little offseason recap

[hedgehog337 3,483]

This past free agency has to be one of the most stacked in recent memory. The perfect combo of teams having cap problems (even with the 2M raise), or them simply going to rebuild...or in case of one particular team, doing absolutely nothing. This all teamed up in one to make this pretty interesting offseason. Now that only one big free agent left and I'm fairly sure he's going to London, it's time to make some conclusions.

 

Frank is about to lead Wolves to another three final losses.... khe khem. back to playoffs!

 

Vancouver appeared as the team who benefited the most from this chaotic offseason. At first, I wasn't sure if there was a chance to make something happen once he asked me about Cheese and Leduc. Then after seeing this FA class I realized it's way easier than it could've been. Trades for these both as well as for Miklavz and Powers rights plus bringing another defenceman in Power[s] made this team look way more different that it was season ago. It was only a matter of time when a big time FA would be enticed enough of Frank's vision. Didn't have to wait for too long either. Spartan did see a potential in this idea so the Vancouver became the next destination for Nico Pearce. Looks like we may have an easy 1 TPE from predicting the Knight award winner this season?

 

Cap dump takers with the first round picks?? Please????

 

Bana has mastered this tactic a tons of time ago and so far it was one of the reasons why Seattle managed to stay competitive as long as they have now. However, there is a feeling that last series of cap dump trades with NY really put most of GM's off. And now they may be too cautious when trading with the 7 time champ. LA did some favors, but the Bears had to lose the younger player in the process which is certainly not ideal. Moreso, they are still stuck with 4/4 roster which is at 42(!)M cap. I think Bana had a hope that Rayz could come back and try to save Helsinki offseason, but so far this hope is fading away as is the ex Seattle's savior activity. So now who and will anyone try to take some players from them or they will have to run with this roster which honestly screams wildcard at best to me? Stay tuned I guess....

 

Titanic

 

Oh boiiiiii.....I think this fiasco will end up in VHL history books. This was really one of the most spectacular falloff in the history of the league. And it's not like they didn't have a potential left after the game 7 loss to the eventual champs. But something did happen with the head chef of the Titans. Did Rayz get totally burnt out? Was/is he on some vacation? Here's a hope we will find out once he comes in, but for now this team is in huge shambolics. I figured it out that Spartan or Fong may think about testing FA. But Nano? Dvorak? Neither signing any other FA's? Not even mid lever players....oh wait, most of them were taken already by some hedge idk who that is. Now all that's left from this team is bare bones that consists of Boobery, Florida Man, Nesbitt, and Voss. Plus rookie Burns added into the this mix. Now all we can do is stay tuned and witness the conclusion of this saga.

 

Whole conference is contending??

 

For the first time in the 16 team VHL history we are witnessing the tank-less conference. Well, I'm not exactly sure about LA as their offense is not loaded at all outside of Miglasķēms so they may look outside in. Other than that, nothing is guaranteed. Even New York decided to join the party by adding couple of nice free agents in Mourning, Le Massif and Poopy P. Seattle doesn't look very strong, but they can still be considered as a contender and other teams didn't change much. The bloodbath will be real in this conference. Also, do you know what that means?

 

NA conference is more entertaining than EU.

 

Title. I honestly don't even remember when NA was that stacked. Sure, there were always championship material teams, but the playoff fight itself wasn't anything crazy unlike the European conterparts. But now things are different. Riga is on the mission for the worst record in the league, Prague is steady on their rebuild, Helsinki....well yeah. Malmo assembled a decent forward roster so they were upped to a mid tier and London's roster does look hella mid to me. Yet these latter two teams are more likely the teams making to the wildcard round. Moscow, Davos and Warsaw can sleep tight. Nothing will distract them from making the playoffs this season.

 

 

I think this might be the most notable stuff this offseason has given to us so far. There are more news though:

 

- Management change in New York and Malmo. The latter one is an interesting one. Not only Kaleeb took over, he also put Spaz at AGM. Basically whole Istanbul management transfered themselves to Sweden. Also what's up with Riga players taking the Malmo AGM spot? Maybe I should step down and take that job too at some point eh?

- Side note: maybe Ruutu's critic of Helsinki wasn't that off. Some prophecy around there. Now I'm scared that he doesn't hit a piece about Riga....

- There was a draft too. We did Henry Tucker Jr. who is about to become a franchise goalie for years and do not doubt me about that. About other team's picks....well they drafted some. Though I have to say some of these picks were hella reaches and I wasn't sure why were they picked that high. Maybe we will know down the line.

 

Alright, this is about it. I'm about to hit 1000 words so you won't see me rambling next week. Thank you very much.

 

That's it and I'm out.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

w2

[Dom 1,445]

On 8/30/2022 at 3:13 PM, hedgehog337 said:

Also what's up with Riga players taking the Malmo AGM spot?

Lemorse was my agm before you drafted him