helstrom


I think that the S1 draft class has been the most impactful in the SHL. Players like Damian Littleton, Ryan Jesster, Anton Razov, Jay McDonald, Jeff Dar, Sergei Karpotsov, Sarmad Khan (drafted in round 3?!), Scott Stevens, Ron Mexico (round 6?!?!?) has been instrumental in building a legacy that lives on until today. Their accomplishments and dedication really helped start up the league that has now been ongoing for more than 10 calendar years as you might recognize these names either from an award named after them or from their Hall of Fame banners. I can't imagine how difficult it must have been to start up a league from scratch and having to garner new and keep the current interest in the league going to make it viable for the future. I haven't been a part of the league that long and have a limited view of the history of the league, but I can safely say that the inaugural draft contains the most amount of player names that I can recognize.



I believe that the issue comes down to a couple different aspects. First of all the aforementioned four teams (NOLA was before my time) has had a great core group of players that has been in their prime. Given that there does not exist any real value for a player to go where they are paid the most, it produces a routine of good players staying put for longer periods of time where they are successful. When teams are able to keep most of their core, the work with tactics and strategies becomes much easier as there shouldn't be many changes between seasons that need to be addressed in some way. At the current time, the only way for a powerhouse to lose their place in the top mostly comes from players aging out and losing out to regression. Although we have seen very close games and series in the past couple of playoffs and there have been plenty of chances where the teams in the final would have been different, so I don't think it's such a gloomy situation as I have made it seem.



It wouldn't be fair not to mention the as an up and coming powerhouse of the SHL. The next core of players from S58-S59 have just begun their SHL career and the past two drafts have seen the select a total of three players in the top four and will have the first pick selection in the upcoming draft as well. On top of these top prospects, three more first round selections have been made during the S60 and S61 draft resulting in a great pool of players with a high ceiling that will come into their prime in the next 5-10 seasons. This means that most of the prospects who will play for the team will come from a 4-5 season draft classes resulting in a cup window of around 15 seasons where the team will have a combination of players in and out of their prime.



Two of the stronger candidates for the IIHF win is Great Britain or Sweden. The defensive side for Great Britain are all-stars from top to bottom and will be tough for any opponent to get through. The only risk is that the British doesn't manage to get goals on the offensive side of the rink. The Swedes on the other hand are coming into their own with a great core of players on all aspects of the ice. The current roster has three rookies from the S57-58 seasons joining an experienced group of players who just barely lost in the semi-final last year against Great Britain.



I would love to bring back [L|J]uke to the forum. They both helped me get started with analyses of the SHL that eventually evolved and ended up in the analytics app. I think if they were to be as active as they both once were, we could do great things together. Their ideas of how to look at data and experience with the league is something that could help with the development and updating of the app and take it to another level. I know that they are still around in some capacity, but I would have liked to also be around when their activity was at its highest.