The Great Lakes Division is too stacked, they said. Toronto has improved so much, but with so much competition, they'll be lucky to even make the playoffs, they said. A near miss was to be expected, and certainly, after years of rebuilding, nobody expecting the commanding defeat over the Manhattan Rage. The newly risen team shocked the SHL world by sending the veteran hockey club on another first round exit. Certainly, this was not an outcome that could have been projected at the start of the season. Sure, they aren't the same team they were five seasons ago, but the North Stars hadn't made a name for themselves yet. There isn't much room for new contenders to emerge amongst the giants either, at least nobody thought there was. But Toronto defied the odds and advanced to round 2, something that will certainly energize them next season and encourage them to build on their success. People will take them more seriously next year, that's for sure.

I think I would choose the immunity to penalties, offsides, and icing. Even if you're down a man, you can just camp a skater or two in the other team's zone and ice the puck down to them as soon as you touch, with no repercussions. You also could cross-check, slash, and hook your opponents as much as you want, making defense a lot easier. Hell, you can get nasty and just start taking runs at their players. Want to bulldoze their goalie? Go for it, what is goalie interference anyways? 6 on 5, as you see in empty net situations, is not that much of an advantage anyways, so the immunity is the clear choice here. The other team would not be ready for our no rules, no holds barred style.
I would predict the usual three as your top contenders in IIHF: USA, Great Britain, Canada. Nipping at their heels, following closely behind will be the A tier teams: Sweden, Japan, Czechia. And most of the others will be happy just to sneak in in those final advancement spots. Canada are the favorites, as USA has underperformed the past three years, and you can expect stars on the big teams like Theo Morgan and Jimmy Slothface to come through when it matters most. Sweden's Ola Wagstrom has historically done better in IIHF than he does in the SHL regular season, so we can expect to see him heat up and light the lamp for the blue and yellow. You can also expect Japan's Monkey D. Luffy to be a handful to contain on the ice, fueling a monstrous top line and packing a scoring bunch for the SHL's premier nation from Asia. And you can expect strong goaltending from names like Elizabeth Doyle and Harry Carpet, perhaps shining when their teams otherwise would not.

The Hamilton Steelhawks won again, why does this feel like deja vu? The same two teams every damn year...uh, I meant to say congrats. I'm going to give the MVP award to A Jobin, a goalie in the prime of his game who has yet again slammed the door in the face of his opponents and carried the Steelhawks to yet another Cup. All this guy does is win, he makes the big saves when they're needed and he stole some close games out there this season, as he always does. Superb goaltending wins championships, and this is shown to be the case yet again in S58. Lots of people might favor skaters, the ones who racked up the most points or the most goals, but I have to give the love to the goalie; without him, none of the rest of it would matter.

Milestones +3 TPE

@roastpuff You are the best co GM anyone could every ask for, and hiring you has quite possibly been the best decision that I made in my time as Sweden Fed Head. I appreciate your passion and your hard work so much, and it's people like you who will bring IIHF forward.
@Zema I've known you through two players and two years real time now, and you're a cool dude. Looking forward to sharing a fantasy group and cheering on Team Sweden together!
@sköldpaddor You really deserve that captain nomination for Sweden this year, you earned that Challenge Cup last year, and you've just been an awesome person to get to know through the Sweden LR. You might be a vet now but you're still an up-and-coming star to me. Your sigs are awesome by the way, love the one you made for me.
@Inf1d3l My oldest friend on the site, much love. I'll miss McCarthy a lot but I loved being teammates after it was just a pipe dream to play together for most of our careers. Our draft class may have been small, but with guys like you, S44 was memorable despite its small pool.