State of EHEC Address

[Virtual Jarmo]

Gentlemen,

There have been some developments over the past few weeks that I feel need to be discussed further and to elaborate on the future of the league. I cannot express my gratitude enough to all of your for continuing to carry on the great times we have had in sustaining the top EHM league on the internet. With such a dying hobby, it has been very difficult to find GMs for the vacant teams. For those of you who have been here a long period of time, I could not be more grateful. All of you have made contributions to this league and all of you make this possible. The work that I put in is because of the respect I have for you and the respect you have for me. I could very easily downplay my job as Commissioner and do a status quo league that people check in on periodically.

From the start, I knew I was not going to be that kind of Commissioner. You have expectations, as anybody would with something that they put their time and effort in to. My goal is to exceed those expectations. Without sounding conceited, I feel I have done a great job of that and will continue to do so. Being a Commissioner of a league that takes time away from significant others, friends and other hobbies is a thankless position for most. But, for me, I get plenty of thanks in the compliments I get from you guys and the respect that you show me by staying active and vocal.

Some of you were long-time acquaintances or even friends from the past. To those of you who were there back in the MILFH days, I had a chip (no pun intended) on my shoulder from how things ended. Although it took a lengthy period of time to rectify the past failures of our former Commissioner, I had a strong passion to fix that. You all put your time and efforts in to that league and to be treated like that was beyond despicable.

To those of you I came in contact with beginning with the EHEC days, I am grateful for your trust in me. You had no idea of my character like some of the others did. You joined with open minds and I hope you have been pleasantly surprised. Many of you have become friends of mine and I hope for the day where all of us are filthy rich and can throw back some beers (or sodas for you soberites out there).

You have my solemn promise to continue the betterment of the league every day. You know what we are about as a league. There have been very few late sims. Every issue has been tended to immediately and we have achieved our goal of realism. I am never satisfied with the savefile, the league itself, or my performance as the leader of EHEC. I will always work at whatever needs to be done and do so in as timely of a fashion as I can.

With that, there are some changes going on in EHEC that you need to be informed of and I need to be the one to do that for you. First and foremost, there will be changes to the league Committee. Ryan, our Flyers GM, has approached me wishing to be relieved of his Committee duties, including simming. Though I believe his reasons are not quite accurate and am fully confident in his ability to do the job, he wishes to be a regular GM and focus more energies on his own team. I can do nothing other than support Ryan with his decision. Him and I go way back to a league called YNHL, which I'm pretty sure was simmed using one of the NHL 2xxx games. Our friendship goes back over 10 years and I can truly say that he is one of my best friends. There is no ill will between us, nor should there be any. It took him a fair amount of time to come to this conclusion and bring it to my attention for fear of my response and personal feelings toward it. I am not typing this to go in to personal details to the league, but to reaffirm to Ryan that he is somebody I truly value as a friend and no league-related business can change that.

Along the same lines, Nick, our Buffalo GM, will also be relieving himself of his Committee duties. He is going to re-evaluate being a part of the league altogether after the season. His work schedule of multiple jobs is too taxing on him currently, and again, I can do nothing but support his decision. He expressed to me that he felt his scheduling conflicts were causing him to be unfair to the rest of the league, both with differently-timed sims and an inability to be readily available for league matters.

Both Ryan and Nick will stay on through the rest of the season with their duties. The writing was somewhat on the wall with both of them, as the entire rulebook and financial policy was comprised by me. Very little input came from either of them. This is not meant to belittle them or what they have done for the league, rather to re-affirm to the league that I am in this for the long haul. Even if working independently was necessary, for the betterment of the league, I was willing to go that extra mile to do so.

Upon discussing with Ryan and Nick who we felt would be good replacements for them, I had two very simple criteria. I had to know the two individuals on a personal level and I had to be able to reach them quickly, conveniently, and easily. I had to unequivocally trust them with file maintenance, the duties of the job, and their knowledge of the sim engine. The first person that jumped in to my mind was Quinn Mulligan, our Colorado GM. Quinn and I go back to the MILFH days and I have a firm grasp of his schedule and availability. Quinn has experience in maintaining sim leagues and is also skilled with HTML and Photoshop. Another benefit to having Quinn is that we are in the process of building a new website for the league. We want to eliminate all remnants of the site creator because we are a living, breathing organism of the EHM world. He gave that up a long time ago and the time is right to make our individual stamp graphically, as we already have with the way we operate the league.

The other person is a relatively new face to some of you, but again, somebody I have known on a personal level for nearly 11 years now. Tom Kennish, our Atlanta GM, is somebody who I know that I can trust and obviously have several easy means of getting in touch with him. He has a degree in accounting, so I have full trust in his knowledge of numbers, especially given all of the new formulas, percentages, and everything else in the Rulebook. Tom was part of the MILFH Committee, so he is very capable at using players.ehm to rate trades and do the daily sim duties.

Again, while these may not be two of the more household (read: vocal) names on the boards, they were selected for very simple reasons. I know that they will have no problem doing what is necessary in a timely fashion and I know them personally. I'm not saying that there are other people in the league that I cannot trust. After all, there are arbitrators that I have hand-picked, I am just saying that I thought about those individuals and seriously questioned their availability. With Quinn and Tommy, I know that I can count on their availability and know them personally enough to get a firm grasp on how they feel about being part of the league Committee. Their roles will begin immediately following the EHEC Playoffs, so that will include the draft and free agency. Along the same time frame, Quinn, Justin (TB), and myself will continue to build a new website and forums to enhance the EHEC experience.

I felt it was necessary to make the post addressing this issue rather than have Ryan and Nick do so. No slight on either of them, but it is clear that this is my league and that most of the league administrative duties fall on my shoulders. As somebody willingly put in to the position of power with EHEC, I wanted to be the one to make this announcement. I encourage Ryan and Nick to elaborate further if they wish, but by no means do I expect them to have to validate themselves to us. Their decisions are what they feel is best for the league and that shows class, respect, and thought from both of them. Ryan and Nick could very easily have wained their interest down to nothing and continued to do their daily tasks without any care or consideration for the individuals they're working for. Instead, they approached me to see what I felt would be the best course of action for the league. I believe that accepting their decision instead of forcing them to continue was what needed to be done and I would determine the route to go from there.

Obviously, there are other matters going on in the league that make us stronger and better than every other sim league out there. The new rulebook, while it reads like a novel and has plenty of pieces and parts, is one of the most impressive things I have seen out of a sim league. My goal in compiling a new set of financial policies was to make EHM a progressive program. What I mean by that is that the NHL has changed so much since EHM was released and the software is very limited. By creating a new rulebook and making it as realistic as possible, I feel that we have taken some incredible steps toward the long-term viability of EHEC. The rulebook may not be the easier thing to read or comprehend, but it was critical for what we want to achieve.

The draft class has 30 players in it and there is plenty of time to finish off what needs to be done. I hope to do a little each week or day as we go along so it does not get dumped into the file just a couple days before the draft like last year's was. Everything is a work in progress. Last year was my first year building a draft class, and really, running a league. I had to learn on the fly and do so with an impressive core of experienced GMs. I hope I was able to do my job effectively. Now, with more experience and help from some of the veterans, this year's class will be more representative of the real-life draft and the direction of EHEC.

I feel that the league is stronger than ever. We have a set standard of rules in play and a tremendously talented, eager, active, and intellectual group of GMs. I would consider many of you, if not all of you, to be friends of mine. All I ask is that I get the same amount of respect I have for you collectively and that you show me that respect by dedicating your time to the league. I have never asked for money from any of you, nor have I asked for anything above and beyond being a GM, or in some cases, being an arbitrator and GM. The time may come where I do ask for a portion of our $84 per year hosting bill. Those who wish to help can. Those who don't do not have to. It would never affect the outcome of the simulations or my opinion of you as a person. Some are in a better position to help than others. I have often feared that too many financially invested people would want to make changes and have a say, somewhat like shareholders of a company. While suggestions aren't always bad things, I would not want someone holding a financial contribution over my head.

Finally, in closing (and if you're still reading, thank you for the time), I want to thank Ryan and Nick for everything that they have done to get us off the ground and create a foundation for us to build on. As friends, I want to thank you immensely for your late nights, countless hours helping with what needed to be done, or even just listening to me vent when the job got to be a lot to handle. As a Commissioner, I want to thank you for what you did to enhance the image and the individuality of the league. All of the GMs, myself included, owe you a debt of gratitude for helping give us the opportunity to have this league.

I want to reiterate to everybody that the league is still strong and I have no intentions of stepping down from any of my duties or becoming lax on the things I have to do. I have entirely too much pride for what I do and too much respect for all of you to just let things crumble and collapse. Even if it did not work out with Quinn, Tommy, or both, I would continue this thing on my own. Simming all seven days, doing all of the file maintenance, and whatever else to sustain the quality that we have achieved. The status of Ryan and Nick does nothing to affect my status as the leader and Commissioner of the league. I want to make that perfectly clear. There is nothing to worry about and this is but a minor stumbling block for me personally. There will be no regression of the league. Rather, just a disappointing development in my personal life. Again, as I said above, I respect both men and will never hold anything against them. I would be lying to you, myself, and them if I did not express my disappointment that the people I built this league with will no longer be the shoulders with which it stands, but I will never allow the league to falter.

Thank you again for your time and please continue to make up the group of GMs that I consider friends and co-workers in this league that we have created.

[BSBullies]

I'll keep this brief. Adam is a class act as we all know, as he said I'd prefer to manage the Flyers exclusively with confidence we have others that can step in to help handle the burden of overlooking everything on a daily basis. It's still going to be something we started together, and I have no intentions of walking away from the league at all as with our new financial system I hope it will thrive and be the best EHM experience. I apologize if I'm letting the league down in any way, but a big thanks to Nick and especially Adam for the understanding.

[GM Office Q]

Well said, Adam.

Indeed, Tommy and I will be stepping in for Ryan and Nick at the conclusion of the Stanley Cup Playoffs. This will include both simulation and trade committee duties. Rest assured, the three of us will have a schedule prepared that will allow EHEC to be operated with the same level of integrity and efficiency established by the work of Adam, Ryan and Nick over the past two seasons.

Also as Adam mentioned, be sure to stay tuned for our new website which is currently being developed by Justin, Adam and myself. We hope to vastly improve on the integration between the main pages, the HTML output provided by EHM, and of course the forums.

[TorontoGM]

I have been in a few leagues in my EHM career(as pathetic as it is), and I honestly have never met such committed league staff. You guys continued to do you're jobs despite not getting paid and really not getting much in return for you're hard work and I thank you for that. I respect every and all decisions you guys may come to and I hope you guys can continue to contribute to the best EHM league I have ever been apart of. I thank Nick and Ryan for their continued commitment and work ethic, and I'm confident that Quinn and Tommy can make their mark on this league. I don't offer much other than stupid posts and garbage EHM managed teams but I'd again like to offer a donation to the league.

[CapsGM]

Congratulations to the new Committee members and I definitely appreciated the two years that Nick and Ryan put in as co-Commissioners.

[Jets GM]

I <3 EHEC. I will be in EHEC till they throw dirt in my face

[CapsGM]

ehec is my life

[SharksGM]

Is there an established hazing ritual for new committee members? I'm expecting hot coals at the minimum.

I'm hoping Femur can follow this up with a "Welcome, Pavel and Mehmet!" so we can complete a sandwich of pointless one-line responses to Adam's long and thought out post.

[GM Office Q]

Is there an established hazing ritual for new committee members? I'm expecting hot coals at the minimum.

Only one.

[Penguin]

I keep saying it, but seriously I have never seen someone so committed as you, Adam. Fucking keep it up, you're a boss!

As for Nick and Ryan, I completely understand them as simming can be a real bitch when you want to make plans in real life. I also admire them for being absolutely great to the league. Always reliable, always classy, always showing the example. I'd be sad and upset if Nicky would leave the league completely, though. Vanek and Kassian would be upset too... Don't do it, Nick!

I am working on a Junior system to propose to the league for next year, even though we've had a lot of changes this year! And, I'll keep trying to recruit (better GMs than Garrick this time...).

[Commish Bub(NYR)]

I'm hoping Femur can follow this up with a "Welcome, Pavel and Mehmet!" so we can complete a sandwich of pointless one-line responses to Adam's long and thought out post.

Mmmm....pointless one-liner sandwich....

Thanks to Ryan and Nick for all their work as part of the EHEC triumvirate. And thanks for your often humorous replies to my lines submissions. I wish you (only a little) good luck as you focus on your teams more exclusively now.

[GoJetsGo]

Are we sure this has to wait until the conclusion of the playoffs? A couple of my friends at the bottom of the standings could really use some help. [Jokes.] Certainly, a higher pick would be exciting, but the integrity of the league far outweighs the desires on an individual club.

A good portion of GMs are familiar names from the MILFH days. Sadly, that league ended for everyone in the middle of the playoffs. I had just beaten Ryan's defending conference champion Ducks too! With that in mind, I asked Adam if this transition would have any effect on league stability/existence. His post above leaves little doubt in mind that history will not be repeating itself.

As for my dedication to the league, you can ask Adam how much aggravation I've caused him recently. Whether it be the financial policy or draft scouting I have head starts (spreadsheets) started for both. In the aforementioned league I took Cam Barker over Evgeni Malkin in the draft, but never had to suffer the consequences. Luckily/unfortunately, depending on your point of view, similar decisions will be devastating in EHEC, and that's the way it should be.

[StarStruck]

I keep saying it, but seriously I have never seen someone so committed as you, Adam. Fucking keep it up, you're a boss!

As for Nick and Ryan, I completely understand them as simming can be a real bitch when you want to make plans in real life. I also admire them for being absolutely great to the league. Always reliable, always classy, always showing the example. I'd be sad and upset if Nicky would leave the league completely, though. Vanek and Kassian would be upset too... Don't do it, Nick!

I am working on a Junior system to propose to the league for next year, even though we've had a lot of changes this year! And, I'll keep trying to recruit (better GMs than Garrick this time...).

are you still bitter about me kicking your ass all these years? haha

[Virtual Jarmo]

Appreciate the kind words from you guys. No matter how I much I put in to it, it's up to you guys to keep it going. I'm pleased with the support for my decision and am really hopeful for the future of the league.

[Tuo-SabresGM]

I'm not terribly good with words, so hopefully you'll be able to bear with me. I greatly appreciate everyone's understanding, including Ryan and especially Adam. Between my diminished activity and Adam's slaving over policies, I increasingly felt it unfair to both him and the rest of the league to continue down this path. It wasn't a decision that came easily, as I felt by leaving that I'd be betraying everyone here who put in hard work, and Adam, whom I've become good friends with since just before EHEC started. Over time, its become more and more clear that I'm doing more harm than good by staying without putting forth the effort that was necessary of me. There is quite a bit that goes into being part of a league committee. Beyond simming, there are a lot of behind the scenes actions that take place and me not being able to be as readily available to deal with them is a hindrance.

I don't know Quinn or Tom much on a personal level, but from the few times I've spoken with them, and from everything I've seen of them, they'll be quality assets to the EHEC. I thank Adam for giving me a unique opportunity in being apart of an online league committee, to Ryan for all of his help, and to both men collectively for their dedication and hard work. The way Adam has handled everything, and the steps he has taken in dealing with these issues speaks volumes about him as a league Commissioner, and as a person. If there was ever any doubt about the direction of this league or the way its run, look no further than the man on top for guidance.

As for the remainder of this season, despite the recent turn of events, neither Ryan nor myself felt it to be fair, nor want to jump ship in the middle of the season, especially during such an important time for the league. We will carry out our usual duties through the end of the season, then hand the reins over.

This does not necessarily mean that this will be the end of my career in the EHEC. As I told Adam, I did not want to make any promises or absolutes one way or the other and not follow through on them. Though I've had my second job for quite a while now, its not one with any guarantees or real certainty. In the coming months, I should have a clearer idea of what will be required for the job, which will aid in my decision to continue on. As of this moment, I see no reason to quit entirely. And even though my Committee duties will be relieved, I will always offer my help to the league brass when needed or asked for.

I thank you all for the two wonderful seasons you've given us, for tolerating some of my brain-dead moments, and for sticking through my random ramblings in this "letter". I look forward to the next chapter of this awesome league.

[St.Louis Blues]

This is by far the best sim league I've been involved in. Appreciate all the effort put into this.
Thank you guys!

[Femur]

welcome Pavel and Mehmet!

also, Tommy: don't eff this up...you know what i am talking about