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?

My player had a pretty good season on the ice again with 72 points, 2 more than last season and some pretty good overall defensive stats and advanced stats to be one of the top players in the league and a potential MVP candidate. Just like last season i'd say overall I met my individual goals and didn't come up short or really surpass them since I expected to have a pretty good season. The real area I fell short was when it came to team success. It was a pretty rough regular season for Chicago compared to last season and compared to expectations coming in for a variety of reasons whether it be other teams improving or the bad puck luck and many low PDO's. Next season will be my first season of regression but I don't think it will hurt me too much individually but at this point i don't really mind how my player does and am more focused on the team having success.

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.

Expansion drafts are always an interesting an exciting time for the league, maybe less so for some of the teams losing players and players that are heading into the draft. For the expansion teams I think they'll be set up pretty well compared to past expansion drafts just due to the pure amount of talent in the SHL these days so they have even more good players to pick from, it'll be interesting to see what routes they go as it's unlikely they'll be able to build a super competitive team right away without many fas or trades due to how important depth is in FHM. As for the rest of the teams and league expansion could shake up some of the structure of the league in regards to who the top teams are or just how dominant they are with them being the ones most hurt from expansion compared to the bottom teams. It also makes FA much more important with all the teams having room for top tier fas now after losing players to expansion.

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?
Both teams defenses are insanely stacked but I think Buffalo has the advantage with how high tpe their top 3 D are as well as with how much depth they still have throughout their whole blue line. New Orleans however has Cain which could make up for any defensive differences in the 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?
Yes I think home ice is quite important in FHM and especially in the playoffs when it comes down to match ups between top teams where the slightest edge could make a big difference, I believe there have even been a few fhm series where the home team has won every game in a 7 game 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?
It probably will have an impact on the series, whether that be a positive or negative impact on New Orleans i'm not sure. They could get into more fights or take more penalties or potentially bait more penalties out of buffalo, it also depends on if their are fights or penalties who the combatants are.

e. There are several animal names in this series - which of these animals is the coolest? sloth, hippo, otter, monkey, fox, kirby.
I guess I think otters are the coolest since well they look cool, I guess it would depend on the type of each animal too, although now that I think about it Sloths are kind of cool too and so are some fox's, I guess i'll stick with otters since I picked them first, i don't actually know that much about otters or sloths though, maybe thats why theyre the coolest

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.?

I think as usual team USA and Canada will be the favorites to win the IIHF and one of them probably will. Team Great Britain is also quite good and is probably the 3rd favorite to win it all after USA and Canada, I was surprised how many good Great Britain players there are but that S46 class really helped with some top tier talent. After Great Britain, Czechia is probably the next contender. I think Latvia, Finland and Russia will struggle but anything can happen and I know Russia has a lot of help coming in this next draft class in the Petrovs and some other top creates. While I can't really say Japan will surprise people since they already did that last season knocking out Team USA and finishing 4th and as a result will have higher expectations now, I expected Japan to be competitive once again even if not a favorite. I also think Switzerland and Germany may be potential surprises, Germany in particularly surprised me with how much they struggled last tournament

16. CW TRIVIA, 3 TPE max - 1 TPE for participation, 0.5 TPE for each correct answer. This is now completed through a Google form linked below. Make sure to spell your answers correctly or you will not get credit. Post your verification word in your CW post.

past