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ddrector · 09-09-2020, 02:45 PM

2X Draft Media: Mock Draft and Scouting the SHL Teams

So I started writing this piece a week or so ago to give myself and hopefully other rookies more info on each team in the draft. Hopefully this will help give people more accurate mock drafts as they use the info I’ve gathered here to make more informed decisions. I figured I would do just that by ending this piece with a short mock draft after gathering the info necessary to make the right decision for each team in the mock draft. While the season hasn’t ended yet the end is rapidly approaching and I figured now was a great time to look into all the SHL teams that Kobo could be drafted to in the upcoming draft. With expansion coming up a lot could change roster wise for all the teams, so it is hard to speculate on who will need what, so I’m just going to base my information on current rosters and not worry about what will happen with expansion. I hope this is helpful for any rookies who want to know more about the teams that might be drafting them.

Baltimore Platoon

The first team up is the Baltimore Platoon. The Platoon are one of the original teams of the SHL and I have to say they have some awesome uniforms. They’ve won the Challenge Cup 5 times in their history, most recently in S47. They went on a long drought from S5 to S41, but have won 3 recently. Baltimore is a great city with an excellent aquarium. The harbor area is a site to behold and there’s tons of stuff to do in that area. Also home to the Hawks in the ISFL I’m a bit surprised that PBE hasn’t also taken advantage of this market.

As far as the roster is concerned the Platoon have players that go all the way back to S41 and up to S52 on the roster. At Center they have Dayymo Ralchankinov a S41 create with 753 TPE, Nickolas Klaus a S45 create with 1121 TPE, Kristoffer Svensson a S46 create with 928 TPE, Henrik Lundqvist Jr a S51 create with 747 TPE and Simothy Drunkebird a S52 create with 594 TPE. This seems like a very strong group for the Platoon with some young and old players.

At Wing they have Brock Nuck a S44 create with 1077 TPE, Petr Mikulak a S46 create with 1078 TPE, Karl Krashwagen a S50 create with 1230 TPE, and Indigo Trevino a S51 create with 661 TPE. It looks like a couple of the Centers for the Platoon are playing at Wing right now to fill out the three lines. I’m not sure if playing Wing as a Center is that big of a deal, but it does seem like the Platoon could use another Wing or two for the future.

At Defense they have Nat Emerson a S45 player with 1657 TPE, Khan Smeb a S47 player with 588 TPE, Derek Bohne Jr. a S49 player with 755 TPE, Jack Wilson a S50 player with 595 TPE, Danila Zhernov a S51 player with 484 TPE, and Sabo Tage a S52 player with 822 TPE. I’m not sure how active some of their lower TPE Defensive players are, but the Platoon could definitely be looking for Defense in the draft.

At Goalie they have Marques Brownlee a S49 create with 253 TPE and Luca Del Vecchio a S51 player with 1142 TPE. I’m not sure how important it is to have a good backup goalie, but they could use a better one than Brownlee.

Overall, the Platoon have a good roster that seems to be built to allow them to draft best available player regardless of position. They might lean Defense early if a good option is available, but they don’t have to reach for one.

Buffalo Stampede

Up next is the Buffalo Stampede. I have to be honest I don’t know anything about Buffalo other than the Bills and wings and it’s somewhere in NY state. The Stampede have a nice color scheme very similar to the Green Bay Packers green and yellow. I like their logo as well. Not a fan of their yellow alternate uniforms, but the regular green is nice. The Stampede are at the top of the Eastern Conference right now with 66 points and not a single Overtime Loss. The Stamped was founded in S25 and won the Challenge Cup in S46 and S48. They were an impressive 41-7-2 in S54, but didn’t win the Cup.

At Center the Stampede have Hippo Passamus a S43 player with 1796 TPE, Michael Scarn a S46 player with 2001 TPE, Monkey D. Luffy a S46 player with 2042 TPE, Bobby Sharp a S46 player with 1956 TPE, Matt Kholin a S46 player with 1927 TPE, and Rintarou Okabe a S50 player with 860 TPE. Wow, that’s a lot of TPE. It looks like they have Centers playing Wing like the Platoon. The Stampede’s S46 class looks to be just absolutely dominant as far as TPE. They won’t have a need for any Centers for a while probably.

At Wing they have Viktor Marius a S39 player with 1283 TPE, Eko van Otter a S47 player with 1889 TPE, and Aron Hernadivic a S50 player with 1327 TPE. Between the Wings and Centers for the Stampede they don’t really have a weak point. They could maybe use one to groom as older players get hit hard with regression.

At Defense the Stampede have Poopity Scoop a S44 player with 1835 TPE, Alexander Selich a S45 player with 1929 TPE, Cassius Darrow (an excellent name referring to a great book series) a S45 player with 1999 TPE, Eric Vanderberg a S46 player with 1137 TPE, Augustus Wang a S50 player with 1340 TPE, and Nicholas Owens a S51 player with 1173 TPE. Another strong position group for this team. I am starting to see why they are at the top of the standings.

At Goalie they have Elizabeth Doyle a S51 player with 1118 TPE and backup goalie is Lee Marshall a S46 player with 226 TPE.

This is an extremely strong roster with no holes. They have the luxury to pick whoever they like the best no matter the position.

Chicago Syndicate

The Syndicate are a newer team in the SHL as they were an expansion team in S46. The logo is very similar to the Chicago Kingpins of the MiLPBE. The black and yellow color scheme is nice and the uniforms look good. Chicago is a huge city that feels like it stretches out for miles upon miles. The area around Lake Michigan with Navy Pier is really nice, but venture out in the wrong direction and you can quickly be in a place that you don’t feel comfortable in. Chicago is also home to the Butchers of the ISFL as well as the aforementioned Kingpins. The Syndicate have been eliminated in the Conference Semi-Finals four times, but haven’t made it farther than that yet in their short history. They are currently 26-15-1 in the Eastern Conference, which is good for fourth place.

At Center they have Daniel Smeb a S46 player with 1982 TPE, Martijn Westbroek a S47 player with 1728 TPE, and Ryan Shepard a S50 player with 1350 TPE. Unlike the first two teams it looks like Chicago only carries 3 Centers and uses Wings to play at the Wing spot. All three of their Centers are strong with lots of TPE and also relatively young with Smeb from S46 being the oldest. They don’t have a need to draft any Centers as these three should be playing for quite some time.

At Wing they have Cameron Carter II a S42 player with 1152 TPE, Nolan Sawchuk a S45 player with 1239 TPE, Ethan Ross a S46 player with 1473 TPE, Gunnar Soderberg a S47 player with 1586 TPE, Lallo Selman a S47 player with 1845 TPE, and Nick Connolly a S48 player with 1440 TPE. Another impressive group of players with only a couple of older members of this group they are all very strong contributors. They have solid players on all 3 lines. They could potentially use a Wing to groom for an eventual replacement of Carter, but other than that this group is strong as well.

At Defense they’ve got Parker Smeb a S46 player with 1644 TPE, Jules Watt a S46 player with 1219 TPE, Corey Kennedy a S47 player with 1900 TPE, Akira Ren a S50 player with 1372 TPE, Luc-Pierre Lespineau-Lebrunette a S51 player with 745 TPE, and Abel Skinner a S51 player with 946 TPE. Defense is the first spot where we see players with less than 1000 TPE playing for the Syndicate. LPLL with only 745 TPE needs to continue to earn or risk losing his spot on the roster if a younger player suprasses him.

At Goalie they have Tibuk Soonika a S46 player with 1445 TPE and backup is Billy Sorokin a S46 player with 517 TPE.

Not much room for young players on this roster, but they could always draft for the future as they continue to get older. The one downside to having so many players from a span of a couple draft classes is that they will all need to be replaced around the same time.

Hamilton Steelhawks

Right off the bat I have to say Steelhawks is a bad ass team name and the color scheme and uniforms are excellent as well. I love that shade of blue and it goes well with the gray and yellow used as well. Hamilton is basically a suburb of Toronto though I’m sure residents would disagree and tell me it’s its own place. Like most Canadian cities Hamilton has a pretty awesome Coat of Arms. It utilizes the same blue and yellow that the Steelhawks have and has a siberian tiger and a buck on it. The Steelhawks are an original team from way back in S1 and won the Challenge Cup in S11, S24, S26, and most recently in S51. Anyway, enough about the city let’s look at the roster.

At Center they have Robert Phelps a S35 player with 1169 TPE, Knute Knurtsson a S46 player with 1116 TPE, Aaron Wilson a S47 player with 1869 TPE, and Skao Anazibf a S49 player with 1166 TPE. A solid group with one extremely old player and the rest are still in their prime. They will need a replacement for Phelps eventually, but other than that this is a solid group.

At Wing they have Flacko Lagerfield a S41 player with 1115 TPE, Dick Clapper a S46 player with 1967 TPE, Dale Miller a S47 player with 1163 TPE, Hugh Jazz a S49 player with 1440 TPE, and Jagger Fouquette a S49 player with 845 TPE. While this is a strong group as well there are a couple of weak points. For one Lagerfield is relatively old and they could probably start grooming his replacement soon. Also, Fouquette seems to be lagging behind as he hasn’t eclipsed 1000 TPE even though he’s had ample time to do so. A Wing could definitely be a high priority for the Steelhawks.

At Defense they have Tig Murphy a S43 player with 1620 TPE, Guy Zheng a S46 player with 1977 TPE, Akashi SixNine a S47 player with 1089 TPE, Jax Duggan a S47 player with 1142 TPE, Gabriel Johnson a S48 player with 1664 TPE, and Samuel Michaud a S50 player with 1356 TPE. This is a solid group with all six players above 1000 TPE. Murphy is the oldest of the group, but he still has a few good years left before needing to draft his replacement.

At Goalie they have Ian Venables a S50 player with 720 TPE and A Jobin a S53 player with 701 TPE. Jobin is active and looks to be the long term solution for the Steelhawks at Goalie.

Overall this is another strong roster from top to bottom with few if any obvious holes. At worst they could look to get a Wing to groom for the future.

Manhattan Rage

The Manhattan Rage have a color scheme and logo very similar to the Chicago Bulls. I do like the details of the bull logo with the M and the Empire State Building. Manhattan as everyone knows is a part of New York City, so I don’t need to say anything else about that. The Rage started in S2 and have won four Challenge Cups in their history, most recently in S52.

At Center the Rage have Jax Aittokallio a S43 player with 1811 TPE and Luca Veccelli a S50 player with 998 TPE. With only 2 Centers on the roster I’m sure one of the Wings is playing Center. Even if that is the case the Rage could probably use another Center on the roster. Veccelli is pretty low in TPE for a S50 player and a max earning Center could surpass him pretty quickly.

At Wing they have David Kastrba a S42 player with 1437 TPE, Luke Thomason a S43 player with 1883 TPE, Alex Winters a S43 player with 1465 TPE, Ola Wagstrom a S44 player with 2077 TPE, Anastasia O’Koivu a S46 player with 1065 TPE, Austin Roenick a S47 player with 1688 TPE, and Phineas Gold a S50 player with 1277 TPE. This is a strong but somewhat old group. With four players older than S45 I would say they could look to start grooming their future at Wing soon.

At Defense they have Reginald MacIntyre a S41 player with 1257 TPE, Geoff Moore a S42 player with 1466 TPE, Barret McCarthy a S44 player with 1786 TPE, Andrej Doskocil a S46 player with 1529 TPE, David Vent a S46 player with 1381 TPE, and Jukka Timonen a S53 player with 831 TPE. Other than Timonen this is a pretty old group with the rest of the players at S46 or older.

At Goalie they have Peter Larson a S46 player with 1445 TPE and Samat Beibitzhanov a S52 player with 734 TPE. So far I haven’t really seen a team that has a need at goalie unless it’s a better backup goalie.

Again like a lot of the other teams I’ve looked at so far the Rage look like they have a very strong roster that should continue to compete for Challenge Cups for the next few years.

New England Wolfpack

As an alumnus of the NC State Wolfpack I do love the team name right off the bat. The logo of the wolf snapping the hockey stick is really well done and I like the green and black color scheme. I’ve never personally visited the Boston area before, but I’ve always wanted to. There is lots of history there and tons to do. The Wolfpack were established in S10 and have never won the Challenge Cup. They have lost in the final multiple times, but never won the whole thing. There is something intriguing about joining a team that’s never won it all and being part of the group who helps make that happen. The Wolfpack are right in the middle of the East at 24-15-6 this season.

At Center they have Slap McShotty a S47 player with 1766 TPE, Jan Zacha a S49 player with 571 TPE, Jakub Bruchevski a S49 player with 1216 TPE, and Mitchell van der Heijden a S51 player with 1134 TPE. One of these players is not like the other and it’s obviously Jan Zacha. With only 571 TPE Zacha is a liability for sure. Definitely a spot that could be replaced as soon as possible.

At Wing they have Shooter McGavin (great name) a S40 player with 802 TPE, Rafe Ulrich a S42 player with 957 TPE, Rainbow Dash a S44 player with 970 TPE, Sasha Dangelchek a S50 player with 739 TPE, and Stan Hanson a S51 player with 752 TPE. None of their wings have over 1000 TPE which doesn’t look good. Quite a few of them are pretty old too, so it looks like they definitely have a big need at Wing.

At Defense they have Troy McClure III a S42 player with 960 TPE, Maximilian Egger a S43 player with 1037 TPE, Dominic Montgomery a S45 player with 1693 TPE, Perry Morgan a S46 player with 1509 TPE, Igor Volkov a S47 player with 1229 TPE, and Sven Yxskaft a S52 player with 1037 TPE. Overall a good defense group for the Wolfpack. McClure and Egger are approaching their retirement, so they will need to draft their replacement eventually.

At Goalie they have Frans Eller a S53 player with 822 TPE and Mike Hroch a S51 player with 531 TPE. As long as Eller continues to gain TPE they are fine at goalie.

The Wolfpack definitely have a big need for better Wing players. While they aren’t bad at the position they don’t really have any standouts there either. Look for the Wolfpack to try and draft some max earning Wings in the upcoming draft. If no Wings are available they could also use a Defender to groom for when McClure and Egger retire.

The Tampa Bay Barracuda are the next team in the Eastern Division. They went an incredible 0-50 last season and this year are not much better at 6-39. They are clearly in rebuild mode and that should mean we see improvement every year on their record. This team moved around quite a bit and only very recently moved to Tampa Bay. In S18 they won the Challenge Cup as the Seattle Riot. They actually made the Challenge Cup as recently as S50, but it seems things have gone down hill since then. The team has a nice color scheme and Barracuda is a fun team name that reminds me of Legends of the Hidden Temple.

At Center the Barracuda have Taisei-Tiikeri Wawazat a S46 player with 499 TPE, Tom Fiddler a S50 player with 1149 TPE, and Michael Fitted a S50 player with 1131 TPE. Two of their three Centers are good quality players and the third is clearly a major weakness at this position. If they aren’t already grooming his replacement they should be.

At Wing they have Herb Robert a S42 player with 943 TPE, Anthony Archer a S49 player with 907 TPE, Kalevolaripaavo Kaspertommevisnapuu a S50 player with 682 TPE, James Ronlain a S50 player with 1105 TPE, Al Kayhall a S51 player with 669 TPE, and Mega Tron a S52 player with 602 TPE. This is a mostly very young group that should get better as they gain TPE. Robert is the lone old member and they could look to draft his replacement if they haven’t already.

At Defense they have Liam O’Callaghan a S39 player with 708 TPE, Craig Finley a S43 player with 690 TPE, Johnny Sins a S46 player with 355 TPE, Miikka Salo a S47 player with 454 TPE, Jakob Hamr a S50 player with 849 TPE, and Flash Gordon a S50 player with 429 TPE. Oof, this is the lowest defensive group I’ve seen so far. When your best defender is only 27th in his class in TPE you know you have an issue. There are teams that have better players than this playing in Juniors right now. Look for the Barracuda’s to draft many Defensive players in this draft.

At Goalie they have Benjamin Blue a S41 player with 1039 TPE and Tobias Lindeman a S50 player with 221 TPE. That’s a pretty bad backup goalie, but they have bigger needs.

After looking over this roster I can see how they didn’t win a single game last year. While they forwards aren’t great they are serviceable unlike the majority of the Defense that needs to be outright replaced.

Toronto North Stars

The Toronto North Stars are the last Eastern Division team to cover. With Hamilton so close I’m sure the two teams have a big rivalry. I’m honestly surprised the SHL allowed two teams to be so close together. The North Stars have a nice blue and white color scheme and the logo is a good simple design. The North Stars are an original six team and they’ve won the Challenge Cup once back in S35. They sit near the bottom of the East Division at 9-35.

At Center the North Stars have Mika Kandinsky a S48 player with 1599 TPE, First-Name Last-Name a S50 player with 874 TPE, Keith Lee a S52 player with 991 TPE, Danny Marston a S52 player at 907 TPE, and Taylor Johansson a S53 player with 736 TPE. This group is kinda low in TPE, but it also looks like they have a bunch of young players that are still gaining TPE, so I’m not too worried about that. Kandinsky will be the backbone of this crew for many seasons and they should expect the rest of the young players to come into their prime soon.

At Wing the North Stars have Filip Zadina a S47 player with 941 TPE, Ruslan Zaporozhets a S51 player with 1025 TPE, Rhys Pritchard a S52 player with 1004 TPE, and Bobby Lane a S50 player with 1365 TPE. This is a strong group. Along with the Centers the Forward group for the North Stars might be young now, but they will be a force in a few seasons.

At Defense they have Delver Fudgeson a S49 player with 1123 TPE, Cal Clucker a S49 player with 598 TPE, Ursin Zimmermann a S50 player with 1132 TPE, Daniel Kuster a S50 player with 644 TPE, Axel Meszaros a S53 player with 791 TPE, and Jack Kanoff a S53 player with 841 TPE. This is again a mostly young crew, but they do have a couple of lower TPE players that could be replaced in this group. Defense definitely looks like it will be their top priority in this draft, but they’ll probably be fighting the Barracudas for the best Defensive players.

At Goalie they have Harry Carpet a S47 player with 1774 TPE and Monty Montgomery a S50 player with 173 TPE. They have a great starter, but could use a better backup.

Overall I think this team is in much better shape than Tampa Bay. They are definitely farther along in their rebuild and I could see them making the playoffs soon.

Calgary Dragons

Onto the Western Conference and the first team up is a mythical beast. How cool and unique. The Dragons have a nice color scheme and logo as well as nice looking uniforms. They also play in an arena called The Big Parm with a huge Chicken Parm sitting on top of the stadium. That’s hilarious and I love it. I don’t know much about Calgary other than it is in Canada, but as is tradition with Canadian teams I have to look at their Coat of Arms and this isn't the best, but it’s still decent. There is a white horse and a bull on either side and a buffalo in the middle on a maple leaf. This is my least favorite of the Candian Coat of ARms I’ve seen so far. The Dragons are an original team and have won eight Challenge Cups with S50 being their most recent win. That’s an impressive number of Challenge Cups. They also haven’t missed the playoffs since way back in S45 and have only missed the playoffs 10 times, which is pretty low considering they almost have that many Challenge Cups. The Dragons are currently third in the West with a record of 27-10-6.

At Center the Dragons have Anders Christiansen a S39 player with 1264 TPE, Barry Batsbak a S46 player with 1943 TPE, and Esa Parmborg a S47 player with 1815 TPE. This is a strong group, but the Dragons will need to look for a replacement for Christiansen sooner rather than later as he rapidly approaches retirement. Maybe they already have his replacement playing in Juniors, but if not they definitely need to draft a Center.

At Wing they have Mike Izzy a S35 player with 1225 TPE, Nicky Pedersen Jr. a S43 player with 1290 TPE, Mikael Choybuk a S44 player with 1352 TPE, Maxime Bouchard a S45 player with 1869 TPE, Atlas Rush a S48 player with 981 TPE, Joseph Weston a S50 player with 1065 TPE, and Alexei Rykov a S50 player with 895 TPE. They could definitely benefit from drafting a Wing or two in the upcoming draft. Between Izzy who is very old and a couple of players who are under 1000 TPE that should be at this point they could use some young Wings that could max earn and either take one of the lower TPE Wings spots or be an eventual replacement for Izzy.

At Defense they have Otis B. Driftwood a S40 player with 1318 TPE, Leopold Lockhart a S45 player with 1811 TPE, Bernik Vrzala a S46 player with 1159 TPE, Chico Smeb a S46 player with 1258 TPE, Brennan Kennedy Jr. a S46 player with 1966 TPE, and Oliver Klozoff a S46 player with 1104 TPE. A solid group of Defense players on the Dragons with their oldest a S40 player means they could really focus on Forwards in the draft unless there is a Defensive player they really like. This whole group is above 1100 TPE, which is impressive. The only issue I see is that it’s a relatively old group with no one younger than S46. They should definitely have some younger pieces grooming for the future and if they don’t it wouldn’t hurt to try and find one in the draft.

At Goalie they have Kata Vilde a S41 player with 1557 TPE and Elle Rush a S51 player with 224 TPE. It wouldn’t hurt to get a young goalie that could take over for Rush and eventually surpass Vilde once Vilde loses too much TPE to regression.

Overall this is a strong roster. They are in a nice position where they aren’t forced to reach for any position when they are up in the draft.

Edmonton Blizzard

Next up is another unique team name in the Blizzard from Edmonton. Blizzard kind of reminds me of my favorite team the Carolina Hurricanes in the sense that the team name is weather. The Blizzard have some really nice colors as well as a nice fox logo. The uniforms are really sharp though I think they could do a better job of utilizing the gold color in their uniforms. The Blizzard are a team that started in S2 and they have won 8 Challenge Cups in their history with their most recent in S49. They haven’t missed the playoffs since S43 and they are currently in first place in the Western Conference with a record of 35-8-1.

At Center the Blizzard have Tony Pepperoni a S43 player with 1908 TPE and Bo Kane a S49 player with 1478 TPE. It’s not typical to see a team with less than 3 Centers, but I’m sure they have one of their Wings designated to play Center and it isn’t an issue. Both of these players are good high TPE guys and though Pepperoni is getting old he still has some time to go as he continues to fight off regression.

At Wing for Edmonton is Hiro Fujikawa a S45 player with 1239 TPE, James Truong a S46 player with 1497 TPE, Julio Tokolosh a S47 player with 1869 TPE, Theo Morgan a S47 player with 1777 TPE, Barrett Blackwood a S48 player with 1330 TPE, Jon Forty-One a S48 player with 1542 TPE, and Jean-Paul Boivin a S49 player with 1318. Damn that’s a lot of TPE at the forward spot between the two centers and all these wings. Their third line is better than most first lines probably. They might consider drafting a Wing if they think they might have one of their players approaching retirement, but other than that right now they are very strong at Wing.

At Defense for the Blizzard is Tor Tuck a S37 player with 1121 TPE, Jon Toner a S39 player with 1236 TPE, Brady McIntyre a S39 player with 1551 TPE, Karlstrabe Scholz a S46 player with 1972 TPE, Conor Tanner a S49 player with 1251 TPE, and FR Finn-Rhys a S49 player with 1457 TPE. Another extremely strong position group for the Blizzard. With a few pre S40 players they definitely could use some young players to start grooming, but for this moment they are still very strong.

At Goalie they have Emiko Spector a S48 player with 1174 TPE and Eddy Ask Jr. a S46 player with 495 TPE. This seems like a solid group. About 500 TPE for a backup Goalie is better than most.

This is an incredibly strong roster and I can see why they are at the top of their division right now. They should definitely focus on getting the best player available in the draft as they don’t have any one spot that is a strong need.

Los Angeles Panthers

The Panthers have a great logo and color scheme even if they are located in Los Angeles of all places. Fun fact about panthers, there is no actual Panthers species. Panthers are just jaguars and leopards with a mutation that makes them darker. Anyway, I love the color scheme and the logo for the Panthers and the uniforms are also really nice. The Los Angeles Panthers have been around since S5 and have won the Challenge Cup twice in their history. Once in their second season ever in the league in S6 and the other in S17. Their team history only shows up to S39, so I’m not sure how they have done recently but between S25 and S39 they only made the playoffs 5 times. The Panthers are currently sixth in the Western Conference with 40 Points and a 19-29-2 record.

At Center the Panthers have Gottlieb-Odilo-Danward McZehrl a S40 player with 1306 TPE, Max Mauldin a S43 player with 1320 TPE, Borromini Cannellini a S46 player with 1299 TPE, Vorian Atreides a S50 player with 1317 TPE, and Daniel Bischoff a S50 player with 866 TPE. Overall this is a strong group. Bischoff is the lone player with less than 1000 TPE, but he is young so it shouldn’t affect much.

At Wing the Panthers have Philipp Winter a S43 player with 1702 TPE, Elijah Jones a S49 player with 1525 TPE, Ricky Bobby a S50 player with 595 TPE, and Kenny Creller a S51 player with 997 TPE. Obviously there is one huge player here that needs to be replaced and that is Ricky Bobby. Having a less than 600 TPE player is definitely not ideal and at least partly why the Panthers are so low in the standings.

At Defense for Los Angeles is Jordan von Matt a S42 player with 674 TPE, Thomas Bathory a S47 player with 1203 TPE, Tony Ford a S47 player with 1551 TPE, Oliver Cleary a S48 player with 1595 TPE, Simon LeBlanc a S48 player with 1180 TPE, and Disisde Dayudie a S50 player with 1282 TPE. Again there is a glaring issue here with von Matt, but the rest of the group is solid. Replace von Matt with a max earning Defensive player and this is a great Defensive unit.

At Goalie for the Panthers is Nolan McMahon a S49 player with 798 TPE and Knox Booth a S49 player with 1424 TPE.

Honestly, this is a pretty strong roster with just a few holes, but those holes are the difference between the top teams and the rest of the league. If they can replace both Bobby and von Matt with 1000+ TPE players they will be in great shape.

Minnesota Chiefs

The Chiefs have a nice logo that kind of reminds me of the Chicago Blackhawks logo a bit. The green, red, and white combination is great and I really like the uniforms. I’ve never been to Minnesota, but I know a lot of people who say they like it quite a lot. The Chiefs started back in S5 and immediately found success as they appeared in the Challenge Cup finals the next season. They’ve won three total Challenge Cups in their history with S39 being the most recent. This season they are in last place in the Western Conference with a record of 12-38-0.

At Center for the Chiefs is Shouta Aizawa a S44 player with 655 TPE, Stirling MacTavish a S52 player with 588 TPE, and CT Carragher a S52 player with 590 TPE. This is an extremely young group of Centers with two guys from S52 on the team. They need to hope both MacTavish and Carragher stay active and continue to gain TPE and they probably need to draft a replacement for Aizawa in this draft as he’ll get even worse with regression.

At Wing for Chicago is Jack Kennedy a S43 player with 974 TPE, Collin Gibbles a S46 player with 1993 TPE, Boruvka Banananak a S47 player with 960 TPE, Noah Gallagher a S47 player with 1638 TPE, Thicc Cheezy a S51 player with 556 TPE, Cal Labovitch a S52 player with 1022 TPE, and Jmac NCheese a S52 player with 732 TPE. This group is in better shape than the Centers. Honestly I think they should take their top 3 Wings in Gibbles, Gallagher, and Labovitch and put them on their top line and just have the 2nd and 3rd lines be weaker. Not sure if that strategy would help or hurt, but it might be worth looking into. Forward in general is a definite need for this team.

At Defense they have Ti-Guy Emond a S39 player with 623 TPE, Mathias Seger a S46 player with 1943 TPE, Dylan Karlsson a S46 player with 862 TPE, Noah Tedla a S48 player with 985 TPE, Haley Knight a S48 player with 400 TPE, and Mikas Bieksa a S49 player with 485 TPE. Damn this is another low TPE group. They have one great player, two decent players, and the rest need to be immediately replaced. That’s three players that are very low in TPE that they need to replace as soon as possible. It will probably take multiple seasons for them to get back to being competitive.

At Goalie for the Chiefs is Markus Tegernako a S50 player with 1251 TPE and Kasperi Braulin a S48 player with 480 TPE.

This team has more low TPE players than I think any other team in the league that I’ve seen. I’m not surprised at all by their current record and they have a lot of work ahead of them if they want to be competitive. Honestly I would try and trade some of their higher TPE players that are at or near regression for draft picks in hopes to kickstart the rebuild quicker. Gibbles and Gallagher could fetch decent draft picks in a trade and so could Seger. These players are older and probably will need to be replaced by the time a rebuild has started working.

New Orleans Specters

The Specters logo is the first thing I noticed when starting to look into the team and it reminds me a bit of Hooded Justice from Watchmen. I like the logo a lot and the purple and black work well together. Purple seems to be a staple for simulation sports teams placed in New Orleans. As a co-GM and long time member for the New Orleans Secondline of the ISFL I can tell you that New Orleans is the place to be and that no other city compares to the fun you’ll have here. The Specters are a young team that started back in S46 and they’ve won one Challenge Cup so far in their history and that was recently in S54. There are players in the league much older than this team. They are currently second in the Western Conference with a record of 34-11-5.

At Center for New Orleans is Boris “The Beast” Poroshenko a S47 player with 1474 TPE. They use Wings at Center for the rest of the roster, but this is a great player for the one Center they do have.

At Wing they have Lil’ Manius a S43 player with 1663 TPE, Nicholas Williams a S43 player with 1769 TPE, Mika Mayfield a S45 player with 1635 TPE, Olivier Cloutier a S46 player with 1811 TPE, Jimmy Slothface a S46 player with 2003 TPE, Michael Fox a S46 player with 1663 TPE, Nicholaj Muller a S47 player with 1359 TPE, and Thomas Vanice a S50 player with 1002 TPE. Well that’s a loaded group right there. Led by none other than the infamous Slothface they have great players across the board here and none older than S43. No wonder this team has one of the best win loss records on the season with that kind of roster at forward. When Vanice is your worst forward at 1002 TPE you know you’ve done a great job building a team.

At Defense they have DeMaricus Smyth a S39 player with 1340 TPE, Rex Kirkby a S43 player with 1902 TPE, Charlie Serpe a S47 player with 1474 TPE, Kaspars Claude a S48 player with 1671 TPE, Lyle Odelein III a S48 player with 1687 TPE, and Darnell Johnson a S48 player with 1006 TPE. Another strong unit with no players under 1000 TPE. This group is slightly older with a player older than S40.

At Goalie they have Olli Saarinen Jr. a S52 player with 881 TPE and Aleister Cain a S43 player with 1768 TPE.

Overall this is a very strong team. They really have no holes in their roster and have the luxury of taking the best player available when their pick is up. That player might not see the ice for a few seasons, but when they do they’ll be joining a power house of a team. I suspect the Specters will have a few more Challenge Cups in the next few seasons.

San Francisco Pride

The Pride of San Francisco have a nice lion logo and a very Lakers esque color scheme. I personally think given the location that the Pride’s color scheme should be rainbow. They were previously the Portland Admirals that were founded back in S25 and had a terribly ugly color scheme. I have never been to San Francisco, but from what I’ve heard I have no desire to visit. The Pride have a long history of mostly missing the playoffs. They have lost the Challenge Cup a couple times, but have never won it. With a record of 16-32-2 it looks like they’ll be waiting at least another season before their first Challenge Cup.

At Center for the Pride is Steven Moyer a S43 player with 1499 TPE and Jake Primeau a S49 player with 769 TPE. Primeau is young, but still low in TPE. They should try and replace him as soon as possible.

At Wing for San Francisco is Joe Kurczewski a S31 player with 839 TPE, Jeff Brogen a S43 player with 1473 TPE, Vince Reaper a S43 player with 1124 TPE, Richard Metcalf Jr. a S43 player with 820 TPE, Emeka Valentine-Okoli a S48 player with 807 TPE, Ricky Spanish a S49 player with 683 TPE, Henrik Lekberg Osterman a S50 player with 1312 TPE, and Andrey Barbashev II a S50 player with 697 TPE. A decent group with some spots that could be better. For one Joe seems to be hanging on for dear life avoiding retiring as he is clearly the Jaromir Jagr of the SHL. They’ve also got some lower TPE players like Barbashev that neither needs to gain more TPE or get replaced. It’s obvious by looking at the rosters of the top teams that in order to win the Challenge Cup you pretty much have to have 1000 TPE or more at every spot, and the Pride don’t have that yet.

At Defense the Pride have Jack Tanner a S37 player with 780 TPE, Charlie Schieck a S42 player with 1393 TPE, Ray Bork a S44 player with 1495 TPE, Kalevi Karhunen a S46 player with 621 TPE, Prince Devitt a S49 player with 1022 TPE, and Alex Petrenko a S51 player with 1030 TPE. Overall this is a solid unit. Karhunen and Tanner could be replaced, but the other four are very good.

At Goalie they have Cillian Kavanagh a S52 player with 932 TPE and Geezus Kryyst a S42 player with 1314 TPE. Two good goalies is nice to have.

Overall this isn’t a bad roster, but they have some spots that need replacing before they can really be competitive against the top teams. Find active max earning replacements for those low TPE players and they will be a great team soon.

Texas Renegades

The Renegades have a very dark color scheme similar to the Raiders a bit but even darker. I like the overall look and logo of the team. I’ve never been to Dallas or anywhere in Texas, so I can’t speak to if it’s a cool city or not, but it must have something going for it as there are multiple professional sports teams in the area. The Renegades started in S10 and quickly won their first Challenge Cup in S14. They’ve won a total of four Challenge Cups in their history, but have recently been pretty bad with seven straight seasons of missing the playoffs. They had a much better season this year with a 28-19-3 record good for fourth place in the Western Conference.

At Center for the Renegades is Gordie Boomhover a S46 player with 1076 TPE and Ivan Maximus a S50 player with 1192 TPE. Two good centers is a good start for the Renegades roster. Both are younger players with over 1000 TPE.

At Wing for Texas is Manuel Gotze a S40 player with 1441 TPE, Piotr Czerkawski a S41 player with 1529 TPE, Andreas Kvalheim a S45 player with 2003 TPE, Josef Kubinec a S47 player with 1502 TPE, Kaarlo Kekkonen a S51 player with 1153 TPE, Alexander Wachter a S51 player with 1156 TPE, and SLATT Potts a S52 player with 853 TPE. Another strong group with some decent young talent. Potts is the weak link currently, but as a S52 player Potts won’t be the weak link for long. They’ll eventually need a replacement for both Gotze and Czerkawski who are getting old.

At Defense they have Nikolai Evans a S46 with 1291 TPE, Piotr Horvat a S48 player with 1367 TPE, Noah Brusky a S49 player with 1244 TPE, Bjorn Leppanen a S50 player with 1326 TPE, Adam Scianna a S52 player with 1020 TPE, and Guy O’Shea a S52 player with 846 TPE. This group is similar to the Wings except even younger. The Renegades have set themselves up for long term success with this roster.

At Goalie they have White Goodman a S51 player with 943 and Patrick Niederreiter a S48 player with 510 TPE.

Overall this is a really good and young roster. They have built a solid roster and have the luxury to pick the best available player.

Winnipeg Jets

I’m not gonna lie, this is the lamest team in the SHL. There is already an NHL team from Winnipeg with this name. Even if this team was created during the few years while the team was the Atlanta Thrashers I think after it was announced that the Winnipeg Jets were coming back that they should’ve changed their name. Even if the sim team was created before the Jets came back I still find it lame that the creators of this team had no creativity and just used an old NHL teams info. Sorry if I offend someone with this opinion, but it’s just an opinion. The Jets are an original team from S1 and won the very first Challenge Cup. They’ve won 6 Challenge Cups in their history with S44 being the most recent. This season they finished with a 23-24-3 record which was good for fifth in the Western Conference.

At Center for the Jets is Goku Muerto a S43 player with 1642 TPE and Reid Sutherland a S53 player with 849 TPE. Sutherland is obviously extremely young so will soon hit the 1000 TPE mark and while Muerto is older he has enough TPE to stay about 1000 TPE for a while.

At Wing they have Ignatius Blunt a S43 player with 916 TPE, Nick Brain a S46 player with 2054 TPE, Commander Shephard a S46 player with 1880 TPE, Nathan Explosion a S46 player with 1183 TPE, Yoshimitsu McCloud a S46 player with 1314 TPE, Calogero Crudelli a S48 player with 1389 TPE, and Bale a S52 player with 860 TPE. While he is close to 1000 TPE Blunt is old and the Jets could definitely use a replacement for him. Other than that this is a good group of players.

At Defense for Winnipeg is Slip McScruff a S45 player with 1941 TPE, Osbert Whacker a S46 player with 715 TPE, Satoshi Zizagooney a S48 player with 1327 TPE, Adam Barron a S50 player with 1389 TPE, Zlatan Ibrahimovic Jr. a S51 player with 1158 TPE, and Magnus Liljestrom a S53 player with 854 TPE. Overall a decent group with a couple of lower TPE players. Whacker definitely needs to be replaced, and Magnus should be fine as long as he keeps gaining TPE.

At Goalie they have Strom Chamberlain a S52 player with 981 TPE and Steven Vassallo a S51 player with 287 TPE.

With just a few pieces that need replacing I think the Jets will be competing at the top of the Western Conference soon.

Now for the Mock Draft portion of this article. Using the information that I gained from above I’ll do my best to predict what player each team will take with their first round pick. I’m not sure on the exact order so I’ll just go by team record and of course there’s the two new expansion teams as well that will get the first two picks. So I clearly wrote this before I knew that expansion teams don’t get the first two picks. I adjusted my mock draft slightly to adjust for this change. I just have to say I most definitely got all of these picks wrong.

Tampa Bay Barracuda: Sarah Burke, the top defensive player in the draft is the obvious choice for the Barracuda who have a huge need for defenders.

Toronto North Stars: Sachimo Zoidberg III, another high earning defense player is the obvious choice for the Stars.

Atlanta Inferno: Aleksander Kozlov, this pick could go any number of ways but the logical pick is the top TPE player in the class in Kozlov.

Seattle Argonauts: Rock Strongo, another easy pick as Strongo is another top TPE player in the draft and a great building block for an expansion team.

Minnesota Chiefs: Dee Centerman IV, this teams needs a great Center to replace their lower TPE Centers and Centerman is the best in the class.

Baltimore Platoon: Teylora Petrov, the next best defense player in the class.

San Francisco Pride: KnockedOut ByOvechkin, this is probably a little high for me, but I mean I am near the top of the class in TPE.

Los Angeles Panthers: Slava Petrov, the top available forward for the Panthers.

Winnipeg Jets: Bane, a new defense player to eventually replace Whacker.

New England Wolfpack: Vladmir Petrov

Texas Renegades: Michael Withecheck

Chicago Syndicate: Yngve Simonsson

Calgary Dragons: Jonas Kahnwald

Hamilton Steelhawks: Phillip Weaver

New Orleans Specters: Raivo Helminen

Manhattan Rage: Tanjiro Kamado

Edmonton Blizzard: Mikhael Petrov

Buffalo Stampede: Calvin Hobbes

I can’t wait to see how wrong these picks were.

hhh81 · 09-09-2020, 02:50 PM

I see you, and I bloodydamn approve of that comment.

There have been a bunch of pick trades (NEW has 5ov and SEA has two latter 1sts now instead) and the expansion draft occurred. I wonder what this analysis would look like including all the changes from expansion!

ddrector · 09-09-2020, 02:55 PM

09-09-2020, 02:50 PMhhh81 Wrote: I see you, and I bloodydamn approve of that comment.

There have been a bunch of pick trades (NEW has 5ov and SEA has two latter 1sts now instead) and the expansion draft occurred. I wonder what this analysis would look like including all the changes from expansion!

I will say I didn't care as much for Iron Gold and haven't read Dark Age yet.

The analysis would have definitely changed if I had waited until expansion draft to occur before I wrote this, but with real football season approaching and a huge ISFL draft on the horizon I knew my time was limited.