Magnus did better than I expected, given the opportunities that he had. He managed to have the rookie defenceman scoring lead, and was just a few points shy of being the rookie points scoring leader overall, which is great! Having the best plus-minus in the group of rookies was also great, even though it is not a stat that many value very much. Considering I was expecting much less to start the season given my poor last season in the Junior league, this is a nice change of pace. What remains to be seen is if I can pull it off again in the next season and continue improving. I think having had the defensive partners that I did during the season, most of which were higher TPE, did help Magnus out as he could get bailed out of sticky situations by the more talented/experienced players. Next season, the goal is to hit 25 points again and this time to reduce the giveaway to takeaway ratio to something near even, or even to a positive number!

+3


I think that either team will have to pick a focus in order to guide their draft, and that it will need to be done on the fly. Both teams will not be able to make enough significant picks to compete immediately given the paucity of talent on offer within the lists of exposed players (which Head Office should have made 6-4-1 instead of 7-4-1 the way that they did, in my opinion), but there is enough talent for one team to make it into the playoffs as a bubble team. The other team should look to draft future talent and maybe even trade away some draft capital for prospects so that they can aim at a window 4-5 seasons into the future. Not all the players exposed are even going to be willing to sign with the expansion teams, so this expansion process is a little lackluster in my opinion. Buffalo and New Orleans, two superteams that should have lost more players, aren’t even going to be that diminished come the new season, so the rest of the teams in the league might find it a little bit harder to compete in the near future seasons.

+3

It might be really interesting, given that we are not constrained by time zones and actual travel compared to a real NHL or AHL team, and it might draw interest from non-American SHL players and forum members who would love to represent their countries’ or cities’ teams in a more international setting. I remember hearing about trying to do a SHL European league or something similar, but that is different than what I am envisioning, which is actual SHL teams based in Europe (as that is where most of the non-North American members seem to be). This is shades of the KHL Kunlun Red Stars I guess, a nominally Chinese team that plays mostly in Western Russia against the other KHL teams.

+2


If we’re talking TikTok, it’s going to be the craziest personalities in the SHL that would have the biggest following. I think Fitted and the Tampa Bay crew would have the wildest, craziest, most followed TikTok accounts in the SHL, with videos (snaps? Tiks? I don’t know what they’re called) of them doing crazy things involving activities that may or may not be legal, and using substances which may or may not be legal. The SHL would have a field day trying to contain the virality of these posts in its quest to present a family-friendly, sober corporate appearance, and the rest of the world would lap up the videos of these crazy hockey players doing crazy things.

+2

a. Buffalo has the more stacked defense, I feel, rather than New Orleans. They have a higher TPE on average than the Specters’ defensemen, and also produced more during the season. This has shown in Doyle facing less shots than Cain throughout the season, and correspondingly giving up less goals against other opponents.
b.These two teams are so good, I don’t think home ice vs away ice advantage will really make a difference. Line matching/last change might give the teams a small edge, but the era of the superteams are here, and there’s only so much advantage to be gained out of the different mismatches.
c.Considering that all goon/agitator lineups were banned, I expect the “nasty” edge that some of the New Orleans players might display to be somewhat dulled. This is a hockey sim, after all, not real life, so intimidating players can only do so much to affect the electrons in the sim program. Therefore any impact will be minimal.
d. Otters are the coolest animals. They're clever, sneaky, cute, cuddly, and yet also terrifying when provoked. Also, have you seen an otter crack open shellfish like a mussel or oyster? They are so determined and also very inventive in how they open these tasty treats. Plus they hold hands while they sleep, how can you say no to that?

+4


spoooky

+3