Claimed: Thoughts from the Cologne Office [1/2]

[Gudnason 607]

I am now about one season into my role as the general manager of the Cologne Express. While I can be somewhat considered a veteran of the league depending how you look at it, I had never managed a team before prior to being handed the Team World position in the S54 World Cup. Shortly afterwards, I was named the successor to Greg Harbinson as the new general manager of the Germany franchise. While this franchise has had its ups and downs, Cologne was at rock bottom when I took the reins with the cupboards almost fully bare. Contrary to what some people think, I never bragged about how good a GM I was/am.

 

Tanking

Yes, I have purposely tanked this past season and yes, I know that all non-playoff teams have an equal 25% chance at the first overall pick as the lottery is not weighted. However, I also know that regardless the result of the lottery, teams can only drop a maximum of one spot in the draft order. Therefore, by ensuring that I finished last in the regular season standings, I also ensured that I would have the highest chance, 75%, of securing the second overall pick; the other 25% chance of course being winning the first overall pick. If I had not purposely tanked, I would not have guaranteed the second overall pick, at worst. With this draft class looking shallower than I personally expected, the difference between second overall and fourth overall is quite significant, in my opinion.

 

Trades

I made three trades last offseason and I can only say that I did a good job on one of the three. This isn't baseball where a .333 is considered elite. One of the reasons why my returns were so poor was that I heavily misread the S55 and S56 draft classes. I thought they would be deep drafts both in terms of quantity and quality, but the players that were available for selection at the time of draft heavily disappointed me.

 

Entry Draft vs. Free Agency

After seeing how some teams operate, I came to the conclusion that while some teams heavily rely on the draft in the NHL, this is not a sustainable method of success in the VHL due to the ratios between career length, entry-level contract length, and the point of time in the career when depreciation starts. While trades are a good way to obtain talent, you need to give up talent or assets to do so, and Cologne isn't exactly blessed with that. The only way to acquire talent without sacrificing talent is through free agency. The prestige and reputation of a team's general manager plays a big role in the free agent market, and I'll have some work to do before free agents start considering Cologne.

 

Cyclical Nature

I never realized the extent of how cyclical the league can be until @CowboyinAmerica posted his series of articles on a team's window of contention. I have great respect for his media spots and insight, along with some other members' work, and it was at this point I truly realized how much I have to learn as a general manager. However, I am an ambitious GM with high hopes in the future for this Express team. I do know that I have a lot to learn along the way before success will come, especially knowing I wasn't handed a team that was anywhere close to in its best shape.

 

For Birkir Holm Gudnason

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

REVIEW:

 

Everything you posted basically boils down to the fact that Cologne was close to empty of future assets when you took over. Could you have made some different or better moves? Possibly, but in the end, Cologne would still be in a similar situation to where it is now, with just different current assets to move for the future. Unless the building blocks are already in place, there's no point in being a middling playoff tweener in the VHL. You have a tough road ahead of you, but it seems like you're willing to learn from any previous mistakes you made. Good luck moving forward.