Thoughts on the League

[Steve 1,951]

Fifty games left in the season, and counting. So far, the season has been fairly average. Axle is hovering around a point per game and getting plenty of minutes. I get a little concerned at times about his play but it seems to be the normal luck of the Simon magic “Eight Ball” on how good a game will go. Axle is at cap and just banking for his advancement to Moscow. I think that will be a good place to be for a rookie season. They will have the proper amount of players and not have to worry about playing a herd of forwards. I don't know why anyone would want to GM a team in the E or the M in it's current state. Long gone are the days of progression. The term “player retention” is used in the wrong context in those leagues. Retaining players to advance to the next league and have a career in the VHL seem to be an old rumor. The M and E are retaining players to stay in those leagues with no encouragement to earn and become and big league player. This seems to only trouble a few members that I have talked to and looks like this is the new norm moving forward.

 

I miss the old days. The M was a hopping place to be no matter what team you were on, it was mostly players helping players earn and make plans to rejoin the fun on a big league team. It was always a stark contrast once you were elevated to the VHL and wondered why the locker rooms were so dead. With all the excitement from the M, the VHL almost felt like a downgrade. After adjusting to the lack of players chatting and helping each other, I realized that most of the players in the VHL have been through the cycle many times and if you didn't know how to earn at that point, you didn't pay attention. Of course the league was very active when pushing for the playoffs.

 

It's always fun to remember the good times. The way the league has evolved just makes it a bit harder to go through the M and now the E without wondering what it would be like if it were still development leagues instead of the players that remain there for several seasons. At least the VHL has great teams and great leaders still. It makes the short comings of the minor leagues easy to forget.

 

Word count: 419

[Gustav 6,469]

1 hour ago, Steve said:

I don't know why anyone would want to GM a team in the E or the M in it's current state. Long gone are the days of progression. The term “player retention” is used in the wrong context in those leagues. Retaining players to advance to the next league and have a career in the VHL seem to be an old rumor. The M and E are retaining players to stay in those leagues with no encouragement to earn and become and big league player.

 

If you have specific examples of this happening in the M, feel free to DM me. Anyone can have any perception they want about how we run things, but I know that's not something we believe in.

 

For our part, we've introduced rules to make it impossible to stay in the M for a whole career and continue to enforce rules about keeping inactive players on rosters. You should also feel free to bring up other ideas if you think they'll be helpful. But I think that on the administrative end, we've taken steps to address some of the larger issues that existed in what you might call the old days, where some forms of anti-progression were perfectly legal and even encouraged.

[Beketov 9,102]

Tbh you and I remember the M of the past very differently it seems. Now it’s far more common for players to be there 1 season and then move on compared to 20 or so seasons ago when GM’s wanted to make sure their players were earning as little as possible so they could keep them signed forever.

[Banackock 8,143]

3 hours ago, Beketov said:

Tbh you and I remember the M of the past very differently it seems. Now it’s far more common for players to be there 1 season and then move on compared to 20 or so seasons ago when GM’s wanted to make sure their players were earning as little as possible so they could keep them signed forever.

yeah and look at career TPE levels compared to then too.  

 

I'm surprised that was happening. Maybe if a player was hovering around the cap at the TPE deadline. That happens in the VHL too for contracts and salary cut-off. 

 

 

[Banackock 8,143]

As much as I'd love for it to work and don't wanna beat it up... I want to help it grow.. I just don't believe in the E enough or "feel it".

 

WJC, sure. WCoH, sure. VHLM, sure. IDK what it is about the E... I would so much rather follow what the SHL does with the SMJHL...

 

Increase banking, allow us to stay down in the VHLM one season longer instead of graduating to the VHLM. It is what it is. You're not supposed to be an elite star anyone in your first season in any league but there should still be potential for it to happen. Keep the TPA for VHLM at 200 and calls up be allowed at 300-350 whatever it is now... and just allow banking to 350-400. Once you cross over that mark for TPE, you bounce up the immediate next off-season or cut-off time etc.. Ther SHL has the SMJHL. They didn't need the SMJHEL. I don't really know why we do it. Sure, it helps with Welfare players not clogging the V, league jobs, arguable development and opens up opportunity for GMing etc, but I also take a look around a see we're maybe sacrificing the overall quality of GM for quantity in some case.. Another bonus of this would be keeping the same GM longer.. and same teammates. You gain a better bond that way. I think that would help with retention more imo. 

 

It's here though. Fuck it, man. Might as well rock out until it dies for good, lol.

 

Sincerely,

An 8 points in 20 VHLE games player that would rather be playing for the Seattle Bears this season with the same amount of points but more playing time and better players, BUT has a cool VHLE GM and teammates so might as well have a good time with em.

 

[Steve 1,951]

I think it's a good topic to have a healthy discussion about. I see all the points everyone is making and it seems like there is a couple of different views about the E. I don't have a huge history here. I started in May, 2019. I just remember those days. I am sure the league had strange hurdles to jump from the time it was formed. This is where we are now, that's all I see.