Are we witnessing a lost generation?

[Victor 10,536]

Not to alarm you, but this was the fourth season in the VHL for the S62 draft class, with S63s about to come off their entry-level contracts. This is effectively the midpoint of VHL careers, when we start to separate the superstars from the busts, and really see who's on track for the Hall of Fame. Given the high standards set by previous generations, there's a lot of ground to make up if you aren't putting up big stats and challenging for awards for at least some of the first half of your career.

 

The odd thing is, none of this has really happened for these two drafts yet. This is despite having potentially the most fertile ground for production since Season 1, with lots of mediocre to outright bad drafts immediately preceding S62. Following the retirement of the (very defense-heavy) remnants of the last good draft class, S57, last year, and now Jasper Canmore after this season, the TPE leaderboard is increasingly S62/S63-centric. There are currently seven older players with whom this generation needs to compete. You've got Veran Dragomir and Oyorra Arroyo, the only elite players from S60, who have finally strung together seasons befitting their ability, as well as Podrick Cast and Matt Thompson, probably the only two active players who can be pretty confident about their Hall of Fame chances. Cast and Thompson are joined by three other S61 – Louth, Preencarnacion, and Ironside, who have taken different routes to the top but are all firmly in the elite tier of the VHL.

 

So that's really not that much to compete with. Yes, the players who have stuck around from earlier drafts should now have an advantage of S62s and younger players for the rest of this careers, but there is only a handful of them and they are all forwards. However, there just hasn't been a challenge from anyone. If we look at everyone who hit 90 points this season (13 players, which is quite low), seven of them are the players mentioned above. There's an even older player in The Charm from S59 with a career season with 97 points, and quite surprisingly two S64 players – Elias Dahlberg and Mark Gebauer who made massive strides from their rookie seasons. The remaining three slots are the only ones which go to S62-S63 generation, with Vyacheslav Smirnov, Rylan Peace, and Jake Davis all hitting 100 points this season. Smirnov is indeed probably the only players from the drafts who can be fully content with his career so far (playoffs notwithstanding), largely thanks to a historic rookie season.

 

Why is this the case? It's not immediately clear to be honest. There's no quirky player builds which would explain the lack of production, other than with 864 TPE Rauno Palo, but he seems broadly content, despite just having his best season yet eith a mere 66 points. There's no terrible goalies in the league (other than rookie Joe Nixon in Moscow this season), but also it's very clearly not a goalie-dominated era, with guys like Pepper, Kriketers, and Kingfisher still struggling for consistency. There is a good level of league parity and few teams which would be expected to be blown out of the water because of terrible defences... but at the same time, no defenceman has shone particularly brightly either. Joseph McWolf looked like he broke through last season but then reverted back to his rookie numbers in S65. Maxim Kovalchuk has had a good time of it so far, with Valiq and Wylde Trophies to his name already, with more to very likely come this season but is again an exception that proves the rule.

 

All in all, it's a strange dynamic in the league at the moment, with well-known names thriving in the exact same conditions in which the younger generation can't seem to take the next step. This could and should change soon but can only be frustrating, with for instance first overall picks Ryan Kastelic and Leph Twinger still finding their feet in the VHL despite not letting up on TPE earning. Certainly Vesto Slipher had enough when he announced his retirement at the trade deadline and it wouldn't be a suprise to see others follow soon if the situation doesn't change. That would probably be the biggest shame of them all.

[Nykonax 1,550]

Just now, Victor said:

and quite surprisingly two S64 players – Elias Dahlberg

Not suprising

[oilmandan 686]

48 minutes ago, Nykonax said:

Not suprising

Suprising they let Dahlberg play, when nobody makes a helmet big enough to fit him 

 

Could be newer players are having trouble separating themselves from the pack, because there is such a glut of skill players all around the same level. There are 21 players from S62,S63 between 600 and 900 tpe 

[Victor 10,536]

1 minute ago, oilmandan said:

Suprising they let Dahlberg play, when nobody makes a helmet big enough to fit him 

 

Could be newer players are having trouble separating themselves from the pack, because there is such a glut of skill players all around the same level. There are 21 players from S62,S63 between 600 and 900 tpe 

Still surely someone has to step up, usually someone is favoured by the sim if nothing else.

 

Lots of guys I couldn't even mention like you or Borwinn or Crimson etc etc. It's baffling.

[Nykonax 1,550]

Just now, Victor said:

Still surely someone has to step up, usually someone is favoured by the sim if nothing else.

 

Lots of guys I couldn't even mention like you or Borwinn or Crimson etc etc. It's baffling.

Could be based on teams though, like dan said there's a lot of 600-900 tpe players, so not many people higher than that who would stand out on teams. Looking at teams like Riga, they have a lot of talent, but still no 100 point scorers, but a team like Davos with 300 tpe 2nd liners had 2 100 point scorers, so seems like what team you play on will factor largely into this.

[oilmandan 686]

7 minutes ago, Victor said:

Still surely someone has to step up, usually someone is favoured by the sim if nothing else.

 

Lots of guys I couldn't even mention like you or Borwinn or Crimson etc etc. It's baffling.

Could also be that the majority are 1st generation players and are still learning how STHS reacts to their attributes. Maybe once people are able to fine tune things, there might be some that pull away

[.sniffuM 1,741]

Wish I didn't switch to defense so I could be cool enough to be mentioned in this article. 

[hedgehog337 3,480]

11 minutes ago, Victor said:

Lots of guys I couldn't even mention like you or Borwinn or Crimson etc etc. It's baffling.

 

tbf Crimson had a good season from the second line. So maybe he'll have a real success very soon.