The VHLM's Top Goal Scorers - A Build Analysis

[der meister 3,197]

Today I thought it would be interesting to examine the VHLM's top goal scorers, particularly their builds, to see if there's any notable differences. At the time of writing this sentence, I have yet to look at any of them aside from my own player, who we'll get to in a bit.

 

Leading the VHLM in goals is Jacob Longstreet, center for the Saskatoon Wild, managed by @Dynamicmlb_42. With 57 goals in 61 games, he's got a healthy lead on the second-place player. His 430 shots on goal give him a 13.25 shooting percentage, which is surprisingly low for the number of goals he's scored, at least in terms of what I expected. With this goal total, I figured he'd be above 15 percent. As for his build, he has a 71 in Offensive Vision, which impacts both Passing and Scoring stats. He also has 10 TPA in Slapshot, which further boosts the Scoring stat and adds a smidgen to Strength. His second-highest attribute is in Dekeing, giving him a significant boost to both Puck Handling and Defense. Further on that point, Longstreet has 20 points allocated to Defensive Coverage. 

 

Using a non-hybrid breakdown, Longstreet's 178 TPA build is:

CK = 40
FG = 40
DI = 40
SK = 44
ST = 45
PH = 56
FO = 43
PA = 61
SC = 62
DF = 51
PS = 40

 

 

 

Second in the goal scoring category with 49 is @ethanjaeda's player, Robin Sierra. Another Center, Sierra boasts a 12.56 shooting percentage. His highest hybrid stat, unsurprisingly, is Offensive Vision at 70. Where this build begins to differ from Longstreet, however, is the 56 points in Poke Checking, which boosts both Strength and Defense. Sierra also has 36 TPA into the Stick Handling category, and 23 into Speed. Interestingly, this leads to a shockingly similar build as Longstreet's.

 

The non-hybrid breakdown of Sierra's 200 TPA build:

 

CK = 40
FG = 40
DI = 40
SK = 51
ST = 50
PH = 56
FO = 40
PA = 61
SC = 61
DF = 55
PS = 40

 

In third place with 40 goals is Mississauga Hounds Center [three Centers in a row? Fascinating....] Ozzy Batty, @Ozzy Batty. With 157 TPA, he has the most balanced build so far, with his highest skill being an almost paltry 30 points into Offensive Vision. Next is Defensive Coverage with 28, then all the way down to 17 in Slap Shot. Batty's 40 goals on 315 shots gives him a 12.69 shooting percentage, edging out Sierra's number.

 

The non-hybrid breakdown of Batty's 148 TPA build:

CK = 40
FG = 40
DI = 41
SK = 51
ST = 48
PH = 47
FO = 43
PA = 52
SC = 52
DF = 48
PS = 44

 

Next up is my player, the first winger on the list, Konstyatyn Shevchenko, also of Mississauga. I've got 70 in Slap Shot, 69 in Offensive Vision, 40 in Stick Handling, and 21 in Defensive Coverage. That's it. That's the full 200. I like to think of Shevchenko as something of a Glass Cannon build, for those of you familiar with the RPG archetype. His 39 goals on 311 shots is good for a 12.54 shooting percentage. As an aside, the one thing that bugged me this season was how long it took to get Mississauga's lines right in the sim. For the first dozen or so games, Shev was getting 15 minutes a game on the third line, and was below a point per game. Once he moved to the top line, he blew up, and is up to 91 points in 60 games. I have no doubt that if he started on the top line, he'd be well over 100 by now. I still don't know exactly what happened to cause the lineup confusion, but I'm glad it got fixed eventually, at least.

 

The non-hybrid breakdown of Shevchenko's 200 TPA build:

CK = 40
FG = 40
DI = 40
SK = 48
ST = 61
PH = 54
FO = 40
PA = 60
SC = 69
DF = 43
PS = 40

 

 

 

Right below Shevchenko is Ty Duke, from user @TheDuke. I wonder if this is a reference to The Duke of New York? Let me know, dude. Anyway, Duke plays for the Halifax 21st and has 37 goals off of 359 shots, for a 10.3 shot percentage, by far the lowest in the top 5. Duke is a Center, with an emphasis on Offensive Vision and Poke Checking, which are at 60 and 58, respectively. He's also the first center in this list to actually put a decent amount of points into Faceoffs, with 19.

 

The non-hybrid breakdown of Ty Duke's 200 TPA build:

CK = 40
FG = 40
DI = 40
SK = 50
ST = 55
PH = 50
FO = 50
PA = 58
SC = 58
DF = 59
PS = 40

 

 

 

Ok, so that's a lot of numbers, but what are we really GETTING from this article? Well, for starters, Centers in STHS score a lot. Like, A LOT. Even when they have no TPE in Faceoffs. From a General Manager perspective, at least at the VHLM level, it seems like putting your forward with the highest skill in Scoring as the top line Center would pay huge dividends, regardless of their ability to win a draw. Along with that, it's obvious that you don't need a 200 TPE build to put up huge numbers - just look at Longstreet and Batty as evidence. But again, they're both Centers.

 

Along with that, most of these players have identical or damn near close enough to identical numbers in Passing and Scoring. With a 200 TPE ceiling, that makes logical sense - it's pretty hard to create separation between those skills with the hybrid attribute system the VHL implemented a handful of seasons ago. I've made a conscientious effort to create a gap and even so, Shevchenko only has a 9 point difference in the sim engine.

 

The biggest other thing I'm seeing is one I think all of us would have predicted: there is no need to have points in Checking, Fighting, Discipline, or Faceoffs to generate offensive production. Pretty obvious, logically, but it's always good to have statistical confirmation of logical suppositions. 

 

And now that I've written all of this nonsense, I wonder: is this interesting to anyone else? The VHLM is a hard league to really gauge and analyze in this fashion, largely due to the very low TPE cap. I guess it doesn't matter, because done is done, but I hope it was at least mildly enlightening. If you made it this far, thanks for reading.

 

 

Edited June 28 by der meister
Fixed member tags

[der meister 3,197]

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[jacobcarson877 2,541]

I remember right around when the hybrid attributes were coming out Shindigs and I put a lot of work into theorycrafting VHLM builds. Interesting to see how the meta shifts little by little on such a small scale, not something you'd notice in the big leagues. I never would have thought some of these builds would be the leaders, but once you lay them out, the similarities are certainly there! And in response next season some will steal the ideas for themselves, and others will find a way to overcome these builds, whether accidentally or not!

Either that or STHS is just a whole jumble of nonsense, which is equally likely!

[der meister 3,197]

20 minutes ago, jacobcarson877 said:

I remember right around when the hybrid attributes were coming out Shindigs and I put a lot of work into theorycrafting VHLM builds. Interesting to see how the meta shifts little by little on such a small scale, not something you'd notice in the big leagues. I never would have thought some of these builds would be the leaders, but once you lay them out, the similarities are certainly there! And in response next season some will steal the ideas for themselves, and others will find a way to overcome these builds, whether accidentally or not!

Either that or STHS is just a whole jumble of nonsense, which is equally likely!

 

My money is on nonsense. But I do think there's something to the "put the highest Scoring forward as Center" idea.

[diacope 1,696]

[der meister 3,197]

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