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Editorial Returns

I’m tired of writing VHLM articles at present and instead I’m going to go back to my old ways of complaining about the rest of you. I’ve got a really big problem right now and it comes in the way of a bunch of power hungry egomaniacs running the asylum. Well, that’s probably a bit of hyperbole, but I have noticed a sharp increase in the number of people calling for other people to be fired. The calls for firings have not only been on the boards, but also in the Board of Governor forum and the Admin forum. Let me state this again, since I haven’t stated it in some time:

 

The Victory Hockey League is for fun!

 

Moreover, the VHL is a volunteer run league. Are some people bad at their jobs? Perhaps, yes, but I’ve never seen a workplace fire an employee with such haste in some circumstances (as have been suggested). One case in point comes from Seattle Bears General Manager Bushito who seems to draw the ire of the mob every other week. Is he a great General Manager? I don’t know. He seems to have assembled a pretty decent team over in Seattle and as of last season, he had the support of his crew. The story of Bushito’s long tenured embattled reigns as a General Manager are not the key point of this piece, more a mere observation. The same can be said for Coach in Davos, or Diamond_Ace, formerly in Calgary. All of these guys are long-time members, all members with lots of things going on in real life. Have they or had they been doing the best job? No. Has the league suffered because of their inattention at times? I’d argue not greatly, no.

 

brian-burke-us-mens-hockey-gm-37bfbb9edc

 

What happened yesterday was the firing of a VHLM General Manager Da Trifecta in what appears to have been without warning. Essentially he wasn’t playing all of his actives or at least accommodating them with better ice-time in the spirit of winning. He was confronted, lashed out as he is prone to do in the form of personal attacks and was subsequently fired. Upon reviewing it, I don't like the way this all played out. The following line has come from me as I was the person stating it for many years and still do: The VHLM is a development league and not solely a win it all league. The VHL in general, however, is designed for all members to have fun. Should the guy have been a loudmouth jerk when confronted about it? No. Should he have been fired right away? No. I usually defaulted to the simmer (which was me) to fix issues in terms of ice-time first. During my tenure in control, I don’t recall firing anyone from their job.

 

It points to a larger overall trend that I’ve observed more recently whereas the leadership of say a Jardy or Knight was more laidback and fun compared to the newer more strict, rule-bound leadership we are currently seeing. I’m all about improving things, but when it becomes an autocratic state without a benevolent leader, things quickly start to disintegrate. There’s always a better way to problem solve than to just get rid of the problem. The league should be an encouraging and fostering place, not a place where General Managers are put under a tiny microscope and fired for not observing a strict code of conduct (as has been proposed). I always said that if you want it to be a development league, it also needs to be a place for potential General Managers to develop. Some maturation and development comes from working through difficult situations as opposed to just being fired for it. I for one am left with a bad taste in my mouth when I hear about how badly people are doing in a league that’s completely volunteer run and supposed to be for fun. Don’t lose sight of that ideal.

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When i was a commish in the VHLM i butted heads with DT almost weekly, but he's an older dude that will listen if you give him a decent reason why you are having those chats with him. He got on my nerves from time to time, but that's what happens with two mid twenty-year-olds that have opinions. I have nothing but respect for the guy, but i also know sometimes as a VHLM Commish, people breath down your neck and it's hard to make everyone happy. 

When i was a commish in the VHLM i butted heads with DT almost weekly, but he's an older dude that will listen if you give him a decent reason why you are having those chats with him. He got on my nerves from time to time, but that's what happens with two mid twenty-year-olds that have opinions. I have nothing but respect for the guy, but i also know sometimes as a VHLM Commish, people breath down your neck and it's hard to make everyone happy.

Sounds like being a leader anywhere for anything though. People can be dicks

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I was a dictator during my VHLM commish reign :) Heck probably worse than others since I didn't even leave it up to voting and I didn't have an assistant commish for a long time to balance things out, if I felt something need to be changed I did it.

 

Sometimes you need a leader with a clear vision and a willingess to act with little compromise in order to get things achieved.

 

Other times you just need guys to babysit the organization and just let things play out. The VHLM has needed both during its times and the trend will likely continue regardless. Sometimes change is needed and you need an uncompromising person in the front to make it happen.

 

My personal interactions with DTF is that hes a good guy, can be strong willed (like myself). But stuff happens and everyone makes mistakes. I don't think this reflects on DTF as a whole honestly and I'm fairly certain most people won't hold it against him in the long run anyways.

The DT firing didn't really have anything to do with him going off on me. I expected it to happen and some guy cursing at me over the internet doesn't really bother me that much. The reason it happened is because from our conversation and the fact that he didn't play two actives for the entire season so far in the sake of winning, I got the feeling that he was putting winning well above the most important part of being a VHLM GM. This was not the first time the talks about the actives was brought up, as I pmed him a few days ago and chatted him about it before this current conversation. 

 

As I've told DT myself, I hold nothing against him. I actually told him I think he could make for a good VHL GM in the future where his high emphasize on winning fits in much better. Of course, I do encourage all VHLM GMs to continue to have fun and try to win, but not at the expense of the fun of others. 

To set the record straight, you did say something and I specified what I was looking for. Fong came at me with the offer for the inactive and I figured it was better to get those guys a lot more ice time than I could offer. Fong's team was a lot better fit than Bratislava. I had the offer and it was being pieced together and about to be posted. The firing came minutes before and I had every intention on doing the lines if the deal didn't come up. Advantage was my line guy for apparently only the time he as traded and I was uninformed of that. Escabar was my line guy before that. I had assumed all actives were in it when Advantage done the lines, therefore I shouldn't have been at fault for that, but I guess I have to take the blame. Also yes I said more than I should have, but my short fuse kinda ignited at the time. It has been something that has been subdued until recently, but I did have every intention of putting them in the DC if it came down to not getting the deal done.

The DT firing didn't really have anything to do with him going off on me. I expected it to happen and some guy cursing at me over the internet doesn't really bother me that much. The reason it happened is because from our conversation and the fact that he didn't play two actives for the entire season so far in the sake of winning, I got the feeling that he was putting winning well above the most important part of being a VHLM GM. This was not the first time the talks about the actives was brought up, as I pmed him a few days ago and chatted him about it before this current conversation.

As I've told DT myself, I hold nothing against him. I actually told him I think he could make for a good VHL GM in the future where his high emphasize on winning fits in much better. Of course, I do encourage all VHLM GMs to continue to have fun and try to win, but not at the expense of the fun of others.

I'm confident you didn't read what I wrote

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