A Gustav 30 in 30, #13: How I Messed Up Davos

[Gustav 6,436]

 

If you don't recognize this image, you've missed out on quite a bit.

 

 

It's been a long time since my last installment of this series. Part of that is that I got lazy, part of that is that I got busy, and another part of that is just that I know I'm going to have to jam-pack this article. I took a few of these off of talking about my time as a GM, but anyone who knows me also knows that being a GM meant more to me than that first offseason. I wasn't sure how to break up that information, though, so I hope it makes logical sense that this article deals with my first attempt to compete--a fairly short-lived one that I started building up in S71 and kept going through S74 or so when all the assets I'd stacked up decided to unstack. 

 

I suppose the place to start is right where the last one left off. S70 largely consisted of me sitting, waiting, and losing. Which was fine for the most part; I'd gotten myself ready for that and was super excited for the future. If the VHL had a reputable Hockey News-type media outlet, we would have been featured on the cover of their "Introducing Your S75 Continental Cup Champions" issue, and for good reason. We had both the draft picks and the hype on our side, and I hoped I could live up to it.

 

 

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS OF S71:

Preseason:

Roque Davis drafted 2nd overall

Joakim Bruden drafted 15th overall

Mickey Dickson drafted 25th overall

Big Chungus drafted 33rd overall

S73 DAV 2nd traded to New York for Joel Ylonen and Walter Clements

S71 VAN 2nd traded to DC for Derek Eriksson

Joel Ylonen traded to Prague for S73 PRG 2nd

Shawn Glade Jr traded to Seattle for S72 SEA 3rd + 4th

 

 

Aside from @Ahma's Davos-faithful Fernando Jokinen, and @Brrbisbrr's Samuel Ross in net, there weren't many players left on the roster that even I recognized. Some of those whose names I knew were inactive by that point, and the mess that was Davos was up to me to figure out. There really wasn't anything wrong with our S71 draft class--just picking the best player I saw as available got us Davis, bringing @Josh back to the Dynamo (perhaps sooner than he might have hoped), as well as Bruden, a mid-level earner managed by @PadStack who probably projected as a solid backup for most teams. Other features of note in the draft included Dickson--who I'll talk about a bit later--and Chungus, who I almost never saw outside of the portal but who ended up getting a cup of coffee with the team eventually.

 

The offseason was interesting because it was the first time I could make moves with a purpose. In a move that puzzles me to this day, I made a rental deal for the retiring Joel Ylonen (despite never thinking I would be in a spot to compete). But on the funnier end of that deal, I managed to DM every other team's ears off until I'd arranged to move him to Prague for almost exactly what I paid for him to begin with--making it the second time I had @Esso2264 on a roster of mine and he didn't make it to the start of the season. Two other trades went down--one where I gave DC a 2nd-round pick (which I could have used on the pretty-decent Xavier leFlamant) for Eriksson (who just about immediately went inactive) and another where I was contacted by Seattle about acquiring Shawn's player. I felt bad moving Shawn out of Davos (even with permission), but I also felt that there was still a bit of tension in the air between us at that point and hoped that cutting the tie temporarily would help both of us with a fresh start. 

 

From that point, it was still sitting and waiting and losing, but at least some of the players I was managing were the result of my own choices. We hit last place in the league (again), but Davis won both the Stolzschweiger and the Valiq and I was looking forward to getting better.

 

 

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS OF S72:

Preseason:

SS Hornet drafted 1st overall

Robin Winter drafted 2nd overall

Chico Smeb, Andrej Petrovic, and S73 DAV 1st traded to Malmo for S73 RIG 2nd, S73 SEA 3rd, and Jerry Garcia

Jack Feriancek and S72 DAV 2nd traded to Riga for rights to Acyd Burn

S72 TOR 1st and S73 RIG 2nd traded to Vancouver for S72 RIG 1st and David OQuinn

S73 PRG 2nd, S73 DAV 4th, and S74 DAV 4th traded to Vancouver for Jerry Wang

Vin Calia, S72 RIG 1st, and S72 DAV 3rd traded to Moscow for S72 MOS 2nd, S73 MOS 1st, and S74 MOS 2nd

ACL TEAR signs in free agency

 

In-Season:

Milos Slavik, Michael Hall, Derek Eriksson, S73 MOS 1st, and S74 DAV 3rd traded to Moscow for S74 MOS 3rd, Killy Foilen, and Jet Jaguar

This insane 3-way deal that essentially involved Acyd Burn being traded for Hunter Hearst Helmsley

 

 

Davos had just recorded a VHL-record third straight last-place finish, so pardon me for making that the reason why I decided to flip the team on its head. S72 was the first (and biggest) taste of what Ahma would come to call Big Gustav Offseason Moves (BGOMs), and while some had some disagreements as to their value, this was one of my most exciting seasons as GM.

 

First of all, the draft was a personal dream of mine--I loved both @McWolf and @Rin, and seeing both of their players reach hot prospect status with me in position to get them got me very excited for the draft lottery. Guaranteeing that I'd have them around with a double lotto win meant quite a bit, and even though I completely whiffed on both of my second-round picks (both max earners until the second I picked them), I still considered the draft a success.

 

The story of my management in S72, though, was buying, and I had all the resources in the world to make that happen. @FrostBeard had just been hired as GM in Malmo, chose to rebuild, and graciously offered me my own player at a fair price. I took that--and then overpaid a little bit for a rights deal on @Acydburn's first-gen player. Acyd would eventually cave in to the pressure and sign on with us, and he did lots to help poke my brain in that offseason as to where to take things next. With some reshuffling, we brought in David OQuinn to help out on defense (where he would stay for three seasons) and traded for second-line forward Jerry Wang (the only other VHL player ever to be named Jerry at the time, managed by very solid member @ColeMrtz). Add to this the fact that I'd just signed @Quik the commissioner? We were looking dangerous. The roster was reasonably well filled, and I hoped that we could take things to the next level. And I still had resources to spend.

 

A little bit into the season, Moscow's rebuild caught my eye and I pulled the trigger on a deal for Hall-of-Famer Jet Jaguar. I'd just upgraded my roster in a big way--by moving three lower-level forwards out for a mid-level one and a high-level one, I'd not only improved the roster but cleared out one of my forwards, answering some questions some of my hot prospects had about ice time.

 

The thing was--I now had two people, both who were good enough to be a team's first-line center, both of whom wanted to be mine. Both @gorlab and Acyd were upset that I was using their player in ways that didn't match their own goals as I experimented with lines, and eventually Acyd requested a trade. Fair enough.

 

Fair enough that I cooked up a massive three-way deal with myself, New York, and Vancouver, where Acyd would get a new home and I'd keep a top-level forward. In just one season, Davos had gone from last place to swinging a deal for all-time great Hunter Hearst Helmsley. Here's the issue, though--HHH was also a legitimate 1C and this did nothing to help with gorlab's objections to Jaguar's status remaining a question. Arguably, I'd made the situation worse, as he and @Beaviss had feuded in the past. It was my first lesson learned in that every VHLer wants the best for their player, and that one's goals as a GM should take this into account. The following offseason would begin with a strongly-worded Jaguar trade request before we talked it out a bit.

 

But anyway, this would be the last season for Samuel Ross in Davos. He wouldn't make it far in the playoffs, but we made it there for my first time ever as a VHL GM. I'd be nominated for the Knight after the season (and narrowly lose), and I felt good about my ability as a GM. As it turns out, I also felt pretty good about making huge deals.

 

 

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS OF S73:

Preseason:

Mickey Dickson traded to Malmo for S74 HSK 2nd and S75 MAL 4th

Rights to ACL TEAR traded to Calgary for S74 CGY 4th and John Poremba

Samuel Ross traded to Helsinki for S74 PRG 4th and Owen May

Jerry Wang, S74 DAV 1st, and S74 MOS 3rd traded to New York for S74 NYA 4th and Soren Jensen

S74 HSK 2nd and S74 NYA 4th traded to Calgary for Charlie Paddywagon

 

 

The season started with a few small wins--I'll always bring up that I got rid of @samx right before she went inactive, and even though I was losing Quik to free agency, he'd at least communicated that to me. Davis was by now a solid offensive defenseman build, and I still had Jaguar and Garcia on the roster for a final season. It would be tough to deal with my S66 players retiring, but I would just figure that out later, wouldn't I?

 

The first step I took in figuring that out later was by turning around and trading Wang just a season after I'd brought him in. This, along with yet another first-round draft pick burned, gave me Soren Jensen, @Velevra's player who I practically never heard from but who would give me a solid 900-some TPA on my top line for almost 4 whole seasons. The second step I took in figuring things out later was to...give me more things to figure out later by getting rid of even more S74 picks for a rental of @DMaximus ' retiring Charlie Paddywagon. And while it was sad, Bruden had finally earned well enough that he was our #1 goaltender, so I moved Ross out to a place where he could still start.

 

As it turned out, Jensen and Paddywagon historically underperforming in STHS output wasn't something that would be magically fixed by their moving to Davos. Nor did essentially forfeiting my entire S74 draft class seem like a very good idea when we (yet again) got knocked out of the playoffs almost immediately. I headed into the offseason with three high-profile retirements on my hands and a lot of space to fill. Luckily, I had Hornet and Winter developing, but would that be enough? Between Paddywagon retiring and Josh letting me know that he wasn't convinced he wanted to re-sign, I had work to do for S74.

 

 

NOTABLE TRANSACTIONS OF S74:

Preseason:

Rayz Funk signs in free agency

Roque Davis re-signs for S74

Shawty Nananana drafted 31st overall

S74 VAN 3rd traded to Calgary for Joe Proto

John Poremba traded to Prague for S75 PRG 4th

 

In-Season:

S75 DAV 2nd, Joe Proto, and Big Chungus traded to New York for Owen Nolan

 

 

My primary goal in the offseason was to stop Davis from walking out the door, and it just so happened that the greatest playoff goaltender in VHL history was hitting free agency before his final season. Bruden's activity had hit marginal levels by this point, so even though I liked his agent, I committed to a completely free BGOM and pulled the trigger on signing Funk. Davos, for the first time in my GM tenure, had a legitimate #1 goaler by any team's standard, and this was enough to convince Davis to stick with us (albeit on a one-season contract). We also managed to grab @Grape in the draft despite getting rid of every other one of our picks, and though I didn't feel quite as confident about this roster as I had in previous seasons, we were still competitive on paper and were ready to let Hornet and Winter take over with Jensen as our top forwards.

 

No one told me, though, that having an entire top line that Simon didn't like wasn't exactly a good thing. We had decent enough TPE levels to do well enough, but things just weren't clicking and Davos found themselves in a big hole halfway through the season thanks to an abysmal offense. Things were bad enough that @Rayzor_7 reached out to me to ask that I trade for more scoring power--and he was right. No one was selling for what I had, though, and I didn't have much of a choice but to continue my trend of buying aging (and in this case inactive, despite decent TPE) players. I grabbed New York's Owen Nolan and hoped that would work.

 

The rest of S74 was an adventure. I spent some time watching us take a nosedive in the standings...and then I watched the greatest stretch of Davos hockey I've ever seen as a GM. I don't have the exact numbers, but with a small handful of games left in the season, we'd just gone something like 18-2-0 over our last 20 and were all tied up with a few other teams for the last playoff spot. Which mattered quite a bit, because we had the best playoff goaler, after all. 

 

And then we choked away the very end of the season. Our win streak cut out just in time for us to drop a bunch of games right at the end, and we missed the last playoff spot by one point. Such is life.

 

This would mark the beginning of the end for Davos. Funk retired, Josh told me he was gone for sure this time, and I watched Nolan depreciate while Jensen got a season older. In just three seasons, I'd opened and closed Davos' competitive window by turning draft capital into retirements, and I didn't look like the world's best GM--without checking, I believe Funk was the last free agent signing I ever got. But as much as I took Davos to Hell in a bucket, at least I enjoyed the ride, and I hope some others who played with me during this time did as well.

 

 

 

As a side note, I find it worthwhile to mention that before S71 even happened, I found myself taking a shot at a super-active first-gen as my AGM. I took a huge liking to Proto right off the bat and one day shot him a message offering him the job. He was great for the locker room and max-earned the whole time he was in the VHL--but we also had a few disagreements. It was nothing that boiled over into anything bad between us, but it was a short window into what would soon follow when he super abruptly left the league (citing various differences with administration). His forum account seems to have been deleted, and he seems to have moved on from the VHL for good. But he was a big part of the early buildup of Davos and its culture during my time.

 

Right after Proto left Davos (to get hired in the VHLM, thanks to the Gustav Effect), I ended up re-hiring @Berocka, my best friend in the VHL, as my AGM after he quit in Mississauga. This would be a partnership that lasted the entire rest of my tenure, and it's one I was always grateful to have.

 

This was also when most of modern Davos culture--much of which still exists today!--defined itself. The use of "David" to refer to the team, and also as a sort of cheer; the use of McDonald's mascot Grimace as the team's; even the various Discord emotes I made that were just meme variations of my profile picture (and even ones that combined these things, like the picture at the top of this article); all of these things made Davos what it was and I love that somewhere in the world, someone is reading this who remembers these things and looks at them as fondly as I do. The first competitive run I gave Davos might have been a failure on the scoreboard and it might have cemented a negative reputation for myself as a GM, but I wouldn't have changed a thing about how it went off the ice and the memories I made with all the people I have mentioned in this article. So, in spirit of that:

 

DAVID!

 

 

Read my other articles for the full Gustav experience:

 

#1: Lightning Glory Gonna Be My Name

#2: Can't We All Just Get Along?

#3: Who Needs Cybersecurity Anyway?

#4: The House That I Built

#5: Can We Fix It?

#6: American Beauty

#7: The Kids Are Alright

#8: Dogs In A Pile

#9: I Just Wanna Grill For God's Sake

#10: This Old House

#11: Go Directly to Jail

#12: If You Can Dodge a Color, You Can Dodge a Ball

[Ahma 1,433]

4 hours ago, Gustav said:

every VHLer wants the best for their player

Can I claim an exception to this?

 

DAVID!

 

BGOM's still live on! @Alex has been keeping up with the tradition.

 

You as a GM in Davos was such a fun time, just a shame we couldn't win

and those S70's rosters with @Josh @McWolf @Rin @gorlab @Berocka and co. was a ton of fun!!

 

Long Live The God in Purple! DAVID! Purple blood for the Purple God!

 

[McWolf 3,115]

You messed up Davos by taking the job in the first place ayo 

[Esso2264 774]

i dont even remember any of those trades