diamond_ace

So I've been talking a lot about Ottawa and the VHLM lately, and I think it's about time I talk about my guy in the bigs. Last year I got 47 points in 72 games, with an 0.46 P/20. It wasn't a great year. It wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't good. Naturally, with a bad year, there's only one way to go. I've added over 100 TPE since the beginning of the month, a lot of which was uncapped of course (offseason bonuses, donation, HOF article). Now I'm sitting there on 394, a left winger playing center on the second line of the best team in the league, and it's all falling into place. People need to stack in order to stop the Canmore/Arroyo/Louth line, so they send out the scrubs against me, and while Vilhjalmsson is a bit underwhelming, Bogdanovic and I can tear some people up pretty nicely. I have 17 points in 16 games, so even if I stay exactly on that pace (which wouldn't make sense as I've been adding metric fucktons of TPE) I'd have about 76 points in 72 games. My P/20 has also gone up to 0.82. Ultimately I'd like to break 80, but even if I just get the 76, that's significantly better than 47. Sounds like Most Improved if I've ever seen it. Evan R. Lawson, CFO of Most Improved Med.

Sorry to necro this post everyone, but I'm actually a regular over there too (not as a result of this thread, since I didn't know this thread existed until recently) and yeah, Flamesfan is a bit of an odd duck there... EDIT: They've also moved sites to Puck Theory. All links with The Breakaway won't work.

If we don't get enough sign ups I double people up, so this is actually really useful

So I've done this before for the VHL, but have never done it for the VHLM. See this link here if you want to see what it's like. You can choose any of the following to sign up for: fastest skater, hardest shot, creative penalty shot, and obstacle course. I'd also like to get some goalies. At the end, there will be a continuous direct shootout between all skaters. I'll use RNG for the results of the first four comps, and reserve the right to use some poetic license on the shootout. This doesn't require any work on your end, it's just me including you in a giant article. Ideally, I'd like to get 6 skaters for each comp, and the number of goalies doesn't matter as long as it's even. Please sign up below if you're interested - note, you must have a VHLM player. I'll update the OP periodically as I get signups. I intend to write this for the week ending September 9th, so you have a bit of time yet. Skater: Shot: CPS: Obs: Goalies:

Moltke is a VHLM player, you can only select VHL players

Oh shit, bud. Hope everything turns out well for him. We've all been in similar situations and you have to put real life first and the league second - this will be here when you can.

Here's the thing that a lot of newer guys don't think of right away: a guy at 150 TPE right now and a guy at 75 TPE right now (assuming both are earning at cap), while the 150 will perform better in the early part of the season given the TPE lead, by the end of the season, those guys both get to 175 applied. The 150 will of course have more banked, but banked doesn't go into the sim. A team with 4 guys in the 150-175 range will do amazingly early on. Their stars will light up the league in a way that the team full of depth can't counter. However, with the cap, they'll soon stop being able to add anything. A team with 10 guys around 75, that team will be slower at the beginning but by the end of the season, if all those guys are at or near the cap, I think you know 10 is more than 4. So yes, Ottawa's only near-cap guys right now are King and Baxter. Not even Matthews, who is doing amazingly. Will Matthews get there by the end of the season, of course he will. So will Odinsson, James, Trepanier, Wilinsky, McWolf, Rasputinov, Kriketers. (All credit to my unsung depth guys Mitchell, Renner, and Rzerk, you guys are still putting in work, but for the purposes of the point I'm making, you're all unlikely to cap this year so that's why I've left you off for the time being). That's exactly 10 guys who will be at or near the cap by the end of the season. 10 guys who will all be able to have the impact in the sim the size of Crimson and Nguyen, Crosby and Kastelic, Moltke and Tzuyu, etc. We've started off poorly - more poorly than we probably should have, to be honest with you, and while we have the most goals scored in the league even to this point, the defensive record leaves a bit to be desired. Let's let your guys run into the TPE cap, my entire army of guys catch up to you, and then see what happens late. I know this is going to sound like an ego thing, but it's simply a facet of the league rules that I don't expect you to have considered at this point. I'm not saying we'll be the best team because I'm hyping up my guys and being blind to the reality of things, I'm saying we'll be the best team because I've been around the VHLM and I know how things like this work. The slow start is going to make it look competitive, and it'll give teams a shot at knocking us down the standings a bit early on. We may or may not get back to the 1 seed before the playoffs happen, but we'll definitely be the team that performs the best down the stretch, and should carry that over into the playoffs. Think about it like the NHL video game. If you have one team with 3 forwards and 2 defense all at 87 overall but they're 35 and nearing retirement, or you have another team with 6 forwards and 4 defense all at 84 overall but they're 20 and in their entry level deals, team A might get off to a hot start, but team B will be more sustainable at the end of the year and into the playoffs, because enough of the 84 overall guys will have gone up since they're young. *Also, side note: even if you're only taking into consideration current performance, and not how the team will do as the season wears on, how do you justify putting Saskatoon ahead of us? We're ahead of them in the standings AND we've beaten them head to head both games we've played against them.

You sound like the guy at the beginning of that one predetermined-moves dance song they always play at weddings and school dances

#bringbackjardy

I can relate to getting pissed about 5.5, that used to be me with media. I remember back when they used to want a ton of pictures, different colors in the font, etc, and I argued that posting an article with a more professional look should be accepted just as readily.

Good article, hits all the major stuff and doesn't sell my friend short in the least. I'm coming for that VHLM credit though

Halifax is strong But Ottawa wins the cup Yukon isn't good (Haiku boys!)

Once you all get to the regular WC, I think Harding-Montgomery-Lawson sounds like a great line

How do I say this nicely... I'm not all that interested in taking guys just to take them. I respect the hell out of Smarch and I'm fairly sure I was the one who got the ball rolling on his HOF nom in the first place, but I actually don't know him that well as a member. I knew Chris super well, so his article was easier for me than it would have been for someone else. I was taking Coach because he was the one who first brought me into the league, 40+ seasons ago. So I have no problem with Enorama taking Coach, as I know I've hemmed and hawed on taking these over the years, and I trust him to actually sit and do it more than I trust myself to. In doing so, however, that doesn't mean I'm doing someone else.

He's who I was referring to three posts ago when I said Coach, so technically he's claimed, but as I didn't do him at work like I'd originally planned, have at it.

@oilmandan

We're not below 500. You missed the two wins over Oslo, we're 4-3

@Bushito draft is complete

2nd week claim post

So yesterday was national Everyone's A Brighton Fan day, and it looks like good triumphed over evil

So new guys would have to hold off creating, causing them to go inactive. Don't get me wrong there are parts of this I actually like, I'd say largely it's decent, but there are some holes in it

Torn - parts I like and parts I don't. I think it would kill the VHLM, as any offseason where more than 25 points are available (giveaways, plus prob 2 weeks of cap) means all max active people in those years would skip the VHLM entirely

I'd say it should run concurrently with the regular world cup, and players would be able to be picked up for Mercs and spare rosters for the big one before dropping to this, but I'm absolutely on board with it. Prob 4 teams would be reasonable - Canada, USA, Europe including Scandy, and World/Mercs

Yeah the sim is acting weirdly for you - somehow we've let in 17 goals in 4 games, second most in the league. The offense is clicking, but we're letting in a bunch, despite all your TPE. I'd say maybe look into hand speed and reaction time though, you have both at 35 still, and those are two of the bigger attys for goalies. They helped Brookside immensely, that much I remember.

Oddly poetic that Chat @eaglesfan036 scored the winner