The State of the (Soviet) Union

[Spartan 4,402]

There's a level of relief to finally see the plans created in the S76-S77 offseason finally come to fruition. When @Victor announced that he would be stepping down as Moscow GM at the conclusion of S76, I, as his unofficial AGM, mentioned that it could be time to blow up the team and start a rebuild. @Josh had made it obvious well in advance that he wanted to send Roque Davis to LA, where they had built a young, budding core of their own to become competitive, and both Nate Telker (@Telkster) and Kris Rice (@Ricer13) were retiring, leaving massive holes in the 2-time Victory Cup winning organization.

 

Even though who the next Moscow GM would be was unknown, we felt it was best to give the organization a clear direction regardless of who was taking over, and decided to send out Alex Letang to DC for more assets. Once I was officially named the GM, I took it a step further, trading Mikko Lahtinen (@Beketov) and Jacob Tonn (@MexicanCow123) to London for a massive package including Philip Stein (@IHateBobNutting) and the 3rd overall pick in the S77 draft. Combined with the 1st pick in the draft which came from LA, we were able to select Duncan Idaho (@OrbitingDeath ) and Paul Atreides (@Mr_Hatter), effectively putting the rebuild in motion with the first pieces of our future.

 

The transition from one of the most competitive and successful teams in the regular season to a team that missed the playoffs in 3 straight years was.....difficult to say the least. Anyone who knows me also knows that I am very impatient. My attention and focus is lost easily, and if something doesn't engage me, I will move on without hesitation. Sitting through 3 straight seasons of regular season losses after losses was absolutely horrible for me, and I hated it. The only thing that kept me going was the plan I had in S76, and the people that came in because of it such as Hard Markinson (@STZ), The Seabasstard (@Seabass) and Papa Emeritus. Piece by piece, the core kept coming together, but the losses came as well.

 

At some point last season, I got fed up of losing and made a bit of a rash decision by trading for Aurelien Moreau (@Frank) from Toronto. Granted, I wanted Frank regardless of whether we made playoffs that season or not, but my greed for my own player in S81 meant we gave up a top 5 pick in S80. We probably won't even get my own player in S81 at this point. But we missed the playoffs again and at that point, I was just pissed. Then the new plan came into play, where we were going to swing for the fences and just go for it in S80, no matter what it took. Except out S81 1st, that was off-limits (I've learned, Victor, we don't trade all our picks!). We also traded for the rights of Tyler Walker (@Advantage) in an attempt to shore up our blue line in his swan song season, and Lexi Glass ( @AW13) to give us a scoring threat alongside Seabass. Those moves and their signings took us to about the edge of the salary cap which was dropped to 40 million from the old 45 million, which meant we had to do some cap finagling to get Rara signed in free agency. 

 

Honestly, I usually find sim leagues fun, even when updating or doing menial work within updating the VHFL spreadsheet. Trade chats are fun even when I want to bash my head into a fucking wall because the other GM is playing hardball and I just want to get a trade done so I can eat dinner. But working out the financials to get Rara on the team and keep the team cap compliant was the first time I actually felt stress. Depreciation hadn't been run, so updated player salaries weren't finalized either. Add on that we had like 4 players on the edge of salary thresholds, and even 1 miscalculation or projection error would leave us over the cap and ready for a swift spanking from the commissioners. Luckily, the calculations were on point due to some help from @BrutalBoost in the 11th hour, and everything went about exactly to plan, and we even had 500k in space left over as a buffer.

 

But we're finally not in the basement of the EU, instead 6 points in the lead in the conference with 2 games in hand on everyone. STHS is a bitch in the playoffs but for now, I'm satisfied with where our team is at. I'm very appreciative to everyone on the team for sticking it out through the painful seasons, and I appreciate your trust most of all. Hoping we can ride this momentum into a deep playoff run! 

 

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW

 

(I've written too many words for a VHL.com again, you happy @N0HBDY?)

[McWolf 3,115]

10 minutes ago, Spartan said:

(I've written too many words for a VHL.com again, you happy @N0HBDY?)

I'm like 90% sure that this is too many words for a PT too

[Spartan 4,402]

Just now, McWolf said:

I'm like 90% sure that this is too many words for a PT too

Man, 200 more words and it'd be 2 weeks of PT pay.

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

MOSCOW MOSCOW MOSCOW

 

excited to be a part of the second dynasty

[N0HBDY 1,117]

1 hour ago, Spartan said:

 

 

(I've written too many words for a VHL.com again, you happy @N0HBDY?)

I love how you never even told me about writing this let alone it was supposed to be a .com article and you assume I’m going to make fun of you  (it’s a good assumption tho)

[Victor 10,940]

Made Moscow great again