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juke · 04-22-2021, 01:47 PM

The S59 Simulation Hockey League season is about to get underway, so as tradition for the Simulation Hockey Network, we have put together a piece to talk about each team and their roster at the start of the season. And as is also tradition, it's a few days later than the season start. This time, @grok, @hhh81, and @Nhamlet are here to help break down the East and West conference teams and discuss each teams’ weaknesses and strengths. Before we get to the depth charts of each team, the two graphs below show each team’s average TPE at the forward position, defensemen, and goalie. Goalie TPE average for each team is weighted 54-12 with starter TPE to backup TPE, to represent the 54-12 start splits that most teams do during the season. The second graph shows each team’s TPE relative to the league average per position, represented by the dotted vertical line. Disclaimer: these graphs and numbers are from the start of the season, as of April 19th

The main portion of this piece will be to analyze each team’s individual roster, but first, the following three graphs rank each team on a league-wide scale, in terms of average TPE for each position.

Moving on to individual roster breakdowns, the following depth charts will have each player and their TPE listed for each team. The color, from red to green, shows how much below or above the player is relative to their position’s league average TPE (again, goalie average normalized to a 54-12 split).

Eastern Conference

Atlanta Inferno Inferno

Average team TPE: 1218 (#12)

Average forward TPE: 1283 (#11)

Average defenseman TPE: 1215 (#14)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1116 (#11)

Strengths: Atlanta has a solid offense with a very effective top line, anchored by Eko Von Otter. In a division where defense is a bit lacking across the board, expect their top line to spend a lot of time in the offensive zone and put up huge points. An active second line and third line players that are still updating will only get better as the playoff push starts. While goalie TPE is relatively low, Beibitzhanov has been a solid starting option and is unlikely to be a pain point for the team.

Weaknesses: Like most of the Atlantic division, Atlanta has a lot of holes at defense. Rex Kirkby is still a solid first pairing option, but both Montgomery’s and LeBlanc’s top-2 defense days are behind them. Smith and McIntyre would be promising as rookies, but as 20-year-old veterans they will be a continuing problem for the third pairing. Atlanta will have to depend on Withecheck maturing into a larger role and taking on big minutes to help their defensive depth. While the forward group has a lot of promise, they will need to grow fast on the second and third lines to properly shelter the aging defense.

Baltimore Platoon Platoon

Average team TPE: 1213 (#13)

Average forward TPE: 1263 (#12)

Average defenseman TPE: 1118 (#15)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1673 (#2)

Strengths: The story going into last season was how much potential that Baltimore had in their lineup, transitioning from picks, to prospects to now blooming SHLers. Majority of their entire roster is about to creep past the 1K TPE mark, now becoming more reliable SHL level talent. The defense to forward swap of Nat Emerson leaves the backend a little younger but all but one dman at S53 or later of age, it only made sense to embrace the youth movement and get the slight bump upfront. Krashwagen put in an MVP performance last season and won’t need to carry as much on his own, with Ethan Duncan also coming into top line form.

Weaknesses: Like much of the Atlantic, there’s a lot of promising bright spots yet to be developed, along with some high end pieces that could easily give any team even in the Great Lakes a scare on a given night. What will stop them from being regularly a threat and competitive in the later rounds of the playoffs is the lack of overall depth. At this rate, we’ll be looking at a potential cup contender in a few seasons, but not now.

Buffalo Stampede

Average team TPE: 1522 (#2)

Average forward TPE: 1605 (#2)

Average defenseman TPE: 1548 (#3)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1573 (#4)

Strengths: One of the exciting things that Buffalo had going for them besides being one of the monsters of the Great Lakes is the fact that they had drafted so well in the S53/54 seasons (5 players currently on the roster) and as many of their top end players face one last season before regression really takes out their aging kneecaps, they’ll have the next group of stars immediately ready to step up. They may have the best blend of longevity and immediate competitiveness out of almost every team in the league.

Weaknesses: Can we say that cap space is a weakness? We could pick on former Tendy turned Wing rookie or how Rintarou Okabe remains a bottom pair defenseman...or that they have no real backup when Doyle is forced to sit out. Though honestly all of those are incredibly nitpicky and relatively meaningless. It’s expected that there’ll be a few players due for a raise despite being already right against the cap. With expansion looming, this becomes a secondary concern.

Chicago Syndicate

Average team TPE: 1478 (#4)

Average forward TPE: 1615 (#1)

Average defenseman TPE: 1574 (#2)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 814 (#17)

Strengths: Looks like the S57 Challenge Cup Champions are leading the way in terms of fielding the highest TPE skaters. That alone is a significant advantage over their division/cup contender opposition who are close but fall out for various reasons. With 8 skaters over 1600 TPE, it’s easy to see how well balanced they are throughout their lineup.

Weaknesses: Two obvious ones stand out for this team: Goaltending and bottom pair defense. Goaltending feels less and less like something to point out as a ‘weakness’ considering how Hamilton has consistently shown success fielding a great team in front of the young Jobin. However, having two defenders averaging about 880 TPE each isn’t great. With three 2K TPE defenders to cover any pair, it might not be as bad as it looks at first glance. Age is another one with many players similarly hitting regression with less of a clear succession plan already in place but for this season, they’ll have the talent to go all the way.

Hamilton Steelhawks

Average team TPE: 1465 (#5)

Average forward TPE: 1536 (#5)

Average defenseman TPE: 1594 (#1)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1085 (#12)

Strengths: Hamilton...somebody you just cannot count out considering they have won a cup every other season for the last 6 or so seasons. Their moves over the last couple seasons of moving elite players like Dick Clapper and Gabriel Johnson out, in favor of bringing in slightly younger players who are in their prime such as Elijah Jones and Mitchell van der Heijden means they took an incremental step back but still are more or less the same kind of cup threats they have ever been. The trio of Aaron Wilson, Theo Morgan and Jones will lead the way for them offensively as part of a balanced but lethal attack.

Weaknesses: Jobin is their….I’m kidding as naturally Hamilton has had such a well rounded roster for so long that the only thing that you could obviously point at was goaltending. Even pointing at up and comer Evangelos Giannopoulos isn’t even a great example considering his growth rate and the overall skill ahead of him to cover for his inexperience. Really the only thing is the inactive Alexei Rykov, a rare sight on a cup contender. Have to imagine that Hamilton will look to find a rental upgrade later on the season.

Manhattan Rage Rage

Average team TPE: 1264 (#10)

Average forward TPE: 1224 (#13)

Average defenseman TPE: 1334 (#8)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1266 (#9)

Strengths: There’s not a lot to point out and honestly some of it feels like a bit of a putdown considering how regularly Manhattan won their division, but the most I can say right now is that they have a lot of good youngish players who look like they could stick around and be “the guy”. Yes there’s still some top end talent in ageless Ola Wagstrom and Oliver Cleary and their trade/sign deals have worked out well so far. Outside of that with moves seeing long time Rage players like Phineas Gold, Reginald MacIntyre and the like being moved on, this is the start of a rebuild/retool period.

Weaknesses: The older players are impressively still around. With as many as 5 players from S44 and older, every season knocks this team down another notch despite the growth on the other end. There is not very much top end to speak of so it’ll be interesting to see who steps up, if anybody. Plus they continue to be saddled by Jukka Timonen so that’s an automatic burden.

New England Wolfpack

Average team TPE: 1197 (#14)

Average forward TPE: 1163 (#16)

Average defenseman TPE: 1277 (#11)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1415 (#8)

Strengths: New England made a huge splash this offseason, adding FR Finn Rhys to the mud fight known as the Atlantic, effectively giving them another top pairing defenseman they desperately needed. The amount of youth throughout the lineup means that as a whole, everybody’s play is going to be elevated, especially knowing Frans Eller will be there to frustrate any other teams in the league on a regular basis.

Weaknesses: The youth movement in New England was extensive and could be said with so many different prospects drafted, the number of busts would be higher than the average team. Still, the hope might’ve been more of them panning out as they’re only just seeing the fruits of their draft selections, with several more in the pipeline. The move to add a top defenseman makes them a better team now, but with their competitive window being several, several seasons away it feels like a bit of a strange move to improve their team now without having any drastic improvements on the end goal of becoming cup competitive.

Tampa Bay Barracuda

Average team TPE: 1252 (#11)

Average forward TPE: 1420 (#8)

Average defenseman TPE: 1219 (#13)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 837 (#15)

Strengths: This is basically it. They’re in the full active stage, having filled a spot on every position (save for backup goalie) and will only continue to improve as none of their current active roster is in regression. Even as some of their top players of Tom Fiddler, James Ronlain, Michael Fitted and Jakob Hamr start into their regression period, majority of them have been earning well enough that they’ll still be solid players for seasons, with high end prospects in the pipeline ready to take over.

Weaknesses: The only thing holding the Barracuda back from entering that higher echelon and taking a commanding hold of the Atlantic division is just needing one more season of development. They’re on the up and up, so it’ll only get better as time goes by. TPE improvements during the season isn’t as impactful during the SHL season as it is during something like the J but between having young players at relatively lower TPE levels, all of which appear to be earning at a significant rate, there could be that slight advantage going into the second half of the season that Tampa has over its competitors.

Toronto North Stars Stars

Average team TPE: 1502 (#3)

Average forward TPE: 1587 (#3)

Average defenseman TPE: 1526 (#5)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1600 (#3)

Strengths: They’re the real deal and are out to prove that last season wasn’t a fluke. With the best defenseman in the league Adam Barron, as well as a supporting cast that is increasingly more than capable of being significant factors, Toronto could easily find themselves at the top of their division, in the finals for the cup or none of the above simply because of the division they play in. Another strength is that they have no clear weaknesses in any spot of their lineup, with the lowest TPE player at just over 1K. Harry Carpet with a fantastic opportunity to collect some individual and team hardware.

Weaknesses: I said it last season and I’ll say it again ,the Great Lakes alone is the biggest cause for concern for this team. Coming into the season, a lot of concern was had over Chicago’s ability to compete given them missing the playoffs by a few points and on the opposite end of the peak compared to Toronto. However it’s clear that it’s going to be as difficult of a fight as it’ll ever be for any team in the Great Lakes. While they have no specific player as a liability (sub 1K TPE), something that no other Great Lakes team can make a claim to, their higher end talent is not as strong so head to head, they may have the slight disadvantage on the top end of things.

Western Conference

Calgary Dragons Dragons

Average team TPE: 1356 (#7)

Average forward TPE: 1427 (#7)

Average defenseman TPE: 1327 (#9)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1175 (#10)

Strengths: Calgary’s success over the last several seasons has accounted to their balanced roster. Their offense, defense, and goaltending are all solid and proportionally skilled with each other. In an even line matching scenario, Calgary poses scoring threats and disciplined defensive play in all zones. Recent roster adds Beranek and Moyer help make their forward depth among the best in the west

Weaknesses: As the saying goes, the jack of all trades is often the master of none. Calgary’s defensive depth is anchored by aging veterans and unproven rookies. While their second pairing may hold its own among Western Conference teams, the top teams in the East will feast on Calgary’s middle lines. Calgary also looks to be susceptible to asymmetric line matching. Parmbourg, Batsbak, and Weston are a rock solid top unit, but Western teams with 1600-1700 TPE forwards featured in their second lines can hold their own and mismatch powerful first lines against Calgary’s second unit.

Edmonton Blizzard

Average team TPE: 1329 (#8)

Average forward TPE: 1487 (#6)

Average defenseman TPE: 1283 (#10)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1064 (#14)

Strengths: Once again, Edmonton has one of the premier forward groups in the Western Conference. Tokolosh and Forty-One are top tier scoring threats on their own, but they’re supported by a second line that will start the season at 1500+ TPE. The only team in the West that can compete with Edmonton’s up-front talent is Texas. Edmonton has also made an exceptional pivot to young talent by adding skaters KOBO and Shuffleboard, both of whom will make an immediate impact as depth options on their respective bottom units.

Weaknesses: Losing FR Finn-Rhys is painful on paper--not because of the raw TPE loss, but because of where it comes from. Edmonton was able to redistribute their cap hits proportionally towards young and depth defensemen, but for this season they’re missing a true 1-2 on defense. Western teams with aggressive first lines could take advantage of Edmonton’s top pairing in even line matching. Scoochie Stratton looks like a solid goaltending option, but Edmonton has a comparatively weak defense (especially on the top end) and no backup plan. If Stratton has bad puck luck or the defense hangs him out to dry, Edmonton could wind up on the wrong end of high-scoring games.

Los Angeles Panthers

Average team TPE: 1371 (#6)

Average forward TPE: 1419 (#9)

Average defenseman TPE: 1412 (#7)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1520 (#6)

Strengths: All around, the Panthers have above league average TPE levels at all positions. They went through a major reshuffling this offseason, adding S47 forward Austin Roenick (MAN) and S46 defender Mathias Seger (MIN) in trades and signing forward Barrett Blackwood away from Edmonton in free agency. They also saw both of the GM’s players, Keith Lee and Michael Fox position switch to strengthen their blueline as longtime defenders Thomas Bathory and Tony Ford departed. Their top six forwards are fairly formidable, seeing all above 1,400 TPE. LAP may try to split up their top forwards to run three more even forward lines; teams like Edmonton and Hamilton have had success creating matchup problems with forward depth. Knox Booth remains one of the top TPE goalies in the league (only 4 goalies have more TPE going into the season), and he’s consistently been one of the stronger netminders in the league.

This team will easily walk to 2nd place in their division, and will compete for 3rd place in the Western Conference. How close they are to Texas and the top of the Great Lakes is up for debate. They are better than they were last season, but are they one of the league’s best?

Weaknesses: The third line, made of a trio of young S55/S56 players is unproven, though Grape Fruit and “Long” John Donair both should pass the 1k threshold soon. It’s not the weakest 3rd line in the league, and stronger than last season.

While the defense is rebuilt from last season, and all six defenders enter the season over 1k TPE, the group is in a strange place. Fox, Seger, and McCarthy are all on the back 9 of their careers (this is the final campaign for the longtime Rage blueliner, McCarthy). The blueline isn’t going to be the team’s strongest point this season, but it also doesn’t look to be as much of a bugaboo in S59 as it’s previously been. They’ll make it work, at least for this season.

Minnesota Monarchs

Average team TPE: 1139 (#16)

Average forward TPE: 1192 (#14)

Average defenseman TPE: 1056 (#16)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1677 (#1)

Strengths: Minnesota has arguably the best individual goaltender in the league. Along with a top line that is competitive with other teams in the West, they will put up wins, usually off the back of stellar performances from Tegernako. The one-two of Labovich and Gold will score and likely be able to carry a young forward or a veteran.

Weaknesses: With the worst average defenseman TPE and worst average forward TPE in the Northwest Division, Minnesota has a tough way forward. Their second and third units will likely struggle to maintain possession in most even line matching scenarios. Without a true third top player on their first line, the team will be susceptible to mismatching against other teams’ first lines. Depending on a goalie is scary, but it’s Minnesota’s only real path to playoffs or a run this season without significant deadline adds.

New Orleans Specters

Average team TPE: 984 (#18)

Average forward TPE: 1031 (#18)

Average defenseman TPE: 1051 (#17)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1076 (#13)

Strengths: They have a really great group of prospects. If we were doing prospect rankings, they likely would be in the mix for top 5; unfortunately, that’s not this movie. Thankfully for them, there are a few bright spots for this season. Lyle Odelein III is a shot blocking machine and likely will break some records for fantasy points this season as the Specters defacto goalie. NOLA’s roster and cap position also allowed them to take advantage of the roster lock and add young players like Slava Petrov, Valtterri Kauppinen, and Vili Tuga’tuga’bo’atu this offseason and Slatt Potts at the trade deadline. Conner Hutton and Xavier Doom highlight the youth movement for the Specters, and will be counted on to play big roles.

Weaknesses: The rankings speak for themselves; this team is easily the worst in the entire league. Half the roster are inactive shells of their former selves (Darnell Johnson and Lil Manius are nearly off to be ghosts themselves) and only 6 players have more than 1000 TPE to start the year. The team is still a far way from contending for the playoffs seriously, much less a Challenge Cup. The blueline is particularly atrocious, though S60 may see some quality graduations join the spooky bois from juniors (especially after expansion).

San Francisco Pride pride

Average team TPE: 1060 (#17)

Average forward TPE: 1096 (#17)

Average defenseman TPE: 1050 (#18)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1076 (#13)

Strengths: They’re slightly better than New Orleans, in part to being a few seasons ahead in their rebuild. After a surprisingly valiant attempt in the playoffs last season, San Francisco is slowly but surely moving back toward relevance. The total teardown that had to occur (including major cap fines) put @Thatguy91 in a difficult position when he took over. He’s starting to see the fruits of his patience, as most of the roster are young draft picks coming into their own. Outside of backup goalie Geezus Kryyst, F Jeff Brogen, and defensemen Poopity Scoop, this is a mostly active roster.

Henrik Lekberg Osterman cemented himself as one of the league’s best two-way forwards last season, and he’s flanked by fellow Colorado Raptors alum Sven Svenson. Both will be counted on to carry a hefty offensive load for the young Pride. After a strong rookie campaign, second-year goalie Nicolae Antonescu will look to perform above his 13th place ranking in goaltending TPE. Alex Petrenko is one of the best defensive defenders that no one talks about.

Weaknesses:
That’s the worst forward group in the league; don’t let last season’s breakout performances fool you. The group will get better, but they are notably weak and will struggle to score. The blueline is also a weakpoint, though this team has the opportunity to be very good if they can keep the nucleus together longterm. While active, Niccolo Livius and Fleetway Super Sonic are little more than roster filler while younger, stronger earners continue to develop in the juniors. Even if it looks likely they can make the playoffs, they get the prize of a first round matchup with 2nd place in the Great Lakes. Not a good look for this young group.

Seattle Argonauts

Average team TPE: 1315 (#9)

Average forward TPE: 1321 (#10)

Average defenseman TPE: 1478 (#6)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 802 (#18)

Strengths: Seattle got the big prize in free agency by signing Michael Scarn, adding a #1 center to the roster and over 400 TPE to their top forward line. While it isn’t the best in the league, their forward unit is competitive with the middle of the pack and fixes some top line mismatches from last season. Seattle continues to post the second-best best defense in the conference and the best in their division with Darrow, Johnson, and Zizagooney all in their primes.

Weaknesses: Depth will still be a minor issue for Seattle. While it won’t be as bad as last season, they start the season with 5 players under 1050 TPE. Their third units will struggle in even line matching during the first half of the season against top and middle teams. Goaltending is the team’s biggest concern, with the lowest normalized goalie TPE in the entire league. Adding Ramsay gives Seattle a second option in case Odinson has a bad year, but in either case Seattle is relying on an 800 TPE goalie as their starter.

Texas Renegades

Average team TPE: 1535 (#1)

Average forward TPE: 1550 (#4)

Average defenseman TPE: 1532 (#4)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1563 (#3)

Strengths: They have the highest average TPE in the league, and are top 4 in every position category. They won the President’s Trophy in S58 and only got stronger at every position. The only player regressing hard is captain Andreas Kvalheim. This is a team really coming into their own, and the most serious threat to ending the Great Lakes’ reign of terror in the FHM era. No other team in the West had the horses to defend their forward group consistently, and the two-headed goalie monster of Kavanagh-Goodman will, for one final season, keep the Renegades feeling good. Bjorn Leppanen is one of the best defensive defensemen in the league, and absolutely should be in the mix for the Bojo Biscuit this season.

Weaknesses: They traded Slatt Potts to make room for Lemo Pihl. That’s a TPE drop, but in the big scheme honestly not an issue. Pihl is 4 seasons younger and about 200 TPE weaker. They can easily “hide” Pihl on a third line with Eric Hudson and Kvalheim and still dominate the conference. This season they have almost no weaknesses; they will, however, lose some really good players to expansion. They hope they can get a Cup before the salary cap and expansion rules turn their badass motorcycle into a gourd.

Winnipeg Aurora Aurora

Average team TPE: 1175 (#15)

Average forward TPE: 1190 (#15)

Average defenseman TPE: 1223 (#12)

Average normalized goalie TPE: 1431 (#7)

Strengths: Strom Chamberlain continues to be a rock for the Aurora. He proved in S57 that he’s capable of stealing playoff series all on his own, and he continues to improve in S59. Nick Brain is still a premier player in the league, and the team hasn’t been hit with the regression bat too hard yet.

Weaknesses: Similar to Minnesota, when you look past the star goaltending and the top two forwards things start falling apart. The team’s forward depth is very low TPE for the SHL level, and includes several forwards stalling in their development that won’t grow much in the regular season. The defense is promising for the future, but is behind the average for S59. With seven skaters starting the season under 1000 TPE and only six over 1400, Winnipeg will also be relying on outstanding performances from Brain, Shepard, and Chamberlain to make a playoff run.

That’s the end of our season preview roster TPE analysis, and we hope that you enjoyed reading!
Split between me, @hhh81, @grok, and @Nhamlet