Draft Groovy Dood 1st Overall

[bigAL 2,176]

Draft Groovy Dood 1st Overall
by: bigAL, agent
Groovy Dood, hockey player extraordinaire

 

 

The S73 VHL draft is just around the corner, and there’s some controversy at the top of the list. My man Groovy Dood is at the centre of it, but I’m here to tell you that it’s all good, man .

 

 

The traditional scouting and drafting philosophies inherently favour a recreated player. And really, fair enough. Recreated players are handled by agents with a proven track record. Each GM may value that track record differently, but at least there’s proof of longevity, commitment, and real investment in the league. These players know the ropes already, they’re cool under pressure, and they know what’s what in the VHL. They’ve tasted VHL success and are hungry for it again. They’ve spent a season marinating in the VHLM and are eager to get to the bigs again. A Tyler Walker has been there, done that, and knows how to change a VHL franchise alone. Micah Adrienne, puts his head down and scores points like a madman, doesn’t need much coaching. I get the appeal of taking one of those two players, represented by legendary agents, in the first two spots. They’re safe picks.

 

 

But who likes to play safe?! Let’s stare at the sun during an eclipse, wear flip-flops on a construction site, and keep the safety *always* off. Groovy Dood is your high-risk, high-reward pick for first-overall, but he’ll settle for a top-3 lottery pick.

 

 

Let’s recap the young lad’s short career arc. We both showed up here in March or April. bigAL’s been looking for a creative outlet to do some writing, community-building, and team management for a while. We used to have a place for all that, but that group got radicalized and bigAL wasn’t up for that shit. I saw an ad for open tryouts on reddit somewhere, scoped the place out, and liked what I saw.

 

 

The big draws of the VHL for me were:

• -       A place for content creation: bigAL’s a writer with nothing to write. He’s spent the last 23 some years in school, all the way from kindergarten to grade 12 to grade 18 (BA hist/geog/poli sci/Canadian studies/Education) to grade 19 (BEd) to grade 23 (MEd), and has just been reading and writing steady. Then, I went to work as a Museum Curator and wrote more and more. Now, I’ve settled for a bit as an ESL high school business teacher, and don’t have much writing to do. I’ve got to read, make PPTs and assignments, but no real putting words together on a page to communicate an idea. The VHL has already gotten a wide range of the bigAL writing menu. You’ve got the short story from his VHLM draft day; his player quote from when he hit a career milestone (First Gen Newcomers Bonus); bigAL’s also done some great work including his role as Miami Marauders’ AGM (like this team scouting report); his daily media addresses as Team Canada’s WJC GM. He’s even downloaded Photoshop and started to mess around with some infographic-style things like this. The bottom line is that you don’t have to worry about Groovy Dood not capping out each week.

 

• -       A place to be social – damn this discord thing is cool! After years of reading and writing and reading and writing, the ol social skills and networks were a bit rusty. Things were trending up when the pandemic hit. In March, the whole world moved online. Families met by Zoom, schools used Google Classroom, and everyone moved to the cloud. That’s when I kinda realized, “oh, right, I can go make friends online. That’s not actually weird at all.” There’s still some weird things, like 12 year olds and racists, but there’s less of them around than ever before. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the Miami Marauders LR, where we really bonded as a team with our all-first-gen lineup. I’ve enjoyed being in the Minnesota LR, and being in the VHL general server lots. It’s awesome to have a big group of people that you can hang out with any time of day, play any sort of game, and cheer for the same sports together. It’s been fun being a part of the group.

 

• -       Hockey: frig I miss hockey. I grew up poor, and so only one of the kids got to play hockey (spoiler: it wasn’t me). Everyone in town and at school played hockey, except me. I was reading books and playing Gameboy and doing niche sports like curling and cross-country skiing and karate. All grown up, I found an “adult beginner’s league” for people who didn’t play hockey growing up. It’s been awesome to play with other people at my level. Now I’m in the Major division, where it’s essentially a co-ed beer league with half-decent hockey. The VHL gives me another sport to follow since I can’t play or watch much else.

 

 

Once bigAL and Groovy Dood made it to the VHL, the momentum carried Dood into an important role on one of the most dominant regular season teams the VHLM has ever seen. He finished with a statline of 9-48—57. Groovy Dood is a physical, playmaking forward that passes first and celebrates second. He started as a LW, but circumstances dictated that the Minnesota Storm needed a centre. I persuaded Groovy to practice on his faceoffs a bit, and next thing you know, he was the top centreman on the Storm for a bit. His team did unreal in the regular season, but went 50/50 on Game 7s, winning round 1 vs Miami and losing round 2 vs Mexico City. With any luck, that game 7 was the last Groovy Dood will play in the VHLM.

 

 

As a player, Groovy Dood plays like a vintage Ryan Getzlaf. At his final evolution, Groovy will have excellent playmaking skills (DF, PA, maybe FO); great physical skills (ST, SK, CK); and good supplementary skills (SC, PH, DI). The DF, ST, CK skills shut down the opposition when they get the puck, while the PA, FO, SK make sure that the other team doesn’t get that puck back til they fish it out of the net. If drafted to a team with a logjam at C, Groovy is happy to stop practicing faceoffs and spend time working on something else. The biggest thing to know with player development is that Groovy Dood is coachable, and will happily work with the drafting GM to create a player development plan that best fits the team’s needs.

 

 

I want all you VHL managers to take notice. It’s risky to take a first-gen player with a lottery pick, but the upside is unmatched. For starters, you get to be bigAL’s first VHL team. Everyone fondly remembers their first. His entire VHL experience will be viewed through the lens of your team. All his passion, creativity, and energy will be dedicated to making this VHL team great. With proper coaching and development, this energy can be harnessed to get some shit DONE. Groovy Dood being a first-gen star will help attract other strong first-gen talent to the team, too. He’s a great mentor and leader for other new players, because he’s also learning the ropes himself.

 

 

So, VHL teams, I want you to big-brain this. Don’t fall into the trap of doing the same thing over and over and over, because it’s the way it’s always been done. Think outside of the box; find that extra 1%; and exploit that market inefficiency.

 

 

@VHLGM @VHLGMs:

 

Pick Groovy Dood with your lottery pick. Pick Groovy Dood first overall. Pick Groovy Dood for President. Pick Groovy Dood for whatever you can. Just, pick Groovy Dood.

Edited July 10, 2020 by bigAL
tag gms

[ThePerfectNut 563]

draft this men first overall pls

[solas 1,951]

Future star right here.

[Mr_Hatter 1,608]

Top tier player and user

[bigAL 2,176]

Oh it happened!! Let's claim this propaganda again for the week ending July 26!

[bigAL 2,176]

And I guess Triples Week too?

[Andre LeBastard 112]

Wow, content rich, shameless self promotion and all those pretty colours too! What's not to like?

Loads of linkage for those who like to click on things, also helps to make this another top missive from @bigAL.

Well done, SSN would be proud, sir!

 

9/10