Is the (Second?) Age of the Superstar Dead?

[Renomitsu 932]

With 52 points through 38 games, the VHL's leading scorer in Ambrose Stark is on pace for 98.5 points - the third season since Matt Thompson's 122-point scoring party, and the third consecutive one since the league has seen a 100-point scorer. In that time, the Season 66 and 67 draftees - each leaders in their own rights by sheer volume of members - have come into their peaks. A plethora of $4-5.5M/season players that have stretched the salary cap for some teams to its limits, and the lines between first and eighth -- our top playoff seed to the very last -- are demonstrating a degree of parity almost never seen in the league previously.

 

Naturally, the increase in number of quality players has come with an overall decrease in scoring; after all, if your 80-overall forward line is being run ragged, why not give them some off-time with a 76-overall second forward line? These sorts of numbers were unheard of in decades' worth of seasons past -- but guess what? They're a reality for teams like the Calgary Wranglers, Seattle Bears, Moscow Menace, and Vancouver Wolves, each of which is in the thick of the playoff race. With fourteen forwards, the same number of defensemen (no, seriously), and seven goalies over 800 TPA, we're also in a golden age of defense and goalie optimization. And with two pairs among the top five defensemen covering some of the younger offenses, there are few whipping boys among all twelve teams in the league.

 

It's certainly within the realm of error for Stark (and possibly HHH, among others) to crest 100 points. But if you're hoping for a freak 174 point S62 Podrick Cast-like season... well, it's probably not going to happen any time soon.

[Victor 10,610]

17 minutes ago, Renomitsu said:

Podrick Cast

 

[Victor 10,610]

26 minutes ago, Renomitsu said:

same number of defensemen

This is pretty key though I've noticed. S68 draft a particularly big culprit imo - most of its best players were defencemen already and then the best forwards (Underyew, Lehtinen) fell off. But S67 and S69 are even at best, definitely not as forward-dominated as they'd need to be to offset. So yeah, defencemen era it is then.