Pifferfish

Like I said. I'm not in those convos anymore but when I was a GM I do know this did happen from time to time. And when I see a waiver player tossed into a trade for a star, I worry that the competitive nature of the M is possibly outweighing the retention/development portion. I think just putting out this concern can help refocus the GMs and keep them honest. Like a reminder that someone out there is watching them... I'm pretty much Batman.

It's here now!

Welcome to WEEK 4.5 of updated power rankings where I spend the first 50 words explaining how this works for a bit. Firstly, all additions and losses are based on who was in the lineup as of the February 6th sims. Some players may have been signed, released, or just not present in the lineup since or at that point in time and thus were not considered in the new ranks or scores. Also, it may seem confusing but a team's score increasing does NOT necessarily mean an increase in rank. Every team has multiple players earning so they will mostly be increasing in score. Also, some teams may add players to the lineup but decrease in score, this is most likely the result of reducing the playing time of their best players. This data does not consider week cutoff so some players have their TPE for this week while others do not. On each line of ranks and scores the first number represents the present and the number in parenthesis shows the change from last week. Last note, I did change the way goalies are evaluated slightly so some may have actually reduced in score from last week and some saw jumps despite not earning or applying TPE. Enjoy the rankings!!! Standings: 9th; 20-34-3; 43pts; -51 GDiff Overall Rank: 10th (-2) Overall Score: 11.30 (-21.55)Forwards Rank: 10th (-3) Forwards Score: 26.50 (-15.67) Defensemen Rank: 10th (-2) Defensemen Score: -24.60 (-38.10) Goalies Rank: 10th (-3) Goalies Score: 37.5 (-6.10) Additions: C Bolor Khan @Bolor Khan, LW Wayne Smith @Jordan Messier Losses: C Antonia Bucatini Notes: Increase bot usage on defensive lines led to big drop there. This team actually has 2 recent waiver signings on defense that just haven't hit the lineup yet that will replace the bots I assume. Standings: 10th; 19-36-1; 39pts; -67 GDiffOverall Rank: 9th (+1) Overall Score: 22.80 (+2.05)Forwards Rank: 8th (+2) Forwards Score: 36.30 (+2.13) Defensemen Rank: 9th (+1) Defensemen Score: -8.85 (+1.00) Goalies Rank: 7th (+1) Goalies Score: 45.60 (+3.90) Additions: RW Cole Stermer @Bazeus, RW Anthony Simmons II @Starchychaff Losses: None Standings: 8th; 21-28-8; 50pts; -29 GDiff Overall Rank: 8th (+1) Overall Score: 32.77 (+3.62)Forwards Rank: 9th (-1) Forwards Score: 31.37 (-10.56) Defensemen Rank: 8th (+1) Defensemen Score: 31.60 (+26.20) Goalies Rank: 8th (+1) Goalies Score: 39.30 (+1.00) Additions: RW John J Juice @G.W. Wick, C Pierre Marc Bouchard @Gaikoku-hito, RW Leon Bruhmaninho @BigBruhman, D Masa Akimoto @Hokikeijot, D Russell Sprout @betta57 Losses: RW Annie Oaks, LW UghSike, LW Forum Content, C Braydon Emmell, D Ray Stanton Standings: 7th; 21-27-8; 50pts; -28 GDiff Overall Rank: 7th (EV) Overall Score: 44.02 (+5.04)Forwards Rank: 5th (+1) Forwards Score: 50.63 (+6.40) Defensemen Rank: 7th (-1) Defensemen Score: 36.85 (+4.35) Goalies Rank: 9th (+1) Goalies Score: 38.50 (+2.30) Additions: None Losses: LW Jose Said Perez Magallon Standings: 1st; 43-9-4; 90pts; +72 GDiff Overall Rank: 6th (-3) Overall Score: 50.82 (+1.90)Forwards Rank: 6th (-2) Forwards Score: 44.87 (-0.46) Defensemen Rank: 5th (EV) Defensemen Score: 38.30 (-0.80) Goalies Rank: 1st (+1) Goalies Score: 93.70 (+14.40) Additions: C Roy Belanger @Roy Belanger, LW Joe John @KalebDaGoat18, RW Maple Dogwood @dogwoodmaple, D Donald Carlson @AW13 Losses: D Viktor Vyzovsky Notes: I know they are quite good in the standings, but lets remember that Philly is playing against 3 of the bottom 4 teams a lot. Whereas teams like SDM, HOU, MEX, and LVA are all bashing each other up sim to sim. I'd argue this is partially inflating this teams success. If I was betting on a team to have a shocking flop in the postseason, I'd have to predict its these guys. Standings: 2nd; 34-18-4; 72pts; +14 GDiff Overall Rank: 5th (EV) Overall Score: 51.18 (+3.46)Forwards Rank: 7th (+2) Forwards Score: 41.07 (+4.37) Defensemen Rank: 4th (-1) Defensemen Score: 50.00 (+1.90) Goalies Rank: 2nd (-1) Goalies Score: 83.90 (+3.90) Additions: C Jack snipesalot @Topcheese, LW Wally Lose @youloser1337, G Connor Hellebuyck @HockeyFan4Life Losses: C Rain Olsen, RW Seamus Maxwell Standings: 4th; 32-19-5; 69pts; +30 GDiff Overall Rank: 4th (+2) Overall Score: 53.03 (+4.28)Forwards Rank: 2nd (EV) Forwards Score: 64.93 (+2.60) Defensemen Rank: 6th (+1) Defensemen Score: 38.25 (+9.25) Goalies Rank: 6th (EV) Goalies Score: 46.90 (+1.00) Additions: G Cash Antolak @Moneynation, D Ray Stanton @horoscope, D Vanman Stein @Vanman, D Jillian Woods @jacobcarson877, D Felicia Hardy @JCarson, C Jacob Longstreet @Dynamicmlb_42 Losses: D Russell Sprout, LW Alexis Laffayette, C Daved dangled Notes: @Mysterious_Fish I know this isn't as high on the list as you might have expected but the D core is comprised of 4 freshly created players who will need just a tab bit of time to get their sea legs. Trust you will enter the postseason 3rd or better. Standings: 5th; 30-10-6; 66pts; +23 GDiff Overall Rank: 3rd (+1) Overall Score: 56.65 (+8.55)Forwards Rank: 4th (+1) Forwards Score: 60.43 (+15.16) Defensemen Rank: 3rd (+1) Defensemen Score: 52.25 (+5.65) Goalies Rank: 5th (-2) Goalies Score: 54.10 (-5.50) Additions: LW UghSike @UghSike, LW Forum Content @frescoelmo Losses: RW Leon Bruhmaninho, RW Khail Lackey Standings: 6th; 30-22-4; 64pts; +14 GDiff Overall Rank: 2nd (EV) Overall Score: 62.63 (+12.88)Forwards Rank: 3rd (EV) Forwards Score: 62.73 (+14.36) Defensemen Rank: 1st (+1) Defensemen Score: 56.20 (+7.90) Goalies Rank: 3rd (+1) Goalies Score: 75.20 (+18.40) Additions: C Antonia Bucatini @CowboyinAmerica, D Toby Cook @KRZY Losses: C Bolor Khan Standings: 3rd; 31-17-8; 70pts; +22 GDiff Overall Rank: 1st (EV) Overall Score: 62.68 (+1.58)Forwards Rank: 1st (EV) Forwards Score: 71.27 (+3.84) Defensemen Rank: 2nd (-1) Defensemen Score: 52.85 (-2.25) Goalies Rank: 4th (+1) Goalies Score: 56.60 (+2.50) Additions: LW Pombo @samx, RW Annie Oaks @Noodle Enjoyer Losses: D Masa Akimoto, LW Hayden mcqueen, LW Moyo Smith Shoutout to all of the players in the VHLM that are improving at a great rate and making their teams the best they can be. In past weeks I have just listed each player who surpassed a certain threshold of improvement but since there was a larger gap between this update and the last, that list would consist of a whopping 32 players. Instead this week will be a top 15 list! *Both Goalies on the upcoming list were assisted by recent changes to the formulas we use to determine their ratings. They would have both still been within the top 15 regardless, just lower.* T-13. LW Filip Zinek @FiZi +11 T-13. LW UghSike @UghSike +11 T-13. RW Oliver Loo @Peiffy +11 12. RW Yermolai Nabokov @fonziGG +12 T-10. D Wwumbo @Fire Tortorella +13 T-10. RW Annie Oaks @Noodle Enjoyer +13 T-8. D Carson Tripp @Cartripp14 +14 T-8. G Jorgen Lovstrom @Pifferfish +14 7. D Benjamin Abenduct @Schnee +15 T-5. D Gul Dukat @MSouthworth +16 T-5. C Tyler Lawson @Nyx +16 4. D Lucy Leitner @LucyXpher+17 T-2. RW Nathan Ecker @Nathan_8 +18 T-2. G Ondrej Vencko @Mutti +18 1. C Wayne Gretzky @MubbleFubbles +24 Good luck to all of the players in the "Additions" categories and thank you to all the players just mentioned for your strong contributions to the competitive success of your franchises!

I did lol. Shit happens. Stanton got a point if I remember.

I discuss how amazing @Ricer13 and @McLovin are as GMs for their glorious deadline moves. Timestamps: TBD Shoutouts: TBD

Vandelay was Jørgen's favorite. Plus then we can be teammates twice at the same time in LA and Philly. Ain't that cool. Also my VHL retiree is D for you, you'd be a D for my Goalie. It's perfect harmony! But no... You play for stupid ass, drought suffering, Halifax! Breaking my heart...

@Tetricide I'm average sized I swear!

https://open.spotify.com/episode/2MdlhBaFnWmVc7UeaURZOQ?si=R4yV2EXeS7OvrOm8STmqAw&utm_source=copy-link Pifferfish discusses topics such as his Power Rankings, VHLM Goalie Stats, his picks for an All-VHLM Team, and more amidst the terrors of a long dark drive home from his day job (they don't pay reporters in this league enough!) Time Stamps: TBD Individual Shoutouts: TBD

@McLovinjust seeing this lol. Good shit. Love puff pieces for me! Also in S85 I was only AGM for like a week before the end of the season and when we went down 3-0 to Ottawa I ask Lem if he minded me making lineups... We went on to complete a reverse sweep! So @Lemorse7is the biggest reason for the best era of Reapers hockey ever. Dude is the actual goat. He let a 1st gen who created a week before that seasons trade deadline try to shake things up for a struggling team and that's all she wrote.

Yeah so OPS+ is just (playerOPS/leagueOPS)*100 so I did that with save percentage. It's important to remember that you want the league total Save Percentage though. Not just the average SV% of every player. I got the league wide number by using the index and copy the All Goalie stats table into a Google sheet. Then I had the sheet sum all the shots against, minus all the goals against, ect. Ect.

so in baseball they have a stat called OPS, on base plus slugging. But if I took that number for a guy who played in 1986 and a guy in 2012 and tried to compare them it would lack context. Rules are different and change year to year. The competition changes, ect. So OPS+ takes the OPS for a player in a season and compares it to the league wide OPS. 100 is league average for that season. So SV%+ is that same concept but for save percentage. It's not an actual stat that exist outside of my creating it as far as I know. Like if you look at S91, Pipo Papa looks amazing right. But then you notice that a ton of goalies did really well. 6 clocked over a .910 SV% so possibly there was very weak skaters (which based on things I've read without actually looking into S91 is true.) Versus this season we have teams with nearly full rosters particularly with forwards. So my competition is different. Hopefully this very long winded explanation makes sense. I'm working on something for VSN that uses this concept. Another consideration in my data collection is the percentage of games that were shutouts. In S88-S90, this hovered around 11%. In S91 it jumped to 18%. This year (S92) so far it's 2.78%! Goaltending league wide has been historically bad. The league wide SV% is .893 right now. the next lowest since s88 was a .902 in that very season.

Fun Fact: Jørgen Løvstrøm has the best SV+ of the last 5 seasons in the VHLM. @LucyXpher

In the lines I took the info from, he was on 1st pair. Even on pair two he will tank your score a bit. Its also a matter of teams like Houston and Philly seeing big jumps while your top players are capped. They improve as we go while you will kind of stagnate a bit. I do believe with one more FA Dman who earns at least consistent welfare on a decent build, you will end top 4 and in the mix for 2nd. LVA's scores are ridiculous though. They might be impossible to catch now.

If you put sprout on your First D pair (he is your worst Dman currently) you instantly jump to 4th: 0.17 overall score behind Philly.

It's because Bots are worth -50 score compared to a min player which is 0. You have a -50 on your first D pair. Tanking your score.

no problem, keep up the good work. you agotta fill the hole left by Factor so your team can jump back up the rankings lol

Note: The reason that teams like Saskatoon, Mississauga, and San Diego experienced their drops (particularly in the "Defensemen Score" categories) was due to the voluntary selection of Bots in their lineups. Bots are strictly worse than a 0 TPE player. Thus they actually reduced your score. In the case of the Hounds, they used so many bots on defense, that their score in that position group became a negative number.

Welcome to WEEK 3 of updated power rankings where I spend the first 50 words explaining how this works for a bit. Firstly, all additions and losses are based on who was in the lineup as of the January 26th sims. Some players may have been signed, released, or traded since that point in time and thus were not considered in the new ranks or scores. Also, it may seem confusing but a team's score increasing does NOT necessarily mean an increase in rank. Every team has multiple players earning so they will mostly be increasing in score. Also, some teams may add players to the lineup but decrease in score, this is most likely the result of reducing the playing time of their best players. Last note, this data was collected before the week cutoff so some players have their TPE for this week while others do not. On each line of ranks and scores the first number represents the present and the number in parenthesis shows the change from last week. Enjoy the rankings!!! Standings: 10th; 8-28-0; 16pts; -67 GDiffOverall Rank: 10th (EV) Overall Score: 20.75 (-8.80)Forwards Rank: 10th (EV) Forwards Score: 34.17 (-0.44) Defensemen Rank: 10th (-2) Defensemen Score: -9.85 (-27.05) Goalies Rank: 8th (-1) Goalies Score: 41.70 (EV) Additions: G Owen Beckel @HockeyFan4Life, RW Marek Nowaczyk @Chillybro, RW Armas Jortikka @Kavadar Losses: None Standings: 9th; 12-21-3; 27pts; -23 GDiff Overall Rank: 9th (-1) Overall Score: 32.27 (-3.12)Forwards Rank: 8th (-2) Forwards Score: 41.93 (+0.26) Defensemen Rank: 9th (EV) Defensemen Score: 5.40 (-11.00) Goalies Rank: 9th (EV) Goalies Score: 35.80 (+2.50) Additions: D Carson Tripp @Cartripp14, LW Connor simard @Alex99, C Braydon Emmell @Elyctre Losses: D Sylvia Davis, LW Mike Tylerson Standings: 8th; 12-21-3; 27pts; -33 GDiff Overall Rank: 8th (+1) Overall Score: 30.18 (+2.67)Forwards Rank: 7th (+2) Forwards Score: 37.60 (+4.57) Defensemen Rank: 8th (+2) Defensemen Score: 13.50 (EV) Goalies Rank: 7th (+1) Goalies Score: 41.30 (+2.3) Additions: C Anthony Vincens @Anthony, LW Hunter s @Hunter S Losses: None Standings: 7th; 14-18-4; 32pts; -11 GDiff Overall Rank: 7th (EV) Overall Score: 38.98 (+0.33)Forwards Rank: 6th (-1) Forwards Score: 44.23 (+1.33) Defensemen Rank: 6th (EV) Defensemen Score: 32.50 (-1.50) Goalies Rank: 10th (EV) Goalies Score: 35.20 (+1.00) Additions: D Blaze Thunderstrike @eaglesfan036, D Joey Mininni @Joey Mininni Losses: None Standings: 2nd; 24-10-2; 50pts; +34 GDiff Overall Rank: 6th (-2) Overall Score: 46.03 (-2.08)Forwards Rank: 2nd (-1) Forwards Score: 62.87 (+0.40) Defensemen Rank: 7th (EV) Defensemen Score: 22.55 (-7.95) Goalies Rank: 6th (EV) Goalies Score: 43.70 (+2.20) Additions: None Losses: None Standings: 6th; 20-14-2; 42pts; +1 GDiff Overall Rank: 5th (-2) Overall Score: 47.72 (+0.27)Forwards Rank: 9th (-1) Forwards Score: 36.70 (-1.40) Defensemen Rank: 3rd (-1) Defensemen Score: 48.10 (+1.40) Goalies Rank: 1st (EV) Goalies Score: 80.00 (+3.00) Additions: RW Corey Perry Jr @Yamo, LW Owen two @do3bo1, D Pelle Granell @pern Losses: RW Rustin Cohle Standings: 4th; 20-10-6; 46pts; +23 GDiff Overall Rank: 4th (-2) Overall Score: 48.10 (+0.40)Forwards Rank: 5th (-1) Forwards Score: 45.27 (+0.07) Defensemen Rank: 4th (-1) Defensemen Score: 46.60 (+0.80) Goalies Rank: 3rd (EV) Goalies Score: 59.60 (EV) Additions: RW Oliver Loo @Peiffy Losses: None Standings: 1st; 27-7-2; 56pts; +42 GDiff Overall Rank: 3rd (+3) Overall Score: 48.92 (+3.79)Forwards Rank: 4th (+3) Forwards Score: 45.33 (+4.93) Defensemen Rank: 5th (EV) Defensemen Score: 39.10 (+1.20) Goalies Rank: 2nd (EV) Goalies Score: 79.30 (+5.50) Additions: None Losses: LW Sam Lindgren Standings: 5th; 21-12-3; 45pts; +13 GDiff Overall Rank: 2nd (+3) Overall Score: 51.27 (+5.89)Forwards Rank: 3rd (EV) Forwards Score: 50.37 (+3.60) Defensemen Rank: 2th (+2) Defensemen Score: 48.85 (+8.45) Goalies Rank: 4th (+1) Goalies Score: 56.80 (+7.60) Additions: C Bolor Khan @Bolor Khan, C Micah Cederbaum @MicahC, D Bufert T Smustice @Crummer77 Losses: None Standings: 3rd; 22-11-3; 47pts; +21 GDiff Overall Rank: 1st (EV) Overall Score: 61.10 (+6.65)Forwards Rank: 1st (+1) Forwards Score: 67.43 (+11.40) Defensemen Rank: 1st (EV) Defensemen Score: 55.10 (+2.85) Goalies Rank: 5th (-1) Goalies Score: 54.10 (EV) Additions: G Da TypThond @Erik Losses: None Shoutout to all of the players in the VHLM that are improving at a great rate and making their teams the best they can be. Here is every player who grew by 5+ individual score this past week: D Wladyslaw Mintus @mintusaurus LW Forum Content @frescoelmo G ryeley michel bias @logQ RW Annie Oaks @Noodle Enjoyer LW Aanarsi Reingaard @Laine D WWumbo @Fire Tortorella D Billy Joel @The goat of hockey D Solano Gavriello @Louie_Z D Gul Dukat @MSouthworth G Jorgen Lovstrom @Pifferfish G Piotr Kupczak @Tatertot33 C Walter Jinn @Adrest245 G Herald Benson @Benson G Ondrej Vencko @Mutti D Lucy Leitner @LucyXpher D Benjamin Abenduct @Schnee LW Chris Reynolds Jr @Crstats23 RW Dylan Boland @shadowbloxgame RW Trimiskez Artav @jake C Tyler Lawson @Nyx RW Elle Aura Ashe @Lynersify D Harjen Van Araken @VaderTheTater Good luck to all of the players in the "Additions" categories and thank you to all the players just mentioned for your strong contributions to the competitive success of your franchises!

I'll fucking trash any sim player. At the end of the day, we actually have little control over how our guys play so if someone takes offense to me dragging them a bit, that's unfortunate but it's only a game. And I'd hope most people know I respect the hell out of everyone here. Especially newer players. But yeah, I think not mentioning goalies alot also helps avoid saying the same name every week. It's easy to name drop a goalie every week, they play 60 minutes a game.

Maybe in the future I'll look into it more.

@Spartan yeah I get all that. As stated, part of me wonders is there a better way? And with nothing to compare what we have now to, it's tough to say this is best. But I know it's better than pre-hybrid, and I'm thankful for that.

Oh I also forgot about another factor that Gustav's article did not factor in. Height and weight. Not sure how these affect the math but they probably lead to the variance at each CK/DI total in hits or PIMs in the article

I mean that is fair. But is it not also true that Puck Handling and Penalty shooting far and away go better together. Not to mention how we don't have a stat that gives Strength and Checking? Also I think of PH as the 4th/5th stat people want generally. And Strength slots in right behind it. So they aren't so far off. And like I said, you balance that via the ratios. You could make WS a less effective method to increase scoring or make it the 3rd best way to improve PH. That's what the ratios do. If SS gave .3 ST and .12 SC and WS gave .1 SC and .1 PH that is a hardly obvious choice in my opinion. Even that may be too aggressively low. But it would still be more viable than it currently is to take.