04-24-2019, 12:55 PMAce Wrote: Speaking as someone who has never been a SMJHL GM and exclusively a SHL GM, I know my perspective on this will be different than most. The SMJHL’s sole purpose (in my opinion) is to provide an environment to introduce new players to the site. It’s a “training wheels league” that is meant to prepare these players for the real thing – the SHL. We need to make the SMJHL a better environment for first gen and first season players. We need to make sure that while we accommodate these young players, a degree of competitiveness is still needed to ensure they’re getting the true (although introductory) SHL experience to keep them involved.

Look at it from this perspective – if you went to a player on a team that’s the heavy favorite for the Memorial Cup and asked them “Hey player, I know you’re the top line center on X team, but we’ve got a 4th line spot open on the Ottawa Senators. Are you in?” 99.9% of the time, that player will drop everything they’re doing and jump into the NHL to prove they can play at the biggest stage in the world.

I know it’s not fun being a 4th line and 3rd line player in a sim league where you want to be the best, but there’s been countless times where players have prioritized their SMJHL clubs and the chance at Four Star Cups over the improvement of their SHL club. In the grand scheme of things, Four Star Cups are completely irrelevant and 3+ seasons in the SMJHL only hurt your player’s legacy in the long run if your player is ready to make the jump. Even if you come up as a rookie with 400 TPE, you’re playing at the highest league possible and earning points that count towards your career totals. Who cares that you won’t win the Jesster Trophy?

I know the first locker room you get into with your player becomes a family. I get that, and I love that about the SMJHL. It’s no different than real life. Those bonds you make in Juniors stay with a player. There’s a reason why the NHL guys still are buddies with their old teammates. There just has to be more incentive to play at the SHL level, not try to strong-arm or guilt a GM into keeping you down another couple of seasons if there’s a hole at the SHL level.

I see where you are coming from, this is a simulation with a setup much like the NHL 
The SMJHL does not feel like a AHL comparison though. As a rookie you earn less as a SHL player then your first season for instance. For a AHL player it's also the consideration of a big big paycheck.

Id say the SMJHL is more like the European leagues, competitive but with NHL out clauses in every contract. 

Maybe it's cause I'm European that I value my first club and stay loyal, maybe it's because I'm so grateful when NHL clubs sends Swedish prospects back to thier team to develop instead of stashing them in AHL. I can't tell if it's my bias. 

I don't see the SMJHL as training wheels leauge, I feel it's just as important and on par as SHL