RomanesEuntDomus

1. Yes, and it sucks there just as much as it does elsewhere. 2. Winning a cup with the Cologne Express after building the team along with Devise. 3. I personally don't like it, but I don't care about it as much as I do about some other food-related ethical question. 4. The one I'm on, obviously? Although I still don't know why they originally moved from Quebec City to Vancouver but kept their logo? 5. I don't know really, seems like the atmosphere is pretty civil in general. 6. Our goalies, who for some reason always have to fix some equipment stuff when the rest of the team has to do the more annoying fitness excercises.

It has been a difficult season for the Vancouver Wolves and their fans. The future might be bright for the storied franchise that holds two lottery picks in the upcoming draft, but as of now the Wolves have just entered a rebuild and their results from last season have been just as you might expect from a team that traded away a lot of their quality veteran players - bad. Surprisingly however, one individual Vancouver player has had a bit of a breakout season as the franchise has entered a downward trajectory: Robin Galante Nilsson. The Swedish Defenseman, who joined the VHL right ouf of the Draft three seasons ago, has managed to put up some impressive numbers during the last season of his ELC, finishing in the top-10 in league scoring with over a point per game, and leading the entire league in Shots Blocked. A lot of that is due to the much bigger role he played on a thinned out roster of course, but it seems like RGN has also started coming into his own as a player now. It's gonna be interesting to see how his development continues as the Wolves re-tool and if he can solidify himself as one of the leagues premier defensemen as he enters his prime.

What Makes a Veteran? What makes someone a Veteran? And, even more importantly, what makes for a “veteran presence”? Is it the amount of battles you fought, the time you’ve been where you are, your mental attitude, a combination of all those things or something completely different? We wanted to explore this question and we did so by looking at a VHL player who has started to enter the “veteran” stage of his career. This definition of a “veteran stage” is a rather shaky one to begin with, the VHL generally puts it at around a players third or fourth post draft season but lots of things can be different for lots of players when judging their veteran status. Did they spend an extra season or two in juniors or not, how big a role have they played on their VHL team since hitting the big leagues, how much success has their team had and how many situations has the team put them in that allowed for the development of a veteran mindset? The player we want to talk about today is Robin Galante Nilsson, a Defenseman out of Sweden who was drafted in S76 and is currently playing for the Vancouver Wolves. Galante Nilsson’s career so far has not been a particularly flashy one, but we still think it can give us some interesting insight about what makes someone a veteran. RGN was one of the relatively rare cases of a player that went up to the VHL right after being drafted, spending no extra send-down seasons in juniors after his first year there. As we’ve learned from both Galante Nilsson and his GMs, it was his explicit wish to play with and against the highest level of competition possible and do so as early as possible, even if it would come with some growing pains. We would argue that this is definitely something that helps someone develop a veteran mindest earlier in his career than many other players, being willing to take a beating if necessary if it means you learn faster, rather than beating up on weaker competition yourself in juniors for another year. We were also pleasantly surprised to learn that he managed to take that step without upsetting his junior team either. The Philadelphia Reapers, one of the most stacked squads in juniors at the time, would definitely have preferred to keep one of their star defenseman for at least another season, but RGN and his GMs were able to communicate fairly and respectfully enough to allow him to move on anyway to pursue his dream, with no bad blood or grudges from his team altogether. Galante Nilsson thanked them by continually praising the Reapers front office in multiple interviews he’s given since then, marking them as a team that puts their players well-being above all else which hopefully has helped make the Reapers a top adress for young talent to go to to develop their skills and take the next step in their careers. Once he got to the VHL, Galante Nilsson joined the Vancouver Wolves who had drafted him 10th Overall. He has now just finished up his third season with the team, which interestingly enough has taken sort of the opposite trajectory than he as a player did. While Robin managed to grow and develop, continously improving both his point totals and defensive numbers, the Wolves went from a team that was able to do some damage in the playoffs to a squad that is deep in a rebuild. With Robin now at a stage of his career where his name might start popping up in some awards combinations, and with him being one of the older players of a squad that seems likely to remain on the rebuilding path for a little bit older, that brings us back to our initial question: What makes someone a veteran? By all accounts, Galante Nilsson qualifies as a veteran at this point. On a team that has been getting younger and that has traded away a lot of its older talent, he is both one of the older and of the more productive players and now the question is how he can put those skills to good use on a team that is likely not going to be competitive on the ice for another season or two. Will he be able to be the veteran presence that will help his younger teammates grow and develop their own game, or will it make more sense for the Wolves to move him as well as they did with a lot of their other veteran players? It’s a question we might see answered soon...

1. As a European these days don't really mean anything to me, but it's always fan to tag along for one of your teammates 4th of July barbecues. 2. The very first game that I got to go to as a kid in Sweden, because it lit the spark for me! 3. I expect our rebuild to continue for a little bit before we kick into next gear the year after. 4. I don't care, it's not about getting lucky in the draft, but about developing players right. 5. Draft great characters and leaders who can lead the team into the next era. 6. His jacket!

Yeah as another German I definitely agree with the people who voiced their concerns in here and think that this logo would be a bad idea. The design itself looks really good actually but I think it would be very tone-deaf if it were used for an actual team in the league. It's good to see that the people in charge seem to already have listened to the concerns that have been pointed out so that we can avoid this

Yeah as a German I'd have to second that, I really don't feel good about this logo/team identity. It's a very nice design that looks cool but also feels really tone-deaf if it came to use with an actual team in this league.

Looks like some interesting new stuff, looking forward to see how it will play out! One thing I am a little concerned about is the implemention of a TPE-minimum to play in the VHL, it feels like people might be underestimating how drastic a change that is especially since that minimum is set so high at 350 TPE. I'm not sure it's a good idea to limit people so severely in their choices early on in their career in order to force them to play in this new league we created, that they might not have been very interested to play in otherwise.

Sorry for holding things up with my absence guys

Yessir

1. Keep working hard and focus on myself and the things I can influence. 3. I'm binging Taskmaster quite a bit at the moment 5. Quebec City Meute 6. Onde Sandstorm make same great Swedish food that makes me think of home! 7. Rock and Metal mostly to get pumped! 8. Warsaw is looking quite dominant at the moment...

How has the first week of the season treated you? Do you feel like your off-season training has paid off yet, or have you been disappointed by your start? Currently fourth in the NA conference, how do you like our playoff chances? Who on our team do you think flies under the radar with their contributions? If we were lucky enough to have an outdoor game, who would you choose as our opponent? Who on the team do you spend the most time with. If you could take your current build and get one stat to 99 without having to use TPE, which stat would you choose and why? What type of music do you play when you take over the AUX in the locker room? 1. It was quite interesting, the team has been doing well and my scoring was decent but my +/- is in the gutter so... 2. ... there are definitely some things to work on. But I think it's too early to say what an effect my off-season training has had. 3. If we can keep up our current level of play then we should have a decent change, but it's a long season. 4. Micah Adrienne helped me a lot with my fantasy picks this season so I would say him! 7. I guess the one where I'm still the furthest away to maximize the TPE effect so... Checking? 8. Either something rocky to get people pumped up, or some chill Electro to cool down, depending on what's needed.

With FonziGG taking over as GM, how are you looking to make a first impression on him? What is the first few things you did one you stepped back into the Vancouver practice facilities? How was your off-season? Did you rest, or did you work hard the whole off-season? If you could choose who on the team you would be handcuffed to during a drill, who would it be? What is your favorite pre-game ritual? Which team do you really want to get revenge on this season? What is one thing you hope changes from last year? What is one piece of advice you would want to tell our prospects still in the VHLm? If you're a prospect in the VHLm, what is one thing you wish to know from the roster players? 1. Actions speak louder than words so I'll just have to perform to the best of my abilities and do the talking on the ice. 2. Check who my new locker neighbours are. 3. I think there is time for both given how long the off-season is, and a healthy body and mind also needs both these things. 4. She is gone now but Venus Thightrap because... reasons. 5. I don't really have any to be honest, I have certain routines but no real rituals. 7. We win more Cups.

F Onde Sandstrom @Seabass

Well this is embarassing... G Calvin Harvey

Whoops I'm sorry, thanks for pointing it out! I'm changing my pick to G Jean Pierre Camus

G Jacob Tonn @BladeMaiden

D Jiggly Gumballs

1. I don't think there is a singular instance to name here, he was just an all-around pleasant person to be around from the moment he brought me into the team. 2. I don't know enough about league politics to have an opinion on this, sorry. But there are plenty of deserving candidates both from within and outside of the team. 3. It doesn't make too much of a difference for me, I gotta focus on myself and improving my own game first and foremost, everything else I can't control anyway. 4. My answer here is kind of a combination of the previous two: I don't know that much about other teams and I have to focus on my own play anyway instead of relying on other people to carry me or blame them for my mistakes. 5. Everything that involves a ball or a puck to chase! 6. I'm not superstitious but I still like a certain sort of routine before every game, where things like equipment preparation and warmups change as little as possible.

Robin Galante Nilsson Scouting Report With the S77 VHL Entry Draft in the books and many fresh young stars getting ready to enter the league, we thought this might be a good opportunity to look back at some of their peers who started that same journey a year ago, what their expectations were and how they have fared since… And the first player we’ll be looking at for this series is Robin Galante Nilsson, the Defenseman out of Sweden. Galante Nilsson entered the VHLM in the off-season prior to S75, giving him plenty of development time to become one of the better and more polished prospects of his class. While he was lucky to join up early, he was not lucky enough to find himself a team that could offer him playoff ice time for the rest of the season, so Nilsson spent the playoffs watching the games from home even though the Houston Bulls had taken him on as a member of their practice squad. Robin enjoyed his time with the Bulls but if you don’t actually get to hit the ice and play in competitive games with a team then you never fully feel like a member of it, so the young Swede was happy when he finally found a “real” home in the S75 VHLM Draft when the Philadelphia Reapers picked him up. Philly had gone into the draft with a ton of picks and they emerged out of it with lots of good players and as one of the favourites for the Founder’s Cup that season. Such an environment allowed Galante Nilsson to flourish, the Reapers possessed both a highly competitive squad and a good team spirit with a locker room that had a few quite experienced players for their young age who were able to help a rather raw prospect like Robin out in finding his game. Robin’s first season in North America ended up being a successful one, after a very hot start his scoring slowed down a bit, but he still finished the season with 44 points in 72 games and strong defensive metrics and was indeed able to crown his season with the Founder’s Cup. Robin’s biggest focus in his first (and ultimately only) junior season was to be as consistent and reliable as possible, not necessarily going for the big hits or rocket shots from the point, but being an anchor for his team that can drive possession and gain an advantage through strong skating and his game sense. His quick feet and good passing were two of the main strengths that scouts identified in Nilsson prior to the S76 VHL Draft. On the flip side, the physical part of his game, both in terms of raw strength and checking prowess remained rather underdeveloped throughout the year and as a result, his shot wasn’t especially powerful either for a Defenseman who is expected to fire Clappers from the point occasionally. Still, his strong defensive instincts propelled Galante Nilsson into potential first round pick territory and at the end of the day, that is indeed where he ended up when the Vancouver Wolves selected him 10th Overall in the S76 VHL Entry Draft!

F SS Hornet @BladeMaiden

F Ola Vikingstad @Seabass

Review Really enjoyed this interview and your style, it's fun to see someone take a humble approach and talk about the challenges and little personal elements that come with starting your career. The formatting got the job done but it was very simple, maybe a headline or a picture could spice things up for the future. 9/10

Review Nice read with some good quality content without making things unnecessarily long or redundant. Looking forward to hitting the ice alongside you for Team Europe! The formatting of the article fit the content well and it looked pleasant overall. Two small issues I found were that the picture looks too small on my screen and there was some unnecessary spacing at the end of the article. 8.5/10

D Roque Davis @BladeMaiden

1. I didn't really get to follow the draft so... Whoever we got? So Barron Kruulenstien it is! Getting a guy like Duncan Idaho at 3rd Overall almost seems like a steal as well, if you can even say that in such a high pick region. 2. Be a good teammate to the people around you but the end of the day, make sure that you play the game in a way that you enjoy and that you like it on your team, otherwise what's the point? 3. To build on my rookie season and steadily improve, especially offensively. 4. It's certainly not all or nothing, there have been some changes to our roster which could take some time to adjust to, but after those growing pains I think we can be compeitive again. 6. Friendly, helpful and active. 7. Winning the cup with the now defunct Cologne Express after helping to build that cup winning team.