diamond_ace

The guy I basically brought back for you ?

Well of course he's better at chess, Russians always are

My 50th overall pick @cartoes also hit his 250 and will be coming up, although he wasn't one of your guys

Perry has 18 tpe more and was picked 6 picks later. Nothing against Telker, he's definitely a steal just not the steal of the draft

@Liberty_Cabbage would like a word

It all started with a charity match. To think that we've arrived here, on the cusp of a former Czech First Lady making her VHL debut, after having spent some time in Canada in the VHLM... all on the back of a charity match. It's unheard of, really. These are the types of games that don't even get scouted - a singer, a radio dj, maybe a few news broadcasters; it was a big coup to get Havlova to even play in the charity match, as she was a bit more well known and in the public eye than most of her counterparts. Former Pittsburgh Penguin Martin Straka was the coach, and recognized talent in Havlova, but even that was surely nothing more than the level of the competition - or so it seemed, until the level of competition was raised and she was not lost in the shuffle as expected. Imagine the scenes at the first home game. A country welcoming home their prodigal daughter as she steps out onto the ice in front of a sellout crowd. So what skills brought us to this moment? Defense - Having watched the national team for decades, as well as some of her country's greatest NHLers, Havlova took to the defensive side of the center role better than could possibly have been expected. Closing down the moment the opposition gains the puck, some early forechecks, but not so aggressive as to be caught out of position to give up breakaways. Scoring - This was more the result of long hours in the offices and boardrooms as her former husband, Vaclav Havel, had the important task of not only running a country but founding one. There were quite a few spots in their estate where practice nets were set up and Dagmar shot for fun. Occasionally, there were days where Vaclav would be in a meeting for hours, and just in the next room, Dagmar would be shooting pucks into her practice nets to kill time, just because it was what she wanted to do. Skating - Here's where the surprise comes in. A bit of natural skill on skates; perhaps some former dance ability in her past, perhaps just a natural, who knows? When she first got on the ice though, it was a seamless transition, including adapting the existing skillset to being on skates. Unfortunately, not everything went quite so well... Faceoffs - This is something that's going to be important going forward. The rest of Havlova's skillset fits the profile of a center more than a winger, but she'll need to improve quickly at the spot if she wants to maintain the role going forward. Checking - Not the most imposing of figures, Havlova isn't as prone to the big hits as some of her teammates, and in fact often becomes the target of opposing hits due to size, lack of experience in the game, and honestly the fame probably plays some small part in it as well. Discipline - This is a powerful woman with powerful connections, who is used to getting her way. Things have always been biased in her favor, so when a game is called fairly, it appears biased against her compared to what she's used to. This can lead to her getting a bit carried away with things at times.

Yeah I wish Sova hadn't left, good member and built a good player, but I needed to clear him out since he's getting depreciated into oblivion

This will be a slightly unusual one, as there will be 4 players announced, for reasons that will become apparent in a moment. These were conducted by vote. As former captain Erik Draven heads off to new experiences in Helsinki, his replacement as captain will be young goalie Solomon Crawford @AndrewWarren13 - honorary captain anyway, as goalies can't be captain in the sim. Still a great member and someone I'm happy to award this to. Goalies can't be captain in the sim, so that leaves the next highest vote getter and a guy who honestly I think has stepped up massively in the last season Alex Pearson @Jayrad28 as the sim captain, and the first A elsewhere. The next guy is an A both in the sim and elsewhere, and he deserves every bit of it - one of the most active guys in the discord, helping out with press conferences, and just a key guy for the team all around, Seabass Perrin @Sebster03. Fourth in votes, and therefore just sliding into the captaincy team because Crawford is a goalie, is the oldest player on the team outside of people we've acquired in the offseason and my first real free agent (not counting Thunderfist because I kind of cheesed that just to have a body) - Don Draper @Infernal. I was happy to have him in Ottawa and I continue to be happy to have him in Prague, he deserves to be recognized here. There are of course a ton of other people who contribute a great deal to this team. The new acquisitions, for example, are putting us on the map and giving us a great chance to break that playoff drought. The guys who've been around Prague from the beginning, sat through the trials of expansion, will now get the chance to reap the benefits. I couldn't be prouder to have all of us here right now - new and old alike - to see the Phantoms rise from the grave and venture toward our eventual perch atop the league.

He goes from one expansion team to another, and if he comes back I look forward to working with him. Obviously I'm pretty familiar with him, I was his boss after all (when he was GM of Vegas) and yeah a bit on the vocal side but on the whole still a good guy and someone I gladly welcome to the team

Not getting involved in the argument... but I kind of did 50 of these back to back

Any prospect to join by 12:00 midnight, the night of the 11th going into the 12th, is eligible to be drafted. Any prospect to join at 12:01 am the 12th or later is a waiver player and can be signed after the draft

2 parter, so credit for Kefka on one and credit for Havlova on the other

3 - PRG/HSK : S70 HSK 3rd and S71 HSK 4th for Rights to Erik Draven Our friend the Crow had decided to go to free agency, which is always a fun time for the player, but not so great for the team. However, it happens, and I bear no lasting grudges and wish Draven good luck. Helsinki had a deal on the table for Draven at the trade deadline actually, pending one thing, and then when that thing went the opposite direction the trade didn't happen. When the playoffs were nearing conclusion, both Helsinki and Riga approached about a rights deal, and this is what got done. 4 - PRG/CGY-B : Roll Fizzlebeef for S72 PRG 1st and S70 HSK 3rd The 3rd I just got from Helsinki was flipped to Calgary in this deal, along with the S72 1st. Originally, I'd expected Fizzlebeef to be too expensive, as I'd heard there was an offer out there of a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd, including a particularly early 1st where the picks are at their highest value. When that deal did not happen, being online late at night played to my advantage and we got this deal done in what Gorlab calls the "degen hours" of the night. Overall summary: IN - Brick Wahl, Edward Vigneault, Roll Fizzlebeef, S71 HSK 4th OUT - S70 PRG 1st, S72 PRG 1st, S70 PRG 2nd, Rights to Erik Draven Most importantly on the picks front, we still keep the S71 1st, which is a pick I already have a guy in mind for, a season out still. On the whole, I expect the European playoff race to be tightly fought, with 5 teams all taking a shot at it. Ultimately though, I expect this ought to be enough to see my guys have something to do other than golf when the season ends, and to make the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's short history.

This is just a quick overview of the total moves Prague have made so far in the offseason, on an individual basis and then the total at the end. 1 - PRG/CGY-A : Brick Wahl for Owen May and S70 PRG 1st The blockbuster move that started us off on the right foot: we went and got ourselves a goalie. Goalie has been a position of some contention among the team, but bringing in Wahl leaves no controversy at all. There is now no longer a better inactive vs a worse active, there is now an undisputed best who is active and will play in the majority of the games, and a young active backup who has time to be groomed into the eventual starter role. 2 - PRG/MOS : Edward Vigneault for S70 PRG 2nd I actually had a guy in mind for this pick originally (at the time the deal was offered I hadn't done much scouting yet, and in fact had only messaged one guy in this draft, so if you got a PM from me, sorry, you would have been this pick if you had lasted to it). Then I was sent this in a PM and immediately the idea intrigued me. Not only is Vigneault a good promising long term guy, but Pat was someone I knew had a good relationship with a couple more of my players. TBC

Either even, or Sea by a hair. Wilinsky is a great both player and member, but this is one season. How much can people really expect him to go for?

Quick someone find me a guy who hasnt logged onto the site since november so i can get a 1st for him

?

Losing the lottery didn't really do anything one way or the other for me. The pick was verbally gone weeks ago. Basically once I realized the second half of the lottery picks were more mid-1st level guys, I started looking for opportunities to turn the pick into something. Pretty happy with what came from the pick in the end

?

The first day of the offseason has seen trades going off like mad. We haven't even had a deadline this busy in decades of seasons, let alone a random offseason. Winners and losers? Either on an overall basis or of the trades individually

As evidenced by the trades that have happened today, the Prague Phantoms are clearly looking to take a step forward this season and climb up into the playoffs. There are still some holes, of course, but there are also some really strong areas of the team now. Starting in between the pipes, you'll find the ideal tandem: a vet with loads of skill and enough left in the tank for a few more runs, and a young future star with enough ability to fill in the gaps, and enough time to develop into a solid starter. Brick Wahl needs no introduction, this is a multiple time all star and a player who can change the course of a franchise. Solomon Crawford showed flashes of brilliance in between his early growing pains, but the potential was clearly there. Defensively, a strong top 6 across the board, featuring several standouts as well. Cinnamon Block, last season's 1st overall pick. Wolf Stansson Jr and Seabass Perrin, two guys who went straight from playing together in Yukon to playing together in Prague's inaugural season, and deserve a bit of success coming their way. Jacob Perry, arguably one of the biggest steals of his draft, after taking an extra season to develop he's not far back of some of the rest of the guys who came right into the league. Edward Vigneault, who was an unfortunate casualty of Moscow's roster, finding a home among a well balanced cast in Prague. Even Gert B. Frobe, king of laying the body, fills his role well here. A full three pairs of active defenders, set up well to protect their new netminder - this team should have no problem keeping the puck out of the back of the net. So far, that's one hell of a cast. Offensively, some great young pieces are there - Alex Pearson and Willie Dredge have been especially coming along well, and relative "vet" Don Draper (only a year older than Laughton and Vigneault) has always had a solid game to him. There's the guys down the lineup a bit, Blake Laughton, Scotty Big Shotty, and two players who'll make their debuts in Ben McGirr and Dagmar Havlova, and it looks like this team has a solid supporting cast, ready to make a splash this season and see where we can go from here, and not a single player set to retire at the end of the upcoming season (except for Mountain Thunderfist, who is largely unneeded at this point and may not make the opening day roster). It's all just missing one thing: that star offensive piece. Now it's not unlikely that either Pearson or Dredge could develop into that, but no one's quite there right now - there isn't a forward on the level of Wahl on the back end. That's where it falls to the management to make things work in either free agency (where there's not likely to be a ton available) or through a trade. There are a few pieces that could be available on that end, but one thing is clear: this acquisition would be far more likely to be a pure acquisition than a player-for-player deal. The guys who've suffered through the developmental years deserve to see this out, to help guide the franchise to success. Obviously there are always circumstances to take into consideration, but this is a team, and a team works best together.

You couldn't have just accidentally forgotten to sign him

Pat come join blade and omg!

Pending FA rights deal, for anyone who might look at this and think lopsided

So as many of you already know, the Prague Phantoms have several pending trades that are unable to be put through until the portal search feature is reset. The offseason is officially underway, thanks to Beaviss although Josh would have done it a few hours later, and the assumption was that once the portal was set to tick over into the offseason, the trades would be able to be put through. As it turns out, this is not the case. The trades can't be entered because in the trades section, we are unable to search through the assets of either the incoming team or the outgoing team to select the pieces that will be traded. This is apparently an issue that only Will can fix, not even Josh, so we wait for Will to come onto the site and fix said search feature. There are three trades that the Prague Phantoms are waiting to be able to do, and so I will rank them in order of how "can't do this" they are. 1. The big one There is one massive trade that could change the entire fate of the franchise for the upcoming few seasons, and it's one that has been discussed and finalized between two non-playoff teams since the beginning of the playoffs. As the finals are now behind us, that means this trade has been waiting for quite some time to be put through, and both teams involved have started making plans for their rosters after the trade. The two teams seem to be going in different directions at the moment, one about to improve significantly and the other entering a quick rebuild wherein their younger players will begin to feature more heavily as they develop. Unfortunately, neither team is able to enter the trade into the portal, nor accept said trade, because the search feature needs to be reset. 2. The medium one This is a trade that I don't think many people know about at all, nowhere near as many as the first trade especially - I know on my end, it's only the people in the "team only" section of the Prague discord. The pieces involved in this deal are not as big as the pieces involved in the deal mentioned earlier, hence being the medium one, but it is a good trade, partially because of existing relationships within the team already. The result of this trade will be that one position area of the team will be pretty well finalized for the long haul, but is it Prague who will acquire, or the other team involved in the trade? Unfortunately, you'll have to wait, because neither team is able to enter the trade into the portal, nor accept said trade, because the search feature needs to be reset. 3. The rights trade This is the most minor of the three deals by a good margin. A player that will leave either Prague or the team Prague was in talks with in free agency is involved in this deal, and it's for the opportunity to trade the rights to said player either to or from Prague so that the receiving team (whichever side that is) can sell said player on said team before free agency opens. Fortunately, the outgoing team has already permitted the incoming team to talk to the player, so that side is set. Unfortunately, the pieces coming to the outgoing team in return can't be given to said team, because neither team is able to enter the trade into the portal, nor accept said trade, because the search feature needs to be reset. EDIT: while writing this article, the search feature was fixed and these can go through. Still claiming the article though