Tracking the TPE of "GM Rule" Players - North America [Final 6/6]

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As a few of you will have seen, I have recently been using my VHL.com article spots to rank players by TPE based on what draft pick they were selected with. The ultimate aim of this is for us to end up with a comprehensive all-time TPE list, but for that happen we need to look into how players have done who weren’t selected in the draft. While there are probably some decent undrafted players that have played in the VHL, I am talking about GM recreates that forgo the draft to be automatically allocated to their own team’s roster. While it’s not necessary for a GM to make a terrific player himself to achieve success, it can certainly give his team a boost and, when their career winds down, a valuable trade asset. So, without further ado, let’s analyse these players:

 

Note: Bold indicates players who are still active. An asterisk is used to indicate that a draft pick was forfeited to bring them in through the GM Rule.

 

CALGARY

 

 

If you’ll allow me to use an NFL comparison for the Calgary Wranglers, they remind me a lot of the Pittsburgh Steelers as both teams will keep around their non-playing personnel for the long haul rather than chop-and-change at the first signs of trouble. With only six GMs in 45 seasons, the Calgary Wranglers have had the least number of GMs out of all of the inaugural teams and are also the only inaugural team to have more GM recreate players than GMs. It’s quite a group of players as well, with 3 Hall of Famers and two players over 900 TPE along with the highly promising Tim TebowGow at nearly 400 TPE in just his second season. The only real disappointment on the list would be Pavel Kurakov, a player who came from the same agency as Hall of Famer Scott Boulet, who went inactive about six months into his career before subsequently retiring another year later.

 

NEW YORK

 

 

It’s easy to see the correlation between New York Americans success on the ice and their GM’s success with their players. Starting off with then league simmer Brett Noiles as their inaugural GM player (who went inactive after about two seasons and retired another season later) and followed by Robin Banks (who was represented by Robbie Zimmers), it was only when they reached their third GM rule player Brandon Azevedo in Season 11 that they started to make the playoffs with any sort of regularity. Lars Berger was the fourth player to make the team via the GM rule but, like CAL G with Calgary, left the team before making a professional appearance. Benjamin Glover was the Americans highest earning GM recreate and that showed in the Americans results, with the Americans making the playoffs in each of the eleven seasons following Glover’s entrance, with the streak also lasting through fellow goalie Skyler Rift’s tenure with the Americans. The Americans elected to continue with appointing goalies through the GM rule, with Brick Wahl being the team’s third consecutive goalie brought in through the rule and subsequently became the team’s most winningest GM rule player with two continental cups. Chris Miller, the GM representing Brick Wahl, also became the first New York GM to hire two players through the GM rule when he brought defenseman Benjamin Dupont onto the team in Season 44.

 

QUEBEC CITY

 

 

The Meute may be in their 15^th season as a VHL franchise, but they’ve managed to avoid the same earlier mistakes that some of the inaugural VHL franchises suffered in their earlier years and have only had three general managers to date. With inaugural general manager Pavel Koradek bringing in Alexander Valiq (a player who was drafted the season before the Meute’s induction) as his franchise player, the team didn’t have to bring in their first player with the GM rule until Season 39 when Frank Chadwick brought in Aksel Thomassen. Thomassen has been a highly successful player for the Meute, as he has earned over 1000 TPE and led the league in points in both Season 41 and Season 42. Thomassen was moved to the Reign this season to help the Meute through their rebuilding process, but that also opens the door for current GM Clinton Chevy to bring in his own player through the GM rule once his current client Bruno Wolf retires at the end of the season.

 

SEATTLE

 

 

Seattle are one of the few franchises that have never had to suffer with being stuck with a bad player being brought in by the GM Rule, somewhat surprising given the multiple-season saga that surrounded their GM from the end of Season 39 to the start of Season 43. While they haven’t had bad players brought in via the GM rule though, they don’t quite have the history that some of the other VHL franchises have had in bringing in elite talent, as Joey Kendrick is the sole Hall of Famer from the eight players brought in via the GM Rule (Kendrick is also the highest TPE earning inaugural GM). Although there have been several Hall of Fame ballot votes in the past for the Bears’ highest TPE earning GM rule player Felix Peters, he actually ranks as the lowest TPE player out of all of those brought in via the GM Rule who lead their team in TPE.

 

TORONTO

 

 

With a VHL record sixteen different GM stints, you would perhaps assume that Toronto would have been one of the main beneficiaries of the GM rule. As it turns out though, they have had just as many players brought in through the rule as the Wranglers, the inaugural team with the least amount of GM stints. Although Aidan Alexander didn’t last long in the role of GM, he did manage to record the second most TPE of all the GMs. Michael Joseph is one of four players from player agent Mike Szatkowski to join a team through the GM rule although, unfortunately for Toronto, Joseph was easily the least successful of the four. The big standout here is Ed Grr, a Season 40 player who failed to put up more than 250 TPE in an era where TPE is much easier to come by than in the league’s early goings. Considering his initial plan was to introduce VHLM goalie Lenny Face as their next player brought in through the GM rule, it’s probably for the best that he stepped down as GM. Then again, it’s not like his plan would have turned out any worse than Sachimo Zoidberg’s… 

 

Special Thanks to Victor for his help with finding the older GM Rule players

[Toast 887]

Content 3/3 - Another nice topic to write about. I really like any media that people put research into. Fantastic write up and I love all of the charts for the data.

 

Grammar 2/2 - Good stuff.

 

Appearance 1/1 - Looks great!

 

Final 6/6

 

[diamond_ace 3,112]

 

CALGARY

 

 It’s quite a group of players as well, with 3 Hall of Famers and two players over 900 TPE

 

 

Sad part for me is that there's no overlap between the HOFers and the 900 TPEers (as the former GM who owned both of the 900 TPEers).

[Kendrick 4,741]

Thats what I'm talking about!

[Kesler 1,514]

who says I am recreating.

[boubabi 4,725]

dun dun dunnnnnnnnnnnnn

Edited September 20, 2015 by boubabi