SMJHL GMing is not fun in my opinion. Here is why:

Only four seasons means teams will always either be rebuilding or on the verge of a rebuild. It means first round picks just don’t ever get traded.

On top of that, there is too many teams. SMJHL expanded last time simply because SHL did, and that’s not a good reason at all. The draft classes are small enough, and there’s so many teams, that fourth round picks and beyond are basically useless.

So teams maaaaaay be willing to trade a second rounder. Never a first. And a third isn’t worth much, as by then you’re usually drafting people who haven’t logged in since the day they signed up, and you’re only drafting them because you need another player on your roster.

I’ve been a terrible GM in my tenure and haven’t really accomplished anything at all, but having so many teams in the SMJHL and thus having such a shallow draft pool every time has made it near impossible to remain competitive. I feel like by the time I have a strong core, they’re already aging out and I have to start all over again.

Other than that, the league is still fun to me. I like seeing my player and team do well and I enjoy the process of making my player better.

That being said, I also think regression needs a serious overhaul. Basically with this current regression system we are saying players start to regress by the time they’re 24 (SMJHL is treated like juniors, so the player would be 18 after 4 seasons in the SMJHL) which is absurd to me. Let players keep building for a few more seasons before they start regressing. Maybe have regression kick in ten seasons after the player’s first full SHL season.