04-30-2019, 10:56 AMztevans Wrote:

04-29-2019, 02:08 PMcaltroit_red_flames Wrote: I think not having players participate in both has its merits. Even though I don't like that idea very much, I think the biggest hurdle would be small nations not having enough players to participate if we did that. Once that changes though I think it's something that should be considered (could making adding more nations more difficult though and I really like the idea of have 2 IIHF divisions once we have enough IIHF teams).

I wasn't gonna reply to this out of kindness to people who don't read OP dates, but now we've got Samee failing geography bumping again so fuck it.  

It would be a two-fold damper to smaller nations.  Not only would it make it harder for them to field active rosters, it would take away one of the cooler aspects of playing for them - and more cynically speaking, one of their few recruiting advantages - in taking away early playing time in IIHF against "the major leaguers" in the SHL.  That was something different and special about IIHF, being able to play with and against the league's great players.  

Even as someone who has always enjoyed IIHF, I can't remember everything that happened for Russia along the way.  But I remember scoring my first IIHF goal against Jakub Tanner as an SMJHL rookie.  Don't get rid of those moments.  Just don't.  WJC is great, especially for players who stay loyal to countries like the US and Canada, but I don't think it needs to be an either-or deal.

Besides, we always scream about not having enough to do in the offseason, so why would we make players stick to one or the other instead of offering them more, just on general principle?  Do we just hate fun?

(Understand you weren't arguing my point, just providing more context to my reasoning)

Yeah I think we're pretty much on the same page. Maybe it sounds neat in theory, but it's not great for the context of a sim league. We just don't have the hundreds of players to choose from that each irl country does.