A Unique Class: Hall of Fame Builders without a HoF Player

[Corco 1,266]

Hall of Fame Builders without HoF Players

 

Some of you may recall that I sent out a league-wide survey a few weeks ago about what you think makes a player worthy of a plaque in the VHL Player Hall of Fame. Thank you all for your responses, and worry not, as I do intend to make a media spot elaborating on the results of said survey in the future. 

Although there are no official prerequisites for induction into the VHL Builder Hall of Fame, one metric does seem to stick out above the rest: having a player from your agency reach the HoF. Of the 53 currently inducted Builders in the HoF, only nine have not had a player inducted into the Hall of Fame. Obviously that isn’t to say these members haven’t tried, as many of them have indeed had great VHL players come from their agencies, but rather to point towards the fact that hard work in the VHL does not always guarantee statistical success or accolades. You can set TPE records (like someone on this list) and finish your career without winning a single individual award, it is an unfortunate reality of the VHL.

 

 

Lucas Tannahill @PensFan101
(S1) D - Thor Ljunggren, TPE: ???
(S5) G - Anton Nygard, TPE: ???
(S11) D - Jorgen Aqvist, TPE: 515+
(S23) C - Lasse Milo, TPE: 800+
(S32) D - Mattis Trumbauer , TPE: 361

As time goes on and members come and go in the VHL, the number of people who remember Lucas Tannahill dwindles smaller and smaller. For those who don’t know, he was the mastermind behind likely the VHL’s most infamous franchise, the Vasteras Iron Eagles. Tannahill’s obsession with the franchise ran deep, with most of his players always finding their way back to the franchise in some form or another. His players were rarely pushovers either, but none aside from Lasse Milo had great cases for the Hall of Fame (Milo has decent case for the HoF that I will likely dive into in separate article). PensFan’s players were often built as team-first players, with the goal of doing whatever they could to push Vasteras to success at the cost of their own individual achievements. After the franchise was relocated and rebranded as the Stockholm Vikings in the early S40’s, perhaps fittingly, PensFan went inactive and never returned.

 

 

Sandro Desaulniers @Sandro
(S4) LW - Fabian Brunnstrom, TPE: 530
(S11) RW - Sandro Desaulniers, TPE: 545
(S18) D - Dante Terragni, TPE: 511
(S25) RW - Gaz , TPE: 538
(S32) C - Jakub Kjellberg, TPE: 770
(S45) LW - Lucas Zhukenov, TPE: 245

The next builder on the list is former Toronto Legion GM, Sandro Desaulniers; I admittedly remember less about Sandro’s players than I do about PensFans’, as I had much more interaction with the latter due to my own experience with the Vasteras franchise. From what I do remember, Sandro, while not being a TPE whore, did make very solid players who sacrificed individual accolades for team success (as GM players often do). On statistics alone, the only players that you could even attempt to make a case for are Brunnstrom, Kjellberg, and perhaps Terragini, who did make the All-VHL 1st team twice.

 

 

Tyler Owens @Tyler
(S6) RW - Pavel Dubnikov, TPE: 465
(S14) LW - Nicholas Evans, TPE: 545
(S21) G - Andreas Bjorkman, TPE: 733
(S28) C - Connor Evans, TPE: 609
(S35) D - Tyler Owens, TPE: 180
(S39) RW - Milos Denis, TPE: 594
(S48) C - Rene Bergeron, TPE: 30
(S54) D - Slava Aleksei, TPE: 677

(S57) D - Thomas Sankara, TPE: 79
(S59) C - The Charm, TPE: 848
(S64) G - Milan Baros, TPE: 70
(S68) D - Andrej Petrovic, TPE: 563
(S78) LW - Gregory Bates, TPE: 651
(S87) D - Admir Bala, TPE: 860
(S97) RW - Raoul Cyr, TPE: 109+

One of the VHL’s longest tenured members, Tyler Owens has seen his fair share of team success across the 90+ seasons he has been in the league. Owens was the architect behind the curse-breaking S26 Vasteras Iron Eagles, as well as ending a 22-season cup drought for the Davos Dynamo in S61. Perhaps the New York Americans should look to hire Owens in an attempt to break their current 42-season drought? While Owens knows how to build a cup-winning team, he likely also knows that as a GM you are often required to make sacrifices to your own player’s individual success. A HoF case could [and should] certainly be made for his 1st goaltender, Andreas Bjorkman. The Swedish netminder backstopped the aforementioned Iron Eagles to their S26 Continental Cup, won the Scotty Campbell Trophy in S27, won two Shaw Trophies in S26 & S27, made the All-VHL 1st team in S26 & S27, and won three World Cup Gold medals in S22, S24, and S26.

 

 

 

Austin Gow @eaglesfan036
(S29) D - Austin Gow, TPE: 401
(S36) RW - Robert Gow III, TPE: 802
(S44) C - Tim TebowGow, TPE: 683
(S50) C - Travis Gowecny, TPE: 555
(S54) RW - JourneyMan, TPE: 195
(S56) RW - The Process, TPE: 204
(S61) D - Chat, TPE: 90
(S63) LW - King Gow, TPE: 70
(S65) C - Gritty, TPE: 1039
(S74) G - Kevin Malone, TPE: 724
(S82) D - Trade Me, TPE: 73
(S89) D - Free Gorlab, TPE: 196
(S93) D - Blaze Thunderstrike, TPE: 313+

 

When I first thought of the idea about this article, the member that first came to mind wasn’t eaglesfan, but rather his brother, @Fire Tortorella. Upon researching, I discovered that flyersfan did indeed have a HoF player in Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen; I then figured to check eaglesfan, and here we are (both of them used to always have Philadelphia-centric player names and I would constantly get them mixed up). Eaglesfan and I joined the league around the same time in S29, and I always recall him consistently having solid, but never superstar, players (Austin Gow, Robert Gow III, Tim TebowGow, Travis Gowecny) who were often part of successful teams, but never very individually successful. Since the S50’s eaglesfan has been very hit or miss with his players, as Journeyman, Chat, King Gow, Trade Me, and Free Gorlab all being arguable busts for a member of eaglesfans’ caliber. His current player, Blaze Thunderstrike, looks to have the best chance out of his three most recent players to be successful, albeit likely not HoF-worthy. Nowadays I feel that eaglesfan sticks around more for the community rather than the actual sim results, and for those VHL veterans who remember, he was the biggest fan of the long-defunct VHL chat feature.

 

 

Thomas Landry @Doomsday
(S33) RW - Thomas Landry, TPE: 794
(S41) RW - Jack Kowalski, TPE: 572
(S56) C - Charles Murphy, TPE: 41
(S71) LW - Thomas Landry II, TPE: 1527
(S80) G - Oskar Lindbergh, TPE: 1646
(S90) D - YaBoi Oven, TPE: 1477+

Doomsday first broke onto the VHL scene with Thomas Landry in the relatively top-heavy S33 draft as a 2nd-round pick. Landry was known more for his time in football sim-leagues than hockey sims at that time, which is why I presume he was taken so low in the draft at 16th overall. From what I recall, Landry was a fan-favorite around the league at the time, and was eventually traded from the New York Americans to the Davos Dynamo for a 1st round pick and three 2nd round picks; I was the GM of the Vasteras Iron Eagles at the time and tried desperately to acquire him in order to improve Vasteras’ public image, but wasn’t able to put together a package better than the one that Davos offered. Landry would go on to be an integral part of Davos winning two cups in S36 & S38, while also winning the [now-retired] Grimm Jonsson Trophy twice as the VHL’s Top Leader (S36-37) and make the All-VHL 2nd Team in S38. While Landry may not have had the statistics and accolades to make the Hall of Fame as a player, he remains one of the most liked members in league history. I admittedly don’t know much about his three most recent players (all of whom have eclipsed the 1000 TPE mark), but based on their lack of awards their HoF chances unfortunately don’t seem too great either.

 

 

Eno Rama @Enorama
(S63) C - Ryan Kastelic, TPE: 2000
(S69) D - George Washington, TPE: 947
(S74) LW - Ryan Schwarz, TPE: 841
(S80) C - Ryan Vidot, TPE: 1469
(S90) G - Ryan Artyomov, TPE: 1238+

 

Enorama is the member who was named dropped in the beginning of this article; his 1st player, Ryan Kastelic, became not only the 1st player in VHL history to reach the 2,000 TPE mark, but also the first 1st-gen player to reach that mark as well (Leandro Goncalves would end up surpassing Kastelic’s total 20 seasons later). There is a case to be made that no member in VHL history has been treated more unfairly by STHS than Enorama, with over 6,000+ career TPE(!!!) and not a SINGLE individual award to show for it! I don’t know if there is any easy way to calculate this, but eno’s average TPE between all of his players (1,300) must be the highest in league history for a member with at least five players. I haven’t been super active during enorama’s time in the league, so I don’t know how he feels about his own lack of individual accolades vs the time and effort he has put into the league, but I know it would drive me mad if I was him.

 

 

 

Honorable Mentions That I Forgot to Include:

@diamond_ace

@Devise

@Dil

 

 

1,600+ Words

Claiming for weeks ending:

October 27

November 3

November  10
 

Edited October 23 by Corco

[Victor 11,021]

21 minutes ago, Corco said:

(Milo has decent case for the HoF that I will likely dive into in separate article).

I think @Gustav  already has you covered

 

24 minutes ago, Corco said:

I was the GM of the Vasteras Iron Eagles at the time and tried desperately to acquire him in order to improve Vasteras’ public image, but wasn’t able to put together a package better than the one that Davos offered.

sorry

 

Also I hope you were using my handy Builder spreadsheet for this... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18rz4raDH_qX72yIFeoW5z_RJMlLFbmWQb-JACBCI5es/edit?usp=sharing although you have missed @diamond_ace, @Devise, and @Dil so probably not 

[Corco 1,266]

2 minutes ago, Victor said:

Also I hope you were using my handy Builder spreadsheet for this... https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/18rz4raDH_qX72yIFeoW5z_RJMlLFbmWQb-JACBCI5es/edit?usp=sharing although you have missed @diamond_ace, @Devise, and @Dil so probably not 

Whoops, I genuinely thought Rift and Brookside were in. Perhaps a part two may be in order.

[Gustav 6,469]

4 hours ago, Victor said:

I think @Gustav  already has you covered

 

Yes hi hello

 

I still haven't forgotten about Hall of Not Bad and I'll definitely keep it going (I have numbers ready to go for a couple different players). Milo may be the best one left though.

 

I think that if we can get Jannula in, Milo has a decent shot as well. The line between Milo and Felix Peters is practically nonexistent.

[Dil 1,763]

@Corcoi thought we were friends

[eaglesfan036 4,605]

Bring Back Chat

[Enorama 2,039]

On 10/23/2024 at 11:57 AM, Corco said:

I don’t know if there is any easy way to calculate this, but eno’s average TPE between all of his players (1,300) must be the highest in league history for a member with at least five players. I haven’t been super active during enorama’s time in the league, so I don’t know how he feels about his own lack of individual accolades vs the time and effort he has put into the league, but I know it would drive me mad if I was him.

 

...I honestly did not think I was that much of an outlier when it came to sim luck

[Dil 1,763]

On 10/23/2024 at 9:57 AM, Corco said:

6,000+ career TPE(!!!) and not a SINGLE individual award to show for it

jfc 

[diamond_ace 3,112]

When Intranquilo hit 989 TPE, that was at the time top 10 for first gens. It's pretty amazing that the record is now more than double that. Next 2 guys were similar (Marcellin 953 but one fewer season, and Brookside fell off a tad at 906) but nowadays that's basically a clicker plus.

My first 3 guys (the only ones with anything resembling a chance) all had one weird circumstance or another. Intranquilo was built to be uber defensive before I really understood just how little the sim would show that (had 40 shooting into my 4th or 5th season, despite having multiple 90s in other things). He ended up with a handful of awards but I always remember being really disappointed with him - oddly enough though, maybe things would have been different with 38 more shot blocks, the stat I always used to take the most pride in. There's something visual about HOF cases, and seeing 1000 on the list would have been a lot more eye catching than 962. Marcellin was perhaps the most weird - swapped from center to defense, then retired a season early for team needs. Ended his career on 5 straight triple digit point seasons, makes you think if I could have stuck him out one more season he would likely have had a case, although the position swappers are always so hard to judge. Ultimately GM-me overrode player-me and wanted to get Brookside out there presuming he'd come up behind the final seasons of Rift, but we all know that story. Brookside was probably the most straightforward, but even he ended up falling in a weird pocket of competitiveness - I tried to hang onto the window post-Rift, first a season with Labatte in goal, then one with Satan, but ultimately by the time Brookside was good the team was declining. The late trade to Cologne might have done enough to push me in had I done it a tad earlier. 

Ironically, none of the three are my highest TPE player - that title goes to one Dagmar Havlova, 1002 in an era where the 1000 mark didn't mean nearly as much, but given I had 3 straight guys in the 900s, I did it to prove to myself I could. She never broke 100 points in a season though (96 and 97 in the final 2 seasons with Warsaw). Best player on the team success front was Evan R. Lawson - 3 cups, an early Calgary one then 2 in Toronto under Devise during omg's Oyorra Arroyo years. Kerkko Hyvarinen was a decent journeyman, Kefka Palazzo was meh 90% of the way then out of nowhere put up 91 points in his last season once he finished taking over the world. Probably the best microcosm of just how much the TPE expectation went up throughout my time here: Tynan Sylvester, my last guy before Eury. His career and Hyvarinen's career look remarkably similar, stats wise. Yet Tynan took nearly twice the TPE to do it, and I don't think it was a build thing. Ultimately, you could build a Frankenstein's monster of a HOF player out of bits and pieces of my guys: Havlova's TPE in Intranquilo's era, with Marcellin's stats but over the course of a full career, with Lawson's team success. None really collected all the infinity stones in the same player though. Brookside was likely the closest, but never quite got over the hump. Happy to be in as a builder though, that's the one thing I have a lot more control over than player success.

---------------------------------------------------------------

I can also fairly confidently say Eury is it for me (hell I've basically phoned this one in as well). I only really made Eury to prove to Spartan that I wasn't entirely inactive on the forums (which I wasn't, I'd pop in about once a week or so - still not exactly the near-obsession I had with this place back in the 20s and 30s). Granted, I thought that after Hyvarinen, and it only lasted maybe a little over a year, so who knows? Nowadays I get the interaction with the community through a few of the team discords (I'm still in almost all of them, but only really talk in a handful) so the need to have a player in order to maintain those connections doesn't seem to be there as much - also, a lot of the people I'd connected the most with originally have themselves moved on or at least taken some steps away relative to each of our peaks. I also don't really feel inspired to flex the creative writing chops as much anymore, as life has Dead Poets Society'd that out of me by this age for the most part - not saying I don't do it ever, just that I'm pretty committed to other interests now. I have a whole ass wife now! Who'd have guessed that for the antisocial nerd that spent literal hours on the VHL Skills Competition articles back in the day? I'm in a regular weekly D+D game irl, go on trips (world state permitting), do all sorts of fun shit, living the dink life, or at least as much of it as we can afford. I'm already VHL-old, but in 11 months I'll be actually old (40). I'm already feeling that way, getting excited about such mundane things as *gasp* PTO flexibility and automatic weekends/holidays off work. On the bright side, I have another 11 months of being able to call my wife old, without being there myself (she's 41 now and will be 42 when I hit 40, so it's been a fun little wedge of time being on the other side of the hill from her but we're close enough that it's never been any serious difference).

This place is in good hands whether I'm here or not. It's meant a lot to me, it always will, but it's time to fill that space in my heart with so many other things. Wasn't super sure if we'd get here given some of the dark days of the 50s and 60s, where even my mostly drama-avoidant self would hope for a big Boubabi fight to break out so that something would actually be posted somewhere - but we're healthier than ever, and even my beloved VHLM is getting some fans now (thank you E for taking all the animosity that was formerly directed at the M). Seriously there was a while where I genuinely think I cared more about the M than most of the things going on in my actual life, which wasn't perhaps the healthiest thing in the world. Feeling like the meme of old Splinter being carried along by the Turtles. You are all great, and honestly I'd consider at least like 20-30 of you actual friends now, if not more. Love this place, but no longer in love with this place, as the saying goes.

[Corco 1,266]

Claiming Week 3 of 3