The Desire to be a Lifer

[Aimee 1,074]

What does it mean to be a lifer? And has any one player in the VHL pulled it off? We hear all the time how in the NHL the big names want to stick with their drafted team for their whole career but most don’t actually make it to retirement on the same roster. Now I don’t mean the players who retire early. I mean those who play fully through 9 seasons of the VHL. Is it rare? Common? Do members plan for it or does it just happen? Maybe some have wanted it but due to management, it’s been impossible.

 

So, the question posed to you today, dear viewer: do you think Jesse Teno’s desire to stay in London for their whole career come true? Is it possible? And will they change their mind if management and the team have too many turn overs? Time, drafts, and the trade deadline will only tell.

 

154 words for week ending 8/13/2023

[AJW 2,102]

https://vhlportal.com/players/playerfocus/4080 Found a recent one for you! I’m sure it is pretty rare though for players to spend full careers in one spot.

 

For Teno they’ve already got a cup in London so it would be pretty cool to retire there too. Always depends on GMs wants and needs though each season

[Daniel Janser 2,111]

https://vhlportal.com/players/playerfocus/4246

 

It is possible, but realistically it would often be more beneficial for the franchise to sell the vet to get something in return for the inevitable rebuild/retool. Ricer allowed my player to retire a Wrangler and waived the potential return on assets by doing so.

[scoop 3,382]

It happens more than you'd think, probably. Just looking by draft class, you have to go back to S73 to find a draft class that had no players who spent 8 seasons with one team.

 

This list only contains players from the S73 to S81 draft classes, and does not necessarily contain every player from those drafts that spent 8 seasons with one team. In most cases, after I saw one player from a given draft class, I moved on to the previous season.

 

S81: Hulk Hogan 2, SEA

S80: Zach Kisslinger, WAR

S79: Papa Emeritus, MOS

S78: The Seabasstard, MOS

S78: Hard Markinson, MOS

S78: David Tavau, DAV

S77: Druss Deathwalker, MAL

S77: That Dude, LON

S76: Robin Galante Nilsson, VAN

S76: Jivere Zolnek, VAN

S75: Pistil Stamen, LAS

S74: Christian Mingle, CHI

S73: Groovy Dood, DCD

 

There are currently three S82 players who have played seven seasons with one team and are signed with that same team to play their 8th and final season in S90. There are another two who have played seven seasons with one team, but are currently free agents for their final season.

 

As for S83 players, we could potentially see the first players to play nine seasons with a single team since Sterling Labatte played nine seasons for Calgary from S1 to S9 (there were some players from S1 who played nine seasons due to when they joined and the VHLM not yet existing, but other than that, playing nine seasons was not a thing until just recently). The following players from the S83 draft have already played seven seasons with one team and could potentially play for two more seasons:

 

Scotty Sundin, CHI

Brandt Fuhr, VAN

AirRig GoodBrandSun, CGY

 

There are several other players from that draft who are still on their original team but can only play eight max seasons.

Edited August 7, 2023 by scoop