Claimed: Talking about VHL Parity

[Gudnason 607]

As I have started preparations for the upcoming offseason, I have come to the conclusion that free agency signings and contract extensions are the foundation of any successful team in the Victory Hockey League. Draft picks and trade acquisitions that don't re-sign for an extended period of time are only useful for a short time, and that isn't a long enough window for a VHL team if they want to consistently contend year in and year out.

 

After a player is drafted in the VHL Entry Draft, the drafting team owns their rights for a period of three years usually. A good portion of players will continue to play another year in the minor leagues after being drafted to accelerate their development due to more TPE opportunities. That means that young players will possibly only play two seasons for the team that drafted them before they hit free agency. While players in their third year of eligibility can be difference makers at the VHL level (case being the S54 draft class), the fact they can be free agents at the end of the season reinforce my point that long-term stability comes from free agency signings and contract extensions rather than draft picks. In the unlikely event the player is signed away as a restricted free agent, the original drafting team is nicely compensated with draft pick(s).

 

A draft pick is only worth its weight in gold after the initial three years, if the player is willing to resign for additional years. Compare this with plucking away other teams' players on the free agent market now that they have fulfilled their three years with their drafting team, and the long--term difference isn't that large, despite the above point where it was proven that players can make a difference while on their entry level contracts. This is exactly why I was willing to sell the kitchen sink to Seattle last offseason, after they won the draft lottery, as I knew Gabriel McAllister wanted to stick to one franchise for his eight-year career.

 

The point is further reinforced by free agent Xander Finn signing with Toronto Legion the past offseason. Jericho has been generally "inactive" for an extended period of time, but specifically came back just so he could Toronto as a free agent. Long term stability of a franchise is heavily influenced by the team's reputation and drawing power, which can be affected by the players that are already on the team. This is somewhat of a chicken and egg scenario, as existing powerhouses such as Helsinki Titans will always have a continuing stream of talent from which to attract younger players to replace the older outgoing veterans.

 

While it's understanding that free agents might not prefer rebuilding teams as there is no drawing power, it gets exponentially more difficult to attract talent when said teams do not even have enough drawing power to retain talent - their own draft picks at the conclusion of three years. In real life, many athletes in a variety of sports do sacrifice prestige and their reputation for money when they play on lesser teams, or in the case of soccer move across the world to play in "inferior" leagues. While many fans do frown upon this, it can't be said that it is a bad thing for league parity. Just look to Javier "Chicharito" Hernandez signing with West Ham United of the English Premier League this past transfer window, for example. The fact that the EPL has seen big names signing with teams not named Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal has done wonders recently, as we have witnessed Leicester City crowned champions in recent years, in addition to said powerhouses like Chelsea also flirting with relegation.

 

Maybe it's time the VHL had a closer look and made some changes. Perhaps a good start is making player salary more important by allowing TPE to be purchased in the player store at prices which would allow players to value high contract offers more, and in turn break up the stronghold that exists between the traditional powerhouses?

 

For Birkir Holm Gudnason

[Gudnason 607]

Addendum: The VHL is, in my opinion, increasingly looking like the VHLM where players get free will of where they sign, at least for their first season if they create mid-season. While by no means am I saying that players shouldn't have a choice of where to play, I think this needs to be given a serious look with the way things are trending lately - career extensions and free agents gravitating towards certain teams.

[Da Trifecta 1,902]

Yes, bring back the TPE for player store purchases again. #MakeThePlayerStoreGreatAgain

[Gudnason 607]

12 minutes ago, KGR said:

Yes, bring back the TPE for player store purchases again. #MakeThePlayerStoreGreatAgain

 

And it needs to be heavily back-loaded in my opinion. Something like $1 mil for 1 TPE, working its way up to $10 mil for 25 TPE. So people really have incentive to take on bigger contracts, and rookies who get $3 mil a year while in the VHLM after getting drafted (and not counting towards VHL cap) also get more TPE opportunities in their early years.

[Kendrick 4,741]

You make your team desirable and players will stay/sign there. Facts. You go around causing shit just for the sake of being an ass and they won't view your team as a solid choice. Also, if you sign/trade for individuals who purposely go out of their way to insult people, people will also not sign with you. Case in point: Cologne.

[CowboyinAmerica 2,911]

15 minutes ago, Kendrick said:

You make your team desirable and players will stay/sign there. Facts. You go around causing shit just for the sake of being an ass and they won't view your team as a solid choice. Also, if you sign/trade for individuals who purposely go out of their way to insult people, people will also not sign with you. Case in point: Cologne.

 

True, but this only goes a certain amount. The stupidity of people refusing to sign with Stockholm because of its history astounds me.

[Beaviss 4,958]

I like the idea of players in the VHLM making some money per draft example:

1st round 2mill 2nd round 1.5 anything later 1mill that way it makes the player store more useable and active. Inticing players to come to bad markets with big contracts is how it should be......

 

If you don't sign decent players to short but money contracts a team can never get out of a rebuild. As soon as a player is done there ELC and not getting any help he's gonna jump ship.

[Devise 4,475]

1 hour ago, CowboyinAmerica said:

 

True, but this only goes a certain amount. The stupidity of people refusing to sign with Stockholm because of its history astounds me.

 

Except that all changed when Boubabi took over and had several deep playoff runs with lots of members. Then Chris did the same thing again with the team....

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

34 minutes ago, Devise said:

 

Except that all changed when Boubabi took over and had several deep playoff runs with lots of members. Then Chris did the same thing again with the team....

just once sentence. its like you dont even care about us anymore. you cant even  give us one paragraph 

[CowboyinAmerica 2,911]

1 hour ago, Devise said:

 

Except that all changed when Boubabi took over and had several deep playoff runs with lots of members. Then Chris did the same thing again with the team....

 

Did it? Serious question, I don't remember any big free agents that the team got even during that time (though I wasn't around for a few seasons there so might be missing something)

[Gudnason 607]

1 hour ago, Beaviss said:

I like the idea of players in the VHLM making some money per draft example:

1st round 2mill 2nd round 1.5 anything later 1mill that way it makes the player store more useable and active. Inticing players to come to bad markets with big contracts is how it should be......

 

If you don't sign decent players to short but money contracts a team can never get out of a rebuild. As soon as a player is done there ELC and not getting any help he's gonna jump ship.

 

Exactly!

[Da Trifecta 1,902]

15 minutes ago, punkhippie said:

 

Exactly!

 

Therefore if TPE in the player store comes back, you may see FA's head to smaller market teams for bigger deals because they want that TPE. Then that smaller market turns big time then it's time to move on.

[BOOM 8,818]

I shall test this theory when my Davos clock runs out.

[Kendrick 4,741]

3 hours ago, CowboyinAmerica said:

 

True, but this only goes a certain amount. The stupidity of people refusing to sign with Stockholm because of its history astounds me.

I signed with Stockholm for the sole purpose of trying to break that funk, but sadly didn't do it.

[Gudnason 607]

47 minutes ago, KGR said:

 

Therefore if TPE in the player store comes back, you may see FA's head to smaller market teams for bigger deals because they want that TPE. Then that smaller market turns big time then it's time to move on.

 

Come again for the second part?

 

Smaller markets attracting FA's with money is exactly what I'm talking about.

[Advantage 2,899]

2 hours ago, CowboyinAmerica said:

 

Did it? Serious question, I don't remember any big free agents that the team got even during that time (though I wasn't around for a few seasons there so might be missing something)

Kohler, Muller, Klingberg and had a lot of guys who specifically asked me to trade for them or draft them (wasn't always able to make that happen obviously).

 

Might be the odd one refusing to go to Stockholm, but I had more people interested to play under me as a GM than those refusing cause fuck Vasty.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

46 minutes ago, ADV said:

Kohler, Muller, Klingberg and had a lot of guys who specifically asked me to trade for them or draft them (wasn't always able to make that happen obviously).

 

Might be the odd one refusing to go to Stockholm, but I had more people interested to play under me as a GM than those refusing cause fuck Vasty.

when you first came to me in Season 52 trying to win the cup for the 25 year cycle thing I was all on board and im my last season I still wanted to break that cup curse but sadly we couldnt do it. It was a fun time and I don't know why people hate on Vasteras/Madrid/Vasteras/Stockholm

[Advantage 2,899]

It just takes GMs with good reputations generally.  There are exceptions (Kendrick had some tough timed with COL) but generally thats what it takes

[jvd 50]

Yes please to TPE in the store There isn't much else there that's peaking my interest. Without TPE in store, I think I'll always just sign with my favourite team at league minimum.

[scoop 3,447]

20 hours ago, ADV said:

It just takes GMs with good reputations generally.  There are exceptions (Kendrick had some tough timed with COL) but generally thats what it takes

You say that like Kendrick has a good reputation

[Kendrick 4,741]

1 hour ago, Strtlght said:

You say that like Kendrick has a good reputation

Better than your biased ass.