Podrick Cast is S67 MVP. Prove me wrong.

[Victor 10,940]

 

So I would like to preface this with an overdue congratulations to Rauno Palo @jRuutu and Veran Dragomir @Velevra, two of the unluckiest players I have witnessed who finally got some well deserved awards at the end of the S67 regular season, splitting the Szatkowski, Brooks, and Beketov Trophies. It would have been great to grab another couple of those for Cast, but hey, I've had my share.

 

That said, you two are now in the way of the big one – the Scotty Campbell Trophy. Cast has two of those already and it has come to my attention that a third one is not as clear-cut as I thought after a as-unbiased-as-possible assessment of the S67 stats. Here's what I found:

 

• Cast was by far his team's leader in points, ahead of anyone else in the league. It has already earned him the highly prestigious Biggest Backpack Award, which might as well be MVP in many seasons.

• Cast had a league-leading 1.18 points per game, a whopping 0.14 ahead of Palo, making by far the most of his ice time on a deep Moscow roster

• Palo spent his entire season on Vancouver's second line, playing against easier matchups. His top line center, Beau Louth, was third in league scoring, hardly a large enough gap to call either one of them MVP.

 

So to me that's already enough arguments really. The one I've heard used against Cast so far is “lack of physicality”. Well first of all, I don't like hits being thrown into conversations outside of the Labatte/Boulet/Wylde at the best of times, let alone when it's being used against my own player. But more importantly, Palo isn't some checking god. 95 hits vs 19 is not the difference between MVP or not, unless you believe 1 extra hit per game is why Vancouver finished a whole two points ahead of Moscow at the end of the season.

 

And of course, “lack of physicality” hasn't figured in the MVP conversation in the past. Thomas O'Malley won 3 Scotty Campbell Trophies and he had 50 hits in his whole career.

 

I've actually tried my best to not push any Cast agenda throughout his career, largely because I wasn't even intending to be massively active when I came back. But I think it would be a gross injustice if he were not be named VHL MVP in S67, unless anyone has any other counter-arguments I'm missing.

 

@Award Committee @Sonnet @Phil @DilIsPickle @Peace @Jubo07 @JeffD @Enorama

[boubabi 4,725]

he isnt the best player in the league 

 

(the guy that doesn't understand the award)

[gorlab 4,321]

Agreed but pointing out fairly obvious award recipients, no disrespect to velv or jruutu, via vhl.coms is the kiss of death.

 

Inb4 8-0 vote for Palo.

[jRuutu 2,464]

1. Cast could not be trusted on the PK - only played 84 mins on PK while Palo, a stud workhorse shoveled away disgusting 193 minutes of PK.

2.  Palo bossed the PP,  50 points while Cast diidle doodled with 36 points on the man advantage.

3. Palo´s linemates this season scored:  109 points , Cast´s linemates this season scored: 163 points = Cast´s supporting cast managed to help him out more.

4.  Cast is a softie = 15 hits, Palo with a stunning physical presence = 95 hits.

5. Moscow scored 250 goals, Vancouver scored 233 goals = Casts impact to teams success was smaller.

6. Cast sucks

 

[Victor 10,940]

56 minutes ago, jRuutu said:

1. Cast could not be trusted on the PK - only played 84 mins on PK while Palo, a stud workhorse shoveled away disgusting 193 minutes of PK.

2.  Palo bossed the PP,  50 points while Cast diidle doodled with 36 points on the man advantage.

3. Palo´s linemates this season scored:  109 points , Cast´s linemates this season scored: 163 points = Cast´s supporting cast managed to help him out more.

4.  Cast is a softie = 15 hits, Palo with a stunning physical presence = 95 hits.

5. Moscow scored 250 goals, Vancouver scored 233 goals = Casts impact to teams success was smaller.

6. Cast sucks

 

1 and 2. Irrelevant

3. 163-109 = 54, Moscow's 250 goals - Vancouver's 233 = 17 so that's almost the same point as #5.

4. Addressed already, doesn't matter

5. 1% difference, next

6. Valid point, but still not as much as second-liner Palo

[Quik 4,113]

Palo carried Vancouver to 2nd in the league. I'd say that's pretty herculean right there...

[Victor 10,940]

10 hours ago, Quik said:

Palo carried Vancouver to 2nd in the league. I'd say that's pretty herculean right there...

All fun and games but at the end of the day no one is willing to seriously think about awards voting despite us having a designated awards committee to do exactly that. Multiple people didn’t even reply to every discussion topic in their forum which I feel should be a requirement.

[Phil 5,119]

8 hours ago, Victor said:

All fun and games but at the end of the day no one is willing to seriously think about awards voting despite us having a designated awards committee to do exactly that. Multiple people didn’t even reply to every discussion topic in their forum which I feel should be a requirement.

 

It's percolating. Give it time

[STZ 5,360]

Ban Victor indefinitely for this.

[Beaviss 4,957]

Palo > everyone else

[Fire Tortorella 2,653]

Give it to Jet Jaguar

[Gustav 6,407]

JERRY FOR MOST IMPROVED

[.sniffuM 1,741]

23 hours ago, Victor said:

All fun and games but at the end of the day no one is willing to seriously think about awards voting despite us having a designated awards committee to do exactly that. Multiple people didn’t even reply to every discussion topic in their forum which I feel should be a requirement.

 

#bringmuffbacktoawardcommittee

[eaglesfan036 4,601]

He better get unanimous votes or else people are biased

[diamond_ace 3,112]

On 8/26/2019 at 7:38 AM, Victor said:

1 and 2. Irrelevant

3. 163-109 = 54, Moscow's 250 goals - Vancouver's 233 = 17 so that's almost the same point as #5.

4. Addressed already, doesn't matter

5. 1% difference, next

6. Valid point, but still not as much as second-liner Palo

Not saying your overall point is wrong (personally I'd still be inclined to go Cast, although it's telling the way this league reacts to award votes the fact that I feel like I need to bring up my opinion of the actual award when my point is only tangentially related) but 17/233 is .0729. So the difference between 233 points and 250 points is 7.3%, which is nowhere near 1%.

[Nykonax 1,564]

wasnt as good as dahlberg. next

[fonziGG 1,068]

21 hours ago, GustavMattias said:

JERRY FOR MOST IMPROVED

this i can get behind

[Victor 10,940]

39 minutes ago, ShawnGlade said:

 

1 - Rauno Palo @jRuutu

2 - Podrick Cast @Victor

 

 

Disappointed but not surprised.

 

Awards Committee in its current guise does not lend itself to sufficiently nuanced discussion and is not fit for purpose.

[Devise 4,475]

12 minutes ago, Victor said:

 

Disappointed but not surprised.

 

Awards Committee in its current guise does not lend itself to sufficiently nuanced discussion and is not fit for purpose.

 

Was also a little odd to see Tzuyu on the ballot for defensive D, but then Mcwolf clean sweep offensive and the Labatte. Granted McWolf should of had the Offensive but Labatte absolutely felt like a two man conversation.

 

Also, even top two-way. Wilinsky an optimal choice, but why did Bailey get votes? Kronos has like 3 more hits than Thompson who was also HSK despite having over 80 points when Bailey had like 59? I get it's two way but if we're overlooking points ton's of other prominent hitters on other teams who should probably be in that conversation well before Bailey.

 

That said, I thought Cast had MVP locked as well.

Edited September 7, 2019 by Devise

[Gustav 6,407]

Note to self: never write an article about why I deserve an award; apparently that's taken as direct proof of why I don't...

[Victor 10,940]

2 minutes ago, GustavMattias said:

Note to self: never write an article about why I deserve an award; apparently that's taken as direct proof of why I don't...

It was a lost battle before I even wrote this, having seen the award committee discussion around it. Maybe it swayed a vote or two but probably not.