scoop

The S61 draft is looking pretty good, with about two rounds of currently active players in the mix. There are four players with 200+ TPE, myself included, so on top of the depth, there is certainly some high-end talent. I feel as though I've had a history of being a part of strong draft classes, so I'm going to take a look back at my seasons and see how true that is. Before I get into the drafts, though, I will mention that I had GM players in S18 (Geno Esposito) and S24 (Benjamin Glover). S18 was arguably the best draft in VHL history (and along with myself, there were I believe three other GM players that season, at least two for sure). S24 was pretty good, but nothing too outstanding. Just about a rounds worth of solid players and one star in Daniel Braxton. (also lol I forgot about mist4ke until I was already writing about Leingod) S53, mist4ke (5th Overall) Great draft, even if mist4ke wasn't all that great of a player. He certainly didn't make much of an impact, though players like Franchise Cornerstone and Lukas Muller did. Add in names like Locke, Leblanc, Moon and Krigars, and we've got a pretty good draft, especially considering the quality of some drafts we've seen around this time period. S50, Diana Maxwell (1st Overall) Ultimately this draft wasn't all that great, other than the top three picks. There were a few others who were average players, and then a couple more who played some seasons in the VHL as the best options for the barren teams. S40, Lloyd Light (7th Overall) This was a phenomenal draft and you will not convince me otherwise. A great top two with Thomas O'Malley and Mason Richardson, this draft had incredible depth that saw future VHL players, relevant ones at that, being picked in the third round. With several good players taken in the second round as well, this draft definitely stands true as one of the great ones. While I have had S33, Keiji Toriyama (8th Overall) This was a good draft, but there are definitely some players who didn't quite live up to their potential (which of course will happen in every draft). Niklas Lindberg and Thomas Landry in the second round are highlights of this draft. Solid draft, certainly better than S50 but not as good as S40. Still, one I'm proud to have been in. S12, Fayt Leingod (8th Overall) My first draft. I think it was pretty good. Had a great top three, followed by a couple busts, and then six or seven solid players. Plus a third round steal in Harvey Singh. Definitely a good draft in my eyes, though I don't really remember well enough to know how it stacked up to drafts around it.

Round One: 1. SEATTLE BEARS(From Toronto) : Matt Thompson 2. QUEBEC MEUTE (From Riga) : Samuel Gate 3. RIGA REIGN (From Quebec) : Podrick Cast 4. SEATTLE BEARS: (From Davos) : Roger Sterling 5. RIGA REIGN (From Calgary) : Robert Malenko 6. RIGA REIGN (From Seattle) : Edwin Preencarnacion 7. TORONTO LEGION (From New York) : Arvid Aamo 8. HELSINKI TITANS: Sergei Kovalev Round Two:  9. TORONTO LEGION: Jesper Stromberg 10. QUEBEC CITY MEUTE: Mikhail Vega 11. QUEBEC CITY MEUTE(From New York via Riga) : Marvin Harding 12. DAVOS DYNAMO: Alvaro Jokinen 13. CALGARY WRANGLERS: Chat 14. SEATTLE BEARS: Jacob Smith 15. RIGA REIGN (From Quebec via New York) : Lew Bronstein 16. TORONTO LEGION (From Helsinki): Jordan Tonn

you know something about the draft?

mod abuse!!

first haha I win

Getting 4th overall in this draft is probably better than getting 6-8 in the next two drafts, if he could even end up getting that.

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1. A person in a position of power can go inactive just like anyone else; and it's not impossible to earn more TPE than someone with such a role. Granted, that is a steady stream of TPE that he has over me, as I don't have any league job let alone one one of such importance. Holding that position does show a level of commitment to the league, so it is definitely something to consider, but it does not necessarily guarantee a sure thing. 2. I'm not sure why someone would bring up right wings when comparing myself to Thompson, considering he's a left wing. If we're specifically talking about right wing vs defensemen, I'd probably disagree. But I think in general there are more top tier forwards than their are defensemen. However, I don't think it's possible to have too many #1 forwards, while it is possible to have too many #1 defensemen. And I think you can win with just average defensemen, while it's harder to win with just average forwards. 3. Before I saw that trade, I really wanted to go number one. Nothing against hedgehog, but I'm not particularly excited with where Riga is at right now so they were not on the top of my list. With Quebec picking at two now, there is a bit of relief knowing that even if Seattle doesn't pick me, I might end up in what I would still say is my most desired destination. Being drafted first wouldn't really mean all that much to me, so my preference would actually be to end up going second. However, if I do go first, we could possibly end up on Seattle together now that they have the fourth overall pick in there possession as well.

3. My current focus is to improve my checking ability. After I get a bit better there, I want to round out my game a bit by working on my passing and scoring before I start really focusing all my time and energy on my defensive capabilities. That will include defense, strength, puck handling, and skating mostly. Maybe I'll throw some more training into checking at some point, get that up to a 7.5 or 8 out of 10, while I work those other four up to a 9/10. 4. I'll say 5-10 goals and 25-35 assists. It'll very much depend on what the roster around me looks like, but I think somewhere from 30 to 45 points is a fair prediction. I think there will be more opportunity to improve on that, but I really don't see myself above 60 points even if I play better than I expect I will. 5. Not necessarily a great time to answer this question given the issues with the site the last couple days, but overall things seem good. I'm excited for the draft and getting on a VHL team, and as far as the direction the VHL is going in, we seemed to have figured something out with recruitment. Granted, we have to find a way to get these new people to stick around and actually get into it, but the S61 draft is looking good I think. Hoping for the best.

Looking at the regular season, you wouldn't be expecting the VHLM playoffs to come down to a Game 7 between Saskatoon and Ottawa, but that's where we are. While it's not a huge upset to see the Lynx in the finals over the Storm, the fact that they are one win from being Founder's Cup Champions is a bit unexpected. Or rather, seeing the Wild just one loss away from not being the champions is the real shocker. That's not to say that Saskatoon was so dominant that this is the biggest upset ever, but other than Oslo's +3 differential, they were the only team that scored more goals than they allowed (+106). We've certainly seen teams with better records, but Saskatoon's 56-13-3 is very good. The vast majority of those losses came at the beginning of the season as well, so they had been playing phenomenally in the weeks leading up to the playoffs. In the first 20 games, the Wild wee 8-10-2, while they closed out the season winning 32 of their final 33 games. Ottawa, meanwhile, won just three of their final 13 games. Late in the season they did make a trade for Varis Tribuncovs and Billy Pilgrim, two very good players, but in the three regular season games they played with the Lynx, they were unable to find a win. Even in the playoffs, it would appear that Tribuncovs and Pilgrim are not making a huge difference, both under a point-per-game and sitting at an even plus-minus rating. However, their insertion into the top line has moved Mikhail Vega and Sebastian Ironside down to the second line, where the two of them have been tearing it up. They were the first and second stars in Ottawa's 5-0 victory in Game 6, each racking up three points. With nine goals and 19 points in 12 games, Ironside could very well be the playoff MVP even if the Lynx end up losing the deciding game.

Oh gosh darn. We'll get the next one!

4. Saskatoon Wild , Beau Louth 4 (Bryce Zhields 4, Josh Stronk 6) at 1:40 5. Saskatoon Wild , Beau Louth 5 (Bryce Zhields 5, Lukas Novacek 4) at 4:40 6. Saskatoon Wild , Beau Louth 6 (Lukas Novacek 5) at 7:00 frick!

Part I - Pick em' (Pick the correct winners of all three games for 1 TPE) Game 3 - New York Americans vs Helsinki Titans Game 4 - New York Americans vs Helsinki Titans  Game 5 - Helsinki Titans vs New York Americans  Part II - Predict the Score (Predict the correct score and winner of this game for 3 TPE) Game 4 - New York Americans 3 vs Helsinki Titans 2 Part III - Player Predictions (Predict the correct player for each category, 1 TPE for each correct answer)  Series leader in points: Bo Boeser Series leader in goals: Franchise Cornerstone Series leader in assists: Colton Rayne

Yeah, if you want it, you're gonna have to fight for it. You may be favored, but it's not gonna be easy. Let's go Ottawa!

My player wouldn't make it on either of those teams anyway, so I'd be fine with one of those other teams in need of applicants. But if someone else with a player tied to either of them would like it, I'd say give it to them instead. Consider me more of an "if you need someone, I'll do it" applicant.

I will apply! Either for Team USA or Mercenaries.

Ggs

Nice

Samuel Gate Defenseman Points Shots Blocked

thread for some reference Personally, I am in heavily in favor of making a change so that a player's career clock starts later if they stay in the VHLM longer. I don't necessarily think it should be as simple as "your clock doesn't start until you move up to the VHL," because I think that would result in a lot more players staying down in the VHLM one season longer than they probably should. It's a change that will require some thinking, to make sure we cover any ways of taking advantage of it. Granted, if people try to take advantage of it in some way that is detrimental to the league, then we could just put a stop to them at the discretion of the Blue Team, but I think it'd be better to work out most of the kinks up front. What I think is really important, though, is not alienating the new members that we are getting. The influx of new members from YouTube advertising (that's where we're getting a lot of these guys, right?) means we are adding players who are completely new to sim leagues. I think this is a really good thing, but we need to make sure we take care of them. For the most part, they aren't going to simply be able to jump into earning 8+ TPE per week; it will take some time for them to get used to things. Let's say there is an active player with 60 TPE in the S61 draft, while I'm at something like 240. My lead will likely only continue to grow even after this player gets more accustomed to earning points weekly, and it could very well take an additional three seasons for this player to make it out of the VHLM and reach the amount of TPE I had in my rookie season. If he starts his VHL career in S64 after being drafted S61, that's two seasons of VHL player before hitting depreciation. I think that would be a problem. I do think we need to look at how it would impact the VHLM, but if we have more active welfare players in the 100+ TPE range working toward the VHL, that's a good thing. Granted, we might be sacrificing their initial experience in favor of their later experience, so it might actually make it more difficult to keep the members right away. That being said, I don't know exactly what the best solution is, but I personally think that doing something to make things easier on players who have to spend a couple extra seasons in the VHLM is generally a good thing.

A little late on answering these but oh well, answers can still be relevant 1. We have the talent to beat them for sure, but I think I still have to give them both an edge on us. Our biggest issue is easily on offense, as we've actually scored the fewest goals of all teams this season. We haven't seen much of our team since the trade with Yukon, so hopefully Tribuncovs can give the offense a bit of a boost in the playoffs. Adding Pilgrim to an already strong group of defensemen, hopefully we just straight up don't have to score more than a couple goals to win games. Saskatoon in particular had our number during the regular season and will be a tough team to beat, but there's always a chance. 2. As we can see, it didn't quite hold up, which actually does surprise me a bit. I think on a team with more players capable of scoring, I could have easily been over a point-per-game despite being more defensive-minded, considering this is the VHLM, where my skills with the puck, even if not the greatest, are still relatively good. Going into the VHL, of course, accumulating points will get much tougher for a player of my skill set, and where my skills will be developing. 3. It may be conceited to say this, but I'm going to say myself. Our offense obviously hasn't been stellar, while Alvaro Jokinen and myself have similar stats all-around. I think it's hard to deny, if you watch us, that I'm more influential on the ice. Nothing against him, he's a great player as well, but there's a reason I'm projected as the top pick of the draft. 4. Nothing against any of the other teams that might be looking to draft me, but I think I would have to say Quebec. I've been seeing Bryce Zhields light it up on Saskatoon all season, so if I could get the chance to join the Meute with him, I think we could do great things. They already have some good prospects up in the VHL, including another really good forward in Veran Dragomir, so I don't think I'd have to worry about being on a team that can't score. 1. It's been a bit of a disappointment, to be honest. Ottawa just hasn't been able to get things done offensively, which means my assist and point totals have suffered a bit more than I would've liked. Coupled with the fact that I'm playing with some other good defensemen, I haven't really been able to rack up a ton of blocked shots myself. If I were to rate my season on a scale from 0 to 20, I would give it a 14, with the potential for 15 based on how the final game goes. (That's the number of TPE I'll be getting from the achievement tracker.) 2. I think it depends on the needs of the team drafting first. In terms of skill and potential, there isn't a huge difference between myself, Matt Thompson, and Podrick Cast. We are in very similar boats. If the team drafting first wants a defenseman, they'll pick me. If they want a wing, Thompson. If they need a center, Cast. However, if they're just looking to take the best player available, then I think that would be me. (I'll answer your other questions next week!)

Saskatoon 3-2

EFL graphic +6

I don't really feel like Sam Gate is progressing like some of my past players, but with this article I will reach 200 TPE. Now, of course there is actually more TPE going around and the weekly cap has been raised, but I am first among S61 players. I'm feeling good about my involvement, while not having that personal feeling of being too invested. At times in the past, I've been (mildly) stressed about reaching the weekly TPE cap. I haven't had that problem for a while, and I feel like I could completely miss a week of points and be fine with that. As far as how Gate is doing in the VHLM this season, I'm not too disappointed, though I feel like it could be better. Certainly I'd like for Ottawa to be higher in the standings, but Gate's individual stats aren't a huge deal to me right now. Building a defensive player, you kind of have to realize it's not always going to show on the score sheet. Plus there is less room for disappointment when the expectations are lower.