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*WithTheMoose* · 06-11-2021, 12:19 PM

I'm not sure if 2x draft media applies to this or not as it is more talking about the scouting experience and the league experience before the draft. if it doesn't apply, that's cool, but I figured if it did I better have it in the title so I get credit!

When I came to this league, I honestly didn’t know how involved or engaged I would get in it at all. I mostly joined because SDCore kept talking about it and tempting me over and I kept putting it off. Finally Schwarz decided she was going to create and as we do most sim league stuff together, I decided to give the SHL a try as well. Since then I’ve learned this league has a ton of incredible people in it and in just a short time, I’ve fallen in love with it. That is in huge part to a couple teams.

For that, I just wanted to take some time to thank those teams and give them a shout out as they’ve been a huge part of my enjoyment in the league so far and have kept me more engaged than I thought was possible.

First up is the Vancouver Whalers. When Vancouver reached out to me on waivers as a DFA create, I wasn’t sure what to think. They sent me a forum message offering me a spot on their roster and that threw me for a loop. Most of my experience comes from the ISFL where forum scouting is relatively frowned on as people like to have more personalized and direct discussions. I put their offer on the back burner for a few days to see if anyone else offered and when they didn’t, I asked if they still had a spot. At this point they’d already picked up a good friend of mine in Connor, so I thought I’d waited too long and was prepared to not play until after draft time.

I couldn’t have been more wrong. Vancouver made room for me by moving some players around and brought me in with open arms. My initial hesitation and concern about the forum message were pushed to the side rapidly as I learned both Dex and Python were truly incredible GMs. They were incredibly involved in the locker room, always willing to help people out, and while Vancouver wasn’t the picture of success these two were absolutely excellent at keeping their players hyped up and excited for what would come next even through the losses.

I knew nothing about the world of hockey coming into this league and had no concept of what players did or even what the attributes meant. I had intended to come in and just chill out in the league and basically let my GMs build my player for me. When I asked Vancouver about my build though, they didn’t try to steer me in a specific direction or decide my fate for me. Instead they asked me questions, they explained things, and they helped me decide for myself the kind of player I would most like to be. They could have taken the easy way out, but instead they tried to help me understand what I wanted for me. This was an incredible approach by them and something I’ve never seen in a developmental league, but it makes a ton of sense. I found myself admiring them immensely for that.

I could not be happier to have Vancouver as my waivers team because even as we entered playoffs as a very low seed, they managed to keep us heavily involved with the help of some of the incredible alumni and current team members they have. Going into the Kelowna series, I knew we didn’t have much chance, but the optimism in the locker room was electrifying and things would explode with each win we pulled off them. I never got to watch the games, but the environment was infectious and I found myself cheering for the team even though I wasn’t initially invested. We eventually lost out, but I’ve been in sim leagues for two years and that series was some of the most fun I’ve had in that time. That is in large part due to the leadership of this team and how they manage it. No one got real down after the elimination and there was a focus on what comes next.

I adored every moment I had with this team and really appreciate them for helping me learn the basics and work through my initial build. I still haven’t settled on exactly what I want my player to be in this league, but Vancouver at least helped me to narrow things down and get a better grasp of what direction I want to lean in and I am super thankful for that. Its a real shame they don’t have a first round pick to bring me back, but I appreciate them and any player who ends up on this roster can consider themselves lucky.

Next up I’m going to talk a bit about both the Anaheim Outlaws and the Nevada.Battleborn. I’ve been a long time sim leaguer, but I have never really gotten the scouting experience many get as a rookie. With my first two drafts in the ISFL, everyone knew I was the universal 1OA and there was never any question about what team I was going to. As a result, no one scouted me. In fact the only messages I really received initially were with the 1OA teams talking about their plans for the team, where I would fit in, and asking my opinion on what picks they might go for for the rest of that draft. For my second ISFL player I was a GM and my fate was predestined, so again I missed out on that scouting opportunity. I even branched out to the SCFSL and I was told right off that I was going to be 1OA once more. I never had the chance to really experience scouting and the wonder of not knowing where I might go. These two teams changed that and I couldn’t be more appreciative.

Nevada got involved with scouting me very early on and even made it clear they were doing so. Jax was the first GM outside of Vancouver to reach out to me and he made it pretty clear there was interest in Nevada for picking me up. He did it through actual conversations though. He didn’t DM me a list of questions or come in with any expectations. Instead he started talking to me in the Whaler’s locker room and got to know me first. He watched how I operated with the team, would chat with me from time to time, and then finally asked how I would feel about heading to Nevada. Jax was one of the key members of this community keeping me involved and it was always hilarious to see him pop into Nevada and openly scout me once my contract was up. The guy was a ton of fun and gave me my first real taste of true scouting.

He then followed that up by inviting me to a group chat with him and Jess once the playoffs had ended and having known Jess from rookie chat, it was super easy to chat with them and they took the approach of trying to sell the Battleborn to me. Instead of having me tell them why they should draft me, they instead told me why it would be great to be with the team. It was a unique and fresh approach and it got me really excited for the draft and the prospect of joining one of these amazing juniors team. It made me feel wanted as an individual and not just a piece of a puzzle they were trying to put together. These two are an incredible pairing and I think any player heading into Nevada are going to have an absolute blast because these guys know how to get people involved and get them excited about the team, not just the games or their individual player.

That brings me to Anaheim. Oh man this is a team that really knows how to make a player feel wanted. They started out by having a war room member reach out to me through Inf1d3l. The discussion I had with him was surprisingly great fun. They were the first team to reach out to me in DMs for scouting and I wasn’t sure what to expect, but Inf1d3l did an excellent job of keeping it a back and forth conversation and didn’t leave me feeling like I was being quizzed or getting grilled. We had some fun chats about games and didn’t stay on the league for too long. This felt like he was getting more of a feel for my personality and how I would mesh with the team and not just fishing to see how my player could help them.

Shortly after this discussion, Ace came sweeping in. I was loosely familiar with Ace from his time in the ISFL as he was fairly high on our draft board in Colorado when he joined. We unfortunately ended up not bringing him in, so I thought things might be a bit awkward. It couldn’t have been further from the truth. Ace came in eager and excited and his attitude and approach to the conversation was infectious. We got to joke and laugh about his new profile picture, which he’d gotten from Schwarz and it got us off to a fast start. He got to make some jokes at my expense with my lack of hockey knowledge and it really made me feel like we were more of aquaintances than someone at a job interview. Everything rounded off in him talking about what I found important in a team and a locker room and I found that our philosophies were surprisingly similar. After that he continued to stay in touch and we had small conversations every day from that point. His follow up and his excitement for the coming draft made it clear this was a passion for Ace and that Anaheim truly wanted me around. Before Anaheim the draft was just a thing that was going to happen and I hadn’t put any thought into where I was going or how far in the draft I might go. Wasn’t even sure I would watch it. It was Ace’s excitement around the event that slowly began to get me excited as well and before long I was demanding in rookie chat that we go ahead and skip the draft! I have to say he has kept me incredibly engaged and I’m more excited for this league than ever before because of it.

They weren’t done there though. Scouting for this team seems to be a full team event because I thought they would let things slide down a bit and just as soon as I thought things were going to quiet down, their coGM marco decided to come chime in as well. Marco absolutely stunned me as he asked me some questions that I don’t think I’ve ever even considered asking myself when talking to other players. He turned out to be a genuinely kind dude and I had no idea that his first language wasn’t English until he brought it up! We got to talk about Canada a bit and the area he was from and chatted about some friends of mine from Edmonton. It never felt like he was scouting me, but instead genuinely trying to get to know me and I appreciated that more than I think he knows. He was the one that really sealed things for me and made me realize that the leadership of this team is really more about users than anything and will have an emphasis on bringing good people to the team overall, not just the best players.

These teams absolutely blew it out of the park for me and while I thought that SHL was just going to be a side thing for me initially, I am now fully invested and excited about what comes next and it was mostly thanks to the efforts of these three teams. I will give shoutouts to mutedfaith from the Falcons and Talls with Colorado. They were the other two teams that scouted me earlier in the week and I had good chats with them both. I had a ton of fun with mutedfaith as we talked more about media and writing than we did about the league or the team and I got to talk to Talls a fair bit about video games and what they play in Colorado circles. I really appreciated them both reaching out because it gave me a more rounded scouting experience and I enjoyed talking to them. After all, a big push in my joining here was to get to know new people and find new people to chat with and they were both fantastic. (And SouthPaw from Maine as he reached out as I was writing this and he has a super cute dog PFP that I absolutely love!)

All in all, the community here has been far more welcoming than I could have ever expected and I’m really enjoying my time. Some teams have really gone above and beyond in ensuring that and I just wanted to show them some appreciation before the draft. All in all it seems like the minors here is run very well. All the GMs seem to be great and the RMs are some of the best people I’ve ever met. Some people go beyond the call of duty to keep people as engaged as possible and I really appreciate that. I’m super excited to dive into the juniors and look forward to seeing what happens come draft time!