diamond_ace

@Enorama

Yes. Any of the following: Players: (S61) Franchise Cornerstone (S61) John locke (S60) Rhett DeGrath (S60) Fabio Jokinen (S59) Theo Axelsson (S59) Aleksi Koponen (S57) Jeff Hamilton - (S57) Pietro Maximoff - (S55) Phil Hamilton (S54) Sandro Clegane - (S53) Felix Peters - (S51) Hans Wingate - Builders: Jack Reilly Chris Miller Frank Chadwick Smarch Will EXCEPT Hans Wingate player and Chris Miller builder, as they've been claimed by me and Enorama

That's an official claim this time, none of this maybe I will, maybe I won't crap from back when I was trying to fight off the urge to go inactive back in the day. This is happening. Probably next Monday.

Then I think it's only appropriate that since Chris wrote mine, I write his.

Casey Jones D @Elhandon

I just did a regular media that's 2 weeks worth. Can I do a Hof and claim it for the week after that, still with the bonus?

@Enorama

So @Victor, Mr. History himself, recently did a spreadsheet on the all time GMs of each VHL franchise. It appears as though I still hold the record for the longest single tenure as a GM of one team, with 17 seasons with Calgary, although Higgins had two tenures with Helsinki that add up to 19 and beat mine combined. The three guys on 22 total seasons of GMing (across multiple franchises) strike me as a rather eclectic mix - Chris, or @ADV as one of the best to ever do the job, Greg @gregreg who is never going to win any career plaudits for his time but certainly did a consistent and admirable job over the years nonetheless, and Mike, one of the old timers who mostly racked up his seasons before even I was in the league. Ultimately I think I'm definitely outside the top 5 but comfortably in the top 10 all time, as the list currently stands. There are of course opportunities for newer guys to come and pass me, and that is fine, my tenure was what it was and I don't anticipate going back to VHL GMing barring an inactive GM forcing my hand. However, I doubt any of the GMs ahead of me on the all time VHL GMing list also had a superior VHLM GMing tenure. Of course I missed a lot of seasons in the late 40s and early 50s, but the last I knew, there was a clear top 4. I was part of this top 4, along with @eaglesfan036 and @STZ, but none of us could crest the unassailable mountain that was @CoachReilly. This man was a legend of VHLM GMing when the VHLM sorely needed him, going from direct affiliations with VHL teams to independent entities for the first time, including a dispersal draft of all assets in the league. 3 cups in 5 seasons, including a back to back in S24 and S25 (capping it off with S28). All records must fall. That's what they're designed to do. Coach has stood the test of time atop the VHLM GMing pantheon for over half the league's existence, so the target has been acquired. This unbreakable record must be broken. Given that both eaglesfan and STZ are mostly inactive, it falls to me to try my hand at it. If I fail, one of the new guys can hopefully make a name for himself among the greats - there's one I think might, although I'm not going to reveal that. Hopefully I don't fail. The mountain must come tumbling down.

@Beaviss

Since the draft, the Ottawa Lynx have made 3 trades and signed two guys off waivers. In total, this has improved the team significantly while not costing them a great deal in picks or other players. Looking at the trades first and then the acquisitions, we see how far this team has come even since the draft, when they were already favorites, and now are in an even stronger position. The first move was a relatively big one, and of the trades, the one that was the most lopsided in Ottawa's favor. James Lombardi, a defenseman the Lynx selected in the 9th round, went to the Las Vegas Aces for a 2nd and 3rd in the S63 VHLM draft and inactive center Sam Hynes. Lombardi has proven better than your standard 9th rounder, in fact based on post-draft activity if all teams were to redraft based on current knowledge, Lombardi would probably go in the 5th or 6th round. Nonetheless, if the next draft is anywhere near what this one is, the trade heavily favors Ottawa. Delving into hypotheticals here, I'd estimate Vegas to likely finish 4th in the upcoming season, so who were the 9th and 15th overall picks in the most recent draft? Nikita Flipachyev and BB Nat. Flipachyev alone is enough to make the trade favor Ottawa, and while BB Nat has been decent, in the hands of Ottawa the pick would have become Joseph McWolf, the guy I selected with the very next pick. With all due respect to Lombardi, a guy I think is massively underrated at the moment, he's not hardly Flipachyev AND McWolf, or next year's equivalents of the same. Looking into the second trade which was between Ottawa and Yukon, it is much more balanced, and largely equal and beneficial to both - although if pressed to pick a "winner" Yukon might just edge it slightly. Ottawa picked up Roctrion King, a nearly capped scoring winger who will inevitably become capped within a few weeks, bolstering the wings which were the weakest position on the roster (not that the wings were weak, just weaker than the rest). In exchange, Yukon got Athanasios Andrianopoulos, who has been less active than King but certainly has been active and will be a good multi-season contributor to Yukon's roster. Additionally, Yukon got Ottawa's 1st and 2nd in the S63 draft as well as the worse of the 3rds between Ottawa and Vegas (which should also be Ottawa's pick barring a massive fluke in the sim). I know what you're thinking. A 1st, 2nd, AND 3rd, plus Andrianopoulos, for King? The price was expensive, but you pay what you have to in order to get the best player in the trade, which is King. Plus, with Ottawa getting Vegas' 2nd and 3rd in the other trade, which are about half a round from Ottawa's if all goes as I'm projecting it, Vegas' 2nd and 3rd should be nearly as much in combined value as Ottawa's 1st and 3rd, which basically just leaves the 2nd. The third trade, and by far the smallest of the three, was Tomos Walker to Halifax for a 7th. This might be the first time in league history a 7th was traded, but it's a calculated risk. More likely than not, the pick will amount to nothing, but shipping out an inactive winger who had only 38 TPE for basically a lottery ticket isn't a bad value. Risking a little for a chance at a lot, relatively speaking - you'll never get a star from the 7th, but there's a chance to get an active, which would turn out better than Walker. This third trade is essentially a non-entity for both sides, and the entire trade could fit into the margins of either of the other two. All three trades put together to this point from Ottawa's perspective: Coming in - Roctrion King, Sam Hynes, Vegas 2nd, Vegas 3rd, Halifax 7th Going out - James Lombardi, Athanasios Andrianopoulos, Tomos Walker, Ottawa 1st, Ottawa 2nd, Ottawa 3rd Looking at it combined, again with all due respect to the exiting Lombardi and Andrianopoulos, both of whom I expect to be multi-season contributors to their respective teams and eventually become decent pieces in the VHL in time, there's no debating this team came out ahead in total. King is the type of player who will be competing for awards this season. Additionally, the Lynx have signed two extra players to fill in wing spots on their roster, and these two guys are what made Walker completely expendable and a non-entity as even a line filler for Ottawa. Chace Trepanier, a sniper who is fast and can handle the puck well, and Dan Wilinsky, a speed demon with a decent shot of his own and a bit of an all around game, have signed with the Lynx for 1.5 million each for the year. To start off the year they'll be centered by Jerome Mitchell, whose faceoffs ought to get this line the puck so Trepanier and Wilinsky can put in their fair share of goals. After the first week or two of the season, things will have the opportunity to be evaluated again for lines and Trepanier, Wilinsky, and Mitchell will all have the opportunity to climb their way up if they've surpassed some of the second liners, Braylon James, JP Desjardin, or Rzerk. James' spot is likely safe, but if one of the new guys can slip in ahead of, say, Desjardin, it would actually balance the lines a little better as right now the second line has no dedicated scorer and the third line has no dedicated passer. These things do tend to work themselves out in the sim but surely the most active guys should be rewarded with better lines. Additionally, power play and/or penalty kill depending on builds can bump up the time of each active, and on the whole everyone will get a good chance to perform. Defensively, we've lost one guy in Lombardi, and that's never ideal, but sacrificing a little defensive depth for some added firepower up front was something we were in a position to do out of the draft. The top three guys - Baxter, McWolf, and Rasputinov - will all have opportunities on top pair at different times. Whichever combo works best, for both sim performance and activity of the players, will win out. The third will be able to double shift, in the absence of Lombardi, by playing opposite both Renner on the 2nd pair and Chat on the 3rd. All this in front of Kallis Kriketers, and I see no reason why the cup should find itself anywhere else at the end of the year. 1121 words 12 TPE for week ending 19th, with donation doubles 12 TPE for week ending 26th, with other donation doubles

@leafsman

You're a good active member and you always hate dealing away good active members. Glad you understand that I had to do it though, and good luck in Vegas and on whichever VHL team you eventually end up on when you promote.

I'm good with top 10, especially given Chris' ridiculous run and Molholt coming in and winning for essentially the only tries he had. I'm content with that being my place in the VHL GMing pantheon, so to speak. I don't intend to give the bigs another shot unless I'm Beavissed into it. What I am coming for though, is Coach and the VHLM GMing title. That's the target. A cup this season will help pull me closer to him, provided I can manage it and my absolutely loaded roster doesn't pull a Yukon. Another one, perhaps within the next 3 seasons after the current one, might be enough but debatable. Looking way forward, if I can manage 3 more total by S70 it's a wrap.

36X119794M400163Y 2 doubles 1 free 1 5TPE

38 TPE inactive. The 7th is genuinely more worth it to me. Halifax could use him, it just made sense

I assume even Riga doesn't think Aamo is the answer, hence Kriketers.

Good first podcast! Just to let you know @oilmandan was also a post-draft guy like @ChaceT was. Dan Wilinsky

Blockbuster trade right here! No, just getting rid of an inactive I don't need, and giving him to a team who can use a winger with some small TPE for depth. Accept

Agreed to an extent. I don't think I ever could have cut Calgary, more than just from my personal biases, but I agree Cologne deserved better, one way or another.

@DaftRaincloud @BOOM™ @Rzerk @Mike_Houle @oilmandan @bdu754 @Tacocat @Joobles

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Ottawa offers 1.5 million - talked to you on Discord about where each of the teams are at, etc. Good luck wherever you choose, and even if you don't go Ottawa, feel free to come to me with questions about the league.

Ottawa offers 1.5 million - talked to you on Discord about where each of the teams are at, etc. Good luck wherever you choose, and even if you don't go Ottawa, feel free to come to me with questions about the league.

OTT gets Roctrion King YUK gets Athanasios Andrianopoulos Ott S63 1st Ott S63 2nd and the worse 3rd at end of season between Ott S63 3rd and Vegas S63 3rd Accept @BarzalGoat

@McWolf