diamond_ace

$2m to come to Ottawa - No contracts and cap at this level so you don't have to worry about extensions and going to FA and all of that

Except when we do

$1m to come to Ottawa. Good luck whichever way you decide

Come to Ottawa, make things full circle, and play in the VHLM for the first guy you played for in the VHL I go $1m for most of the people but for you, I'll make an exception and go $2m

I'll vote for you if you vote for me (once he adds me, and I make no such deals regarding the actual awards for obvious reasons)

You can touch it again to add me

Rookie: Evan R. Lawson

prob only 1 again but yes

This. Boubs is gone. Let's enjoy the peace and leave the topic.

How tf did I get a vote for top GM? Upcoming season maybe

@Beaviss I know you like articles about VHLM

The Lynx' Den Sometimes, the draft changes everything. The S59 Ottawa Lynx threw everything at their lines hoping to make it stick, including a set of triplets, three deadline day additions, and every scrap of a player they could find. The problem was that there just wasn't enough there for them. They ended in 4th place (after spending most of the season in 5th, and passing Saskatoon mostly because of who Saskatoon lost rather than who Ottawa gained, although Ottawa did perform better down the stretch as well). After a wild card round sweep of Saskatoon, Ottawa then was swept themselves by eventual winners Yukon. After the season, things took a fortuitous turn, however. Ottawa had a few extra picks in the draft from deadline deals in rounds that are typically just depth, and then the draft class turned into a draft tidal wave. Suddenly, those depth picks became strong early picks, providing unexpected value where there wasn't supposed to be much. The extra 3rd rounder especially, turning an inactive Zach Weise into active defenseman Alvaro Jokinen was pure alchemy. Heading into the draft, Ottawa's main holdover from the prior season was goaltender Arbin Asipi Jr who'd performed admirably the prior season, despite being only at the beginning of his development and having no real defenders in front of him for most of the season. There were also a few forwards carrying over, the notable ones being Ambrose Charizard and Corey Guimond. First priority was to build a defense in front of Asipi so he'd face fewer shots in the upcoming season, allowing him to develop a bit more easily without being asked to stand on his head night after night. Ottawa's monumental draft night, as with any draft night, started with a single pick. Second overall, to be exact. The late run to 4th at the end of last season was needed for team confidence, but it did drop the team down one spot in the draft order. There was one player on the radar for this pick several weeks before the draft, Samuel Gate, and the only thing that stood in the way of Gate being the selection was if he'd gone first to Saskatoon. Once Saskatoon released their draft predictions, essentially revealing their first overall pick, all that was left was to wait until the selection came up and to make it official. Gate had spent the last few weeks of the prior season in Ottawa, so he was familiar with team facilities and even already had a locker. The second round suddenly became another first, with the way this draft developed. Early picks, especially. In any other draft, Matt Thompson would have been easily a first. There were perhaps a few picks before him that maybe could have been later, but generally it seemed certain before the draft that someone good would fall to 7th overall, and Thompson was it. Gate started off the defensive group for Ottawa, and Thompson would begin to anchor the forwards. In the third, that's where Ottawa began having extra picks. Their own third, 12th overall, they took a flier on a promising new draftee, Daniel Kenny. So far, Kenny has not disappointed, and seems to be a good linemate going forward for Thompson. Yukon's third, acquired for Zach Weise at the deadline, finished off the top defensive pair and left Asipi with a much stronger set in front of him, as Alvaro Jokinen would join the team, a good counterpart to Gate. The fourth and fifth rounds, typically full of inactives if anyone at all, would fill out the roster for Ottawa in a draft where they suddenly mattered. Brendan Wilson, another defenseman and another promising new guy like Kenny before him, would hear his name called in the 4th and would begin to fill out a second defensive pairing. Tomos Walker would start a second forward line, and at this stage it looked like he'd be playing alongside one of last season's carryover players in Charizard or Guimond - it's a testament to the depth of this draft that those two are actually now on the third line, behind Walker. Mikhail Vega, another guy who spent the end of last season with Ottawa, was tapped to come back at the beginning of the 5th and was the first center drafted (Guimond is also a center, so the team wasn't devoid of them, but Vega would slide in ahead of Guimond, as would a later draftee). Vega, despite being drafted later than Walker, would immediately jump to the top line with Thompson and Kenny as he's a center and that line was yet to have one. Wilson's defensive partner would join with the second of Ottawa's 5th rounders. In an odd turn of events, Chat, the player associated with the agency that just took over GMing in Oslo, would not find himself in Oslo and instead would come to Ottawa. A player from a storied agency would be the perfect developmental partner for the new guy Wilson. Even the rounds that are objectively supposed to be depth (or typically don't exist) are looking to pay off for Ottawa so far. Declan Burns in the 6th and Euan Hamill in the 7th will look to develop with Walker, they'll form a second line that can develop together as a cohesive unit, and Hamill, the 7th rounder, has been active even after the draft. Burns is a center, and while Hamill and Walker are both right wingers, one can play left wing to make the line work as they develop chemistry alongside each other. Perfect fit or no, getting actives as far into the draft as the 7th is objectively a coup for Ottawa. Plus there's another active (Wolf Edmunds) who signed in free agency post draft, and if he develops and Burns doesn't show up, could easily slide into that remaining second line spot. In the remaining rounds, Ottawa took depth like everyone else. Hinga Dinga Durgen in the 8th was picked up as a backup for Asipi. He's developed a little but has since slid into inactivity, but that's perfect because he won't pose any threat to Asipi's starting role but will be better than a bot in the instance he needs to play. Marvin Cookie in the 9th is inactive as well, but is just a third pair defenseman at the moment, so if he shows back up he could start to climb the pairs. 1072 words, 4/9-4/15, 4/16-4/22

Ottawa doesn't even have one and I still have a three room suite in the corner of the office park reserved for one, should one come about. It's empty right now, but the rookies still have to go over and water the plants on occasion.

Voted for Boubs anyway (well, I voted for Cornerstone/Ron the players, rather than Boubs the member) but it's still frustrating that a guy who won the award anyway, and by a wide margin, cares about getting every vote. He won. That's all that matters in the end.

Favorite memory of the VHLM for me: S21 VHLM draft, selecting some semi-active guy in the 5th (it was a decent draft) Trading the same guy to Meg for a 1st Trading her own 1st back to her for Keon Henderson Winning the cup and breaking assist records with the same Keon Henderson. Basically a third of my cup winning roster (Keon Henderson, Evgeni Fyodorov, and Mattias Backlund) was acquired with a 5th and some lopsided as hell trades.

Not sure yet, it's still 3 years away, but right now we're leaning toward this cute boutique-style hotel in Maryland we've stayed at a few times (2 1/2 hours away). If we do it locally, it might be the Aviary, or this other hotel that's probably a little out of the price range but we have some time to build up.

I am. I'm about 10 minutes from the center of Pittsburgh. Close enough that if you put the rest of my address down, but Pittsburgh instead of Etna, the mail would still get to me, as it's a borough that's part of the city area. Devise - I strongly prefer urban to rural. Just personal preference, I like the things that a city offers. I like being able to go see a Riverhounds game on a whim. I like being able to go down to the Benedum and at least have the option to see Hamilton next winter (if the prices come down from the utterly ridiculous $1150 they've been initially released at) or Guys and Dolls at the Byham last fall (only $32 since the Byham is smaller, Benedum and Heinz Hall shows are usually 60-100). I like being able to go to 3-4 different trivia nights at different places on consecutive nights if I really feel like it, and they're all super close (more accurately, it means that even if I work a nonstandard schedule and miss my usual night, there's another option on whichever night I am off). I like being able to bus places, or walk, a city has afforded me the ability not to have a car (and not to have the bills associated with a car) so that I can afford to do a lot of the social stuff I do without having to work my ass off. Culturally, I just find myself more drawn to an urban lifestyle significantly more than a rural one. Everyone prefers different things though, and I mostly offer that as a counterpoint to any claims of rural being objectively better, not that you were claiming that. Simpler, sure, but I'm not a fan of simplicity. The thing about people helping each other out, I don't know about other cities, but Pittsburgh is good for that, so it's inaccurate to say urban doesn't have it (at least in my particular case, but one example of a rural community doesn't speak for all rural communities just as one example of an urban community doesn't speak for all urban communities). I would also not say the claim of less divided is accurate either - again, probably your community specifically is less divided, but so is Pittsburgh.

I'm aware of that. Don't think anyone really needed to be told. Better to reach some than none though, surely?

Prime rib and potatoes, always a good meal. Beer-wise, she's more into that than I am. I'll want a cider (ideally Crispin Blackberry Pear, but I don't know if that comes in draft, so I'll probably do a local one from Arsenal Cider) or at least a decent semi-sweet wine. She'll probably do an IPA of some sort. Dogfish 120 if she can find it, I'm sure. I'm a little screwed on the money side of it - combined we have ONE parent in the picture, my mom (both dads dead, her mom left when she was a kid). No remaining grandparents on either side. My uncle might end up trying to cover a good bit, but he has less money left than he thinks...

If a youtube ad got that big, maybe have the Pajodcast guys plug it every 5th video or so? Enough not to be overwhelming. Also, recruitment crew: Do you think there would be a decent overlap between hockey fans and soccer fans? I'm a Patreon supporter of a FIFA youtuber named Cutzy. 32k subscribers. Since I give him money (Patreon) I might have a shot at getting him to do an ad like you guys did with Tactix.

I'll do it but give me until at least next Friday

Genius

I made it clear before starting the relationship that this was never going to be the "guy is wrong because he's the guy" type of thing. I'd have genuinely rather been single my whole life than deal with that. She didn't even know that was a thing until we'd been involved for some time - it's funny because there was a span of 6 months or so where I had to point out to her instances of people doing that on facebook so she'd even believe me it was a thing. Different things work differently for different couples of course, but we in particular have worked well by trying to be about equal for most things, while allowing each of us the things we're most passionate about. If there's something she wants in the wedding, she'll feel comfortable bringing it to me and discussing it, and the same is true in reverse if there's something I want, and neither of us railroading the other about anything (I mentioned to her the other day that I wanted one of the food options to be mushroom ravioli in tomato cream sauce, and it's happening, because we talked it out).

There are a few VHLers or former VHLers I wouldn't be opposed to having, and theoretically I know she has some people from triathlon groups that she's never met in person that might be the same, so as ridiculous as it sounds I wouldn't rule it out. As a general rule I'd say probably not, but it's a nonzero chance. Of course, logistically it might be difficult.

Sent again