Hopping on ''discussing about Warsaw'' train

[hedgehog337 3,483]

This week has been very rich with so many different things for the VHL league. Big YT recruitment, a controversy about captaincy, the VHLM GM punishment for AI articles. And on top of that, the most recent problem - early Warsaw's struggles. The start of the season hasn't been kind to them at all - only 3 wins in 10 games which only puts them above Davos in EU...matter of fact, in the whole league. Now, we all learned that horrible start doesn't mean much as it's always possible to catch up later on and do some big damage in late season. We don't even need to look up to the far past. Last season Toronto was very middling for the first half of the season. I think everyone knows who is our defending champion now. However, can Warsaw follow Toronto's footsteps and have their own happy ending? 

 

My opinion is - no. And it's not really because I wanna bully Nohbody here, I just like to speak in your face language. Even before this seasons started, I already had doubts about this team going far. There is a possibility of them grabbing the 5th spot and trying to have a fight in the wildcard and I wouldn't be very surprised if that happens. But also won't shocked if things go other way around. Even by looking at this roster I just can't imagine this squad doing a lot. Let's look at their players though. We'll start with their supposed to be leading part:  

 

Dogwood Maple. Always been solid scoring option in Vancouver and Davos. However, he never played the most major role in either teams so it's tough to imagine a triple regressed player can pull out a huge season out of nowhere. Though he has been the most active attacking player so far and for sure could end his career with a over PPG season. 

Alfred Champagne. Became a solid deal in his last two seasons with Davos. Again, never been THE guy for them. You know where I'm going with this one. He scored 7 goals so far though so maybe he's onto something...gotta shoot more!

Clueless Wallob. Other than weak S87, always been pretty solid netminder. Never fell off below .925 mark. So far he hasn't been the real problem for Warsaw either and I imagine he can keep this form till the end of the season. Whether they will make the playoffs or not. 

 

Now we will dig deeper into this squad and figure it out the biggest issue with them...

 

I'm sorry, but this defense ain't it. Fun fact, neither of 4 defs has a defense as the main attribute. I'm not sure how are they supposed to defend and by looking at the team stats...looks like they don't even try. The leading D is supposed to be Gregor - had a good last season in Seattle. In a very mediocre Seattle, mind you. He is already regressed and I don't think he can top out his last season at all. It's hard to do a lot without at least one def leading the way. The other three are not exactly better and two of them are also older too. 

 

They also have young forwards plus Creeg. The young fraction might have bright days ahead of them, but I don't see them stepping up big time this season which puts their chances even in a bigger danger. 

 

So what we have at the end of the day? A somewhat competent but not flashy forward lineup, a weird defensive lineup and a fine goaltending. In overall, this roster could produce things, but we are talking about the EU conference. Since forever this place has been nothing but a non stop WAR. This season, only Davos is onto the rebuild. The other 7 teams are having chances to some degree. So just having a kinda fine team might not work in this environment. You have to stand out to survive this bloodbath. Can Warsaw do this? Honestly, I have to doubt here. But if they will manage to break through, kudos to them. 

 

 

Now, with all of these trades that were deemed dubious (by me as well) I just can't name them the biggest problem. After all, perhaps N0h was just tired of constant rebuilding. Not fun at all, I know. Or Anisimov/Kisslinger were feeling the same way. Who knows. So let's talk about another deal. Just imagine how different things would've been without this horrific trade. Nohbody already did explain his thought process behind this deal, but I just still can't justify this blunder. Warsaw management really did underestimate how shallow drafts have become for the past 3-4 seasons. But even in the case if a deeper draft, going from 2 to 13 and some 2nds is a huge reach in my books. This only might've worked in S66 or S75 drafts. I get that getting more players and possibly steals was an idea here. It's just in these type of drafts the better choice was just drafting another franchise caliber player instead of going for more depth. And I think Warsaw certainly needed that.

 

And now imagine the life without this deal. N0h actually drafts his own player. The S92 pick that in reality was used to trade for his own player is staying intact. Now there would be a chance to draft another real good youngin. Whether if it's someone like Richmond or going for a future star D, like Gavrilovs or Lamb. Now they would've ended up with the same roster PLUS another good future player on their hands. Not a perfect situation, but it's definitely something better. But hey, coulda shoulda woulda things never works in real life so they have to live with what they have. And the reality is they will face the retirements of Wallob and Maple and Champagne is heading towards his last season. And all they will have is S95 picks and a hope for the good free agency. And also Dubois and Popa coming up. I guess that's something. Now that Warsaw boss already told everyone he will not give up on this team, he is gonna have some task to make a way out of this situation. It will be somewhat impressive if he manages to keep Warsaw afloat and also having a good future at the same time. But until that, all I have are doubts. 

 

By the way, some interesting fact. There have been some talks about Bana always making it so he wins trades. And he even managed to push a rental goalie plus a mid level D to Warsaw for the 1st and a 2nd rounders. However, in the case of that infamous trade and the follow up had Moscow in it. Can't really stress about it though. After all, GM's are trying to do better for their own team. So I'll just shrug it off here. 

 

Another interesting fact. In most of times the team actually plays a lot better right after I'm criticizing them about something. So...Warsaw W streak incoming? 

 

That's it and I'm out. 

[Banackock 8,040]

NOT ALLOWED

[Spartan 4,383]

40 minutes ago, hedgehog337 said:

By the way, some interesting fact. There have been some talks about Bana always making it so he wins trades. And he even managed to push a rental goalie plus a mid level D to Warsaw for the 1st and a 2nd rounders. However, in the case of that infamous trade and the follow up had Moscow in it. Can't really stress about it though. After all, GM's are trying to do better for their own team. So I'll just shrug it off here. 

Pretty fair point here, I definitely think our trades had a fair share in handcuffing WAR to their current situation. For some context on the trades though, the first one was made with the expectation that WAR could just get a goalie at 13. However multiple teams ended up trading up after our trade, so WAR was left without a goalie in a deep goalie class. That was probably the biggest factor in that trade, as I had wanted to beat out any goalie-hungry teams to get myself at 5 and the thought was that someone would be available at 13.

 

Second trade wasn't something I was open to initially, as I had wanted Thor and Leif to play together in Moscow as a career duo. But with WAR deciding to go all in this off-season and WAR also holding an equivalent overall selection to where his player was taken, we ended up making the trade. It does help us diversify our team age a little bit, but we're definitely feeling the loss of Thor this season with a lower TPA winger replacing him when we likely could have been a bit more competitive otherwise.

 

I don't think I go in asking for unfair values for trades or try to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. My main goal in trades is to acquire assets that accomplish my goals. Secondary goal is to not screw over a fellow GM and ruin a "professional" relationship so to speak. I'd like to not have the reputation of scamming GMs or being a predatory GM either. Hopefully in my 13-ish seasons of GM'ing, I've been meeting those goals.

 

Good write up though, covered a lot of accurate points without it being unfairly harsh to anyone.

[hedgehog337 3,483]

w2

[hedgehog337 3,483]

btw while I was claiming this I just saw this response so...

 

On 1/15/2024 at 12:44 AM, Spartan said:

Pretty fair point here, I definitely think our trades had a fair share in handcuffing WAR to their current situation. For some context on the trades though, the first one was made with the expectation that WAR could just get a goalie at 13. However multiple teams ended up trading up after our trade, so WAR was left without a goalie in a deep goalie class. That was probably the biggest factor in that trade, as I had wanted to beat out any goalie-hungry teams to get myself at 5 and the thought was that someone would be available at 13.

 

this was not an expected twist ngl. still can't justify that trade, but the idea was valid. Perhaps only few would expect I'd hop on Lemorse at 8th ov

[Gaikoku-hito 2,071]

1 hour ago, hedgehog337 said:

btw while I was claiming this I just saw this response so...

 

 

this was not an expected twist ngl. still can't justify that trade, but the idea was valid. Perhaps only few would expect I'd hop on Lemorse at 8th ov

It was obvious that Moscow was drafting Syko at 5th if not higher and that Riga aka yourself was always going to draft the Panda at 8th. DC at 10th was also looking to draft tender.