Verification word: yummy
Victor Helstrom


I would love to, if only for a few extra seasons, flesh out the Killington timeline. I made a mistake by PM'ing an inactive player on the Buffalo Stampede, basically asking him to come back and then, once he came back, consider signing with Portland. The way it was handled in the community tribunal was a little rough, and it forced me to just retire. My punishment was very severe for the crime, in my opinion; it'd be one thing if I was trying to bring in a premier player outside of the free agency window, but I know in my heart that my messages to the guy were benign and I had no true intentions of making offers or anything until the time came. Regardless of all of that, if I simply sat out Season 28 - right after I won the Jeff Dar and Jay McDonald - and continued my career in Portland or elsewhere, I think I would have made a true impact as a power forward for many seasons in the SHL. Season 27 was my ... 5th? I started in S23 with the Montreal Impact. I was already winning awards. I feel like the possibilities were endless; unfortunately I let my emotions and the reactions from several hundred strangers get the best of me. Shoutout to JNH who bought my rights off of JP for a 4th round pick when I retired, and he sent me a heartfelt note about coming out of retirement and ultimately understood my decision. He's a real one.


Milestones Claim (3)


I think the switch to the new engine has sort of set this pattern in stone for the foreseeable future. Everybody enjoys FHM more because it does not foster complete randomness - especially in the playoffs - like STHS did. The STHS design is also much more simplistic, and there's much less nuance between skillsets. That means that, while it's more interesting to watch FHM games and build FHM players, it's much easier to build a winning model if you have enough bright minds working on it. There are clearly some teams that simply found a winning formula and have no problem pushing it to its absolute limits. There are a few teams that seem like they're building the same independent of the engine, and that's clearly a mistake. But the middle teams - the ones that would occasionally find luck and, therefore, momentum in the form of motivated draft picks and exciting FA signings - are completely lost in the static now. I'm not sure what changes, if any, need to be implemented; more rules would only change the spreadsheets and algorithms slightly for these guys who are making the game less fun for more casual teams who are still building with max TPE earning. But I suppose we can only hope that the top 2 lines on those teams retire eventually and a new team of 1900 TPE across the board will be around to take the Cup(s).


I want Gorlab back. I don't really care that he would cause absolute chaos from the perspective of most of the league. But with some S20 guys like Merica and Mook coming back, and Maxy always hanging around, Gorlab is the one huge missing piece from the era of "The Deplorables" of the late S20's. Gorlab got himself banned for getting fixated on picking on "Eggy12" and "The Pony Brigade". Did he earn his ban? Eh, I think so; he simply wouldn't cut it out after being asked by HO and the discipline committee multiple times. But there are probably plenty of people who would welcome some entertainment on the forum at this point, myself included. Most of the league has migrated to Discord and intermingles only amongst their teams and maybe some gamers. That's perfectly fine, but I miss some forum interactions! I think he'd lead a perhaps too incendiary charge toward different styles of discourse. My over/under I'd set for him getting banned again is 1.5 seasons (trade deadline of his 2nd season in the J). Which will you choose?


We've had our issues in the past, Slash, but I have to say: this job is truly for you. You're not an update guy or an audit guy. It's clear that your passion for making up new prompts that, hit or miss, you're confident incite some creative juices has been something the league hasn't seen in quite some time. It's been a fun experiment to watch! In my personal opinion re: your prompt "aesthetic" - I understand why you're doing prompt 1 or 2, but I feel like one prompt and alternating between the two (more out-there ones one week, more blasé ones another) would sort of add a challenge to PTs that we've honestly never seen. People will complain, but, fuck 'em. Max earning should require some sort of challenge, and if it's not really hard trivia that alienates people who aren't into data (which would be the wrong way to bring about a challenge), how else are we going to create earning parity and let the tryhards rise to the top? I know you'll keep trying, and that's all that matters. Despite your mixed reviews, you've brought the most attention to PTs of any director in my sim lifetime here, and I thank you for that.