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***ghamss*** · 10-04-2024, 08:10 PM

At the start of the season, I interviewed 3 SMJHL GMs to see what their thoughts were on S78 draft we had and the upcoming season (S79). You can read the interview in my deep dive, here.

In a season that ended with controversy, we have a champion that no one can say didn’t deserve it. Despite SouthPaw’s (GM of Maine Timber) hesitation, in my previous interview, to give a prediction of who was going to lift the cup at the end of season 78, it was obvious he expected his team to celebrate this offseason. He was right to have high expectations of the team as they dominated the SMJHL going 51-11-4 and locking up first in the league by a whopping 23 points. Their 106 points was good enough to place them second for most points in the last 10 seasons. Who beat them? No one. Maine achieved 107 points in S71. Their dominance this season continued in the playoffs as they won the cup going 16-5.

Most players within the sim league are not part of a team’s head office. These interviews give us some insight into how the GMs think and what exactly they are planning for the future. I wanted to do a season followup interview with a few GMs to see if the season met their expectations and if not, why. The questions I asked in this particular interview let us in on what they are thinking ahead of the upcoming draft and what their (hopefully) juicy predictions are for season 80.

From Anchorage, the Armada had a nearly unbelievable season finishing the regular season with a stellar record of 39-22-5, good enough for second place in the league. Standing near the top of the standings at the end of the regular season left many surprised, including their GM, Figgy. “Going into the season we honestly had no real expectations of being anywhere near the top. Considering we were 9th or 10th in TPE and running out a defensive core of all 6 rookies we figured this season would be one filled with growing pains.”. Why the sudden change from finishing second last at the end of season 77 to finishing second in season 78, you may ask. I too, was curious. Figgy figured the team they constructed had players that complimented each other to the point that the lack of experience was negligible. The team chemistry didn’t hold up when it really mattered though. The Armada were shockingly swept by the Thunder Bay Walleye who had a dismal season finishing second last in the league with just 53 points. The quick ending after such a great season was undoubtedly hard for the Armada team. “We were quite upset by the outcome of being swept by the Walleye, but this will just further be fuel for next season” Figgy said before moving on to the next question.

The Anchorage team was full of overachieving stars. The entire roster impressed their GM. When asked which players stood out during S79, Figgy answered my question with a question “honestly, who didn’t. From McZehrl putting up 45 goals to Steelflex putting up more goals and points than he did in the last two seasons combined. Combine this with our rookie d-core playing out of their mind on both ends of the ice, and it made for a super exciting season to watch”. McZehrl and Steelflex were indeed very impressive, leading the team in goals and points. McZehrl led the league in goals while Steelflex was sixth in goals and ninth in points. The defense, which had six rookies on it allowed the fourth fewest shots against. Averaging 31.06 shots against per game. Anchorage was middle of the pack for hits and was sixth in the league for Takeaways. This combined with a solid offense meant that Anchorage was second in goal differential with +51.

Heading into the Southern conference, Colorado had a season that was slightly above average. Finishing the season with a record of 37-21-8 for 82 points, which placed them second in their conference and third in the league. That didn’t leave a bad taste in their GM’s mouth though. Takk said “Last season was a pleasant surprise for us. We made sure to remain realistic heading into the season and, while we were confident we’d be in the mix, [we] didn’t expect to have the type of results we got on the ice.” The Raptors were indeed “in the mix”. In the playoffs, Colorado matched up against the Carolina Kraken, a team full of rookies who struggled in the first few weeks of the season and were never able to recover. A tough matchup for the Raptors, if you ask me (I may be a little (very) biased). The Raptors and Kraken had a battle similar to what I imagine a King Kong and Godzilla fight would go. I’ve never seen the movies but I assume they go tit for tat until the very end. Colorado managed to come back in game 7, scoring 3 unanswered goals in the third period, after being down 3-1 to win the series 4-3. The season ended shortly after that as the Raptors came up against a tough team in Detroit who beat them 4-2 in the series.

Takk had the stereotypical positivity coaching answer when asked about their team. “They were all brilliant! I could speak about every single one of them for hours” Takkk said. Although I’d love the payment from a media piece with that kind of volume, thank you for not putting me through that. The Raptors will be missing a vital piece next year as their captain, Nathangus McExplosion, will be moving up in the world, taking his talents to Atlanta. Takk acknowledged the gap that McExplosion’s departure will leave in the lineup but they are confident someone will step up. “This will give the chance for other leaders to step up and grab the opportunity. I have no doubt that this will happen”. It won’t take long for us to see who steps up and whether the gap left by McExplosion can be filled.

Back in the Northern Conference, the Kelowna Knights had a season as expected. Many people picked them to be atop the standing with the possibility of hoisting the cup at the end. The Knights finished second in their conference, fifth in the league, going 38-26-2 for 78 points. A respectable regular season set them up for a relatively easy (especially compared to Ottawa) road to the finals. The Knights made quick work of Quebec and Thunder Bay before facing off against a strong Yukon team in the third round. The knights clawed their way back from a 0-2 deficit to win the series 4-2. Onto the final they facing off against the best of the best, Maine. Kelowna fought but they just couldn’t keep up with the Timber losing the final 4-2. Despite being disappointed in the ending of the season, ThePyroAlpaca gave praise to their opponent “Expectation this year was cup. So a little disappointed we fell short but can't be mad losing to the absolute juggernaut Maine is. I hope I can establish Kelowna to be perennial Cup contenders like them.”

ThePyroAlpaca has similar views to the previous two GMs. The entire team impressed him. I’m learning this was a terrible question and every GM is a homer…. “We struggled alot early in the season but they never lost hope and we worked together to fix our issues and going on a dominate run together through the second half of the season into the playoffs.” ThePyroAlpaca is correct in that the team did find a way to turn the season around and go on an almost unstoppable run. In the first half of the season, the Knights were 18-15-1 and in the second half they went 20-11-1 including a run that had them earn points in 15 of their last 16 games (14-1-1).

I debated long and hard whether I wanted to re-interview one of the GMs I interviewed at the start of the season. I was leaning towards not, but I just couldn’t help myself with the pure dominance we saw from Maine. SouthPaw was happy to see his team do well, saying “we were happy with the outcome”..... Thanks, Captain Obvious…. Who wouldn’t be happy with one of the most dominant seasons in recent history? It was early into the season that Maine figured they had something special. “We knew we had a squad that could compete for the cup and be a top seed in the tournament” SouthPaw stated. It was a full team effort in Maine, but one player really stood out for their GM. Giving praise to Deth Klaw, SouthPaw said “his drive to win the cup this season was second to none. He really put the team first and was a great voice in the LR”. Looks like Anchorage missed out after trading him to Maine before S77. Not only was Deth Klaw vital off the ice, but their contribution on the ice was a major factor in Maine’s victory. Amongst defenseman, Klaw was tied for seventh in assists, tied for ninth in points, first in +/-, second in shot percentage

Looking ahead into season 80, the GMs have varying goals when heading into the draft. Figgy is excited for a more relaxing draft, “This year’s draft should be a little easier on us, we are only 3 players”. Despite the easier draft, the Armada will be looking for a few forwards to help keep their forward core strong. On the opposite side of the spectrum, Colorado have many holes in their roster they need to fill. “This upcoming draft is one of the most important drafts in Colorado's recent history. We have a lot of spots to fill in our roster for next season and are looking to find the right dinos to join the pack. “ Takk said. They have the opportunities to fill those gaps with solid players as they have 9 picks in the the first four rounds, including 3 in the first. Although Kelowna will be drafting a number of players, their focus is more on building a solid locker room, “Draft a bunch of great users. That's pretty much it, I'd rather have awesome people in the LR than have a max earning fhm dominant player.” ThePyroAlpaca stated. The Timber aren’t looking to take a step back in S79 as they have put the S78 championship behind them and have their sights on the upcoming draft. “It is all about continuing to add to our culture here. Find players that are looking to put the team first and stay engaged.” The rest of the league can only hope they pick a few duds and let the rest of us catch up.

When it comes to predicting the future, and giving me some dirt on other teams, the GMs were fairly quiet. Figgy gave us a shocking answer when they said “Anything else than this season would have to be considered a slight disappointment”… Thank you for stating the obvious, no one wants regression! Before I give Figgy too much of a difficult time, he was the first and only GM brave enough to claim the S79 title “The Armada are going to win the cup next season, mark it here.” In Colarao, Takk wasn’t willing to give any predictions, citing an inability to make good predictions. He did end the interview on what some might consider a threat “I wouldn’t underestimate COl… they don’t call the Raptor an apex predator for nothing!” I’ve watched enough Jurassic Park to know all we need is Owen Grady on our team and we’ll be able to tame the Raptors.

Meanwhile, in Kelowna, ThePyroAlpaca was realistic about the future of the Knights stating “The goal is always first place. Realistically, we're starting to enter a rebuild as we lost a large part of our core.” Regardless of the large number of players Kelowna will be picking up to fill in the space, ThePyroAlpaca has high expectations, “Even with a team of all rookies, I’d expect us to be above .500 next season.” Coming from a team that had a roster full of rookies in S79, I wish them the best at achieving this ambitious goal. According to ThePyroAlpaca, the Vancouver Whallers are in a similar roster situation heading into S79. ThePyroAlpaca doesn’t feel like they will come out winning 50% of their games though. When asked who would finish at the bottom of the table, they said “I think [Vancouver] lost half their team this offseason and it’s hard to recover from that.” On the flip side, they think there will be a new champ raising the cup at the end of season 80. “I like Detroit. They have a great core and made it pretty far this year.”. They aren’t wrong. Detroit did make it to the semi-finals before being bounced by the eventual cup winners.

For the second season in a row, SouthPaw took the easy way out when asked to give his predictions. “For the cup winner next season I really could not tell you because it seems to be close. I know we will have a solid season but to win it again is gonna be super hard.”. There will be 15 other teams trying to take the title away from them but few put up much of an effort last season. For anyone that can read between the lines, SouthPaw is as confident as ever, he’s just not willing to say it (publically). “I don’t know where we will be in the standings because there are so many solid teams in the league but, I know that our team will be able to compete with anyone.” If you were to ask me, that’s as close to “we’re going to win the cup and humiliate every team along the way” as we’ll get from SouthPaw. When asked about who would be finishing at the bottom of the table, SouthPaw again took the easy way out saying “I really don;t know who will be down there. It could be anyone, that’s how close and competitive the league is nowadays.”. They must not teach you how to read a table in Maine because anyone looking at the S78 standings can tell you it wasn’t “close” or “competitive” between the top and the bottom.

After all that, we are a little closer to understanding what these four GMs are thinking going into the draft and S79. It will be interesting to see if these teams can pick up from where they left off or will need a couple seasons to get back into the title race. Thank you to @Figgy, @Takk806, @ThePyroAlpaca and @SouthPaw for taking the time to answer these questions. Best of luck this season, except when you play the Kraken!

Go Kraken! Kraken