Historical Significance

[Victor 10,565]

I'm back for a week again. Maybe more.

219: Brovalenko's Significance for Quebec

GM changes are increasingly rare in the VHL with two or three in an off-season above the recent average. People now like to stick around for longer and see out a full rebuild hopefully peaking in a championship or two, while Calgary's Jason Glasser is on the verge of an all-time record (he already has managed for the most consecutive seasons with 15). Quebec's Frank Chadwick is one of the few who breaks that mould, having recently stepped down as GM after merely four seasons in charge. In that, he kept on track with history by almost matching his previous tenure in Davos: two cups and a firesale fit into just three seasons.

By handing the reins over to the young Sergey Brovalenko, Frank ticked another history box – things have essentially come full circle as the GM of the Meute is now the Meute's first ever draft pick (tenth overall in Season 31). Brovalenko's time in Quebec was short-lived, locker room issues catalysing his move away before a generation defined by three Valiqs and a notable splash in free agency. Now, having come back as agent in last off-season's trade for Bruno Wolf, “Brovy” is set to stick around for a while.

He has definitely embraced the culture of the Quebec City Meute immediately. This is not a patient franchise or one afraid to make a splash. Indeed, in an off-season which was at risk of being a slow one due to lack of obvious sellers, Brovalenko has made all six (five really ignoring the two-part deal with Calgary separated by less than 30 minutes) trades to date. The motivations behind some of the deals may be questioned, with some selling and some buying, but in essence the Meute have opened themselves a wider window of contention; they tried and failed to catch up to New York and Riga, and will now instead aim for Cologne and Helsinki instead.

It shouldn't be surprising which trade is particularly notable for its very Quebecois nature (in more ways than one if you consider opposing GM Benoit Prevost). A franchise which sent shockwaves during Pavel Koradek's reign by trading two drafts' worth of picks for Wesley Kellinger, now sent a whopping four first-round picks for two unproven S40 draftees. You could look at this in numerous ways. Perhaps the Meute set their own valuation by previously trading a second overall pick (Mason Richardson) for three firsts. This may well be the current market for any good player (in essence Quebec traded Matt Bentley to get Wesley Matthews) and has been for a while (I myself made similar trades in Davos though not as newsworthy because they were with different teams). One thing's for certain, this will be a deal to be revisited in the future.

Quebec's VHL history may be insignificant compared to other franchises, but Brovalenko is proving increasingly significant to theirs. One GM change has made the off-season so far and has further prolonged the convenient expansion franchise storyline: while Cologne builds patiently through the draft, Quebec lives for the blockbuster moves.

[STZ 5,288]

Thanks for subitting duude

[Victor 10,565]

220: Breaking Down the S40 VHL Awards Ceremony

The VHL awards ceremony invariably provides us with lots of stats, feats, facts, and words, but how can one sort the useless from the useful information? In what may become a regular feature on Historical Significance, I will attempt to run through all the important achievements and just interesting accomplishments from the recent awards ceremony.

The Obvious One

Conner Low, though... he may now be a forward, but the New York Americans defenceman didn't make the switch before making history and winning a record fifth Sterling Labatte Trophy. Combined with his Bourque Trophy in S35, Low has been the VHL or VHLM's top blue-liner for six consecutive seasons and will be a massive loss in the position. Having overcome Daniel Braxton by one win and Labatte, Walser, Jenskovic, and Sullivan by two, these five seasons will now be the body of work by which Low is judged as a defenceman. It is up for debate whether his dominance is due more to himself or lack of competion, but statisticially, Low would rank among the league's best in any season, but how often he would be best will be what separates him from generational great to all-time best.

A less publicised record by Low was his third Alexander Beketov Trophy. Leading the league in assists has been notoriously difficult to achieve more than once and Low has not only become the first back-to-back winner of the award but also overcame a mere handful of players to win it twice, including Beketov. This is a trophy he can still defend as he takes up the Odin Tordahl role in New York, the only other player to lead the league in assists in the past four seasons. How seamlessly Low's transition up front will prove to be will be decisive in where he ranks eventually among the VHL's greatest ever players.

A Moment for the Cup Winners

Following expansion, it has become possible to win the championship by playing more than two rounds, but very few eventual winners have needed to rack up the 12 wins: in both the VHL and VHLM the first round bye has proved essential in the vast majority of seasons. In fact, the Riga Reign and Bratislava Watchmen were the first champions to start the playoffs in round one since Season 33, when the feat was accomplished by... the Riga Reign and Bratislava Watchmen.

The post-season is just a whole new season, isn't it? The New York Americans may be starting to feel that way despite aiming for a fourth straight Victory Cup in S41, having matched a long-standing record by the dominant S4-S6 Seattle Bears this past campaign. Their dominance over 72 games has translated to just one Continental Cup in three though. In fact, having failed to win it following a 121-point Season 40, the Americans joined four other 121+ point teams since Season 13, all of whom failed to win the one that matters.

Other Bits and Pieces

Niklas Lindberg's 35 votes to secure the Brett Slobodzian Trophy matched Michal Wozniak's total in Season 35 (fittingly) which was when finally someone beat the inaugural winner from Season 11, Jonathan Matthas', 34 votes.

Thomas O'Malley had one of the greatest rookie seasons in recent times and while his 110 points were still some way behind Christian Stolzschweiger and Jardy Bunclewirth, he did one-up them in one way: O'Malley's +71 rating was the highest of any top rookie in VHL history.

Last but not least, retiring goaltender Lennox Moher was an atypical Aidan Shaw Trophy winner. An award generally won by teams with 45-50 or more wins, Moher set a record by claiming it with just 25, lower even than Maxim Desny's S2 tally. Not only that, but Moher's GAA over 2.00 was the first such for a winner since Benjamin Glover in S25, the only other top goalie to do so since before Aidan Shaw's first trophy win. Oh and having been traded to Quebec midway through the season, Moher also became the first winner to split the season between teams since Adrian McCreath way back in Season 7.

[Victor 10,565]

Conner Low, Though, Again

Four decades in, you'd think there is almost no VHL history left to re-write, but this generation of the New York Americans seem set on doing just that. It's been almost impossible to track it all, from Tuomas Tukio's magnificent one-season stand in Season 38 to Odin Tordahl's three straight top scorer seasons (first to do so since Scotty Campbell himself). The team has clearly benefited from their talented individuals and now target another record: four straight Victory Cups. Come to think of it, it should probably come as little surprise, given that New York's two captains since Season 36 have been the mesmerising Tordahl and of course, Conner Low.

Low really did it all as a defenceman, with a record five Labattes and three Beketovs. When you consider that even with these accomplishments he was not guaranteed to go down as the greatest defender of all-time, the decision to switch to right wing for two seasons becomes much less puzzling: why stop at possibly maybe best defenceman when you can just be the greatest ever, full stop? After all, should he keep up his current league-leading pace over both Season 41 and 42, the arguments against Low will dwindle to negligible. It is all hypothetical of course and the season is young, but if Low transfers his dominance of the blue line up front, then he will have been the best at his job for seven straight seasons. Who else can boast of such accomplishments?

Indeed, how would you compare this hypothetical all-conquering Conner Low to any other former great? He will never match Scotty Campbell's offensive stats this late in his career or in fact Leeroy Jenkins' or even Brannan Anthony and Lasse Milo's. Does that make him worse than the latter two or not worthy to be considered as good as the first two? No, but it makes the comparison that much harder. What we need is someone who spent enough time in two positions to carve a Hall of Fame career worthy of either one.

Matt Bailey

Forward (S12-S15): 3 Scott Boulet Trophies, 1 Howe, 1 Joe Malone Memorial, 1 Continental Cup

Defenceman (S16-S19): 1 Sterling Labatte Trophy, 1 Mikita, 1 Playoff Top Scorer, 1 Continental Cup

Of course I had an example handy and now I shall embark on a futile revisionist quest and try to make Bailey seem the greatest player of his generation. His was a dark time in VHL history, in terms of activity, but not without its talent, first and foremost Grimm Jonsson, three-time MVP and the real “second Campbell”. That was a title which would have well belonged to Bailey. He was the first overall pick of a hyped Season 12 draft, with three very similar prospects vying to go to Helsinki. Bailey was willing to GM the struggling franchise and ultimately led them to the cup, thus also vindicating then-GM Dominik Stryker as he did become the best player of the draft. As forward though, Bailey never really came close to his top scoring ambitions and for the good of the team made the switch to defence prior to Season 16. Eventually splitting his career into two exact halves as forward and defenceman, Bailey excelled in both positions like no one else, one of the greatest two-way forwards and a superb blue-liner too.

Low has already far exceeded Bailey's accomplishments on defence. He now has two seasons to do the same on offence (and he's well equipped having filled the void left by Tordahl). If you think Matt Bailey is worthy of consideration among the greatest players in VHL history, then Conner Low has all the tools to take that title one step further. Watch this space.

[Victor 10,565]

223: Like Father, Like Son?

Naturally, there have not been a whole lot of father/son combos in the VHL, though it is impressive enough that it's been going on for so long that, in a parallel universe where every season is a year and thus the VHL has been running for over 40 years, seeing sons of former VHL players is realistic. It's also helped that the combinations have been oddly fitting. Sterling Labatte was, and arguably still is, the league's best defenceman, and so Alexander made as good a case as possible these days to be the greatest goaltender. Noah and James Lefevre played in different eras for teams with a rival history (Toronto and Seattle) yet were equally under-rated due to little offensive output but prolific in hits and blocked shots. James did what his father couldn't and go into the 1,000/1,000 club, in fact becoming the only pure defenceman (no time spent as forward) to have 2,000 career hits.

So keeping up with this pattern, the son of Season 8 top scorer and MVP Mike Szatkowski, second only to Scotty Campbell in career points (third in goals, fourth in assists), was bound to be a success in the VHL. Or so it would seem, though in reality more than half of Szatkowski Jr.'s career has passed before he really started to assert his dominance in a very different position: in goal.

Much like James Lefevre, the younger Szatkowski was brought into the VHL while his father was a team's GM. Szatkowski Sr., top GM in Season 9 as he won the Continental Cup in Toronto and again in Season 33 as he did likewise with Riga, was starting a fresh rebuilding effort and doing so with a focus on the S36 draft. Szatkowski Jr. was to be the franchise goaltender to round out this core, to which additional pieces would be added every season starting in S37, ultimately resulting in, after several conference final shortcomings, a dominant late season display and a deserved championship in Season 40. The main objective was met, now individual glory is on the horizon.

This generation of the Reign has been conspicuous by its near absence from the awards ceremony and perennial underachievement offensively. I have been shocked to find that even this season, with a cluster of elite forwards and little depth, Riga has continued to struggle to score goals, in fact outscoring only the deeply rebuilding Stockholm, Davos, and Seattle as it stands. This is a marked contrast to the Calgary Wranglers, a team with two skaters over 300 TPE, the most a depreciated 400 TPE defenceman Tony Stark. Yet while Calgary seems to be stealing Riga's goals, their star player, Martin Brookside, who I was considering predicting for MVP honours (ultimately deciding the Wranglers would miss the playoffs, still a possibility), has been at his best ever, but somehow not the outstanding player on his team. It's been very much the opposite in Riga, in possession of one of the best defensive records in the VHL. Some of the credit is due to possibly the best defensive trio in the league, but there have been many occasions where the team was saved by Mike Szatkowski's Jr.'s heroics, which has kept them very much in the mix of a very unpredictable and competitive European Conference.

With a two-man tandem leading the way in Quebec, team efforts in New York and Calgary, and no other stand-out performers, Szatkowski Jr. has my midseason vote to emulate his father and be crowned league MVP in Season 41. With a save percentage far superior to the competition and still a pace where he can challenge the single-season shutouts record (19, set in S27), it would be a deserved honour as it stands, and a very fitting one.

[Victor 10,565]

I'm back?

Sam Helberg Builder Article

Joined: June 22, 2009

Member Number: 4,741

Positions Held: VHL & VHLM General Manager, VHL Financier, Media Spot Grader, Updater, VHL Statistician and Junior Historian

Sam Helberg, known best of all as Streetlight, and some might remember him back long enough when he was simply Fayt, has been in the VHL for almost as long as myself, providing for short stints of inactivity. One of those times away from the league ultimately took away an opportunity to become commissioner, but apart from that, it's probably easier to name the positions Streetlight hasn't held for the league. Every VHL era needs its known leaders but also guys behind the scenes and constructive critics, and for many years Streetlight was that indispensable member. His induction as Builder symbolises that the main part of his “building” is now in the past, but history suggests we have not seen the last of this member.

Coming into the league as Fayt, for his player Fayt Leingod, a Season 12 draftee, Streetlight didn't necessarily seem like someone who would stick around for more than one player. He was involved and appeared to be an instant hit with his teammates in Davos, but remained an under-the-radar member. A quick search of his posts back in those long-forgotten days will show that even then we could see the signature Streetlight style of semi-ironic posts containing suggestions and criticisms which others wouldn't voice, but this is with the benefit of hindsight more than anything else. The road to Hall of Fame induction didn't start until Helberg got his break and became GM of the New York Americans for the first time, an offer I didn't plan in the long-term but am happy to have to him. Streetlight had held prior positions with Davos as VHLM GM and co-GM and at last would get the job which would, through his second tenure, define him in a VHL context.

GMing is an often under-rated job, especially when in the hands of an individual particularly keen to help the league and its activity. Streetlight, in his second stint with New York especially, was just that, creating a dynasty which went on to 11 straight playoff appearances and numerous finals. His activity was rewarded in terms of personal success as Benjamin Glover was inducted into the Hall of Fame (previous players did not lack in TPE but retired much too early to stake a claim, often for the greater good of New York). The Americans were a reliable source of energy and activity, and though disliked by some, they were a memorable team from top to bottom, starting with the leadership and ending with all the players. Streetlight's New York was involved in a famous rivalry with Seattle, a team he represented himself in a famous rivalry with Toronto, while also being part of some outspoken Davos squads. Drama is a key catalyst of the VHL's survival at times and sometimes it is worth noticing who is most prominent in historic incidents as it is a telling list of who put the most effort into the league at the time.

In addition to being a great GM, the VHL's second decade also saw Streetlight's rise to prominence in important league affairs by taking charge of league finances and contributing greatly to records and statistics. He continues to contribute to the latter, while his consistency in the position of financier undoubtedly played a big part in his commissioner consideration while also setting an example for successors to come. Unfortunately, successors have had to be found since Streetlight did take a step back from the league around Season 31, shortly after another important contribution: the founding of the hugely successful VHLM expansion franchise the Yukon Rush. Nonetheless, he remains an active part of the VHL and though it has been extremely difficult to give justice to his immense contributions over five real life years to the league, the bottom line remains is the league will only benefit should Streetlight ever return to his Builder peak.

[STZ 5,288]

Is this for 227 or 228? Are we supposed to be posting the HOF stuff in Mag?

[Victor 10,565]

I have in the past.

[Victor 10,565]

***I bought a free week so I'll submit this while it's fresh but miss out on 230.

229: S41 Historical Awards Ceremony Breakdown

Hello all, it has been a while since I contributed a regular piece for the magazine but the off-season always gets the most activity out of me and more importantly, it is time for the second annual awards ceremony historical breakdown! Season 41 has officially closed for business and that means we can look at which achievements are particularly notable in a 41-season VHL context.

The Obvious Ones

Conner Low's move from All-Star starter to just All-Star (i.e. defenceman to forward) took away the chance to again praise his record-breaking sixth consecutive Sterling Labatte Trophy win. Despite this, the New York Americans have not lost possession of this trophy. Matt Bentley at last came out of Low's shadow to win the trophy and thus make it 11 New York wins in the past 15 seasons. Daniel Braxton, Ryan Sullivan, Low, and now Bentley have claimed the award as theirs and on two occasions, it were Braxton and Sullivan playing on different teams who won at New York's expense. With Bentley remaining the odds-on favourite in his last season, there is every chance of the Americans extending their exceptional run.

It's not just about the defence either in New York, who, quite predictably, in addition to a fairly rare second Continental Cup in three seasons, also claimed a record fourth consecutive Victory Cup as the regular season's top team. At last Seattle's long-standing record from Seasons 4 to 6 has been broken and much like the Labatte run, you wouldn't bet against the Americans adding to their streak in Season 42.

The mastermind behind team and individual triumphs, GM Chris Miller, won his third David Knight Trophy as the league's top GM, tying in first place Calgary's recently retired Jason Glasser and Mike Szatkowski, formerly of Toronto and much more recently Riga. It seems far-fetched that Miller wins again next season even if New York should defend their title and win three in four seasons, but a successful retool or rebuild, provided he sticks around, would vault Miller into a much-deserved clear cut first place in the all-time GM rankings.

Expansion Firsts

Season 41 was the eleventh since expansion and while the Bratislava Watchmen and Yukon Rush celebrated by contesting the final and adding to their collection of a whopping eight cumulative triumphs, the VHL's expansion franchises have not had it so easy. As their enter their second competitive cycles, the Quebec City Meute and Cologne Express still have many milestones to potentially look forward to, with the Meute hitting some with a superb offensive season by deadly duo Bruno Wolf and Aksel Thomassen. Between them, they claimed both expansion franchises' first Brett Slobodzian, Scott Boulet, Mike Szatkowski, and Alexander Beketov Trophies. After a decade starved of real offensive superstars, with the exception of Cologne's Kameron Taylor, top goal-scorer in Season 37 split between the Express and the Reign, it is nice to see more great players defining these franchises.

There is, of course, now added motivation for the Express to not fall behind the Meute's success, as Quebec is now combining their one championships with regular season success. Cologne's lone “expansion first” in S41 was Thomas O'Malley's most sportsmanlike award. They will be hoping both O'Malley and Mason Richardson reproduce their rookie season form in the near future as both franchises go all in to win the Continental Cup.

Other Tidbits

Speaking of rookies, Toronto's Sachimo Zoidberg impressed by beating O'Malley's rookie points total by one, as well as matching Jardy Bunclewirth's Season 18 output of 54 goals. It's still a way off the trophy's namesake Christian Stolzschweiger, but Zoidberg has emerged as a genuine threat to Season 40's big two of O'Malley and Richardson, despite being “just” the fifth overall pick.

Finally, MVP splits between this generation's two stand-out goalies and rivals, New York's Brick Wahl and Mike Szatkowski Jr. Mike won the pair's first Shaw as well, and vindicated my mid-season MVP prediction and even dragged Riga to Game 7 of the finals, but there he was overshadowed by Wahl. Though regular season success continued to elude him, Brick, despite a worse performance than his previous two seasons, won a second Daisuke Kanou Trophy, the only goalie to do so apart from, well, Daisuke Kanou.

[Victor 10,565]

231: Is this the most parity the VHL has ever seen?

You may have noticed but everyone seems to beating everyone in the VHL these days. Yes, it's only the start of the season and the schedule allows for some lucky breaks such as Seattle's brief title aspirations but this does not excuse young teams like Toronto, Davos, and Stockholm (and Seattle) and even the clearly tanking Riga and Calgary from beating cup contenders on a regular basis. It's not really a one-off, with one of my (now possibly defunct) 40 in 40 series articles on playoff races in Seasons 36 and 37. For various reasons, it looks as though this era of parity is set to continue.

While Calgary and Riga will probably not be as good next season as much of their success is owed to currently owning veterans Robert Gow III, Robin Gow, and Brennan McQueen, they will be hoping to soon bounce back based on the same reason why Toronto, Davos, Stockholm, and Seattle are looking so good for the future: excellent drafts. Though S39 was a bit of a red herring, the S40 draft has certainly lived up to its hype without its stars even reaching their prime yet and it was followed by strong S41 and S42 additions, with S43 looking deep so far too. In the past, the best drafts of a generation, including the great S18 edition, were too often surrounded by lacklustre neighbours, resulting in failed rebuilds for teams with unlucky timing and usually a few stacked squads at the expense of parity. Such an embarrassment of riches as now is unheard of in the VHL and hence we are in a situation where no franchise can really be deemed in a hopeless situation.

Large credit also has to go to smart GMing for the most part over the past decade or so. The salary cap and TPE inflation make building a dynasty much harder than simply stacking up picks in one draft and compromises have to be made, such as cup champions and favourites New York leaving huge gaps in their roster to accommodate five 1,000 TPE players. Cologne and Helsinki, the two European contenders, both look quite weak compared to conference champions of the past but you can't say that they are on the verge of collapse and trying to win a cup with their last breaths. The impending retirements of the league's oldest goaltenders Martin Brookside, Brick Wahl, and Mike Szatkowski Jr. at the end of S43 raises a few questions but with Stockholm stockpiling goalies, potential GM recreates, and a few more drafts to come, there is ample opportunity to address those issues.

It's a bit of a pipe dream expecting no team to be in full rebuild mode in Season 44 or 45 (one of New York, Cologne, Helsinki, or Quebec is bound to use the competitive market to sell off assets), but this doesn't mean we shouldn't enjoy the most parity in VHL history. Truly, that is not hyperbole. Though you may think that the league was more balanced at the start, it was in Season 1 that the greatest (probably forever) regular season record of 69-3 was had by the Calgary Wranglers. Calgary, later Seattle, and even Vasteras came to dominate those early days, and this was a pattern to continue for the rest of the pre-expansion VHL, where near the end of the 30s playoff crossover was implemented to ensure the half of the league trying to compete actually got into the playoffs. With current TPE levels, a strict salary cap, and excellent draft classes, that is a situation that probably won't be seen again for a long time.

[Victor 10,565]

* - will miss 233 as I am out of the country

232: Wolf and Thomassen: The Most Prolific Duo Ever?

Last season, Quebec City Meute's Aksel Thomassen and Bruno Wolf finished one and two in league scoring, respectively. Wolf led the league in goals and won the Scott Boulet Trophy with a strong two-way game, while Thomassen took most assists and was considered the most improved player in the league of the two impressive break-through campaigns. Such two-player dominance is far from unheard of in the VHL: Tukka Reikkinen and Lasse Milo did it on some terrible Vasteras teams over ten seasons ago, the Calgary Wranglers dominated offensively for years at the start of the last decade and even a cup favourite, the S36 Helsinki Titans, was carried by the league's top two scorers in Ethan Osborne and Anatoli Zhumbayev. This proved to be their downfall too as is the case with most such stories: the dominant duos are often caused by a lack of equal depth, though in the case of Quebec there is an impressive backup in second-line center Travis Boychuk. In fact, his presence and the team's overall development made a repeat of Thomassen and Wolf's feats in S42 unlikely.

Yet here we are, almost halfway through the season, and there seems no hope of anyone catching up to Thomassen and Wolf. It's remarkable but this outspoken pair could end up going down as one of the most prolific in VHL history. The perfect combo of a hard hitter and a guy who doesn't hit at all, a sniper and a playmaker, on a team with championship aspirations but which remains an outside shot at winning (despite currently leading the league in points), Thomassen and Wolf are bucking the trend in managing to keep up their immense chemistry at a high level for more than one season.

In all of the examples provided above, season-to-season consistency was non-existent. Trades, changing lines, or just worse offensive team output affected every Hall of Famer over the years and striking a reliable long-term partnership with another one is unlikely from the start. If we go back to the VHL's first decade, an attacking paradise of shots, goals, and save percentages, even there longevity is an issue. Scotty Campbell jumped teams too often to form constant partnerships and at his peak, during those insane high-scoring days of S4-S5 Seattle, it's hard to say who would have made up the second part of his duo, so many future Hall of Famers like Alex McNeil, Matt Defosse, Brannan Anthony, and Dust'n Funk had career years on that team as well. The man Campbell was once traded for, Mike Szatkowski, formed a few stellar partnerships over the years but one great season with Alexander Beketov probably overshadowed several good performances alongside Anthony – on the whole, Thomassen and Wolf are aspiring to a higher level.

In the more modern era, multiple Scott Boulet Trophy winner J.D. Stormwall and the man who gave the name to the Most Sportsmanlike award, Mikka Virkkunen, seem like the perfect comparison in their five full seasons together for Calgary and Riga. Unfortunately, though their peaks coincided, they were rarely linemates, Stormwall providing second-line depth, most famously with the young Jardy Bunclewirth, while Virkkunen stole the show up top. That blueprint though was eventually taken by Phil Rafter and David Smalling, probably the two furthest extremes possible in terms of playing style, but who achieved considerable success on Davos. Rafter, the only recent addition to the 400-goal club, had more notable offensive seasons earlier and Smalling only combined his record-breaking hitting game with lots of points once post-championship Davos was stripped to its bare bones, allowing Rafter and Smalling to profit. This is not to take away from a formidable partnership but the opportunity is there for Thomassen and Wolf to one-up them and should they keep up their pace in S42, back-to-back seasons dominating the scoring leaderboards will certainly see them remembered with yet more time to build a legacy.

[Victor 10,565]

As mentioned in the first paragraph here, hiatus beckons. However, once I'm back with the new player, I'll be back to weekly submissions since I'll actually need the TPE then. New era cometh, see you in ~6-8 weeks. <3

235: Why New York might be the VHL's Greatest Ever Dynasty

Soon after the publication of this edition of the VHL magazine, the Season 42 regular season will come to an end. With it, comes to an end the updating career of Matt Bentley and there will be no new player until the next trade deadline. Thus, a brief hiatus for this segment will ensue (not exactly a first, I know) and it feels like the end of an era more so than previously. Having created Historical Significance during Season 37, I have put into context a whole generation of the VHL and there has been one team which has undoubtedly defined this generation: the New York Americans.

It is not necessarily bias as I have only been an American for two seasons myself which has allowed Bentley to mooch off this team's ridiculous success which I could only envy while writing about it from Davos and Quebec earlier on. Tuomas Tukio's ridiculous regular season, Brick Wahl's playoff heroics, the incredible careers of Odin Tordahl and Conner Low are just the highlights of a five-season stretch where any good (or even decent) player on New York has experienced almost unrivalled individual and team success. With the conclusion of this season and Bentley's career, we will also know whether the Americans will add to their record haul of four straight Victory Cups, but whether they do or not is of little significance at this point. Already, this dynasty (and two cups to date mean this is a deserved definition) built by one of VHL's greatest ever GMs Chris Miller has managed to find the long-sought mix of regular season and playoff success, as a team and individually.

That is much harder than it may seem and often some great playoff teams were not renowned for great regular season achievements (or had great regular season and great post-season in different years). There is something very complete about a team which is the best in the regular season and the playoffs with New York's high point probably when they won the cup and 10 individual awards in Season 39 (matching S19 Calgary). Certainly, regular season is not always the best indicator of the absolute best team in the league, but it's hard to argue of any point where the Americans, on paper, were not the favourites going into any game over these five seasons. They've backed it up with these four Victory Cups and two Continental Cups. When they didn't win in the playoffs, there were clear mitigating factors: in S38, it was a stupendous goaltending performance by Remy LeBeau for an inferior Toronto Legion squad. New York proved their superiority over both Toronto and Davos by demolishing the Dynamo the following season. In Season 40, the Riga Reign after acquiring Niklas Lindberg and Jarkko Olsen were the best team in the league in my opinion and they proved it in the playoffs, the only stretch (just 3 real life weeks) over 5 seasons where the Americans have not been the VHL's best roster.

Such longevity and consistency and their awards and achievements is what makes New York possibly the VHL's greatest ever dynasty. Some may have had even better high points, like the S4-S5 Seattle Bears or S24-S25 HC Davos Dynamo, but those teams' peaks were shorter and they were not always favourites. The S1-S9 Calgary Wranglers may come close but they never matched the force of their 69-3 regular season in S1 or their back-to-back triumphs in S2 and S3 following their playoff miss of Season 4. That team was a marathon runner not dissimilar to, but more successful than, New York's predecessors who made the playoffs for 11 straight seasons, but this Americans team has arguably outshone them all. It might have not been as long but it was longer than most and always bright.

[Victor 10,565]

236: Draft Lottery Significance

The Stockholm Vikings winning the draft lottery with Davos' pick was the most exciting and intriguing of all results possible. Not only was it the perfect example of the unpredictability of the draft lottery and the fact that the VHL does have an anti-tanking policy, but it even got me out of mag hiatus to write this piece on the historical significance of this development. Some of this may be a repetition of what myself and others said in the aftermath of the lottery but in any case, prepare yourself for the key facts of what could be a generation-defining draft lottery.

A Playoff Team with First Overall? Oh dear.

As correctly pointed out by YEAH! in the draft lottery thread, the last time a playoff team held the first overall pick was the HC Davos Dynamo in Season 23, as a result of a clever selling to Seattle a couple seasons earlier. It was moves like that with Seattle which allowed Davos to draft one of the VHL's greatest ever players Leeroy Jenkins which allowed the Dynamo to stay a contender and ultimately win two more cups (S24, S25) as part of the Kanou-Brekker dynasty. Of course, to draft Kanou first overall in S18, Davos had been fortunate to acquire the pick from Helsinki due to a lack of foresight on the Titans' behalf, but that season the Dynamo themselves finished second last.

Including S18 and S23, there have been nine instances ever of the first overall pick being held by someone other than the original team. Two occasions (S1, S5) don't really count as the picks were traded in the days leading up to the draft. Most others, like Helsinki's S39 pick of James Faraday, were the results of bad decisions but the benefiting team was also a lottery one (Helsinki's own choice was third overall in S39). So apart from the Jenkins draft, the only other previous incident of a playoff team holding the first overall selection was in S7 (by Avangard, Davos' predecessor, surely Davos had too much draft luck in the past), which was eventually traded to Stockholm and used on franchise center Layken Heidt.

Let's Talk About That Trade

So about Davos' draft luck... it's definitely come back to haunt them here. With Riga selling, last season's blockbuster with Stockholm essentially guaranteed the Vikings would have a lottery pick, but it will undoubtedly hurt more that it was Davos' and not Stockholm's in the lottery. It of course has to be said that the Dynamo needed Callum Sinclair and he is still on a strong path on the VHL, as they couldn't really afford to wait (and riskily assume winning the lottery) for Hans Wingate, but the trade was nonetheless a gross overpayment. Sufficient perhaps to be considered the most lopsided deal in VHL history.

It's remarkable how much over-reaction some trades have received which turned out to be balanced, irrelevant, or just small victories. In comparison, the Vikings/Dynamo trade seemed to split opinion and some went so far as to say that Stockholm lost – probably not an opinion which would hold up now that they have ended up with five VHL players for the price of one. With that trade and now this historic draft lottery win, Stockholm has reversed their franchise fortunes, crucially at the expense of Davos, one of luckiest franchises in VHL history - it could well be the start of a Vikings dynasty.

[Victor 10,565]

239: Significance of the Fall of the Titans

Helsinki Titans GM William Shaw's decision to sell this off-season was slightly surprising given the relative youth of the team and, on paper, its ability to compete for several season yet. However, having lost its two best forwards to retirement, having no breathing room salary cap-wise to replace them, too much TPE concentrated on defence and just one season left of a guaranteed elite goaltender, perhaps Helsinki's decision to not chase Cologne (and Stockholm) at the expense of their future was the most logical and prudent. Plus, it's a fairly common sight for contenders to hold massive firesales in the VHL, stockpiling draft picks to come back bigger and better than everyone.

The caveat here is that usually, teams finally pull the plug only after they have won at least one championship. Sometimes this cup arrives early and 3-4 seasons are wasted chasing another and sometimes it is the result of several years of selling the farm and more and more to finally grab that coveted trophy, but the Titans fall into neither of these categories. In the playoffs for just three consecutive seasons, with one playoff series win to their name (S41 first round), Helsinki has arguably fallen victim to the biggest change brought around by expansion: parity.

Prior to expansion, it was extremely rare to see a team try to compete and then rebuild without having won the Continental Cup. In 30 seasons, such instances can almost be counted on the fingers of one hand: most of them of course by Vasteras/Madrid in their long and futile (until S26) chase for a second championship. Toronto fell to Riga in a Game 7 in S16 and then to Seattle in Game 7 in S17 (they went on to sweep the final series), but exacted revenge by kickstarting a seven-season dynasty which in its peak pushed aside Seattle's own new generation. When the Bears came back bigger and better than ever in the Seattle Six era, they thwarted perhaps the most famous example, the Daniel Braxton/Benjamin Glover-led New York Americans, who spent eight seasons and five finals appearances trying to win their second cup and only did so after the duo's retirement.

Expansion isn't the only reason it has been tougher to win recently, as growing TPE numbers yet a static $32 million salary cap (since the start of S18) have contributed to teams having very little time to peak while hoping that no one better or luckier does so at the same time. The Calgary Wranglers and Seattle Bears, finalists in S30, have spent parts of these last 12 seasons trying to add to add to their cup collection but have only been to one final. The Vasteras Iron Eagles, now the promising Stockholm Vikings, have yet to get out of the first round since expansion, thrice in a row losing to the Reign, who themselves needed to go through three devastating losses to Davos to finally book a ticket to the championship.

Up to now, the Helsinki Titans as a franchise have avoided this fate. They had five good teams over the course of 40 seasons and won a Continental Cup with each core. This is uncharted territory for this neither great nor terrible VHL franchise and perhaps rebuilding this early will allow them to build their greatest dynasty in a few seasons' time. Until then, they will have to think on what could have been and watch from the sideline as the same fate inevitably befalls several of Quebec, Seattle, Toronto, Stockholm, and Davos.

P.S. By selling Wylde, Demko, Faraday, and Miller to Quebec, Seattle, and Toronto respectively, the Titans have sold to the exact same teams to which they had, after S36, traded Osborne, Weber, Tukio, and Zhumbayev. The VHL is cyclical, just need to sell someone to Davos (like Young back then) and hope this rebuild is more successful.

[Victor 10,565]

240: Thoughts on Significant Seasons (Part I)

The Season 42 Team Point Task titled “The Season” was a great success with all teams' submissions looking gorgeous and well-written. But were any important seasons missed out? I shall now examine each team's choice.

Quebec City Meute and Cologne Express

This was pretty easy. Excellent timing for the Express as they are now on par with the Meute with a cup each, the crowning achievements of two very well-run organisation who have never, for now 13 seasons, been accused of a lack of direction. The good health of these franchises is a good indicator of smart planning as their competing cycles and peaks have matched so far: during Season 35 Quebec won their cup and Cologne won their first and only playoff series until Season 42, while in Season 42 the two teams met in the finals, Cologne's first and Quebec's second trips.

Calgary Wranglers

As a member of the Calgary team PT crew, I have no qualms about this choice, my personal favourite season in VHL history. Bias aside, it was always fairly obvious that the Wranglers, with the second-most championships in league history, would pick a Cup-winning season and they have all been equally good in their separate ways. Could a more dominant season have been picked like Season 3 or Season 19? Perhaps, but the history of Calgary has often been one of the underdog bouncing back following unfortunate seasons/events and Season 18, possibly even more so than 2, 23, or 30, best exemplifies this in my opinion.

HC Davos Dynamo

Davos has usurped Calgary's crown as the league's best franchise even if you ignore their cup win in Avangard and I liked that they picked their first cup in Davos, in their first season in Davos, to focus on. It really gave us a taste of what was to come as the Dynamo have won in every single competing cycle to date, often more than just once per generation. In addition to being a refreshing choice in that Season 11 was a very long time ago, it just fits the franchise image, as this is what started the trend, even if many associate the franchise with Daisuke Kanou, Phil Rafter, or the recent four straight finals squad.

Helsinki Titans

The hipsters from Helsinki were the only team to profile a season where they didn't win a cup. It was an interesting choice, one I am not sure I entirely agree with, but if anyone was to do that, the Titans would be that team. Season 33 was remarkably their first Victory Cup win, their championship wins to date (S6, S15, S22, S27, S34) often coming when they were not overwhelming favourites. The one time they were pre-playoff favourites, they didn't win but Season 33 was one of two crown jewels of the only period of their history which Helsinki could legitimately call a dynasty. A defining season in terms of what a contradiction it was, this was perhaps the best choice if picking a specific one of the cup-winning teams proved too difficult a task.

Toronto, Seattle, Stockholm, Riga, and New York coming next week.

[Victor 10,565]

241: Thoughts on Significant Seasons (Part II)

After broadly agreeing with the defining season choices of Davos, Calgary, Helsinki, Quebec, and Cologne, here's a look at what the remaining five franchises picked to earn TPE for.

Toronto Legion

Toronto is basically the North American version of Helsinki. Four cups is probably less than you expect but it's not terrible either though the Legion had a few chances to add to that count. In fact, they have lost four Games 7s in the finals, tied for the record with Riga, and had a few conference final near misses as well. For this, they could have definitely gone down the route of the Titans and picked a time where a dominant regular season performance ended in playoff disappointment, like Season 10, 22, or 36. Season 9 was still a fine choice, their first great season and they're right to say that helped their reputation significantly, but while it was nice to see some teams going for ancient history, this is a franchise which could have gone for a more creative option.

Riga Reign

You could throw in Riga alongside Toronto and Helsinki, a franchise which had a dark patch in its history but has generally been consistently average, in the good sense of the word. If they had gone for the Titan mentality, then Season 32 (a ridiculous loss to New York of all teams) or Season 20 (one of the best offensive seasons ever ended in round one) would have worked. In any case, the Reign probably had the most disappointing selection for me as while it's understandable they had few people to help out and I still liked the very deserving Season 40 playoff run, I'd say any of Riga's previous three cup wins was more “significant”.

New York Americans

In preliminary discussions, sterling and I pushed for Season 14, the Americans' first and only cup for 31 seasons, but in truth, Season 32 was probably the better choice, not just for the availability of more information. In the last decade, New York has probably established itself as the VHL's best franchise in public consciousness and the underdog victory of S32 is what started that and ended a horrific run of 8 seasons and 5 finals with no championship. It may not define the whole New York history but it seems everyone has moved on from the Americans' iffy past anyway.

Stockholm Vikings / Vasteras

In stark contrast to New York, this franchise is still struggling to escape its old image of failure. Season 26 could have been Vasteras' Season 32, but by the time the Americans matched their cup count, the Iron Eagles had successfully pissed away any remaining legacy. I quite liked Streetlight's suggestion of doing one of Vasteras' terrible seasons to profile but without him at full capacity that was not feasible. So enter the predictable but still suitable Season 1, the performance which has overshadowed all the failure since and one which the Vikings now must try to escape.

Seattle Bears

Is Seattle becoming the new Vasteras? Four of their five cups were won by the end of Season 17, aka the era of no sim data left over, which might explain why they picked Season 28, one of just two finals appearances for the franchise since. In truth, I don't know why I am not more critical of Season 28 than I would have been if Vasteras picked Season 26, maybe it's because I remember the Bears being good and think that they are still defined by success more than failure. For now. Just.

[Victor 10,565]

246: Assessing the S36 Goaltenders

At some point in VHL history it became convenient to see goaltenders, past and present, in terms of generations. The trend probably started when there was a clearly defined “S18 era”, best known for the magnificent Aidan Shaw and Daisuke Kanou but not be forgotten are Jakob Kjeldsen and Joey Clarence. The S24 and S25 classes were then expected to provide several top-class replacements for the outgoing greats, though eventually it became a rivalry (on a team and individual level) between Benjamin Glover and CAL G. Alexander Labatte then dominated several seasons before he was taken over by the superb S31 generation of Remy LeBeau, Skylar Rift, and Tuomas Tukio, who did well to match (and, though it's up for debate, possibly exceed) Kanou and Shaw's achievements.

Peculiarly, but perhaps predictably, Kjeldsen, then G and Glover, and then Tukio and Rift were all GM-created goalies and so great things were expected when an impressive three GM goalies were created for Season 36 by the rebuilding Calgary, Riga, and New York: Martin Brookside, Mike Szatkowski Jr., and Brick Wahl. They have not necessarily failed but after a less than seamless transition between the S31s and S36s (Bagelface and Moher pushed the latter group's ascent back by a few seasons), you have to wonder what could have been and what the impact is on this trio's Hall of Fame chances.

In all, we can say the four S36 goaltenders had four seasons of unrivalled dominance. In part thanks to that and in part thanks to playing for two of the league's main powerhouses (and rivals) in Riga and New York, Wahl and Szatkowski Jr. managed to rack up quite a few wins and finish seventh and eighth all time, respectively. While this is an important achievement as no goalie below 250 wins has made it to the Hall since Season 8, reaching this threshold does not guarantee induction either. To further their case, Wahl compiled an impressive playoff record to stand on equal footing with Kanou, while Szatkowski Jr. finished one shutout off Labatte's career record, tied for second with CAL G.

Save percentage is a major letdown for this generation and will be why they will never be considered the greatest and Brookside's .930 this season is comfortably the trio's best result, which is dwarfed by older greats. Brookside is an interesting case study on his own as his career seemed to be have stalled despite some playoff heroics in Calgary, but while his stats would be the worst for a Hall of Famer in many a year, potentially two Shaws and one MVP as well as a playoff MVP have really seen him surge reputation-wise in just two seasons in Cologne. The only goalie MVP not inducted was Andreas Bjorkman, a fellow late bloomer and this may be Brookside's undoing, but he certainly helped the trio's trophy case.

If I had to predict, I would expect Szatkowski Jr. to be in the Hall of Fame as he has both the stats and the trophies but Wahl should get in on the playoff vs regular season debate similar to the dynamic between Shaw and Kanou and Tukio and LeBeau. Brookside looks to be the odd one out and his fate will likely define how this talented but slightly underachieved goaltending rivalry will be remembered.

[Victor 10,565]

247: The Seattle Bears... and Other Historic Underdog Victories

A few days on, and the Seattle Bears' Continental Cup triumph still beggars belief. Despite a visible TPE disadvantage on all three positions, the Bears managed to often outshoot the Express and while defence might have been every team's weakness this season, Niklaus Mikaelson's outperforming of Martin Brookside and Mike Szatkowski Jr. is less explicable. Up front, a team with no point-per-game players in the regular season suddenly became more clinical than the likes of Xin Xie Xiao, Thomas O'Malley, and Bruno Wolf, from James Faraday and Brady Stropko to Wolfgang Strauss and of course Phil Villeneuve. Upon their Game 7 win, I called the Bears the “worst” cup champions in VHL history. Having previously done pieces on some of the biggest underdog championships in the VHL, I will now look back at those to see if that statement holds true.

S16 Riga Reign

This was the first cup win to really shock me, in addition to Riga's best regular season record as well. Though a strong, tightly-knit side, it's telling that no member of the S16 Reign made it into the Hall of Fame (then-sophomore Max Kroenenburg spending decades on the fringes) and the season was, in truth, the highlight of serviceable but forgettable careers from the likes of Kaiser Straf, Jonas Markstrom, and Harvey Singh. Having been on familiar terms with the latter at the time, apparently the reason for Riga's success was that, in an era when the sim was not particularly well understood, the whole squad added to the defense attribute, which not everyone considered important at the time. Individually, S43 Seattle might actually have better players, but this innovation goes some way to explain the success.

S18 Calgary Wranglers

You will often see Jardy and myself harking back to this season, won in spectacular fashion as a complete opposite to S16 Riga: on offense alone. With an inactive 400 TPE goaltender and one good defenceman (Alexander Sauve, high-scoring himself), Calgary wasn't expected to win but ultimately, with a host of Hall of Fame names like Stormwall, Virkkunen, Berger, and Bunclewirth, we simply outscored the opposition. It was surprising but explicable.

S22 Helsinki Titans

Ditto for this underdog win. S22 Helsinki had numerous stars like Jakob Kjeldsen, Cam Fowler, and Ignatius Feltersnatch. It was a very balanced team and stats-wise not much worse than Toronto. It was the Legion's 62-win regular season (second most ever) which made the victory surprising but perhaps everyone was overawed by the TPE discrepancy too and didn't consider that at a certain level high amounts of TPE do not make as huge a difference, which of course by now is an accepted truth. S22 Toronto's downfall also brought down S1 Calgary and S33 Helsinki (by Vasteras and Riga respectively) and the story here is similar, more than decent teams slightly underperforming in the regular season and simply closing the gap when it mattered.

S23 Calgary Wranglers

This is a strange one. S23 Calgary was both an underperforming regular season and one with clear roster flaws (in this case just being of worse quality than the other three playoff teams) but they managed to overcome two superior, on paper, Toronto and especially Helsinki. Much like this season's Bears, the Wranglers had a few better known names (Bunclewirth, Evgeni Fyodorov, and Joey Clarence) but also had a full roster which perhaps benefited them. Nonetheless, perhaps the only inexplicable win besides S43 Seattle and the final entry...

S29 Toronto Legion

Ah yes, the only ever Continental Cup champion to miss the playoffs both before and after their win. A quick scan of this cup-winning roster reveals future Hall of Famers Alexander Labatte and Elijah Incognito, but they were second- and third-year players at the time, as were some of the other well known names like Connor Evans and Nic Riopel. Led by a career season from Jason White, who also had a record 10-point game in the regular season, resulting in his finishing as the league's top scorer, perhaps S29 Toronto takes the cake, as they somehow sustained their Cinderella run over a whole 72-game season and then the playoffs. Calgary six years earlier and now Seattle though are worthy challengers to the crown of the underdogs' underdog.

[Victor 10,565]

ed 248

Jardy Bunclewirth Builder Article

Joined: March 24, 2010

Member Number: 13,232

Positions Held: VHL Commissioner, League Simmer, VHL & VHLM General Manager, Moderator, Media Spot Grader

It's fairly straightforward to differentiate a good first-gen from a bad one these days. Generally it's clear-cut before the draft which new members can be expected to stick around and which ones are just going through the motions, but this wasn't always the case. Technically speaking, “first-gens” existed from the VHL's first season but it's quite simple to pinpoint the exact moment when the term became popular. Shortly after Season 16, it evolved from the commonly accepted “new Jardy”.

It's a paradox in itself that Jardy was seen as the ideal first-gen when in truth, he was evidence of the extremely flawed recruitment and retention system. Picked in the third round of a mediocre at best draft, perhaps solely because Calgary GM Matt Bentz liked his player's name, Jardy was not active before joining a VHL team and his 0-point, little-ice-time performance with a terrible Bern team before the S16 draft was everything that was wrong with the VHLM. It's quite impressive that he ever stuck around and we're quite fortunate for it. From his first few weeks in Calgary (and their VHLM affiliate in Minot), it was quite clear Jardy was much more involved than the vast majority of fellow new members and inspired enthusiasm for his teams. The rise was meteoric, in Season 16 he was just a very active new guy who seemed to have the whole league on MSN, by Season 17 he was one of about three good writing graders and the GM of Minot, by the start of Season 20 he had won two Continental Cups, built a VHLM championship-winning squad, was league MVP and named a VHL commissioner.

By the time he was Calgary's GM and suddenly the league simmer in Season 23, Jardy was rightfully held up by the VHL as an example for any new first-gens of what can be achieved without 20 seasons of prior history. By this point there were so many more, less drastic, but nonetheless concrete examples of successful new members, but still Jardy reigned supreme. Perhaps it was his activity levels and success, both as a player and a member, which inspired other league veterans to promote activity among new members, or maybe it was simply a good period for league recruitment, but in any case Jardy became the flag-bearer for a new generation, which, more or less, stopped VHL stagnation and propelled it to another 20 seasons of existence and a much better 20 seasons than the first to boot.

In a way, it is a disappointment that I am writing Jardy's Builder article, as it is generally symbolic of a member's waning activity. In Jardy's case, that original spark, brighter than almost any I have witnessed here, has been on the wane for a long time, but he remains nonetheless an example of formidable longevity. Many newer members only know Jardy as the drunk who sims late or sometimes not at all and occasionally rants on various topics (a staple of his commissioner tenure), but the fact of the matter is he is the longest-serving simmer of the three in VHL's history. While scotty and sterling may have been more punctual and regular, they also didn't last as long, and in Jardy's now 20-season and counting run, any accusations of riggery have been either tongue-in-cheek or simply rare and unbelievable, for it is quite clear that he would never actually rig. That trust and a thick skin has allowed Jardy to maintain, with little objection, one of the most demanding jobs in the VHL for several real-life years.

I think it's fair to say that player success is far from the reason Jardy has stuck around or was so enthusiastic to start, for if anything, his original player Bunclewirth did not initially inspire a lot of confidence. That is, until he made it to the big leagues and proved the worth of additional VHLM development with three cups, a ridiculous point-per-game pace, and one of the greatest rookie season of all-time. An all-time great goaltender in CAL G followed, but it feels insincere to conclude this on Jardy's achievement in the sim. It's not a stretch to suggest Jardy and the example of Jardy contributed to the VHL existing for games to be simmed, not mention the actual act of them being simmed by him. I have been fortunate to keep in contact with him for a long time, from our time as graders and Calgary teammates, all the way through being fellow commissioners and now to living out a sort of post-active existence in the league. The constant positivity is and has been infectious, the stories and past events wonderful, and the VHL has undoubtedly benefited from the presence of Jardy over the years.

[Victor 10,565]

249: Seattle Keeps Making History

Continuing the analysis of the strange Seattle Bears triumph of Season 43, won thanks to remarkably good drafting (just go compare the S41 and S42 drafts by Seattle, Davos, and Stockholm) and two trades which fit ridiculously perfectly well (Faraday and Villeneuve), it now looks like the Bears have cemented a place in VHL lore. Judging by the off-season movement, Seattle will become the second champion ever to miss the playoffs both before and after their win, joining the S29 Toronto Legion and their own questionable legacy.

One of the trades of the Bears firesale was historic – it was one of the few three-way deals the VHL has seen. Based on the players involved and the significance of two expansion rivals taking part, plus the pieces Seattle managed to acquire, this looks to be an important deal to look back on, but what can history tell us about the three-way trades? Here's a quick trip down memory lane.

Season 2 off-season:

To Toronto: C Alex Gegeny

To Seattle: LW Jon Church, S3 Stockholm 1st

To Avangard: C Alex McNeil

Having not actually been there, this trade has never made any sense to me. The players involved are fairly well-known, though both Church and Gegeny retired by Season 5 and were inducted into the Hall of Fame with future players like the goalie Gegeny and J.D. Stormwall. McNeil was by far the best player in hindsight but it's unclear if this was obvious at the time, though Avangard certainly paid the most to acquire him, though it was Seattle, not McNeil's team Toronto which benefited. Furthermore, later the same off-season Avangard reacquired Church and gave the Bears one Mike Szatkowski and yet another first. Based on dealings like this it's clear why Seattle won two cups before Avangard and Toronto got their first, but all in all, a bizarre trade.

Season 8:

To Toronto: RW Branden Snelheid

To Riga: RW Tomas Ziegler

To Helsinki: C Radislav Grebeshkov, LW Peter Payne, S10 Toronto 1st

Clearly spooked by the debacle above, three-way trades took a break until the S8 trade deadline and boy would trade deadlines be better these days if we got three-way trades. This trade is fairly logical, Toronto gave up the most for the better player but both they and Riga benefited, competing in two finals against each other soon after and splitting the championships. Presumably, this was the best way for Helsinki to get value for future Hall of Famer Snelheid but it didn't really work and they had to restart the rebuild (successfully) a few seasons down the line.

Season 12 off-season:

To Calgary: C Tuvia Bielski, D Sebastien Perrin, S14 Davos 2nd, $250 000

To Davos: LW Matt Bentz

To Helsinki: D Pavel Kurakov

Oh how vintage is this? Back in the day, money was traded in the VHL, though a system was never devised whereby it was actually useful (in some cases it punished the more successful franchises). As for the actual trade, we now enter the era of forced three-way trades, where in fact there was no need for this to be done in one go apart from the clickbait. Helsinki picked up an inactive defenceman for cash while Davos picked up a Hall of Famer for a mediocre return, emphasising Calgary's rebuilding struggles, the poor trade market, and the fairly miserable drafts of the time. The Dynamo ended up winning a second cup in three seasons, predictable since they got by far the best piece in the trade.

To be continued in the next edition due to getting near 600 words and going on vacation.

[Victor 10,565]

posting this one in advance since I'm gone from Tuesday to Tuesday

250: More Three-Ways

We left off last week with a depressingly bad trade in the dark teen years of the VHL and so far very mixed results as to whether Seattle, Cologne, and Quebec's recent deal will be significant or not. After three three-way trades in just over 12 seasons, the recent Waldron/Mikaelson blockbuster was the third in the last 22, with just two more deals left to profile.

Season 15 trade deadline:

To Riga: D Andrew Able, S18 Calgary 2nd

To Calgary: D Kristian Asgard, S17 Madrid 2nd, S18 Helsinki 2nd

To New York: C Pierre-Marc Tremblay, D Mark Aisen, S17 Riga 2nd

If the previous trade was unnecessarily three-way thanks to the Pavel Kurakov for cash deal, then this trade deadline “blockbuster” was the definition of clickbait. I would know since I was New York's GM at the time. The two deals forcefully beat into one were simple, a depth pick-up for Riga from New York and a want-away forward Tremblay from Calgary to New York. Unless Tremblay returned to the levels of his predecessor, legendary Seattle goalie Steve LaFramboise, this was always going to be a negligible deal and so it proved to be. Able won the cup with Riga that season with Riga, their fifth defenceman, while Asgard matched the feat as the fourth man in Calgary in Season 18. That was one of four Wranglers cups between Season 17 and Season 31, a period in which neither Riga nor New York won one, but they have added a cumulative five to Calgary's zero since then and certainly none of that has anything to do with this, in truth, minor trade.

Season 27 trade deadline:

To Helsinki: D Jeff Dar, D Nick Fisher, D Johannes Hwoarathmund

To New York: D Lars Intranquilo, RW Alvin Yu

To Calgary: D Sarmad Khan, S28 Helsinki 1st, S29 New York 1st

The last of five three-way trades before Season 43 was arguably the biggest of them all. In terms of the visible effects on the teams involved, it will take quite something for the latest deal to match this beast from Season 27. Going up to that year's trade deadline, Seattle, with CAL G, on the verge of a shutouts record, were high-scoring, high-flying and clear cup favourites. Finishing the season having lost just once to New York, they were expected to roll into the finals, where Helsinki were the likely opponent, but only marginally better than the dysfunctional Riga. With this trade though, New York managed to overcome Seattle in 7 games (although they still didn't score much, their defence became superb), but the blew a 2-0 series lead to Helsinki in the final, who had an enviable offence of Leeroy Jenkins, Pavel Koradek, and Matthew Boragina (and Joe Nash!), but before this trade ran with just two mostly inactive defencemen (though Japinder Singh was a Hall of Famer). A complete reshuffle of the blue line allowed Helsinki to overcome New York and though they might have still lost to Seattle, the Americans made sure the Bears never made it that far.

For Calgary, by using the S28 pick on Jim Gow, and trading the S29 pick for a S28 pick used on Ryan Sullivan, this was optimal use of limited resources which allowed the Wranglers to become the league powerhouse in the immediate prelude and aftermatch of expansion. Cologne and Quebec will be hoping for similar impact from the pieces they acquired, while Seattle will also be interested in replicating that Calgary rebuild in the near future.

[Victor 10,565]

251: The Power of Three

A while ago, I wrote an article about the potency of the Aksel Thomassen – Bruno Wolf duo in Quebec City and their prolonged success putting them on par with the longest-serving and arguably the best VHL partnership of yesteryear in David Smalling and Phil Rafter. Thomassen and Wolf have not disappointed, despite no longer being absolute league leaders, and also this season including the late blooming Milos Denis. They are nonetheless simply the cream of a large historical crop of offensive duos which have been plentiful over the course of the VHL.

Less common in VHL history has been a very potent line, where all three players perform consistently at a high level. Often in the past a star-studded line on paper has failed to click or done so at the expense of team results or simply became centered around two of its members. Despite the evolution of Quebec's top line with the addition of Denis, it is their expansion rivals in Cologne who appear to have stumbled upon the ideal top line formula. At the time of writing, the extremely top heavy top line of Thomas O'Malley, Bismarck Koenig, and Christoph Klose is on pace for 110-120 points each, meaning a rough estimate of a season-end 350 points for the whole line. This is by no means record-setting material but places the Express' trio among the most prolific top lines in VHL history.

S26 Helsinki: Pavel Koradek - Leeroy Jenkins - Matthew Boragina (411 points)

S27 Helsinki: Pavel Koradek - Leeroy Jenkins - Matthew Boragina (399 points)

S33 Calgary: Volodymyr Rybak - Clark Marcellin - Jarvis Baldwin (392 points)

S35 Calgary: Volodymyr Rybak - Michal Wozniak - Chico Salmon (422 points)

Remarkably, there are not a whole lot of other examples to include, with few other instances where three linemates all rank among the league's top 5-6 scorers. While data is missing from the VHL's first 17 seasons, there would not have been many more additions anyway. Seattle is likely to have featured most prominently, especially if Zacky Vengeance regularly centered Hall of Famers Josh Vestiquan and Alexander Beketov (who had 274 points put together in Season 10 and 233 in Season 11). Most famously of course, the only team to score more than 400 regular season goals (S5 Seattle) without doubt had a line which trumps all others. Alex McNeil (162 points) and of course Scotty Campbell (190) alone were more productive than most lines and had another 120-130 point player alongside, likely Dust'n Funk or Brannan Anthony.

Those Bears squads are a pipe dream but the Express will definitely be hoping to replicate their playoff success. With such disparity between the top line and the second (plus Ron World Peace also provides some help from defence), it seems unlikely GM Ryan Power, one of the most meticulous line managers in the VHL, will go through the playoffs with an unbalanced side and the more recent examples above will be further evidence as to the risks of doing so. Of the four lines (which were, much like Cologne, significantly outscoring their team-mates), only the S27 Titans made it to the finals, which they won.

Perhaps what the Express should hope for is that Thomas O'Malley does not repeat as the league's top scorer. In S27, Jenkins, Koradek, and Boragina finished third, fourth, and fifth in scoring, behind the prolific Vasteras partnership of Tukka Reikkinen and Lasse Milo. In the other three seasons, Jenkins, Baldwin, and Wozniak were the league leaders and despite superb individual performances, failed to win the Continental Cup. The latter appears a particularly cautionary tale of the risk of getting carried away – Wozniak put up numbers barely seen since the VHL's first decade and the trio finished top three in league scoring, with former center turned defenceman Clark Marcellin finishing fourth. Cologne's KOK line may not see quite such staggering stats at the end of Season 44 but they will be hoping they will be remembered for the perfect season-long performance. Whatever the case, a place in history seems all but guaranteed.

[Victor 10,565]

253: Significance of Seattle vs New York Playoff Races

This season we had a bizarre playoff race going on in the North American Conference, not for the first time in recent memory. First, the defending champions from Seattle seemed quite keen to make the playoffs again since they didn't hold any draft picks of note in Season 45. With a fairly decent advantage, it felt like a humiliating result for New York, who might have liked a playoff appearance to announce their imminent return to the league's elite. Then, at the trade deadline, both teams' mentalities seemed to have changed: the Bears traded top forwards Brady Stropko and James Faraday and predictably their season took a nosedive, to the apparent disappointment of the Americans, who were by this point prepared to have a lottery pick in a top- and goaltender-heavy draft. Fortunately, shady goings-on were avoided and New York eventually got their deserved playoff spot.

This is not the first time recently that the Americans and Bears were involved in such a playoff race. While in Season 44 New York was on the verge of being upset by a half sold off Seattle, back-to-back races in Seasons 36 and 37 had seen their roles reversed. Back then the Bears, despite arguably their best post-expansion rosters on paper (including last season's cup winning squad), were perennial underachievers. In Season 36 a team featuring good young talent like Karsten Olsen, Zack Sound, Steven Smyl, and James Lefevre only scraped five points above New York into the playoffs, despite the Americans featuring three rookies (Conner Low, Xin Xie Xiao, and Brick Wahl) and a large amount of journeymen. Season 37 was probably the most memorable playoff race of all-time, as while New York added the likes of Odin Tordahl and Tom Slaughter, Seattle made the leap to cup contenders with a big move for Helsinki's Ethan Osborne and Willie Weber. Unlike the similar move for Faraday last season, this didn't pay off and it took a 2-1 win in an epic season finale for the Bears to qualify to the playoffs by just one point.

We have not matched the excitement of the S37 race this season and it's doubtful that we ever will? So what can we take from the fairly recent past? First of all, it is quite odd seeing the same two teams compete for one playoff spot thrice in such a small space of time, especially in a league infamous for a lack of playoff races. Second, it's important to not underestimate a team dragged into a playoff race. The lesson has been taught to the VHL by Cologne and Seattle's back-to-back championships, but the S36 and S37 Bears arguably did it first. When it came to the playoffs, they played to their potential, twice pushing the favoured Quebec City Meute to 7 games and prevailing on the second instance. Thus, the Americans might well prove to be a worth match in the North American playoffs yet.

As for teams' future, of course New York came out of the previous generation with much better results, leapfrogging Seattle in Season 38 and never looking back. They had individual success in Low and Tordahl, not unlike the half-seasons enjoyed by Stropko and Faraday and fully by Jakub Rhinehart and what remained of the Bears. It would be foolish, however, to assume that Seattle will exact revenge and have the last laugh. In all likelihood, they won't be back in the playoffs for a few seasons yet and when they are, the Americans are likely to be the team to beat in the conference. After all, they have a likely top rookie yet again in Edwin Reencarnacion, following in the footsteps of Low (S36) and Slaughter (S37). If only their goaltending situation was as stable as in Wahl's time... perhaps this is not the end of this story yet.

[Victor 10,565]

255: Beketov Hall of Fame Builder Article

Very few members of the VHL have been around from Season 1, fewer yet without taking a break from the league at some point. Of the rare individuals who have persevered through 44 seasons and 8 years and counting, almost all were fairly obvious entries into the Hall of Fame as Builders, from Sterling to David Knight to Kendrick to Zero. There was one notable exception until very recently but at last this has been amended as Robert Sharpe, better known as Beketov, was at least inducted into the VHL Hall of Fame.

Beketov has never really held a position of leadership in the VHL or VHLM but he has also never visibly aspired for a bigger role. This meant he was overlooked for very long but at some point came the realisation that in simply trucking along for all those years, Beketov epitomised the average VHL member and that is something to be proud of. Not everyone has to be the superstar or the overwhelming presence, consistency and effectiveness can be achieved in a much more understated manner and while Beketov is one of many who can be described in such a manner, he is the only member to perform this role for so long. There was a turbulent start shortly after the shocking selection of Robert Sharpe first overall in S1, described best in the sixth edition of the VHL 20 in 20 series, but soon after Sharpe's retirement in S4, the moniker Beketov was donned and with it, essentially a fresh start, which bears fruit to this day. Burned once, Beketov has stayed out of the spotlight since but that doesn't take anything away from him.

It's not that Beketov has done nothing for the league. One of the VHL's most respected graphic makers, he didn't let his early altercations deter him from graphics and he has instead been one of the most positive influences in that field, offering help and advice for free and as a grader at various times, not to mention the countless members he has provided with Photoshop over the years. The VHL's graphic community would no doubt be a very different place without Beketov, and likely the site itself would look different. Before the most recent arrival of the likes of Koradek and Boubabi, Beketov was the go-to contact for VHL skins (possibly alongside Brooks) and all designs and layouts over the years have kept a certain consistency and in a way evolved from those early skins on the very first website.

Player-wise, few can hope to top the achievements of Beketov himself, the winger Alexander Beketov who put any disappointments over Robert Sharpe to bed quickly in his seven-season career. A legendary playmaker and instant Hall of Famer, perhaps the greatest honour is a VHL trophy now being named after Beketov and his knack for getting assists. Since his retirement, there have been several players similar to Beketov in Niklas Kristensen, Jason White, and now Jackson Miller as well as more attempts in goaltending with Alex Young and more recently Evgeni Chekhov. With a record-setting 10-point game with White and being the first franchise goaltender for Cologne, Beketov's players have continued to be present in public consciousness, even if they might not reach for the stars like some contemporaries. The value of a role player should never be understated and Beketov has been just that, both with his many players who could always be trusted to stay active, and as a member who might not speak much but when he does, people listen. Here's to the unsung hero and may there be many more like him in the years to come.

[Victor 10,565]

draft-themed article incoming:

256: The Importance of Goaltending

In a draft which such a ridiculously high amount of promising goaltenders, it seems logical to focus on what goaltenders mean to the franchises which could draft them. The position is a great source of debate, with opinions ranging from it being a team's most important to the view that the cheaper and younger your goalie is, the better. Through 44 seasons, different teams have used very contrasting strategies to decide how to man their nets.

We start with the Toronto Legion, the franchise which inspired this article. It is often noted how Davos have a history of goaltending greats featuring the likes of Benoit Devereux and Daisuke Kanou and recently strong heirs in Lennox Moher and now Callum Sinclair, but Toronto is perhaps the franchise most reliant on a goalie to win cups. Typically for a franchise in the “centre of the hockey universe”, the Legion have not won as many championships as they may have liked, but when they have, in S9, S21, S29, and S37, they were backstopped by true legends of the position in Alex Gegeny, Aidan Shaw, Alexander Labatte and of course most recently Remy LeBeau. All but Labatte's numbers have been retired by Toronto and it is telling that they struggled mightily when Fedir Okranitz failed to be a suitable successor to LeBeau's mantle. Frighteningly for their hopes in the current rebuild, the best the Legion can hope for with their tenth overall pick is the promising but unproven Ryan Price, and even he might not fall that far.

Should the early picks of the draft go as expected following the early off-season trade flurry, Price might be scooped up at eight overall by Seattle, a team with a mixed goaltending history. From early great Adrian McCreath through record-setters Steve LaFramboise and CAL G, the Bears have often found gems in the position but have also done well enough with lesser lights like Alex Young, Steven Smyl, and Joey Clarence. The jury is still out on Niklaus Mikaelson, whose services were secured by winning the S41 draft lottery, thus setting up just the second cup in Seattle's last 27 seasons, and they might have to be a bit more creative to get stability in net this time around.

The top prospect trio of the Clegane brothers and Ariel Weinstein seems set to be going to Helsinki, Cologne, and New York, in some order, though the Americans might yet choose to stick with Mikaelson if he decides to not retire after all following his ignominious exit from his one-season stint with Quebec. For these franchises, goaltending has never seemed to huge priority, though the last three New York GMs have all opted to bring in their own and avoid the risky drafting business, thus bringing Benjamin Glover, Skylar Rift, and Brick Wahl to the VHL. The franchise has only missed the playoffs four times since Glover's debut way back in Season 24, so this is a strategy which has paid off, but GM Chris Miller definitely lived life on the edge when briefly going all in with Jax Barnstormer.

My very first Historical Significance article noted Helsinki's reliance on European-born netminders, from Maxim Desny to the ill-fated Kimmo Salo, through the likes of Dominik Stryker, Jakob Kjeldsen, and Tuomas Tukio. There have been Hall of Famers and duds, but should they opt for Greg Clegane with their top two picks, at least that run will be extended. As for the Express, their brief history offers a smaller sample size, but whoever they choose to lead their franchise into a daunting rebuild starting in Season 45 will have the chance to write history after the solid but not often spectacular stints by Evgeni Chekhov, Blaine Olynick, Martin Brookside, and Brock Waldron. Of course, history-making is what we can only wish for all S45 draftees, in what may well be a generation-defining draft.

N.B. This article was written before Quebec acquired third overall. This will change who gets goalies in S45 but the Meute's goaltending history is not particularly different to Cologne in that it's still open to interpretation.