Simulation Hockey League

This one is wrong. All respect to White Goodman, but playing behind Texas is a recipe for disaster for a young rookie. The lowest TPE starter is not going to be welcomed by FHM. A skater will probably win this one again.

bbjygm - Hamilton will do well and everybody will be very calm and cool about it when they do

While I don't doubt Hamilton is going to do really well in this season, I doubt everybody will be able to keep calm and cool about it. People aren't going to suddenly stop being upset about their antics and them killing off the STHS era.

Luke - Edmonton will miss the playoffs

You are a friggin moron if you think that the Edmonton Blizzard who play in the SHL will miss the playoffs. They are a good team that is full of good players, with great players like Conor Tanner.

While I do believe Toronto will finish last, this seems a bit extreme. At the moment they are 1-3 in the preseason, so that would track to winning 25% of their games, between 12-13.  It's hard to predict of course what the switch to the new sim engine will do but it just doesn't seem plausible.  Even the last place teams last year (Tampa, Texas and Minny) won 16, 20 and 19 games respectively.

JayWhy - The Chicago Syndicate are going to be top 3 in the league in both goals for and goals against

No way on either of these. Chicago is a very middle of the road type of team in almost all facets. While they have had high scoring games in preseason, this won't continue all season long. Their starting goalie is 7th (1,239) in TPE and their top 6 defensemen average 11th (1,021.50) in TPE. With that combination they won’t be outscored more than teams like Texas, Minnesota, or Toronto. The top 9 forwards average 8th (1,192.33) in TPE so they won’t be scoring more than top teams like Buffalo, Manhattan, and Calgary.

WHAT IS THIS JOKER THINKING. EDMONTON MISSING THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT A BUFOON. WE ALL KNOW THAT EDMONTON HAS BEEN ONE OF THE BEST TEAMS IN ALL OF THE SHL FOR THE PAST 10 SEASONS. THE ONLY REASON THEY MISS THE PLAYOFFS WILL BE BECAUSE SHL HO IS TRYING TO TEAR THEM DOWN AND PUT LAP IN THAT STOP #CONSPIRACY. YOU HEARD IT HERE.

AGAINST - Ok so first of all, look at their GMs, WBF & Tomen. Firstly, Tomen is legit a mastermind when it comes to testing lines & strats and with the switch to FHM he has even more toys to play with. Secondly, WBF has built not only a strong team but a deep pool of prospects too. The only way for them to miss the playoffs in my book would be for them to somehow lose out to Toronto, Tampa AND West Kendall, so basically all the rebuilding teams in the East. Not impossible... but extremely unlikely this season.

Against. This is pretty crazy. While Toronto is considered a lower ranking team at the moment I do think there are teams that could be in the mix with Toronto at the bottom of the standings. Depending on the new system, I think teams will trade off season series allowing Toronto to get a good amount of wins against these weaker teams. I say they win to 12-15 games.

Against - New England should have been in the playoffs for a while considering their talent, so now that we're on an engine that's has more customizable strategies I think they will at least make the playoffs

hotdog - Aleister Cain will finally take home an award (it's not bold because he's got a ton of TPE but it is bold cuz we all know he stink)

Cain is going to stand on his head all season and play well. A lot of TPE and a lot of heart. The guy deserves a great season after Simon shitting on him for so long.

Fordyford - Hamilton will finish dead last in the league

This one seems like the hottest take of the bunch. It appears that there's a consensus that Hamilton management has been actively testing out FHM, so they likely have a few ideas of how to keep themselves out of the basement, and it even looks like they performed great in a few season test simulations. Finishing dead last means doing worse than Toronto, Tampa, Texas, and Minnesota, all of which are teams that may struggle this year, and Hamilton has already beaten the latter 3 during the preseason.  

Quote:JayWhy - The Chicago Syndicate are going to be top 3 in the league in both goals for and goals against

Who needs to play defense when you have literally THE BEST PLAYER OF ALL TIME on your team. The Chicago Syndicate have nothing to worry about because Cameron Carter II's, aka JODAN's, decision to remain on the Syndicate has made it a needless effort to play any defense at all because they're just going to out score every team in the league. At this point they might as well ditch the goalie and put Shepard in net as a rookie hazing.

Quote:Fordyford - Hamilton will finish dead last in the league

Now look, I'm just a country boy. I don't follow all the goings-on of this league as closely as some, but sir I say sir, I am not a fool. I have no horse in this race, I have no dog in this hunt, and I don't give a good country mile if Hamilton comes first or last! But I know enough to know that they've got a pretty solid team over there in Steel Town. A sim switch is a pretty major upheaval, but nobody builds a conference topping team by accident. I think the brains over there are sharp enough to put together a pretty good run in S53.

Quote:Puolivalmiste - TEX goalie White Goodman will be Rookie of the Year

Yeah, no, this is silly. No player is going to win an award when they win 6-10 games in a season as a starting goalie. Texas will be very bad this year, and even if he plays out of his mind, he still is unlikely to be anywhere near the top in any goaltending categories. Goodman put up a MVP season in the SMJHL for the final season in STHS, but he flat out isn't up to the task of winning the SHL RotY.

Another Texas player is far more likely to win the Jesster--rookie center Ivan Maximus @thiefofcheese has to be the front runner. He'll be the top line center flanked by some of the league's elite forwards and goal scorers. He could be in the top 10-15 in the league in assists just by breathing.

AGAINST: Boo. Hiss. After an undefeated preseason (as of writing this), the Edmonton Blizzard will have a better than average regular season and make the playoffs. I don't believe the playoff format is set, but they will definitely be in the top 2 of their division. They will be carried by their defensive depth. Their forward depth has produced in the preseason, but only one forward above 1500 TPE is cause for concern.

FOR: Hamilton will do well. They have a great roster and a coach that schemes super hard. His threats to test sim 24/7 will give him the advantage of knowing what lines to put out to win in a realistic manner, and the results will look organic.

AGAINST: New England leads the league in TPE, and the new engine and update system is said to reward TPE. They have a hot roster with big names and bigger numbers, and with a few hard-working members on their roster, they will easily be in the playoffs.

FOR: Harry Carpet can only do so much heavy lifting. With their highest-earning forward under 1100 TPE, I expect Toronto to lose puck battles and possession time all season long. This will be good for Carpet's save numbers as I expect shots on goal against him to be high.

AGAINST: Their TPE count is too high to miss the playoffs, and coming in dead last would be damn near impossible. The only way this would be possible is if things are close at the trade deadline and then they decide to tank. The only way that Hamilton will finish 16th is if it is on their terms.

AGAINST: It's going to be close, but I think Carpy can muscle the franchise to double digit wins. Carpy will grab them a few overtime losses, but with their highest-earning forward barely pushing 1100, I don't see too many goals being scored in Toronto, none-the-less game winners.


AGAINST: Buffalo and Chicago will likely be in a race for the 4th spot in the east. Buffalo's biggest spot of weakness is in net and WBF and Tomen will definitely be able to utilize their high earning defense to keep themselves in the playoffs.

FOR: Cain's build seems to be for president's trophies and international medals. The Roberto Luongo of the SHL. The new engine will be generous to the high earning Cain.

AGAINST: sell sell sell. This season (and likely next), everyone will make White Goodman bleed his own blood. The Texas goalie will come in with some spunk, but with no one to play defense in front of him, I imagine he gets a 50 game (or 82, i forget what was decided) shelling. As for other rookies, they will have safer minutes, deeper in the depth chart, and not be exposed to a constant barrage of 1800 TPE one timers. godspeed, White Goodman.

AGAINST: With the player analyze tool down during the transition, its hard to really pour over a roster, but looking at their forum page, it seems that they have a good amount of forwards between 1000 and 1450 TPE. I believe that will not be enough to lead the league in goals for. Their roster is also heavier defensively with Kennedy, Smeb, and a few others which will do a sufficient job of limiting high danger opportunities, so I don't believe that they will be in the top with goals against either.

AGAINST: Both Phelps and Izzy are historically great players that save their down years for when they are on my fantasy team. As neither are on my team this year, they are primed to do well, but I believe the engine switch is going to limit them. Their build and line matching security that has been comfortably set for the last 13 seasons is going to be shaken up, and both are vulnerable now as ever.