HFVan Hockey League 2017-18 IV
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Intoewsables
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Meet the HFVHL: Boston Bruins' GM LaVar
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This is part 4 of the multi-part series in which we'll interview General Managers from around the league, getting their thoughts on various topics regarding their team and the HFVHL as a whole.
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This is part 4 of the multi-part series in which we'll interview General Managers from around the league, getting their thoughts on various topics regarding their team and the HFVHL as a whole.
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Staff: You were running away with the President's Trophy in the first half of the season, but over the past few weeks, you've been passed by both the Islanders and Blues, with the Lightning making a late push as well. Does this worry you?
LaVar: No. Not at all.
The fact that we were able to maintain that position for not one month, not two months, not three months, not four months, but four and a HALF months... that alone speaks to the dominance of our team over the rest of the league.
Not only that, but we then ended up acquiring the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby, at the recent trade deadline... that's like something you'd see in a video game! It's the HFVHL equivalent of Kevin Durant joining the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, the only difference being we don't see any [Cleveland] Cavaliers in sight.
At the end of the day, we aren't very concerned with the President's Trophy... it would be a nice treat, but there's a bigger, better trophy that we are after.
Staff: Doesn't it concern you that you've gone all in on this season, trading your picks and prospects, just to have other teams pass you in the standings? Or are you still confident in your team's chances come playoff time?
LaVar: You know, I hear that a lot. That we've essentially "mortgaged" our future and that we have no picks for the next 2 years.
My response to that is... who cares about picks when you have the opportunity to be the HFVHL's first ever dynasty?
In addition to that, I've heard on multiple occasions that our team is "old" and that we have a "window" that will be closing soon. Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Morgan Rielly, John Klingberg, Connor Hellebuyck... those are all guys that are 26 or younger, and are signed until 2021 -- exception being Connor, but we'll take care of that soon enough. In addition, Jamie Benn, Sidney Crosby, and Roman Josi are all on the better side of 30.
We're here to stay, and moving down the standings one or two spots doesn't really concern me.
I'm going to go back to the NBA's Warriors' comparison: They are currently 2nd in the Western Conference, but is there really any doubt that they're taking it all this year? Or next?
Staff: Hah, fair enough. But don't you worry at all that if this core group can't get it done, that you don't have much of a pipeline of youth to replace them?
LaVar: Not necessarily.
For one, we will get it done. Multiple times, likely.
Second, we have a pretty solid group of prospects. By no means is it the best, but far from the worst. Tanner Laczynski, Jake Evans, Carl Grundstrom, and Joseph Woll to name a few are some guys making great strides.
And if it ever came down to it, I'm confident that as a result of our teams pro scouting abilities, we'd be able to make a rather drastic change quite swiftly.
I honestly don't see any circumstances in which we aren't contending for the next 5, possibly 10 years, minimum.
Staff: Ondrej Palat is coming back from injury soon and you'll have to do some maneuvering with the cap to stay under. How do you plan on making room for him?
LaVar: With Scottie Upshall just recently being placed on the IR, we need to free up roughly an additional $400,000 in order to activate Ondrej.
In all likelihood, we will place a player on waivers.
Staff: How do you feel your trade deadline went? Did you acquire all of the players you wanted to? Any regrets?
LaVar: Our deadline went pretty much as perfect as we could have planned. However, there was one other "blockbuster" that we were working on that we were unable to finalize. Nonetheless, we feel we made the best moves possible to put our team in position to succeed.
Leading up to the deadline we acquired Benn, who we feel will be a key contributor on our run towards the HFVHL Cup for the next couple of seasons.
About a week or so before the deadline, we finalized a deal to bring Crosby to Boston, and we believe he could potentially win his 3rd consecutive Conn Smythe this year.
In addition to Benn and Crosby, we also acquired Tom Wilson (and later extended) and Louis Domingue, who will be important depth players for our team for the foreseeable future, seeing as both are relatively young.
Staff: How do you manage to find time to run the Bruins when you're also the CEO of your own company?
LaVar: Big Ballers know no limits.
Truth be told though, anyone could do it.... they just wouldn't be successful like me. The term I use to describe those people (like Dabeast, for example) is Small Baller. They should probably just stay in their lane.
And speaking of my company, we got some merchandise dropping soon.... here's a sneak peek:
LaVar: No. Not at all.
The fact that we were able to maintain that position for not one month, not two months, not three months, not four months, but four and a HALF months... that alone speaks to the dominance of our team over the rest of the league.
Not only that, but we then ended up acquiring the best player in the world, Sidney Crosby, at the recent trade deadline... that's like something you'd see in a video game! It's the HFVHL equivalent of Kevin Durant joining the 73-9 Golden State Warriors, the only difference being we don't see any [Cleveland] Cavaliers in sight.
At the end of the day, we aren't very concerned with the President's Trophy... it would be a nice treat, but there's a bigger, better trophy that we are after.
Staff: Doesn't it concern you that you've gone all in on this season, trading your picks and prospects, just to have other teams pass you in the standings? Or are you still confident in your team's chances come playoff time?
LaVar: You know, I hear that a lot. That we've essentially "mortgaged" our future and that we have no picks for the next 2 years.
My response to that is... who cares about picks when you have the opportunity to be the HFVHL's first ever dynasty?
In addition to that, I've heard on multiple occasions that our team is "old" and that we have a "window" that will be closing soon. Jaden Schwartz, Vladimir Tarasenko, Morgan Rielly, John Klingberg, Connor Hellebuyck... those are all guys that are 26 or younger, and are signed until 2021 -- exception being Connor, but we'll take care of that soon enough. In addition, Jamie Benn, Sidney Crosby, and Roman Josi are all on the better side of 30.
We're here to stay, and moving down the standings one or two spots doesn't really concern me.
I'm going to go back to the NBA's Warriors' comparison: They are currently 2nd in the Western Conference, but is there really any doubt that they're taking it all this year? Or next?
Staff: Hah, fair enough. But don't you worry at all that if this core group can't get it done, that you don't have much of a pipeline of youth to replace them?
LaVar: Not necessarily.
For one, we will get it done. Multiple times, likely.
Second, we have a pretty solid group of prospects. By no means is it the best, but far from the worst. Tanner Laczynski, Jake Evans, Carl Grundstrom, and Joseph Woll to name a few are some guys making great strides.
And if it ever came down to it, I'm confident that as a result of our teams pro scouting abilities, we'd be able to make a rather drastic change quite swiftly.
I honestly don't see any circumstances in which we aren't contending for the next 5, possibly 10 years, minimum.
Staff: Ondrej Palat is coming back from injury soon and you'll have to do some maneuvering with the cap to stay under. How do you plan on making room for him?
LaVar: With Scottie Upshall just recently being placed on the IR, we need to free up roughly an additional $400,000 in order to activate Ondrej.
In all likelihood, we will place a player on waivers.
Staff: How do you feel your trade deadline went? Did you acquire all of the players you wanted to? Any regrets?
LaVar: Our deadline went pretty much as perfect as we could have planned. However, there was one other "blockbuster" that we were working on that we were unable to finalize. Nonetheless, we feel we made the best moves possible to put our team in position to succeed.
Leading up to the deadline we acquired Benn, who we feel will be a key contributor on our run towards the HFVHL Cup for the next couple of seasons.
About a week or so before the deadline, we finalized a deal to bring Crosby to Boston, and we believe he could potentially win his 3rd consecutive Conn Smythe this year.
In addition to Benn and Crosby, we also acquired Tom Wilson (and later extended) and Louis Domingue, who will be important depth players for our team for the foreseeable future, seeing as both are relatively young.
Staff: How do you manage to find time to run the Bruins when you're also the CEO of your own company?
LaVar: Big Ballers know no limits.
Truth be told though, anyone could do it.... they just wouldn't be successful like me. The term I use to describe those people (like Dabeast, for example) is Small Baller. They should probably just stay in their lane.
And speaking of my company, we got some merchandise dropping soon.... here's a sneak peek:
Intoewsables
Registered User
Meet the HFVHL: Dallas Stars' GM Tryamkin
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This is part 5 of the multi-part series in which we'll interview General Managers from around the league, getting their thoughts on various topics regarding their team and the HFVHL as a whole.
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Staff: You've been quite focused on building for the future ever since you took over the Dallas Stars. How do you feel your younger players have progressed over the course of the season, both in the NHL and in any other leagues your prospects are playing in?
---
This is part 5 of the multi-part series in which we'll interview General Managers from around the league, getting their thoughts on various topics regarding their team and the HFVHL as a whole.
---
Tryamkin: I feel my prospects have really developed well over the course of the season, whether it be in the NHL, AHL, Junior leagues, or out in Europe, we have quite a few rising stars that have emerged this year. To name a select few, Matt Barzal, the rookie of the year has had a phenomenal season, already establishing himself among the leagues elite at such a young age. Both Thomas Chabot and Charlie McAvoy have shown legitimate #1 D potential with great play in expanded roles this year. Aside from those, we have a crop of 15-20 young guys across all leagues that we believe can step in and be prominent and high level impact players at the next level.
Staff: Any players in particular in some of the lower leagues that have really caught your eye this season? Maybe a couple of players who have flown under the radar as well?
Tryamkin: Yeah, there’s definitely a few players that I really have taken a liking to. Michael Rasmussen is someone who has really been slept on by GMs and scouts across the league in my opinion. A big powerful center who has a great shot and playmaking skill set in his arsenal. This league is trending towards the bigger, more physical power forwards and Rasmussen has the tools I like to see in a modern age Top 6 forwards. A few players that we have stewing are Russian impact players that could hop into the league soon like Nikita Tryamkin, Kirill Kaprizov, and Igor Ozhiganov. Within a few years they’ll show how ready they really are for the league. Finally, a few players that are poised for an underrated swing at becoming a boom NHL player in 2-3 years are Pierre Olivier Joseph, Eemeli Rasanen, and Boris Katchouk. All have had fantastic years and will look to grow even more upon learned skills.
Staff: You have an almost cartoonish number of draft picks going into the 2018 HFVHL Draft. What's your gameplan for the draft? Are you going to look to trade some of your picks in order to move up, or are you content with just picking more often than other teams?
Tryamkin: I’m absolutely content with sticking with the picks I currently have. Some GMs have talked smack about my scouting abilities and the prospects I’ve selected (one of them was so wrong that he had to resign out of embarrassment), and were proven wrong by the multiple steals in late rounds that I selected last year. Again this year, I’m in no rush to move up the draft standings, or further my position. Having said that, my picks will definitely be shopped around, and draft day will be very hectic around our camp. We have the picks and knowledge necessary to target and deliver the players we want with the picks we have.
Staff: With all of this young talent on the roster now, and coming up in the very near future, how long do you think you need to turn this team into a top contender? Would you say you're close?
Tryamkin: I would say we are very close. After this draft, we’ll evaluate the talent of our squad and in a year or two we could be contending for the cup. With the solid backbone of the team that we have in Barzal, McAvoy and Chabot, along with the slew of picks and prospects, I don’t see a way that we aren’t in the playoffs by the 2019/2020 season.
Staff: So when you say you're back in the playoffs by 2019/20, what does that mean for next season? Do you expect that to be another tough slog, or are you hoping to be more competitive than this year?
Tryamkin: My father Nikita Tryamkin Sr. always says, the road to recovery is the the first road to success. We’re taking the right approach and finding a way to play all of our NHL ready young players, while mentoring them with a mix of competitive veterans that know what it’s like to win. A lottery pick is always nice, but when you have an elite scouting staff, we have no problem with dropping down the order or even making the playoffs next year and still being able to select great players.
Staff: You had a fairly quiet trade deadline, at least given how active you've been at certain points in the past. Was that by design, or were you trying to make moves but just couldn't get anything to materialize?
Tryamkin: A bit of both I guess. Most of my large pieces had all moved and I was fairly content with the stack of picks and prospects that I did have. At some point making a trade for the sake of making a trade can hurt your team and we knew that we didn’t want to rush into anything silly that would hurt our future. We toyed around with the idea of moving Petr Mrazek, but still being in his mid 20’s as a starter on an up and coming playoff team, we felt he was worth more than any team was offering or willing to give. We did send out a few trade calls and had a blockbuster deal in the works that didn’t get done in time.
Staff: Can you say anything else about this blockbuster deal?
Tryamkin: Sure, it was with an eastern conference team. He identified a few young players on my team that he was interested in, and I was willing to give up a few of them. We were working on a deal that sent me a potential top line center and a mid 20 year #1 defender in return for 3 young pieces, 2 forwards and a defenseman. The details weren’t finalized in time.
Staff: Anything else you want to add?
Tryamkin: With the 970th pick in the HFVHL Fantasy Draft, the Dallas Stars select LW Jesper Bratt!
ATypicalCanadian
Registered User
Put Zach Ashton Reese on IR and call up Andreas Johnsson.Recent news on Zach Aston-Reese - Pittsburgh Penguins - Rotoworld.com
Intoewsables
Registered User
Johnsson is not in the database yet, so I'll process and backdate when he is.
Recent news on Zach Aston-Reese - Pittsburgh Penguins - Rotoworld.com
This was supposed to be for today, for tomorrow:
Send down Alex Iafallo
Call up Neal Pionk
Place Deangelo on IR
DeAngelo to miss 3-4 weeks with sprained ankle, Rangers announce
Waivers: Place Maxime Lagace on Waivers to be sent down to AHL
Recall Eric Comrie from AHL
Recall Gustav Olofsson from AHL
VanillaCoke
Registered User
- Oct 30, 2013
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Intoewsables
Registered User
LTIR: Arizona places D Zdeno Chara on injured reserve.
www.rotoworld.com/recent/nhl/771/zdeno-chara
RECALL: Arizona recalls D Julius Honka from the AHL.
www.rotoworld.com/recent/nhl/771/zdeno-chara
RECALL: Arizona recalls D Julius Honka from the AHL.
StrictlyCommercial
Registered User
StrictlyCommercial
Registered User
Also Winnipeg activate Joel Edmundson (retroactive to yesterday 
)
Place Jared Spurgeon on IR.
Jared Spurgeon injury update: Wild D (hamstring) to miss at least 4 weeks
) Place Jared Spurgeon on IR.
Jared Spurgeon injury update: Wild D (hamstring) to miss at least 4 weeks
Intoewsables
Registered User
You'll all be asked to submit playoff rosters strictly including your players on playoff teams. Players can still be placed on waivers at this point, but any claiming team won't be able to use said player on their playoff roster. Not sure if that answers your question?
Weylspin
The Swede
sign S. Anana’s to a 2 year contract at 750K AAVG. Hutton to a 2 year 850K AAV ELC
A. Rockwell to a 1+1 year 925K AAV ELC
sign B. Keeper to a 3 year 850K AAV ELC
sign J. Davies to a 3 year 800K AAV ELC
sign R. Donato to a 2 year 925K AAV ELC
Last edited:
StrictlyCommercial
Registered User
Yeah it does, I have a few playoff guys in the minors to recall, so want to make sure I don't miss the window.
Intoewsables
Registered User
I totally missed that this move puts you under the cap floor. Instead of placing Spurgeon on IR, you'll have to send down Grzelcyk to make room for Edmundson.Also Winnipeg activate Joel Edmundson (retroactive to yesterday
Place Jared Spurgeon on IR.
Jared Spurgeon injury update: Wild D (hamstring) to miss at least 4 weeks
StrictlyCommercial
Registered User
You know injuries are bad when you can't stay above the cap floor.
Had to do math:
Place Spurgeon on IR
Send down Hudon
Activate Lowry
Recall Grzelcyk
Intoewsables
Registered User
Meet the HFVHL: Los Angeles Kings' GM Nail
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This is part 6 of the multi-part series in which we'll interview General Managers from around the league, getting their thoughts on various topics regarding their team and the HFVHL as a whole.
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Nail: Not trying to toot my own horn, but I think it was because of some of the moves I made to improve the team. When I took over the Kings, I saw a team that was in a bit of a middling mode, not good enough to be a contender but also not bad enough to win the tankathon. Don't get me wrong, the previous regime left behind some very very nice core pieces such as Marchand, Turris, Point, Letang and Jones but at the time the depth behind them was lacking a bit. Not having our 1st round pick this year kind of forced our hand, and we made the decision to go ahead and sacrifice some of our future and top prospects for a chance to go for it all this season. Considering we ended up acquiring 3 top 6 forwards ([William] Karlsson, [Corey] Perry and [Craig] Smith), 3 top 4 defensemen ([Cam] Fowler, [Jaccob] Slavin and [Marc-Edouard] Vlasic) and a solid goaltending option ([Brian] Elliott), we feel that we were able to add to our depth which has been able to propel us in the standings. It's been a total team effort to help us move up the standings, everyone has been chipping in and helping out.
Staff: How confident are you in your team's chances in the playoffs this year? Do you think you've done enough to put the team in a position to make a deep run?
Nail: It's going to be a battle. Other Pacific Division teams have some pretty impressive playoff rosters. From my past experiences in fantasy leagues, postseason success depends on making it past Round 1. If you can make it past Round 1, you have an opportunity to either go all the way, or lose in Round 2 depending on who has what players advancing into the next round with them. With this in mind, we feel we have a pretty spread out playoff roster, we haven't gone "all in" on one specific team, instead have tried to make sure that we have all of our bases covered for each possible scenario in real kufe. We have a few playoff call-ups we can utilize too so we're hoping we can get as close to a full 23 man roster as possible. If we can make it out of Round 1, I feel we should have a decent amount of players available to us in Round 2. After that, it's honestly the luck of the draw.
Staff: Do you think you'll regret making all of these win now moves if you don't end up winning the Cup? Or have the moves you've made set your team up well for future years as well?
Nail: No regrets. I think the players we've acquired are guys who are still in their prime and aren't too far into the downswings of their careers. We'll continue to do all we can in the scouting department to possibly find some sleeper prospects that can help contribute to us in future years, but we feel we have a team that will continue to have success in the years to come. I would also like to point out that we have been able to manage our cap situation quite nicely thus far. We feel we will still have some cap room once we've re-signed all of our pending free agents to hopefully make another splash in free agency and add to our current core for next season.
Staff: You've been one of the busier GMs since you took over in Los Angeles. Which of your moves are you most proud of? Are there any that you wish you could take back?
Nail: I think our trade with Edmonton acquiring William Karlsson and Craig Smith (with salary retained) in exchange for [Mark] Jankowski, [Stelio] Mattheos and [Gabriel] Carlsson is one that really helped our organization be where we are today. We gave up 3 younger guys, all with very good NHL potential however we were able to add two top 6 forwards to our organization, one who currently has 39 goals and one who has shown very good chemistry with fellow King Kyle Turris. As for any possible trades that I wish I could take back, there's none I wouldn't do again today, however there's a few I feel I overpaid slightly for. However, looking back, I feel it was necessary to slightly overpay on these occasions as we were able to get trades done immediately which helped us gain extra pool points right away.
Staff: Switching gears a bit here. As it stands right now, you're heading into the 2018 Draft without a single pick. Do you plan on trying to acquire a pick or two before the draft, or are you content to sit on the sidelines and rely on signings and trades to fill your prospect pool?
Nail: If the opportunity presents itself, we can potentially see ourselves trading for some picks this season. If we don't, we will definitely look to free agency and trades to fill out our prospect pool. We'd like to be a bit more active in signing prospects right now, however we are at the capacity of 50 players in our organization. We probably have around 12 expiring contracts that we don't plan on picking up, so we'll have that many more contracts to offer to some prospects our scouting department has had their eyes on.
Staff: You're going to have roughly $15 million to sign [Mikko] Koivu, Karlsson, Vlasic, and a few depth players. Do you think you can fit them all in without making any big changes to your team, or will you have to do some juggling in order to stay below the cap?
Nail: With our teams abundance of depth this season and having to shuttle players back and forth in order to maximize their pool points, we plan on not having to do this next season. This will mean that some players will not be back with our club next season, whether that's by pending UFAs or players contracted beyond next season. There will be some inevitable change coming to LA for next season. By doing this, we feel we'll have adequate cap space in order to re-sign the players we plan on keeping in our long term plans.
Staff: Is there anyone in particular that you're planning on letting walk at the end of the season? Have you figured out what sort of changes will need to be made to your roster for next season?
Nail: Unfortunately we won't be able to comment on that question until the conclusion of our season. We've figured out internally what moves we'd like to potentially make, however nothing is a forgone conclusion until the end of our season. Our main goal right now is to continue pushing for the division title and embarking on a hopefully long playoff run.
Staff: Any preference on who you'll be facing off against in the first round?
Nail: If things continue trending the way they have of late, I believe we're in line to either play Vancouver if we win the Division, or Anaheim if we come 2nd in the division. I'm not sure if there's a preference here; those are some strong playoff rosters. Both of those teams have goalies that can stand on their heads and steal a series for their team under this point scoring structure. Both teams also have the potential to have forward corps with upwards of six top 6 forwards as well as a couple top 4 D. I don't see one matchup being significantly easier than the other, so I guess we'll just have to see how the rest of the season plays out and go from there.
Staff: Anything else you want to add?
Nail: I'm grateful for the opportunity to join this league, it's been a blast. Great executive team and great GMs, all around its been a ton of fun to have been a part of this. Shoutout to the Spearmint Rhino Gentlemen's Club in Los Angeles for housing our young prospects as our AHL affiliate as we've sent them up and down on a daily basis.
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