Tanking or just bad GM'ing?

[jRuutu 2,486]

C - Med - 595 TPA
C - Tyrece the beast - 374 TPA
RW - Anthony Simmons II - 373 TPA
RW - Joseph Jec  - 363 TPA
LW -  Alexandre Crosby  - 356 TPA
D - Didier Verhault - 330 TPA
D - Hezeus Ohmontegue-Steinhardt X - 326 TPA
G - Olafur Gunnleifsson  - 291 TPA

 

Mediocre players are getting paid like they are elite players, players who could improve the team are left without a contract to make use of worse players - the bots, the lines, and tactics are created by whoever in the manager's office happens to be sober enough before the first sim of the season. Are these clear signs of a team trying to lose on purpose or are these the signs of a team having a poor general manager? Perhaps the signs are a mix of both? We can not be too harsh if a general manager has to captain a boat with multiple holes, it takes time to fix those holes, but not even trying to put something over those holes is something VHL as a league should not tolerate for too long. Listed at the start of this article are free agents that could be signed to improve your team.

 

The S97 VHL Regular Season is once again featuring teams that are performing extremely poorly.  When teams have under five wins from sixteen games you can not put that under the classic: "Some teams are always going to finish last" - line. These types of numbers tell a story of a league with too few players. These teams are afraid to do whatever it takes to improve even a little bit as winning even a few more games could mean drafting a couple positions later in the next draft. That might not sound like a big deal, but in the modern market, poor performances in the prior seasons can mean multiple top-level draftees are not interested in being drafted by the team.  The safe bet is to draft as early as possible, so you have as many players to choose from as possible. Or you can afford to hear multiple "no, I am not interested" - answers.

 

Should the league be worried? I think so. Wins and solid individual performances do not feel as special when they come against a terrible team.  The classic line is still true, someone always has to finish last, but there is a big difference between finishing last with a team that actually looks like a team over finishing last with a team that could be improved quite easily by signing free agents and calling up some younger players from the system.  If this type of VHL is the new normal, I think the product is less interesting than in the past. You can not get too excited for the regular season as the level of competition is just not there, which means it is better to just coast it and wait for the playoffs to start. In my opinion, the regular season games should mean something, every sim should be a battle or at the very least a challenge where you go against top-level players who could on a good night steal the game from you.