The BOOM and the Bust

[jacobcarson877 2,432]

(No this isn't an article about Hammar Voss and I)

 

As I prepare for the last VHLM draft in the “boom or bust era”, I’ve come to a few realizations that I hadn’t entirely considered before.

 

First off, we’ve had to figure out how to compete with very lopsided positional depth before. This past season there was a horrendous D shortage, meaning a lot of teams had no D for a large part of the season, and very few ever had more than 2. In the playoffs last season as well, teams made deep runs in the VHLM without many D. But one thing is pretty well certain by now. That being that a team that wants to compete HAS to have a strong goaltender. And with 4 goaltenders in the draft at the moment to fill what I count as 6 starting positions, it appears some teams will be starting at a heavy disadvantage right from the start.

 

We often worry about positional depth in the VHL, and obviously as the main product that is the most important, but that itself has always been boom and bust. The S84 VHL draft was huge for D, and then we had a shortage in the M for 2 seasons. The S86 draft is huge for goaltenders, and already it looks like we may have a shortage. Forwards seem to always be “good enough” and maybe with more of them the absence of 1 or 2 looks far less gruesome.

 

Anyways this is a .com so I’m going to wrap it up here by saying can we please just create a normal amount of each position every season? Especially recreates, we can almost count on you making the VHL, and within the first couple rounds of the draft. If y’all figure out how to create a normal amount of each position then we can at least guarantee a few notable names in each position. New members are going to create randomly anyways, I’m not going to try to sway them. At least if we’re going to have booms, it will be booms of excited and passionate new members playing in a position they like.

Edited October 23, 2022 by jacobcarson877

[Triller 1,592]

Definitely creates a cycle up and down per position.  When I joined I looked at the position count on the create a player page to maybe create a player that was filling a role that was lacking.  I didn't know the context of the numbers in regards to leagues so I went with a winger.  I don't even know if these have changed since then.

 

Position	#
D	181
C	163
G	154
RW	144
LW	144

 

Still says this on the create a player page which might also result in the goalie shortage.

 

*A high-volume of goalies currently exist in the league. Other positions are recommended.

[jacobcarson877 2,432]

8 hours ago, Triller said:

Definitely creates a cycle up and down per position.  When I joined I looked at the position count on the create a player page to maybe create a player that was filling a role that was lacking.  I didn't know the context of the numbers in regards to leagues so I went with a winger.  I don't even know if these have changed since then.

 

Position	#
D	181
C	163
G	154
RW	144
LW	144

 

Still says this on the create a player page which might also result in the goalie shortage.

 

*A high-volume of goalies currently exist in the league. Other positions are recommended.

Bless your soul for making a player in a position with a lower count first off. Secondly I want to say how misleading that graph is, despite being absolutely correct.

 

When it says 154 G, it means there are currently 154 non-retired goaltenders available to be signed hypothetically. Based on my count there are 105FA goaltenders, all inactive and therefore ineligible to play in the VHLM, but still showing up on that create a player tally.

 

Compare that to the 87 FA C, for which there are 2-3x the available positions and quite frankly you can build a competitive team without natural C. G are a MUST.

 

There was a very good reason for putting that notice up last season, and it seems to have eventually worked, but now, while still being objectively correct, is wildly misleading.

 

Good news is we may have changes coming down the line to help with that, but we shall see how it all comes out. Thanks for the comment!