VHL Lore: History of Tanking

[badcolethetitan 921]

VHL Lore: History of Tanking

 

 

What is Tanking

 

Incase you don't know what tanking is in sports, it's basically the act of intentionally trying to lose to get a better draft pick at the end of the season. It's done in almost every sport, including hockey, even though Gary Bettman says that "no team actively tanks." It is also no surprise that in the VHL, teams actively throw away their season for better odds at landing a franchise player, as it's the fastest way to jumpstart a rebuild and get your team back on the right track.

 

History of Tanking the past five seasons

 

For this short media spot, we're gonna take a look at the past five seasons (including this season), so seasons 96 to 92. I will define tanking as actively trying to lose, so basically having around 20 wins or less I believe to be tanking. In theory, you could have around 25-30 wins and still be tanking, as you're just doing it less than other teams, but we're looking at bad cases of tanking. We'll be going team by team and if you're on the list, you are a victim of tanking, shame! We'll go in alphabetical order, if you aren't on this list, congratulations, you haven't tanked in the past five seasons!

 

D.C. Dragons

 

S94: 21-43-8 [-86]

S95: 16-49-7 [-129]

S96: 9-38-3 [-103]

 

Description: First on this list, we have the D.C. Dragons. D.C. was a fairly solid team in S93-S94, but with an core that was inching closer to retirement, it was no surprise the rebuild was started. However, D.C. has been actively attempting to lose for three seasons in a row, and they've probably got another season of it before they can attempt to reap the rewards. It seems a little odd, as they actually are going backwards, where usually you would start with a record like in S96, and then start going up in wins. They just seem to somehow get worse, but with a new GM that could end up changing the fate of the team. They've got some young pieces on their team including a massive prospect pool where if only half pan out, they've basically got a full team. It will be interesting to see if D.C. can steer the ship around, but they've got to start doing it soon as they're wasting years away from their players at the moment.

 

HC Davos Dynamo

 

S92: 20-46-6 [-121]

S93: 13-55-4 [-180]

 

Description: After the era with Jake Thunder and Co., the team needed a rebuild and it's no surprise that they had tanking on their mind. However, Davos seemed to get out of their tanking ways fairly fast, as they only really spent two seasons attempting to lose. The fast turnaround is what everyone wants to see and a sign of a fairly good GM, but an even better GM would never be in this situation. Regardless, they're probably pretty happy as the team now is doing very well and it was a successful tank job by Alex.

 

Helsinki Titans

 

S94: 23-45-4 [-81]

S95: 23-40-9 [-81]

S96: 11-36-3 [-96]

 

Description: Helsinki was in a desperate need for a rebuild, after their old core just couldn't really make the cut. Lots of players eventually wanted out and the team was basically thrown into a rebuild, whether they liked it or not. This is going to be their third season in the rebuild, and honestly, they're probably going to have two more seasons of it. However, with a new GM like DC, they've got a chance to turn it around and potentially build themselves a very solid team in a couple of seasons. They have an insane amount of prospects and like DC, if half of them pan out, they'll be looking pretty damn good. However, they've really got to start getting things going or it won't be worth it and they'll be stuck in a never ending cycle.

 

London United

 

S95: 20-45-7 [-96]

S96: 2-44-3 [-149]

 

Description: London after their cups desperately needed a rebuild and with their new GM, it's no surprise they did so. However, this season might be one of the worst seasons of all time for London. I mean, this team genuinely might not even get five wins and if you want to tank, this is 100% how you would tank. I mean, for the players it's probably not fun at all, but if you want a high draft pick it must be done. I think they'll have one more season of tanking as well before they even start to sniff for the playoffs, but in EU, you have four teams genuinely tanking that who knows.

 

Los Angeles Stars

 

S93: 5-63-4 [-202]

S94: 20-48-4 [-119]

S95: 22-44-6 [-76]

 

Description: LA found success in the past, but it was time to rebuild when they were hitting S93. Unfortunately, they've lost a fair amount of players due to random retirements and such, so they got set back further than they would've wanted in all honesty. Also, some people might say they're "tanking" this season, but I genuinely think they're at least trying to win this season. They are further ahead than most teams in the rebuild and they could be good starting next season potentially fighting for a wildcard spot. They just need a couple more players to round out their roster and I think they'll be ready to roll. This should be the last season they have a losing record for a while.

 

Prague Phantoms

 

S94: 4-63-5 [-198]

S95: 11-55-6 [-168]

S96: 11-36-3 [-96]

 

Description: This is probably the best tank job I have seen on this list. Not only are they bad, but they are always terrible when they're tanking and towards at the bottom, it's pretty impressive. However, eventually you need to start winning and honestly, Prague has got some time before they do so. They do need to start putting up some decent results soon and with most of EU tanking, they could start sneaking into a playoff spot with a losing record to be honest, wouldn't be surprised. Regardless, they need to actually start being somewhat decent soon or they're also just wasting away players seasons.

 

Seattle Bears

 

S92: 14-52-6 [-112]

 

Description: There really isn't much to say about Seattle, as they always seem to be towards the top. Despite that, they had one bad season, but immediately turned it around and were at the top of the conference the next season, talk about a quick rebuild! In all seriousness, the best GMs are ones that avoid rebuilds and it seems Seattle was able to do so and make themselves one of the best teams in NA immediately.

 

Warsaw Predators

 

S96: 20-27-3 [-31]

 

Description: Warsaw has actually been pretty solid the past five seasons making playoffs, but they've decided it's time to rebuild. However, they're in an interesting spot, as they actually don't have their first round pick this season, it belongs to London. As a result, the team has immediately attempted to win as many games as possible to make the pick as bad as possible, so I probably bet they'll make the playoffs at this rate to try their best to not give London a top pick. Regardless though, there's only so much they can do and I wouldn't be surprised if they will have another year of tanking after this.

 

Conclusion

 

Every team tanks without a doubt, but we just looked at the past five seasons. There's for sure teams that are probably on the hot seat, or had GMs swapped and basically left with nothing (a classic). As for the teams that didn't make this list, congratulations, you weren't terrible in the past five seasons. You either have very good GMing to the point you never need to rebuild, or you've been good the past five seasons!