Returning home (back to Toronto I go)

[ROOKIE745 615]

Been a bit since I made a media spot huh? I figured it was about time and I want to get Kadachi as ready as possible for the upcoming season so gonna try to max earn for this week. Honestly wanted to write more stuff when I was with the New York Americans and especially when I joined Chicago but that writing itch never came and it was hard to find the time or force myself to do so. Now here I am going back to Toronto 21 seasons later after my first player, Jaxx Hextall, finished his career with the team. I thought it'd be nice to talk about some of the stuff I wanted to and what I hope for for the next two seasons. Back when I joined Chicago one thing I wanted to talk about was getting to play with Joshua Schwarzer, they had both briefly been on the same team back in S90, both playing for the Houston Bulls before he got traded and Kadachi shortly after. He went to the Wild and I went to the Hounds. It wouldn't be a huge talking point but it's always nice to play with an old teammate after a long while. Speaking of playing with old teammates though, while there was about a seven season stretch between Kadachi and Schwarzer playing together, there's a nine season difference between since Toby Kadachi and Raimo Tuominen played together. You have to go back to season 89 in the VHLM for the last time the two of them played together, both with the Houston Bulls. And now in Tuominen swan song season and Kadachi's penultimate season the two shall once again wear the same jerseys.

What's really fun is that we were both signed as free agents and neither of us new who the other was signing with, it was complete luck that we both signed with the same team, and it's more than just the fact our players haven't played together so long, Tuominen's user is SlapshotWrangler (Or as I still know him, SlapshotDragon, cooler name imo). We had a rivalry back in the S70's with our goalies, and then Jonathan Ori and Sigard Petrenko spent two seasons together as teammates in Seattle, our last two previous players. So ya me and SlapShotDragon go back quite a ways at this point. Here's to hoping we can win it all for the Legion and as a epic way to end out Tuominene's career!! Will also mention that Spanish Moon Moth is in Toronto now as well so that's a teammate that I'm joining back up with from out time together in Chicago. Looking at Toronto's roster overall is interesting, it is on the older side with two S90 players and four S91 players (myself included), so Doug is gonna have a fun time time navigating the roster for the next few seasons.

While I didn't have to many teams approach me in free agency, I can understand that with Kadachi being on the older side not to mention the fact he does put up a lot of penalty minutes might scare off a few GM's, I decided to go back to Toronto not just because it's the first VHL team I played for, but also because it would feel fitting since I will mostly likely be taking an even longer break from the league than I did before. Between Ori and Kadachi I took about two and a half seasons off and while I did feel energized for a bit for a few seasons it has worn off and it's definitely even more draining to do media spots or articles, I told myself I'd always do trivia and press conferences at least but I haven't even been good about doing those. Combine that with irl stuff going on and pretty much just become a clicker as I heard it get referred to before. Kadachi will get to 1300 TPE which I'm happy about not quite sure if he'll make it to 1400 since again I most likely won't be doing much for more TPE. I don't plan on retiring Kadachi early either, I did sign a two year contract with the Legion with a no trade clause as no matter what happens there, I want him to retire with the team.

Well to talk a bit more last season really was heartbreaking, the roster we had in Chicago was really good in my eyes and I thought for sure we'd make the playoffs and go on a run, we were off to a pretty hot start if I recall, but then it just feel apart and I don't know if it was just bad luck or what but despite having 89 points we missed the playoffs by two points in the western conference, it was pretty freaking stack with just how many teams were good, one of those where if we were in the European conference we would have gotten a chance to go on a run. Kadachi did have his best season career wise and put up the highest amount of hits in like some 30 odd seasons if I recall correctly? Him coming up shy of 40 goals really sucks for all I know that might have been his best chance to get there, we'll have to see how he does with the lower TPE this season. 75 points is a career high for him and I hope he can at least be 70+ points again this season. His 236 PIM is the second highest of his career, only nine minutes behind the 245 he had two seasons prior. His 443 hits is freaking crazy to see though, like I said I think you have to go back to the early S60's for the last time someone had more. Kadachi should finish his career as player with 1500+ penalty minutes and 2500+ hits. Also have to say it's frustrating to see Kadachi get nine game winning goals twice but just couldn't get that one extra to make it to 10.

(word count 1012)

[dstevensonjr 537]

Awesome article! I can tell you that it was definitely luck from the perspective of Kadachi and Tuominen ending up in the same place. Both of you were easy choices to target in free agency, but it wasn't intentional to reunite you. I'm happy that it works out well that way though! It's going to be a fun season coming up, here's hoping that we're celebrating a Cup in a few months!

 

Go Legion! 

[SlapshotLegion 869]

On 3/4/2025 at 7:11 AM, ROOKIE745 said:

Been a bit since I made a media spot huh? I figured it was about time and I want to get Kadachi as ready as possible for the upcoming season so gonna try to max earn for this week. Honestly wanted to write more stuff when I was with the New York Americans and especially when I joined Chicago but that writing itch never came and it was hard to find the time or force myself to do so. Now here I am going back to Toronto 21 seasons later after my first player, Jaxx Hextall, finished his career with the team. I thought it'd be nice to talk about some of the stuff I wanted to and what I hope for for the next two seasons. Back when I joined Chicago one thing I wanted to talk about was getting to play with Joshua Schwarzer, they had both briefly been on the same team back in S90, both playing for the Houston Bulls before he got traded and Kadachi shortly after. He went to the Wild and I went to the Hounds. It wouldn't be a huge talking point but it's always nice to play with an old teammate after a long while. Speaking of playing with old teammates though, while there was about a seven season stretch between Kadachi and Schwarzer playing together, there's a nine season difference between since Toby Kadachi and Raimo Tuominen played together. You have to go back to season 89 in the VHLM for the last time the two of them played together, both with the Houston Bulls. And now in Tuominen swan song season and Kadachi's penultimate season the two shall once again wear the same jerseys.

What's really fun is that we were both signed as free agents and neither of us new who the other was signing with, it was complete luck that we both signed with the same team, and it's more than just the fact our players haven't played together so long, Tuominen's user is SlapshotWrangler (Or as I still know him, SlapshotDragon, cooler name imo). We had a rivalry back in the S70's with our goalies, and then Jonathan Ori and Sigard Petrenko spent two seasons together as teammates in Seattle, our last two previous players. So ya me and SlapShotDragon go back quite a ways at this point. Here's to hoping we can win it all for the Legion and as a epic way to end out Tuominene's career!! Will also mention that Spanish Moon Moth is in Toronto now as well so that's a teammate that I'm joining back up with from out time together in Chicago. Looking at Toronto's roster overall is interesting, it is on the older side with two S90 players and four S91 players (myself included), so Doug is gonna have a fun time time navigating the roster for the next few seasons.

While I didn't have to many teams approach me in free agency, I can understand that with Kadachi being on the older side not to mention the fact he does put up a lot of penalty minutes might scare off a few GM's, I decided to go back to Toronto not just because it's the first VHL team I played for, but also because it would feel fitting since I will mostly likely be taking an even longer break from the league than I did before. Between Ori and Kadachi I took about two and a half seasons off and while I did feel energized for a bit for a few seasons it has worn off and it's definitely even more draining to do media spots or articles, I told myself I'd always do trivia and press conferences at least but I haven't even been good about doing those. Combine that with irl stuff going on and pretty much just become a clicker as I heard it get referred to before. Kadachi will get to 1300 TPE which I'm happy about not quite sure if he'll make it to 1400 since again I most likely won't be doing much for more TPE. I don't plan on retiring Kadachi early either, I did sign a two year contract with the Legion with a no trade clause as no matter what happens there, I want him to retire with the team.

Well to talk a bit more last season really was heartbreaking, the roster we had in Chicago was really good in my eyes and I thought for sure we'd make the playoffs and go on a run, we were off to a pretty hot start if I recall, but then it just feel apart and I don't know if it was just bad luck or what but despite having 89 points we missed the playoffs by two points in the western conference, it was pretty freaking stack with just how many teams were good, one of those where if we were in the European conference we would have gotten a chance to go on a run. Kadachi did have his best season career wise and put up the highest amount of hits in like some 30 odd seasons if I recall correctly? Him coming up shy of 40 goals really sucks for all I know that might have been his best chance to get there, we'll have to see how he does with the lower TPE this season. 75 points is a career high for him and I hope he can at least be 70+ points again this season. His 236 PIM is the second highest of his career, only nine minutes behind the 245 he had two seasons prior. His 443 hits is freaking crazy to see though, like I said I think you have to go back to the early S60's for the last time someone had more. Kadachi should finish his career as player with 1500+ penalty minutes and 2500+ hits. Also have to say it's frustrating to see Kadachi get nine game winning goals twice but just couldn't get that one extra to make it to 10.

(word count 1012)

We are a match made in VHL heaven. The Hextall/Lafontaine rivalry, the Petrenko and Ori connection, and now we get to dance as Kadachi and Tuominen again for the first time since the Bulls days. Excited to win more with you! (Also, I started changing my name to match the team after the "Dragons" became a team LOL but yes, SlapshotDragon is def my fav iteration of the name)