Art Vandelay Rookie Experience

[Gustav 6,469]

 

So far, it's been more like the summer of Simon, as Art Vandelay's rookie season hasn't been exactly what he'd hoped. LA is sitting outside of the playoffs by one spot in the NA conference, and has improved since the season started, but there's a significant point drop-off between 5th and 6th in the conference and there's still a lot of catching up to do if Vandelay hopes to make the wildcard round. 

 

This is a situation that I didn't think I'd be OK with around this time last season, as I've spent some time talking about how I don't know if playing my first season up wouldn't be worth it if the team didn't go anywhere. I think that it's hard to argue from an objective standpoint that this season brings some form of benefit to my career at all--I'm very likely going to end up with at the very least a worse overall record, a higher GAA, and a lower TPA cap than if I didn't go up. 

 

But that said, it's time to get into the extremely open-ended and arguably stupid "what it means to be a rookie" part of this task. I know I've written things to this effect before, but I think it means a lot to be in my situation and still end up with a decent career. It's not like 8 seasons of success--not that I can guarantee that at the moment--has ever or will ever exclude someone from the Hall of Fame, and a losing first season theoretically shouldn't make any difference when the time comes to evaluate Vandelay against anyone else who stayed down (though I could see someone playing the "but worse winning percentage" card or something at some point).

 

Like I have also said before, the important part now is proving a point. With depreciation being weakened for skaters, this won't be as true in some situations, but I can see some people, especially those building goalies, being discouraged by the thought of coming up and playing in the VHL right away for fear of losing out on TPE. It's a mindset that will lead to many mega-hot prospects taking a season in the VHLE rather than doing what (in my opinion) they should do and come up as soon as possible. It's not entirely clear yet (and won't be for a while) whether a high-earning goalie should make the move up from a statistical standpoint, but the fact remains that Vandelay is one of the first with the opportunity to prove that coming up right away, even if the first season doesn't go great, can still lead to a very solid career when all is said and done. 

 

Looking at some numbers, this season isn't entirely a failure, either! Vandelay has a SV% of 0.925 and a GAA of 2.82 with 3 shutouts, numbers which are really respectable considering the circumstances. I also just found out today that I'm now, by a slim margin, #1 in the S84 class in TPE. I'm not sure exactly how that happened, but I'll take it considering that at one point as a prospect, I was far from that mark. In a rare flash of self-confidence, I think I'm one of the people who could feasibly power-earn through an extra depreciation hit, and I really shouldn't be concerned about what happens in that regard since my build will cap out at a high level regardless. So, hopefully, other teams will find themselves Vandelay'd for a very long time, and those wondering whether or not to come up will take notice.

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

I think your numbers will be just fine but isn't the Championship aspect more important for an HOF career? Not to mention a boat or truck load of awards?   

 

Also think you top the ranking at the moment since most of us are waiting to update this week or just haven't yet. I know I haven't even looked at updating yet but will start tonight after work. Eitherway congrats also since it still isn't every day one tops the list. 

[Gustav 6,469]

59 minutes ago, Gaikoku-hito said:

I think your numbers will be just fine but isn't the Championship aspect more important for an HOF career? Not to mention a boat or truck load of awards?   

 

Also think you top the ranking at the moment since most of us are waiting to update this week or just haven't yet. I know I haven't even looked at updating yet but will start tonight after work. Eitherway congrats also since it still isn't every day one tops the list. 

 

HoF depends on a lot of things. Sometimes you'll see players get in for one reason, sometimes another. For example--Rayz Funk is a HoF player for being probably the greatest playoff goalie of all time, but likely wouldn't have gotten in from his regular season performance. But championships aren't everything at all; Taro got in and I still don't have a cup after two full careers (the reasoning for that was MVP twice with solid overall regular-season numbers). There are even players who have made it despite no cups and no awards, just a culmination of very good play over a career.

 

I also didn't look super closely at the earning stuff, just saw myself on top at that exact moment and was surprised. Whether or not that's legit, it doesn't really matter to me--I'm earning what I can and I'm happy with that.

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

Art Vandelay

[Gustav 6,469]

Art Vandelay

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

Van Art