VHL Editorial

[STZ 5,376]

VHL Offside Editorial
WRITTEN BY MR. POWER
 
This article series has been used to finish off the magazine with a personal opinion piece by a well-respected member of the VHL community. Not Sterling is currently has this assignment, and provides an original opinion piece that has been a favorite for VHL Magazine readers.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Molholt

[sterling 2,000]

161:

 

Time For Fantasy Tournament

 

We are thirty-four seasons into the VHL! Wow! 34 seasons in and every two seasons we have this thing called the World Cup. Now I may be out of touch with reality (almost certainly), but what I do believe is that the World Cup concept is boring as shit. Does anyone even pay attention to this anymore? Like seriously? Yes, it is a good thing for new members to get their foot in the door with a general managing job, but it is boring for people like myself who have been around forever. I know my team lost in the bronze medal game last season, but I honestly don't remember actually caring about the result.

 

Now the idea has been floated out in the Board of Governors that we should scrap the World Cup's frequency and add a new idea. That new idea would be to include a fantasy tournament every third season. The World Cup would take place every third season and every other season would be nothing, like it should be, dang-nabbit! I say this idea out loud because I think it would add a lot of excitement and a new element to the league. Here's how it would work:

 

Eight people apply as fantasy General Managers. They get to name their team as desired and from there they would select a team of 12 players, any position they want to select, having to have at least one goalie on their roster. The eight teams would then play a shortened season of 25 games and all teams would make the playoffs at the end of the tournament. There would then be 3 game playoff series and a normal playoff round robin. Now I know what you're thinking. This sounds like a fun idea, but what is in this stupid crap for me?

 

Well here's my idea. There would be a prediction thread for all members to post in where they would be tasked with guessing the exact order of the overall standings after the 25 game tournament (not including the playoff results). Members would get 1 TPE for every correctly guessed team they chose. Well what the hell is in it for the General Managers then? Well nothing! No, I'm kidding of course. Every General Manager would receive 2 TPE for for their participation and the winner would receive an extra 5 TPE, the second place team 3 TPE and third and fourth place teams 1 TPE each. That seems fair to me.

 

What else would we get out of it? Something new and fun for the community. The problem with the World Cup is that it has been well played out. The fantasy draft would allow a lot of us to see how our players would play with other players we may never get a chance to play with. It is new, exciting and something that would be a tonne of fun for everyone involved. With a potential payout for everyone, this would be a popular and interactive tournament. After-all, it's just a thought though.

[sterling 2,000]

162

 

Taking a Licking, We Keep on Ticking

 

The VHL has been around for a long time and hell, so have I! This will be the first time I have had a chance to talk about the DDOS attack that knocked our site out for close to a week and this is something that I have been looking forward to. Now that the site is back to working and functioning normally, I can take some time to debrief just what the hell happened. How were we attacked or more like why were we attacked? Who was the culprit? I don't really know for certain and more than likely we will never know.

 

Lots of people wanted to blame the SHL or Eldred for the shutdown of our SMF forum, but I doubt that is the case. I don't think we have that bad of a relationship with the SHL, after all we have a lot of their members here and many of our members are over there. In my opinion, they have borrowed a lot of things from our league, but that's okay. It's not like we have a right to any of the ideas of the sim league world. We borrowed a lot of our ideas from previous leagues and this was just the one that came together and became a success. I don't really know much about the SHL now, but I don't recall having any bad blood between the two leagues within recent memory. As for Eldred, perhaps he could have done it, but like Kendrick said earlier, I doubt he had the intelligence to actually pull this off. In terms of assessing blame, who cares? We'll likely never know and it isn't really important in the end.

 

What matters now is that we have found a way to survive like we always do. We're like a fine cockroach or something, you can't kill us. Now thankfully I have an opportunity to step further away from running the hosting. To be honest, our previous site was very costly and I wasn't pleased with the customer service and frequent hosting problems. I was never a big fan of the SMF board or the cost and uncertainty that came when Nick Barr left. I don't know anything about hosting a site, although I have managed to adapt and learn a bit, I still can't do much. Now this site will cost us less and give us a secure and stable place to live for many years to come.

 

I transferred our domain over to GoDaddy and paid for five years of service. We will use that domain to host our games and perhaps develop a small website like we had with the portal. I of course don't want to handle this shit anymore. My time has come. I have done enough for the league and I feel comfortable moving on and letting other people make this thing work. I feel comfortable trying new things. Perhaps I will try my hand at General Managing a team again. I don't know, but I want to see other people carry the torch and make this league even stronger.

[sterling 2,000]

163:

 

More Things to Yell About

 

There was a recent conversation in the Board of Governors (hey, I thought that shit was supposed to be transparent now?) about Hall of Fame voting for this upcoming season that got be riled up yet again. There is a very certain problem in this year's ballot and that is too many damn good players. There are three easy first ballot Hall of Famers this year. David Smalling and his butt buddy Phil Rafter who played the majority of their gay careers together are surefire inductees and would be first balloters in most any season. There is also Alexander Chershenko, the once upon a time TPE leader (be it very brief – haha!), who had quite an impressive career and is most certainly a first ballot player as well. So there are three quality, quality players, what do we do, what do we do?

 

Victor or Alfie, as he is properly known around here, made the decree that we would suddenly be inducting three players into the Hall of Fame this season just because he didn't want to get anybody butthurt. Avoid the fact that neither of the Knight brothers would be butthurt if they didn't get in, but let's just take some moments to let this suggestion sink in. He suggested that we change the rules to the hallowed Hall just to make sure three deserving players get in. Everyone else thought, hey that's cool, they deserve it! That is until I got on the case to bitch and whine.

 

Now my problem with changing the rules for one class is that it just isn't fair to the other players in the Hall of Fame who had to wait to get in. If we put three players in this year it ruins consistency for down years when we don't have enough players to put in. In my opinion, we've been scraping the bottom of the deserving player barrel in recent seasons because we didn't have enough good players to put in. If anything, this damn thing should be harder to get into than easier. What kind of just reward for a solid career is this if we change the rules on a whim to make people happy? If you have a deserving player, you will get in. Period. If you don't, you won't get in and you have to try harder.

 

Now it makes me feel somewhat bad for a guy like Kyle who had that player with the incredibly annoying name (two I's and a J, but pronounced Snyder) who will have to wait to get into the Hall. In my opinion, he has the only player left out of the group that will have to wait who should actually get in. That was a fine player who didn't have much luck with individual awards and obviously got screwed when it comes to playoff success, but his numbers and TPE were excellent. He was consistently good, which is a damn hard thing to do in this league over eight seasons. Will my player have to wait? I don't know and I don't care, but I'm fine with it and I am fine with it because I want to keep it as an actual accomplishment for good players.

[sterling 2,000]

164:

 

League Moving Slowly

 

Is it just me or is the VHL moving along at a snail's pace in recent weeks. Lots of peaople seem to be blaming the new website for everyone's lack of motivation to do anything, but I think that is a poor excuse at best. We didn't really lose much other than comfort in the move and really, we will become comfortable again. What I am noticing is a lack of passion from our valuable leaders. I don't know where Higgins has been lately, but I have to presume he's dead. Maybe he burned himself out in the move since he put so much damn work in. I don't know, but I do know things are going poorly if the magazine is trying to spark the fuse.

 

The simming has been fairly inconsistent, but I prefer to see it done earlier in the day. With so many folks being in the Eastern time zone, the games being posted late at night leaves a likely bitter taste in their mouth. Jardy has been mostly dead as of late too with his drinking and schooling taking place. Now of course that brings up another key point in that school started just before the shutdown of our old site and usually the start of a school year reduces activity. Of course moving sites and making the process take a fair amount of time due to a loss of information is equally crippling, especially when they happen at the same time.

 

Am I worried? Perhaps a little, but we'll pull through. We always pull through, but what we need right now is good leadership. I would like to see Alfie and Higgins pump a little air into the league. If things are going stale, we need to make some improvements or at the very least, some changes to increase interest. What can we do? We need to reignite the recruitment crew and get them working on bringing in new members. We also need to get things up and running again like they were. The VHLM Mag, the writing graders, the updaters, the back-up simmer, etc need to be firmed out and functioning. All jobs need to be filled and the important ones need to be filled with energy in my opinion.

 

I'm not at the state to give much energy now, but for fuck's sake I'll do it again if I have to. I will not see this league wither away due to inactivity. Let's get some care and activity going again. There are barely any league discussion or off-topic conversations going on. The chat is fucked up, we don't have a new, unique skin yet. The list goes on. What we need is someone to league the charge in getting things sparked again and I am going to go to the Board of Governors now and bitch until someone decides to do something new. I know they posted something in there a few days ago, but that has gotten little interest, big surprise. Time to go in obnoxiously like I usually do. Wish me luck.

[sterling 2,000]

165

 

This is the End

 

Well my friends, it's been a long, fun journey on the VHL Mag, but my time has come and gone. There are people who can infuse a little more piss and vinegar into this piece. I've been doing it for a long time, I don't even know how long. I think I joined the magazine back around edition 77, but I can't remember now and when that is the case, it's time to let go and try something new. I've done most of the jobs in the league now, but there is something else I'm sure I can do now. I've mentioned a few times that I've never missed a point task on this site in the 6+ years I've been here and because of that, I'm tired of writing. I'm tired of writing this piece every week.

 

It's a lot of fun to give your opinion week in and week out, but it takes a lot to come up with something new every week for you. I've done it so many times now, my schtick has grown old. Now most people simply see me as that arrogant twat that tells them what to do (if they bother to read this, which they don't). On the forums I also get combative with people because I'm an asshole that tells people how it is. There's a new generation here in the league though that haven't really been through everything. They have new ideas, which is great. I think we need more people with fresh ideas around this place.

 

I took over this opinion piece from Robbie Zimmers who did a terrible job. Often times people couldn't even read what he wrote and often times his many rants made little to no sense. There was no one editing his grammar or spelling and it just looked like shit. I'm certainly not as interesting as Robbie because I try to make sense with what I write and I try not to insult people. I do respect the precedent he set with this article though. A lot of people tuned into the magazine to see what his sloppy piece was about, what new low he had sunk to that week. It was funny, it was interesting and it was controversial. He pissed people off and didn't care.

 

A few good conversations have started from some of my articles and even a few changes have been implemented to the league based on what I've written (or ranted about). That is the job of this piece. To question what's going on in the league and how we can improve. This league has made a lot of changes, and positive ones at that, over the years, but we can't stop. We need to recruit more people. Things are too complacent around here right now. We need some fire back into the league Hopefully the person who takes over will be able to provide that. I'll be reading.

 

At this time it would be appropriate to thank all of the folks who have read my articles over the past few years and enjoyed them. I hope I was able to at least make you crack a smile. I've never taken this league seriously, I just keep going because other people get enjoyment out of it. I've never meant to hurt anyone's real life feelings with anything I've ever said. Now that this is over, I can go back to my peaceful existence of non-influence. Sometimes the bleachers are the best place to be. Good luck magazine, you'll be great just like you've always been and thanks for so many years of amazing work and the opportunity to say stupid shit.

[Victor 10,992]

167: A Tribute to Sterling

It seems rather strange to not be writing an overly lengthy Media Spot, thinking about its presentation, and worst of all, finding at least 2-3 images to go with it. Alas, the (right) decision has been made and I, your beloved commissioner, have moved on to writing this unimportant editorial at the end of the VHL magazine. I don't know how long I'll last nor do I know how good I will be, but one thing's for certain, I've got big shoes to fill and it's a true shame Sterling has abandoned this position. If anyone was good at calling out stupid decisions and praising good ones from a sort of commissioner position with a tone which you could just imagine being narrated by a grumpy 70-year-old, it was that old man. So, with this passing of the torch, what better time is there for me to look back on my lengthy history with one of the VHL's most influential members.

Sterling's VHL path started about ten seasons before mine but they crossed fairly quickly as he would be the leader of my first team, the New York Americans, while also being the assistant GM (back when that was still a thing). In those days, before Sterling had become a simmer or a commissioner, he was just constantly a Top Leader, which happens to be why that award is named after his player at the time. He was an excellent team mate to have for an immature noob such as myself and was key to New York becoming relevant, if only until I got to try my hand at GMing. That's not to say Sterling is now a worse team mate (I've been on his teams thrice since, including as recently as S33), but as a new member, everything is more rose-coloured and wonderful. Plus, 25 extra VHL seasons must have taken a toll, at least they have for me.

Sterling is that guy who never was GM (except for like a week) but has been essential to other GMs' success. He's got sim knowledge, a great locker room presence, and damn good players (four Hall of Famers out of four plus the TPE record he sadly reclaimed from me, probably for a long time now. And two awards named after him. And lots more.). Since the New York heydays, I've been Sterling's rival more often than his teammate, especially with our last players, and trust me, it's not who you want to be. I pride myself on coming close enough to his recent achievements, but when you add on what he did before I became remotely relevant plus his clutch performances when the previous site had spazz attacks, it really isn't close.

There's an ego but that's definitely not something I should judge. Unfortunately, newer members probably will never experience the Sterling of old and though the Sterling of new is still a fine fellow, I'm glad I was able to “meet” such a great sim league individual such a long time ago. There are so many things that I wanted to say that I don't feel I've done him justice and maybe words are just not the best way to describe Sterling. In any case, we might sometimes disagree, but I hope there's mutual respect and without doubt Sterling, never leave, and more importantly, never change.

[Victor 10,992]

168: MVP Rant

We're halfway through the first round of the S35 playoffs as of writing and likely will be at most a day or two from the finals as of posting, so what better time is there to discuss awards? Sterling traditionally voiced his opinion on awards at this time of the season and there is probably no other issue which VHL members debate with such ferocity, especially one award: the Scotty Campbell Trophy awarded to the regular season's most valuable player. This season, like all others, the MVP will be hardest to choose and so without doubt, 500 odd words can be dedicated to it, revealing nothing in the process but hopefully ruffling at least some feathers.

Traditionally, anyone who isn't on a playoff team is written off the ballot regardless of their success, but this is a non-issue in Season 35 anyway since no player on a non-playoff team did anything noteworthy. Out of the playoff teams, if any one player stood out as their team's leader, they're usually runaway winners but that didn't happen this season either. The issue is exacerbated by the fact that all statistical gods are on the same team. Indeed, it's unclear how the Calgary Wranglers are so prolific in stat-padding. They have now produced three straight top scorers and four in the past five seasons, with Volodymyr Rybak, Jarvis Baldwin, Alexander Chershenko, and now Michal Wozniak all getting a piece of the cake. The first three did indeed win the much-coveted award in the end, but arguably never in the same circumstances as Wozniak. Never before did Calgary have the top four league scorers, the top defenceman, and possibly top goalie (more on that in a moment) on the same team at the same time. Admittedly, Wozniak's numbers (and superiority to runner-up Rybak's) are also unprecedented in this era (they were genuinely Scotty Campbell-esque) but given his lacklustre numbers during his Riga days (despite this season he still won't make it to the Hall of Fame), you really have to dig deeper to explain this offensive explosion.

However, “ain't nobody got time for that”, so let's move on to Labatte. He has recently made a case for himself in a Media Spot for the Aidan Shaw Trophy, but the arguments can be transferred to the Campbell. The key point Sterling makes is that Calgary has no depth and terrible defence. Fair enough, but this isn't the first time the Wranglers have pulled that trick off. Last season, an average Satan had comparable stats to Labatte this season playing behind less developed forwards and a Clark Marcellin that wasn't quite as awesome as the one this season. He even faced more shots but delivered a similar record. Furthermore, while the Wranglers did indeed face more shots than other contenders, the difference was less than 90 shots (roughly one more shot faced per game) with everyone but Helsinki (Tukio faced about 3 less shots per game).

Essentially, I don't think I will be voting for Calgary as MVP choice. Writing them off has taken up too much of this article so I won't focus on the other candidates but my current favourites are Kameron Taylor (most clear-cut leader of the top five teams) and everyone's pre-season favourite Remy LeBeau, who would have won last season if he made the playoffs and this season actually got more offensive help and had worse stats which really didn't help his case. Nonetheless, I may feel bad for not voting Wozniak after I (and pretty much everyone) voted Chershenko last season so who knows. However, I do believe Calgary's success this season was much more of an outstanding team effort than anyone's individual contribution.

[Victor 10,992]

169: Calgary staring into abyss

The Calgary Wranglers put up a valiant effort yet again this season, taking a Game 7 over Toronto and losing on to Quebec. This was their fifth straight playoff exit without a cup, failing to add to their Season 30 triumph in this era, coming closest last season with Alexander Chershenko (a fact I might just be a bit proud of). There is one major difference in Season 35 though and that is that the team will not rise from the ashes again next season. After defying the odds for at least two off-seasons, this is the end of the road as the salary cap, retirements, and free agent departures have torn apart arguably the VHL's greatest franchise. Now, Calgary's future is bleak, more so than any recent rebuild I can think of.

How did it come to this? Some reasons were listed above and additionally, remaining in contention, though respectable and entertaining for me as I was part of it, meant selling what remained of the farm and that would have been an issue even had the Wranglers won it all. They haven't though and while the past five seasons would be best explained in a 1,000+ word Media Spot, I don't write those any more so let's focus on the now. The now is rather tragic, as rentals Michal Wozniak, Alexander Labatte and career Wranglers Clark Marcellin and Volodymyr Rybak have played their last VHL games, while the only other actives on the Season 35 rosters, Chico Salmon and Felix Zamora, seem likely to leave the team in free agency. With only one draft pick in the next two drafts, Seattle's Season 37 first, Calgary is currently looking at icing a roster of Simon Tremblay, Lars Lessio, and rookie goaltender Martin Brookside with no prospects or tradeable pieces. I respect GM Jason Glasser, he is one of the best GMs in league history and has done my favourite VHL franchise proud for many years, but he is facing an uphill battle if there ever was one.

It pains me to see this and to say it but I don't foresee the Wranglers returning to contention for a very long time. If Jason stays as GM, which he probably will, I believe Brookside will be fortunate to experience playoff action for the last three seasons of his presumably eight-season career. Last time around, things might have looked miserable with Fernando Garcia Jr. being the team's starter for three seasons, but Jason took over a team with the minimum of draft picks and an excellent trade asset in CAL G. Now, there are no trade assets (an active Tremblay is still not worth enough to restock the prospect pool) and less than the minimum of draft picks. Usually, rebuilding teams have one or the other and I genuinely can't think of an example of a situation so dire as this. I wish Jason and his team the best of luck in the forthcoming rebuild but people should get used to see Calgary at the bottom of the VHL standings, possibly for at least as long as they've been on top.

[Victor 10,992]

170: Where's the Drama At?

The Quebec City Meute have just won their first Continental Cup, which is of course a great success for the league and expansion and all that. However, for the past two seasons the Meute have embodied the evil of the VHL. They built through free agency (Yuri Grigorenko and Skylar Rift) and selling the farm (Wesley Kellinger and Miles Larsson). They had the three Valiqs and employed an actual playoff rally (led by the doge itself). The Meute should have been HATED on. Instead, everyone came to accept the event, feebly congratulate the (let it not be forgotten) deserving team and move on to focus on the painfully slow later rounds of the inaugural Super Cup draft.

Looking at the Meute's ascent and triumph from an entertainment value perspective, it was an absolute letdown. Where's the hate? Where's the drama? It is of course a sign of our progress as a league and the maturity the VHL has come to showcase, especially in comparison to some other sim leagues, but it's disappointing to not have anyone to humiliate for being involved in a stupid argument. When in the VHL Mag forum I requested for someone to stir some shit up so I had something to write about, Jericho faithfully went along to the Thunderdome for an umpteenth instalment of Kesler vs world. Despite the mild amusement from Kesler's still childish reaction to Jericho's obvious provocations, the thread reached a grand total of three pages, largely due to the increasingly repetitive nature of Jericho's attacks and Kesler's comebacks. That joke has run its course and despite the perfect opportunity to replace it with some good old hate on Quebec, the league completely missed the boat. As a result, my article last week was a depressing piece on the state of the Calgary Wranglers, more analytical than opinionated.

The closest thing in recent weeks to come to a genuine argument was that ridiculous debate in Kendrick's Media Spot about something. If you didn't read it, don't, for I'm sure no one apart from the contributors read any of the roughly 6,000 words posted in massive paragraphs on the thread's first page. I'm sure there were some good points raised in there somewhere, but I couldn't be bothered to read them and judging by public reaction, neither could the rest of the VHL. Of course, it's a good thing that the league has reached a stage where problems can be resolved in such professional manner, but for nostalgic old members like me, it's a shame that the days of shitstorms have gone away. Had this Quebec team existed some ten seasons back, the drama levels in the league would be through the roof, as they were when S23ish Davos was the equivalent of the Meute.

I should perhaps conclude this piece with offering a solution for this situation. That is simple: keep recruiting and keep retaining new members. Like we once were genuinely excited by what went on in the sim and the transactions forums, so will first-gen players of the future. They are the ones that will create new rivalries, cause new arguments, establish new VHL memes and emoticons and whatnot, and just make the whole daily experience of visiting the VHL more enjoyable. Until then, we'll have to enjoy what we have, which, by the way, is still better than any other sim league.

[Advantage 2,897]

*Given permission to write the Editorial for this week.

 

171 - New Faces in New York

 

When the New York Americans ended their eleven consecutive year run as a playoff team, most figured that it would take at least a few seasons for the team to regain an identity.  However, just one year later and New York is quickly looking like a team on the rise with a lot of talent in key positions. While I am certainly not implying that they will make the post-season next year, the Americans are quickly moving their way up and are chasing Seattle, who is the third best team in the North American Conference.

 

The rebuild started with the announcement that Brick Wahl would be the new franchise goaltender.  Wahl has been called one of the brightest young goaltenders in North America and comparisons have been made to Aidan Shaw, a former Legion net-minding star.  New York knows that they have a committed young star player in-between the goal posts for the next eight seasons, and there is nothing more important than that.  In addition, the Americans also selected their future number one defender, Conner Low.  This man was selected sixth overall in the Season 35 draft, but has quickly shined as one of the brightest players from that draft.  After a season in the VHLM as the league's best defender, Low will now be moving onto New York where he looks to make a gigantic impact on Broadway.  With Wahl and Low going forward on the defensive end, the Americans clearly are going to be a safe bet as a team that will be tough to score on.

 

After a very rough season last year which saw New York lose over forty consecutive games, the Americans found themselves in a situation where they had the third, sixth and tenth overall selections.  With those picks they would select Xin Xie Xiao, Andrey Zadorov and David Januzaj.  XXX is certainly the biggest selection out of the three as he is going to be ready this upcoming season and will receive first line minutes for New York.  Most tend to think he will never be an elite player but will be a very good talent for most of his career.  Zadorov is potentially going to be Conner Low's future partner as he projects to be a very solid VHL defender.  Andrey Zadorov is more known for his offensive game that saw him record over a point per game last season as a member of the Brampton Blades.  Finally, David Januzaj is a player that is being considered a project.  There was a lot of promise for Januzaj just a year ago, but he fell down the draft ranks after a key injury took a significant chunk out of his season.  There is a very really chance though that Januzaj will join Zadorov and Low one day on the New York Americans defense group.  

 

The New York Americans are still not likely a playoff team, but they have one of the brightest futures in the league.  With the likes of Brick Wahl, XXX, Conner Low and Andrey Zadorov already in the system, and two high first round picks next season, New York is poised to be a contender in the future.  Even with the recent acquisitions of Simon Tremblay and Kenji Toriyama, New York should be a lot better this season and might be able to compete with teams like Seattle, Vasteras and Davos.  Just a season after their post-season streak was broken, New York might be on their way to starting another one.

[Victor 10,992]

172: Off-season Special (S36 Predictions)

Another exciting off-season has come and gone, leaving us all to ponder on what it is that will happen in Season 36. The regular season has commenced but no answers will be learned in the first few games. There are some supposedly simple predictions which sets up the stage for major upsets, while others are too close to call. I shall now take the time to go over what we could expect to see at next off-season awards ceremony in my opinion.

Back-to-back Continental Cup champions are rare, but the Quebec City Meute seem overwhelming favourites to achieve this feat for the fifth time in the VHL's history. The Meute must be aware of the fate that awaited some other recent favourites for the repeat, such as the S31 Calgary Wranglers or S33 New York Americans, but they do appear to be in better shape than the rest. Past back-to-back winners had the luxury of keeping a similar roster (Quebec's lone change was replacing the retired Miles Larsson with free agent Felix Zamora) while their rivals regressed or stagnated and that is the case this season. The Calgary Wranglers exploded and the Toronto Legion replaced Smooth Jive with Chico Salmon, but if they couldn't defeat Quebec last season, why would this change now? The Helsinki Titans were arguably the Meute's biggest threat last season but losing Odin Tordahl, Brody Hodgson, and Ryan Sullivan without replacing them is not going to help matters.

Toronto could surprise, as some have predicted, but I'll give Quebec the edge for now. This leaves us with the question of the European champion. Did Helsinki's regression allow the better-rounded Cologne Express or HC Davos Dynamo an opportunity to make the finals? I'd have to say yes as Cologne might have lost Davey Jones to trade, but remain strong in every position. An all-expansion final is a very real possibility in S36, with the Dynamo too much of a dark horse to predict.

I may have discounted Helsinki's title credentials after 3-4 years at or near the top, but it seems they'll compensate by finally getting some individual success. Ethan Osborne and Anatoli Zhumbayev are two of the top forwards in the league and they now have space to create whatever they want offensively, without needing to share. It is for this reason I see them as the likely top scorers this season, ahead of other top duos like Kellinger-Grigorenko, Taylor-Dunlop, or Brovalenko-Tordahl. Second lines have the tendency to take the focus off the first and the Titans for once aren't blessed with a second line. Additionally, their defence is in the worst state in seasons which means lots of shots faced by Tuomas Tukio. It's time for the Helsinki-born netminder to win an Aidan Shaw Trophy and we all know a high save percentage goes a long way to secure that.

Nonetheless, I feel Zhumbayev, Osborne, and Tukio will be so spectacular, not one of them will stand out as their team's or the league's MVP. A similar “problem” could occur in Cologne, Davos, or Quebec, which is why I again predict Remy LeBeau for the Scotty Campbell Trophy. Tukio may win the Shaw but he won't be far ahead of LeBeau or Rift statistically, while I don't see the forward core, all below 600 TPE, producing a clear-cut leader who would overshadow “LeGod”'s dominance in goal. After missing the playoffs during a great season in S34 and being halted by Michal Wozniak on steroids in S35, Remy's time surely has come.

I picked some winners at the snap of my fingers, but others were a struggle. Notably, there is a gaping hole where the favourites for the Scott Boulet and Sterling Labatte Trophies used to reside, with Miles Larsson, David Smalling, Volodymyr Rybak, Ryan Sullivan, and Clark Marcellin all recently retiring. For the Boulet, the best bet is to go for the forward with the most checking and the most TPE. The options ultimately came down to Doug Clifford, Teemu Lehtinen, and Odin Tordahl for Boulet, and I went for the homer pick (though Odin also has the most TPE). I was surprised to see Kameron Taylor such a popular pick. He'll provide the offensive side no doubt, but don't expect him to be at the top in hits. For Labatte, Niklas Valiq was the third player on the ballot last season and is a logical choice now. A lot of defencemen are close in TPE now and the Valiq brothers are ridiculously similar in terms of build, but if the sim likes Niklas more, there's nothing Alexander can do. If Karsten Olsen, James Lefevre, or Malcom Spud put up a good mix of points and hits, they'll be in it but Valiq has the benefit of being one of two defenders on the Meute.

I could go on but this is too long even for an off-season special. To be fair, the rest of the awards are either too obvious or too random to really talk about. Parity is at an all-time high as every team not named Calgary should be competitive, so anything could happen. Anyone want to predict how many wins/points the Wranglers will get this season? 3 and 10 are the records from Season 11, Riga and New York did well to challenge it last season but at least they had themselves to beat up.

[Victor 10,992]

173: Why a separate VHLM sim absolutely makes sense?

There was (technically still is) an ongoing public discussion about the VHLM and how effective it is in actual player development. The answer is 'could be better' and through an ongoing thread of some useful posts and some not so much, three changes were agreed on and two have been implemented already.

This is all, however, minor in the grand scheme of things. Since then-VHLM Commissioner Terence Fong almost single-handedly separated the VHLM from the VHL back in Season 20, there hasn't be a particularly drastic change to how it functions. Of course, part of the reason is that Fong's change has made it a whole lot better and who knows where we would have been, if at all in existence, had we persisted with the tremendously flawed affiliate system. Yet through now almost 20 seasons of a new VHLM, we have completely missed the ball on one key element: the VHLM needs one more key change to be truly independent. The change was alluded to in that long League Discussion thread about the VHLM: a separate sim. There are simply too many obvious positives with having the VHLM simmed separately from the VHL and I will not hesitate to list them all below right now.

One reason is Jardy. For a constant drunk, he has way too much on the plate already in terms of simming, considering he generally comes online solely to do that. Let's be honest here, the man barely knows what happens in the VHL these days and yet we expect him to also provide immediate updates on the VHLM side of things, which even members with much more time on their hands, like myself, know little about. As a result of being limited in his VHL time, Jardy is also prone to missing days of sims and not updating players in the sim much at all during the season. As league veterans, we can deal with this, but new members and players need to see those games and need that TPE to retain their interest in the league.

The VHLM commissioners are not too far behind here. Their consistency in posting games ranges from mediocre to horrific, even when the VHL is being simmed on a daily basis. New members who don't fully understand the index will (and have, repeatedly) think the VHLM sims have been forgotten about and the already low activity in game threads isn't helped. There's no interest in replying to eight threads involving your team at once, especially when there's no one else to reply as well. If, or in fact when we go ahead with a separate VHLM simmer, games will be posted immediately upon being simmed and one VHLM commissioner will likely be removed as redundant, though it's not like having two has proven to be at all efficient.

The fault behind the issues with the current set-up doesn't rest solely with individuals. The sim itself creates a few headaches for the VHLM when it is simmed alongside the VHL. Firstly, the first few games are a complete mess in terms of lines and rosters (partially because of Jardy but also largely because of the pointlessness of sending in lines which are overridden by VHL GMs). In a league where sim production is important for end-of-season TPE rewards, losing the first several sims to errors beyond our fixing is inexcusable. On a grander scale of things, if we go ahead with VHLM contraction, maybe not this off-season but in the future, it will be much more easier to achieve it with a separate VHLM sim, since currently we can't contract/expand one league and not the other.

If it hasn't yet been made obvious, I am fully on board with having a separate simmer for the VHLM. This will more than likely come into effect in the coming off-season, with possible other personnel and league changes.

[Victor 10,992]

174: More VHLM Talk

There has been no discussion this week as significant as the one about the VHLM last week which has left me without a good topic to cover in this area. As I'm leaving for the weekend I have no time to wait for something interesting to come up so I will proceed to ramble about several areas and give you a sneak peek on BOG discussions, all wrapped up in my all-important opinion of course.

The VHLM remains a focal point of VHL discussion and that is good. The minor changes implemented last week to the waiver system and added incentive for minor-league GMs have been paying off, with new members being picked up quickly on waivers and the activity around VHLM games increasing. However, these are just that, minor changes, and with recruitment on the rise, we must do everything we can to consolidate member retention. There are some on the BOG, including my predecessor on this editorial, who prefer to wait and see what happens but I'm of the opinion that drastic changes are required to progress the VHLM. After all, it is broken, and should be fixed.

Now is a bit of a honeymoon period after the changes. The VHLM Commissioners have been yelled at, becoming proactive, and this coincided with Higgins taking over simming while Jardy is on leave. Jardy's simming and updating habits are now being put under questions and while I would never have the heart to fire the guy (i.e. the only way he resigns is if he wants to), being an honest and generally reliable (and not pissy) simmer, some adjustments may be necessary. Among suggestions are an alternating simmer system, more simmers, and of course, my topic from last week: a separate VHLM sim.

There has been a high amount of other suggestions, unrelated to simming. Getting rid of VHLM free agency is a likely and viable option, with other measures to stop inactive domination of the minors also on the table. Lowering the TPE cap is one, which should help out new members perform in the VHLM but also throw low-TPE rookies into the VHL fire. Contraction is another option (with obvious disadvantages, as there are with a separate sim), as is evening out the playing field through limiting roster sizes and/or setting minimums. Lots of ideas, lots of debating, and much uncertainty over what will and won't be implemented but one thing is for certain: some things will change. The VHLM has long been overlooked in the VHL and while that may not change, there is no point standing pat at a time of great opportunities to evolve as a community.

As it turns out, this supposedly random piece turned out to be another one focused on the minors. That is hardly a negative though, as the VHLM needs and deserves to be in the spotlight and receive attention from those who've moved on to bigger and better things. If you have an opinion left unspoken, now is the time to give it light for a quiet off-season with no small tournaments is the time for key changes.

[Victor 10,992]

175: Devising Drama

An exciting and unpredictable season has brought about what is looking like an interesting run-up to probably next Monday's (February 3rd) trade deadline. This past week has seen a flurry of various transactions and different types of activity and one man has been at the centre of a few events: Devise22.

I don't particularly want to dedicate an article to Devise immediately after his piss-poor treatment of the Keiji Toriyama to Vasteras trade but you can't ignore the fact that the 3-paragraph man knows how to get VHL drama going, even if often involuntarily. Before he engulfed in the distasteful argument over the short- and long-term strategy of Corco and the Vasteras Iron Eagles, an even more intriguing event transpired: Skylar Rift retired. It came out of the blue for many members and though I knew that Rift would likely not play out his maximum possible career, I still felt Devise would give him more time given that Rift's career looks from the outside to be about as fun as it is physically possible for a goalie. Instead, Rift will retire having appeared in just five VHL seasons and most surprisingly of all for me, he opted to retire long enough before the trade deadline to not be eligible to be in the S38 draft and give his new player more time to develop.

Up until Rift's retirement, the trade market had gone a bit stale. I don't think we should credit the subsequent trades involving Vasteras, New York, Cologne, and Seattle to the retirement but it has definitely opened up a wide range of opportunities. The off-season is now quite a bit of an unknown and that should bode for some good activity, in a trade sense and a forum sense. Will Quebec sell? Will Quebec buy from Helsinki or Cologne or both? Will they have to overpay? Who else will opt to sell or buy now that there might actually be buyers? Lots of questions and few answers which is always good for league activity.

There was a very brief discussion in the Board of Governors recently about the vast majority of actives now playing out full eight seasons as opposed to six which was the norm up to around Season 20. Devise has gone against the flow with Rift and that's a positive, since when things follow the same blueprint (not that I'm against full eight-season careers), a bit of change always raises eyebrows and creates discussion. In five seasons, Rift played for three teams, the change from Calgary to Quebec being the most infamous and again different, and never shied away from speaking his mind when most went on with their business. So credit where credit is due to Devise even though he can come across as a bit of a dick, especially to those who don't really know him, more often than not.

[Victor 10,992]

176: Cologne: The Model Franchise?

Apart from being expansion franchises, there are few similarities between the Quebec City Meute and Cologne Express. One started off its existence as a tanking team, the other tried to compete in every game. One signed three major free agents, the other none. And the Meute won a cup in their first five seasons of existence (only Vasteras, Calgary, and Seattle did so of the original eight), while the Express are looking less and less likely to do so with this core. However, it would be unfair to consider Quebec superior to Cologne simply because of more on-ice success. In actual fact, the Express may be the better franchise of the two.

Building a team from the pieces the expansion teams had was never going to be easy. It wasn't impossible obviously but it would require some good fortune. The Meute got quite a bit of that when the managed to land all the Valiq brothers and then sign both Yuri Grigorenko and Skylar Rift in the same off-season. That also set up the Wesley Kellinger trade and just like that, Quebec displaced New York and Calgary from the top of the North American standings. This is not meant to undermine the Meute's accomplishments as a lot of teams are built in just a few good and/or lucky transactions, but if the pieces had fallen differently, Quebec would probably now be either mired in mediocrity or lingering at the bottom of league standings. Nothing was as easy for Cologne yet at their peak they pushed the Helsinki Titans to six games in the European Conference finals.

This season the Express have pulled the plug on their attempts at cup contention. They could still make the playoffs but it's an end of an era and by all accounts of Joey Kendrick's GM tenure. A quick rebuild is required (and it should be quick based on the selling trades so far) and it will likely be led by David Collier aka RomanesEuntDomus who may go by the GM name Alexander Schneider. Despite some turbulence at the start of the season following the Davey Jones trade, the future looks bright in Cologne and if Collier follows in Kendrick's footsteps (and he appears a good student based on our trade negotiations), he will use the Express' past to his advantage too.

Cologne wasn't built up using high picks or big trades and free agent signings. Apart from Kameron Taylor, their highest selection was fourth overall (Evgeni Chekhov and Jones) and often times they didn't have first-round picks at all. Yet through later draft picks (third and even fourth round in some cases), shrewd trade pick-ups, and under-the-radar free agents, Kendrick assembled a cast including Gregory Glass, Cody Inko, Zach Cuff, Marcus Figgarowta-Nahimal, Lauris Prikulis, and even Collier himself. Some of these are inactive now but others are integral parts of the VHL and likely wouldn't have been if they didn't spend time on the Express. A top example is expansion draft pick Abraham Sander, then inactive and now top rookie favourite Conner Low. Ironically enough, despite not having the success of Quebec, Cologne has always been the more active team and locker room and without a doubt promoted activity across the VHL.

Like their fellow European expansion team in the VHLM, the Bratislava Watchmen, the Cologne Express have made a name on member retention, reclamation projects, and uncovered gems. Unlike the VHLM, sim success matters in the VHL, but the Express have never been terrible either. There is a strong foundation and philosophy and with them, the big wins will come sooner rather than later. Then, Cologne may truly be the model VHL franchise.

[Victor 10,992]

178: It's Simple, We Kill the Vasteras

A fun season on many accounts ended with several playoff races at the VHL and VHLM levels. For some, like the rebuilding New York Americans, losing out wasn't particularly tragic and in fact a bit appealing. For the Vasteras Iron Eagles, however, this could be the final nail in the coffin.

A fine, though strange and possibly cursed, franchise under Pensfan/Lucas Tannahill, Vasteras has been easily the worst team in the league since their return from Madrid in Season 21. In the sixteen seasons since, the Iron Eagles have made the playoffs three times, admittedly winning the Continental Cup in Season 26 (granted, every franchise but Cologne has won at least one cup in those sixteen seasons). While under Tyler Owens and Scotty Campbell (S21-S26), there was a sense of direction, even if they were not a very likeable tandem, whereas since that cup win, the less said the better.

There are few immediate solutions to the much-maligned Vasteras debacle as of this off-season, and a forced GM change at this moment in time is not especially viable. However, in the long-term, moving the franchise altogether (preferably to Stockholm to keep a Swedish VHL team) seems to me to be the best course of action. People can argue about liking a “villain” team, whatever that means, but I think a hated team should be hated for a reason at a given time, not just because they're Vasteras. In the current VHL, that doesn't seem possible. There is little history of note, clearly it wasn't a problem when the move to Madrid took place, while the track record since is beyond awful.

It is no guarantee that a relocation will change a team's fortunes but a fresh start can't hurt. The HC Davos Dynamo and the Riga Reign are two franchises which have benefited from a clean slate and no one really remembers how terrible they were before moving to their current locations. The New York Americans are also not an original VHL franchise and it took some time until they could reap the benefits of moving from Hamilton, but in the long run, it's paid off.

I can't say if or when a move takes place, but a clear break-through is the anticipated move of VHLM's Vasteras (because it somehow makes sense to have two teams in the worst VHL location) to Russia. There is a hope that someone soon will remove Vasteras from the VHL and if the previous move (to Madrid) wasn't so terribly thought through, we wouldn't have this problem to deal with. If no one does, I might have to do it myself but Vasteras has run its course in my opinion, the joke has long been beaten to a pulp, and it's time to move on. Hopefully, before the league's 40th season or 7th birthday.

[Victor 10,992]

179: Homegrown Legion

 

A few magazine editions back I used this space to praise the Cologne Express for their team build in six seasons of existence. However, while the Express' focus on drafting in all draft rounds and reclamation projects is commendable, the Toronto Legion epitomise the idea of a homegrown team.

 

It's been interesting watching the Legion rebuild after their disappointing season out of the playoffs in Season 30. After Alexander Labatte and Connor Evans left through free agency and top defencemen Nic Riopel and Elijah Incognito were sent off to Riga for an excellent return, GM Sandro Desaulniers took a cautious approach to building a new team, more successful in the long-term. It was obvious he could succeed with a great draft track record which got off to a great start with Remy LeBeau, Nikita Lebedev, and Teemu Lehtinen. From Seasons 32 to 34, the Legion continued to add pieces to their rebuild and as a result, the whole team has been Toronto-bred (including GM re-create Jakub Kjellberg) with the exception of two key acquisitions this season; Chico Salmon and Reggie Dunlop.

 

It hasn't been easy and it must have stung when the Quebec City Meute leap-frogged the Legion thanks to picking up Skylar Rift, Yuri Grigorenko, and Wesley Kellinger in one off-season. The Legion's own venture into the trade market wasn't very successful with the infamous Smooth Jive trade being the only buying deal of note and as a result, Toronto were overlooked by many going into this season. The VHL really shouldn't have discarded arguably the most complete roster in the league (just look at the amount of 500 TPE players) and now on the back of a Victory Cup they are the Continental Cup favourites and definitely the team I, as Davos GM, least wanted to face.

 

It's easy to get behind a homegrown team and they will be the neutral favourite this season and probably beyond. The length of the rebuild compared to others, such as Davos and New York, has a lot to do with Remy LeBeau (and to think, he could and really should have been drafted by Vasteras) and his being the oldest player on the roster most of the time. Starting a rebuild with a goalie is less risky but it does put pressure to ice a team worthy of that goalie. The Legion have taken their time to evolve and this playoffs have come across two teams (Quebec and Davos) with completely different approaches to building a contender. Toronto is a living example of the importance and effectiveness of the draft and proof that different paths can lead to the same result.

 

I understandably won't be cheering for the Legion in the Season 36 Continental Cup finals, but should they prevail, it will be a deserved victory. All champions in VHL history have been worthy winners but it just feels that at this moment Toronto needs this more than any other team in the league. We shall see how this feel-good and homegrown story will end.

[Victor 10,992]

180: The Theory of the Lesser Goaltender

As Lennox Moher outplayed Remy LeBeau in the deciding seventh game of the Season 36 Continental Cup finals (and in fact, in all of the three straight wins to seal the victory), the theory of the “lesser” goaltender floated to the top again. Indeed, a sophomore netminder with less than 500 TPE defeated one of the greatest in VHL history, in terms of both TPE and regular season performances. At the very least, LeBeau's lack of a championship to date is a travesty, but unfortunately, Remy's not the first goaltender to be treated unfairly by the sim engine and likely won't be the last.

One needs only to look at the four goaltenders currently ahead of LeBeau's 1,055 TPE. Aidan Shaw, the man whose regular season success earned him the renaming of the top goalie trophy, actually was often underwhelming in the playoffs or at least second-best to Daisuke Kanou, winning just one cup in seven playoff appearances. At that time, it was supposed that it was a requirement to have an elite goalie to be successful, but perhaps non-playoff teams missed the playoffs because they were generally bad, as well as having goaltending struggles. Tuomas Tukio too has just a single cup to his name so far, but could realistically have had at least three. His playoff underachievements have been well documented and even in S36, having played better than usual, he was outdone by an inferior Moher. The less said about Benjamin Glover's playoff track record, the better, while Alexander Labatte is the all-time TPE leader and another regular season great with a grand total of one Continental Cup, in his sophomore season against superior opposition to boot.

It was in Labatte's era that the theory of an elite goaltender being a luxury rather than a necessity came to the forefront, with Riga's GM Mike Szatkowski clearly showing its viability when he traded Labatte following a loss to rookie Skylar Rift and won a cup against Labatte with inactive Jehovah. Labatte was also defeated the following season by Calgary's Satan, but after he lost to Tukio and then the top playoff performers of Season 35 were Labatte, Rift, and Tukio, it was assumed that the fluke was over. It really wasn't though.

It can't even be considered a fluke any more. I will openly state that I built Davos based on Mike's theory, trading away future picks for players to ensure that I would get the most out of Moher's cheaper entry-level seasons. Offense wins championships is a VHL mantra but while in the age of Shaw and Kanou it was assumed to be linked closely with a strong goaltender, it would appear by now that it really is all about the forwards. Could that be a major turn-off from newly-created goaltenders? Maybe, or maybe members will try to prove the theory wrong and put even more work into the position. One thing's for certain, the Dynamo will definitely be a live experiment of the influence of goaltenders. Stage one is coming to a close as Moher reaches elite level and what then? I will hold out hope for a legendary dynasty but realistically, I feel Davos can be undone by a Brick Wahl or Mike Szatkowski Jr., or even a Blaine Olynick and Kimmo Salo.

The theory of the lesser goaltender looks to have added an extra dynamic to the VHL and an additional balancing act for the GMs. The effects are unknown but right now one view is clearly in the lead: don't rely on 1,000 TPE goalies stealing a playoff series for you.

[Higgins 3,618]

181: The Power of the First Gens

 

The power of first generation members and their players is off the charts in recent seasons. Recruitment throughout league history can be labeled as spotty at best, but recently we have hit a significant upswing. When one first generation player joins the league it may seem intimidating, there are a lot of boards and sub boards as well as recreates who are starting with upwards of seventy-five carryover TPE. If at any given point there are two, three or even more new players being created it is far less intimidating I think because you have someone to compare to yourself and it might be less intimidating to ask a question that you think might be perceived as dumb (it won’t be, we all know how confusing a sim league can be for the first time).

 

Just looking at the most recent VHL Entry Draft there were a lot of new faces and first gen players. Most of these guys have integrated themselves into all kinds of forum discussions, which is great and it might have something to do with them being more comfortable due to all the other new guys who joined around the same time who are now posting with them. Personally when I joined the league I posted my point task, in my VHLM game threads and in my team locker room. I lurked the rest of the boards for a long time before I felt comfortable posting for some reason. So it is great to see these new members take such initiative so quickly and I encourage all new members to get involved in any discussion that interests them, it makes the league way more fun!

 

As I said at the beginning of this article, the power of first generation members and their players has come a long way. First gen players are picking up tons of awards in the VHLM and VHL now and are making players on par with or better than those people that started with the intimidating carryover TPE. Look at STZ and Green as first gens that are getting close to the end of their first players, they both weren’t at the top of their draft class TPE, but are far away two of the best players, and users, in the VHL. Then we have guys like AwfulHomesick and RandomHero who are poised to be some of the next big first gen players.

 

It’s not all about how a player performs or TPE count though and first gens are being given equal opportunity when it comes to job openings, especially for VHLM GM. I think this is a perfect match because they can easily remember what it was like when they first joined the league and can now guide and help the newer members to follow their successful early footsteps in the VHL. First gen users like fever95 and d3vilsfire have also been given great opportunities to relocate VHLM teams and choose the team’s new name, which is actually a rare feat even in the minor league. In other words trust in these first gen players is high, and it should be because they are highly motivated to prove themselves and are doing a damn good job of it.

 

Of course changes to the VHLM are helping in the transition for these new members. Things like the VHLM Training Camp are yet to be tested over time, but hopefully it will motivate people to stick around and do point tasks or claim welfare and participate in discussions. Everyone knows how important the VHLM is, especially during the first 24 hours after a new member joins us. There has been a lot of brainstorming, with old and new members alike, and we are bound to see more changes to the VHLM and for first generation players in the coming seasons and I look forward to it.

[Higgins 3,618]

182: The Salary Cap Debate Resurfaces

 

The VHL salary cap, love it or hate it, it plays an important role in how the league functions. Just for a second try to imagine the league without a salary cap system. It would be awful as all-star players could just team up in free agency and join a team that looks promising. Now that we have that out of the way, let’s take a look at the current VHL salary cap and finances system. The current salary cap in the VHL is 32 million and the salary of a player can range anywhere from 0.5 million up to a maximum of 7 million. This current cap and salary bracket system has been in place since early in the Season 20 era. Recently there was some discussion in the private VHL General Managers board about increasing this salary cap.

 

Is increasing the salary cap even viable at this point though? It’s not like every team in the league is up to the maximum of 32 million without taking into account any bonuses to players. Half the league would have some cap space to work with if they didn’t give any bonuses. There are two teams, Helsinki and Calgary, that don’t have complete rosters with tons of cap space available as well. At this point there is plenty of room for more players to play in the VHL and fit, salary wise, onto a team. An interesting idea to look at is what if expansion back in Season 31 where two new teams, Quebec City and Cologne, joined the league never happened. These expansion teams brought more than new cities and logos to the league they also brought 32 million in cap space each for a total of 64 million additional salary space league wide. To put that into perspective it would mean an increase of 8 million in the current salary cap to 40 million for each of the original eight teams to compensate for the 64 million if expansion never happened. With expansion there are two more teams, if we hypothetically deleted two teams, Calgary and Helsinki, from the current league then we have eight teams that are all competitive and are all at or are getting close to the cap ceiling. The point I am trying to make is that raising the salary cap may be a good idea at this point, if there was never an expansion to a ten team league.

 

Not everyone is against some change though as the general manager thread resulted in the 9-4 vote in favour of not increasing the current cap. The main reason for people supporting an increase is because of TPE inflation. Inflation is definitely something that cannot be ignored moving forward, but our current system with ten teams works just fine. We can’t hide the fact that players are hitting the highest salary brackets way faster now, which could result in some minor changes in the salary brackets down the road especially for veterans. Keeping the salary cap for teams low helps with league wide parity and hopefully someday we can have ten competitive teams before we ever have to think of a salary cap increase. That being said it is always good to have a debate over ideas like the salary cap every once in a while. We can reassess each side of the argument in the present league situation and not just base it off an idea from fifteen seasons ago that may become outdated at some point. As it stands right now the pros for keeping the salary cap at 32 million heavily outweigh the pros of increasing it.

[Higgins 3,618]

183: Helping Evolve the VHL

 

The VHL has been in existence for over six years now and an online sim league can’t exist that long without dedicated members and change over time. There have been lots of changes through the six years including many to the VHLM system, first gen incentives, finances, expansion and more. The VHL has to evolve to keep up with the draw of other leagues on the internet and to keep old members interested. There are a few new and old projects currently being worked on for the VHL and I will just quickly update you all on what they are. As always if you have any new ideas let us know and it could be implemented.

 

The first major change coming is an overhaul of the recruitment crew. Before now it has never been overly organized and had no real defined job titles. The recruitment team is in the process of receiving an overdue makeover with sterling taking the reigns as the leader. The recruitment crew is being broken down into different primary aspects and jobs that will soon be available for users to apply. Words and ideas are nice, but they can only take us so far which has been a problem for the recruitment crew in the past. There have been a number of ideas brought up in the board of governors or in the recruitment crew boards, but they tend to get lost in the shuffle or forgotten as discussions continue and move on to newer ideas. Not everything coming to the recruitment crew is new though, we’ve had the welcome message, Facebook and Twitter as part of the recruiting efforts for some time and Mike has decided to bring back the dedicated draft rankings weekly. Hopefully these different aspects of recruiting can all work in sync with each other and the new positions that are coming. If anyone can bring the crew from the idea stage to the implementing stage it will be sterling as the new leader.

 

There are a few more changes coming to the league as well. First off we are working on getting a new skin ready for this off-seasons big event, the World Cup. Koradek has been working on the modified skin specifically for the World Cup and he has provided some brand new graphics for the World Cup section of the forum for the gold, silver and bronze medal winning nations. If you haven’t seen them definitely check them out in the World Cup History board. Something that we are also working on is the VHL render gallery that was lost when we switched to the new board last year. We have some really talented graphics creators on the VHL and we want to appeal to new graphics based users by showcasing our homemade render gallery that are cut out by our own members. Boubabi is working on coding the new gallery for the league currently. The final change that is coming soon is the return of the VHL portal. The portal, like the gallery, was lost when we switch boards last year. The portal provides a more visual alternative to the STHS sim outputs and keeps a complete log of player careers and statistics. These are just some of the changes coming to the league in the next couple weeks. Evolution is an important part of the VHL and if you have any ideas for new ideas or want to help with the recruitment crew then let us know!

[Higgins 3,618]

185: Hopeless Wanderers

 

In the past when the World Cup was held every two seasons in the VHL you could always anticipate the annual debate of which countries should be grouped together for which World Cup team. Now that the World Cup has been moved to once every three seasons the debate isn’t going to occur as often. Hallelujah praise to the VHL gods! The debate gets stale each time it comes up, but there are legitimate concerns sometimes, such as an active goalie not being able to play, but there being an inactive starter for another nation. I vaguely recall Remy LeBeau of France being able to play for team United Kingdom even though France is supposed to play under Europe in the World Cup. I believe France was officially changed to UK, but it just goes to show how certain countries and players can be ‘hopeless wanderers’ in the World Cup. Unfortunately all the debate threads and concerns are on the old forum so I cannot access them at the moment. I will have to rely on my memory since there has been no World Cups on the new forum yet.

 

The VHL is all about winning. Winning awards, winning championships, winning respect, and winning World Cups. When you can build a team based on countries there is no salary cap to keep teams competitive. There are no limitations, if your nation has the resources to build a super team it can. On the other hand if your nation has only a couple of active players it can be a major hindrance to winning the World Cup. The World Cup should first and foremost be enjoyed. You get a chance to play with new teammates that may be your arch rivals when playing for your VHL club. World Cup teams constantly go through up swings and down swings and now that it is held every three seasons there will be even more differences in roster makeup at each event, with more time for players to retire and new players to join.

 

If you look at the last two World Cups, the S32 and S34 events you can see the differences from the results. In Season 32 the Scandinavians took Gold, the Americans took Silver, and the Canadians took Bronze. Fast forward only two seasons to S34 and the Americans win gold, the United Kingdom win silver, and the Soviets win bronze. Over the past two World Cup events five of the six different nation regions won a medal. No one wants to lose though and people will complain of unfair World Cup rosters no matter what it seems. In just looking back at the S34 United Kingdom team that won the silver medal I can see a very serious rule violation. Two retired players who should have been ineligible to play in the World Cup were on team UK. Phil Rafter and David Smalling were long retired by the off-season yet they still played for the UK and both finished tied for third in tournament scoring with 21 points each. They were the obvious deciding factor in the UK making the gold medal game and winning silver I am positive of it. I’m not sure why they were on the UK team, but it must have been because the United Kingdom team was short of any available players. Now with the World Cup on a three season rotation I hope that people will realize the World Cup is a fun bonus to represent your country with new teammates. Yes, winning is the ultimate goal, but just try to enjoy yourself and the extra games being simmed during the off-season!

[Higgins 3,618]

187: A Smooth Season

 

This season was one of the smoothest in recent history for the Victory Hockey League. From the simming and posting of games to getting draftees onto VHLM teams through the waiver wire it seemed to run much better than over the last few seasons. This might have to do with some threads that were started last season into the beginning of this season that questioned the updating of players in the sim engine and the lack of waiver claims by VHLM general managers.

 

I would like to thank the VHLM GM’s for making an effort to claim players quickly and then hopefully provided a guiding hand to the newbies. The people who have gone out of their way to recruit new members any way possible also deserve some recognition for getting some of the VHLM discussions going because they want to keep as many new players as possible. Finally I think the league on a whole did a good job of welcoming new members when they posted introduction threads and created their new players. Hopefully in the future we can all take it one step further and follow these new guys around and post some encouraging words in their media spots, Fan 590 articles and graphics to make them feel that they belong and to acknowledge their commitment.

 

A lot of the thanks can go directly to Jardy. Over the past couple of seasons I had gotten used to having to simulate anywhere from 10-15 total days as the backup simmer. Sometimes I didn’t get any heads up and would just simulate the next day because usually Jardy sims late at night in Saskatchewan and I, living on the East coast, would be sleeping. I’m very happy to say that I only had to simulate five days this whole season and I received a, sometimes drunken, message from Jardy for the majority of the times I did sim. This season there were no triple sims and amazingly there was not even a double sim, which is actually pretty crazy when compared to the last five seasons. Hopefully the bar has been set going into future seasons and we will get our daily dose of games.

 

Another thank you goes out to Mike this season for his continued work on the draft rankings. After speaking with a handful of the draftees I know that they really appreciate the weekly thread to see where they stack up with other draftees. Each week there was a new segment on the draft and it kept things interesting for the draftees as well as everyone else who wants to keep tabs on the upcoming draft class. Keep up the good and consistent work with the draft rankings going forward Mike. There are still many areas that could see improvement around the league to have a smoother Season 38 that is for sure, but we have to take a moment to thank everyone who was a part of the league for the past season for their hard work. Let’s keep the momentum of positive changes going for next season.

[Higgins 3,618]

188: TPE is getting out of Control

 

TPE is getting starting to get out of control in the VHL. Next season my player will have more TPE than I can actually spend on attributes so I theoretically can just stop earning TPE and have all 99 attributes for a full season. If a large chunk of players and goalies can get the majority of their attributes up to 99 overall we have a problem. Players won’t actually be better or worse they will just be the exact same as each other. The way the simulation engine works, it doesn’t benefit someone with 99 in both scoring and passing. It’s a decision based engine and if a player has 99 in both there will just be a 50/50 chance of passing or shooting. We don’t ever want players with seven attributes that are all at 99 overall because it’s pointless and it’s getting really easy for goalies to bring their players up to maximum overall. There are tons of new ways to make TPE as we want new members to start off with a boost to put them closer to recreates. I’m obviously not against the new TPE opportunities for new members, but are TPE totals getting out of control?

 

A few weeks ago I wrote an article about the salary cap and how it might need to be raised in order to accommodate rising TPE levels, which results in higher salaries, in the future.  The expansion from eight to ten teams helped with adding more cap space league wide so the problem was solved for now. To solve the problem of excess TPE and the resulting attribute inflation there are a few solutions. The first would be to make significant changes to the player store. The player store prices for TPE are way too good and the packages significantly benefit the players that already have massive TPE amounts with their higher salary brackets. People are saving their contract money until the end of their career for a big buy out of TPE to boost them in their final season and it’s honestly not even needed. Upwards of thirty million can be banked over a seven or eight season career which is equal to over 80 extra TPE. I recommend that the player store be revamped to limit TPE and attribute inflation. Make the prices higher for TPE packages or scrap TPE packages and focus on extras on the forum, but still include things such as doubles and free weeks. The store could also introduce some new items such as ‘double all your weekly fantasy zone’ payouts for one season or buy an extra set of numbers for the VHL Magazine lottery.

 

Another change that could be made is to alter how much TPE it costs to actually increase an attribute. The current system has been in place for a long time, which at its costliest is four TPE for one attribute from 90-99. Maybe we should tweak this just a little bit to make a lot of difference in the fight against attribute inflation. Making 90-95 stay as four TPE per attribute and making 96-99 become five TPE per attribute. Other more drastic ideas include increasing the depreciation percentage or decreasing the carryover percentage, but I don’t think anyone would like those ideas and the negatives far outweigh the positives for those two ideas. No one can deny that TPE inflation is happening and it leads to attribute inflation. In my opinion the league becomes boring and predictable when a lot of players, especially goalies, can have the most of their attributes at 99 overall.