scoop

I'll go back and read the announcement in full a bit later, but as I was out for a walk earlier, I was thinking about this. First thing I have to say is that given that players are now likely going to take a bit longer to get into the VHL, I personally think this is a great time to increase career lengths. This is something that I have advocated for in the past, with depreciation for players getting much harsher past eight seasons. Instead of just increasing by 2% more each season, I think I suggested something like it going 5/7/9/13/19/27% after the 5th/6th/7th/8th/9th/10th seasons. Add on to that I think disallowing banking going into the 10th season and beyond. Discourage people from playing those extra seasons, but allow it if people just want to. Though I guess maybe this would just add to the problem of too many players. I don't know. Another idea I had in my mind was regarding the format of the VHLE. The idea of basically another minor league, where it's just worse players on their way to the big leagues seems a little lame. It's just another league with teams where players come and go, come and go. That being said, I think it would be cool if maybe every season, at the beginning, the teams are re-drafted. Something new, something fresh. Players aren't likely to spend more than a season or two in this league anyway, so just re-draft everything every season. Don't allow trades, don't allow players to move up from the VHLM to the VHLE.

D - Jolly Greene Giant G - Sirkants Klamasteris @Prout

F - Onde Sandstrom D - Roque Davis @Prout

+10 Taylor Mourning

1. With the draft we have a completely new look team. How do you think the draft went for the team? I think the draft went really well. I think getting an elite talent at forward was important, so Johnston, while already being the obvious selection given his ties to the team, fit a need. Drafting Tobias Reinhart when we did was very crucial. After another elite forward and goalie, it was all about depth. The only thing I think we're missing is maybe one more defenseman, but we acquired a lot of forward depth in the draft. 2. Do you have any goals for your player this season? I don't really have any goals as far as stats go. Starting the season where I am at in my development relative to others, I know that I'm not going to be making the biggest impact out there. I'd like to continue to put in the max practice every week, and play my role for the team and hopefully we can do well in the playoffs. 3. If you could have a goal song for your player, what would it be? Rather than overthink this too much, I think I'd just go with my favorite song, Perfect Teeth by Motion City Soundtrack. 4. How do you think our team will do this season? We'll make the playoffs for sure, I'm fairly confident about that. There are some good teams out there, though. I do believe we'll have a shot at winning by the time the playoffs come around, but I don't think we'll be favorites in our conference. Obviously I'd like to be able to say we will win, but I'm a realist. We'll have a shot, for sure, but I'm not going to get too confident. 7. What team is your pick to win the Stanley Cup playoffs in the NHL? Did your favourite team make it? I hate to say the Avalanche, so I won't. Instead I'll be a homer and say the Wild. I picked them for the NHL Playoff Bracket Challenge (as I have every season they've made the playoffs). I believe! 9. Controversial opinion: Pineapple does not belong on pizzas, why or why not? I'm not a huge fan of pineapple in general, so I'm not going to have it on my pizza. I don't care what other people do, though. I'm not going to be one of those people who says pineapple doesn't belong on pizza, though I won't eat it. Just let people like what they like.

Transaction ID: 20631582532543014 $1M Player Store Cash 5 TPE Uncapped Doubles Week

F - Thomas Landry II F - SS Hornet @Prout

Nah man it was definitely a thread and it was definitely you. Or maybe it wasn't you.

I'm pretty sure I wasn't patient and tried to make the purchase like three times but okay :L

I swear I wasn't planning on doing this. I didn't want to. I was going to write about one of the drafts this week, but now I'm not. You can blame @Wolverine for his press conference questions making me think of the past. A lot of people in the league nowadays don't know who I am, though, so I'm going to write about my time in the VHL. I will get to have the joy of reminiscing (though some of the memories won't exactly be fun ones), and the people who don't know me can learn about my past. The next media spot I write won't be all about me, I promise. Honestly though, this article won't be all about me, just past times in the VHL that include me. The hype behind the S12 draft I created my first player during S11 before the trade deadline, so I was a part of the S12 VHL Entry Draft. I was still fresh in the league, not knowing many people. I was earning my points for the most part, but I still was not really involved. Most things I wrote were about me because I was not paying much attention to the things around me (I swear it's not always about me!). I do remember, though, that people were really hyped about this draft, and it had very little to do with me. I think overall it was an average draft for the time, certainly not low tier (looking at you, S9/13/15). Just to give you guys something to think about as far as TPE inflation goes and how far the league has come in terms of player base, I was drafted eighth overall with 82 TPE. At the top of the draft, though, there were three superstar-potential players in Matt Bailey, Devon De La Soul, and Geoff Gartner. The race between these big three was apparently something special back then, so special that the league did something different for the draft: a live podcast. I don't know if had been done before in the league, and I would guess that it has been done since, but I think it was pretty memorable. If I recall correctly, I didn't even get to listen to it live, so I tried to avoid finding out what went down so I could listen to it later without knowing. Ultimately, it was Bailey who was the first overall selection, after which @Quik was named the new GM of the Helsinki Titans. Maybe it was just my ignorance, but I'm pretty sure this was a well-kept secret going into the draft. In the end, Bailey was definitely the right pick, as De La Soul and Gartner, while not being bad players by any means, did not live up to the pre-draft hype. Hey, this paragraph wasn't even about me! Getting used to disappointment Back in the S20's, I was the GM of the New York Americans. This was my second stint in charge of the team, with the first lasting just a couple seasons in the late teens. At the time, the franchise was regarded as one of the worst on the league, but I was determined to do a better job than the first time and change the perception of the team. I took over in S22, created my goalie Benjamin Glover for the S24 class at the deadline, and by the time he was a rookie, the team was looking prepped for the future. Really, the team was set up for the present as well. With Jukka Hakkinen, the first draft pick I made back in S18, still on the team leading the way, we were set to be a playoff team even with all the young guys we had. Although we were going to be underdogs for sure, I made some deals at the deadline to try to give us a shot in the playoffs, and while it didn't pay off, I didn't give up much. As I said, the team was set up pretty well going forward. While Hakkinen, along with other American vets Keon Henderson and Fantastic McAwesome, did not have much time left, we had developing players to take their place while also still making relevant draft picks along the way. If I told you that Glover ultimately became the first player to make the playoffs eight times with the same team, you might think I did a good job with New York. When it comes down to it, though, my time as GM was filled with major disappointment. In S25, we made it to the finals, coming off of a sweep of a Toronto team that had some damn good players. We proceeded to lose in five games, leaving Hakkinen cupless in his career. He was the first player to spend a full eight-season career with the team, so I desperately wanted to win it that season. The following season, we helped Vasteras end their historic cup drought by losing to them in the finals, again in five games. In Season 27, we lost to the Titans, but this time we at least took two games. We made it to a record-setting fourth straight finals in Season 28, where we lost to the rival Seattle Bears. We lost a record-setting fourth straight finals. It was miserable. I had one more season as GM, in which we didn't make the finals. In S30, I passed the torch on to @Devise, who I would argue did a much better job than I did. I think he, and @Advantage who followed him, do like to give me some credit for laying the groundwork for the turnaround of the franchise, and I wouldn't say I completely failed in that regard, but ultimately I never won a cup as GM. Glover's career was still going on when I stepped down though, so at least he had a shot. In S31, his final season, we were up 3-1 in the finals against Davos. This was it. I was finally going to win that cup with New York. No. Just kidding. We lost three consecutive games to blow it. Keep in mind, around this time, I was a sad college student racking up debt to pay for an education when I had no clue what I wanted to do in life. The VHL meant so much to me because I didn't really have much else going on in my life. That's why I put so much into the VHL, because it's what I had; and season after season ended with disappointment. It was heartbreaking. Oh, and the first season after Glover's career ended, the Americans won the Cup. My early writings That doesn't seem like a good note to end on, so let's go back to my VHL beginnings again for something a little more lighthearted. When I first started, I had no idea what to write about, so I decided to make up a story about my own player, Fayt Leingod. I don't know what compelled me to write about what I did, but for some reason, I opted to write about him setting a pogo stick record. This is one of those things that just sticks in my brain. I'll never forget that I wrote that. I even looked up the record and made sure to pick a higher number of bounces or a longer amount of time, whatever record he supposedly set. Thinking back on it now, it seems like such a bizarre thing to decide to write about. I don't recall being fascinated with pogo sticking as a teen or anything like that. This was a media spot as well, so not even just a 200-word bullshit Fan590, give-me-a-single-TPE kind of article. No, someone had to read and grade that on a scale of 1-6. There's some VHL throwbacks for you: 200 words, Fan590, single TPE, grading. A few seasons into my time in the VHL, there was a Fan590 article that I do specifically remember writing. It was about Sean Costello and Brandon Lapham, two players in the VHL at the time. What was significant about this article is that I only wrote a few sentences for like 40 or 50 words, and then copied and pasted it several times. That's really all I remember about it, but I did that once. I have no idea why. It's not like a Fan590 article was difficult to write. It might have been something where I made it cyclical, so it kind of made sense but was obviously jibberish, or maybe I just wanted to see if someone would catch it. I think it got zero comments and I was never caught. There's no proof of it ever happening so you can't punish me for it now. While a lot of people still around will remember my reign as GM of the Americans and the success and failure that came along with it, and the fun of the Season 12 draft is certainly at least remembered by Quik, probably @Victor, and potentially others, I doubt anyone knew about Leingod's pogo stick record or my illegal Fan590. Now you do. There is at least one of you out there who read this. I know it to be true. 1546 words, claiming for weeks ending 5/16, 5/23, 5/30

Which is silly because Wolverine isn't even my favorite of the X-Men.

After writing all this I thought I should just post it as a media spot but it's pretty low-quality. The presentation I feel is on point, though. But the questions mostly led to a lot of reminiscing so I was able to ramble, which really adds to that word count.

Hey buddy just earlier YouTube recommended a video of "Big Al 2018 LLWS Highlights" to me for some reason is that you? Are you a 14-year old who was in the 2018 Little League World Series for New Jersey, who introduced yourself by saying that you hit dingers? Because if so, the highlights video did not show you hitting any dingers, but I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and just assume it was the increased level of competition and that you do actually hit dingers. Good luck in your future career. Just to clarify I don't actually believe that was you but what if though?

Hey, did I just write over 1k words for a press conference for 2 TPE? Yes, I did. Have I even done a point task yet this week? No, I haven't.

Hello there. Back in my day, we used to make purchases on the forum; things were less convenient like that. Now I'm back and adjusting to this change. My first couple purchases were some First Gen store items, for which I am eligible as I have been gone long enough. After I submitted my purchases, I had no idea how to know if they were approved. Well, it was easy enough to know when my 5 TPE purchase was done, because it showed up on my update log. The doubles week, however, I had no idea. In fact, For weeks, I thought it had been getting ignored. Or I thought perhaps I hadn't actually purchased it yet. I thought this in part because the player store showed I had $1 million to spend. I thought I should have been at nothing, with that million supposed to have been spent on my doubles week. I made $1.5 million from my Mexico City contract, and that's how much I had spent. So for a long time, I kept checking the player store to wait and see for it to go down to $0 to know that my purchase had been approved. The other day, I was looking at my player page, and I noticed the finances tab. I looked in there and found not only where it shows my purchases, the the reason I still had a million to spend. I completely forgot about my donation, which meant I had earned $2.5 million total. I'm sorry if you read this.

i'm in

PLEASE ASK ME QUESTIONS

Yes and I was very instrumental in your eventual VHL legend status.

Yeah, I did actually find somewhere that you said that you were going to be recreating. As far as me or you in the draft goes, I think GM's could see you as a more sure thing to at least be a serviceable, active VHL player. People who are aware of how my most recent three players turned out may (justifiably) be wary of drafting me even if I max out all the way from now until the draft. Samuel Gate turned out decent, even winning best defenseman in his final season, but I was only active with him until the end of his second season. My two players since then, I went inactive before the draft even, so maybe if I make it that far people will have a little more trust in me. Based on what you're saying though, I definitely think the ceiling will be higher for me, though based on the evidence there is definitely a chance I don't reach that potential.

Oh, wow I'm an idiot yeah Josh is a GM too. Though I actually didn't realize the GM claim rule was abolished; I checked the rule book specifically to see but it hasn't been updated.

So there I was in need of a topic to write about, not wanting to focus on myself again. Then I go and read a thread where people are badmouthing the career point tasks. Now, I'm not going to say they are perfect, but I personally hated writing biographies, so maybe that's just why I prefer what we have now. I saw a lot of people talking about how the Junior Review and Prospect Scouting Report are too similar, but honestly, I think they are fine. Maybe the Junior Review should be tweaked into something more like a backstory article, which is essentially how I view it anyway. This article is supposed to cover time before joining the VHLM. The Prospect Scouting Report is used to focus on their VHLM career and draft outlook. It's two different periods of time in a player's life. Yeah, they are similar periods of their life, but that's why I think maybe just changing up the Junior Review guidelines and calling it something else. I guess you could look at it as removing the Junior Review and replacing it with something else, as some people are suggesting, but however you want to look at it, I think it's a small change that could be made. I think the Junior Review should be changed into something that is a little more broad. Don't tell people to focus on their pre-VHLM career; just tell them to focus on their life before the VHLM. I always thought it was silly writing a biography any time before late in a player's career. Whatever we turn the Junior Review into, it should be more like what the biography was. A backstory to the player. Make up whatever story you want. Maybe you just want to focus on college/junior hockey, whatever. That's fine. Maybe you want to focus on your player's childhood. That's fine too! It's the first career point task people are theoretically going to be doing, so let them have a little freedom. Just call it Player Backstory.

1. With the off-season ongoing, are you looking forward to next year? I'm looking forward to actually getting to show off my skills. This year, I played two games. I also had very little time to catch my skills up to the level of even an average player in the minors. I've had a lot of time now to improve, and next season I should come out of the gate a lot better than I was in those two games. Over the course of the season, I expect to drastically improve as well, and that growth should lead to a huge increase in my draft stock. 2. What kind of goals have you set out for next year? I haven't really thought about this much, and it is really still hard to say where I stack up with other players in the league. That being said, I'll somewhat arbitrarily say I'd like to score 20 goals. I'm more concerned with making the playoffs. My primary goal is simply to improve my skills, though, and this will be the thing I have the most control over. I'd like to continue getting 12 capped TPE per week and to really prove myself. 3. What was your favourite place to hang out in Mexico City? Given that I wasn't there for long, I didn't get to spend much time exploring. I did definitely enjoy my time checking out my teammates favorite bars though. 4. Thoughts on the new logo? I think it looks sick. It definitely pops more than the old logo. The yellow being more prominent in this logo is definitely a good change in my eyes. 5. Where do you think you'll go in your draft(s) this off-season? Honestly, it's really tough to say. Different GM's in the VHLM can value different things. A team that isn't competing this season might prefer to pick someone they think will be with them for two seasons. There are also players who I don't know whether they are going to be in the minors again or going up to the VHL. And there can still be recreates. All things considered, I'm predicting myself to go maybe in the 22 to 26 range. Late second or early third. 6. Who is taking the Playoffs? I had been predicting Helsinki, but Seattle is up 3-1 at this point. I'm think I'm feeling a comeback though, so I'll stick with my original thought. Didn't actually think it was going to seven, but it'll have to be if I'm right. Then again, I had also thought the Hounds were going to easily take the Founder's Cup.