VHLM End-Of-Season Standings, Rankings, and Discussion

[Grape 739]

10. Mississauga Hounds

 

Preseason TPE Rank: 6th

Forwards Ranking: 5th -> 10th

Defense Ranking: 6th -> T-10th

Goaltending Ranking: T-10th -> 10th (0 TPA)

 

This team being last is no surprise really. A couple days after the draft, in which they picked two inactives, they dropped their newly acquired Hounds. For a good portion of the season their team consisted of an okay goaltender that they picked up in free agency and a maxed out forward, eventually shipping off both and rocking with all bots, putting up the worst record I’ve personally seen, going 0-72-0, a staggering 0 point season. From the start of the season to now, the goal was never to compete, but to sit patiently and prepare for the draft. With 8 picks in the draft, they’re hoping to at least acquire somewhat of a core to build around in the coming couple seasons.

 

9. Houston Bulls

 

Preseason TPE Rank: 5th

Forwards Ranking: 6th -> 7th

Defense Ranking: 1st -> T-10th

Goaltending Ranking: T-10th -> 9th (89 TPA)

 

Coming out of the draft, Houston looked to be a solid, middle of the pack team. They drafted well, focusing on establishing a strong defense pairing and a decent forward core to build around. One aspect of their team that they neglected, however, was goaltending. They were confident that they’d be able to bring in a serviceable tender in free agency and ended up paying the price for it. They struggled for a good portion of the season and by the time they started to piece things together it was too late and had to sell off some pieces. At the very least, a good bit of the remaining team they have should be sticking around for one more season, so they’ll have the chance to use the few picks they have to solidify the squad and make a strong push next season.

 

8. San Diego Marlins

 

Preseason TPE Rank: 10th

Forwards Ranking: 10th  -> 8th

Defense Ranking: T-10th -> 8th

Goaltending Ranking: 7th -> T-1st (200 TPA)

 

San Diego’s season was mainly focused on growth, not competing. While they had a good amount of players coming into this season, picking up four players in the draft and a fair amount of others in free agency, most were pretty low TPwise. Although a fair bit of their player-base may be moving on up to the VHLE next season, including their starting goaltender, they should have an okay squad to build around. They have a metric ton of picks this offseason, including 3 1sts and 3 2nds, so they’ll be able to get some high end talent to bolster their blossoming core.

 

7. Philadelphia Reapers

 

Preseason TPE Rank: 9th

Forwards Ranking: 7th -> 5th

Defense Ranking: T-10th -> 6th

Goaltending Ranking: 8th -> 8th (154 TPE)

 

Philly has had some phenomenal growth this season, turning from what looked to be a pretty bad team to a team with a semblance of competitiveness. Based on the picks they have, this is pretty much their go-for-it season, which makes sense. They’re slated to lose a lot of their squad this offseason and will not be in a good place to run it back. While they don’t have the strongest team out there, they have the potential to make some noise in the playoffs.

 

6. Halifax 21st

Preseason TPE Rank: 3rd

Forwards Ranking: 1st -> 1st

Defense Ranking: 5th -> 5th

Goaltending Ranking: 6th -> T-1st (200 TPE)

 

Not much changed for this team in terms of rankings, as they developed around the average. Simply put, other teams just played better. Forwards look very solid and should be able to really push the play, but their weakness is on defense. Pretty underwhelming on the blue line but we’ll see what they can do. They’re going to lose a good bit of their team this offseason so they’ll need to make a push. At the very least, they hold all their picks so they can restock somewhat, although it’s going to be a struggle.

 

5. Saskatoon Wild

Preseason TPE Rank: 7th

Forwards Ranking: 9th -> 9th

Defense Ranking: 7th -> 2nd

Goaltending Ranking: T-1st -> T-1st (200 TPE)

 

A surprise riser to me, although not by much. Forward group is pretty low compared to other teams, but they do have a strong defensive pairing. I don’t think they’ll be able to do much in the playoffs, but luckily they have a fair amount of picks, with 2 1sts and 2 3rds, so although they will lose most of their defense and their starter, as well as a few pieces of the forward group, they should be able to build onto them in the draft.

 

4. Mexico City Kings

Preseason TPE Rank: 1st

Forwards Ranking: 3rd -> 2nd

Defense Ranking: 2nd -> 3rd

Goaltending Ranking: T-1st -> T-1st (200 TPE)

 

I had a lot of high hopes for this team. I personally thought they had the best draft, with almost every one of their picks looking fantastic. Watching them play, I was a bit nervous since the team was not playing up to their potential, teetering around that playoff line, but they eventually got it together by the end. They should be one of the tougher teams to beat going into the playoffs, and are going to look to make a big push, since most of those great picks they had will be moving on to the VHLE. I will say, out of the higher end competitive teams, their team is built in a way that there is potential for them to compete next year as well.

 

3. Miami Marauders

Preseason TPE Rank: 4th

Forwards Ranking: 4th -> 3rd

Defense Ranking: 4th -> 7th

Goaltending Ranking: 4th -> T-1st (200 TPE)

 

For a while during the season, Miami looked like the team to beat, which confused me because they never looked like a very strong team. Yes they’re competitive, but they never really struck me as a top tier team. They made a big move at the draft floor to give their forward core a couple elite players at the cost of pretty much the rest of their draft class. They have a weak defense but a pretty strong offense. Expect them to make a decent postseason but I don’t really see them going much further than round 2.

 

2. Ottawa Lynx

Preseason TPE Rank: 8th

Forwards Ranking: 8th -> 6th

Defense Ranking: T-10th -> 4th

Goaltending Ranking: 3rd -> T-1st (200 TPE)

 

This is the real shocker of the season. They had a good draft, but I really did not expect them to go on to have that good of a regular season. They had some solid growth, and did end up acquiring a couple defensemen to shore up that weakness, but all-in-all this looks to be a middle-of-the-pack team, not a #2 squad. I don’t expect them to do much damage in the postseason, but I was wrong about this team before, so maybe I’ll be wrong again.

 

1. Las Vegas Aces

Preseason TPE Rank: 2nd

Forwards Ranking: 2nd -> 4th

Defense Ranking: 3rd -> 1st

Goaltending Ranking: 5th -> T-1st (200 TPE)

 

This is a pretty damn good looking squad. They had a spectacular draft, one of the better ones, and went on to have a great season. While their forward group took a step back during the season, defense continued to grow well and turn into the best in the league. Expect this team to do some legitimate damage in the postseason. While they might not be the best looking squads overall, one thing to note is that defense is the priority in this league. There isn’t many high end defensemen to go around, so having the best blue line is gonna go a long way to getting this team far in the playoffs.

Conclusion:

With that, another regular season of the VHLM is concluded, and these teams are off to go to the playoffs. Yes, I am aware that the playoffs have already started, and some teams have already been eliminated. I tried to make sure not to let that influence me and my input, using the raw numbers as my reference instead of the performance these teams have put up. Something I’ve seen this season is the flaws in my analysis. Mississauga’s forward ranking stayed high for me, around the 6th place ranking, up until they traded away their maxed player. The analysis overvalues maxed players since they end up at the end of the bell curve, so they have more significance. As the season progresses, and more players hit that mark, the influence chips away, but still remains significant. I don’t know how I’ll fix this issue, but I’ll look into ways during the offseason. Another problem is that I look purely at raw TPA, instead of player builds and STHS rankings. That will not change. There are 129 players in the VHLM right now, and I simply do not have the time to break down all the individual attributes and compare them accordingly. I might consider doing that for the final round, since it’ll only be two teams, but we’ll just have to wait and see. That’s why you should always take these things with a grain of salt. They are never going to be 100% accurate. But with all that out of the way, I appreciate you all reading this, and wish you all a merry postseason and subsequent offseason.

(1543 words)

Edited June 22 by Grape

[der meister 3,246]

I really like the formatting, and the use of the preseason rankings to paint a more thorough pictures. This is very well done, and although I couldn't name a single player in the VHLM, I found it informative. Spacing is spot on, and the use of the logos is an obvious but well-executed touch. I have no complaints about this. Looking at the actual numbers, it's shocking to me that Halifax was 6th with the best forward group and the best netminders. 10/10

[AJW 2,196]

I only read the Houston part but you summed us up pretty damn accurate, so great article

[Grape 739]

claiming again

[Pifferfish 597]

On 10/22/2022 at 7:20 PM, der meister said:

I really like the formatting, and the use of the preseason rankings to paint a more thorough pictures. This is very well done, and although I couldn't name a single player in the VHLM, I found it informative. Spacing is spot on, and the use of the logos is an obvious but well-executed touch. I have no complaints about this. Looking at the actual numbers, it's shocking to me that Halifax was 6th with the best forward group and the best netminders. 10/10

Goaltending this playoffs felt pretty irrelevant, like 7 teams have a max guy. So at that point you need overwhelming offense or a solid defense. Halifax could have had 5 defensemen, which while most of them are sub 100 TPE that's still a significant upgrade to the bots. 2 IAs right before playoffs killed them and left Ash out to dry. Then they lost an important forward and one got a TPE ban.... It was a rough way to end the year. Overall, HFX underperformed but like we can see how that happened based on the timing of these issues.

[Grape 739]

2 hours ago, Pifferfish said:

Goaltending this playoffs felt pretty irrelevant, like 7 teams have a max guy. So at that point you need overwhelming offense or a solid defense.

I've been burned in the past since I didn't include goaltenders in my analysis. Of course the season I lean on them most teams have a maxed goalie and the position is rendered pretty useless statistically speaking.

[Grape 739]

uno mas claimo