Changing Perspectives

[diamond_ace 3,112]

It’s been a weird year. July 17 was the last time I updated more than 30 TPE in a month. I posted some big ones Dec 5, Jan 25, and May 30, but each of those were only big because they had plenty of time to accumulate. All in all, I’m not entirely inactive, but I’m not entirely active either. Some might say I’m a shadow of my former self – with the included reference to one of my players in another league – but on the whole, these type of players have been around the league for years and have been the key pieces in establishing depth for several playoff teams and even cup winners.

 

 

The sad part is that I didn’t used to think this way. For those of you who are new to the site, I used to be a GM. I ran Calgary for a longer period of time than any other GM in league history, in fact. I also bookended that with two runs as VHLM GM, the first with Ottawa and the second with Oslo, and won cups with both Calgary and Ottawa during my time in charge of each. As both a player and a GM, I always thought that the only truly valuable players were those like I was, players who would get 800 or more TPE in a career, players who went all out the vast majority of the time. For the first few seasons after my decline, I didn’t want to come back because I considered myself no longer valuable to a team. I knew I had missed time, and while Kerkko Hyvarinen had already earned a few seasons’ worth of high TPE, I didn’t want to become another Brooks/B Ran/Scotty/Jeff. I didn’t want to be the guy who pops in periodically and gets active for a few weeks, looking like a return, then goes back to inactive.

 

 

There are plenty of guys who have a lot of value to the league and their players tend to fall in the 300-600 range. As a GM, I would acquire these guys when they were cheap, and only when they were cheap. I’d end up backing into a few from guys who looked more active initially and fell off, but any GM will experience some of those during his tenure, regardless of GMing skill. It’s a hazard of the job. As a player only, and a moderately active one at that, I’ve found a new respect for those who only ever strive for supposed “mediocrity” as I might have called it in the past. They’re cheaper on the cap, while still providing a guy to talk to in the locker rooms and keep the active guys interested. A team can’t possibly be filled with nothing but 1000 TPE guys, the cap wouldn’t fit them unless some team spent several seasons acquiring nothing but picks and shipped them all off at the deadline for a full roster of guys at just over half price. Even that solution would require the team to trade off many of them going into the next season because their cap hit would end up at 55 million or so. No one wants to sell the farm for one season and then have to trade off half the guys they just got.

 

It’s the players like me now, the StevenStamkos or Munk type guys, even a Duddy or two, that really make a cup run. Sure, if you don’t have a Draper or a Victor, you don’t have a chance, but every contending team finds a way to land their franchise guy. Not every contending team finds a way to land the PK specialist, or the second-line center, or the passer to accompany that top goal scorer.

I’m still not fully at peace with my new role in the league. I’d still prefer to be more active. However, if I can trade some VHL activity for a girlfriend I’ve been with for nearly a year now and will likely become quite a bit more than that in time? For a job that’s finally out of retail and is also within a company that’s massive and actively tries to promote from within? For the opportunity to break into the world of ultramarathons with a long term view toward the legendary Western States? I may not have won every trade I had as a GM, but this is a trade I’ve absolutely won and would do again.

Edited June 8, 2016 by diamond_ace

[diamond_ace 3,112]

For doubles

[Dmoushey_31 106]

Nicely done

[Victor 10,971]

this shit's deep

[diamond_ace 3,112]

1 minute ago, Victor said:

this shit's deep

I have to make something deep like this, I don't really know enough about what's going on in the league at the moment to be able to write something about that without spending a bunch of time researching. A deep post is essentially just a stream of consciousness, turned into sentences and paragraphs. Takes half the time to write.

[Victor 10,971]

2 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

I have to make something deep like this, I don't really know enough about what's going on in the league at the moment to be able to write something about that without spending a bunch of time researching. A deep post is essentially just a stream of consciousness, turned into sentences and paragraphs. Takes half the time to write.

it's pretty damn accurate too.

 

Yeah we all know we need those cap friendly players but are those who know that actually capable of becoming those players? One of the reason I want second players - surely I can't write 2 PTs a week but can I bring myself to have a shitty player?

 

With one player, probably not. I'm still pretty sure the only reason I didn't leave when I was barely active in S45-S47 is because I thought that was a lot of TPE being wasted away. Certainly helped me understand why some people would rather leave than go on pension.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Just now, Victor said:

it's pretty damn accurate too.

 

Yeah we all know we need those cap friendly players but are those who know that actually capable of becoming those players? One of the reason I want second players - surely I can't write 2 PTs a week but can I bring myself to have a shitty player?

 

With one player, probably not. I'm still pretty sure the only reason I didn't leave when I was barely active in S45-S47 is because I thought that was a lot of TPE being wasted away. Certainly helped me understand why some people would rather leave than go on pension.

I never really thought about the weird early retirement stuff but I definitely thought about just not coming back, making a clean break of it. If I'm a mid-level guy, but I'm not around to see that I'm a mid-level guy, do I make a sound?

 

In an ideal world, I want to fully come back, and if I bothered to manage out my time in advance I could probably do it, but I know I'm never going to be that organized. If my options are fully come back and give up what I've gained, or keep things as they are, I think the choice is clear, as much as I've always been the guy who said I'd be here and fully active until I was 50. Couldn't even make it to 30 (turned 30 in October and I was definitely well into my decline by then). Ultimately I think I'll be able to wedge in a little more activity (my new job, while a much better opportunity than my last one, is also half the hours) but I think my cap is going to be about 600 now, and I'm going to have to be fine with that.

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Recruit the girlfriend, earn extra TPE.

[Da Trifecta 1,899]

At least you are trying

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Just now, flyersfan1493 said:

Recruit the girlfriend, earn extra TPE.

She likes hockey, she knows the VHL is a thing (I got that out of the way right at the beginning, didn't want to waste time with someone who thought this was too weird to abide), but for whatever reason she's never explicitly showed an interest in joining.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

3 minutes ago, flyersfan1493 said:

Recruit the girlfriend, earn extra TPE.

Besides, how do I guarantee people won't Janelle her?

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Just now, diamond_ace said:

Besides, how do I guarantee people won't Janelle her?

 

That must be a very old reference because I don't understand it. I've heard the name, but don't know the story.

[Victor 10,971]

3 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

Besides, how do I guarantee people won't Janelle her?

yeah that's old as fuck

 

plus that was a Slobo multi so who knows if it ever happened

[diamond_ace 3,112]

8 minutes ago, flyersfan1493 said:

 

That must be a very old reference because I don't understand it. I've heard the name, but don't know the story.

The story was that people harassed and innuendo'd her into leaving. Apparently she was actually Slobo, so maybe that didn't happen, but I don't know how much I trust this place to bring a woman into it that I highly care about

[Victor 10,971]

16 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

The story was that people harassed and innuendo'd her into leaving. Apparently she was actually Slobo, so maybe that didn't happen, but I don't know how much I trust this place to bring a woman into it that I highly care about

I mean that was 6 years ago. Since then we've had Jaime, Jamie, Cersei, enigmatic, Phil and probably others.

 

Not that I insist or anything, but that's a non-issue.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

i got the mention

 

but incase you didnt hear my new guys wont be the mid level guy your used too, hell he already has the most tpe i ever got with a player. even @Victor is surprised, he expected me to go inactive by now

Edited June 8, 2016 by StevenStamkos91

[eaglesfan036 4,603]

Glad to see you are still around and having fun with real life stuff @diamond_ace! The VHL is a hobby, and hobbies take the backseat to real life stuff when you are busy. Hopefully you are still having fun in the VHL with your limited time on here. Calgary misses you <3

[Higgins 3,618]

Last paragraph, I'm Happy for you 

 

You know the influence you've had on some members especially me, so you can't leave 

[sterling 2,000]

Nice to see you hang around these parts

[diamond_ace 3,112]

I hate to be this guy, I've always been one to let grade/review issues take its course, but my newer article got a review, and this one from the week before did not. It was hidden on the second page, so easy enough to miss

[FacePuncher 1,343]

Review:

That was a really deep article! Yeah role players are the most important part of a team, most of the cup winners it seems Have solid depth. That being said, I'm sure we would all love for you and others to be more active 

 

748 words  

[Baozi 1,658]

I've been making depth players since Kanou

[frescoelmo 1,276]

On 6/8/2016 at 5:06 PM, diamond_ace said:

I have to make something deep like this, I don't really know enough about what's going on in the league at the moment to be able to write something about that without spending a bunch of time researching. A deep post is essentially just a stream of consciousness, turned into sentences and paragraphs. Takes half the time to write.

 

I 2nd this