Well, in case I haven't already pissed off the majority of the league, I figured I should double down and complain about more things! I have noticed this does tend to get a significant amount of interaction and due to my newness and ignorance that many people are set in their ways and/or opinionated when it comes to change! Nevertheless, as it is easier to complain than to come up with an original story, I think I will continue this media series. The purpose will be to highlight some barriers non max earners may face while also taking into account the duties league leaders face when running a league (For reference I GM in another sim league, go OCO).

Without further ado, today's topic is positional changes in the SHL. Specifically, the high price point players face when wanting to swap positions. I understand that the simulation allows for the GM to slot you in a variety of positions and that it is not as big of a deal for players to play out of position depending on their build. With that in mind I would love to see the price of a positional change decreased. I feel that 8 million dollars is a high price to pay for a small change of position. I would much rather see a tiered positional change system. For example, if you play Center, it is cheaper for you to swap to defense than it would be for a winger to swap as often times centers are considered the best defenders of the forwards. I would also like to note that swapping to goalie (if that is at all possible) from any position should be the most expensive. I am very intrigued as to why people deem that the price point needs to be so high. As someone who doesn't max earn in this league funds are short as is. I understand with the size of the league and the competitiveness for roster spots that some may be able to justify it. I personally would appreciate if there was a free swap once per your career or some sort of positional swap discount while you are in the junior leagues. As someone who didn't know much about the league going in, I wish I had known the position distribution and assumed that there were 4 lines of forwards per team and came to learn that there were only three, meaning there was much more of an opportunity to play defense than I thought there would be.

This league is significantly larger when it comes to the number of teams, and I think it would be for the best for the league if we explored the option for players to swap positions with fewer barriers in the way. As always feel free to leave any comments and rip me apart for being a noob in this league. As I have stated before, I love the engagement this generates, and I think generating new ideas is beneficial to the league.

Thanks!
-AJ/Chop

I'm curious what kind of responses you'll get here, because this is a take I partly agree with. It's important to note that there are really only two "positions" that matter when discussing swaps, and those are forward and defender. Goalies have a very different impact and their TPE contributes less to team success than skaters, which is why they have different salary cap rules, update scales, and position swap rules. Between forwards and defenders though, I agree the price tag is steep and feels artificial, especially when there's already a challenge to redistribute TPE in a way that makes a swap successful. I don't know how I feel about making it easier to swap late in a career, but for a league that almost requires flexibility on position from J players due to an uneven influx of new players, it feels odd that someone might bounce between forward and defense frequently while in the juniors, but upon being called up to the SHL be locked into the position they created as, no matter what they did in the J.

I'd definitely support looking into making swaps more flexible for a player's first few seasons so more people can find what fits them best. Keep sending us your hot takes! Even if we don't agree with them, the conversation is always valuable.

sig credit: Ragnar, Sulovilen, Enigmatic, Bayley
  

I'm curious what kind of responses you'll get here, because this is a take I partly agree with. It's important to note that there are really only two "positions" that matter when discussing swaps, and those are forward and defender. Goalies have a very different impact and their TPE contributes less to team success than skaters, which is why they have different salary cap rules, update scales, and position swap rules. Between forwards and defenders though, I agree the price tag is steep and feels artificial, especially when there's already a challenge to redistribute TPE in a way that makes a swap successful. I don't know how I feel about making it easier to swap late in a career, but for a league that almost requires flexibility on position from J players due to an uneven influx of new players, it feels odd that someone might bounce between forward and defense frequently while in the juniors, but upon being called up to the SHL be locked into the position they created as, no matter what they did in the J.

I'd definitely support looking into making swaps more flexible for a player's first few seasons so more people can find what fits them best. Keep sending us your hot takes! Even if we don't agree with them, the conversation is always valuable.

Will do! I appreciate the response!