Steals compared to money: Brands edition [1/2]

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So there have been a lot of articles recently where people have gone through the roster of the brand they're on, which is fine but limited in its scope as it's only ever going to highlight one team. It's an easy enough article to do of course, but it's not covering a lot of guys, and if certain brands do this type of article more than others, it ends up that a bunch of guys aren't covered. To an extent, this is offset by the articles that talk about a few players from each team, but when that's been done, it's been the top 5 earners usually, unless there's a $0 player of note. The combination of both these types of articles lead to a minor blind spot over the players who are some of the stronger ones in their brand, but signed for a lower contract for the sake of the team (unless, again, they've signed for $0 and that's been noted in someone's article). Let's fill the blind spot, shall we?

 

1. True North

 

There are two categories I'll primarily be looking at for this article: those with $0 contracts and those with small money contracts. True North only has one $0 contract on the books at the moment, which is Karl Von Moltke of the Calgary Wranglers. Moltke certainly isn't the best $0 player in the entire competition, of course (that would likely be Gabriel McAllister, who will be covered later) but he's still a pretty hefty steal at $0. Any player at $0 is a steal by definition, so even though Moltke is the lowest in terms of points out of the people selected here, he still qualifies as a steal by virtue of the contract. This team is getting a guy who has put up 36 points in 59 games for free. The best small money contract on True North, value-wise, is almost certainly Moltke's linemate, Evan R. Lawson. At $250k, Lawson is just under a point per game pace (a pace he reached last season) and contributes about 500 practice hours to the team. This is a young team and there aren't a lot of high TPE vets, so Lawson ends up being the pick.

 

2 Ubuyalot Games

 

This team's contributions to the underappreciated player list are some of the biggest members and best players in the league. The best $0 player on Ubuyalot Games is Gabriel McAllister who was discussed earlier, and is one of the most decorated VHL players of all time, with a trophy cabinet that rivals some entire franchises. McAllister is one of the best players in the league (currently leading the league in points with 107) and could have commanded any price he asked for, but he signed for $0 to help this brand out. Among contracted players, the one that stands out the most is Mats Johnsson, one of the top defensemen in the league, for $750k. Johnsson seems like he takes home at least one award per season and so far this season he's put up 84 points, second highest defenseman in the league behind Joseph Bassolino but Johnsson has a more well rounded game. Still, when you have the opportunity to nitpick between the 3rd highest scorer in the league and the 6th, I don't think anyone's really about to complain either way.

 

3. Netflex

 

We go from the team with Gabriel McAllister at $0 to the team without a single player at $0. Netflex has yet to find anyone to play for them without compensation, which might actually be fine as they do meet the positional minimums just from their paid spots, but it's interesting that the whole bottom section of their roster is blank. Now that's not to say the team is bad, far from it (none of the brand teams are bad since we're stuffing 14 teams into 6) but just that the $0 spots are blank. As for money spots, it seems like the biggest steal is probably Samuel Gate at $750k, although Sebastian Ironside at $1m certainly puts up a case. Ironside far outranks Gate in terms of points, putting up 82 as compared to 41 (exactly double) but Ironside is a forward so it's more expected of him, and Gate has a decent contribution in other areas, plus he's still one spot cheaper than Ironside. Both are pretty strong steals compared to their money, however. I'll count this as Ironside for the totals at the bottom.

 

4. Viking

 

The next best $0 player is found on Viking, where Keaton Louth has provided his services for free in order to lock up some money for Beau to play on the same team. With 84 points so far, Louth is one of the best players in the league, and were it not for McAllister, Louth would have easily locked up the best player on $0. Viking actually has a lot of depth at $0, as Jack Shephard and Sergei Komarov are also rather impressive players to land at that price (or lack thereof). As for paid steals, it has to be Vaydar Odinsson, at his $1m price tag. A man with the type of name you'd expect from a Viking endorsement, Odinsson is performing strongly in his rookie season, 71 points in 59 games, good for 12th in the league and tied with Julian Borwinn for best rookie point total. Considering there was a debate at the beginning of the season as to whether Odinsson would promote or stay down with Ottawa another year, it seems as though promoting him was the right choice.

 

5. Haterade

 

Haterade has two players on $0, and it's not particularly difficult to decide which is the bigger steal. With no disrespect intended to Cole Mertz, he may not play much in the tournament, as Tristan Iseult will be the starter and Mertz will have to battle with Finn Davison for backup minutes. Adam Warlock, on the other hand, is just over a point per game (with 60 points in 59 games) and is another unexpectedly good player to be on a free deal. This is a strong defensive team all around (Colton Rayne and Joseph Bassolino share the blue line with Warlock) so it's good for them to be able to lock up Warlock for free and add to a position of strength. Similarly to Netflex, Haterade actually has a debate as far as the biggest steal. Jeff Gow is a possibility, but we'll go with Otto Axelsson here. Axelsson has slightly fewer points (49 to Gow's 55) but is signed to slightly cheaper ($500k to $750k) and is locked up for two seasons rather than one. Fortunately, the difference between Gow and Axelsson won't change their spot in the final paragraph, so it doesn't hurt them to go with the slightly lower points guy here.

 

6. Jolt Juice

 

Jolt Juice has an obvious choice at $0, as there's only one player on the roster at that price, Lando Baxter. Baxter is a good player, probably somewhere around the level of Moltke for True North, but obviously isn't on the same level as McAllister or Louth. Still, anyone that plays for $0 is bound to be a steal for their team, and Baxter's 32 points in 59 games point to an adjustment period after promoting to the VHL but still finding ways to contribute. Their steal among paid players is also an obvious choice. The Charm on a $500k contract pretty clearly outweighs the others in this regard. Perhaps an argument could be made for Sergei Kovalev, a good player in his own right, but The Charm has 66 points to Kovalev's 59 and since both are forwards, a more direct comparison such as this can be made. Kovalev is admittedly pretty strong at two way play as well, but he doesn't have much of a gap on The Charm in that sense, certainly not enough to overcome both the points gap and the difference in contract.

 

These teams are listed in no particular order, this isn't a ranking at all just a list of the biggest free steals and paid steals for each team, and how they compare to other teams' free and paid steals. Now that the list is complete, it could be more easily analyzed as far as a ranking is concerned. Ubuyalot Games almost certainly would be the top team in this particular aspect, with McAllister and Johnsson, two of the top six in points in the league. Viking would be next with Louth and Odinsson, 5th and 12th. Then there's a good gap after these two to Haterade at third, with Warlock at 21st and Axelsson at 36th. Jolt Juice is next with Charm at 18th and Baxter at 56th, and just by default I'll put True North ahead of Netflex solely by virtue of having a representative in both spots. True North is in 34th and 51st with Lawson and Moltke, and if we use Ironside for Netflex rather than Gate, we get 8th which is a pretty great showing for one guy, but they're at the bottom by default as there are no $0 players on their roster.

 

1529 words, 3 weeks of claim

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week 2

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week 3

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Review:

Great breakdown article here. I love the way you looked into it. McAllister was obviously a fantastic player for $0!