Comparing TPE Totals: S33 v. S80

[CowboyinAmerica 2,917]

 

 

What a Changing Cap Will Do: How the S33 Draft Compares to S80

 

Around the time of the S80 Draft, I compared that year’s draft with the last time I was chosen first overall, the S56 Draft. The point was to show just how far the VHL had come in terms of activity, with a fully active 16+ picks in S80 a mile away from the roughly 3.5 players that had solid careers out of S56.

 

But now, in keeping with the theme week, I’m going to compare S80 with another season: my first gen year of S33. And all things considered (and especially compared with S56), S33 was actually a banner year for players coming into the VHL. There were three future Hall of Famers from big name members in Wesley Kellinger (Jericho), Odin Tordahl (Boom) and Niklas Lindberg (Boubabi). Five of the first six picks in the draft ended up winning titles, and the one who didn’t was my Karsten Olsen because I had horrible luck. And there was rare depth: Even Doomsday’s Thomas Landry, the 16th pick in the draft, ended up winning two titles with the Americans, while Cologne’s David Collier was a first gen who would later become the team’s GM.

 

But I really wanted to compare these two for another main reason: TPE. Because remember, the weekly cap for TPE didn’t used to be 12. It was 9. And because of that, comparing TPE on all-time leaderboards was already wonky even before the introduction of nine-season careers. It’s about to become even more ridiculous in the coming seasons. So for comparison, remember that S33 was a good draft, and that S80 players are only in their seventh season post-draft, as you take a look at these final numbers:

 

Draft Spot	S80 Player	Current TPE		S33 Player	Ending TPE
1	Xavier Booberry	1612		Wesley Kellinger	903
2	Matty Fire	1081		Karsten Olsen	843
3	Saku Kotkakoivu	1348		Odin Tordahl	1311
4	Oskar Lindbergh	1264		Tomas Valiq	525
5	Kyle Peace	863		Felix Zamora	612
6	Corey Kitson	863		Willie Weber	548
7	David Davis	1273		GIYGAS	547
8	Alessandro Nano	916		Keiji Toriyama	658
9	Vinny Detroit	1356		Jarkko Olsen	762
10	Hari Singh Nalwa	1443		David Collier	684
11	Nils Godlander	1056		Sebastian Ball Jr.	779
12	Logain Ablar	738		Niklas Lindberg	1125
13	Florida Man	956		Riley Stevens	201
14	Zach Kisslinger II	973		Evgeny Namestnikov	516
15	Sven Eightnine	996		Mario Corvia	112
16	Ryan Vidot	1138		Thomas Landry	794

 

The third-highest TPE total in the S33 Draft ended up being Hall of Famer Wesley Kellinger at 903. Currently, there are 14 players who have already topped that figure in the S80 Draft less than seven seasons into their career, including the above plus second round pick Brendan Marner. Tordahl and Lindberg’s 1000+ totals were seen as insane back in the day (particularly for Lindberg as a first gen himself), but today that figure is much more commonplace. Although some players in 4-11 range in S33 admittedly petered out of updating by the end of their careers, it's tough to imagine a scenario where more than an additional player or two would have hit the 1k mark.

 

I really don’t have an opinion on TPE inflation at all, since I think it all comes out in the wash. But I do think it’s an interesting thing to look back on when trying to compare eras and how they function within STHS, and certainly when coming up with all-time TPE leaderboards. Things changed a lot when the weekly cap was raised around S59 or so, and it’ll be sure to change a lot in the future as well when the affects of the nine-season career truly start to be seen.

[Beketov 9,134]

It wasn't just the weekly cap either, consider that PF didn't exist at the VHL level so in effect you get 13/week now without any additional uncapped and you got 9 (at best, it could vary based on grading) back then. So that's a difference of 4 TPE a week, 32 a season, 256 a career. That's just based on capping with absolutely nothing else.

 

1000 used to be the mark of an elite player, now it's just a milestone that's barely noticed haha

[BOOM 8,836]

Hey, look at me...I used to be good!