but watch out as YNFR @twists has been very hot recently. Even a 5 point gap from his fellow Reapers could be enough with another top mark in points to convince me that this is a deserving run for back-to-back MVP wins. That said, even if a gap doesn't emerge and should Philly remain on top, at least one Reaper will be on the ballot and I'd expect it to be YNFR.

Listen if I could shit on Alex, I would lol. A good Davos team is a scourge on the league that should not stand. But yeah idk, at a minimum to me you gotta be top 6 then evaluate the moves is more so what I meant. So like if they are top 2 in EU at the deadline and traded for a player that's in that 900-1000 TPE range to then become a #1 team, I'd say that constitutes enough for me. Plus I know the trades haven't netted a elite player but Mina has been really good so far and Free Agency is part of acquisitions and Merome Dilson is theoretically a really good goalie in the VHL.

Well luckily it's not an award that gets award for the first two Sims of the season lol. my analysis is based on what I expect Davos to do. make a big time splash and as a projected 4th place team, should they finish better than that I think its pretty high odds. Like you can make the argument any team that finishes top 6 overall probably has a good case for GMOTY. All of them make/made moves. Alex certainly is in that Convo right now.

Woods had an 8 point lead on you 2 Sims ago. That's down to 4 now. I think you'll be fine

because i had to edit this topic and im unsure if that ruined the mentions i had done doing them down here to make sure yall know your names have been echoed into the void of the VHL forums by me: @mmrs617 @Lemorse7 @Steve @Banackock @LucyXpher @Beketov @Fradin99 @scoop @Doomsday @Frank @Moon @Grape @Girts @Daniel Janser @Ricer13 @Phil @Aimee @dstevensonjr @Dadam30 @KaleebtheMighty @Alex @Spartan @BrutalBoost @MexicanCow123 @Snussu @traphag @CowboyinAmerica @v.2 @ToddlyBobbly

(Credit: @mmrs617) Welcome readers! Today I'm going to be giving my personal predictions on who will take home some of the VHL's hardware during next offseason. This will be a two part series as these are a lot of awards to cover and I just think breaking things up a bit will make things easier to digest. Now, a couple more caveats before I begin: firstly, these predictions are mostly my own and will likely different from some theories on the matter, Simon is a tough nut to crack after all and can sometimes get a little whacky. Secondly, most of these were written before the start of S96 and so they are not influenced by any of the sims so far, others were written after the start of sims so I have more data to utilize. Let's get right to it then! --- Victory Cup Best Regular Season Record Riga Reign @Lemorse7 HMs: Moscow Menace / Malmo Nighthawks Riga is probably one of if not the best roster in the league right off the bat in the VHL and that bodes well for them. Two monsters in the center position in Axle Gunner @Steve and Severus Targaryen @Banackock along with a great defensive game led by veteran Mark Calaway @Beketov and netminder Red Panda @Lemorse7 mean this team's weakness could only be hubris if we had to pick one. I think, however, the most important thing in making them Victory Cup favorites is their favorable conference. The top 3 team's league wide last season were all in the EU. Why was that? It comes down to the competition. You play against your conference slightly more and the bottom of the EU is worse than the bottom of the NA I think. Helsinki, Prague, Warsaw, London are all majorly flawed teams. Compare that to the NA where your bottom four are DC, Los Angeles, Seattle, and Calgary and you see why I hold my beliefs. I just think all those rebuilding teams are farther along than their EU counterparts by a country mile. Which means more losses to the weaker teams in the NA conference overall. @KaleebtheMighty and Malmo have a very very strong regular season track record but could just be outclassed by Riga's core this season. Moscow is playing really well right now and I do think that has a lot to do with the mind of GM @Spartan . He has a proven track record of strong management but I have to think the 600 TPE goalie in Joseph Reed @BrutalBoost eventually drops the ball enough times to allow Riga to crawl back into the thick of it. --- Terence Fong Trophy EU Conference Champion HC Davos Dynamo @Alex HM: Riga Reign Probably a more controversial pick but it's very possible Alex goes and makes a deadline splash and pushes himself deep into cup contention. Moscow is weaker in net and Malmo hasn't made it past round one with Kaleeb as GM in ... ever? (I genuinely don't know.) Davos had a similar offseason agenda as Toronto, sure up the goalie spot with someone who makes you a contender. AKK @Snussu was excellent in their rookie campaign, but Dilson @MexicanCow123 is a real top end stud and could be exactly what this team needs to make a leap along with a ton of up and comers. Riga obviously has a great team but they don't really have any assets to push even further with TDL activity. Other stars like Antonia Bucatini @CowboyinAmerica and Owen Lazaro @traphag should keep their production cruising through to the finals. --- Devon Marlow-Marta Trophy NA Conference Champion Toronto Legion @Moon HM: Vancouver Wolves Part of me would want this semi final just for the storylines with the Vidarsson @KaleebtheMighty trade but I really just think these are two of the better constructed rosters in the VHL. Other strong candidates would be Chicago or New York but I just haven't seen their GMs have playoff success like I have seen with Vancouver and Toronto. @Moon and @Frank both have proven track records of making big adjustments to squeeze out every ounce of performance they can from the personnel they have at their disposal. The main reason I chose Toronto despite the depreciation and retirement they endured is that aforementioned trade. Last season, they went to game 7 in the cup final with a 550 TPE goalie in Toddly Bobbly @ToddlyBobbly and they now have the reigning league MVP and Shaw winner in net instead. I just believe that's enough to at least get them back to the dance, despite Vancouver having an incredible squad top to bottom. Toronto also still has two of their big three forwards from last season in Diego Machado @Dadam30 and Harry Callahan @dstevensonjr so I don't see the loss of Mac Atlas @v.2 being as critical as others have theorized. --- Continental Cup VHL Championship Team Toronto Legion @Moon HM: HC Davos Dynamo Toronto was just one game from lifting the cup last year as I previously mentioned. Arguably their biggest weakness was goaltending and they fixed that… as stated. They did lose a franchise legend in Mac Atlas to the driving ranges but they still have two wicked forwards in Callahan and Machado… as stated. The window is closing for Toronto soon so now is the time to make the moves to secure a cup. I trust the process here and let's be honest, pretty much nobody other than Riga players thought they would win last year and look what happened, I'm willing to make an out there pick and appeal to Simon's never ending lust for chaos. --- David Knight Trophy Top General Manager HC Davos Dynamo @Alex HMs: @Lemorse7 (Riga) / @Frank (Vancouver) I don't really know totally what the criteria this award is generally voted on is; good moves, in season success, playoff success, all of them, none of them, some ratio of them all? I do know however that I personally look at this as an award for the GM who made the best moves to actively push their team to success. Key phrasing is "made the best moves." So while a GM like Lemorse is probably going to have a good team, he usually spends most of his trade chips at the beginning of the season and I feel his moves to set up the year could be long forgotten. Alex on the other hand has quite a few chips in place to make further moves this trade deadline and jumpstart a playoff run. The moves will be fresh on our minds and we will look back at them fondly should they win. Even if it's a "regular season" award. --- Daisuke Kanou Trophy Playoff MVP Harry Callahan @dstevensonjr HMs: Diego Machado / Dalkr Vidarsson As we discussed already, I do think Toronto bounces back in a big way and returns to the finals to capture glory. That said, this award is difficult to predict even if I got the team right. Callahan theoretically is strictly better than Machado and should produce more, but once again… Simon T is going to be a little freakazoid from time to time. Vidarsson I think will be a big part of this team making the jump, but this league has so much scoring that I don’t see the numbers looking glamorous. Also, it's worth noting that had they won game 7 last season, Callahan would have been the likely winner in S95. --- Christian Stolzschweiger Trophy Top Rookie Soju @Frank HMs: Spider Panda / Ahsoka Tano In S95 the only reason Lovstrom didn't win ROTY off his Clegane performance was the games played, which won't be an issue for Soju. I don’t see much standing in the way of Soju putting up comparable numbers to Lovstrom’s rookie campaign. Like Jorgen, he has a strong defensive team in front of him that should be blazing hot from start to finish this season. Even if the conference is “tougher” I don’t think the gap in numbers will hurt Soju’s case here. Only real risk to him is Spider Panda @Ricer13 but once again, better team and more TPE currently for the Vancouver netminder. If you don't want to roll with the goalie I think your next best bets are Tano @Aimee or Sakic @Phil. Sakic I think is just in a position where it comes down to playing time and whether he gets it. With good linemates he has a build capable of a nice 60+ point season already. I’m just not sure he is going to be placed in the position to do that this season. Tano doesn't have much scoring to speak of but if Aim focuses on the OV and gets that to the 70s maybe we see this player take the strides to get a 50 point rookie campaign. Tano also has the benefit of getting that top line ice time with a weaker roster around them and somebody has to get the points for Helsinki. Soju is the only rookie I kind of know for sure what to expect out of this season; 0.915+ SV% and a sub 2.75 GAA seem very reasonable. --- Jake Wylde Trophy Top Defensive Defenseman Guntis Gavilrovs @Girts HM: Jacob Stone / Callum Gary Yannick Janser I was originally going to go with YaBoi Oven @Doomsday , who I believed in last season and fell just short of my expectations, but I can't look at the numbers and come to the conclusion that he magically improves majorly on last season, at least in terms of defensive categories. Instead I'll choose a guy I expect to make a jump in Gavilrovs. As stated, I think Vancouver could be a really good defensive team and limit shots against, but if they end up in the middle of the pack in that statistic again, I see no reason why Gavilrovs couldn't repeat or even improve on his top 10 performances in both Hits and Shots Blocked. Stone @scoop as man honorable mention is just me saying "if that guy maintains his performance, he is a good candidate to repeat." I will admit that we should call upon the voting committee to observe his shot blocking with a critical eye. In the same way that we don't heavily value the shot blocking of defensemen on teams who lead the league in shots against because that always just ends up equating to more shot blocks by default, we should also be critical of Dmen who play on a 5v5 line with a bot. Each defensive line will get a certain number of blocks in a game and being alongside a bot is a certified cheat code in this regard because their defense attribute is bad. Another stronger candidate I’ll put forward is CGY Janser @Daniel Janser. He, unlike Stone, plays next to flesh and blood players in the New York Americans’ lineup. Janser shot blocks and hits just as Guntis does. --- Alexander Valiq Trophy Top Offensive Defenseman Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage @Grape HM: YaBoi Oven / Jacob Stone / Lucy Leitner I see Moscow as a team that's main downgrade from one short season ago is in net, so I see no reason why Bocage shouldn't replicate his last campaign on the offensive side. He is still one of his team's best weapons. This league does have so many weapons on the defensive side of things so it’s tough to choose honorable mentions. Lucy @LucyXpher is off my list and that has not a damn thing to do with talent. Lucy is great but Lemorse keeps adding an elite veteran defenseman that takes some shine from Lucy. With Fradin @Fradin99 still there along with Callaway coming in it's just a lot of mouths to feed and I don't know if this offense can secure the production necessary to feed any of them enough for real consideration here. Stone @scoop is a bit of a wildcard because the team around him is theoretically worse but he does still have that elite goal scoring capability on the powerplay and 5v5 so just a big unknown for how much consideration he gets. Then lastly, I wanted to shout out YaBoi Oven @Doomsday again. Chicago is seemingly in the same middle of the NA conference circling pattern they’ve been on for a few seasons [prewritten, don’t judge me] and I predicted him to win this award last year. When I said he underperformed that was only on defensive metrics. His offense was exactly as I predicted; a 90 point breakout campaign. I can totally see that again this season. Bocage had 100 though last year. I don't see the path to that number for Oven so I’m tempering expectations on him this time around. --- Sterling Labatte Trophy Top Overall Defenseman Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage @Grape HM: YaBoi Oven / Jacob Stone Once again, I expect the offensive and defensive production for Bocage to remain consistent. I don't see anyone surpassing those numbers with growth so I see it as his award to lose. Stone should remain quite capable even post depreciation. YaBoi Oven's situation was good enough to be a nominee last season and I don't think his situation got any worse. It just didn't improve much either, which it would need to in order to pass Bocage potentially in my mind. --- That wraps up part one of this two part VSN special! Just... *doing mental math* ... NINE more awards to go. Hopefully I find the energy to do this 6 hour process again, love you forum and your terrible inability to let me copy/paste anything into you.

@PadStackPapa goated username, please do not retire my friend.

Bro, players with really good 600 TPE builds are a hot commodity. Center is a tough spot to do it but trust you are important to your team.

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Tried reading it, got to a word over 5 letters. Need to sleep now. Great work @sadie

L

That concludes things, thank you all so much for reading these and bearing with me. I know it was a little slow, and I apologize. I spent the whole weekend typing all of these only to have the file get lost (family computer low on space, probably a sibling trying to make space or something idk). Either way I had to retype every entry and result manually so thank for the patience. Particular shoutout to @Spartan who I know has been here the entire time waiting for the next award to pop up. Love ya dawg.

All-VHL First Team David Rashford | Jarmo Ruutu | Randy Bobandy Obuz Schneider Canet du Bocage | Jacob Stone Dalkr Vidarsson ----- All-VHL Second Team Shubham Anand | Axle Gunner | Harry Callahan YaBoi Oven | Lucy Leitner Herald Benson ----- All-VHL Rookie Team Maverick Goncalves | Wally Lose | Alexandros Mograine Felicia Hardy | Jillian Woods Jorgen Lovstrom