VHLM Power Rankings

[ColeMrtz 574]

VHLM Weekly

Article by: Riley Johnston

 

After the first few VHLM games have passed, we take a look into which players have started off hot and where the best in the league are playing. The teams are then ranked based on the talent they have and Cup potential.

 

1. Las Vegas Aces

LVA has a standout team, one of the deepest rosters in the league, and an All-Star goaltender in Alexander Pepper. Currently in second place, Vegas boasts an impressive 9 GA, the lowest in the league with the only contending team being the Halifax 21st. Vegas also has 10 players (including Pepper) over 50 Overall on their roster, and three players with 70+ Defense. They might not score a whole lot, but they have the prospects to do so and you sure as hell won't score on them.

 

2. Halifax 21st

It was a tough choice between HFX and LVA, but at the end of the day I wouldn't be surprised for the finals to be between them. Halifax has one of the most active rosters in the league, and it shows. Nine players over 50 Overall, 2 active goaltenders, 2 of the leagues top 4 goalscorers, Karl von Moltke being second in the league in assists, and did I mention 4 of the top 5 rookies? The list goes on. Halifax currently holds the first place position in the league, and they can only go up from here. Vegas only just edged them out of the top ranked team as they are the deeper roster right now.

 

3. Saskatoon Wild

Hear me out on this one. SSK is currently second to last in the standings, which doesn't look promising for the 3rd ranked team, but I have my reasoning. For starters, Saskatoon is only to Ottawa in goals for, and it's not a close race with any other team, with Halifax being 5 goals back. The Wild have one of the most potent player combos in the league with Ryuu Crimson and Dylan Nguyen, who by the way are both firmly planted in the top 10 points leaders. Crimson is second in the league for goals with 6 and Nguyen is third for assists with 8. This roster also boast Anderson LaVey and Burnt Toast, also in the top 10 for points. If SSK can come together defensively they will become one of the top teams in the league, no question.

 

4. Ottawa Lynx

10 players over 50 Overall, the top 2 players in the league for points, the league leader in goals. Ottawa seems like they should be higher, but they won't be. Ottawa is alarmingly mediocre, they have 2 standout players and a lot of generally good guys. There's no real holes but there's not a whole lot to be excited about. Chance Matthews is a phenom, Baxter can do it all, but everyone else falls kind of flat. Not to mention Kritikers, who should be one of the best in the league, is currently sitting in fourth out of the leagues tenders. That's bottom 50% for a goalie who's rated highest in the league. Ottawa will be good, no question, but they won't be anything to watch.

 

5. Yukon Rush

Whoa. What? Yukon ISN'T the 6th ranked team? With the shallowest roster and Rhett Stoffiday/Victor in net, it is a bit of a shock, but Yukon has two prospects that make me excited and scared. Let's talk about Sidney Crosby and Ryan Kastelic. Crosby is a monster, and absolute machine. If you watched the first few games Crosby dominated every leaderboard he could slap his name on. Should he keep it up he'll be one of the best players in the league. Kastelic is a whole different beast. He's quietly maintained where Crosby faltered, staying on the leaderboards. Out of everything Kastelic is eligible for, he appears on 4/7 leaderboards. Kastelic and Crosby could be an elite defensive pairing, but they don't have a team to back them up. Time will tell just how good they turn out to be.

 

6. Oslo Storm

Nothing to see in Oslo. 5 guys with 50+ Overall, their points leader is some 38 TPA player who's playing beyond capacity, the team just isn't any good. I'm sorry Oslo but draft picks will be your best players. The only thing you really have to look forward to this season is the end of it.

[BarzalGoat 728]

@SidTheKid87 @Enorama Read this list, you're hurting the tank! Jk, luv you guys keep up the TPE work bois.

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Here's the thing that a lot of newer guys don't think of right away: a guy at 150 TPE right now and a guy at 75 TPE right now (assuming both are earning at cap), while the 150 will perform better in the early part of the season given the TPE lead, by the end of the season, those guys both get to 175 applied. The 150 will of course have more banked, but banked doesn't go into the sim. A team with 4 guys in the 150-175 range will do amazingly early on. Their stars will light up the league in a way that the team full of depth can't counter. However, with the cap, they'll soon stop being able to add anything. A team with 10 guys around 75, that team will be slower at the beginning but by the end of the season, if all those guys are at or near the cap, I think you know 10 is more than 4.

 

So yes, Ottawa's only near-cap guys right now are King and Baxter. Not even Matthews, who is doing amazingly. Will Matthews get there by the end of the season, of course he will. So will Odinsson, James, Trepanier, Wilinsky, McWolf, Rasputinov, Kriketers. (All credit to my unsung depth guys Mitchell, Renner, and Rzerk, you guys are still putting in work, but for the purposes of the point I'm making, you're all unlikely to cap this year so that's why I've left you off for the time being). That's exactly 10 guys who will be at or near the cap by the end of the season. 10 guys who will all be able to have the impact in the sim the size of Crimson and Nguyen, Crosby and Kastelic, Moltke and Tzuyu, etc. We've started off poorly - more poorly than we probably should have, to be honest with you, and while we have the most goals scored in the league even to this point, the defensive record leaves a bit to be desired. Let's let your guys run into the TPE cap, my entire army of guys catch up to you, and then see what happens late. I know this is going to sound like an ego thing, but it's simply a facet of the league rules that I don't expect you to have considered at this point. I'm not saying we'll be the best team because I'm hyping up my guys and being blind to the reality of things, I'm saying we'll be the best team because I've been around the VHLM and I know how things like this work. The slow start is going to make it look competitive, and it'll give teams a shot at knocking us down the standings a bit early on. We may or may not get back to the 1 seed before the playoffs happen, but we'll definitely be the team that performs the best down the stretch, and should carry that over into the playoffs.

 

Think about it like the NHL video game. If you have one team with 3 forwards and 2 defense all at 87 overall but they're 35 and nearing retirement, or you have another team with 6 forwards and 4 defense all at 84 overall but they're 20 and in their entry level deals, team A might get off to a hot start, but team B will be more sustainable at the end of the year and into the playoffs, because enough of the 84 overall guys will have gone up since they're young.

 

*Also, side note: even if you're only taking into consideration current performance, and not how the team will do as the season wears on, how do you justify putting Saskatoon ahead of us? We're ahead of them in the standings AND we've beaten them head to head both games we've played against them.

[Cornflakers 73]

19 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

Here's the thing that a lot of newer guys don't think of right away: a guy at 150 TPE right now and a guy at 75 TPE right now (assuming both are earning at cap), while the 150 will perform better in the early part of the season given the TPE lead, by the end of the season, those guys both get to 175 applied. The 150 will of course have more banked, but banked doesn't go into the sim. A team with 4 guys in the 150-175 range will do amazingly early on. Their stars will light up the league in a way that the team full of depth can't counter. However, with the cap, they'll soon stop being able to add anything. A team with 10 guys around 75, that team will be slower at the beginning but by the end of the season, if all those guys are at or near the cap, I think you know 10 is more than 4.

 

So yes, Ottawa's only near-cap guys right now are King and Baxter. Not even Matthews, who is doing amazingly. Will Matthews get there by the end of the season, of course he will. So will Odinsson, James, Trepanier, Wilinsky, McWolf, Rasputinov, Kriketers. (All credit to my unsung depth guys Mitchell, Renner, and Rzerk, you guys are still putting in work, but for the purposes of the point I'm making, you're all unlikely to cap this year so that's why I've left you off for the time being). That's exactly 10 guys who will be at or near the cap by the end of the season. 10 guys who will all be able to have the impact in the sim the size of Crimson and Nguyen, Crosby and Kastelic, Moltke and Tzuyu, etc. We've started off poorly - more poorly than we probably should have, to be honest with you, and while we have the most goals scored in the league even to this point, the defensive record leaves a bit to be desired. Let's let your guys run into the TPE cap, my entire army of guys catch up to you, and then see what happens late. I know this is going to sound like an ego thing, but it's simply a facet of the league rules that I don't expect you to have considered at this point. I'm not saying we'll be the best team because I'm hyping up my guys and being blind to the reality of things, I'm saying we'll be the best team because I've been around the VHLM and I know how things like this work. The slow start is going to make it look competitive, and it'll give teams a shot at knocking us down the standings a bit early on. We may or may not get back to the 1 seed before the playoffs happen, but we'll definitely be the team that performs the best down the stretch, and should carry that over into the playoffs.

 

Think about it like the NHL video game. If you have one team with 3 forwards and 2 defense all at 87 overall but they're 35 and nearing retirement, or you have another team with 6 forwards and 4 defense all at 84 overall but they're 20 and in their entry level deals, team A might get off to a hot start, but team B will be more sustainable at the end of the year and into the playoffs, because enough of the 84 overall guys will have gone up since they're young.

 

*Also, side note: even if you're only taking into consideration current performance, and not how the team will do as the season wears on, how do you justify putting Saskatoon ahead of us? We're ahead of them in the standings AND we've beaten them head to head both games we've played against them.

 

Assuming there is ACTUALLY a 175 TPE cap ... which there *isint*

 

 

 

 

And just quickly looking,

Players at/near/above 175 "cap"

HFX - LW - Karl von Moltke, D - Shawn Glade, D - Tzuyu

LVA - C - Oleksiy Revchenko

OTT - G - Kallis Kriketers, D - Lando Baxter, RW - Roctrion King

SSK - D - Dylan Nguyen, LW - Ryuu Crimson

OSL - RIP GG

YUK - (barely D - Ryan Kastelic)

 

So, with that said, it's likely to see power house teams NOW be OTT > HFX > SSK > LVA > YUK > OSL ... know what I mean?

 

 

 

[diamond_ace 3,112]

Baxter is 190 (15 banked). What's 190 minus 15? I know it says TPA 177, but the math says he's 175. 

 

Crimson and Revchenko are illegal, I wasn't going to bring them up, @Will is aware and he'll deal with that privately. I'd assume they'll be able to unapply some TPE. If it turns out the actual attributes added to Baxter are also over, the same will apply. So yes, there is a cap, and just because a few guys didn't catch it doesn't completely remove the rule. Don't get all sarcastic and act like you know the league rules better, then actually be wrong about it. I tried to be nice to OP and simply point out something he was missing. You, however, are calling me a liar. I am under no such pretense to be nice to you.

[Will 4,660]

Yeah there IS a cap of technically 175 TPA (I think) but that's going to be increasing to 200, and the cap will be built into Portal updating soon.

[Victor 10,940]

On 8/20/2018 at 4:55 PM, ColeMrtz21 said:

Victor in net

this article is 10 seasons out of date

[ColeMrtz 574]

@diamond_ace these are power rankings done by a guy whose been here for only three weeks, everything I say should be taken with a whole container of salt, I was just looking at the production coming out of the team and expected more from them. Granted seeing how all of their production was coming from only a few players where your franchise had more depth scoring was a mistake on my end, and I acknowledge that. 

[ColeMrtz 574]

1 hour ago, Victor said:

this article is 10 seasons out of date

https://vhlportal.com/players/goaliefocus/1006 you have an admirer

[diamond_ace 3,112]

4 minutes ago, ColeMrtz21 said:

@diamond_ace these are power rankings done by a guy whose been here for only three weeks, everything I say should be taken with a whole container of salt, I was just looking at the production coming out of the team and expected more from them. Granted seeing how all of their production was coming from only a few players where your franchise had more depth scoring was a mistake on my end, and I acknowledge that. 

No you were fine! Like I said, it was simply something you as a newer guy weren't likely to have thought of. I have no problem with that (not sure how you came up with Saskatoon ahead of us, but I have no problem at all with you rating on what you know, just giving you some insight as to what you might be missing). It was Cornflakers' reaction to it that I'm upset with, as he's calling me a liar.

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

23 hours ago, diamond_ace said:

Here's the thing that a lot of newer guys don't think of right away: a guy at 150 TPE right now and a guy at 75 TPE right now (assuming both are earning at cap), while the 150 will perform better in the early part of the season given the TPE lead, by the end of the season, those guys both get to 175 applied. The 150 will of course have more banked, but banked doesn't go into the sim. A team with 4 guys in the 150-175 range will do amazingly early on. Their stars will light up the league in a way that the team full of depth can't counter. However, with the cap, they'll soon stop being able to add anything. A team with 10 guys around 75, that team will be slower at the beginning but by the end of the season, if all those guys are at or near the cap, I think you know 10 is more than 4.

 

So yes, Ottawa's only near-cap guys right now are King and Baxter. Not even Matthews, who is doing amazingly. Will Matthews get there by the end of the season, of course he will. So will Odinsson, James, Trepanier, Wilinsky, McWolf, Rasputinov, Kriketers. (All credit to my unsung depth guys Mitchell, Renner, and Rzerk, you guys are still putting in work, but for the purposes of the point I'm making, you're all unlikely to cap this year so that's why I've left you off for the time being). That's exactly 10 guys who will be at or near the cap by the end of the season. 10 guys who will all be able to have the impact in the sim the size of Crimson and Nguyen, Crosby and Kastelic, Moltke and Tzuyu, etc. We've started off poorly - more poorly than we probably should have, to be honest with you, and while we have the most goals scored in the league even to this point, the defensive record leaves a bit to be desired. Let's let your guys run into the TPE cap, my entire army of guys catch up to you, and then see what happens late. I know this is going to sound like an ego thing, but it's simply a facet of the league rules that I don't expect you to have considered at this point. I'm not saying we'll be the best team because I'm hyping up my guys and being blind to the reality of things, I'm saying we'll be the best team because I've been around the VHLM and I know how things like this work. The slow start is going to make it look competitive, and it'll give teams a shot at knocking us down the standings a bit early on. We may or may not get back to the 1 seed before the playoffs happen, but we'll definitely be the team that performs the best down the stretch, and should carry that over into the playoffs.

 

Think about it like the NHL video game. If you have one team with 3 forwards and 2 defense all at 87 overall but they're 35 and nearing retirement, or you have another team with 6 forwards and 4 defense all at 84 overall but they're 20 and in their entry level deals, team A might get off to a hot start, but team B will be more sustainable at the end of the year and into the playoffs, because enough of the 84 overall guys will have gone up since they're young.

 

*Also, side note: even if you're only taking into consideration current performance, and not how the team will do as the season wears on, how do you justify putting Saskatoon ahead of us? We're ahead of them in the standings AND we've beaten them head to head both games we've played against them.

This is true, and nobody ever think about this.

 

The only thing I really have to say is that this may seem biased, but I don't see us losing 1st for a while just because LITERALLY everyone in our lineup is active so I don't doubt we'll be good for a while. But then again there's reasons people said Ottawa is scary, because they are. The Lynx are gonna be top dogs soon.

 

That said I'm predicting right here, right now, a Halifax v. Ottawa finals this year

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

On 8/22/2018 at 5:41 PM, diamond_ace said:

Here's the thing that a lot of newer guys don't think of right away: a guy at 150 TPE right now and a guy at 75 TPE right now (assuming both are earning at cap), while the 150 will perform better in the early part of the season given the TPE lead, by the end of the season, those guys both get to 175 applied. The 150 will of course have more banked, but banked doesn't go into the sim. A team with 4 guys in the 150-175 range will do amazingly early on. Their stars will light up the league in a way that the team full of depth can't counter. However, with the cap, they'll soon stop being able to add anything. A team with 10 guys around 75, that team will be slower at the beginning but by the end of the season, if all those guys are at or near the cap, I think you know 10 is more than 4.

 

So yes, Ottawa's only near-cap guys right now are King and Baxter. Not even Matthews, who is doing amazingly. Will Matthews get there by the end of the season, of course he will. So will Odinsson, James, Trepanier, Wilinsky, McWolf, Rasputinov, Kriketers. (All credit to my unsung depth guys Mitchell, Renner, and Rzerk, you guys are still putting in work, but for the purposes of the point I'm making, you're all unlikely to cap this year so that's why I've left you off for the time being). That's exactly 10 guys who will be at or near the cap by the end of the season. 10 guys who will all be able to have the impact in the sim the size of Crimson and Nguyen, Crosby and Kastelic, Moltke and Tzuyu, etc. We've started off poorly - more poorly than we probably should have, to be honest with you, and while we have the most goals scored in the league even to this point, the defensive record leaves a bit to be desired. Let's let your guys run into the TPE cap, my entire army of guys catch up to you, and then see what happens late. I know this is going to sound like an ego thing, but it's simply a facet of the league rules that I don't expect you to have considered at this point. I'm not saying we'll be the best team because I'm hyping up my guys and being blind to the reality of things, I'm saying we'll be the best team because I've been around the VHLM and I know how things like this work. The slow start is going to make it look competitive, and it'll give teams a shot at knocking us down the standings a bit early on. We may or may not get back to the 1 seed before the playoffs happen, but we'll definitely be the team that performs the best down the stretch, and should carry that over into the playoffs.

 

Think about it like the NHL video game. If you have one team with 3 forwards and 2 defense all at 87 overall but they're 35 and nearing retirement, or you have another team with 6 forwards and 4 defense all at 84 overall but they're 20 and in their entry level deals, team A might get off to a hot start, but team B will be more sustainable at the end of the year and into the playoffs, because enough of the 84 overall guys will have gone up since they're young.

 

*Also, side note: even if you're only taking into consideration current performance, and not how the team will do as the season wears on, how do you justify putting Saskatoon ahead of us? We're ahead of them in the standings AND we've beaten them head to head both games we've played against them.

Papa @Devise is that you?

[diamond_ace 3,112]

1 minute ago, TheLastOlympian07 said:

Papa @Devise is that you?

I had 4 paragraphs, not 3