Quote:1. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
Reflection on your season - how did your player fare on the ice this season? Did you meet or surpass your individual player goals or did you come up short? Whether you excelled or disappointed - what can you attribute that to? What will you try to do better next season?

Axel had an alright rookie season. Obviously it could have gone better, a -40 isn't ideal for a player trying to build into being a great defensive defenseman, but there were some bright spots on the season for him. Getting a game winning goal was a huge moment and probably surprised everyone, including himself, and showed a flash of the offensive upside that he can have as he grows into the player he hopes to be.The biggest bright spot for Axel was getting over 100 hits on the season, as he wants to show the league that he can be a true physical presence in the league and managing to lay the body that often was a major goal for him as a rookie. He also just managed to get to the hundred shot blocks mark which was another big objective for the season as he really wanted to help his goaltender by reducing the number of shots on goal.

Quote:2. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
This offseason will be extra exciting, as it features the rare expansion draft! Write about how you think the expansion draft will play out, either for one or both of the expansion teams or from an SHL team's perspective.

Obviously these are very exciting times for the SHL, as we add two new teams to the league and offer more chances for young players to get to the SHL earlier and get major playing time. The expansion draft will hopefully see some teams lose some talent that is keeping young players down in juniors. I think the main thing we could see is a very interesting expansion draft for the Seattle Argonauts, as it appears they will be able to add a #1 defenseman to their roster right off the bat in Carius Darrow. It would be a big coup for them and will put them in a position to aim for competing in the Western Conference, where they could very well be one of the top 6 teams in the conference. Atlanta I expect to aim for younger players and play the long game for competing in a hyper competitive Eastern Conference.

Quote:3. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
It's too late for this go-around of expansion, so hypothetically - should there be SHL franchises in other continents? I saw some interesting European proposals in the PT. Should these - or proposals for any other continent that's not North America -
become a reality in the SHL?

Personally, I'm fully against expanding to other continents on Earth or beyond. We have plenty of great options in North America that still aren't represented in the league and huge hockey markets like Pittsburgh or Philadelphia still don't have teams, plus we have so many options in the middle/western areas of the US that still have no real representation, like Las Vegas, Kansas City, Salt Lake City or St. Louis. Going outside of our continent and going to Europe or Asia , for me, wouldn't make sense and would really kind of break any kind of reality we have left.

Quote:4. Written, 2 TPE (100 words min.)
Which SHL or SMJHL team was the best team to not make the finals this season and why?

I think the best team to not make the finals this season from the SHL or SMJHL has to be the Anchorage Armada. They have probably the most complete defensive corps in the J and pair that with probably the SMJHL MVP in Scoochie Stratton in goal for them. Stratton dominated the regular season setting many SMJHL goalie records and his incredible ability to keep Anchorage in any game through sheer force of will and his skill. They have a younger forward corps, but they drafted well and a lot of those young players are coming into their own as the playoffs were underway.

Quote:5. Written, 3 TPE (150 words min.)
What are your predictions for the upcoming IIHF or WJC tournament? What team do you think will win/surprise people/be bad/etc.?

Another year and another IIHF tournament to get underway. I'll say it again like last offseason, Norway is certainly a team that can surprise as we have a lot of young players growing into their own and many that are now SHL caliber players, especially defensively as we had Axel Meszaros of Toronto and Adam Scianna of Texas both having solid rookie seasons in the SHL. After them, I think Latvia will continue to struggle as they have in the past few seasons. Their roster is weak and realistically they just don't add much to their prospect pool each season, so they really have to hope that what they have will get better. I think the clear contenders for the medal rounds hasn't changed much since last season as I believe that you'll see two of Czechia, USA, or Canada in the finals with maybe a surprise team in the bronze medal match like Norway or Japan.

Quote:13. Written, up to 4 TPE Pick up to 4 Challenge Cup related topics to write about! Each topic is worth 1 TPE. Each answer must be 50+ words.
a. Both of these teams have stacked defenses - which team do you think has the defensive advantage in this series?
b. In the two regular season matchups, each team won once at home. Do you expect the results to reflect a home ice advantage in this series?
c. Based on FHM player ratings, New Orleans has higher average ratings in bravery, aggression, and fighting? Will that toughness have any impact on this series?
d. What is your favorite name from a player appearing in this series? Why do you like that player's name?
e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.

a. While both teams have ludicrously stacked defensive corps, I think I have to give and edge to Buffalo for this series as they have so many great young defenseman in their group and I think they hold an edge over the much older team in New Orleans in that regard.

b. I imagine this will be a seriously tight series, and even if one team gets off to a fast start and wins the first couple of games, I think the other team has enough quality to claw back into the series and take this deep into the seven possible games that could be played.

e. Alright to start, Kirby is not a fucking animal, he's a galactic being designed to fight the dark matter beings hell bent on absorbing the universe. The important part over with I'd say the otter is the cutest and i say that as the originator of the cellyotter into the league's emotes.