The teams that refused to commit [1/2]

[diamond_ace 3,114]

The VHL (and VHLM) to a much larger extent than other professional leagues like the NHL, tends to split itself into two categories: contenders and rebuilders. In the NHL you'll find a much larger pool of teams in the middle, not likely good enough to win anything but will be at or around the playoff cut line, and there is an actual cut line where teams will make or miss by a handful of points. In the VHL, there's usually a pretty good gap between the last team in and the first team out, or perhaps between the two wild card teams instead if there were too many rebuilders for them all to miss out on the playoffs. In any case, teams tend to have a stronger and more clearly defined identity, where they're either definitely intending to be in the mix for the cup, or definitely intending to improve their draft position - certainly both of these in the VHL and VHLM to a much larger extent than the NHL.

 

Recently, each league has provided one team that just has not picked a side, no matter the conventional wisdom, and one of these teams actually managed to win a cup anyway - spoiler alert. Let's start with the VHLM one, and leave the VHL one to finish off the article.

 

The Halifax 21st have only been in the league for three seasons now. In their inaugural season, most GMs would have just taken what picks they had and tried to move them back a year, essentially tanking the inaugural season for a shot at the second season. Most GMs aren't @ShawnGlade. With an unusual strategy, he tried to compete from the outset, despite starting with the scraps of other teams and despite the fact that his ceiling arguably should have been the middle of the pack. Cups aren't frequently won from the middle of the pack so it seemed logical to trade the good pieces off to contenders, acquire picks for the following season, and try to push for the S63 title instead, but due to Shawnglade's insistence and a little bit of sim luck, the team got off to a great start. This repositioned them into contenders and they tried to acquire pieces, but even then they refused to trade away much from the next season to put all their eggs into one basket. Ultimately they went into the playoffs as the top seed and looked poised for a cup, but lost in the finals in S62 to the Ottawa Lynx, who'd been developing all season from a lower starting point and it paid off in the playoffs.

Since they hadn't traded away much in the prior season, Halifax went into S63 in a decent position as well, but ran into a few teams with giant piles of picks, as is usually the way in the VHLM. It again seemed like Halifax would be in the middle of the standings somewhere, and that it would be the perfect time to commit to a rebuild and acquire picks to come out swinging in S64. Again, Shawnglade eschewed that logic, deciding that a team in the middle of the standings might be able to make noise come playoff time, and tried to ride his luck mostly with the players he had and a few acquisitions. This time, he went out a round sooner (the semifinals) but certainly put a scare into eventual winners Saskatoon.

Going into S64, the team was handed off to @McWolf who was in a bit of a strange position, as Saskatoon and Yukon (who had been the top seed the prior year but lost in a semifinal upset to Ottawa) had so fully committed to the year before that Halifax wouldn't have been able to tank properly if they tried, but it also looked like there weren't enough pieces to take on the top teams either. Thanks to some draft day implosions on the part of Oslo, Halifax was actually able to climb into the contenders' pool once again, but would lose in the finals to Vegas. Three seasons, two finals, but no cups. Whether this Halifax team is to be considered successful depends on one's definition of success. A lack of cups can't really have been the goal, but at the same time, three decent playoff runs without a rebuild season in the VHLM is pretty much unheard of.

The VHL team that fits this criteria, on the other hand, has definitely been successful with no real debate as to the definition. They are, after all, the defending cup champions as of the time of this article. Of course, this would be the Toronto Legion. With what definitely didn't seem like enough pieces around which to build a contender, @Devise took advantage of timing to acquire most of the good pieces of a Calgary team that would enter into a rebuild going into S64, a move which @Bushito was happy to oblige as it would send his own player and two other of his long term Wranglers off to a team that would suddenly get a lot better. Still, with the exception of goalie, Toronto looked nothing like the best team in the league at any position. Devise's well documented aversion to picks had certainly played a factor in deciding to try to put together a contender, although Toronto would spend most of the regular season looking up at teams like Seattle and Riga in the standings, both of whom had much more complete teams across the board. In fact, prior to the season, Toronto looked so little like a contender that one key free agent, Keaton Louth, would choose Helsinki instead despite what Toronto had assumed was a verbal commitment several days earlier. It left a bitter taste in Toronto's mouth as Helsinki didn't seem that much better on paper prior to that acquisition, but of course after it they definitely seemed the stronger team - as did the seemingly two top contenders, the aforementioned Seattle and Riga.

 

Then the playoffs happened. The operative phrase in that last paragraph would prove to be "with the exception of goalie" as the massive gap between Norris Stopko and anyone else in the league would become the key to winning in the playoffs. Stopko was so far ahead of any other goalie that he was nearly twice as skilled as the second best, which was Tristan Iseult of Quebec, who wasn't even able to be a factor in the playoffs because of his GM's failure to follow the backup goalie rule. Quebec was forced to play the backup in the playoffs since they didn't play him enough in the regular season, and Toronto advanced out of the wild card round, seemingly about to lose to top seeded Seattle. In the semis, both the top two seeds would fall, as Toronto would manage to pull off the upset against Seattle and Helsinki would do the same to Riga. This set up a cup finals with a strong storyline behind it; it would become the Keaton Louth finals, between the team he went to and the team who expected to get him. This lit a fire under the Toronto players, who came out swinging and took out Helsinki in a surprising sweep, of course led by Stopko who played not only the best hockey of the season, but put together one of the all time best goaltending performances.

Going into S65, Toronto seems to be in an even weirder spot, with Stopko retiring on a high note, and Sebastian Ironside being forced into free agency by rule and prevented from signing with Toronto. Contention looks at first glance to be out of the question, and the team has just enough pieces to maybe start off a rebuild, with Oyorra Arroyo likely to fetch a hefty price and Evan R. Lawson maybe worth a decent pick or two, Tzuyu being young enough to build around going forward. Instead, Toronto will look to contend once more, this time without their one massive advantage in goal (although Johnny Havenk Carison will be eager to prove a point, since he's never gotten the chance to be the primary starter for a team up to this point). This could backfire horribly, but if last season is any indication, it could also somehow work out perfectly, especially with the acquisition of The Charm in free agency.

 

These two teams deserve a closer look, one way or another, for stepping outside the traditional mold of going full on contender or full on rebuild. Teams may look to emulate this going forward, since it managed to work well enough for Toronto to win a cup, although with the recent influx of members it's unlikely the league will ever see such a gap between the best and second best goalie again. Halifax, while a success of sorts in the regular season, never quite managed to get it done in the playoffs, but their book is still being written, as is Toronto's. In any case, it'll be interesting to see what becomes of each of these teams going forward.

1517 words

3 weeks

[Nykonax 1,570]

6 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

but at the same time, three decent playoff runs without a rebuild season in the VHLM is pretty much unheard of

S62 Ottawa, S63 Ottawa, S64 Ottawa, and soon to be S65 Ottawa

Edited February 25, 2019 by Nykonax

[diamond_ace 3,114]

1 minute ago, Nykonax said:

S62 Ottawa, S63 Ottawa, S64 Ottawa, and soon to be S65 Ottawa

True to an extent, although S63 Ottawa was intended to be a mini-retool (not a full on rebuild, but going in that direction more than the final playoff result ended up being)

[Nykonax 1,570]

2 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

True to an extent, although S63 Ottawa was intended to be a mini-retool (not a full on rebuild, but going in that direction more than the final playoff result ended up being)

Still don't know how we beat Yukon lol, but you can't retool with an elite player like Dahlberg. Also wonder what would've happened if you shipped Dahlberg, think Shawn wanted him. Assuming you traded for the S64 HFX 1st that pick would've been...... Donat Szita.

 

Maybe it was good that you didn't retool

[McWolf 3,116]

4 minutes ago, diamond_ace said:

True to an extent, although S63 Ottawa was intended to be a mini-retool (not a full on rebuild, but going in that direction more than the final playoff result ended up being)

We actually traded one of our best players to Saskatoon in S63, because we didn't think we had what we needed to win it all.

[McWolf 3,116]

1 minute ago, Nykonax said:

Still don't know how we beat Yukon lol, but you can't retool with an elite player like Dahlberg. Also wonder what would've happened if you shipped Dahlberg, think Shawn wanted him. Assuming you traded for the S64 HFX 1st that pick would've been...... Donat Szita.

 

Maybe it was good that you didn't retool

I doubt d_a picks Famished, he tends to stay away from troublemakers.

inb4 bdu

[diamond_ace 3,114]

1 minute ago, Nykonax said:

Still don't know how we beat Yukon lol, but you can't retool with an elite player like Dahlberg. Also wonder what would've happened if you shipped Dahlberg, think Shawn wanted him. Assuming you traded for the S64 HFX 1st that pick would've been...... Donat Szita.

 

Maybe it was good that you didn't retool

I mean that assumes very little of my drafting ability - do you really think I'd have taken Szita? You of all people should give me more credit than that. I pulled you in the 3rd, I'm not taking Szita in the 1st.

[Nykonax 1,570]

1 minute ago, McWolf said:

I doubt d_a picks Famished, he tends to stay away from troublemakers.

inb4 bdu

yeah for sure... that draft wasn't that deep. Next person would've been Dallas Jones or Sven Hitz/Connor McDavid

[diamond_ace 3,114]

1 minute ago, McWolf said:

I doubt d_a picks Famished, he tends to stay away from troublemakers.

inb4 bdu

bdu hadn't really shown his troublemaker side prior to the draft - he didn't really show any side at all, he'd just joined and made like 3 posts at that point. The fact that he was active at all shows a bit of a tendency for me to pull steals, although of course it's unfortunate the way that went after.

[Nykonax 1,570]

1 minute ago, diamond_ace said:

I pulled you in the 3rd, I'm not taking Szita in the 1st. 

to be fair I had just created.

[diamond_ace 3,114]

Looking back at that draft, I'd have probably grabbed Warren in the 1st rather than risking the Oslo pick in between, then likely Sulerzyski in the 2nd, I remember thinking he was going to be a steal. Obviously that didn't turn out too great for Vegas who got him, but I'd still have taken him over Famished

[Peace 1,562]

I wish the VHLM had more years with the players, but I understand why most players only play two seasons on the minors. It's not impossible to keep being competitive in the VHLM, certainly every team has an opportunity if they sign some out of the park prospects with decent drafts. It's almost more beneficial to just keep your draft picks every season, draft a consistent core, and build through that free agency. 

Both Ottawa and Halifax have consistently been a threat in the VHLM, it's pretty impressive. 

 

[McWolf 3,116]

To come back on the article; I was in a weird spot last season, with Madden forfeiting TPE to come back in the M, MacKinnon, Flipachyev, Smith as top tier inactive depth. I made a couple of promising picks in the draft, then got some crazy ass kids in the waivers early in the season and that pushed us into the tier of contenders. Yukon and Saskatoon had pretty much already sold everything they could, other teams weren't buying much anymore (up until Oslo decided to sell). I was kind of forced into the middle but, then again, we won some big games against both Ottawa and Las Vegas all season so I knew we had chances entering the playoffs. We were not favourites, of course, but we were not going down so easily.

[diamond_ace 3,114]

Just now, Peace said:

I wish the VHLM had more years with the players, but I understand why most players only play two seasons on the minors. It's not impossible to keep being competitive in the VHLM, certainly every team has an opportunity if they sign some out of the park prospects with decent drafts. It's almost more beneficial to just keep your draft picks every season, draft a consistent core, and build through that free agency. 

Both Ottawa and Halifax have consistently been a threat in the VHLM, it's pretty impressive. 

 

If you're simply looking to contend, I can see the argument for keeping your picks and trying to win on new guys. If you want to actually win the cup, if you see no real value in finishing 3rd every season, then you kind of have to target a season and go for it.

[Peace 1,562]

Just now, diamond_ace said:

If you're simply looking to contend, I can see the argument for keeping your picks and trying to win on new guys. If you want to actually win the cup, if you see no real value in finishing 3rd every season, then you kind of have to target a season and go for it.

Exactly what I'm doing with Saskatoon for this next entry draft, and exactly what I did for Saskatoon to win in S63. 

Dtayl left me in a strange position. For the S64 VHLM Dispersal Draft, Saskatoon had two firsts, two fourths, two fifths and I turned that into two thirds, a fourth, and two fifths in exchange for having three first round picks and three second round picks and a third round pick in S65's VHLM Entry Draft. I suspect that Saskatoon will likely contend consistently after this point as it'll truly be a 'clean slate' any GM would love to work under.  

[ShawnGlade 1,010]

I'll openly admit my GMing style is wacky and in theory shouldnt work, but I'd argue Halifax could be considered successful based on 3 pretty damn good playoff runs in a row. Obviously your chances of making the playoffs every season are high, but I'd argue that a team that has finished top 3 three times in a row and had 2 finals appearances, and a game 7 in that other season, is pretty damn good. S63 and S64 Hali had really no assets worth anything but both times made em count. Yeah, Halifax needs a cup to actually be considered a success, but IMO they've already reached a scary status of something that is unheard of

[diamond_ace 3,114]

week 2

[diamond_ace 3,114]

week 3

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

On 2/24/2019 at 8:23 PM, Peace said:

I wish the VHLM had more years with the players, but I understand why most players only play two seasons on the minors. It's not impossible to keep being competitive in the VHLM, certainly every team has an opportunity if they sign some out of the park prospects with decent drafts. It's almost more beneficial to just keep your draft picks every season, draft a consistent core, and build through that free agency. 

Both Ottawa and Halifax have consistently been a threat in the VHLM, it's pretty impressive. 

 

if the VHLM didnt count as seasons after the VHL draft I would gladly stay down in the M but it just doesn't make sense player wise to me to essentially waste even just 1 season of my career.

[TheLastOlympian07 2,388]

Review

This is a nice article on how the middle pack teams could pick up some championships with some good sim luck. Not good enough to 'contend' but not good enough to tank is a tough place to be but in a smaller league like VHL/M it isn't such a bad place to be as you can be a darkhorse if you dont pick a side.