VHLM Scoring: What has happened?

[Matt_O 897]

As many of you know, I took a break from the VHL for about two months or so, but even before that I had much less activity than normal, so I missed out on some things, One of those things was the sudden dramatic increase in VHLM scoring that has taken place in the last few years. I won't try to explain it in this article, I just am here to point out that this is a real thing thats happening, but I'm sure many of you have already figured that out. Lets go back to my first full VHLM season, S64.

 

The leading point scorer was Nathan N, with 113 points, while Diljodh Starload had 112 points. I was in 8th place with 90 points, while Carles Puigdemont was in 10th with 89 points. This was what can be considered a normal year. Lets look at S65 to see if we find similar stats.

 

In S65 there was a noticeable increase in scoring. Hunter Hearst Helmsley of the Yukon Rush scored 125 points to have the most in the league, with Orion Slade finishing at 121 in second place. Tenth place finished with 99 points that year, which would have been fifth most in S64. We already can see the increase in scoring.

 

In S66, scoring was back to normal.  The top scorer (Callum MacElroy) had 107 points, there were five guys with 100 or more points, and tenth place finished with 91 points that year. These are similar totals to S64, which we can consider a normal year. S65 seems to be a bit of an outlier already, but it wasn't too far out there, it still is something that can be believable. S67 is where, in my opinion, things start to change around and get a little crazy.

 

In S67, the top goal scorer was Zeno Miniti, who finished with 134 points, which was an incredible total at the time. This was the most anyone had scored in many seasons, at least five, it may have been the most since Adam Warlocks 255 point campaign in S58, but that would need a fact check. Second place Thorny Underyew had 119 points, which would put him in first place had he done this in S64 or S66. However, there was a significant drop off, and tenth place Brandon LeBanc had only 89 points, similar to both S64 and S66. Even though the point totals evened out, I believe Zeno Miniti was the start of the recent offensive surge in the VHLM. S68 was also a huge turning point with the incredible duo in Las Vegas.

 

In S68, Benny Graves and Jeff Tates absolutely dominated the league. Tates had 149 points and Graves had 143 points, and Tates nearly finished at a goal per game average for the year, finishing just one shy (71 goals).  They took the league by storm, but they still had good competition behind them. Roadkill Steve had 128 points, Chad Gilbert had 127. Yet once again, it seemed to even out towards the bottom of the top 10. Tenth place finished with 92 points, very comparable to years prior. However, the top goal scorers are continuing to put up more and more points every year. Lets go to S69.

 

S69 was the year the offensive surge took off. Everyone in the top 10 had 115+ points! That is incredible. First place Danny DeYeeto had 145 points, and four people had over 130 points. The 11th placed scorer that year (David O'Quinn) would have been first place in S64, and 17th placed Ben Storm would have been tied for first in S66 with 107 points. S70 is continuing this, but to an even more unbelievable extreme. 19 guys had 100 or more points, and nine of those guys had 130 or more points. What is going on? I'm not going to try to answer that, but this is a very interesting trend. Will it continue in S71? Since my player is a physical defensive defenseman, I would hope it cools down a little bit.

[Nykonax 1,563]

expansion created more bad teams, 250 cap isnt helping either.

[Devise 4,475]

21 minutes ago, Nykonax said:

expansion created more bad teams, 250 cap isnt helping either.

 

Also we had a really huge surge in deeper drafts, which meant more players more parity. With a weaker overall pool easier for quality of teams to rise and drop, and you get rebuilders making the playoffs and super teams feeding.