New York Attempts History

[Devise 4,475]

It may be seen as a controversial move, it may not, but the New York Americans opted to trade away Misha Tobolsk and sign the leagues best goalie in @Beketov Jakab Holik. While acquiring the best goalie in the league should never be controversial, it is the fact that the Americans already have a goalie, one who turned in a rather solid if not MVP worthy playoff performance in their cup win in Season 52, combined with the salary cap situation that makes this decision one that will probably be met with some wondering eyes. 

 

Given the acquisition, the Americans now sit with $500,000 in cap space, and a single defender on the roster. With no more trade options in site, an Americans team still buoyed by a very strong forward core will now attempt to make VHL history, and it isn't just because they are going to be attempting to 3peat, something that only has been done once before. No the Americans will be trying to become the first ever team to win a Continental Cup with one defender. It is something that has never been done before, and I even doubt if it has ever even been attempted before. Most VHL teams will sacrifice the 6th forward spot if need be to ensure they at least have two defenders on the roster. 

 

Looking through the all time cup winners, even then, only three teams have ever won a Continental Cup with just two defenders. Season 35 Quebec had two defenders, the Valiq brothers Alex and Niklas anchor them to an eventual Cup win. The team was also stacked on offense, and oddly enough had my own former goalie Skylar Rift in net who went on to win Playoff MVP that season. The Toronto Legion also won with two defenders in Season 37, as Jack Sound and Villie Sixten anchored a similarly strong offensive core backed by eventual HoF netminder Remy LeBeau. And lastly the Season 51 Riga Reign were the last team to win with two defenders, had Jeff Hamilton and Titan Kronos on the back end. That Riga team also had a pretty strong offensive core, however were a little younger on the depth department up front, but much like the current Americans were backed by two goalies with Sandro Clegane and Ilya Kopralkov in net. 

 

GM Ryan Power was asked about what he thinks his teams chances are with one defender, especially considering it's never been done before and had the following to say.

 

Quote

How many teams have even tried with one defender? I think a lot of people under estimate just what our forward core represents. I will go out and take the flack, but I'm going to legitimately say that the VHL has never seen a forward group as strong as what we have put together the past few seasons. Most teams build a very strong high end first line, and compliment that with some good depth players, even a quality second line player. But the VHL was at a crossroads the past few seasons, and due to a dip in activity the total number of quality players briefly dipped. Sure it's rising now, and that is good for the parity of the league. But during that dip we put together the best group of forwards that we could, and I feel verey confident in saying one of the best groups of all time. On top of having a line that competes with other great lines of all time with Maxwell, Lincoln and Unassisted, we have two of the best second liners int he league in Shankly and Ravenwing. While we certainly had to get younger for cap and age reasons on the third forward spot, Motherfucker Sharpe will hardly be out of his element compared to the 6th forward on the other competing teams. So yeah I have confidence in this forward group, and they haven't let me down thus far. 

Ultimately it's why we made the decisions to go this direction. We barely escaped with a Cup last season and part of that was due to the great combined success of our offensive core and a surprising performance by a rookie goalie. No matter what we did with the defense this season this New York team is going to face more shots in Season 54 than we did in previous seasons. Getting us the goalie upgrade means more of those shots aren't going to matter, because Holik is a legit series stealer. And now we are presenting him with a proven, dynamic offensive run support I feel this gives us the better chance of becoming just the second team in league history to Three-Peat. It's easy to forget that Bobby Digital has been carrying the load from the defensive perspective for much of this run already. The depth pieces we've been plugging into the holes the past few seasons have always been much lower in TPE compared to even the defenders on teams we've faced save for Digital. Is there a chance this bold move makes us fall flat on our face? Certainly, but this entire run has succeeded because of our bold moves and how heavily we have invested into quality players and agencies. I'll be damned if I stop doing that now. I second guessed myself too much in Cologne and almost immediately regret that decision. This time I'm trusting my instincts through and through, and with two cups in a row behind us...we'll see how those instincts work this season. 

 

[Corco 1,176]

If I'm not mist4ken couldn't you sign an under 100 TPE defender for 500k?

 

 

edit: since there are none available, couldn't at the very worst you call up Nichollson and switch him to defense or is that not allowed?

Edited April 5, 2017 by Corco

[DollarAndADream 3,356]

3peat was made cool by the Legion.

[Kesler 1,514]

Not attempting, we're doing.