Jacob's VHLM/VHLE/JST/WJC Manifesto and Theme Week Entry

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

SECTION 1 – BACKGROUND, INTRODUCTION, AND EXPECTATIONS

 

I have spent a long time pondering, writing, reading, and debating the way our pre-VHL leagues work. Part of that is why (I would imagine) I was brought into the BOG (Boys Old G(C)lub) whenever the heck that happened. Long story short, I’ve been involved in a lot of conversation about the VHLM and the VHLE, and have led some of it, seen many people’s perspectives and want to give my best shot at laying out a blueprint of what I think the pre-VHL experience looks like.

This does not represent any formal stance by the league, and while I may or may not steal ideas that are, have been, or could be a part of the BOG discussions, you will likely never know which ones are which, and therefore haha suckers.

There are also most certainly holes in my arguments, complete lapses of judgement and obvious flaws in whatever ends up coming out of here. You are welcome to critique, discuss and offer your own suggestions below.

SECTION 2 – THE CURRENT COMPETITIONS

 

There are currently 4 league sanctioned, pre-VHL competitions. These are the VHL Minors, the VHL Europe, the Junior Showcase Tournament, and the World Junior Championship. The VHLM and VHLE are regular season competitions ending in a post-season championship, with the JST and WJC being offseason tournaments operating on their own schedules.

 

Players can participate in the VHL as soon as 300TPE, but the hard floor (cap) is 400TPA. The hard floor has stood for as long as I know, and likely existed far back in VHL history. The 300 soft floor is a recent enough addition that I remember it.

 

The VHLM was for most of the site’s history, the only other regular season competition, debuting in S2, and has had a range of sizes from 5 to 12 teams. This has been adjusted to match league membership and recruitment booms and busts.

 

The VHLE debuted in S80, as a response to increased membership due to the COVID-19 lockdowns. While it serves a variety of purposes, it has been a controversial and unconvincing entry. It has fluctuated from 6 to 8 teams over its short lifespan.

 

The Junior Showcase tournament began in S81, although there may have been a short span before that from a distant memory of mine. It has happened nearly every offseason since, involving players who had not yet reached their VHL draft. It usually starts just after the regular season ends, and tries to occupy the minds of those eliminated from their playoff runs, or for players who join in the offseason looking for something to do in the weeks before the drafts.

 

The World Junior Championship has been running since S55 from what I can tell, and is the starting point for the national team program on the site. It usually involves Canada, USA, at least a few entries from Europe, one from Asia, and one that encompasses the rest of the world. Players who have not yet exceeded 400TPA are able to be selected by GMs and represent their region of the world. This happens within a week or so, and is often in the middle of the offseason, before or after the World Cup, an offseason tournament of a similar nature for VHL players.

 

SECTION 3 – THE NEW PLAYER PROGRESSION

 

There are a few different scenarios which could affect how one progresses through the leagues. I will outline the different experiences one could have and what competitions one would take part in.

 

I will first outline the “optimal” progression, which gives a new player the most time between their creation and their VHL draft. This gives even the weaker earners extra time to accumulate TPE before their timer starts. For the sake of league progression this is any creation between the Trade Deadline and a couple of days before the VHLM Draft.

 

One would create the week following the trade deadline, with 20 or so games left in the VHLM season. They would pick a team, ideally a playoff one, and build their player. They hopefully make the playoffs and begin play there. They are also drafted to the JST and begin to play there. They may be contacted shortly after about playing in the WJC depending on their region and their strength of earning. As the offseason concludes they enter the VHLM draft or skip it to become a Free Agent in the VHLE. They would then play in the VHLM (and if so, in the JST again), or the VHLE, and then potentially either way the WJC. Then they would get drafted by a VHLE and a VHL team. This is where their 9-season timer starts. They will either play in the VHLE, or skip to the VHL, or if they have not yet exceeded 200TPE, the VHLM once more. They could once again be selected to the WJC.

 

The second option is the case between the VHLM draft and the Trade Deadline. This is often the first-gen experience, or the experience of those who want to recreate in time to get a full VHL and VHLM season. If they created before the JST Playoffs, they would play in the JST. They would then play in the VHLM. From here they would play in the JST, potentially the WJC, and be drafted to the VHLM, VHLE and VHL at the conclusion of that offseason. Once again, this is where their 9-season timer starts. They will either play in the VHLE, or skip to the VHL, or if they have not yet exceeded 200TPE, the VHLM once more. They could once again be selected to the WJC.

 

The current TPA caps for the competitions are 200 for the VHLM and JST, and 400 for the VHLE and WJC. The VHLM before the introduction of the VHLE had a cap of 250TPA. Since the introduction of the VHLE there has also been a change to how TPA is implemented due to the Hybrid Attribute System. This was implemented to avoid complications involving a well-known and game-breaking meta. It has massively deflated the in-game TPA values of each player, with the ratio of VHL TPA to STHS TPA getting lower and lower as you go along. This cost ramp happens quickly, but if well planned your VHL TPA to STHS TPA can stand around 2:1 for most of a career. So players since the change in S83 are at roughly half the power of those before for historical comparison.

 

SECTION 4 – PUBLIC OPINION

 

When it comes to the VHLM, the public opinion is generally pretty good about it. It is the most susceptible to season-to-season change due to recruitment booms and busts, but it has for the most part stayed very stable. This is in part because it is best set up for minor tweaks and fixes season to season to handle incoming threats. The current concerns are the distribution of waiver players, the difference between first-generation players and their competition, the balance of competitiveness and development, and the role of drafting, trading and roster construction. This group of commissioners has been very open to ideas from within or around the site and has implemented some major changes that have established their stance on each of those issues. There was a time not too long ago, where players would select a team in their player creation thread, after receiving a rapid pitch from a GM or AGM of the team. This incentivized constant activity among GMs and often led to good GMs burning out too quickly, and the talent pool drying up very quickly. First, they were given a pay increase, which added to the talent pool, and quickly the waivers were taken from the GMs and AGMs hands and put into a separate spot on the portal, where pitches would always be available and mostly in the player’s hands to do. This reduced burnout, but at the cost of incentivizing constant activity. For the sake of those doing the job, it was the right move, even if it feels a little less personal as a player. Players can still “choose to join” as many teams as they want, meaning they could still incite an activity war, but most do not. It is likely that several members have been lost to non-immediate attention, but given the nature of the site, and the slow-burning grind of it all, most are willing to take the loss before getting excited about the new member. This has likely dropped the number of players signing to teams, but also cuts out the issue of players joining, signing a contract and never coming back to the site, filling a team’s roster spot for almost half a season.

 

For the VHLE, it was negative from the start. As for most things borne out of necessity, the reputation it received at the start was largely attributed to the problem that caused it. From there it had some instability, varying roster sizes from way too small to way too big, with no ability to adjust during the season, some great GMs, some bad ones, and unfortunately took on one of the league’s biggest retention issues, without even realizing it. The VHLE differs from the VHLM in a few ways that are key to establishing it as a competitive league rather than a developmental one. First, it has and continues to in some regards, allow the playing of inactive players. This is to help adjust to varying active player levels season-to-season and bolster the ranks of some otherwise measly rosters. The scale of inactive players has been rolled back over time after valid concerns of inactive locker rooms continued to come back, and some emphasis on playing active players over higher TPA ones has occurred. Inactivity is only assessed during the offseason however, and therefore many players who earn very little, if at all, can return season over season to the VHLE, cycling between championship favorites for large portions of their careers. If they can be reached to accept contracts, they can continue to be stars. A similar issue was recently squashed in the VHLM, with players having a cap on the seasons they can play in the VHLM before becoming VHLE Free Agents, cutting down on super teams and VHLM lifers. But, for the VHLE, it is about making a tight, competitive play experience, and finding a longstanding home for the lower earning players who often cap out not much higher than 400TPA. This gives VHL GMs the flexibility to choose when players join their roster more, and plan for incoming bodies. Otherwise, the VHLE has not changed much beyond how many teams there are.

 

The JST has been a personal passion project of mine since S82, where I first got my hands on a team to GM. I helped manage teams for a long time, won most of my appearances, moved to half-managing, half-commissioning, and added on half-simming. During the 80s it was the talk of the town, and where the top VHLM, VHLE, and VHL GMs sorted through the many names and faces to identify the next VHL superstars. Competition was tight, emotions were high, and a ton of new and exciting GMs got to try their hand at management. Nearly every person hired as a GM was hired for a different position by the end of their 2-week tenure. Through the 90s however, there has been a lull, notably an entire tournament cancelled due to a lack of participants. Eligibility was expanded, numbers have been relatively stable with 4 teams, but players are often focused elsewhere with either being a recreate, and therefore miss the novelty of the tournament, playing in the VHLM playoffs, the Pro-Am, and/or the WJC. Paired with a lack of updates throughout the tournament, inconsistent scheduling, inexperienced GMs and an overall lack of interest from outside members, the Tournament has been on a decline for some time now. What has been the highlight of my VHL experience, can often feel like a chore to me now, but a chore I happily do for the sake of what once was, and what should be again.

 

The World Junior Tournament aims to build excitement for the national team programs and build a pipeline into the World Cup, the VHL’s elite entry into best-on-best play. It is quick, snappy and very competitive. It is probably the 2nd best opportunity for incoming management talent to give it a go, and they too often get a shot elsewhere. It has, however, been a topic of discussion for a while now that the offseason tournaments are a bit stale. While GMs try to pick active players over inactive ones, first-generation players over recreates, and the own pool of players over the leftovers from other teams, the result ends up being a mishmash of players, who often don’t even realize the tournament has started until it is most of the way done, inspiring very little forum content and almost no engagement from the players. From what I see of old forum posts it used to be a real point of pride for players, and now it feels like a complete afterthought. I can tell you nothing about my experience in the S93 WJC, and literally just remembered I was in it, and I think Alex was the GM, who is a wonderful GM, and I can’t imagine it was his fault.

 

SECTION 5 – RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION

 

These are words thrown around a lot and mean a lot of different things to different people. At its core of course I think we can all agree these mean that new people are signing up and sticking around for at least the length of a career. From there, ideally, they want to recreate, and stick around for a long time. It’s more the how that is debated.

 

Players want to feel important, and have success be attainable, and at least partially in their control. Some want to win more than others, but everyone wants to win at least a little bit, and more importantly, feel like they contributed to whatever success was had. The players that struggle with the most are those joining a new league for the first time. Whether this is 30TPA first-generation players in the VHLM, 200TPA players in the VHLE or even 400-500TPA players in the VHL, it can be jarring to walk into a team and feel like you have nothing to contribute on the ice. Seeing players twice, three times or even more TPA on your or opponents’ roster is incredibly difficult to get past. Sure, we all know the road to 100, 150 TPA is not that long, and for anyone earning at a decent rate and exploring the league, there are lots of opportunities to become a very serviceable player. Once you graduate from the VHLM, it can be assumed that you can earn consistently, and therefore the path to the VHL is determined by the pace you set for yourself.

 

When it comes to the VHLM, the focus on development and the readily available ice time gives players an opportunity to have an impact pretty early. Pair that with a pretty tiny ceiling, players can keep up with the big dogs on a game-to-game level. The higher TPA players do generally end up on top over the long term, but a variety of factors keep the games tight for the most part. GMs are directly instructed to teach and encourage new members, an easily identifiable measure of retention. VHLM GMs wear the brunt of the retention label to the site community, and for good reason.

 

The VHLE often struggles with this mission, not entirely from their own doing, and carry the brunt of the criticism about retention, for some good reasons. There is an expectation that players who earned 200TPE know how to earn TPE, which is for the most part true. And for the amount of effort that it would take to attempt to teach each member coming into the team for what should be the second time how to do everything, compared to the amount of times those members should have or had learned those things already, the payoff is minimal. Players either squeak their way into the VHLE, and face far more established 400TPA players, or come in well above 200TPA and find a quick path to being that top player. I started my VHLE season at 400TPA, banking the entire season. I am of course a freak, but I am now a player that other players must deal with at the top, even though I had already reached the peak of that developmental stretch. So, the goals of these GMs is not really to teach, which was the easiest measure of retention the VHLM GMs had to maintain their reputations. So, what do VHLE GMs have then to prove their worth? Winning games is great, championships are great, but what is the point of the VHLE? I would argue on a recruitment and retention level, the VHLE is a place to establish foundations. The VHLM targets getting players involved on the forum, in the gameplay loop. It introduces them to trades, drafts, waivers, the locker rooms etc. It gets them to meet and talk to their peers and find a reason to stay. The VHLE is where players are introduced to the concepts that bring you to a point where you’re ready to take on the VHL and do so in a way that lets you have a chance at feeling valuable. It’s where you learn about building, roster construction, lines and strategies. It’s where you learn about how to figure out your style and role, building a solid foundation so that you can be competent, about 400TPA worth, and then figuring out your build goals and the path you’ll take to get there. Call it an advanced course if you will. It’s about learning how to do what it takes to make the most of your TPA, for you and for your team. That’s what VHLE GMs can use as a measure. Are you getting players to graduate, and particularly, do they feel like they can have a productive future in the VHL. I fear that the second part is what holds so many people back in the VHLE. I have won hundreds of games as a VHL GM at this point and countless others since that S83 offseason on that principle. People who adore this thing will get 1000+ TPA on their own. They’ll find us, they’re looking for this, whether they know it or not. Recruitment will hook them because it sounds like exactly what they wanted. But for everyone who is moderately interested, who wanted to give this thing a shot and got a few months in, maybe even a year, we need to give them a shot, to retain their interest, even as the going gets tough, by giving them the tools they need to be useful.

 

Where does the JST fit in? I know for sure that the JST is one of the best tools we have available for us when it comes to recruitment and retention. Not only was its direct creation a response to a need for something to keep new members engaged, it provides a framework that we can use to inspire and encourage collaboration and connection between our newer players’ peers. I’ll outline my vision for the JST later, but for now, it is a flawed, but soon to be glorious hub of retention.

 

And last, and maybe least, what is the World Junior Championship? Well as it stands, it is a relic of a more forum-heavy past. It never figured out how to keep up with the times, even after some objectively good efforts by recent commissioners. It unfortunately fails, much like other offseason tournaments, to inspire people to care. And when it comes to recruitment and retention, it makes no concerted effort to do either. The expectation is that this is a reward for existing effort, a chance to appreciate the work that was already done. But the act of the work itself and the results that it caused in the regular season and the playoffs is the reward and basing your motivation on a tournament that you’re equally as good or just objectively worse than everyone else, and have no room to grow or work strategically, just won’t cut it. But I do have a plan for the World Juniors, don’t you worry!

 

When it comes to the Recruitment Team themselves, I do have faith in the members that are there. I appreciate the increased transparency that has been provided, and while I’m not privy to the upcoming details, at least less so than I was as a VHLM GM, although that was also very little, I do expect good things from them. I would never expect results, members, or longstanding players, but I would expect them to do things that could lead to members who would go on to make longstanding players. And from what I’ve seen, they’ve been doing that.

 

SECTION 6 – GOING FROM HERE

 

Alright, so I think I’ve outlined the current state, the goals and effects of the leagues as they stand, and what I understand about the situation at hand. I understand that before a player reaches the VHL, they’ve passed through a handful of teams, dozens of hands, and a wealth of experiences. My goal here is to outline the roles of those people along the way, and how the competitions themselves can help those leaders retain, inspire, and connect with their players.

 

So, let’s start at the beginning. Where relevant I’ll try to separate things for first-generation players and recreates. A new member joins the site, they make their account, and make a player. As they’re putting in the details they are faced with the Active Player counts on the right-hand side, and enter their recruitment medium, player name, age (I guess?), position, height, weight, and birthplace. Same as before! Before they are brought to the Player Management page, they are given a screen that welcomes them to the league, and directs them to their Draft Class Discord. Now what is that you might ask? Well, this is a Discord server created before every draft class, owned and maintained by the Recruitment Team. It includes the sim results channels for each league, a reminder bot for updating, links to important site resources, a general channel, a questions channel, perhaps a trivia help channel etc. You may be saying to yourself, “This sounds like just about every Locker Room I’ve ever been in”, and to that end, you’d be right! Instead of each of the servers having the same functionality and getting pings every week from teams you’re not on anymore, but don’t want to leave their server, you have one place dedicated to people who are in the exact same boat as you. Team Locker rooms become a place about being a team, a place where you can talk to people as you would a teammate, get to know them, talk about the sims and congregate. People new and old are united in a server that is not too small, that there wouldn’t be activity, and not too big that it feels weird to ask questions. GMs would be encouraged if not expected to at least be present, in case something pertains to them, and would have a great opportunity to scout in a controlled but enticing environment. In fact, this part will be important. Players are assigned the first gen and recreate roles, and players are left to mingle. Players are encouraged to stop and ask some questions, get to know the Hybrid and STHS attributes before applying their TPE.

 

TLDR: Each draft class gets its own channel run by the Recruitment Team (11 channels, and then deleted at the end of a draft class’s lifespan, and lowers in activity and responsibility as careers progress). Team Locker Rooms move most of their common functionality to the Draft Class Discords. New Players are directed to these servers upon creation and before joining teams. Recruitment is responsible for being “Rookie Mentors” and GMs are expected to be in the servers and can scout. A quick pitstop to get some information before applying TPE and getting onto your team.

 

Next up is the organization of the teams and leagues. It has become apparent that the VHLE is a very useful failsafe, and we should have the ability to provide a buffer if a recruitment drive is large. It is also true that when the VHLE is not being used as a buffer, it is a waste of people’s time and can easily drive people to inactivity, whether intentionally or not. Having three leagues, with three drafts, two of those leagues which many people spend a season or two in at most, is a lot of administrative effort, a lot of unnecessary handoffs, and many opportunities for communication to fail. What I would propose would be a return to an affiliation format, at least for the pre-VHL players. It would be 8 franchises, composed of two rosters. The first would be 30-250TPA, the second being 250-500TPA. Those numbers make my brain feel good and are mostly unfounded and entirely up for debate. They are not in fact the point of the idea, and I would be happy to test sim and figure out how it could all work nicely. The ideas are very similar to what we have now, but with some very key differences. The first is that each franchise would be composed of an Owner (title to be debated), and a GM (title to be debated). The Owner would get 4TPE Job Pay, and the GM would get 2TPE Job Pay. This management team would manage their franchise, composed of two rosters. The first roster would be the development team. This would be managed equally by the Owner and the GM. It would operate similarly to the existing VHLM structure, with a focus on development, but it would not have its own playoffs. Inactivity rules would still apply. This is very important, as we don’t want to give those rosters any reason to stick around in the little league. These teams would be direct affiliates with their other roster. For the sake of concise language, I will use the VHL Development (VHLD), and VHL Minors (VHLM) to distinguish the two (sorry VHLE). The VHLM takes over what the VHLE was, but with some very distinct differences. Their goal is to win, and their goal is to create good VHL players. The VHLM would be able to call up players before, and during the regular season or after the post-season from their VHLD team. These would be players of either the Waiver Player type, or the Send-Down type, which I will define later. The hard caps are 250-500, meaning a player must be on the VHLM roster once they reach 250, and players must move on to the VHL once they reach 500. But players under 250 are eligible to be called up, should the player and the team want. This is particularly useful for re-creates, who may not need to go through the VHLD again and start with a Carryover bonus to help propel them into being capable in the VHLM. First-generation players may need to reach a certain TPA threshold before having the option to come up, maybe 100, like the current First Gen Bonus. Goalies would likely work differently, at least until a Hybrid System exists for them. The VHLM team is expected to work to create a roster of 6-4-1 at the minimum, and 9-6-2 at the maximum. If you get players that graduate from the VHLD, you would not be required to fix your roster, unless there is a VHLD eligible player that you can send down. But you would not be able to trade for additional players. These can obviously be adjusted, much like the VHL salary cap, should there be a need. And much like the current Spirit of Competition rule in the VHL about having to make a reasonable effort to acquire a human goalie should one be available; teams would be expected to meet roster minimums within a reasonable effort. The hard cap for the VHLD is also free to be adjusted, meaning players could be eligible for the VHLD should there be too many players, and players can pretty well always be called up, so that eligibility should remain acceptable. There would also be inactive rules and season maxes in the VHLM as well. I’ll add onto that point when I talk about how players are distributed, and how the season timers work.

 

TLDR: 8 VHLM Franchises each with an Affiliate VHLD (Development) team. VHLM teams would be the competitive team, with 6-4-1 to 9-4-2 players, competing for the Founders Cup. With affiliates they would be able to call up and send down players until the playoffs. The hard cap on the VHLD would be 250TPE, and the hard cap on the VHLM would be 500TPE. Both leagues would have season limits, and inactivity rules. The VHLD would have no playoffs. Recreates can be called up right away, first-generation players must exceed 100. Hard cap and roster requirements can be adjusted to match fluctuations in league membership to avoid expansion and contraction.

The Junior Showcase Tournament would be for all players on a VHLD roster when the VHLM playoffs begin. Non-playoff VHLM teams would be expected to send down any VHLD eligible players before the playoff index is made. The Junior Showcase would have an appropriate number of teams according to the number of VHLD eligible players and would draft from that pool to begin the tournament. As players get eliminated from the VHLM playoffs, the VHLD eligible ones would be available as waiver players, following the model I will describe later. They would then play a 10-day regular season, and a playoff in the same format as it already exists. There would once again be a management team, with an Owner or VHLD GM teaching the ropes to a new member, or a recent VHLD GM hire. The new member would get 2TPE Job Pay. The games that are played would be put on the Player Page, making it the JST, VHLM, and VHL tabs that get recorded, before we talk about International Play. Recreates can opt not to participate, but First Gen players are highly encouraged to. There would also be daily updates like the VHLM/D. Players should progress, particularly the new creates.

 

TLDR: Players from the VHLD are drafted to teams once the VHLM playoffs start, with eligible players from eliminated VHLM playoff teams joining via waivers. Recreates could opt out, first generation players should participate. Players would be updated.

 

Okay so how do players join these teams? As players join, they are assigned to the team that has the least of that position (C, W, D, G), with the tiebreaker being VHLM league position. These waiver players would be eligible to play in the VHLD, or on VHLM rosters should they become eligible. The waivers would remain open the same length of time that they currently are. This enforces some level of parity between the franchises and makes sure that there is no ability to tamper. Players stay with their franchise until their Draft Season, the same one that currently holds the VHLE and VHL drafts. You get the picture. The VHLM Draft happens as it normally does and that becomes your franchise until you are either moved, hit the season limit, or graduate. VHLM teams hold your player rights until you are no longer eligible to be in their system. This cuts out the ugly thing that is VHLM Free Agency, paired nicely with a season limit. The timer for your 3 seasons begins after your Draft offseason, and your 9 season VHL career timer starts at the same time. You are signed by your VHLM franchise and given a 1.5M base salary (this also applies to UDFAs, for each season they participate in, of course). Your VHL franchise would also sign you for 3 seasons at 1.5M. Which ironically perfectly lines up with the existing 3M max that we have for non-VHL players. This means that all bonuses at all to VHL prospects cost cap space. It also separates the mess that was VHLE “contracts”. Obviously should an issue come up and you have a concern, and would like to leave your franchise, one would be expected to submit a request to the commissioners, and they would put you back in the waiver pool to be redistributed should they approve your request. What this all accomplishes is keeping all franchises roughly the same potential value. Players are distributed as evenly as they arrive, and there should be no longstanding boom cycles. Owners can make trades, make strategic decisions, draft and create longer standing rosters than they currently can, with a better eye for the future. They can trade for Send-Down prospects (Send-Downs being players who have been VHLM drafted, but are sent down to the VHLD), and can choose to dress a variety of rosters depending on their needs. They can reward active players with earlier call-ups, and not waste recreates time, should they want to skip ahead. They still get to have a very meaningful, very competitive playoff, and make a lasting impression on players. They also cannot inadvertently tamper, and must work with, in part, the hands they are dealt. GMs can train in a low-pressure environment, have a veteran partner to aid them, and to test and learn and grow in a non-competitive league. They are focusing almost entirely on teaching and mentoring new members, with the goal of supporting the big club.

 

TLDR: A player is created. They are assigned based on positional need, and then VHLM standing position to a franchise as a Waiver Player. Here they remain until their draft Offseason where they are drafted to a VHLM Franchise, and a VHL Franchise, each with their rights for 3 seasons. VHLM Franchises and VHL Franchises offer their own 1.5M contracts separately, totaling 3M in salary for those 3 seasons. Bonuses from VHL Franchises then cost Cap Space. Drafted players sent down to their VHLD team are called Send-Downs are eligible to be traded like prospects always have been. Waivers cannot be traded and receive 1.5M in salary each season. Disputes are handled by the Commissioners and players may be redistributed via waivers should requests be approved. They would keep their Waiver or Send-Down label, and their contract would be moved to that Franchise.

 

SECTION 7 – INTERNATIONAL PLAY

 

As it stands, International Play needs to be freshened up. Here is how I would do it. The pool of players is divided into the usual number, being Canada, USA, Nordic, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and World. Each of those programs would have their own Discord Server, owned by the International Play Commissioners and run by the Federation Heads, who would be the World Cup GMs. These are permanent positions, earning 2TPE/Week for the entire offseason. While players must choose a birthplace right away for STHS to not complain, players never make that choice from a place of knowledge or implication of what that might mean. So, I say, until you’ve played a game for your international team, whether that be the World Juniors or the World Cup, you may be recruited to any Federation. This window is open the first full week of the offseason, and the tournaments happen the second week. With the Juniors and the Seniors in the same server, there is a sense of progression, and a desire to grow the program altogether. The Federation head, much like the VHLM Owners hire a GM to run the Juniors program, who also earns the 2TPE pay. They are both responsible for recruiting players, developing the program, selecting teams, and playing the tournaments. They would all get game results to their servers. This pushes the inter-team content to the forum, pushes recruitment material to the forum, and gets people excited for what is to come, and joins a team that wants them, not the team they randomly picked. Players between the 250-500 hard caps who have not played a VHL game yet would be the eligible players for the tournament. Should there be a lack of players, eligibility may be expanded below 250. I would also hope daily updates would be available.

 

TLDR: Players may re-declare what team they play for before they play their first international game, with a declaration window being the first week of the offseason. The tournaments are both played in the second week, with scores being sent to the team Discords. Federation Heads and GMs would be paid 2TPE for the length of the offseason and would be permanent positions.

 

SECTION 8 – THE VHL

 

Finally, we need to consider how this all would affect the VHL. Realistically, not many changes here. They can still do call-ups as soon as 300TPA, but the hard cap is now 500TPA, giving teams much more flexibility as to when they call up their youngsters. The VHLM season cap also lines up nicely with the entry level contract expiry, so teams have more options to keep or move on from prospects who don’t fit the team’s timeline. As it stands, there is always more room for lower TPE players on non-competing teams, and VHL teams would probably permanently be given the option to end contracts on inactive players in the offseason and would be expected to. 500TPA is also a good basis for starting to be competitive in the VHL, and ideally with several seasons of planning, VHLM franchises have created enticing foundations for VHL players. Those who earn very well will still be able to join the VHL at the same rate as before, playing 8 or 9 seasons. Depreciation would also be able to work the same, with even the players who hit the VHLM season cap having to face 1 depreciation, to learn how it works, and to encourage everyone to plan for it. GMs would have the Draft Class servers to scout in, making it easier to find and chat with everyone.

 

SECTION 9 – CONCLUSIONS

 

Sorry, everyone for taking this many words to get around to it, really thought this was going to be a 2000 word one, turns out it was at least 3 of those. I want to quickly go over all the problems I think I solve here, and what other concerns I may have, that may or may not be testable, or measurable.

 

First off, we create a space separate from the main VHL server for giving newcomers help. Their first point of contact would be with their Draft Class server and the Recruitment team.

 

Waivers would be assigned based on positional need and then by reverse standings order, making sure there are no long-term positional deficits, or empty locker rooms. This also removes any accidental or sneaky tampering.

 

VHLM management would be directly responsible for their affiliate, encouraging activity and development for the top team, while also being responsible for the top team, encouraging good roster construction, trading and drafting.

 

The VHLD would not have a playoff to avoid too much emphasis on competition in the regular season, and all players eligible for the VHLD on those rosters or eliminated VHLM team rosters will be entered into the Junior Showcase Tournament. This means everyone has something going on, but never too many.

 

As affiliates, rosters are flexible, allowing inactive rules to apply to the big team, and callups and send-downs being options throughout the regular season to account for growth, trades, inactivity and performance. Strict minimums and maximums would be set, but could be changed by the commissioners as needed.

 

Recreates would have a larger window to be called up, and can opt out of the JST if they wish.

 

VHLM rosters have longer lifespans, with slower earning players getting to be in the system 3 seasons after their draft. Those who earn and graduate progress at the same rate they always did, and lose no VHL eligibility.

All players will get VHL eligibility after those 3 seasons, with VHL teams being able to re-sign them or allow tanking teams to sign them.

 

 All players will have to plan for at least one depreciation as a teaching tool.

 

 One unnecessary draft is removed, and all drafts happen in the same offseason, so everyone knows when they’re being drafted.

 

 The VHLM is incredibly competitive with a historic Cup to chase, and a direct internal motivation to develop and grow their prospects. Inactives are not clogging rosters, and callups can fill any deficiencies rosters may have.

 Locker Rooms have a potential for twice the people, meaning more conversation and more pride in the franchise.

 

 In the same vein international play gets a strong progression, with players declaring their team before the selection process, after doing their research, and get to play in the same program from Juniors to Seniors. They are recruited, and plans are made seasons in the making, with permanent positions for management.

 

 Locker Rooms and the general server get unclogged with duplicate function, and game results are sent to Draft Class servers. 

 

SECTION 10 – FAQ

“What if we have a large recruitment boom again?”

 

Well, we have 16 teams worth of room, the same as when the VHLE debuted. Rosters can be expanded, and VHLD eligibility can as well, these are all league constructs, and with a direct farm system, STHS stays out of the way of our rules. If after all of that we need more room, we could certainly consider expansion, but that would be a bigger-than-COVID boom.

 

“What if recruitment fizzles?”

 

Well, we have 16 teams worth of room, but we can easily contract to 8, without any real work at all, we keep extra room for goaltenders, and people aren’t isolated in single person locker rooms. Players can be called up to the big club, and waiver distribution keeps rosters at very similar sizes as people show up. The VHL still gets graduates regardless, whether by TPE or by season limit, and the top product doesn’t lose its manpower.

 

“Why not give players the ability to choose their waiver team?”

 

This is a valid concern, and probably one of the things I want the most feedback on. Obviously, people will game the system, particularly on recreate week to try to get to a team they want. Obviously lower ranked teams likely get late season waivers and can’t get them to the playoffs. But to help with this, they get day 1 entry to the JST, and are playing meaningful games again. But there are teams that get no waivers, miscommunications that get every player offered to before talking to them, GMs more or less active at certain times, and all of these factors can be removed by just assigning them to the team where they are most needed. They don’t stay long, but longer than they currently do, and don’t waste their time making relationships before an immediate handoff. Recreates are likely aiming to get on a VHLM roster right away anyways, and so get given to a team that could use their services right away.

 

“Why set a season limit in the VHLM?”

 

Well as much as I’m really excited about all of these ideas, the VHL is the product. Players need to be excited about and given the push to get themselves ready for the VHL. The VHL needs depth players that are competent and knowledgeable. And while the VHLM is meant to be competitive, it is not meant to be an open optimization puzzle, it is meant to be on a time crunch, and building solid foundations, not running the same players back year after year.

 

“What about the recreates?”

 

They can be called up to VHLM rosters right away, they are distributed the same as any other player, they can get called up to the VHL at the same rate as before, or take their time and come in at a higher TPA. 8 and 9 season careers are still both very viable, and the VHLM should emulate the competitive environment that the VHLE currently is.

 

“Why go through the effort of making a VHLD when the VHLE is already there?”

 

I have no idea what franchises and branding would go where, and honestly, I don’t care. We could still call the leagues the VHLM and VHLE, that really isn’t the point, but the idea that there is direct affiliation would destroy the STHS league structure we currently have, and so taking the chance to give the league branding a direct, easily interpretable, and real-life mimicking name could help newcomer understanding. The VHLM also has far more historical weight, so keeping that trophy is important to me, but also, wouldn’t be a non-starter. The VHLM takes on the role that the VHLE once did, with some of its rules that help alleviate existing VHLE problems, while gaining the flexibility to solve the problems implementing those rules as it currently stands might cause.

 

“Why have VHLM rights and VHL entry-level contracts end at the same time?”

 

This is probably the idea that could be turned back around at me the easiest, maybe VHL teams get their rights for 3 seasons but must sign the entry level before that player can play games. Either way, this gives teams lots of flexibility as to who is on their roster, and tanking rosters can take on prospects and work with them to be strong VHL assets.

 

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

7625 words!

[Thunder 1,205]

Had to read it twice.  Well thought out.

[Daniel Janser 2,216]

Will deny this clam when I see it for lack of effort

 

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

Just now, Daniel Janser said:

Will deny this clam when I see it for lack of effort

 

I could write another Media Spot right now I won't lie

[Spartan 4,531]

Do I get a pay raise and royalties?

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

1 minute ago, Spartan said:

Do I get a pay raise and royalties?

Yes sir!

[Spartan 4,531]

1 minute ago, jacobcarson877 said:

Yes sir!

I didn't read it all but I'm down if I'm an auto 12

[Alex 3,248]

Can I have JST commish pay?

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

21 minutes ago, Alex said:

Can I have JST commish pay?

Yes sir!

[Alex 3,248]

Just now, jacobcarson877 said:

Yes sir!

Thanks, 20 uncapped per week right?

[Mysterious_Fish 405]

too many words. Gonna use text to speech for this shit

[twists 413]

2 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

I could write another Media Spot right now I won't lie

can you do mine?

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

5 minutes ago, twists said:

can you do mine?

I'm on it

[mattyIceman 1,229]

Some good ideas and some odd ones, had to make sure I read the same paragraph 3 times to make sure I didn't skip anything 

[N0HBDY 1,131]

[sadie 941]

ok i know i am gonna read and enjoy this but HOLY SHIT HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

7 minutes ago, sadie said:

ok i know i am gonna read and enjoy this but HOLY SHIT HOW LONG DID THIS TAKE

wrote 90% of it last night, edited and added a couple hundred words this morning

[JCarson 744]

WTF dude, I thought you had better things to do with your life.

[Grape 739]

[sadie 941]

Thoughts-

Draft Class Discords: Honestly I could’ve sworn there was an attempt at one for S86’s class but I guess I imagined it (or it was an EFL thing?). Anyways, I think we should 100% implement this; pooling a larger group of people together along with access to all the more experienced wiser GMs rather than just one would be amazing because it all but guarantees the LR experience we intend, but might not get on an individual team.

 

VHLD/M: Your idea is the best solution I’ve seen, and if we don’t use something along these lines somebody better think up something quick because it needs to change.

 

International play: I still don’t know how effectively content would be pushed to the forum. I think to generate more on the forum itself we could use the topic of international play to incentivize (with a couple of TPE) writing specifically about the WC/WJC much like in theme week. Just have a task like the career reflection or hello europe but make it seasonal and about international hockey/offseason tournaments in general.

[Spartan 4,531]

5 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

Each draft class gets its own channel run by the Recruitment Team (11 channels, and then deleted at the end of a draft class’s lifespan, and lowers in activity and responsibility as careers progress).

Could this not be done in the main VHL server if it's just channels? We already have recruitment roles in the main server and laid out GM roles as well.

[jacobcarson877 2,563]

13 minutes ago, Spartan said:

Could this not be done in the main VHL server if it's just channels? We already have recruitment roles in the main server and laid out GM roles as well.

I assumed it would be harder to manage roles on that large of a server than just start from scratch, but the implementation does not really matter. I just copied how SHL does it.

[Gaikoku-hito 2,135]

13 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

TLDR: Each draft class gets its own channel run by the Recruitment Team (11 channels, and then deleted at the end of a draft class’s lifespan, and lowers in activity and responsibility as careers progress). Team Locker Rooms move most of their common functionality to the Draft Class Discords. New Players are directed to these servers upon creation and before joining teams. Recruitment is responsible for being “Rookie Mentors” and GMs are expected to be in the servers and can scout. A quick pitstop to get some information before applying TPE and getting onto your team.

I like this idea and agree with @Spartan  that I think this could be it own section in the League discord so that everyone still has access to the league discord. GOHLS has just moved to something similar to this covering their minor leagues as minors would have to sort through a bunch of the Majors leagues or main teams data to find their own stats and information. So I agree that this could be done and should be done. Also can create a great place to have rivalries and as we get older discuss the good old times!! LOL!!

 

13 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

SECTION 7 – INTERNATIONAL PLAY

 

As it stands, International Play needs to be freshened up. Here is how I would do it. The pool of players is divided into the usual number, being Canada, USA, Nordic, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and World. Each of those programs would have their own Discord Server, owned by the International Play Commissioners and run by the Federation Heads, who would be the World Cup GMs. These are permanent positions, earning 2TPE/Week for the entire offseason. While players must choose a birthplace right away for STHS to not complain, players never make that choice from a place of knowledge or implication of what that might mean. So, I say, until you’ve played a game for your international team, whether that be the World Juniors or the World Cup, you may be recruited to any Federation. This window is open the first full week of the offseason, and the tournaments happen the second week. With the Juniors and the Seniors in the same server, there is a sense of progression, and a desire to grow the program altogether. The Federation head, much like the VHLM Owners hire a GM to run the Juniors program, who also earns the 2TPE pay. They are both responsible for recruiting players, developing the program, selecting teams, and playing the tournaments. They would all get game results to their servers. This pushes the inter-team content to the forum, pushes recruitment material to the forum, and gets people excited for what is to come, and joins a team that wants them, not the team they randomly picked. Players between the 250-500 hard caps who have not played a VHL game yet would be the eligible players for the tournament. Should there be a lack of players, eligibility may be expanded below 250. I would also hope daily updates would be available.

 

TLDR: Players may re-declare what team they play for before they play their first international game, with a declaration window being the first week of the offseason. The tournaments are both played in the second week, with scores being sent to the team Discords. Federation Heads and GMs would be paid 2TPE for the length of the offseason and would be permanent positions.

Not sure that I like the idea of declaring for a Federation since it seem more correct to have them assigned based on birthplace/rights like Canada is part of the Canadian Federations, USA etc.... I can maybe understand with the two European nations or the rest of the world/Asia since it would allow maybe someone that isn`t good enough to play International hockey from a country like Canada, USA or Europe but not strong enough to actually play for their country but I do like the idea of Federation and growth within the Federations, bring internal rivalries and might bring more international rivalries depending on the banter between Federations, players etc....

 

13 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

but players are often focused elsewhere with either being a recreate, and therefore miss the novelty of the tournament, playing in the VHLM playoffs, the Pro-Am, and/or the WJC.

100% agree with this comment since last season my player was part of the JST, WJC, ProAM as well as VHLM playoffs. I couldn`t keep up with majority of them as I have no clue what happened in the JST; only learned towards the end of the ProAm that we were the worse team in the tournament but I did manage to focus, I think that Bouchard won gold with Europe in the WJC; while Halifax failed to make the finals. It was too much for a single player, manager and makes me wonder if it would have been better served if other new members were given the spotlight instead in some of those tournaments. ProAm was my own fault!! 

 

Oh, Thank you also for creating Chapters as this old man needed naps between Chapters to take all the data in!!

 

[tcookie 927]

14 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

“Why not give players the ability to choose their waiver team?”

 

This is a valid concern, and probably one of the things I want the most feedback on. Obviously, people will game the system, particularly on recreate week to try to get to a team they want. Obviously lower ranked teams likely get late season waivers and can’t get them to the playoffs. But to help with this, they get day 1 entry to the JST, and are playing meaningful games again. But there are teams that get no waivers, miscommunications that get every player offered to before talking to them, GMs more or less active at certain times, and all of these factors can be removed by just assigning them to the team where they are most needed. They don’t stay long, but longer than they currently do, and don’t waste their time making relationships before an immediate handoff. Recreates are likely aiming to get on a VHLM roster right away anyways, and so get given to a team that could use their services right away.

 

Going to a team you want does enhance the experience of being in the M. I could possibly see myself feeling like I just am here playing out the string waiting to jump to the next level if I didn't get to choose my VHL team. Granted, most re-creates can get out of the M pretty quickly as is if they so choose. You probably don't know well enough as a brand new person where a good or bad place to go is. For what it's worth, I actually put a lot of thought into where I went in the M with my first gen... but I'll admit I'm probably an anomaly there.

 

All things considered, it's probably good for the league to not have those teams with like 2 players on their roster, so it does probably make a lot of sense overall.

 

 

14 hours ago, jacobcarson877 said:

SECTION 7 – INTERNATIONAL PLAY

 

As it stands, International Play needs to be freshened up. Here is how I would do it. The pool of players is divided into the usual number, being Canada, USA, Nordic, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and World. Each of those programs would have their own Discord Server, owned by the International Play Commissioners and run by the Federation Heads, who would be the World Cup GMs. These are permanent positions, earning 2TPE/Week for the entire offseason. While players must choose a birthplace right away for STHS to not complain, players never make that choice from a place of knowledge or implication of what that might mean. So, I say, until you’ve played a game for your international team, whether that be the World Juniors or the World Cup, you may be recruited to any Federation. This window is open the first full week of the offseason, and the tournaments happen the second week. With the Juniors and the Seniors in the same server, there is a sense of progression, and a desire to grow the program altogether. The Federation head, much like the VHLM Owners hire a GM to run the Juniors program, who also earns the 2TPE pay. They are both responsible for recruiting players, developing the program, selecting teams, and playing the tournaments. They would all get game results to their servers. This pushes the inter-team content to the forum, pushes recruitment material to the forum, and gets people excited for what is to come, and joins a team that wants them, not the team they randomly picked. Players between the 250-500 hard caps who have not played a VHL game yet would be the eligible players for the tournament. Should there be a lack of players, eligibility may be expanded below 250. I would also hope daily updates would be available.

 

TLDR: Players may re-declare what team they play for before they play their first international game, with a declaration window being the first week of the offseason. The tournaments are both played in the second week, with scores being sent to the team Discords. Federation Heads and GMs would be paid 2TPE for the length of the offseason and would be permanent positions.

 

This needs to happen.

 

I hate (and I don't use that word with intention very often) that international teams are often comprised of a random group of players, in particular, the teams that are comprised of the other teams' leftovers. I completely understand it. I know it's set up so that generally, everyone gets a chance to participate at some point throughout their career. But I hate it. I think it destroys a lot of the meaning of the concept of international play. Personally I would so, so much rather sit out a tournament than play for a "Team World" / mercenaries / whatever you want to call it, comprised of the players who didn't make any other team.

 

Representing the same "federation" for your entire career, coming up through a "program", this is a way more interesting and way more realistic portrayal of international play. And picking the one you represent is basically just making a more informed decision on your "birthplace" once you know that it actually means something which makes sense to me. I feel like this is kind of the SHL way from what I remember of my brief like two-week stint there? Although I prefer it here, this is a way better international play system.

 

International play is something I absolutely love IRL, and I really struggle to care about it here. This is a much needed fix and makes so much sense.

 

Honestly all of this is really well thought out, I like it. But I feel really strongly about the international play one.

Edited June 19 by tcookie