VSN Presents: Under250- Building A Powerhouse in the VHLM: Houston Bulls

[fromtheinside 1,278]

 

We are back with another installment of Under 250 where we dive into the VHLM and bring you stories and breakdowns of everything happening in our minor leagues. Before jumping into it, I recommend you check out some of the other VSN pieces that have been put out recently, there's something for everyone!

75: What Got Us Here  |  S76 VHLM Power Rankings #1  |  S75 Word Juniors Review

The Top 75 Players: 50-26

 

 

League Outlook

The first third of the season is in the books and we already have a pretty clear indication of how this season looks to be shaping up. In the West we have the Bulls as the hands-down favourite and perennial cup contenders...more on them later, but let's just say they are looking primed for a serious playoff run in S76. Besides them, there are two teams worth noting so far in the West. First is Mexico City, who comes as a bit of a surprise to me. They had an excellent S75 which saw them go all in and get all the way to Game 6 of the Founder's Cup finals before falling to the Phantoms. Usually when a team goes all in like that you see them experience some major regression for a season or two. Yes despite this, they are back atop the standings yet again in S76. They lost a decent amount of talent to VHL graduation, but they still retained some major pieces from last season. They currently sit 6 points back of Houston, and have even beaten them once. They made a trade early in the season for high-end defenseman Clinton Giftopoulos to give them a solid 1-2 punch on the defense with fellow blueliner Teppio McBighit. With a stellar up-and-comer in net in Jonathon Bustard and a plethora of weapons up front, the Kings should not be taken lightly. 

 

Western Conference Standings

 

The other team I wanted to touch on in the West was the Yukon Rush. Last season was a mixed bag for the Rush. While they had a solid team to be sure, S75 was rife with competition and they just couldn't hang with the elite teams. They decided to sell off some pieces heading into the deadline and while they limped into the playoffs, they were quickly swept by Philly. Back to present, the Rush find themselves in a similar position. They are certainly a decent team and have a lot of positives going for them. An elite goalie, some great forward depth, and some promising defensemen. But will they be able to go toe-to-toe with Houston or Minnesota. So far they've actually managed to take two games from Houston this season. But games now and games come playoff time are two vastly different things. The Rush have started off with a respectable 14-8-2 record. They will look to keep their momentum going as we approach the halfway point of the season. The rest of the teams in the West are firmly in rebuild mode. There are a couple surprises though. In my mind, the Aces are much better than their 5-16-3 record would indicate, and I'm a little shocked they are sitting in basement in the West. On the other hand, the Marlins have really done well for themselves thus far all things considered.  Sure, a 7-17-0 record isn't anything to get too excited about, but when Thadthrasher took over the team this offseason he had little-to-no assets and were a lock to be a lottery pick in S77. It's great to see Thad turning his team around so quickly. 

 

Eastern Conference Standings

 

Meanwhile out east, it's Minnesota taking the league by storm with a very impressive record of 18-3-3. Season 75 saw the Storm go through a ton of pain, but it seems as though Season 76 will serve as the light at the end of the tunnel. Minny leads the entire league in goals scored with a whopping 122. That is 5.08 goals per game which is absolutely absurd. But it's not only their offense that's been elite, they also have the lowest amount of goals against with 71, which is an average of 2.96. While Minnesota didn't have as flashy as a draft as Houston, nobody can argue it was an effective one. After taking high scoring winger Brendan Telker in the first round, the Storm barraged the draft board, making 8 picks between the second and third rounds. When you make that many picks in the first few rounds, you are bound to hit on a few of them. As it stands now, nobody in the East seems to be up for the challenge of taking down the Storm. The Philadelphia Reapers are sitting in second coming off their Founder's Cup from S75. While their record is certainly strong, I feel like they lack the overall depth to truly compete this season. The same could be said for the rest of the teams in the East, even the Marauders who have themselves a nice 5 game winstreak at the moment. However, it's a long season and if a team can acquire some high-impact waiver players (a la Miami S74), anyone could certainly make a late run. 

 

 

 

Feature Story

 

The aforementioned Houston Bulls are the team of focus this week. They are the current Vegas favourites to win the Founder's Cup this season, and with good reason. So the question worth diving into is how? How did the Bulls go from a team in S75 who were on the playoff bubble, but ultimately came up short? Well in my mind, there's two reasons. The first is the large number of returnees the Bulls were able to amass from the previous season. A total of 7 players are back from last season, and many of them are key contributors to the team. The other thing that has truly put Houston ahead of the competition was their eye-popping S76 Dispersal draft where they absolutely stole the show. Aside from that, there is also one waiver signing they  made early on this season that I believe will be a serious X-factor come playoff time. So, let's take a closer look at what makes the Bulls tick!

 

Returnees: Let's start with the players who were around for some of the struggle last season in Houston. Of the returning players, none have made an impact as large as the Webber brothers have. Jon and Paul, both wingers, have carried their momentum from last year into this season. Playing on a first line with Asher Reinhart, the brothers both have notched 38 points a piece thus far in S76. Together, the 3 of them make for one of the most lethal lines in the league. Along with the  brothers, Eddie Dams is also a returning winger who is poised on making an impact with the team again this season. He had a 48 point (26G, 22A) campaign in S75, and is on pace to beat that this season. This is particularly impressive because Dams is doing more with less. The team this year is stacked and Dams minutes are undoubtedly down from last season, so to get that kind of production must make management quite happy. Dams is not the only victim of roster depth either. Vlad Minski and Bradley Senjo are also returnees, and while they are key role players, they have seen their production slip a touch because of the team being so strong overall. On the blueline Jared Carter returns to the club, and while his stats may not jump out at you, his undeniable defensive stability and leadership brings a ton to the Bulls. Last but certainly not least, the Bulls netminder Trent Gibson is back in the saddle for one more season before going pro. He is the bonafide number one in net this season and has already notched 20 wins this season. To recap, the Bulls had a bevy of players back from last season and if you go back and look through all the rosters of other teams, you will see nobody had returnees of this quantity and quality. 

 

 

Draft: The first round of the S76 Dispersal draft was something you truly had to see to believe. Houston picked early and often in the first round and really solidified their team in every way possible. While the fact they made six picks in the first round is impressive enough it its own right, how they pulled it off is even more amazing. They owned picks 1, 3, and 5. They started off by taking center Paul Atreides with their first overall pick. The 2nd overall pick was actually forfeited by Ottawa so the Bulls were back on the clock at pick 3 and took winger Duncan Idaho, who was teammates with Atreides in San Diego in S75. The Bulls had started the draft off strong, but until this point, everything was going as projected. Philly was on clock for pick 4 and that's when business started to pick up. A trade was announced and all of a sudden the Bulls were back on the clock to make their THIRD consecutive pick to start the draft. With that pick, GM rjfryman took his own player recreate Asher Reinhart. Before any other teams had even picked, the Bulls had their top 6 solidified and they had scooped up the top 3 most coveted recreates on the draft board.  Up next was pick 5, which shockingly, was property of the Bulls. Having taken care of their offense for the time being, their focus shifted to defense. They went with Javad Kamkar, a great player and teammate and a player I would probably peg as the best first-gen defenseman in this draft class. By pick 6 the Bulls finally decided to let other teams have a chance, but not for long. Pick 7 belonged to Las Vegas but... you guessed it, a trade was incoming. Houston was back on the clock and they took another first-gen blueliner, Rusty Knale. This player is a meat and potatoes kind of player. More of a physical defenseman, his offensive numbers won't catch your eye, but he is a reliable stay at home defender that plays the game with a good amount of grit and toughness. The draft continued and as the first round was winding down, another trade was to be announced. It was the Bulls once more, trading up to make their 6th pick in the round. And like their last two choices, they went with another defender. This time it was European import Germano Henchoz. Before the first round had even ended, the Bulls had already had their entire team core in place. There are teams even now that don't have 4 defenders. Through wheeling and dealing, the Bulls had made their mark on the draft and on the league. Making 5 of the first 6 picks in the draft is a feat that you won't likely see again for a very long time.  League rules say you are only allowed to own 3 picks in the first and second rounds, but RJ flexed his high IQ and long-term planning by converting all his assets into a barrage of picks. Quite impressive indeed.

 

Waivers: With their team basically already primed and in position for a deep playoff run, Houston pulled off one more massive move during the first week of the season. Recreates began pouring into the league to open the season, but perhaps the most sought after one was Reylynn Reinhart, a defenseman made by well respected user Ricer. Defense is unquestionably the most sought-after position right now in the M, and many teams hardly have any quality defenders to speak of. Reinhart would have been a slam dunk signing for any of the clubs in the league. Many teams pitched offers to Reinhart, but at the end of the day it was none other than the Houston Bulls who were able to snag her. My initial reaction was one of surprise, as I thought Ricer may opt to take on a role with a team where he would be getting a ton of minutes and dominate statistically. However, Reinhart decided to go with the team that would give her a best shot at a Founder's Cup in what will mostly likely be a one-and-done year in the minors before getting drafted to the pros in S77. By the time playoffs roll around, Reinhart will be a top tier defensemen and undoubtedly make an impact with the Bulls. Looking back, this move really could be what puts the Bulls over the edge come the postseason.

 

So as you can see, this is what happens when everything comes together for a franchise. To truly be a powerhouse you need to get the most of all your assets. Long term planning, trading, drafting, asset management. It all needs to come together in order for a team to truly dominate in such a fashion the way Houston has, and will continue to do in Season 76. That's all for this week, hopefully you enjoyed the recap of the VHLM and the in-depth look at how Houston came to be. Until next time, stay safe out there and take care!