scoop

Evaluating my VHFL Team The season has just gotten underway, but with ten games on the books for each team, it's not too early to start analyzing the VHFL teams to try to predict who will win. For now, I'm just going to be taking a look at my team, looking at stats without actually comparing fantasy numbers and comparing to the other teams in my group. I was not super confident in the draft that I had, but I saw potential is all of the players that I picked to really shine in the fantasy world. I'll start with the forwards, where I put the focus of my early draft. Theo Axelsson, Helsinki Titans Theo Axelsson was my first pick. He is easily the best forward on Helsinki, so I figured that a lot of the scoring would go through him. So far that has been the case. He leads the team with nine goals and has the second most points at 15, behind Black Velvet, the other star player on the team. Axelsson is also someone who will rack up hits, currently third in the league with 51. Overall, though, he definitely is being outdone by others. The two players ahead of him in hits both have more points and shots blocked. It is early in the season and I do expect Axelsson will remain consistent, but I'm not sure his hits will have a big enough impact to make him one of the top players. Diana Maxwell, New York Americans I picked Diana Maxwell earlier than most other drafts, using the 7th pick of the draft to snag her. Being my player, I again wanted to have her on my fantasy team even if it cost me a bit, but unlike last season, I think it will pay off. It still may have been a bit early, but I didn't want to risk her being drafted with one of the six picks that would be made before I was up again. Maxwell is currently tied for the league lead in goals and points, while also adding in a respectable number of hits and even blocking a few shots. Although there will be others on worse teams who are ultimately better in terms of fantasy, Maxwell could put up a big number of points on the strength of goals. Joel Jarvi, Cologne Express Joel Jarvi was my "good forward on a bad team" pick to hopefully replicate the success that players on Cologne had last season. Cologne isn't a terrible team like Calgary, Davos, and Toronto, which means Jarvi will actually be able to score some points. Jarvi is tied with Maxwell for the league lead in points, and he also has 11 shots blocked, which is where the real value comes in. This isn't first among forwards, or even first among Express forwards, but it is still a notable amount. I did have higher hopes for him when I drafted him, as it doesn't look like he'll be on quite the same level as John Sleeman or Niels Skovgaard were last season, but he'll still help out my team. Pavel Komarov, HC Davos Dynamo I was hoping Komarov would block a lot of shots, and so far I'm a bit disappointed. He has just 19 shots blocked, but that number could possibly go up once the retired Hector de la Riva is removed from the roster. Komarov can also be counted on to get a good number of hits, but hits are not super valuable when you're picking a player who isn't likely to put up a lot of points. Komarov just has a goal and an assist as far as scoring goes, so this pick may end up being more of a dud than I had hoped it would be. I certainly don't think he'll be a gem. Pavel Komarov is surropunded by a bunch of shitty players in Davos. Guntis Petenis, Seattle Bears I put faith in Guntis Petenis last season, and it bit me; I think it's happening again. He has just nine shots blocked, which is a bit puzzling to me, especially when you look at teammate Pietro Maximoff, a forward, who has ten. He does have hits and is scoring at almost a point-per-game, so he's not a flop entirely. There are other players I would've been much better of grabbing, and I was hesitant to pick him, but I figured with just two defensemen on the roster, a good share of the shots blocked would go to him. I suppose playing mostly alongside Jeff Hamilton is going to prevent that from happening. Ilya Kopralkov, Cologne Express I was between picking Ilya Kopralkov and Dmitri Dadonov, but ultimately I went with Kopralkov for a couple reasons. First, with Dadonov depreciating, I think Kopralkov has surpassed him in terms of skill. Dadonov was enticing because he's still a good goalie on a bad team, meaning he'll make plenty of saves, but I think the wins that Kopralkov will get while on Cologne will make up for that. Cologne is capable of winning games against the better teams, having some forwards who can score and Kopralkov, who can steal some games. I'm not disappointed with using a late pick to end up with Kopralkov as my goalie. Ilya Kopralkov, playing with his third team in three seasons.

Sure it does!

It didn't

I almost drafted him in VHFL. Glad I didn't! He was online when I was making my pick, too. Viewing this post.

Obviously I wasn't talking about this season, duh.

No

Y'all are lucky I wasn't updated

Damn, so close. Good showing from New York players on both sides. Unassisted >>>

Aaaaand we beat Europe again. Meanwhile Canada upset Team World so it's a North American showdown for the gold. Guaranteed an improved tournament, but at this point, I'm expecting and hoping for (obviously) a win.

1 - Sir William Covington III (T12) 2 - Shawn Muller (T15)

That's certainly what it has turned into, no doubt.

mist4ke +4

He just wants to make sure it's seen, in order to strike fear in the hearts of all other teams.

Guntis Petenis @Tylar

Just thought I'd start a poll because people seemed to agree that it's stupid, and Most Sportsmanlike is as well. Also, discuss.

You'd probably be saving a life if you signed with Cologne.

Ilya Kopralkov @Kylrad

Third seed heading into the elimination round, now onto the semi-finals after beating Scandinavia (who actually 2-0'd us in the round robin). If we can beat Europe again (we outscored them 6-1 in the two games we played against them) then we'll guarantee an improvement over last WC finish. We could take this all the way, especially if Skye keeps playing like he has been.

For the double and triple you should probably specify which player is getting it.

?

Cool! And also mist4ke sucks.

If that's what the award is (which I totally agree, it is) then we should just scrap it (which I totally agree, we should).

I voted for you in protest of the award. But also with how much they've already won it, it took me very little thought to vote for you out of the four options that I had.

The playoff MVP award is named after Kanou. There has been some talk in the BOG about these two awards. I can't remember exactly where we've gotten to with it. Also splitting the top defenseman into offensive/defensive. No talk has been made of creating a secondary award for goalies.

Player Name: mist4ke VHL Team: HC Davos Dynamo Cash you have: $3,500,000 Purchase Name: VHL.com/Radio Upgrade Cost of Purchase: $2,000,000 Cash Left: $1,500,000